Using electroencephalogram to continuously discriminate feelings of personal thermal comfort between uncomfortably hot and comfortable environments

Thermal comfort is an important factor for the design of buildings. Although it has been well recognized that many physiological parameters are linked to the state of thermal comfort or discomfort of humans, how to use physiological signal to judge the state of thermal comfort has not been well studied. In this paper, the feasibility of continuously determining feelings of personal thermal comfort was discussed by using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in private space. In the study, 22 subjects were exposed to thermally comfortable and uncomfortably hot environments, and their EEG signals were recorded. Spectral power features of the EEG signals were extracted, and an ensemble learning method using linear discriminant analysis or support vector machine as a sub-classifier was used to build the discriminant model. The results show that an average discriminate accuracy of 87.9% can be obtained within a detection window of 60 seconds. This study indicates that it is feasible to distinguish whether a person feels comfortable or too hot in their private space by multi-channel EEG signals without interruption and suggests possibility for further applications in neuroergonomics.     

矿用钻孔深度测量仪的设计

设计了一种以STM32F103微控制器为控制核心,基于24位高精度模数转换器的钻孔深度测量仪器。利用弹性波回波测距原理,通过测量出钻孔中钻杆的长度,实现钻孔深度的快速、无损、准确的测量,主要用于井下瓦斯抽放钻孔、探放水钻孔等煤矿通防工作的施工验收。仪器小巧轻便,操作简单,单人即可完成测量工作,节约下井的人力物力,提高生产效率,最长测量长度可达250米,误差不超过1米。     

Study of MW-scale biogas-fed SOFC-WGS-TSA-PEMFC hybrid power technology as distributed energy system: Thermodynamic,exergetic and thermo-economic evaluation

Advanced biogas power generation technology has been attracting attentions, which contributes to the waste disposal and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. This work proposes and models a novel biogas-fed hybrid power generation system consisting of solid oxide fuel cell, water gas shift reaction, thermal swing adsorption and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (SOFC-WGS-TSA-PEMFC). The thermodynamic, exergetic, and thermo-economic analyses of this hybrid system for power generation were conducted to comprehensively evaluate its performance. It was found that the novel biogas-fed hybrid system has a gross energy conversion efficiency of 68.63% and exergy efficiency of 65.36%, indicating high efficiency for this kind of hybrid power technology. The market sensitivity analysis showed that the hybrid system also has a low sensitivity to market price fluctuation. Under the current subsidy level for the distributed biogas power plant, the levelized cost of energy can be lowered to 0.02942 $/kWh for a 1 MW scale system. Accordingly, the payback period and annual return on investment can reach 1.4 year and about 20%, respectively. These results reveal that the proposed hybrid system is promising and economically feasible as a distributed power plant, especially for the small power scale (no more than 2 MW).     

Microstructures and mechanical properties of B4C-TiB2-SiC composites fabricated by ball milling and hot pressing

B₄C-TiB₂-SiC composites were fabricated via hot pressing using ball milled B₄C, TiB₂, and SiC powder mixtures as the starting materials. The impact of ball milling on the densification behaviors, mechanical properties, and microstructures of the ceramic composites were investigated. The results showed that the refinement of the powder mixtures and the removal of the oxide impurities played an important role in the improvement of densification and properties. Moreover, the formation of the liquid phases during the sintering was deemed beneficial for densification. The typical values of relative density, hardness, bending strength, and fracture toughness of the composites reached 99.20%, 32.84?GPa, 858?MPa and 8.21?MPa?m^1/2, respectively. Crack deflection, crack bridging, crack branching, and microcracking were considered to be the potential toughening mechanisms in the composites. Furthermore, numerous nano-sized intergranular/intragranular phases and twin structures were observed in the B₄C-TiB₂-SiC composite.     

A facile method for preparation of PGS@ZB‐N and gas‐sol alternating synergistic effect for fire resistance of EVA

Through the simple precipitation of palygorskite (PGS) by zinc borate (ZB) (to make PGS@ZB) and the decoration of PGS@ZB by dodecylamine (N), a novel organic‐inorganic@inorganic hybrid flame retardant of PGS@ZB‐N was prepared and was incorporated with ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) to improve its flame retardance. The structure and morphology of PGS@ZB‐N were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and it was confirmed that the PGS@ZB‐N hybrid had been successfully prepared. The flame retardancy and burning behavior of EVA/PGS@ZB‐N/EG (EG = expandable graphite) composite were studied through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL‐94 (by the vertical burning test), and cone calorimeter test (CCT) characterizations. The prepared EVA/PGS@ZB‐N/EG composite obtained an LOI value of 41.2% with the addition of 30 wt% PGS@ZB‐N/EG. It was found that EVA/PGS@ZB‐N/EG was protected through a gas phase and condensed phase alternating synergistic effect mechanism.