Neutron beam design for both medical neutron capture therapy and industrial neutron radiography for TRIGA reactor

Neutron beam designs were studied for TRIGA reactor with a view to generating thermal, epithermal and fast neutron beams for both medical neutron capture therapy (NCT) and industrial neutron radiography (NR). The beams are delivered from thermal and thermalizing columns, and also horizontal beam hole. Several prospective neutron filters (high-density graphite (G), bismuth (Bi), single-crystal silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), aluminum fluoride (AlF₃) and lead fluoride (PbF₂)) were examined for obtaining sufficiently intense neutron beam for various applications. Monte Carlo calculations indicated that with a suitable neutron filter arrangement, thermal and epithermal neutron beams attaining 2×10⁹ and 7×10⁸ n cm⁻²S⁻¹, respectively, could be obtainable from thermal and thermalizing columns with the reactor operating at 100 kW. These neutron beams could be adopted for boron neutron capture therapy. Compared with these columns, horizontal beam port would deliver neutron fluxes of 10⁻² 10⁻³ lower intensity, but produced thermal and neutron beams would be adequate for different application of nondestructive inspection by neutron radiography.     

Crystallization in rapid quenching of La0.33NbO3 melt

Transparent La_0.33NbO₃ flakes were fabricated by a rapid quenching technique. The quenched La_0.33NbO₃ phase takes a simple cubic perovskite structure and cation vacancies are randomly distributed on the A sites. The cubic La_0.33NbO₃ phase is a new modification which is different from the well-known orthorhombic phase with ordered A-site vacancies. Transparent flakes were found to show the predominant orientation of (110) and (220) planes.     

A communication protocol based on IR-space division transceivers for mobile robots

In this article, we propose MAC protocols based on our infrared-space division transceiver (IR-SDT) for mobile robots. The IR-SDT has eight communication modules, so it can communicate with a maximum of eight other nodes simultaneously. The number of parallel multiple accesses will be improved by using this transceiver and its specialized protocol. In addition, we consider situations in which a packet collision occurs, and propose a protocol that resolves communication conflicts using the signal collision-detection function of IR-SDT. Finally, we consider the performance of these protocols, and discuss the influence of signal collision-detection accuracy.     

Application of SPRT to an image data sequence for a remote monitoring system

Recently, remote monitoring camera systems have been widely used for security. In such systems, one important function is that the system automatically detects any change in the scenes from the monitoring cameras. In wireless remote monitoring camera systems, the images of the scenes are generally transmitted as compressed data (e.g., JPEG file), because of the capacity of the wireless channel. This article shows the automated detection of the change point in time-series data of compressed JPEG file quantity (Kbytes) from the monitoring camera by applying the sequential probabilistic ratio test (SPRT) and the Chow test, which is well known as a standard method for detecting structural change in time-series data.     

Modular design of mechatronic systems with function modeling

This paper develops a modularization scheme based on the functional model of a system. The modularization approach makes use of the function–behavior–state (FBS) model of the system to derive the entity relations. The design structure matrix (DSM) is automatically constructed based on the FBS model. In this way, the tedious work of filling the DSM entries based on expert knowledge is avoided. The approach makes use of k-means clustering algorithm to allow the user to try different number of clusters in a fast way. The k-means clustering is adopted for DSM based modularization by defining a proper entity representation, relation measure and objective function. Two modularization schemes are performed, one based on the immediate relations and one on the deeper behavioral relations between the components. Considering the application on the shifting system of the Delft University of Technology (DUT) Formula Student car, the latter modularization resulted in more mechatronic behavior based modules, while the former resulted in modules based on mere disciplinary and spatial closeness.     

Measurement of topcoat thickness of thermal barrier coating for gas turbines using terahertz waves

The topcoat thickness of thermal barrier coating (TBC) samples was measured using terahertz (THz) waves. The index of refraction of yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ), which is the topcoat material, is necessary to obtain the topcoat thickness from time domain re?ectometry. Time domain THz spectroscopy was applied to YSZ samples, and the index of refraction was measured to be 4.8 in the frequency region 0.1 to 1.2 THz. The topcoat thickness of six di?erent TBC samples, which varied from 300 to 600 µm, was measured using THz waves. The results were in agreement with microscope observation results to within measurement error. In addition, the topcoat thickness pro?le of a turbine blade sample was measured with a resolution of 2.4 µm. The pro?le showed a standard deviation of 4 µm, which re?ects the actual variation in the topcoat thickness. The results showed that THz waves are e?ective for high‐resolution measurement of the topcoat thickness. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 183(4): 1–9, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.22385     

Nondestructive inspection of thermal barrier coating of gas turbine high temperature components

A thermal barrier coating (TBC) is applied to high‐temperature components in gas turbines, and consists of a ceramic topcoat and a metallic bondcoat. Various kinds of TBC degradation and damage occur in high‐temperature components during service, such as topcoat thinning, topcoat delamination, and formation of a thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer below the topcoat, each of which can be examined using a suitable nondestructive inspection technique. Topcoat thinning can be detected by topcoat thickness measurement using terahertz waves, which are electromagnetic waves in the frequency region between optical and radio waves. The measurement resolution is about 10 μm, which is comparable to microscopic observation of the cross section in destructive inspection. Topcoat delamination can be detected by active thermography, in which the topcoat surface is scanned by a heating laser and the surface temperature distribution is measured by a thermal infrared camera. The combination of temperature peak and residual thermal image detection is effective in eliminating false detection. The TGO layer can be detected using photoluminescence, in which the Cr³⁺ ions included as an impurity in Al₂O₃ are detected. Since delamination tends to occur at locations at which the TGO layer has grown, TGO layer detection provides an effective method to select regions where delamination has occurred or is likely to occur. An inspection flow based on these techniques is proposed, which is expected to aid the establishment of condition‐based maintenance strategies of high‐temperature components. © 2016 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Development of biobased microwave absorbing composites with various magnetic metals and carbons

The preparation and characterization of a biobased electromagnetic absorbing composites derived from natural lacquer as a renewable resource with microwave‐absorption fillers, including Ni–Zn ferrite and carbonyl iron (CI) as magnetic metals and soot and carbon nanotube (CNT) as carbon materials, were investigated in terms of the gel content, hardness, drying properties, and electromagnetic absorption properties. Interestingly, composites with ferrite and CI contained up to 320 and 550 wt %, respectively, of these compounds. This quite high loading capacity of the metal fillers in a natural‐lacquer base could have been due to the high compatibility between the filler and the natural lacquer; this indicated that the natural lacquer worked as a binder for these metals. The morphology of the biobased composite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The electromagnetic absorption properties of composites were characterized in the frequency range from 0.05 and 20 GHz by the reflection loss (RL) measurement method in terms of the kind of fillers and filler loading. The natural lacquer did not affect the absorption properties of the fillers. Biobased composites showed over 99% electromagnetic absorption in the frequency range 3.0–4.0 GHz for 280 wt % ferrite and 8.9–9.7 GHz for 200 wt % CI. Conversely, 10 and 20 wt % soot exhibited good performance (RL < ?20 dB) between 16.5 and 17.3 and between 8.8 and 9.2 GHz, respectively. The areas with RL values of less than ?20 dB of the CNT composites were 10.4–11.0 GHz for 5 wt % and 14.6–15.2 GHz for 10 wt %. Hence, natural lacquer can be used as a binder material for electromagnetic absorption composites. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 44131.