Development of reel-to-reel microchip mounting system for fabrication of meter-long LED lighting tapes

We have developed a reel-to-reel microchip mounting system that continuously mounts LED chips and other microchips on meter-long flexible printed circuit board (PCB) tape for 1.2-m-long standard LED light tubes. Mounting microchips on meter-long PCBs is difficult because a large chip mounter is expensive and the chip positioning stage is difficult to move in a meter-wide area with an accuracy of hundreds of micrometers. Hence, we developed a new microchip mounting system that utilizes a small chip mounter and reel winding machines. The system repeatedly moves the long PCB tape by a certain length with the reel winding machines and mounts the chips on it. The PCB tape (which is 5 mm wide) is made by fabricating long PCB tapes which are 25 cm × 26.6 m through a roll-to-roll PCB process and slitting them into meter-long tapes. The reel-to-reel system repeatedly mounts chips by adjusting their positions through image processing of the copper wiring pattern on the PCBs. Our constructed system mounted 24 LED chips with a pitch of 5 cm with an accuracy of 0.082 mm to form a 1.2-m-long LED tape. The luminance of the tape is 12.4 lx at a distance of 1 m, which is the luminance of outdoor corridor lighting. Therefore, this system can be used for meter-long tape lighting.     

Hydrogen adsorption and hydrogen evolution reaction on a polycrystalline Pt electrode studied by surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on a polycrystalline Pt electrode has been investigated in Ar-purged acids by surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical kinetic analysis (Tafel plot). A vibrational mode characteristic to H atom adsorbed at atop sites (terminal H) was observed at 2080-2095 cm⁻¹. This band appears at 0.1 V (RHE) and grows at more negative potentials in parallel to the increase in hydrogen evolution current. Good signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra enabled us to establish the quantitative relation between the band intensity (equivalently, coverage) of terminal H and the kinetics of HER, from which we conclude that terminal H atom is the reaction intermediate in HER and the recombination of two terminal H atoms is the rate-determining step. The quantitative analysis of the infrared data also revealed that the adsorption of terminal H follows the Frumkin isotherm with repulsive interaction.     

Nondestructive determination of fatty acid composition of husked sunflower (Helianthus annua L.) seeds by near-infrared spectroscopy

Determination of the fatty acid composition of sunflower (Helianthus annua L.) seeds by near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was examined. Sunflower seeds were husked (removed from their hulls by a husking machine or manually with a knife). NIR spectra of these seeds were scanned from 1100 to 2500 nm at 2-nm intervals in a whole-grain cell with a wideangle moving drawer for machine-husked seeds or in a single-grain cup for a manually husked single-grain seed. The extracted oils from machine-husked seeds also were scanned by sandwiching them between a pair of slide glasses to create a thin layer and by placing them on a syrup cup. For extracted oil, the absorption band around 1720 nm filled out to the shorter wavelength region in the NIR second-derivative spectra as the percentage of the linoleic acid moiety increased, because linoleic acid absorbs in this region. On the other hand, for husked seeds and for a single-grain seed, as the percentage of linoleic acid increased, the trough at 1724 nm where oleic and saturated acids absorb decreased in the second-derivative NIR spectra. Determination of the fatty acid composition of sunflower seeds could be carried out successfully according to the NIR spectral pattern for both extracted oil (r=−0.989) and kernel seed (r=−0.993). This is important, especially for a manually husked single-grain seed (r=−0.971), because it can still be germinated after such nondestructive analysis.     

Development of flexible organic light‐emitting diode on barrier film and roll‐to‐roll manufacturing

To come out with a successful organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) lighting business, it is very important to have clear differentiation of OLED from LEDs. Flexible OLED has merits, such as capability to be mounted on the curved wall, which is not easy for LEDs to achieve the feature. There are several approaches to make flexible OLEDs especially among those plastic barrier films that can bring high level of flexibility, which could not be achieved by any conventional lighting method. In this paper, barrier films with various water vapor transmission rate values, including 10^{? 6} order, are applied, and the conditions to have almost no dark spot growth under 85 °C and 85% high temperature/humidity test are shown. Flexible OLED panels are manufactured with the world's first roll‐to‐roll equipment using plastic barrier film.     

Transition of the flow in a symmetric channel with periodically expanded grooves

Transition of the flow in a periodically grooved channel is numerically investigated for periodicity indices m=1 up to 6 by assuming the two-dimensional and fully developed flow field, where m is defined as a number of grooves in which the flow repeats periodically. Critical Reynolds numbers for the onset of a self-sustained oscillatory flow from a steady-state flow are evaluated by numerical simulations. It is found that the bifurcations occur at the critical Reynolds numbers as a result of Hopf bifurcation, and a period in the streamwise direction of the oscillatory flow is twice as long as the groove pitch of the channel. In addition, flow visualization with the aluminum dust method is carried out to confirm the results obtained from the numerical simulations. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical ones.     

Preparation of porous carbons from thermoplastic precursors and their performance for electric double layer capacitors

Porous carbons with high surface area were successfully prepared from thermoplastic precursors, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), hydroxyl propyl cellulose and poly(ethylene terephthalate), by the carbonization of a mixture with MgO at 900 °C in an inert atmosphere. After carbonization the MgO was dissolved out using a diluted sulfuric acid and the carbons formed were isolated. The mixing of the PVA carbon precursor with the MgO precursors (reagent grade MgO, magnesium acetate or citrate) was done either in powder form or in an aqueous solution. The BET surface area of the carbons obtained via solution mixing could reach a very high value, such as 2000 m²/g, without any activation process. The pore structure of the resultant carbons was found to depend strongly on the mixing method; the carbons prepared via solution mixing were rich in mesopores, but those produced via powder mixing were rich in micropores. The size of mesopores was found to be almost the same as that of the MgO particles, suggesting a way of controlling the mesopore size in the resultant carbons. Measurement of capacitance was carried out in 1 mol/L H₂SO₄ electrolyte. The porous carbon with a BET surface area of 1900 m²/g prepared at 900 °C through solution mixing of Mg acetate with PVA showed a fairly high EDLC capacitance, about 250 F/g with a current density of 20 mA/g and 210 F/g with 1000 mA/g. The rate performance was closely related to the mesoporous surface area.     

Si-C-O glass-like compound/exfoliated graphite composites for negative electrode of lithium ion battery

Two low molecular weight silicone compounds, a cyclic type having vinyl groups and a chain-type having Si-H bonds, a catalyst for curing, and a catalyst regulator were mixed. The mixture was impregnated into exfoliated graphite (EG) by sorption, and cured in air at 200 °C. By this process cross-linked silicone coatings were formed on graphite flakes. The composites of Si-C-O glass-like compounds and EG were synthesized by heat treatment of this precursor at 1000-1400 °C for 1 h in argon. The composites formed at 1000-1300 °C were amorphous by XRD and had practically the same chemical composition: Si 44-45, C 27-29, O 25-26, H < 0.5, all in mass%. The ²⁹Si MAS-NMR spectra indicated that the compound formed at 1000 °C was mainly composed of siloxane bonds and amorphous silica, whereas in the compound formed at 1300°C, Si-C bonds and amorphous silica were predominant. The insertion/extraction characteristics of lithium ions for the electrode prepared with composite:poly(vinylidene fluoride) = 90:10 mass% were examined in 1 mol L⁻¹ LiClO₄ solution of ethylene carbonate:diethyl carbonate = 50:50 vol%. High, 650-700 mA h g⁻¹, capacities and steady cycle performance at 50 mA g⁻¹ were achieved with the composites formed at 1250-1300 °C. Capacities of the composites formed at 1200 °C and lower were initially higher but decreased with increasing number of cycles. The composites formed at 1350 °C showed good cycle performance but the capacity was about 500 mA h g⁻¹ due to the formation of β-SiC. Except for the first cycle, the capacity-potential characteristics were similar to those of hard carbons and the coulomb efficiency was 95-100%. For all the composites the capacity was larger than that of graphite (372 mA h g⁻¹) in the range of 50-200 mA g⁻¹. Due to the large insertion capacity of the first cycle, the efficiency was low (60-70%) at first. By short-circuiting the working electrode to the lithium foil counter electrode for a certain period, the irreversible capacity of the first cycle was almost eliminated. It indicates that direct doping of lithium ions into composites is a promising way to increase the efficiency of the first cycle.     

A superconducting filter to separate an oxygen and argon mixture

Hot isostatic pressing in an oxygen atmosphere, known as O₂-HIP method, has been used successfully to synthesize oxide materials, as well as to produce porous materials. In this paper a porous superconducting oxide is synthesized by this method and its application as a gas filter is described. Porous superconductors can be used to separate a mixture of paramagnetic and diamagnetic gases, such as oxygen and argon. Separation occurs after a magnetic field is applied and is based on the Meissner effect. Experimental results showed that the oxygen content of an oxygen/argon mixture increased after passing through a filter with large pore size (about 10 m).     

Prediction model of surface residual stress within a machined surface by combining two orthogonal plane models

The variation of surface residual stress within a machined surface layer caused by face turning was studied. The size of the tool’s corner radius and the feed rate affect residual stress. A process model using the finite element method is proposed and the mechanical effects of the corner radius and feed rate on a machined surface were discussed. When a tool with a small corner radius is used, surface residual stress perpendicular to the cutting direction becomes compression stress. As well, surface residual stress changes from tension to compression as the feed rate decreases. The process model consists of an orthogonal cutting simulation and an indentation-like simulation of a corner radius into a work piece surface. The simulated results show quantitative agreement with the residual stress measured experimentally. The integrity of the machined surface will be controlled more efficiently if the cutting conditions during finishing are determined with the proper consideration of the surface generating process.     

What kind of floor am I standing on? Floor surface identification by a small humanoid robot through full-body motions

This study addresses a floor identification method for small humanoid robots that work in such daily environments as homes. The fundamental difficulty lays in a method to understand the physical properties of floors. To achieve floor identification with small humanoid robots, we used inertial sensors that can be easily installed on such robots, and dynamically selected a full-body motion that physically senses floors to achieve accurate floor identification. We collected a training data-set over 10 different kinds of common floors in home environments. We achieved 85.7% precision with our proposed method. We also demonstrate that our robot could appropriately change its locomotion behaviours depending on the floor identification results.