Automated system for monitoring atmospheric pollution

An automated system is described for monitoring atmospheric pollution gas composition and aerosol content. Technical characteristics and the principles of system functioning are provided. Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 12. pp. 52–55, December, 2008.     

Medusa: a sample preconcentration and GC/MS detector system for in situ measurements of atmospheric trace halocarbons, hydrocarbons, and sulfur compounds

Significant changes have occurred in the anthropogenic emissions of many compounds related to the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols within the past 20 years and many of their atmospheric abundances have responded dramatically. Additionally, there are a number of related natural compounds with underdetermined source or sink budgets. A new instrument, Medusa, was developed to make the high frequency in situ measurements required for the determination of the atmospheric lifetimes and emissions of these compounds. This automated system measures a wide range of halocarbons, hydrocarbons, and sulfur compounds involved in ozone depletion and/or climate forcing, from the very volatile perfluorocarbons (PFCs, e.g., CF(4) and CH(3)CF(3)) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs, e.g., CH(3)CF(3)) to the higher-boiling point solvents (such as CH(3)Cl(3) and CCl(2)=CCl(2)) and CHBr(3). A network of Medusa systems worldwide provides 12 in situ ambient air measurements per day of more than 38 compounds of part per trillion mole fractions and precisions up to 0.1% RSD at the five remote field stations operated by the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE). This custom system couples gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MSD) with a novel scheme for cryogen-free low-temperature preconcentration (-165 degrees C) of analytes from 2 L samples in a two-trap process using HayeSep D adsorbent.     

An automated testing machine for monitoring the evolution of fiber breaks

A cooperative agreement between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Textile Research Institute/Princeton (TRI/Princeton) has resulted in the development of an automated tensile testing machine for determining the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) as determined by the single fiber fragmentation (SFF) test. The imaging capability of this new machine permits the archiving of data for additional analyses as new data reduction methods are developed and provides a framework for the sharing of fragmentation data among researchers. To keep pace with the changing directions of composite micromechanics research, the new machine was extended to obtaining archival data on fiber fragmentation in 2D multifiber arrays by utilizing a new fiber placement device that allows for the precise placement of these arrays within the dogbone specimen. This paper is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.

---

Differential optical absorption spectroscopy system used for atmospheric mercury monitoring

A high-resolution differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) system for long-path atmospheric pollution monitoring is described. The system, consisting of a broadband lamp and a dispersive, fast-scanning optical receiver, separated by a few kilometers, was used in measurements of different pollutants, highlighted by the monitoring of the local concentration of atomic mercury. Mercury levels in the ppt (1:10(12)) range were assessed by comparisons with laboratory measurements.     

An automated thermocouple calibration system

An automated thermocouple calibration system (ATCS) was developed for the unattended calibration of type-K thermocouples. This system operates from room temperature to 650°C and has been used for calibration of thermocouples in an eight-zone furnace system which may employ as many as 60 thermocouples simultaneously. It is highly efficient, allowing for the calibration of large numbers of thermocouples in significantly less time than required for manual calibrations. The system consists of a personal computer, a data acquisition/control unit, and a laboratory calibration furnace. The calibration furnace is a microprocessor-controlled multipurpose temperature calibrator with an accuracy of ±0.7°C. The computer software is menu-based for flexibility and ease of use. The user needs no programming experience to operate the system     

An intelligent cell control system for automated manufacturing

Cell control forms one level of a hierarchical approach to the control of automated manufacturing systems. This paper describes the application of the artificial intelligence techniques of blackboard and actor based systems for intelligent cell control in a framework termed Production Logistics and Timings Organizer (PLATO-Z). The blackboards required are described and the implementation is detailed. The implications of some practical considerations are also described.     

An automated system for selection of a constructional material

A method for comparison of different materials is proposed. The use of any, including difficult to compare criteria such as strength, production properties, cost etc. is allowed as the criteria to be compared. All of the information for comparison is arranged in the form of material-properties stable matrices. Each line of the matrix describes a single material with certain of its properties. The material for replacement is selected by cluster analysis using a coalescence algorithm.Selection of the information for filling the original material-properties table is made under automated conditions with use of a data bank of physicomechanical properties of materials. A problem of transfer of original data from a general-purpose information base to applied user programs is solved. A system for replacement of a constructional material is developed and examples of its functioning are given.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 12, pp. 67–73, December, 1990.     

An automated system for thermogravimetric analysis of polymer materials

An automated system is described for thermogravimetric analysis in which the data are processed and the effective kinetic parameters of the thermal decomposition are calculated.     

An automated system for characterizing ultrasonic transducers usingpattern recognition

The system consists of a 3D positioning mechanism, a motion controller, a pulser/receiver with gated-peak detector, a digitizing oscilloscope, a spectrum analyzer, and a host computer. Pattern recognition techniques were used to classify and reduce the dimensionality of the transducers. It was found that the K-means algorithm was the most successful algorithm for classifying the transducers, whereas the Baye's decision rule gave the worst performance. Feature reduction was found to be successful through the K-L transformation algorithm. Details of hardware and software implementation as well as the pattern recognition characterizing techniques and results obtained are presented. The characterizing techniques are compared     

An automated AC-DC transfer calibration system

Improvements in the National Research Council of Canada (NRC)'s ac-dc transfer capabilities have been achieved through full automation of the ac-dc transfer comparator, extensive redesign of the control software, and modification of the voltage buildup procedure. Hardware additions to the comparator design include stepping motor-driven switches and a range changer of a commercial electronic transfer standard. Redesigned software can be easily modified to accept new instruments and new procedures. The NRC voltage buildup procedure has been modified at the 500- and 1000-V levels. The expanded uncertainty assigned to the NRC working standard is given, and its components are briefly discussed     

An expert system based controller for an automated storage/retrieval system

Expert systems have demonstrated their ability to solve problems of a specific domain and achieve quality performance. The technology has been applied in numerous engineering areas. In this paper, an expert system based AS/RS controller, ECSSIM, is presented. The system plans a control strategy based on the long term system characteristics. However, the system alters the control strategy tactically according to the short term control needs. The system performed very well particularly at high demand levels. It also demonstrated its capability of sensing poor control strategies, and tactically compensate for the strategy selection error.     

图像式目标微小位移监测系统

提出了一种新颖的用于滑坡监测的多目标微位移图像监测系统。利用目标的微小形变反映在 CCD 获取的图像对应特征点位移的性质,运用光学重心等算法来确定目标是否超出安全警戒范围。结合步进电机和经纬仪对目标方位的精确定位能力并通过电台的控制,实现多点目标的遥控测量。系统的监测距离为 500m,实验达到的测量位移分辨率为 12mm,光斑重心坐标检测的重复精度优于 0.7μm。     

An automated system for investigating the thermal properties of crystallizing polymers

Equipment for investigating crystal-melt-crystal phase transitions in polymers of the polyethylene oxide group by the differential thermal analysis (DTA) method is described. An original construction is proposed which enables DTA thermograms to be recorded automatically with computer processing of the results obtained. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 2, pp. 45–46, February, 2006.