Exploiting the orbital motion of water particles for energy extraction from waves

In wave motion, the water particles are known to follow orbital paths. This orbital motion was used to drive five-bladed Savonius rotors. Experiments were performed on an array of four rotors placed in a two-dimensional (2-D) wave channel. The flow around the rotors was documented using particle image velocimetry measurements. The submergence of the rotors and the distance between them were varied, and the rotational speeds of the rotors (N_n) were recorded at different wave frequencies. It was found that rotational speeds increased with an increase in the wave frequency, as it amplified the wave height that increased the kinetic energy of the particles in their orbital motion. The rotational speeds decreased when the distance between the rotors increased. High rotational speeds are recorded when the array of the rotors is placed close to the water surface at the smallest centre-to-centre distance between the rotors.     

Static and low order anti-windup synthesis for cascade control systems with actuator saturation: An application to temperature-based process control

In this paper, a new framework for designing static and low order anti-windup compensator (AWC) for industrial cascade control systems with actuator saturation constraint is presented. Based on less conservative block diagonal quadratic Lyapunov function, sector boundedness, decoupled architecture, norm reduction and cascade loop compensation, linear matrix inequalities are developed which guarantee stability and suitable performance for overall closed-loop system. Static AWC parameters are obtained by comparing the full order AWC architecture with generalized architecture for cascade control system. Low order AWC is designed by sub-optimal approach in which AWC weights are tuned by designer. Anti-windup compensator is divided into inner and outer loop compensators which compensate the effect of saturation at each level. It is observed that the proposed methodology is less conservative than the traditional AWC schemes when applied to cascade control systems. The proposed scheme is successfully tested experimentally on a temperature-based process control system and results are outlined.     

Plasmodium species aware based quantification of malaria parasitemia in light microscopy thin blood smear

Malaria is a serious worldwide disease, caused by a bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. The parasite transferred into complex life round in which it is grown and reproduces into the human body. The detection and recognition of Plasmodium species are possible and efficient through a process called staining (Giemsa). The staining process slightly colorizes the red blood cells (RBCs) but highlights Plasmodium parasites, white blood cells and artifacts. Giemsa stains nuclei, chromatin in blue tone and RBCs in pink color. It has been reported in numerous studies that manual microscopy is not a trustworthy screening technique when performed by nonexperts. Malaria parasites host in RBCs when it enters the bloodstream. This paper presents segmentation of Plasmodium parasite from the thin blood smear points on region growing and dynamic convolution based filtering algorithm. After segmentation, malaria parasite classified into four Plasmodium species: Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium vivax, and Plasmodium malaria. The random forest and K‐nearest neighbor are used for classification base on local binary pattern and hue saturation value features. The sensitivity for malaria parasitemia (MP) is 96.75% on training and testing of the proposed approach while specificity is 94.59%. Beside these, the comparisons of the two features are added to the proposed work for classification having sensitivity is 83.60% while having specificity is 94.90% through random forest classifier based on local binary pattern feature.     

Inconel 617 alloy creep life augmentation by graphene transfer coating

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Presently, countries are trying to increase their energy efficiency. Therefore, the operating temperatures of very high temperature reactor (VHTR) and...     

Laser beam machining of zirconia ceramic: An investigation of micro-machining geometry and surface roughness

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Micro-machining of dental ceramics namely as zirconium oxide is carried out through laser beam machining. Micro-channels of different sizes are...     

Slurry Erosion–Corrosion of Carburized AISI 5117 Steel

The erosion–corrosion of carburized and untreated low alloy steel (AISI 5117) has been investigated using slurry whirling-arm test rig. Erosion–corrosion tests were carried out in slurries composed of sand particles and either tap water or 3 % NaCl solution. The tests were carried out with particles concentration of 1 wt% and slurry stream impact velocity of 15 m/s. Silica sand having a nominal size range of 250–355 μm was used as an erodent. It has been shown that the erosion and erosion–corrosion resistance of AISI 5117 low alloy steel can be effectively improved by carburizing for all impact angles. However, the effectiveness of carburizing was the highest for an impact angle of 45°, where the erosion and erosion–corrosion resistance were increased by 60–40 %, respectively, compared with that of the untreated material. The results showed that the treated and untreated specimens behaved as ductile materials under erosion and erosion–corrosion tests, and the maximum mass loss occurred at an impact angle of 45°. SEM analysis showed that the erosion tracks developed on the untreated specimens were wider and deeper than that formed on the carburized specimens for erosion and erosion–corrosion tests.     

Real-time rescheduling metaheuristic algorithms applied to FMS with routing flexibility

This paper presents the results of a simulation study of a typical flexible manufacturing system that consists of seven machining centres, a loading and an unloading area, and six different part types. Owing to the existence of identical machining centres, the part types have alternative routings (their number varies between two and eight). One of the objectives of this work is to show how the following metaheuristics: ant colony optimisation, genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, tabu search, particle swarm optimisation and electromagnetism-like method, are adapted for solving the alternative routing selection problem in real time in order to reduce the congestion in the system by selecting a routing for each part among its alternative routings. The other goal is to highlight the impact of the real-time rescheduling of parts contained in the loading station on system performances when these metaheuristics are applied. The simulation results jugged by the production rate, machines and material handling utilisation rate show that for an overloaded system, the real-time rescheduling outperforms the case without rescheduling, but it has a negative impact on the work in process.     

Optimizing the PVD TiN thin film coating’s parameters on aerospace AL7075-T6 alloy for higher coating hardness and adhesion with better tribological properties of the coating surface

An optimization study on the parameters of titanium nitride coating on aerospace Al7075-T6 alloy, using magnetron sputtering technique is presented. The effects of the temperature, DC bias voltage, rate of nitrogen, and DC power on the surface hardness, adhesion, surface roughness, and microstructure of the coated samples are investigated. Taguchi optimization method is used with the orthogonal array of L₁₆ (4⁴). However, to obtain the most optimum parameters for the best surface hardness, adhesion, and surface roughness, the signal to noise (S/N) response analysis method is implemented. Finally, the confirmation tests were carried out to show the improvement using the best parameters combination obtained from the optimization process. The improvement of 14?% in surface hardness, 4.15?% in adhesion, and 9.43?% in surface roughness are achieved.     

Investigating the effects of hard anodizing parameters on surface hardness of hard anodized aerospace AL7075-T6 alloy using fuzzy logic approach for fretting fatigue application

Aerospace applications and energy saving strategies in general raised the interest and study in the field of lightweight materials, especially on aluminum alloys. Aluminum alloy itself does not have suitable wear resistance. Therefore, improvements of surface properties are required in practical applications, especially surface hardness when aluminum is in contact with other parts. In this work, first Al7075-T6 was coated using hard anodizing technique in different parameters condition and the surfaces hardness of hard anodizing-coated specimens were measured using microhardness machine. Second, fretting fatigue life of AL7075-T6 was investigated for both uncoated and hard anodized specimens at the highest surface hardness obtained. Third, a fuzzy logic model was established to investigate the effect of hard anodizing parameters, voltage, temperature, solution concentration, and time on the anodized AL7075-T6. Four fuzzy membership functions are allocated to be connected with each input of the model. The results achieved via fuzzy logic model were verified and compared with the experimental result. The result demonstrated settlement between the fuzzy model and experimental results with 95.032 % accuracy. The hardness of hard anodizing-coated specimens was increased up to 360 HV, while the hardness of uncoated specimens was 170 HV. The result shows that hard anodizing improved the fretting fatigue life of AL7075-T6 alloy 44 % in low-cycle fatigue.     

Analytical modeling of grinding wheel loading phenomena

Wheel surface condition plays an important role in the grinding operation. Grinding wheel loading, meaning chip accumulation in the space between grains, leads to deteriorating wheel cutting ability and causes excessive force and temperature. This paper presents an analytical model of wheel loading phenomena as a function of cutting parameters, wheel structure, and material properties. The model is based on the adhesion of workpiece material to abrasive grain surface. It is validated by experimental results from grinding nickel-based superalloy with cubic boron nitride vitrified wheel. This model considers wheel specifications including abrasive grains size and the number of cutting edges. Cutting parameters and process temperature are the other determinant factors. On the basis of this model and empirical results, the effects of the various process parameters are presented.