Specification methods for material-handling control algorithms in flexible manufacturing systems

Good methods are needed to specify, test, and debug material-handling control logic. This article surveys a number of representative methods for defining and describing control algorithms for programmable material-handling equipment used in flexible manufacturing systems. The methods are evaluated with regard to their suitability for communication between people and as bases for interfaces to automatic program generators. It is concluded that no single method is entirely satisfactory. Three methods (position diagrams, function block diagrams, and operation networks) have potential to be combined into an effective hybrid approach that minimizes the need for the user to switch between various conceptual models.     

Cooling and Solidification of Melted Drops in an Immiscible Cooling Medium

The cooling and solidification of melted drops during their movement in an immiscible cooling medium is widely employed for granulation in the chemical industry, and a study of these processes to provides a basis for the design of the granulation tower height and the temperature of the cooling medium is reported. A physical model of the cooling and solidification of the drop is established and the numerical calculation is performed. The influences of the key factors in the solidification, i.e., Bi number, drop diameter, temperature of the cooling medium, etc. are presented. The cooling and solidification during wax granulation in a water‐cooling tower and during urea granulation in an air‐cooling tower (spraying tower) are described in detail. Characteristics of the solidification and temperature distribution within the particle at different times are shown. The model and calculations can be used for structure design of the granulation tower and optimization of the operation parameters.     

Cholesterol‐imprinted polymer receptor prepared by a hybrid imprinting method

A novel cholesterol‐imprinted polymer (CMIP‐H) was prepared by a hybrid method of covalent imprinting and non‐covalent imprinting. This approach involves the copolymerization of a template‐containing monomer, cholesteryl 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate carbonate, and a cross‐linker, followed by hydrolysis to afford a flexible guest‐binding site accompanied with the easy and efficient removal of a ‘sacrificial spacer’. The effect of solvent on the binding capacity of CMIP‐H towards cholesterol was studied, indicating that a good binding capacity towards cholesterol could be achieved in a less‐polar solvent. The binding experiments of CMIP‐H towards a series of structural analogues of cholesterol, including cholesterol acetate, progesterone and stigmasterol, were carried out in hexane. The results showed that CMIP‐H almost did not bind cholesterol acetate at all because the hydrogen‐bonding site is blocked. It exhibited a similar binding towards both cholesterol and stigmasterol, but much higher binding towards progesterone. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Implementing total quality management at the U.S. Department of Defense

This paper examines Total Quality Management (TQM) as defined by Dr. W. Edwards Deming including Deming's fourteen points and explains how the United States' Department of Defense (DOD) defines TQM and why TQM is necessary. It also covers how the DOD is planning on implementing TQM and the policy that has been established as guidance in the implementation process.     

The impacts of a GTL plant on Brazil's oil products supply and refinery expansion

This paper assesses the impacts of a GTL plant on the expansion of Brazil's oil refining segment. The GTL plant (50,000 bpd) was sized to start up operations in 2015, producing diesel and naphtha through the indirect route (FT-synthesis). This plant will consume the non-associated natural gas production from the recent discoveries at the Santos Basin (around 419 Bm³), and the associated gas production from the Campos Basin. Both basins are located in the Southeast of Brazil, the most populated, rich and industrialized region of the country. Two different criteria for refinery expansion were simulated in order to meet oil product demand scenarios. Findings show that depending on the refinery expansion criteria considered GTL will play a fundamental hole to meet the oil product demand forecast to Brazil in the next 10 years.     

Feasibility analysis of membrane reactors – discovery of reactive arheotropes

A feasibility analysis methodology adopted from reactive distillation is applied to membrane reactors. A model is formulated to depict the reactive liquid phase composition on the retentate side of a continuous type membrane reactor. The effects of both the chemical reaction kinetics and the membrane mass transfer kinetics on the feasible products are elucidated by means of retentate phase diagrams and bifurcation analysis. The proposed method can be applied to various membrane processes, independent of the specific structure of the membrane. Two quaternary reaction systems are considered to illustrate the methodology. In the first hypothetical system, it is shown how selective membranes can influence the sequence of effective volatilities which in turn affects the feasible products of the system. In the second example of practical importance, i.e. the heterogeneously catalysed synthesis of propyl acetate coupled with permeation through a porous polycarbonate membrane, the dusty gas model is applied to describe the component fluxes through the membrane. For the latter reaction system, the existence of reactive arheotrope is demonstrated. Arheotropes represent mass transfer controlled feasible products of membrane separation process.     

甘三酯立体专一分析的研究：（Ⅱ）甘三酯立体专一分析方法初探

在第一部分综合讨论的基础上对甘三酯立体专一分析方法作了初步探讨。以液体油(菜油)及固体脂(猪脂)为基质,系统地研究了这一分析方法,取得了经验并补充了一些具体验证方法。分析液体油的结果与文献数据相一致,分析猪脂的结果欠佳,还存在一些问题需待进一步研究。