Effects of upholstery materials on the burning behavior of real‐scale residential upholstered furniture mock‐ups

Fire spread and growth on real‐scale four cushion mock‐ups of residential upholstered furniture (RUF) were investigated with the goal of identifying whether changes in five classes of materials (barrier, flexible polyurethane foam, polyester fiber wrap, upholstery fabric, and sewing thread), referred to as factors, resulted in statistically significant changes in burning behavior. A fractional factorial experimental design plus practical considerations yielded a test matrix with 20 material combinations. Experiments were repeated a minimum of two times. Measurements included fire spread rates derived from video recordings and heat release rates (HRRs). A total of 13 experimental parameters (3 based on the videos and 10 on the HRR results), referred to as responses, characterized the measurements. Statistical analyses based on Main Effects Plots (main effects) and Block Plots (main effects and factor interactions) were used. The results showed that three of the factors resulted in statistically significant effects on varying numbers of the 13 responses. The Barrier and Fabric factors had the strongest main effects with roughly comparable magnitudes. Foam was statistically significant for fewer of the responses and its overall strength was weaker than for Barrier and Fabric. No statistically significant main effects were identified for Wrap or Thread. Multiple two‐term interactions between factors were identified as being statistically significant. The Barrier*Fabric interaction resulted in the highest number of and strongest statistically significant effects. The existence of two‐term interactions means that it will be necessary to consider their effects in approaches designed to predict the burning behavior of RUF.     

Fire safe,sustainable loose furnishing

The aim of this exploratory study has been to investigate the fire properties and environmental aspects of different upholstery material combinations, mainly for domestic applications. An analysis of the sustainability and circularity of selected textiles, along with lifecycle assessment, is used to qualitatively evaluate materials from an environmental perspective. The cone calorimeter was the primary tool used to screen 20 different material combinations from a fire performance perspective. It was found that textile covers of conventional fibres such as wool, cotton and polyester, can be improved by blending them with fire resistant speciality fibres. A new three‐dimensional web structure has been examined as an alternative padding material, showing preliminary promising fire properties with regard to ignition time, heat release rates and smoke production.     

开关磁阻电机结构性转矩脉动抑制方法

开关磁阻电机具有结构简单、成本低和调速范围广等优势,但其双凸极结构和控制器的开关特性,导致存在转矩脉动现象,使得抑制转矩脉动成为焦点问题。首先从开关磁阻电机的结构和运行机理出发,针对线性解析方法难以分析转矩特征的问题,建立电机有限元模型求解出转矩特征并进行样机验证试验。分析样机结构参数对转矩脉动的影响,针对结构参数耦合问题,选择NSGA-Ⅱ算法在参数优化平台上对样机结构参数进行多目标寻优,在保证优化后样机的转矩脉动系数和平均转矩均优于初始电机的条件下,最终获得样机最优化结果。结果表明,不同结构参数对电机转矩的影响有较大的差异,对结构参数的优化能有效地抑制转矩脉动,该参数优化方法可以为开关磁阻电机结构性转矩脉动抑制提供参考。     

Emergency egress for the elderly in care home fire situations

Practitioners are continuing to develop egress modelling software for the design of the built environment. These models require data about human behaviour and factors for calibration, validation and verification. This study aims to address the specific data and knowledge gap: emergency egress of the elderly. Such data are difficult to collect given privacy and consent concerns, with strong relationships generally being required between residences and researchers. Through the observation of nine fire drills at six Canadian long-term care (LTC) and retirement homes, specific evacuation actions and behaviour were observed for 37 staff members and information about the evacuation of 56 residents was collected. These drills demonstrated that emergency egress in LTC and retirement homes is highly staff dependent with 72% of residents recorded requiring full assistance at all stages of movement in evacuation, and that the type of announced/unannounced drill and level of resident care will affect the type of data collected. The development of travel speed and pre-movement is discussed subject to limitation with qualitative behavioural insights of residents that were observed. This study provides valuable methodological discussion on how to conduct behavioural studies in similar highly restricted research environments. Specific attention is given to understanding the considerations that must be made when using fire drills as data sources, and the impact that these can have on using such data for modelling. This study may inform the initial setup and programming of evacuation models from an actions and behavioural perspectives of staff members and residents.     

干扰条件下的“北斗”信号解扩重构DOA估计

在干扰条件下，卫星导航抗干扰波束形成算法往往需要卫星信号波达方向（Direction-of-Arrival，DOA）的先验信息。但当存在低信噪比信号或主动干扰源时，常规的DOA估计算法性能急剧下降甚至失效。针对此问题，提出了一种被干扰信号压制的低信噪比“北斗”信号的DOA估计算法。该算法首先通过对接收信号进行子空间投影抑制干扰信号，然后对抑制干扰后的信号进行解扩重构处理，最后通过多重信号分类算法完成对“北斗”信号的DOA估计。仿真结果表明，在干扰信号干信比80 dB条件下，“北斗”信号DOA估计误差在5°以内，为下一步进行波束形成计算提供了高精度的入射角信息。     

Silver-plated polyamide fabrics with high electromagnetic shielding effectiveness performance prepared by in situ reduction of polydopamine and chemical silvering

In this article, the silver-plated polyamide fabrics (SPPAFs) with high electroconductibility and shielding effectiveness were fabricated by using in situ reduction of polydopamine and chemical silvering. The effects of SPPAFs dopamine (C₈H₁₁O₂N) and silver nitrate (AgNO₃) concentration on surface resistivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness were studied. The results showed that the surface resistivity of SPPAFs can reach a minimum value of 0.06 ± 0.014 Ω cm⁻¹, when C₈H₁₁O₂N concentration is 4 g L⁻¹ and the AgNO₃ concentration is 120 g L⁻¹. The shielding effectiveness of SPPAFs in the wide frequency range of 10–3000 MHz increases with the increase in the concentration of AgNO₃, and increases first and stabilizes afterward with increasing C₈H₁₁O₂N concentration. When the concentration of C₈H₁₁O₂N and AgNO₃ is 3 and 120 g L⁻¹, respectively, mean shielding effectiveness values in the low-, medium-, and high-frequency bands are 71.3, 73.8, and 76.1 dB, respectively. Moreover, the mean shielding effectiveness values is 83.79 dB in the frequency range of 1.2–2.3 GHz. The dominant shielding mechanism of SPPAFs is the reflected electromagnetic waves and the absorption shielding effectiveness is less than 2 dB. The average electromagnetic shielding values of SPPAFs are above 67 dB after 16 weeks of storage, when C₈H₁₁O₂N concentration is 4 g L⁻¹ and the AgNO₃ concentration is 80 and 100 g L⁻¹. The prepared SPPAFs show promising applications in military textiles and smart wearable clothing. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48227.     

Anti‐Sway Crane Control Considering Wind Disturbance and Container Mass

A method for estimating the sway angle using an observer has already been proposed. The state observer estimates the sway angle accurately and must use the detected sway angle value. However, the estimated sway angle has an error owing to rope length error, friction force, and wind. Moreover, the container mass cannot be determined, and therefore the observer parameter is not suitable. We already proposed robust antisway control for overcoming rope length error without adding a new sensor. Further, we designed a friction disturbance observer to cancel out the influence of the friction force. In this paper, we first propose a container mass estimation method when a crane system performs rolling up control. The observer parameter can be selected using the estimated mass value. Second, in crane parallel shift control, we propose a robust antisway control even when there is a wind disturbance. We design a wind disturbance observer and propose a wind disturbance estimator to separate the friction observer output from the wind disturbance observer output. We confirm through experiments that the proposed method can reduce vibration.     

Quantitative risk assessment using a Japanese hydrogen refueling station model

Although hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs) are becoming widespread across Japan and are essential for the operation of fuel cell vehicles, they present potential hazards. A large number of accidents such as explosions or fires have been reported, rendering it necessary to conduct a number of qualitative and quantitative risk assessments for HRSs. Current safety codes and technical standards related to Japanese HRSs have been established based on the results of a qualitative risk assessment and quantitative effectiveness validation of safety measures over ten years ago. In the last decade, there has been much development in the technologies of the components or facilities used in domestic HRSs and much operational experience as well as knowledge to use hydrogen in HRSs safely have been gained through years of commercial operation. The purpose of the present study is to conduct a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) of the latest HRS model representing Japanese HRSs with the most current information and to identify the most significant scenarios that pose the greatest risks to the physical surroundings in the HRS model. The results of the QRA show that the risk contours of 10^?3 and 10^?4 per year were confined within the HRS boundaries, whereas the risk contours of 10^?5 and 10^?6 per year are still present outside the HRS. Comparing the breakdown of the individual risks (IRs) at the risk ranking points, we conclude that the risk of jet fire demonstrates the highest contribution to the risks at all of the risk ranking points and outside the station. To reduce these risks and confine the risk contour of 10^?6 per year within the HRS boundaries, it is necessary to consider risk mitigation measures for jet fires.     

Study on the relationship between the particle size distribution and the effectiveness of the K‐powder fire extinguishing agent

The relationship between the particle size distribution and the extinguishing effectiveness of the new K‐powder fire extinguishing agent has been studied experimentally, to explore the reason of the great extinguishing efficiency exhibited by the new K‐powder fire extinguishing agent on Class B fire (liquid fuel fire). The results of the experiment showed that the extinguishing effectiveness increased along with the decrease of the particle size distribution. In addition, a sharp discontinuity appeared around the limiting size, about 40 μm. The powder with the particle size below 40 μm exhibited highly effective extinguishing with the minimum effective extinguishing concentration C_xr = 23 g·m^?3, while the powder with the particle size above 40 μm exhibited little fire extinguishing efficiency. Compared with other fire extinguishing agents produced by different substances, the new K‐powder fire extinguishing has the bigger limiting size. That means, in the same particle size distribution, the new K‐powder fire extinguishing agent contains more highly effective powder than others contain, and is more effective.     

Smart firefighting construction in China: Status,problems, and reflections

“Smart firefighting” construction as a part of the “smart city” has been a concern of the public security and fire agencies at all levels. In this study, the status, problems, and reflections of “smart firefighting” construction in China are discussed. A recent survey indicates that China has launched its smart firefighting construction and initially created a new perspective on its regional smart firefighting work based on three main aspects: intelligent disaster perception by Internet of Things (IoT) construction, intelligent disaster prevention by big data construction, and intelligent disaster disposal by emergency rescue platform construction. However, the current smart firefighting construction in China still has some prominent problems such as the data interconnectivity and normalized management of various platforms, the extensibility of smart firefighting platforms, and the intelligent level of smart firefighting researches, which need to be solved urgently. Therefore, we argue that smart firefighting construction in China should establish data interconnectivity, industrial normalized management, 2D/3D geographic information interaction and extension, high-integration fire protection theory, and many other aspects in the near future and truly realize firefighting visualization and efficient data applications for 4D time space. This study could provide valuable reference for smart firefighting and smart city construction.