Fabrication of a micro-pin array with high density and high hardness by combining mechanical peck-drilling and reverse-EDM

To fabricate circular cross-section micro-pin array with high hardness and high density in a fast and efficient way, a combined method of mechanical peck-drilling and reverse electrical discharge machining (reverse-EDM) is proposed in this research. First, a ball-cone-hole-magnet (BCHM) method is applied in high vibration cantilevered platform (HVCP) and quick release holder/jig to produce highly precise, fast and elastic positioning. Second, a micro-hole array with high density and different types of holes on a workpiece (brass material) is produced by a vibration-assisted mechanical peck-drilling (VAMPD), which includes the high vibration of workpiece created by HVCP and mechanical peck-drilling of micro-drill. This VAMPD can drill up to 1600 single-stage or multi-stage micro-holes, and the aspect ratio of the drilled one-stage micro-holes of Ø60 μm is up to ten. Finally, reverse-EDM is used to fabricate the micro-pin array made of tungsten carbide. In this process, the effects of the chip removal mechanism, the various micro-hole types, and the density of the micro-holes on the electrodes are investigated. The results indicate that the combination of multi-stage micro-hole electrodes and three chip removal methods (working fluid spraying, vibration-assisted electrode and shake-down type workpiece) can produce a 1600-micro-pin array with an average diameter below Ø30.00 μm, a length of 625.0 μm, and a pitch of 100 μm. Consequently, the proposed method of combining mechanical peck-drilling and reverse-EDM can fabricate a micro-pin array with high hardness, high density, high quantity, and uniform diameter in a fast and efficient way.     

Compensating fiber gratings for source flatness to reduce multiple-access interferences in optical CDMA network coder/decoders

A fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG)-based optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) network coder/decoder (codec) is investigated for its interference suppression induced by nonflattened broad-band lightwave sources. Since each network user with different signature address code has different spectral distribution, the nonflattened light sources will cause multiple-access interference (MAI). Flatness compensation schemes are proposed to solve the MAI effects induced by nonflattened broad-band light sources. By arranging the same coding scheme but in different spectral coding band, spectral chips from FBG coder/compensator will incoherently power summed in the photodetectors to approach a more flattened power level. Signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) performances are evaluated with such compensation method for the discussed OCDMA network.     

A Plastic Optical Fiber Sensor for the Dual Sensing of Temperature and Oxygen

This study presents a low-cost plastic optical fiber sensor for the dual sensing of temperature and oxygen. The sensor features commercially available epoxy glue coated on the side-polished fiber surface for temperature sensing and a fluorinated xerogel doped with platinum tetrakis pentrafluoropheny porphine coated on the fiber end for oxygen sensing. The temperature and oxygen indicators are both excited using an ultraviolet light-emitting diode light source with a wavelength of 380 nm. The luminescence emission spectra of the two indicators are well resolved and exhibit no crosstalk effects. Our studies show that the temperature response of the sensor is independent of the oxygen concentration. Overall, the results indicate that the dual sensor presented in this study provides an ideal solution for the noncontact, simultaneous sensing of temperature and oxygen in general biological and medical applications.     

Fluid velocity measurements in a microchannel performed with two new optical heterodyne microscopes

Two laser Doppler microscopes (LDMs) based on an optical heterodyne interferometer have been developed for measuring fluid velocity in a microchannel. One of LDMs receives light from a Zeeman laser, and one easily obtains the standard heterodyne signal because a polarizer is set in front of a photomultiplier tube. The other LDM, with light from a He-Ne laser, employs a diffractive grating as a frequency shifter that is modulated in a sinusoidal movement by a piezoelectric transducer stack. By this modulation the nonstandard heterodyne signal is further processed by a new synthetic heterodyne algorithm. Finally, the phase shift related to the fluid velocity in both LDMs is demodulated by digital postprocessing in fast-Fourier-transform, bandpass filtering, inverse-fast-Fourier-transform, and arctangent algorithms.     

Realization of integrated polarizer and color filters based on subwavelength metallic gratings using a hybrid numerical scheme

This study realizes integrated polarizer and RGB (red, green, and blue) color filters using single- and multiple-layered subwavelength metallic grating structures. A hybrid numerical scheme based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis method and a genetic algorithm is used to determine the optimal values of the grating period, filling factor, and grating thickness of three different grating structures, namely, a single-layer grating, a double-layer grating, and a double-layer grating with a lateral shift. The optical performance of the various structures is evaluated and compared in terms of the transmission efficiency at the center wavelengths 700.0?nm, 546.1?nm, and 435.8?nm of red, green, and blue light, respectively, and the extinction ratio over the visible wavelength spectrum (380-780?nm). It is shown that the double-layer grating achieves a transmission efficiency of about 50% and an extinction ratio of around 60?dB. Thus, this grating structure provides a convenient and effective means of achieving the polarizing and filtering functions in LCD panels using a single device.     

High-Efficiency and Low-Stress ZVT–PWM DC-to-DC Converter for Battery Charger

This work presents a novel highly efficient and low-stress battery charger with a resonant switch converter—based on resonance and zero-voltage-transition soft-switching theory—that reduces defects associated with high voltage and high current stresses caused by the resonance of traditional resonant circuits. The novel battery charger meets the requirement that all circuit components must operate with zero-voltage switching. Experimental test results indicate that the proposed battery charger reduces the temperature of an active power switch, and switching losses are less than those obtained using a traditional pulsewidth-modulation converter as a battery charger.      

A GA-based Fuzzy Mining Approach to Achieve a Trade-off Between Number of Rules and Suitability of Membership Functions

Data mining is most commonly used in attempts to induce association rules from transaction data. Transactions in real-world applications, however, usually consist of quantitative values. This paper thus proposes a fuzzy data-mining algorithm for extracting both association rules and membership functions from quantitative transactions. We present a GA-based framework for finding membership functions suitable for mining problems and then use the final best set of membership functions to mine fuzzy association rules. The fitness of each chromosome is evaluated by the number of large 1-itemsets generated from part of the previously proposed fuzzy mining algorithm and by the suitability of the membership functions. Experimental results also show the effectiveness of the framework.     

A fast-lock low-power all-digital DLL-based clock generator with fractional multiple technique

Microsystem Technologies - In this paper, a fast-lock low-power all-digital delay-locked-loop (ADDLL)-based clock generator is proposed that generates fractional multiples of a reference frequency....     

Learning multiplication through computer-assisted learning activities

This study develops and implements a computer-assisted learning (CAL) program with both multiplicative facts practices and the instruction of meaning behind these facts. The effectiveness of CAL on the development of multiplication abilities is also explored. Eight CAL activities are developed to teach multiplication to second grade elementary school students. The CAL program is comprised of three stages of instruction that addressed in succession the basic concept of multiplication, the meaning and properties of multiplication and multiplication-related computation skills. Evaluation of the effects of the learning activities reveals that CAL activities are effective in improving comprehension of the concept of multiplication and the meaning and properties of multiplication for students who have lower prior knowledge of multiplication, but it does not significantly improve the development of multiplication-related computation skills. Nevertheless, CAL activities facilitate overall learning of multiplication.     

New synthetic-heterodyne demodulator for an optical fiberinterferometer

A new algorithm for modulating a PZT stack using a sinewave signal instead of a saw-tooth signal was developed in order to resolve the flyback problem in a PZT driver. An improved synthetic heterodyne demodulator circuit was designed and arranged to interrogate the output signal from an interferometric sensor with a sinewave modulation (phase-generated carrier). The depth of modulation, or a gain amplifier in the circuit design, was adjusted such that the standard heterodyne signal could be formed. The result is a conventional PM-modulated carrier that can be demodulated using standard techniques, followed by a lock-in amplifier or a phase meter, to recover the phase shift in the sensing information. Implementing it into a path-matching differential interferometer for the signal modulation validates this new method. As compared to the conventional technique, modulating the PZT stack in a saw-tooth signal, this technique supplies a wider modulated frequency and, therefore, a wider frequency response in a sensing system. Finally, the new synthetic heterodyne is applied to a differential optical fiber refractometer for measuring the refractive index change. A lock-in amplifier is chosen as the demodulator to extract the phase shift. Therefore, the resolution of this sensing system is 7.52×10^-7 refractive index unit for a 120-μm length of the sensing cavity