Effects of slots on thermoelastic quality factor of a vertical beam MEMS resonator

Thermoelastic damping is one of the dominant mechanisms of structural damping in vacuum-operated microresonators. A three dimensional numerical model based on the finite element method is used for simulating thermoelastic damping in clamped–clamped microelectromechanical beam resonators. In this regards, both simple and slotted beam are considered. To understand the effect of slot positions and sizes on the resonator performance, resonant frequency and thermoelastic quality factor are calculated for both simple and slotted beams for a wide range of beam length from 10 to 400 µm. Punching slots in the resonator beam reduces the stiffness and mass of the beam which affect the resonant frequency. In addition thermo-mechanical coupling mechanisms of the resonator are affected by the slots which improve the thermoelastic quality factor. For most of the beam lengths, it is shown that the slots at the beam-anchor interface region, where the strain is high, are more effectively enhanced the thermoelastic quality factor than one at the centre of the beam region. However, the highest resonance frequency is achieved with the slots at the center region.     

Water and mercaptan adsorption on 13X zeolite in natural gas purification process

The aim of this work is to model the adsorption process used for mercaptan and water removal from natural gas. Three fixed beds containing Zeolite molecular sieve type 13X, are used in this plant. In this operation, two beds are in process for adsorption purposes and the other one is regenerated simultaneously. This system is also operated under isothermal condition. In modeling of this process, rate of adsorption is approximated by linear driving force (LDF) expression, and the extended Langmuir isotherm is used to describe adsorption equilibrium. The set of partial differential equations of dynamic model is solved by Crank-Nicolson method. The effect of equations of state is also studied and the best equation fitting the industrial data is selected. Also, concentration profile is presented versus bed length at various times. The influences of pressure, inlet concentration and bed height on the breakthrough time are also investigated.     

Elimination of mercury by adsorption onto activated carbon prepared from the biomass material

Following the previous work (Kaghazchi et al., 2010 [11]), dealing with applying a combination of two kinds of agricultural wastes to produce a new adsorbent, this study is dedicated to investigate the details of mercury adsorption process from aquatic medium by this adsorbent. So the Mix-ZC activated carbon (the sample prepared by chemical activation of a mixture of pistachio-nut shells and licorice residues impregnated with zinc chloride) was selected for doing a series of batch adsorption experiments on it. Equilibrium isotherms, such as Freundlich, Langmuir, Dubinin–Redushkevich and Temkin have been tested. Kinetic studies based on Lagergren first-order, pseudo-second-order rate expressions and intra-particle diffusion studies have been done. The mechanisms of mercury adsorption onto this adsorbent under the operating conditions were also studied.     

A study on the photoluminescence properties of electrospray deposited amorphous and crystalline nanostructured ZnO thin films

Transparent amorphous and crystalline nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were prepared by electrospray deposition technique on a glass substrate at 250 °C using zinc nitrate and ammonia as the precursors. The structural morphology and optical properties of the thin films were evaluated and also the effect of formation rate of basic generating species on the morphology of the thin films was discussed. Optical studies indicated that all of the thin films have a near band edge emission at 374 nm and a band gap of 3.32 eV. In addition, the films have an emission at 393 nm corresponding to ultra violet (UV) transmittance. However, the amorphous thin films have oxygen trap peak at 430 nm and two green transmittance peaks at 485 nm and 530 nm which are absent in the 0.1 molar nanostructured sample. The crystallite size of the thin films which calculated from XRD patterns via Debye–Scherrer's formula was around 30 nm.     

An Improved Ant Colony Model for Cost Optimization of Composite Beams

This paper focused on the application and evaluation of an improved ant colony search method for the cost optimization of composite beams. The design was based on the American Institute of Steel Construction load and resistance factor design specifications and plastic design concepts. The objective function for composite beam was the cost function. This function included the cost of concrete, steel beam, and shear connectors. In order to validate the proposed model in optimizing composite beam design, two design examples taken from the literature were studied, and the results were compared to the original ant colony optimization and other meta-heuristic algorithms. The results showed that the improved ant colony method was able to find better solutions and had higher convergence speed than other meta-heuristic algorithms. Moreover, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of beam spans and loadings on the cost optimization of composite beams.     

Supported liquid membrane separation of propylene-propane mixtures using a metal ion carrier

Experimental results for the separation of propylene from a propylene/propane mixture using facilitated transport membrane system with silver nitrate as carrier are presented. The equilibrium constant of the reaction between propylene and silver ion (Ag⁺) at different operating conditions was determined, experimentally. For a 50:50 (vol.%) propylene-propane mixture, at feed pressure of 50-120 kPa, the separation performance of a facilitated transport membrane system was evaluated. It was observed that increasing carrier concentration and trans-membrane pressure, separation factor was increased. At feed pressure of 120 kPa and the carrier concentration of 20 wt.%, a separation factor of 270 was obtained.     

Nonlinear dynamics of flexible nanopositioning systems with geometrical imperfection

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper, the nonlinear dynamics of flexible beams with geometrical imperfection and concentrated end-mass is investigated. Based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam...     

Polyphenols content and antioxidant activity of Ghure (unripe grape) marc extract: influence of extraction time,temperature and solvent type

The objective of this study was to optimise the temperature (25–50 °C), time (1–24 h) and the solvent ratio (ethanol/water, 0–100%) for the phenolic compounds extraction of Ghure marc (unripe grape) using response surface methodology. The central composite design (CCD) generated satisfactory models for the optimisation of process variables. The results revealed that the ratio (X₃) was the most significant parameter on total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity [% 2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)], and there was a significant correlation between TPC and antioxidant activity. The optimal conditions for temperature and time were 44.93 °C and 19.34 h, respectively, and the ratio of ethanol to water was 70.08, which verified with carrying out confirmatory experiments. Under this condition, TPC and %DPPH were 388.79 mg GAE per 100 g and 91.01, respectively. The results of this study revealed that the Ghure marc can be used as a low‐cost source of natural antioxidant in food.     

Nisin‐loaded alginate‐high methoxy pectin microparticles: preparation and physicochemical characterisation

The bacteriocin nisin has been extensively used as potential natural preservative in the food industry. However, antimicrobial activity of nisin due to its binding with food components and inactivation by enzymatic degradation is reduced when it is applied in food. Encapsulation of nisin is an efficient approach to overcome the problems related to the direct application of this antimicrobial peptide in foods. In this study, nisin was encapsulated in alginate‐high methoxy pectin (HMP) microparticles, and its release studies were performed in water to determine the diffusion and the kinetic behaviour of the matrix. Results showed that the nisin content had a significant influence on encapsulation efficiency (EE), loading capacity (LC) and microparticles size. The values of EE, LC and particle mean diameter were about 47–54%, 16–21% and 57–131 μm, respectively. The nisin‐loaded microparticles showed nearly spherical structure with fold on the surface, as displayed by scanning electron micrograph. Interaction between alginate and HMP was confirmed by the changes in the intensity and wave number of the stretching vibrations of the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups in alginate‐HMP microparticles FTIR spectra. Furthermore, the addition of nisin resulted in a markedly increase in intensity of carboxylic peak at 1620 cm^?1, indicating the presence of nisin inside of the microparticles. The in vitro nisin release from these microparticles followed a sustained release profile consistent with a Fickian diffusion mechanism.