Performance evaluation of modified rotating-jet electrospinning method by investigating the effect of collector size on the nanofibers alignment

Modified rotating-jet electrospinning method (MRJM) is a new electrospinning technique with a novel setup including two metallic concentric hollow cylinders for generating highly aligned fibers. In this report, an experimental study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of MRJM for generating highly aligned nanofibers. For this purpose, the effect of voltage in the range of 10–22 kV, inner collector diameter in the range of 20–50 cm, and outer collector diameter in the range of 30–60 cm, on alignment degrees of electrospun fibers were explored and the results for each set of parameters were compared with those obtained for rotating-jet electrospinning method (RJM). The obtained results indicated that the alignment degrees of electrospun fibers in MRJM were significantly higher than those of RJM. The maximum achievable alignment degree in MRJM was around 82 % that was higher than the corresponding maximum value (40 %) of RJM. Although the effect of applied voltage on the degree of alignment in MRJM was observed to be negligible, it was experimentally proved that by manipulating the outer cylinder diameter, the degree of alignment can be increased up to 20 %. To achieve a conceptual understanding of the reason for significant influence of the outer cylinder on the elecrospinning performance, a formula was derived according to the Gauss’s law in the last part of this paper that relates the electric field strength inside the region between the inner cylinder and the spinneret to the radii of inner and outer cylinders.     

FPGA based fast and high-throughput 2-slow retiming 128-bit AES encryption algorithm

This paper presents a high throughput digital design of the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm based on the 2-slow retiming technique on FPGA. The C-slow retiming is a well-known optimization and high performance technique. It can enhance designs with feedback loops and automatically rebalances the registers in the design. The C-slow retiming can break the critical path of the design into finer pieces to improve the throughput of the design. The complexity of the C-slow retiming on FPGA is to find the best register allocation in the data path of the design so that by increasing the number of registers, relocation of the registers to balance the AES architecture be in the best mode, and the critical path be optimally pipelined and improved. In this paper, architecture of the AES algorithm is implemented in the gate level by high-speed and breakable structures that are desirable for the 2-slow retiming. The Mix-columns transformation is implemented based on multiplication by constants 2 and 3 modules with combinational logic circuits. This work has been successfully verified and synthesized using Xilinx ISE 11 byVirtex-5, XC5VLX85 FPGA. The proposed implementation achieves a high throughput of 86 Gb/s and high maximum operation frequency of 671.524 MHz whereas the highest throughput and the highest operation frequency reported in the literature are 73.737 Gb/s and 576.07 MHz, respectively.     

Minimizing torque ripple in a brushless DC motor with fuzzy logic: applied to control rod driving mechanism of MNSR

A permanent magnet BLDC(brushless direct current) motor is used to move the control rod of a miniature neutron source reactor(MNSR). The BLDC motor drive is modeled using MATLAB/SIMULINK. Two main parts of the modeling are the inverter switching and the current control. Current control with chopping used to minimize the torque ripple of the MNSR control rod drive. Fuzzy logic current control together with soft chopping control shows the best response of all the three strategies. The prototype drive mechanism has an ATmega32 controller and power MOSFET switches. The simulation results are compared with experimental drive mechanism.     

A study of formation and photoluminescence properties of ZnO quantum dot doped zinc-alumino-silicate glass ceramic

Transparent Al₂O₃-SiO₂-ZnO-R₂O glass ceramics were fabricated by melting method. The effects of the different kind of alkali ions on the formation of the transparent glass ceramic were studied. X-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscope were measured to study the microstructure of the samples. The results showed that, transparent glass ceramic including ZnO quantum dots was obtained after heat treatment from 700 °C to 800 °C for the sample containing K₂O. While glasses containing Li₂O and Na₂O were opal after heat treatment. Photoluminescence properties of the K₂O contained samples were studied. It was found that the photoluminescence peak shifted to longer wavelength when the heat treatment temperature and time increased, which can be ascribed to the increasing of ZnO quantum dots size.     

Magnetic field effect on fluid flow characteristics in a pipe for laminar flow

The influence of a magnetic field on the skin friction factor of steady fully-developed laminar flow through a pipe was studied experimentally. A mathematical model was introduced and a finite difference scheme used to solve the governing equations in terms of vorticity-stream function. The model predictions agree favourably with experimental results. It is observed that the pressure drop varies in proportion to the square of the product of the magnetic field and the sine of the magnetic field angle. Also, the pressure drop is proportional to the flow rate. This situation is similar to what applies in the absence of a magnetic field. It is found that a transverse magnetic field changes the axial velocity profile from the parabolic to a relatively flat shape. At first, the radial velocity rises more rapidly and then gradually decreases along the pipe until falling to zero. A numerical correlation can be written for the considerable distance required for the new axial velocity profile to establish. Owing to the changes taking place in the axial velocity profile, it exhibits a higher skin friction factor. The new axial velocity profile asymptotically approaches its limit as the Hartmann number becomes large.     

Load rating of concrete-deck-on-steel-stringer bridges using field-calibrated 2D-grid models

This paper presents and discusses issues related to structural identification, calibrated model-based load rating, and sensitivity of rating to the analytical model, along with experimental studies conducted on an existing concrete-deck-on-steel-stringer bridge. The proposed model-updating procedure uses collected dynamic data (mode shapes, modal frequencies, and order of modes) as well as static deformed shape information. Two-dimensional (2D) grid models were developed to successfully simulate the transverse load transfer mechanisms between girders, torsional flexibility, and effects of skewed bridge architecture. The rating results obtained from the 2D-grid models were close to 3D-FEM-based evaluation, while simplified 1D bar models had serious shortcomings. Grouping the parameters of the analytical model at different stages of model calibration enhanced the speed and convergence success of the objective function. Although cross-braces are considered as non-structural members, they have been found to be the most critical members of the selected bridge during rating studies. Failure of cross-braces deemed to alter the load transfer mechanism between girders and possibly resulting in the premature failures of interior girders.     

Experimental optimization studies on steel core lengths in buckling restrained braces

Concentric braced frames are commonly used in steel structures to withstand lateral forces. However, brace hysteretic behavior is asymmetric in tension and compression. These frames typically exhibit substantial strength deterioration when loaded in compression. Consequently, the concept of Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) has been introduced to overcome this deficiency.The length of a BRB steel core could have a significant effect on its overall behavior since it directly influences the energy dissipation of the member. Furthermore, BRB could be effectively utilized as a damper to dissipate seismic input energy, particularly when used as a fuse within the brace in a frame. Modified BRBs with shorter lengths may be called damper BRBs, because they function as if a typical damper is utilized along any brace member. These damper BRBs are fabricated and tested in this study both experimentally and analytically. Useful insights into local retrofitting of core plates and connections are also provided.     

Modelling and optimization of district heating and industrial energy system—an approach to a locally deregulated heat market

Regions with densely concentration of industries and district heating systems (DHS) could be interesting study object from the light of an integrated heat market on local basis. System analysis with a widened system boundary could be used as an approach to evaluate the benefit of an integrated heat supply system. In this study, an energy system model consisting of totally seven different participants is designed and the optimization results of the system analysis are presented. With applied data and assumptions, the study shows that a significant amount of the heat demand within two sub‐systems can be covered by heat supply from the heat market (the entire heat comes from two industries). Shadow prices, which can be used for heat pricing, indicate the advantage of an integrated system. The system cost reduction through integration and the availability of several actors with diverse energy supply system, makes the region under study an interesting area to prove a locally deregulated heat market. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accuracy of a class of concurrent algorithms for transient finite element analysis

The accuracy of a new class of concurrent, procedures for transient finite element analysis is examined. A phase error analysis is carried out which shows that wave retardation leading to unacceptable loss of accuracy may occur if a Courant condition based on the dimensions of the subdomains is violated. Numerical tests suggest that this Courant condition is conservative for typical structural applications and may lead to a marked increase in accuracy as the number of subdomains is increased. Theoretical speed-up ratios are derived which suggest that the algorithms under consideration can be expected to exhibit a performance superior to that of globally implicit methods when implemented on parallel machines.