Mechanical Behavior of Sic Fiber-Sic Matrix Composite and Correlation to In Situ Fiber Properites at Room and High Temperatures

Tensile mechanical properties of PIP-processed 2D, plain-woven fabric. BN-coated Hi-NicalonTM SiC fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composite at room temperature (298 K), 1400 and 1600 K in air have been studied.Young's modulus and tensile strength of the composite decrease with the increase of test temperature, especially at 1600 K a considerable reduction is observed. The tensile strength is found to be consistent with the value predicted by a global load sharing model, based on the actual in situ fiber strength properties which are obtained by a fracture mirror method.     

Study on continuous ice slurry formation using functional fluid for ice storage – Discussion of optimal operating conditions

A functional fluid was made by adding a small amount of additive to a water–silicone-oil mixture with 90 vol% water content, and the functional fluid was transformed into an ice slurry by cooling while stirring. The new ice formation system, which authors proposed for ice storage based on the results of previous studies, demonstrated that the ice slurry could be formed continuously for 10 h. In the current paper, experiments were carried out, varying operating conditions, and an optimal operating condition was determined to improve performance of the present system still more. From the experimental results, the conditions necessary to increase the amount of recovery ice were clarified. The time-dependencies of the shape and size of formed ice particles were also shown. Moreover, the reason why the freezing temperature of the functional fluid rose due to repetition of ice formation was clarified, and its measure was discussed. The present study then found that it was possible to form and recover a larger amount of ice than in previous attempts, given the rise in freezing temperature.     

Electric vehicle integration into power systems

Sales of electric vehicle are rapidly growing worldwide. Vehicle grid integration is important for mitigating impact of charging demand on the distribution feeders, realizing renewable powered charging from the rooftop photovoltaic and wind power generation, and contributing to the Vehicle‐to‐Grid ancillary services for the power systems. This article reviews current trends of the vehicle grid integration R&D. Future prospective is also pointed out on the key issues such as an electrical interface, multiple services integration, and the electric vehicle living demonstration for open innovation.     

Influence of Si species on intergrowth and anisotropic crystal growth of silicalite-1

Silicalite-1 crystals were hydrothermally synthesized from silica gels prepared under different conditions. The influence of the state of Si species in the silica gels and the concentrations of silicate ions and a template agent in the reaction sols on crystal growth of silicalite-1 was examined. The use of silica gels with a high degree of condensation of Si species resulted in the intergrowth of silicalite-1 crystals, whereas a low degree of condensation of Si species led to coffin-shaped crystals. Thus, the degree of condensation of Si species had significant influence on the intergrowth of silicalite-1 crystals. Moreover, at a low silicate concentration, silicalite-1 crystals elongated along the c-axis were obtained. With increasing silicate concentration in the reaction sols, the aspect ratio of silicalite-1 decreased. Furthermore, with decreasing the amount of N(C₃H₇) ₄ ⁺ used as a template agent, the silicalite-1 crystals became larger isotropically. Thus, the growth direction of silicalite-1 crystals was dependent on silicate ion concentration in the reaction sols, but not on N(C₃H₇) ₄ ⁺ concentration.     

Effect of Partition Wall on Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Gas-to-Gas Counterflow Microchannel Heat Exchanger

The effect of a partition wall on heat transfer characteristics of a two-stream gas-to-gas counterflow microchannel heat exchanger has been numerically investigated. The flow passages of the microchannel heat exchanger are plane channels of 100 μm in height and 20 mm in length. The material of the partition wall is assumed to be stainless steel. The computations were performed for a wide range of flow rate to investigate heat transfer characteristics of the microchannel heat exchanger. Moreover, computations for various partition wall thicknesses were conducted to investigate the effect of the wall thickness. The thickness ranged from 200 μm to 6 μm while the channel height was fixed at 100 μm. Numerical results show that heat transfer characteristics of a gas-to-gas counterflow microchannel heat exchanger are affected by partition wall thickness. Computations for various partition wall thicknesses and thermal conductivities of the partition wall were performed. The results were compared with those of a single microchannel with constant wall temperature. Applicability of the assumption of constant wall temperature was revealed.     

Performance and liquid water distribution in PEFCs with different anisotropic fiber directions of the GDL

To maintain the efficiency of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEFCs) without flooding, it is necessary to control the liquid water transport in the gas diffusion layer (GDL). This experimental study investigates the effects of the GDL fiber direction on the cell performance using an anisotropic GDL. The results of the experiments show that the efficiency of the cell is better when the fiber direction is perpendicular to the channel direction, and that the cells with perpendicular fibers are more tolerant to flooding than cells with fibers parallel to the channel direction. To determine the mechanism of the fiber direction effects, the liquid water behavior in the channels was observed through a glass window on the cathode side. The observations substantiate that the liquid water produced under the ribs is removed more smoothly with the perpendicular fiber direction. Additionally, the water inside the GDL was frozen to observe its distribution using a specially made cell broken into two pieces. The photographic results show that the amount of water under the ribs is larger than that under the channels using the parallel fiber direction GDL while the water distributions in these two places are almost equal level with the perpendicular fiber direction GDL. This freezing method confirmed the better liquid water removal ability and better reactant gas transportation in the GDL with the fiber direction perpendicular to the channel direction.     

Unsteady flow field under surge and rotating stall in a three-stage axial flow compressor

The unsteady flow structure between rotor blade-to-blade passages in a three-stage axial flow compressor is experimentally investigated by detailed measurements of unsteady performance characteristics,casing wall pressure fluctuations and their wavelet analyses.The main feature of the test compressor is a capacity tank facility connected in series to the compressor outlet in order to supply compression and/or expansion waves from downstream of the compressor.Research attention is focused on the post-stall characteristics of the surge and rotating stall which occur simultaneously.The influence of the compressor operating point on the unsteady performance curve shows that the surge cycle changes irregularly depending on the steady-state resistance characteristics,and the results of the wavelet analyses of the wall pressure fluctuations suggest that the surge cycle may selectively be determined by the rotating stall cell structure within the rotor cascade.     

Recent Flood Control Measures for Urban Rivers in Japan: Case Study of the Kanda River in Tokyo

ABSTRACT

Recently, floods occurred frequently almost everywhere in urban areas in Japan. These urban disasters became an important social problem. In the present study, we investigated floods on the Kanda River in Tokyo. The history of flooded areas, and flood control projects in progress, involving river improvements, expansion of sewerage projects, and urbanization, are reviewed. We also have presented our recent survey results for the flood of August 27, 1993 that occurred in the Kanda River Basin. Hydraulic and hydrologic impacts of historical floods are also given, including an investigation of the economic and social impacts. In urban areas, it is difficult to increase the width of the river. Thus, river improvement works essentially consist of the use of underground diversion channels. In Tokyo, Takadanobaba, Edogawabashi, and Suidobashi diversion channels have been completed. Regulating reservoirs along these rivercourses have been constructed in the Myoshoji River Basin and Zenpukuji River Basin. It is quite difficult to buy land along river courses in Japan. An interesting decision was recently made about the 75mm Plan, which introduces a new method for an underground river; the so-called Tokyo Loop 7. The underground river consists of a pipe having a diameter of 10.0–12.5 m. Loop 7 starts from the upstream section of the Shirako River; and draws flood water from ten different rivers, including the Myoshoji, Zenpukuji, and Kanda rivers. The total length of the pipe is 30 km. The flood water through Loop 7 is pumped out to Tokyo Bay.     

Diffusion of nonstoichiometric defects in n-GaP crystals

Diffusion of nonstoichiometry-related point defects from a LEC-grown GaP substrate to a Te-doped GaP n-type epitaxial layer was investigated by means of photocapacitance. It was revealed that deep donor level at E_C−2.1 eV was introduced into GaP substrate with annealing under phosphorus vapor pressure. Thus, the 2.1 eV deep level is thought to be involved with excess P atoms such as interstitial phosphorus atoms. In Te-doped crystal, 2.1 eV level was detected and the density increased as the time of substrate annealing increased. By measuring PHCAP spectra of samples with different thickness of epitaxial layer, diffusion profile of the defects from the substrate interface was obtained. From this, the diffusion coefficient at 850°C is estimated to be 8×10^–11 cm²/s.     

Highly parallel collision detection processor for intelligentrobots

A collision detection VLSI processor is proposed in order to achieve ultrahigh-performance processing with an ideal parallel processing scheme. A large number of coordinate transformations and memory accesses to the obstacle memory are fully utilized in the processing algorithm, so that direct collision detection can be executed with a VLSI-oriented regular data flow. The structure of each processing element (PE) is very simple because a PE mainly consists of a COordinate Rotational DIgital Computer (CORDIC) arithmetic unit for the coordinate transformation and memories for the storage of manipulator and obstacle information. When 100 PEs are used for parallel processing, the performance is about 10,000 times faster than that of conventional approaches using a single general-purpose microprocessor