Recent progress of electrocatalysts for hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Due to stringent environmental regulations and the limited resources of fossil-based fuels, there is an urgent demand for clean and eco-friendly energy conversion devices. These criteria appear to be met by hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). PEMFCs have attracted tremendous attention on account of their excellent performance with tunable operability and good portability. Nonetheless, their practical applications are hugely influenced by the scarcity and high cost of platinum (Pt) used as electrocatalysts at both cathode and anode. Pt is also susceptible to easy catalyst poisoning. Herein, this paper reviews the progress of the research regarding the development of electrocatalysts practically used in hydrogen PEMFCs, where the corner-stone reactions are cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and anodic hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). To reduce the costs of PEMFCs, lessening or eliminating the use of Pt is of prime importance. For current and forthcoming laboratory/large-scale PEMFCs, there is much interest in developing substitute catalysts based on cheaper materials. As such are non-platinum (non-Pt), non-platinum group metals (non-PGMs), metal oxides, and non-metal electrocatalysts. Hence, high-performance, state-of-the-art, and novel structured electrocatalysts as replacements for Pt are needed.     

新型地锚张弦梁式泥石流格栅坝构件受力的简化计算方法

针对常见泥石流防治结构被冲击破坏的问题，基于“柔性消能”理念，结合张弦梁结构和竖向预应力锚杆技术，提出一种既能改善结构受力性能、增加结构整体抗冲击能力、保证结构安全可靠，又能减小结构构件截面尺寸、节约成本、便于现场施工组装和后期运营维护的新型地锚张弦梁式泥石流格栅坝，并阐述其技术原理。根据泥石流荷载分布和新型地锚张弦梁式泥石流格栅坝的受力特征，给出其简化的内力计算方法；并利用SAP2000建立新结构有限元模型，分析了结构的整体受力，验证了构件简化计算方法的合理性；结合Python语言和Qt De? signer软件开发了相应的设计计算软件，对新型地锚张弦梁式泥石流格栅坝的内力进行求解。结果表明：提出的新结构抗冲击性能好，构件受力均匀；以后设计中应关注竖杆的剪切脆性破坏和立柱偏心受力情况，保证结构安全；变形协调仅使底层张弦梁与竖杆内力偏大，实际工程应用时，应着重验算底层构件，防止其破坏；文中提出的简化计算方法能较准确的反映结构的受力特性，具有一定的合理性，研究可为新型地锚张弦梁式泥石流格栅坝的设计计算和推广应用提供理论依据和技术支持。     

Freeze-drying and mechanical redispersion of aqueous PEDOT:PSS

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) films are attracting famous applications in antistatic coating, energy storage and conversion, printed electronics, and biomedical fields due to their conductivity, optical transparency and flexibility. However, PEDOT:PSS has poor dispersion stability during long-term storage and transport. Moreover, the dried PEDOT:PSS films are insoluble in any solvent and cannot be redispersed again. In comparison to bake drying, here, a feasible strategy to achieve mechanically redispersed PEDOT:PSS with the help of freeze-drying process was reported. The redispersed PEDOT:PSS can recover not only the initial characters such as pH, chemical composition, viscosity, and particle size under similar solid contents, but also conductivity and surface morphology of treated films. In addition, the treated film exhibits self-healing properties similar to pristine film in terms of mechanical and electrical properties. This technology enables reuse and overcomes the technical problems of PEDOT:PSS dispersion, realizing real-time processing to meet variable applications.     

Automatic design for shop scheduling strategies based on hyper-heuristics: A systematic review

Against the background of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, how to achieve real-time scheduling has become a problem to be solved. In this regard, automatic design for shop scheduling based on hyper-heuristics has been widely studied, and a number of reviews and scheduling algorithms have been presented. Few studies, however, have specifically discussed the technical points involved in algorithm development. This study, therefore, constructs a general framework for automatic design for shop scheduling strategies based on hyper-heuristics, and various state-of-the-art technical points in the development process are summarized. First, we summarize the existing types of shop scheduling strategies and classify them using a new classification method. Second, we summarize an automatic design algorithm for shop scheduling. Then, we investigate surrogate-assisted methods that are popular in the current algorithm field. Finally, current problems and challenges are discussed, and potential directions for future research are proposed.     

An improved feedrate scheduling method for NURBS interpolation in five-axis machining

Five-axis machining plays an important role in manufacturing by dint of its high efficiency and accuracy. While two rotation axes benefit the flexibility of machining, it also brings limitations and challenges. In order to further balance machining precision and efficiency, an improved feedrate scheduling method is presented considering geometric error and kinematic constraints for the Non Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) interpolation in five-axis machining. A simplification method is proposed to calculate the geometric error which describes the deviation between the ideal tool path and the real tool path induced by the non-linear movement. A linear relation between geometric error and feedrate is built to limit the feedrate. The constraints determined by single axis kinematic performance and tangential kinematic performance are also considered. Under these constraints, a constrained feedrate profile is determined. Aiming to get more constant feedrate in the difficult-to-machine areas, this work proposes a scheduling method which combines morphological filtering and S-shape acceleration/deceleration (acc/dec) mode. Simulations and experiments are performed to compare the proposed feedrate scheduling method with two previous feedrate scheduling method and the results prove that the proposed feedrate scheduling method is reliable and effective.     

Design and manufacturing of mobile micro manipulation system with a compliant piezoelectric actuator based micro gripper

This paper presents a new design of mobile micro manipulation system for robotic micro assembly where a compliant piezoelectric actuator based micro gripper is designed for handling the miniature parts and compensation of misalignment during peg-in-hole assembly is done because piezoelectric actuator has capability of producing the displacement in micron range and generates high force instantaneously. This adjusts the misalignment of peg during robotic micro assembly. The throughput/speed of mobile micro manipulation system is found for picking and placing the peg from one hole to next hole position. An analysis of piezoelectric actuator based micro gripper has been carried out where voltage is controlled through a proportional-derivative (PD) controller. By developing a prototype, it is demonstrated that compliant piezoelectric actuator based micro gripper is capable of handling the peg-in-hole assembly task in a mobile micro manipulation system.     

A Voltage Control Method for a Distributed Line Feeder by means of Multiagent Approach

This paper proposes a method for the coordinated control of power factor by means of a multiagent approach. The proposed multiagent system consists of two types of agent: single feeder agent (F_AG) and bus agent (B_AG). In the proposed system, an F_AG plays as an important role, which decides the power factors of all distributed generators by executing the load flow calculations repeatedly. The voltage control strategies are implemented as the class definition of Java into the system. In order to verify the performance of the proposed method, it has been applied to a typical distribution model system. The simulation results show that the system is able to control very violent fluctuation of the demands and the photovoltaic (PV) generations.     

Ergonomics interventions to reduce musculoskeletal risk factors in a truck manufacturing plant

Ergonomic interventions may potentially reduce MSDs, but the context of industries (barriers, ever-changing situations, dialogue processes) might play a significant role in the success of interventions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions including engineering/technical and organizational interventions, and the involvement of the stakeholders in reducing musculoskeletal risk factors/symptoms. A pre-post-test experimental study in non-randomized groups was performed over three years in a sector of a truck assembly plant. The mean age of the operators in the sector for the initial and second assessment time was 42.0 (±7.6) years and 39.0 (±8.7), respectively. The mean length of work experience in the current job was 15.2 (±7.2) years and 13.9 (±7.3) for the initial and second assessment times, respectively. Five engineering ergonomic solutions and organizational interventions were implemented after a comprehensive ergonomic analysis. The organizational interventions consisted mostly of transferring and redistributing the tasks, i.e., ergonomically balancing and redesigning of the workstations. Before performing the interventions, the findings of the ergonomic study were presented at several meetings to encourage the involvement of the stakeholders (including managers, engineers, and operators) in the interventions. This study showed that a combination of ergonomic measures—engineering and organizational interventions—could reduce physical workloads. Musculoskeletal symptoms decreased after interventions although the difference was not significant.     

A knowledge-based archive multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm to optimize series–parallel system with choice of redundancy strategies

Redundancy allocation problem (RAP) is one of the best-developed problems in reliability engineering studies. This problem follows to optimize the reliability of a system containing s sub-systems under different constraints, including cost, weight, and volume restrictions using redundant components for each sub-system. Various solving methodologies have been used to optimize this problem, including exact, heuristic, and meta-heuristic algorithms. In this paper, an efficient multi-objective meta-heuristic algorithm based on simulated annealing (SA) is developed to solve multi-objective RAP (MORAP). This algorithm is knowledge-based archive multi-objective simulated annealing (KBAMOSA). KBAMOSA applies a memory matrix to reinforce the neighborhood structure to achieve better quality solutions. The results analysis and comparisons demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for solving MORAP.     

Coil‐Type Asymmetric Supercapacitor Electrical Cables

Cable‐shaped supercapacitors (SCs) have recently aroused significant attention due to their attractive properties such as small size, lightweight, and bendability. Current cable‐shaped SCs have symmetric device configuration. However, if an asymmetric design is used in cable‐shaped supercapacitors, they would become more attractive due to broader cell operation voltages, which results in higher energy densities. Here, a novel coil‐type asymmetric supercapacitor electrical cable (CASEC) is reported with enhanced cell operation voltage and extraordinary mechanical‐electrochemical stability. The CASECs show excellent charge–discharge profiles, extraordinary rate capability (95.4%), high energy density (0.85 mWh cm⁻³), remarkable flexibility and bendability, and superior bending cycle stability (≈93.0% after 4000 cycles at different bending states). In addition, the CASECs not only exhibit the capability to store energy but also to transmit electricity simultaneously and independently. The integrated electrical conduction and storage capability of CASECS offer many potential applications in solar energy storage and electronic gadgets.