Combustion and emission characteristics of an Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) spark ignition engine with hydrogen direct injection

Butanol could reduce emissions and alleviate the energy crisis as a bio-fuel used on engines, but the production cost problem limits the application of butanol. During the butanol production, ABE (Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol) is a critical intermediate product. Many studies researched the direct application of ABE on engines instead of butanol to solve the production cost problem of butanol. ABE has the defects of large ignition energy and vaporization heat. Hydrogen is a gaseous fuel with small ignition energy and high flame temperature. In this research, ABE port injection combines with hydrogen direct injection, forming a stratified state of the hydrogen-rich mixture around the spark plug. The engine speed is 1500 rpm, and λ is 1. Five αH₂ (hydrogen blending fractions: 0, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) and five spark timings (5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25° CA BTDC) are studied to observe the effects of them on combustion and emissions of the test engine. The results show that hydrogen addition increases the maximum cylinder pressure and maximum heat release rate, increases the maximum cylinder temperature and IMEP, but the exhaust temperature decreases. The flame development period and flame propagation period shorten after adding hydrogen. Hydrogen addition improves HC and CO emissions but increases NO_x emissions. Particle emissions decrease distinctly after hydrogen addition. Hydrogen changes the combustion properties of ABE and improves the test engine's power and emissions. The combustion in the cylinder becomes better with the increase of αH₂, but a further increase in αH₂ beyond 5% brings minor improvements on combustion.     

Multi-channel charge readout ASIC for X-ray detection

To solve the problem of large area and high power consumption of the traditional multi-channel charge readout circuit for X-ray detection,a new multi-channel charge readout circuit structure is presented.The circuit integrates 32 charge acquisition channels,including an integrator,a differential output buffer,a digital control logic circuit and other functional modules.The proposed structure reduces the power consumption and area by integrating the sample and hold circuit and the correlated double sampling circuit into the output buffer.In order to reduce the offset and low-frequency noise,the correlated double sampling technology has been adopted.In addition,the way of overlapping the outputs between the even and odd channels is adopted to realize continuous transmission of the multi-channel signals.The chip has been fabricated using the CMOS 0.25 μm process with the chip size of 2.87 mm×2.68 mm.Measurement results show that the power consumption of each channel is 1.5 mW under the 5.0 V voltage supply and 2.5 V reference voltage.When the integrated capacitor is 7.8 pF,the integration non-linearity is less than 0.1% and the dynamic range reaches 13 100.     

炼铁-炼钢界面布局紧凑模式

论述了炼铁-炼钢界面的紧凑衔接技术,涉及多维物质流的衔接、传递、匹配及缓冲等过程。从各角度综合分析得出,该界面衔接布置紧凑,占地面积小,实施MES系统的“在线铁水罐跟踪系统”使炼铁-炼钢界面减少了铁水罐周转个数,相对传统方式的铁水包输运方式,保温剂使用量平均减少了0.483 kg/t(铁),铁水入炉温度提高约60 ℃。同时,确保了100%的“一罐到底”命中率,大幅节省了耐材费用,具有显著的经济效益和社会效益。     

Optimal load rating-based inspection planning of corroded steel girders using Markov decision process

Steel girder bridges are vulnerable to corrosion. To maintain their safety above a predefined target level, the load rating can be computed from the inspection results and guide the following maintenance actions. Optimizing inspection and maintenance based on load ratings has substantial practical and economic relevance. Load rating-based strategies can be categorized based on whether the inspection interval and replacement criteria are fixed or flexible. Existing studies focus on fixed inspection intervals throughout the service life. In general, their results are not optimal for inspection planning. To reduce life-cycle cost, aged steel girders may be inspected and repaired in an adaptive manner. To this end, a method based on Markov decision process (MDP) is proposed to compare the life-cycle cost of four load rating-based policies (i.e. uniform or adaptive non-uniform inspection interval, and fixed or adaptive replacement threshold). Load rating-based inspection planning is formulated as MDP and the optimal plans are obtained using dynamic programming. The conventional approach to discretize states cannot accurately approximate the non-stationary deterioration process, while state augmentation is successful in doing this but will increase computational cost. A comparison of two approaches is made to investigate their effects on life-cycle cost. A bridge girder under corrosion attack is used as an illustrative example. The results show that the load rating-based plan with an adaptive non-uniform inspection interval and fixed replacement threshold obtained using the state augmentation technique can be near-optimal.     

Thermal and rheological effects in a classical Graetz problem using a nonlinear Robertson-Stiff fluid model

The present article elaborates the Graetz problem for the Robertson-Stiff fluid model with imposed iso-thermal conditions. The closed-form expression of Robertson-Stiff fluid velocity is obtained. Employing the classical separation of variables approach, the energy equation of the said problem is reduced into an eigenvalue problem. The solution of the eigenvalue problem is developed numerically via the MATLAB built-in algorithm BVP4C. The constants appearing in series solutions are computed by Simpson's rule. The special case of this analysis with appropriate scaling is also applicable for the Bingham, power-law, and Newtonian fluid models. The impact of the dissipation function on Nusselt numbers and mean temperature is also considered. The pictorial representation of average temp7erature and Nusselt number are discussed in the presence of the plug radius, power-law index, and Brinkman number. It is observed that the presence of the plug radius and power-law index delay the prevalence of fully developed conditions for the Nusselt number. Moreover, the local Nusselt number for channel confinement attains higher values as compared with tube confinement. The present investigation has numerous applications in the field of engineering, nanotechnology, biomedical sciences, and development of several thermal types of equipment or microfluidic devices.     

An experimental study of forced convective heat transfer for fully developed Al 2 O 3 –water nanofluid in an annulus tube

Nanofluids have been known as practical materials to ameliorate heat transfer within diverse industrial systems. The current work presents an empirical study on forced convection effects of Al₂O₃–water nanofluid within an annulus tube. A laminar flow regime has been considered to perform the experiment in high Reynolds number range using several concentrations of nanofluid. Also, the boundary conditions include a constant uniform heat flux applied on the outer shell and an adiabatic condition to the inner tube. Nanofluid particle is visualized with transmission electron microscopy to figure out the nanofluid particles. Additionally, the pressure drop is obtained by measuring the inlet and outlet pressure with respect to the ambient condition. The experimental results showed that adding nanoparticles to the base fluid will increase the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and average Nusselt number. In addition, by increasing viscosity effects at maximum Reynolds number of 1140 and increasing nanofluid concentration from 1% to 4% (maximum performance at 4%), HTC increases by 18%.     

Exploring relationships between satiation,perceived satiety and plant-based snack food features

We aimed to identify relations between satiation and subsequent satiety for six plant-based foods (apple, avocado, banana, carrot, chick pea and macadamia) using a panel of ten healthy participants and a complete crossover randomised design. Food was served as a mid-morning snack ad libitum over 20 min until participants were comfortably full, and subsequent satiety was monitored for up to 180 min. Carrot and macadamia had significantly higher perceived fullness during eating, but also significantly lower perceived satiety per gram than other foods. Food energy factors had no strong relationship with perceived fullness, but were significantly positively correlated with satiety. Mastication number had significant effects on both perceived fullness (negative) and satiety (positive). This pilot study showed that plant food factors affecting perceived fullness during eating and subsequent satiety are different, and suggests how portion control through satiation for different plant-based snacks may influence both energy intake and subsequent satiety.     

Electro-osmotic flow of fractional second-grade fluid with fractional Cattaneo heat flux through a vertical microchannel

This study investigates the unsteady electro-osmotic flow (EOF) of a fractional second-grade fluid through a vertical microchannel with convection heat transfer. The fractional Cattaneo heat flux model will be used to modify the heat equation. The solutions for the velocity and the temperature have been derived by employing the Laplace and finite Fourier sine transforms and their numerical inverses. The results show that at the beginning of the time period, the fractional parameter postpones the movement of the fluid. Furthermore, the results show that at the high values of retardation time (non-Newtonian case), the required time for the velocity and the flow rate to reach the steady state increases. Moreover, the heat relaxation time reduces the heat transfer until a critical time, and then the effect reverses.     

基于SVD和SSA-VMD降噪的轴承故障特征提取

针对强噪声背景下轴承故障特征提取困难的问题，提出一种基于奇异值分解和参数优化变分模态分解联合降噪的轴承故障特征提取方法(SSVMD)：首先，对原始信号进行奇异值分解(Singular Value Decomposition，SVD)处理，运用奇异值差分谱法选取有效奇异值并将原始信号重构得到初步降噪信号；其次，为防止故障信息丢失，将残余信号进行麻雀算法(Sparrow Search Algorithm，SSA)优化的变分模态分解(Variational Mode Decomposition，VMD）算法处理，得到最佳的模态个数K和惩罚参数α，选取峭度值最大、包络熵最小的IMF分量与初步降噪信号叠加得到最终降噪信号，并对信号进行包络分析；最后，通过仿真和试验数据分析得出，该方法能在信噪比很低的情况下降低噪声含量并提取轴承故障特征，为设备的状态监测和故障诊断提供理论依据。     

Innovative conceptional approach to quantify the potential benefits of gasoline-methanol blends and their conceptualization on fuzzy modeling

Restricted fossil-based petroleum fuel resources and a raising fuel utilization direction have produced significant economic and ecological issues. The current article exhibits a robust model of using the innovative conceptional approach to quantify the potential benefits from gasoline-methanol blends utilizing a Fuzzy model based on real experimental data. Methanol has several merits to be an appealing gasoline fuel surrogate. The compositions of gasoline utilized in the current study were gasoline Fisher-Tropsh samples (GFT), including GFT-100, GFT-95, GFT-90, GFT-85, GFT-80, GFT-75, GFT-70, GFT-65, and GFT-60 with a methanol mass fraction of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, and 40% by weight. Additionally, antiknock combustion characteristics of gasoline-methanol blends, involving research octane number (RON) and motor octane number (MON) at different percentages were investigated. The results showed that the established Fuzzy logic model is well matching the real experimental results to a great grade, presenting the trustworthiness of the Fuzzy logic model. Finally, the results reported that a low percentage of methanol blends is preferable to maximize the efficiency and exhaust emissions of motor gasoline engines without altering the material structure.