Influence of the duty cycle on structural and mechanical properties of oxide layers on Al-1050 by a plasma electrolytic oxidation process

Oxide layers were prepared on Al-1050 substrates by an environmentally friendly plasma electrolytic oxidation process using an alkaline solution of Na₂SiO₃ (8 g/L) and NaOH (3 g/L) as the electrolyte. The effects of three different duty cycles (20%, 40%, and 60%) on the structure and hardness of the oxides were investigated. XRD analysis revealed that the oxides were mainly composed of α-Al₂O₃, γ-Al₂O₃, and mullite. The proportion of each phase depended on various electrical parameters, such as the duty cycle and frequency. The morphology, thickness, and the elemental distribution of the oxides were examined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The thicknesses of the oxides were found to vary from 20 μm to more than 60 μm for various duty cycles, when identical treatment durations were used. The oxidation treatment also resulted in good adhesion between the oxide layer and the substrate. SEM images indicated that the oxide layers formed at the 60% duty cycle exhibited relatively coarser surfaces with larger pore sizes and sintering particles, and slower growth rates than did those formed at the 20% duty cycle, under identical treatment durations. The oxides prepared at the 20% duty cycle showed smooth surfaces. The oxides layers were found to improve the micro-hardness of Al-1050. In particular, the oxide layers formed at the 40% duty cycle exhibited relatively better micro-hardness owing to their compact microstructures.     

Characteristic test methods of the thermal mass flow controller

A thermal mass flow controller (MFC) is used to measure and control the mass flow of gases in industrial fields, for example, in the semiconductor manufacturing process. In the present study, the characteristic test methods for rangeability, linearity, reproducibility, effects of temperature and valve response time are proposed to evaluate the performance of the MFC. Three commercial MFC products are tested by gas flow standard system and a sonic nozzle to verify the effectiveness of the proposed test methods. Linearity tests show that reading errors before and after adjustment must be provided to consumers. Reproducibility tests were conducted to evaluate the short-term stability of MFCs. Temperature effect tests represent that deviation due to temperature effect of MFC body is larger than that of gas flowing. Three MFCs show different response characteristics according to direction of flow rate change in response time test by measuring the flow setpoint, flow output signal, and real flow rate.     

Study on the reduction of flow-induced noise through the suppression of vortex shedding at rotating disk edge

We conducted a computational analysis to better understand the coherent flow structure that arises when the rotation of a disk drive generates flow-induced noise. We set the flow domain to be similar to the actual shape of the flow in Blu-ray disks and examined the phenomena of vortex generation and shedding at the disk edge, focusing on the source of the noise. Our results showed that disk edge vortex shedding was the primary cause of disk-drive-flow-induced noise; therefore, we investigated the technique of lowering the intensity of a disk edge vortex to reduce this noise. We attached concentric projections onto the cover of the disk to suppress the flow returning to the center of the disk through the gap between the disk and cover. Noise induced by disk rotation was reduced by 2.68 dB at the optimal setting: projections 0.002 m wide and 0.006 m width between the projections (and thus a ratio of 1: 3).     

The effect of FAR (floor area ratio) regulations on land values: The case of New York

This paper explores the stringency of floor area ratio (FAR), one of the land use regulations in New York, and analyses it by boroughs of New York. Stringency is presented when the regulated height is significantly lower than the free market height and the theoretical approach shows that the elasticity of the land value with respect to FAR is used to estimate the stringency. In particular, we overcome issues in previous studies by constructing a data set using publically available data through new methods. The results show that the FAR stringency in Manhattan is the highest in New York City and the stringency is lower as the distance from the centre of the city increases.     

XMDR-DAI-based USN multimedia MetaData management agent for sensor networks

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In a ubiquitous sensor network (USN) environment, it is necessary to define and manage a single metadata between the multimedia sensor and multimedia sensor node...     

Effect of a diffuser on gas-solid behavior in CFB riser for CO2 capture

Gas-solid fluidized beds have been used in CO₂ capture processes because of their high mixing characteristic and heat and mass transfer. Sufficient residence time of solid particles in a reactor is required to capture CO₂. However, a fraction of solid particles pass through a reactor without capturing CO₂ due to normal reaction characteristics. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to increase the sorbent residence time using a diffuser in a reactor for CO₂ capture. An Eulerian-Eulerian model in a commercial CFD program was employed to simulate gas-solid flow in the reactor. First, sensitivity analysis depending on operating conditions was conducted to predict the residence time of solid particles. The diffuser was located in the middle of the reactor and the angle of the diffuser was changed. Solid particles dispersed in the radial direction because of gas characteristics in the diffuser and increased the residence time. The results showed that the diffuser increased the sorbent residence time, so that the probabilities of gas-solid reaction would be also improved.

     

Direct model-based predictive control scheme without cost function for voltage source inverters with reduced common-mode voltage

This paper presents a direct model-based predictive control scheme for voltage source inverters (VSIs) with reduced common-mode voltages (CMVs). The developed method directly finds optimal vectors without using repetitive calculation of a cost function. To adjust output currents with the CMVs in the range of –V_dc/6 to +V_dc/6, the developed method uses voltage vectors, as finite control resources, excluding zero voltage vectors which produce the CMVs in the VSI within ±V_dc/2. In a model-based predictive control (MPC), not using zero voltage vectors increases the output current ripples and the current errors. To alleviate these problems, the developed method uses two non-zero voltage vectors in one sampling step. In addition, the voltage vectors scheduled to be used are directly selected at every sampling step once the developed method calculates the future reference voltage vector, saving the efforts of repeatedly calculating the cost function. And the two non-zero voltage vectors are optimally allocated to make the output current approach the reference current as close as possible. Thus, low CMV, rapid current-following capability and sufficient output current ripple performance are attained by the developed method. The results of a simulation and an experiment verify the effectiveness of the developed method.     

Boundary image matching supporting partial denoising using time-series matching techniques

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, we deal with the problem of boundary image matching which finds similar boundary images regardless of partial noise exploiting time-series...