FGTO — A fine structured GTO-thyristor with improved switching characteristics

Contents A fine structured GTO thyristor, abbreviated FGTO, has been developed to improve the switching characteristics. The new device has a cathode finger width of only 20 m and can be turned off without a negative gate bias at an anode current level of more than 200 A/cm². The turn-off time can be shortened down tot _off 500 ns by increasing the negative gate current. A snubber circuit is not necessary to turn off the FGTO's. The maximum rate of rise of anode voltage du/dl reaches more than 10 kV/s. Analytical models are developed to describe the turn-off transients of the FGTO's. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results could be achieved.

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FGTO — Ein feinstrukturierter GTO-Thyristor mit verbessertem Schaltverhalten

Übersicht Zur Verbesserung des Schaltverhaltens ist ein feinstrukturierter GTO-Thyristor, abgekürzt FGTO, entwickelt worden. Dieses neue Bauelement hat eine Kathoden-streifenbreite von nur 20 m und kann ohne negative Gatevorspannung bei einer Anodenstromdichte von mehr als 200 A/cm² abgeschaltet werden. Die Abschaltzeit läßt sich durch Erhöhung des negativen Gatestroms bis zut _off 500 ns verkürzen. Beim Abschalten von FGTOs ist keine RC-Beschaltung erforderlich. Der maximale du/dl-Wert erreicht mehr als 10 kV/s. Zur Beschreibung des Abschalt-verhaltens von FGTOs werden analytische Modelle entwickelt, die eine gute Übereinstimmung mit den Meßergebnissen liefern.

     

A robust kinematic hardening rule for cyclic plasticity with ratchetting effects

Summary A robust kinematic hardening rule is proposed which appropriately blends the deviatoric stress rate rule and the Tseng-Lee rule in order to satisfy both the experimental observations made by Phillips et al. [1]–[5] and the nesting of the yield surface to the limit surface. The work presented in Part I is confined to the theoretical formulation of kinematic hardening rule with limited correlation to experimental results. A more general expression for the plastic modulus is proposed. The expressions proposed by McDowell and by Dafalias can be obtained as a special case of the proposed expression. An additional parameter is introduced that reflects the dependence of the plastic modulus on the angle between the deviatoric stress rate tensor and the direction of the limit backstress relative to the yield backstress.     

Propagation of quasi-simple waves in a compressible rotating atmosphere

Summary A class of self-propagating linear and nonlinear travelling wave solutions for compressible rotating fluid is studied using both numerical and analytical techiques. It is shown that, in general, a three dimensional linear wave is not periodic. However, for some range of wave numbers depending on rotation, horizontally propagating waves are periodic. When the rotation is equal to , all horizontal waves are periodic. Here, is the ratio of specific heats. The analytical study is based on phase space analysis. It reveals that the quasi-simple waves are periodic only in some plane, even when the propagation is horizontal, in contrast to the case of non-rotating flows for which there is a single parameter family of periodic solutions provided the waves propagate horizontally. A classification of the singular points of the governing differential equations for quasi-simple waves is also appended.     

Stress corrosion behavior of pipeline steel(X52)welded joint

The resistance of pipeline steel joint welded by submerged arc welding to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) at its different regions in boiling mixed nitrate solution and in H_2S saturated solution at room temperature is examined by the constant-load tension method. The result shows that when tested in nitrate, the weld metal may be the weakest link of the joint if the welding material doesn't match well. The resistance to SCC of the joint in H_2S is very low, especially at the bond and coarse grain zone and is closely dependent on the metallurgical quality of base metal.     

User Interface Design Principles for Interactive Television Applications

Interactive Television (ITV) applications gratify entertainment needs and leisure activities in a relaxed domestic context. Then, the mentality of efficiency and task completion implied by many user interface heuristics may not be suitable for design and expert evaluation of ITV. In line with the contemporary movement towards the design of the user experience of computing systems, a set of design principles for ITV applications has been developed. Instead of information technology, the field of communication science was explored, which has accumulated an extensive theory of TV usage and viewer behavior. For the empirical validation, the principles were employed in the design of an interactive music TV application. The results suggest that a small set of generic principles could support the systematic design of ITV applications and produce a design rationale that is traceable and comparable to alternative solutions, during the process of early product development. In addition, the principles could be refined into specific guidelines and further employed to support expert evaluation techniques.     

Attacking smart card systems: Theory and practice

Smart card technology has evolved over the last few years following notable improvements in the underlying hardware and software platforms. Advanced smart card microprocessors, along with robust smart card operating systems and platforms, contribute towards a broader acceptance of the technology. These improvements have eliminated some of the traditional smart card security concerns. However, researchers and hackers are constantly looking for new issues and vulnerabilities. In this article we provide a brief overview of the main smart card attack categories and their corresponding countermeasures. We also provide examples of well-documented attacks on systems that use smart card technology (e.g. satellite TV, EMV, proximity identification) in an attempt to highlight the importance of the security of the overall system rather than just the smart card.     

Interactive mixed reality white cane simulation for the training of the blind and the visually impaired

This paper presents a mixed reality tool developed for the training of the visually impaired based on haptic and auditory feedback. The proposed approach focuses on the development of a highly interactive and extensible Haptic Mixed Reality training system that allows visually impaired to navigate into real size Virtual Reality environments. The system is based on the use of the CyberGrasp™ haptic device. An efficient collision detection algorithm based on superquadrics is also integrated into the system so as to allow real time collision detection in complex environments. A set of evaluation tests is designed in order to identify the importance of haptic, auditory and multimodal feedback and to compare the MR cane against the existing Virtual Reality cane simulation system.     

On finite dynamic equations for fluid-saturated porous media

Summary The paper concerns the relations between two principally different approaches to the formulation of momentum balance equations in porous media theories, namely, the dynamic approach similar to Biot's theory and the modern approach as a result of mixture theories extended by the concept of volume fractions. In particular, it is shown that both approaches necessarily lead to the same type of momentum balance equations and furthermore contain, in a certain sense, within the geometrically linear case, the well-known classical equations of Biot's theory.     

Verified inclusion for eigenvalues of the first order PLL equation with general phase detector characteristics

We present a method depending on matrix continued fractions and Sturm's comparison theorem to obtain verified inclusions for eigenvalues of the underlying boundary value problem of the first-order phase locked loop equation $pu'' + (\lambda + \tilde g)u = 0$ ,p = 1/SNR with general phase detector characteristic $\tilde g(\phi )$ .