Super‐resolution image reconstruction using state information of a motorized head

This paper presents an integrated system designed to obtain a high‐resolution image via super‐resolution image reconstruction by using an observer of a motorized head under control. An advantage of this integration is that the constructed system can algebraically and systematically calculate the registration and motion blur identification, which is quite different from the way in which the conventional methods preprocess captured images. To illustrate the effectiveness of the presented system, some experimental results are provided. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Principle and basic characteristics of a hybrid variable‐magnetic‐force motor

Reducing the power consumed by motors is important for energy conservation in the case of electrical appliances and electric vehicles (EVs). The motors used for operating these devices operate at variable speeds. Further, the motors operate with a small load in the stationary mode and a large load in the starting mode. A permanent magnet motor can be operated at rated power with high efficiency. However, the efficiency is low under a small load or at high speeds because the large constant magnetic force results in substantial core loss. Furthermore, the flux‐weakening current that decreases the voltage at high speeds leads to significant copper loss and core loss. Therefore, we have developed a new technique for controlling the magnetic force of a permanent magnet on the basis of the load or speed of the motor. In this paper we propose a novel motor that can vary the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet and clarify the principles and basic characteristics of the motor. The new motor has a permanent magnet that is magnetized by the magnetizing coil of the stator. The results of analysis show that the magnetic flux linkage of the motor can be changed from 37% to 100% and that a high torque can be produced. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 183(2): 47–57, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.22309     

Numerical simulation of particle breakage in dry impact pulverizer

A novel method to simultaneously simulate particle motion and its breakage in a dry impact pulverizer was developed. The motion of particles in the pulverizer was calculated using a discrete phase model (DPM)‐computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupling model. When the particle impacts against a vessel wall, impact stress acting on the particle is calculated from Hertz's theory as a function of the impact velocity. At the same time, the particle strength as a function of the particle size is calculated from Griffith's theory. If the impact stress is larger than the particle strength, the particle is broken and replaced with smaller fragments. The size distribution of the fragments is obtained from a breakage function proposed. The motion of the fragments is calculated again by using the DPM‐CFD coupling model. By repeating the above calculations over the whole particles, the grinding phenomenon can be simulated. The calculated results showed good agreement with the experimental one, and validity of the proposed method was confirmed. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 3601–3611, 2013     

Performance of Used Engine Oil as Gear-Cutting Oil

In Japan, the lubricating oil used for the internal combustion engine of passenger cars is usually exchanged for fresh oil after running a distance in the range from 3,000 to 10,000 km. Refining of the used engine oil is very costly because friction-reducing additives containing sulfur, phosphorus, etc., are included in the oil. Therefore, wasted engine oil (used engine oil) is burned in many cases. This investigation was conducted to effectively re-use wasted engine oil without chemical refining. Performance of used engine oil as a gear-cutting oil was examined by conducting five kinds of experiments: (a) chemical analyses of the oils, (b) measurements of friction coefficients on the four-ball tester, (c) tool wear tests using a lathe, (d) tool life tests using a gear-cutting machine, and (e) accuracy and surface finish of the cut gears. In contrast to general expectations, longer tool lives were obtained when the used engine oils were used instead of a high-grade gear-cutting oil. The reason for this was discussed and it was concluded that used engine oil may be used as a high-performance gear-cutting oil if health risks for workers are removed.     

Existence states of deuterium irradiated into LiAlO2

The existence states of deuterium in LiAlO₂ were analyzed by in situ IR absorption spectroscopy during irradiation with 3 keV at room temperature. Multiple IR absorption peaks that were related to O-D stretching vibrations were observed, mainly at 2650 cm⁻¹ (O-D_α), 2600 cm⁻¹ (O-D_β), and 2500 cm⁻¹ (O-D_γ). The O-D_α was assigned to the surface O-D. The O-D_β and O-D_γ were interpreted as two distinct O-D states for three candidates: O-D of substitutional D⁺ for Li⁺; O-D of substitutional D⁺ for Al³⁺; and O-D of interstitial D⁺. O-D_β was the dominant O-D state for deuterium irradiated into LiAlO₂, and had higher stability than O-D_γ. Heating after ion irradiation led to the desorption of D₂ and an increase in the intensity of O-D_β, which implies that some of the deuterium irradiated into LiAlO₂ exists in non-O-D states, such as D⁻ captured by F centers.     

Prediction of heat exchanger performance by the thermal network method (Improvement of an evaporator's performance and restraining air flow bypass by adjusting the refrigerant‐flow path pattern)

This paper presents the influence of latent heat load by changing the relative humidity of air flow distribution in the super‐heated gas region in an evaporator and the effect of the refrigerant flow path pattern. To estimate the influence, we applied the thermal network method that can consider refrigerant quality distribution in the heat exchanger. If the super‐heated gas region spreads to the upper wind row, humid air goes through the heat exchanger without drying, called “air flow bypass.” To suppress this phenomenon and simultaneously obtain the best performance, we chose an optimum path pattern on the basis of this method. As a result, the prediction shows that performance of the evaporator is recovered 5% for a simple 2‐row 2‐path heat exchanger when 40% of the unbalance of air flow rate occurs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20302     

Synthesis and Electrochemical Behavior of Regioisomeric Bismethanofullerene Derivatives

A series of regioisomeric bis-methanofullerenes (diethyl [60]fullerenobisacetate) were prepared by reaction of the sulfonium ylide with C₆₀. Seven stable resultant regioisomers were completely isolated on a preparative HPLC and identified by FT-IR, UV-vis, TOF-MS, and ¹H and ¹³C NMR measurements. The structures of these bisadducts were assigned based on 1) the relationship of the polarities of the regioisomers with the elution order from HPLC; 2) a comparison of their UV-vis spectra with those of corresponding Bingel-Hirsch bisadducts; and 3) the identification of their molecular symmetries by their ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra. The electrochemical properties of the resultant regioisomeric bismethanofullerene, derivatives were investigated through cyclic voltammetry (CV). The bisadducts exhibited more negative reduction potential than the pristine C₆₀. Trans-2- and cis-3- bisadducts had the least negative potential E¹_1/2 of all the other bisadducts.     

Adhesion and vacuum forming properties of tin-zinc thin films deposited on polyester film substrate

Sn-Zn alloy thin films were deposited on a polyester (PET) film substrate by co-evaporation and evaluated their surface, tensile and adhesion properties with a vacuum forming test and pull test.Relationship between the surface roughness and elemental composition of these thin films was evaluated. The surface roughness decreased with increase of the Sn content.The tensile property was estimated by observations of micro-cracks of the thin films due to a vacuum forming test. Sn-Zn alloy thin film, whose elemental composition is 85:15 (wt%), had high vacuum forming durability.The adhesion strength between the Sn-Zn alloy thin films and PET substrate was measured with a pull test apparatus. The pull strength decreased with increase of the Sn content.     

Development and evaluation of a certificate validation system in mobile environments

We have developed a public key certificate validation system considering the restrictions peculiar to the mobile environment, such as processing the speed and memory capacity of a cellular‐phone terminal, and the network transmission speed. In this paper we derive a theoretical formula showing the performance of a validity check of the public key certificate of the conventional system and of the proposed system, and compare and examine a theoretical value in a mobile environment. Moreover, we evaluate the actual measurement that uses the server and cellular‐phone terminal that we developed. We show that our proposed system based on the certificate validation server (CVS) system is better than the conventional system from the viewpoint of processing speed and transmission speed. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.