A preliminary design and structural analysis of the lifting tools for 40° sector sub-assembly and handling ITER components

The purpose-built, ITER tokamak assembly tools, which are to be provided by Korea, should be designed to meet: the assembly plan, space reservations, safety standards, simple operations, efficient maintenance, and so on. It is very important that the ITER assembly tools are able to lift and transfer ITER components or their sub-assemblies to their assembled position safely. Furthermore, the lifting tools will lift and handle very heavy loads that can be more than 1200 tonnes sometimes. Therefore, the ITER lifting tools must be designed to endure these heavy load conditions with regard to their structural integrity. Also, these designs should be verified through an appropriate method. The preliminary design of the sector lifting tool and associated lifting attachments are introduced in this paper. The sector lifting tool was designed especially to lift and handle various ITER components by adjusting the lifting centre. The structural analysis results using ANSYS are described considering the heaviest load condition. The results of the analysis show that; all stresses applied on the lifting tool are lower than the allowable stress of the applied material.     

Real-time estimation of slowest heating point temperature and residual cooking time by coupling multipoint temperature measurement and mathematical modelling: Application to meat cooking automation

In this work, an innovative procedure for real-time heat transfer modelling and dimensional change estimation during meat cooking was presented. By using a multipoint temperature probe, a punctual calculation of slowest heating point (SHP) temperature was obtained at each time from the radial temperature distribution inside the product. Experimental temperature data from the multipoint probe was combined with a mathematical algorithm previously validated to perform a real-time estimation of SHP temperature and residual cooking time on the basis of the data stored at each instant. The developed procedure and algorithm were validated by cooking pork loin and roast beef samples at 180 and 200 °C both under natural and forced convection regimes. Real-time predicted cooking time and SHP endpoint temperature values were very close to those experimentally obtained: at the 85% of the cooking process, the maximum percentage errors for SHP endpoint temperature and cooking time prediction were 1.72 and 1.67%, respectively. In addition, SHP location inside the meat samples was also obtained at each time instant and used to estimate dimensional changes during cooking: calculated final characteristic dimensions were very similar to those experimentally obtained for all cooking trials. The developed approach could be useful for the automatic cooking operations planning in food-service with microbial safety assurance.     

Renting with pets: a pathway to housing insecurity?

Companion animals are rarely considered in rental policy or research. This absence belies their prevalence and growing centrality within practices of family and home, and persists despite evidence of links between companion animals and rental insecurity. This paper begins to address this gap. Through an online survey and in-depth interviews with people who rented with companion animals in Sydney, Australia, over the 10 years to 2013, the paper identifies connections between pet ownership and rental insecurity, including perceptions about the low availability and poor quality of advertised ‘pet-friendly’ properties. The paper argues that pet ownership can trigger feelings of rental insecurity, and advocates for inclusion of pet ownership as a variable impacting secure occupancy. It suggests companion animals are an escalating rental risk, their significance to their owners causing some to accept accelerating levels of rental insecurity by keeping pets without landlord knowledge. These experience impact on the ability of renters to feel ‘at home’ in rental properties.     

Novel ferrofluids coated with a renewable material obtained from cashew nut shell liquid

In this work, we present the synthesis and characterization of a new surfactant molecule obtained from a byproduct of the cashew nut processing (diphosphorylated cardol, DPC). It is herein used to overcoat magnetic nanoparticles showing spinel structures in order to create new ferrofluids. The nanoparticle structure and magnetic properties have been deeply investigated. DPC-functionalized Fe₃O₄ and NiFe₂O₄ samples exhibit higher magnetic saturation than DPC–CoFe₂O₄. These new ferrofluids reveal appealing as possible nanoparticle stabilizing molecules, magnetic resonance imaging agents, storage systems or in any material science field that requires the employment of biocompatible magnetic stable fluids.     

Focal Flow: Velocity and Depth from Differential Defocus Through Motion

We present the focal flow sensor. It is an unactuated, monocular camera that simultaneously exploits defocus and differential motion to measure a depth map and a 3D scene velocity field. It does this using an optical-flow-like, per-pixel linear constraint that relates image derivatives to depth and velocity. We derive this constraint, prove its invariance to scene texture, and prove that it is exactly satisfied only when the sensor’s blur kernels are Gaussian. We analyze the inherent sensitivity of the focal flow cue, and we build and test a prototype. Experiments produce useful depth and velocity information for a broader set of aperture configurations, including a simple lens with a pillbox aperture.     

Evaluation of the effect of heat input in superduplex stainless steel deposition by the plasma powder process*

Plasma powder surfacing is one of the latest processes for application of coatings, with control of dilution as its main feature. Surfacing with superduplex stainless steels is an interesting option for the construction and repair of equipment for applications in a highly corrosive environment, allowing the desired characteristics to be achieved: corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. The aim of this work is to assess the ferrite content in the weld metal and the mechanical characteristics via microhardness profiles in surfacing of C-Mn steel pipes with deposition of UNS S32760 by plasma powder surfacing. Welding operations were carried out on pipes with deposition of SDSS, employing three welding heat input levels, varying the welding speed or the welding current. Then the geometry was analysed, the ferrite content in the weld metal was quantified and the microhardness profile was recorded. Variation in welding heat input caused changes in weld bead geometry, with variation in the welding current producing the most significant changes. Increase in heat input caused decrease in ferrite content of the weld metal. Regarding microhardness, only the condition with a higher level of welding current gave sufficiently high levels of microhardness in the weld metal.