Search results for "Mechanical engineering"
showing 10 items of 4245 documents
COOLING OF COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS BY MEANS OF LARGE COLD RADIANT CEILINGS
1991
ABSTRACT The possibility of using different cooling tools working with lower radiant temperatures and higher air velocity is explored. Lower energy consumptions may be achieved in specific climates with reasonable levels of thermal comfort.
Computational Analysis of the Active Control of Incompressible Airfoil Flutter Vibration Using a Piezoelectric V-Stack Actuator
2021
The flutter phenomenon is a potentially destructive aeroelastic vibration studied for the design of aircraft structures as it limits the flight envelope of the aircraft. The aim of this work is to propose a heuristic design of a piezoelectric actuator-based controller for flutter vibration suppression in order to extend the allowable speed range of the structure. Based on the numerical model of a three degrees of freedom (3DOF) airfoil and taking into account the FEM model of a V-stack piezoelectric actuator, a filtered PID controller is tuned using the population decline swarm optimizer PDSO algorithm, and gain scheduling (GS) of the controller parameters is used to make the control adapti…
The performance of thin-film Li-ion batteries under flexural deflection
2006
A method is introduced to study the effects of flexural deformation on the electrical performance of thin-film lithium-ion batteries. Flexural deformation of thin films is of interest to engineers for applications that can be effective in conformal spaces in conjunction with multi-functional composite laminates in structural members under mechanical deflections such as thin airfoils used in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A test fixture was designed and built using rapid prototyping techniques. A baseline reference charge/discharge cycle was initially obtained with the device in its un-flexed state, in order to later contrast the performance of the thin-film battery when subjected to defle…
Characterization of the Teeth Skeletal Matrix from <i>Arbacia lixula</i>
2016
The teeth of sea urchins are highly complex composite structures, composed predominantly of high magnesium calcite, and of a minor heterogeneous assemblage of organic macromolecules that are occluded within the mineral. The organic matrix fulfils important functions in mineralization, in addition to giving the mineral phase peculiar mechanical properties, different from that of purely inorganic calcite. Nevertheless, the composition and function of individual components of the organic matrix still remains largely unknown. Up to now, the detailed protein repertoire of teeth from a single sea urchin species (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, order Camarodonta) was investigated. In this study, we…
Electromechanical Numerical Analysis of an Air-Core Pulsed Alternator via Equivalent Network Formulation
2017
In this paper, the numerical analysis on an air-core pulsed alternator is presented. Since compulsators are characterized by very fast electromechanical transients, their accurate analysis requires strong coupling between the equations governing the electrical and the mechanical behaviors. The device is investigated by using a dedicated numerical code capable to take into account eddy currents, compensating windings, as well as the excitation/control circuits. Furthermore, the code is capable of modeling centrifugal forces and vibrations acting on the shaft due to electric and mechanical unbalances or to misalignments of the shaft from its centered position. This makes the code a very power…
Co-precipitation synthesis of Nd:YAG nano-powders: the effect of Nd dopant addition with thermal treatment
2007
Nanopowders of Yttrium Aluminium Garnet doped with neodymium ions were obtained by the co-precipitation method from the reaction of aluminium, yttrium and neodymium nitrate with ammonia. The amount of neodymium was selected in order to produce samples of nominal stoichiometry NdXY (3-X)Al5O12 (where X = 0.006, 0.012, 0.024, 0.048, 0.081, 0.096, 0.17, 0.19, 0.38, 0.54, and 0.72, respectively). After washing and drying, the hydroxide precursors were subjected to Thermo-Gravimetry and Differential Thermal Analysis experiments from room temperature up to 1500 °C, which showed the presence of exothermal events accompanying phase transformation phenomena. X-ray diffraction investigations conducte…
Effect of NiO and/or TiO2 mullite formation and microstructure from gels
1998
Polymeric and colloidal gels with a constant molar ratio of (Al+Ni and/or Ti)/Si=3/1 and various (Al/Ni and/or Ti) ratios (up to 21.42 mol% NiO+TiO2) were prepared and used to study the effect of the precursor chemical homogeneity on mullite formation processes and the resulting microstructure. Both kinds of gel precursors were preheated at 750°C for 3 h in order to obtain appropriate gel-derived glasses for further thermal processing. After annealing for several time periods at temperatures between 750 and 1500°C, differences in crystallization pathways were observed. Polymeric gels crystallized Al–Si and NiAl2O4 spinels from the amorphous form at temperatures in the range between 900 and …
Shear coefficient determination in linear friction welding of aluminum alloys
2015
In the present study, a combined experimental and numerical investigation on Linear Friction Welding (LFW) of AA2011-T3 aluminum alloy was carried out in order to find the temperature dependent shear coefficient to be used in a 3D numerical model of the process. Torque, oscillation frequency and pressure were acquired in order to calculate the shear stress at the interface. A numerical thermal model was used to calculate the temperature at the interface between the specimens starting from experimental temperatures acquired through a thermocouple embedded in the LFW specimens. Finally, the calculated shear coefficient was used to model the contact between the two specimens in a dedicated 3D,…
Selective adsorption of oppositely charged PNIPAAM on halloysite surfaces: a route to thermo-responsive nanocarriers.
2018
Halloysite nanotubes were functionalized with stimuli-responsive macromolecules to generate smart nanohybrids. Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-methacrylic acid (PNIPAAM-co-MA) was selectively adsorbed into halloysite lumen by exploiting electrostatic interactions. Amine-terminated PNIPAAM polymer was also investigated that selectively interacts with the outer surface of the nanotubes. The adsorption site has a profound effect on the thermodynamic behavior and therefore temperature responsive features of the hybrid material. The drug release kinetics was investigated by using diclofenac as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug model. The release kinetics depends on the nanoarchitecture of th…
Synthesis of Peroxyapatite by Hydrothermal Processing
2014
Peroxide ions in apatite provides an additional resource for imparting an antibacterial capability in apatite. A hydrothermal process has been developed for including peroxide ions into the apatite lattice. Three oxygen generation compounds, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium persulphate and paracetic acid were investigated for peroxyapatite generation. Hydrogen peroxide provides the highest peroxide containing apatite. Both the oxygen generation and the apatite lattice formation represented the two critical factors for producing peroxyapatite. Unlike with high temperature processing, the cooling rate did not influence the retained peroxide content. This new process provides a building block for i…