Time-averaged behaviour of single and dual flying capacitor converters

The Single Flying Capacitor Converter (SFCC) and Dual Flying Capacitor Converter (DFCC) are two-quadrant power supplies for energy storage and transfer systems. They have applications in nuclear research and pulsed power systems in which superconductive coils are used. In this paper analytical expressions for the time-averaged behaviours of SFCC and DFCC are derived by using averaging technique. Because large superconductive magnet coils are used, time constants of the switched circuits are large enough compared to the switching period. Therefore, an averaged PWM switch equivalent circuit is substituted into the original converter circuits to find the averaged system equations. With this new insight in the averaged dynamics, their design and control can be optimized. Although DFCC has less coil current ripple compared to SFCC, the analysis will show that the averaged behaviours of both converters are the same.     

On the drop-weight testing of alumina/aluminum laminated composites

Laminated composites with ceramic front layers and metallic or composite backing layers have gained attractiveness as lightweight armours, as they exhibit the same ballistic performance with lower areal densities as compared to steels. Drop-weight testing (DWT) has potential for evaluating the low velocity impact behaviour of materials. This testing gives significant ideas and information about failure mechanisms and behaviour of materials under low velocity impact. In this study, DWT of alumina/aluminum laminated composites was done in order to investigate the effects of lamination type, density with respect to area and mechanical property of backing material on the low velocity ballistic performance of these composites. The experimental results showed that the laminated composite with ceramic front layer and aged-aluminum alloy as backing layer was the most effective among different investigated specimens against low velocity impact loads.     

Increasing the conversion fraction of sulfur to sodium thiosulfate with the ultrasound energy

The usage of ultrasound has gained popularity in the recent years. Ultrasonic processing means blasting liquids, usually water, with very intense sound at high frequency, producing very well mixed powerful chemical and physical reactions. This paper deals with the investigation of the effect of ultrasonic energy on the conversion fraction of sulfur in the production reaction of sodium thiosulfate which was obtained from sulfur and Na₂SO₃ solution. Concentration of Na₂SO₃ solution parameter was chosen as the constant parameter. The experiments were performed with various amplitudes of ultrasound power and in the absence and presence of ultrasound energy in various temperatures with various particle sizes. The results indicate that the conversion fraction values increase in the presence of ultrasound energy and increase at high amplitude values.     

Palladium-Catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura Reaction Using Saturated N-Heterocarbene Ligands

Recent studies have pointed to the heptamethylbenzenium cation as a prominent intermediate in the methanol to hydrocarbons (MTH) reaction. The reactions of the heptamethylbenzenium cation in a H-beta zeolite was studied at 300 °C by feeding its corresponding base (WHSV = 0.4 h^?1). The reactant was converted completely into aliphatic products, polymethylbenzenes and coke under the employed conditions. The results testify that the proposed reaction intermediate yields the same product spectrum as methanol. The composition of the material retained in the catalyst micropores after 15 min of reaction was determined by dissolving the catalyst in 15% HF. Polymethylated benzenes (predominantly pentamethylbenzene), dihydro-trimethylnaphthalenes, and hexamethylnaphthalene were the major components. The results also support the idea that the lowest naphthalene derivative is formed from the heptamethylbenzenium cation by a molecular rearrangement. Hence, the heptamethylbenzenium cation is inherently linked to both product formation and catalyst deactivation in the MTH reaction.     

The effects of discontinuity surface roughness on the shear strength of weathered granite joints

Surface roughness is one of the most important parameters governing the shear strength of rock discontinuities. Roughness types may vary based on genesis, physico-mechanical, and mineralogical properties of rocks. In this study, granite samples representing three different weathering degrees were selected to evaluate the effects of surface roughness and weathering degree on shear strength. To this aim, we determined the profile roughness coefficient (PRC), profile roughness angle (PRA), and joint roughness coefficient (JRC) for the selected fresh and weathered granite joint samples. Values of PRC were in the range of about 1.043–1.073, and PRA and JRC varied in the ranges of 16.67–21.45 and 12–18, respectively. Weathering led to the increment of joint surface roughness of the selected granitic joints due to the higher resistance of quartz crystals in the weathered matrix. However, the increment in surface roughness did not result in an increase in the shear strength. On the contrary, the shear strength of discontinuities dramatically decreased.     

Realizations of mutative 4-ports and their applications to memstor simulations

In this paper, in addition to the universal 4-port mutator circuit introduced earlier with an adder and a subtractor block, two more 4-port mutator circuits, one with plus type (CCII+) and minus type current conveyors (CCII?), the other with a plus type current conveyor (CCII+) and one minus type current follower (CF?) are presented, their port relation matrix and their realization of different memstors are tabulated. How the transfer characteristics of the ideal mutative 4-ports with respect to frequency hold is verified using their transistor level simulations. By terminating properly two ports of the mutative 4-port simulations of a memristor with three different mutators, of a meminductor and of a memcapacitor are presented and compared also with some mutators existing in the literature.     

Single and multilayered a-SiOx:H (x < 1) thin film samples analyzed by optical absorption and small-angle X-ray scattering

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxygen alloy thin films (a-SiO_x:H) were prepared on glass and crystalline silicon substrates, with two different oxygen contents: x = 0.15 and x = 0.32. The deposition was realized in an RF-PECVD reactor by using the plasma of the gas mixture SiH₄ and CO₂ with tunable flow rates. The optical characterization data of the single layers were received from the optical transmittance experiments. Multilayered samples were designed upon the results of the single layers. In depositing the multilayers the repetition of the a-SiO_0.15:H/a-SiO_0.32:H kernel-pair was used. The samples were prepared as 25-pair of λ/4 layers, 3-pair of λ/4 layers and 3-pair of λ/2 layers. The inner morphologies and nanostructural contents of the films were investigated by Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) method.     

The optimization of welding parameters for friction stir spot welding of high density polyethylene sheets

Friction stir spot welding parameters affect the weld strength of thermoplastics, such as high density polyethylene (HDPE) sheets. The strength of a friction stir spot weld is usually determined by a lap-shear test. For maximizing the weld strength, the selection of welding parameters is very important. This paper presents an application of Taguchi method to friction stir spot welding strength of HDPE sheets. An orthogonal array, the signal to noise ratio (S/N), and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to investigate friction stir welding parameter effects on the weld strength. From the ANOVA and the S/N ratio response graphs, the significant parameters and the optimal combination level of welding parameters were obtained. Experimental results confirmed the effectiveness of the method.     

Effect of ultraviolet and far infrared radiation on microbial decontamination and quality of cumin seeds

Abstract: Cumin seeds might be exposed to a high level of natural bacterial contamination, and this could potentially create a public health risk besides leading to problems in exportation. Ultraviolet (UVC) and far infrared (FIR) radiation has low penetration power, and due to that, there might be no detrimental defects to the products during a possible decontamination process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of UVC and FIR treatment on microbial decontamination and quality of cumin seeds. For this purpose, FIR treatment at different exposure times and temperatures were applied followed by constant UVC treatment with an intensity of 10.5 mW/cm² for 2 h. Total mesophilic aerobic bacteria of the cumin seeds were decreased to the target level of 10⁴ CFU/g after 1.57, 2.8, and 4.8 min FIR treatment at 300, 250, and 200 °C, respectively, following a 2 h UVC treatment. Under the given conditions, a complete elimination for total yeast and molds were obtained while there were no significant changes in volatile oil content and color of the cumin seeds. Consequently, combined UVC and FIR treatment was determined to be a promising method for decontamination of the cumin seeds. Practical Application: This research attempts to apply UVC and far infrared (FIR) radiation for pasteurization of cumin seeds. The data suggested that combined UVC and FIR radiation treatments can become a promising new method for pasteurization of cumin seeds without causing any detrimental defect to the quality parameters. The results of this industry partnered (Kadioglu Baharat, Mersin, Turkey— http://www.kadioglubaharat.com ) study were already applied in industrial scale production lines.     

High mobility strained Si0.5Ge0.5/SSOI short channel field effect transistors with TiN/GdScO3 gate stack

Short channel p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with GdScO₃ gate dielectric were fabricated on a quantum well strained Si/strained Si_0.5Ge_0.5/strained Si heterostructure on insulator. Amorphous GdScO₃ layers with a dielectric constant of 24 show small hysteresis and low density of interface states. All devices show good performance with a threshold voltage of 0.585 V, commonly used for the present technology nodes, and high I_on/I_off current ratios. We confirm experimentally the theoretical predictions that the drive current and the transconductance of the biaxially strained (1 0 0) devices are weakly dependent on the channel orientation. The transistor’s hole mobility, extracted using split C-V method on long channel devices, indicates an enhancement of 90% (compared to SiO₂/SOI transistors) at low effective field, with a peak value of 265 cm²/V s. The enhancement is however, only 40% at high electrical fields. We demonstrate that the combination of GdScO₃ dielectric and strained SiGe layer is a promising solution for gate-first high mobility short channel p-MOSFETs.