A framework for digital sunken relief generation based on 3D geometric models

Sunken relief is a special art form of sculpture whereby the depicted shapes are sunk into a given surface. This is traditionally created by laboriously carving materials such as stone. Sunken reliefs often utilize the engraved lines or strokes to strengthen the impressions of a 3D presence and to highlight the features which otherwise are unrevealed. In other types of relief, smooth surfaces and their shadows convey such information in a coherent manner. Existing methods for relief generation are focused on forming a smooth surface with a shallow depth which provides the presence of 3D figures. Such methods unfortunately do not help the art form of sunken reliefs as they omit the presence of feature lines. We propose a framework to produce sunken reliefs from a known 3D geometry, which transforms the 3D objects into three layers of input to incorporate the contour lines seamlessly with the smooth surfaces. The three input layers take the advantages of the geometric information and the visual cues to assist the relief generation. We have modified the existing techniques of line drawings and relief generation, and then combine them organically for this particular purpose.     

Modeling and optimal control of human platform diving with somersaults and twists

The model-based investigation of fast dynamic motions of anthropomorphic systems is an interesting interdisciplinary field combining research efforts from applied mathematics, robotics, biomechanics, computer graphics and sports. Somersaults and twists of professional platform divers represent a particularly fascinating and extremely difficult type of motion. The purpose of this paper is to show how optimal control methods based on whole-body dynamic models of the diver can be very useful in generating natural platform diving motions. We present 3D somersaults with twists as well as pure somersaults in the sagittal plane for a variety of different take-off configurations and positions to be attained in the aerial phase that all have been produced by optimization of criteria related to energy input. By formulating the dive as a problem with several dynamic phases, we are able to treat contact and flight phase simultaneously, and also to split the flight phase in several sub-phases to correctly model requested positions in the air. Divers are modeled as multibody systems with actuators and damper elements at each joint. For the solution of the optimal control problem we use efficient direct multiple shooting methods based on the boundary value problem approach. The optimization results can be used to generate motions in computer graphics or robotics, but also provide useful insights into biological motion, including joint kinematics and the required torques and forces.     

Actuator line/Navier–Stokes computations for the MEXICO rotor: comparison with detailed measurements

In the European collaborative MEXICO (Model Experiments in Controlled Conditions) project, a series of experiments was carried out on a 4.5 m diameter wind turbine rotor to validate numerical diagnostics tools. Here, some of the measured data are compared with computations of the combined actuator line/Navier–Stokes (AL/NS) model developed at the Technical University of Denmark. The AL/NS model was combined with a large eddy simulation technique and used to compute the flow past the MEXICO rotor in free air and in the DNW German‐Dutch wind tunnel for three commonly defined test cases at wind speeds of 10, 15 and 24 m s ^?1. Two sets of airfoil data were used. Comparisons of blade loadings showed that the AL/NS technique with the modified airfoil data is in better agreement with the measurements than with the original 2D airfoil data. Comparisons of detailed near‐wake velocities showed good agreement with the measurements. Computations including the influence of the geometry of the wind tunnel showed that tunnel effects are not significant and the effect of the geometry of the wind tunnel only results in a speedup of 3% at a thrust coefficient of C_T = 1.Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance optimization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells using the Nelder-Mead algorithm

The direct-search simplex method for function optimization has been adapted to performance optimization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The established method is strongly application oriented and uses only experimentally determined data for optimization. It is not restricted to discrete parameters optimums and does not require the use of third-party software or computational resources. Hence, it is easy to implement in fuel cell testing stations. The optimization consists of finding, for a given fuel cell load, an optimum set of values of the 7 fuel cell operating parameters: the fuel cell temperature, the reactants' stoichiometric ratios, the reactants' inlet relative humidity, and the reactants' outlet pressures, resulting in the highest fuel cell performance. The performance is measured using a scalar function of the operating parameters and the load and can be defined according to needs.Two PEMFC performance functions: the fuel cell voltage and the system-related fuel cell efficiency were optimized using the procedure for practically sized PEMFC stacks of two designs. With respect to the nominal operating conditions defined as optimal for each stack design by its manufacturer, the gains from the optimization procedure were up to over 12% and up to over 7% for the stack voltage and efficiency, respectively. The validation of the procedure involved 5 stack specimens and four laboratories and consistent results were obtained.     

Crosslinking of polybenzimidazole membranes by divinylsulfone post‐treatment for high‐temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications

Phosphoric acid‐doped polybenzimidazole (PBI) has been suggested as a promising electrolyte for proton exchange membrane fuel cells operating at temperatures up to 200 °C. This paper describes the development of a crosslinking procedure for PBI membranes by post‐treatment with divinylsulfone. The crosslinking chemistry was studied and optimized on a low‐molecular‐weight model system and the results were used to optimize the crosslinking conditions of PBI membranes. The crosslinked membranes were characterized with respect to chemical and physiochemical properties, showing improved mechanical strength and oxidative stability compared with their linear analogues. Fuel cell tests were further conducted in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the crosslinked membranes. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Megasonic agitation for enhanced electrodeposition of copper

In this paper we propose an agitation method based on megasonic acoustic streaming to overcome the limitations in plating rate and uniformity of the metal deposits during the electroplating process. Megasonic agitation at a frequency of 1 MHz allows the reduction of the thickness of the Nernst diffusion layer to less than 600 nm. Two applications that demonstrate the benefits of megasonic acoustic streaming are presented: the formation of uniform ultra-fine pitch flip-chip bumps and the metallisation of high aspect ratio microvias. For the latter application, a multi-physics based numerical simulation is implemented to describe the hydrodynamics introduced by the acoustic waves as they travel inside the deep microvias.     

The Effect of Gradual Fluorination on the Properties of FnZnPc Thin Films and FnZnPc/C60 Bilayer Photovoltaic Cells

Motivated by the possibility of modifying energy levels of a molecule without substantially changing its band gap, the impact of gradual fluorination on the optical and structural properties of zinc phthalocyanine (F_nZnPc) thin films and the electronic characteristics of F_nZnPc/C₆₀ (n = 0, 4, 8, 16) bilayer cells is investigated. UV–vis measurements reveal similar Q‐ and B‐band absorption of F_nZnPc thin films with n = 0, 4, 8, whereas for F₁₆ZnPc a different absorption pattern is detected. A correlation between structure and electronic transport is deduced. For F₄ZnPc/C₆₀ cells, the enhanced long range order supports fill factors of 55% and an increase of the short circuit current density by 18%, compared to ZnPc/C₆₀. As a parameter being sensitive to the organic/organic interface energetics, the open circuit voltage is analyzed. An enhancement of this quantity by 27% and 50% is detected for F₄ZnPc‐ and F₈ZnPc‐based devices, respectively, and is attributed to an increase of the quasi‐Fermi level splitting at the donor/acceptor interface. In contrast, for F₁₆ZnPc/C₆₀ a decrease of the open circuit voltage is observed. Complementary photoelectron spectroscopy, external quantum efficiency, and photoluminescence measurements reveal a different working principle, which is ascribed to the particular energy level alignment at the interface of the photoactive materials.