Experimental studies on homogeneous charge CI engine fueled with LPG using DEE as an ignition enhancer

Producing and using renewable fuels for transportation is one approach for sustainable energy future for the world. A renewable fuel contributes lesser global climate change. The present work reports on the utilization of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) as a primary fuel with diethyl ether (DEE) as an ignition enhancer in a direct injection diesel engine. LPG has a simpler hydrocarbon structure than conventional fuels. DEE is recently reported as a renewable fuel and to be a low-emission high-quality diesel fuel replacement. A single cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled naturally aspirated DI diesel engine having rated output of 3.7 kW at 1500 rpm was used for the experiments. Measurements were made to study the performance, combustion and emissions characteristics. From the results, it is observed that, the brake thermal efficiency lower by about 23% at full load with a reduction of about 65% NO emission than the diesel operation. The maximum reduction in smoke and particulate emissions is observed to be about 85% and 89%, respectively, when compared to that of diesel operation, however an increase in CO and HC emissions was observed.     

Mobile Ferroelastic Domain Walls in Nanocrystalline PZT Films: the Direct Piezoelectric Effect

Ferroelastic (90°) domain wall motion occurs readily in bulk samples of displacive ferroelectrics such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT), dictating critical piezoelectric, dielectric, and polarization switching properties. Many prior studies have used converse piezoelectric measurements to probe the dynamics of ferroelastic domains in thin films; however, such experiments are strongly influenced by the mechanical clamping effect of the substrate, which inhibits electric field‐induced 90° domain wall motion. Nevertheless, these observations raise a tantalizing question: Does the application of mechanical stress, rather than electric field, result in an entirely different response in thin films? Here we report biaxial stress‐driven crystallographic reorientation of (100)/(001) textured, 70 nm thick Pb(Zr_0.25Ti_0.75)O₃ films via 90° domain wall motion, measured in situ by both x‐ray diffraction and piezoforce microscopy. Visual evidence of nanoscale mechanisms that underlie the direct piezoelectric effect is shown. Mobile 90° domain walls effect complete orientation switching in the grains in which they operate, without apparent wall pinning, indicating that bulk‐like ferroelastic behavior can extend to nanocrystalline films in the absence of substrate clamping.     

Accelerating Machine-Learning Algorithms on FPGAs using Pattern-Based Decomposition

Machine-learning algorithms are employed in a wide variety of applications to extract useful information from data sets, and many are known to suffer from super-linear increases in computational time with increasing data size and number of signals being processed (data dimension). Certain principal machine-learning algorithms are commonly found embedded in larger detection, estimation, or classification operations. Three such principal algorithms are the Parzen window-based, non-parametric estimation of Probability Density Functions (PDFs), K-means clustering and correlation. Because they form an integral part of numerous machine-learning applications, fast and efficient execution of these algorithms is extremely desirable. FPGA-based reconfigurable computing (RC) has been successfully used to accelerate computationally intensive problems in a wide variety of scientific domains to achieve speedup over traditional software implementations. However, this potential benefit is quite often not fully realized because creating efficient FPGA designs is generally carried out in a laborious, case-specific manner requiring a great amount of redundant time and effort. In this paper, an approach using pattern-based decomposition for algorithm acceleration on FPGAs is proposed that offers significant increases in productivity via design reusability. Using this approach, we design, analyze, and implement a multi-dimensional PDF estimation algorithm using Gaussian kernels on FPGAs. First, the algorithm’s amenability to a hardware paradigm and expected speedups are predicted. After implementation, actual speedup and performance metrics are compared to the predictions, showing speedup on the order of 20× over a 3.2 GHz processor. Multi-core architectures are developed to further improve performance by scaling the design. Portability of the hardware design across multiple FPGA platforms is also analyzed. After implementing the PDF algorithm, the value of pattern-based decomposition to support reuse is demonstrated by rapid development of the K-means and correlation algorithms.     

Single‐polymer composites based on slowly crystallizing polymers

An approach of using slowly crystallizing polymers to form single‐polymer composites (SPCs) was investigated. The method was demonstrated using poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) as a model system, with which two distinct physical forms, namely, amorphous PET films and highly crystalline PET fibers can be readily obtained. Because of the large difference between the rubbery softening temperature of the amorphous phase and the melting temperature of the crystalline phase, the new process is characterized by its wide process window and enhanced manufacturability. The heating temperature and holding time were found to play a profound role in influencing the properties of the SPC. Excellent fiber–matrix interfacial adhesion was obtained at heating temperature 180°C and holding time 10 s. The results also indicated that the heating rate plays a significant role in affecting the fusion and adhesion of the composite. With reduced heating rates, the fusion and adhesion properties are rapidly deteriorated. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46: 1223–1230, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Superconductivity and magnetism in quaternary borocarbides

Quaternary borocarbide superconductors have attracted attention and are of current interest due to a variety of reasons. Some of them exhibit high T_c's for intermetallics, including the material which shows highest known T_c for intermetallics. Though the structure of RNi₂B₂C (R=Sc, Y, rare earth, Th, U) is effectively a layered structure like that of high T_c cuprates, rare earth ions influence the superconducting properties of these materials. Coexistence of superconductivity and magnetism has been found in these materials with magnetic ordering temperatures much higher than those of earlier known magnetic superconductors which implies stronger coupling of rare earth moment to conduction electrons. These features make quaternary borocarbides an altogether different class of materials. Being quaternary, and with the possibility of having more than one rare earth-carbon layer in the structure, this family offers the possibility of finding many new materials with wide ranging properties. Highlights of recent developments in this new subject of quaternary borocarbides are reviewed here.     

Gigabyte/s parallel fiber-optic links based on edge emitting laserdiode arrays

We present a ten-channel parallel fiber optic link consisting of a transmitter based on an edge emitting laser diode array operating nominally at 1 μm wavelength and a complementary receiver based on an InGaAs pin photodetector array. We demonstrate fiber optic link performance up to data rates of 1 Gb/s per channel with low skew at measurement time limited bit error rates lower than 10^-11 over 100 m of multimode fiber ribbon cable. The transmitter is operational, with very clear eye opening, up to baseplate temperatures of 105°C     

Effects of carrier transport on injection efficiency and wavelengthchirping in quantum-well lasers

Using the steady-state solution to the carrier transport rate equation model for the quantum-well laser that they had previously proposed, the authors derive analytic expressions for the laser internal efficiency, carrier injection efficiency, and wavelength chirping under current modulation and show that the various carrier transport times can have a significant effect on these quantities. They present experimental data and theoretical calculations that clearly demonstrate that, as in the case of device optimization for high-speed operation, one has to minimize the transport time across the optical and current confinement regions and maximize the escape time out of the quantum-well active region in order to maximize the internal and the injection efficiencies and minimize the wavelength chirping     

Discrete time MRAS with reduced implementation complexity

The letter presents an identification scheme incorporating a set of relays, which lessens the online computations, for discrete-time model reference adaptive systems (MRAS).     

Millimeter wave narrowband optical fiber links using externalcavity semiconductor lasers

We present the theoretical analysis and the experimental implementation of a narrowband millimeter wave optical fiber communication system using an external cavity semiconductor laser. We derive analytic expressions and present experimental data for the modulation response, relative intensity noise, carrier-to-noise ratio, and harmonic distortion for a semiconductor laser in an external cavity operating as a transmitter in the millimeter wave frequency range. We present a system implementation of this capable of transmitting 40-Mbt/s digital data at a 35-GHz subcarrier frequency with bit-error rates below 10^-9 over a 6.3-km-long optical fiber link