Application of Granulometry for Rapid Assessment of the Performance Properties of Acid-Activated Sedimentary Rocks

Glass and Ceramics - The granulometric compositions of native and acid-activated rocks containing aluminosilicates are compared. It is shown that in water rocks gradually dissolve and the particle...     

Investigation of 12 – 15 Kev Electron Transmission Through Tapered Glass Capillaries

Glass and Ceramics - The results of experimental studies of the transmission of 12 and 15 keV electron beams through tapered glass macro-capillaries are presented. Measurements showed that there is...     

A Comparative Study on Open Circuit Voltage Models for Lithium-ion Batteries

The current research of state of charge(SoC) online estimation of lithium-ion battery(LiB) in electric vehicles(EVs)mainly focuses on adopting or improving of battery models and estimation filters. However, little attention has been paid to the accuracy of various open circuit voltage(OCV) models for correcting the SoC with aid of the ampere-hour counting method. This paper presents a comprehensive comparison study on eighteen OCV models which cover the majority of models used in literature. The low-current OCV tests are conducted on the typical commercial LiFePO_4/graphite(LFP) and LiNiMnCoO_2/graphite(NMC) cells to obtain the experimental OCV-SoC curves at different ambient temperature and aging stages. With selected OCV and SoC points from experimental OCV-SoC curves, the parameters of each OCV model are determined by curve fitting toolbox of MATLAB 2013. Then the fitting OCV-SoC curves based on diversified OCV models are also obtained. The indicator of root-mean-square error(RMSE) between the experimental data and fitted data is selected to evaluate the adaptabilities of these OCV models for their main features, advantages,and limitations. The sensitivities of OCV models to ambient temperatures, aging stages, numbers of data points,and SoC regions are studied for both NMC and LFP cells. Furthermore, the influences of these models on SoC estimation are discussed. Through a comprehensive comparison and analysis on OCV models, some recommendations in selecting OCV models for both NMC and LFP cells are given.     

Producing Polydicyclopentadiene from Lower-Grade Dicyclopentadiene

Russian Engineering Research - Polymer samples based on polydicyclopentadiene produced from Russian dicyclopentadiene are investigated by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning...     

Experimental study on the life prediction of servo motors through model-based system degradation assessment and accelerated degradation testing

The advent of smart factories has resulted in the frequent utilization of industrial robots within factories to increase production automation and efficiency. Due to the increase in the number of industrial robots, it has become more important to prevent any unexpected breakdowns of the factory. As a result, the lifespan prediction of machinery has become a crucial factor because such failures can be directly associated with factory productivity resulting in significant losses. Most of the failures occur within one of the core components of the robot arm, the servo motor, and thus we will focus on the analysis of the servo motor in this study. However, sensor attachment to such equipment is considered difficult due to the dynamic movement of the robot arm, meaning that internal instrumentation should be utilized during analysis. In addition, no definite measure to determine the degradation of the motor exists, and thus a new degradation index is proposed in this study. Therefore, in this study, the lifespan of the servo motor will be estimated through accelerated degradation testing methods based on a new system degradation assessment method, which estimates the fault of the system using observer-based residuals with encoder data obtained from internal instrumentation.     

A study on piezoelectric energy harvester using kinetic energy of ocean

Electricity generation through fossil fuels has caused environmental pollution. Accordingly, research on new renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal heat, etc.) to replace fossil fuels and solve this problem is in progress. These devices can consistently generate power. However, they have several drawbacks, such as high installation costs and limitations in possible set-up environments. Therefore, the piezoelectric harvesting technology, which is able to overcome the limitations of existing energy technologies, is actively being studied. The piezoelectric harvesting technology uses the piezoelectric effect, which occurs in crystals that generate voltage when stress is applied. Its advantages include a wider installation base and a lower technological cost. This study investigated a piezoelectric energy-harvesting device based on constant wave motion. This device can harvest power in a constant turbulent flow in the middle of the sea. The components of the device are circuitry, percussion bar, triple layer piezoelectric bender, bearing and rudder. A multiphysical analysis coupled with the structure and piezoelectric elements was also conducted to estimate the device performance. The analysis accuracy was improved by applying the impact energy to the bender calculated based on the shape of the wave in the East Sea. The proposed device’s performance was finally confirmed by experiments.     

Three‐dimensional trajectory of electrospun polymer solution jet using digital holographic microscopy

The three‐dimensional trajectories of polymer solution jets during the electrospinning of polymer nanofibers were experimentally investigated. Test conditions included water solutions of polyethylene oxide (PEO) with concentrations typical of those producing beaded nanofibers, driving voltages ranging from 5 kV to 15 kV to generate a single polymer jet and injection pressures ranging from 0 kPa to 55 kPa. The present holographic imaging setup resolved the spatial growth of the bending instabilities, which is beneficial for validating numerical models. The results also showed the bead formation on the polymer fiber in‐flight. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1765–1773, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

TiB2 Powders Synthesis by Borothermal Reduction in TiO2 Under Vacuum

TiB₂ powders were synthesized by borothermal reduction in nanoscale TiO₂ with boron under vacuum. Reaction processes were investigated, and the effect of by‐product B₂O₃ was evaluated. Results showed that TiO₂ was firstly reduced by boron to form TiBO₃ and Ti₂O₃, and then to produce TiB₂ and B₂O₃ with increasing temperature. The reaction processes of TiB₂ powders synthesis included two‐step reduction in TiO₂ by boron and the removal of B₂O₃. The presence of B₂O₃, which was previously reported as the most important factor in promoting the coarsening of ZrB₂ and HfB₂ powders by borothermal reduction, did not lead to significant coarsening of TiB₂ powders. Due to the minor effect of B₂O₃, TiB₂ powders with small particle size and low oxygen content could be prepared by direct heat treatment of TiO₂ and boron at 1550°C under vacuum for 1 h. The particle size and oxygen content of synthesized TiB₂ powders were ~0.9 μm and ~1.7 wt%, respectively.     

Sintering Behavior and Dielectric Properties of Ultra‐Low Temperature Fired Silver Molybdate Ceramics

Ag₂MoO₄ ceramic was prepared by using the solid‐state reaction method, which could be sintered at 450°C for 2 h, having a relative permittivity of 8.08, a Qf value of 17 000 GHz, and a temperature coefficient of resonance frequency about ?133 ppm/°C. Ag₂MoO₄ ceramic was chemically compatible with silver but reacted seriously with aluminum to form (Ag_0.5Al_0.5)MoO₄ during the sintering. The fitting of infrared spectra and the Shannon's additive rule were employed to study intrinsic dielectric behaviors of the ceramics at microwave region. Ionic displacive polarization and the electronic polarization contributed almost equally to the dielectric permittivity of the ceramic at microwave region. The Ag₂MoO₄ ceramics could be a good candidate for ultra‐low temperature co‐fired microwave devices.