Ice-slurry production using direct contact heat transfer

An ice slurry generation system was developed using direct contact heat transfer between water and the coolant, Fluroinert FC-84. The location of the coolant nozzle is an important design consideration to avoid clogging due to freezing of water. An ice fraction of up to about 40 percent was obtained with the nozzle located at the bottom of the ice slurry tank and the jet directed upwards into the water. Two simplified model were developed to extract the heat transfer coefficient between the coolant drops and the water. The first model requires as input the average drop diameter and the residence time while the second model uses the measured drop diameter distribution. The estimated heat transfer coefficients are much smaller than those computed using single-sphere correlations.     

The effect of home storage conditions and packaging materials on the quality of frozen green beans

Home storage is the final step of the frozen foods distribution chain, and little is known on how it affects the products quality. The present research describes frozen green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.) quality retention profile during the recommended ‘star marking’ system dates, at the storage temperatures of +5, −6, −12 and −18 °C (along 1, 4, 14 and 60 days, respectively).

The quality profile was assessed by a simulation system. Simulations were set by a response surface methodology to access the effect of different packaging materials (thermal conductivities and thickness), surface heat transfer coefficient, and refrigerator dynamics (effect of refrigeration cycles at the different storage temperatures) on the average retentions of Ascorbic Acid, total vitamin C, colour and flavour.

Green beans quality losses along frozen storage are significantly influenced by temperature, refrigerator dynamics and kinetic properties. Quality is also highly dependent on packaging materials thermal insulation (e.g. at temperatures above the melting point). Temperature cycles inside frozen chambers have a long term effect, and at the higher storage temperatures (e.g. T>−6 °C) are detrimental to frozen green beans quality after shorter periods.     

Building a user model implicitly from a cooperative advisory dialog

This paper reviews existing methods for building user models to support adaptive, interactive systems, identifies sigificant problems with these approaches, and describes a new method for implicitly acquiring user models from an ongoing user-system dialog. Existing explicit user model acquisition methods, such as user edited models or model building dialogs put additional burden on the user and introduce artificial model acquisition dialogs. Hand coding stereotypes, another explicit acquisition method, is a tedious and error-prone process. On the other hand, implicit acquisition techniques such as computing presuppositions or entailments either draw too few inferences to be generally useful, or too many to be trusted.In contrast, this paper describes GUMAC, a General User Model Acquisition Component that uses heuristic rules to make default inferences about users' beliefs from their interaction with an advisory expert system. These rules are based on features of human action and conversation that constrain people's behavior and establish expectations about their knowledge. The application of these rules is illustrated with two examples of extended dialogs between users and an investment advisory system. During the course of these conversations, GUMAC is able to acquire an extensive model of the users' beliefs about the aspects of the domain considered in the dialog. These models, in turn, provide the sort of information needed by an explanation generator to tailor explanations the advisory system gives to its users.     

Prediction of processing-induced distortion of curved flanged composite laminates

It is well known that angles in composite parts contract as they are cooled down from the curing temperature, this is often referred to as spring-in. It is caused mainly by the significantly different thermal contractions and cure shrinkage's experienced between the fibre direction and the through-thickness direction during the manufacturing process. A number of works have reported on the spring-in of straight angle composite parts. However, little has been done to investigate the distortion of curved flanged composite parts, which will distort differently owing to the introduction of the additional curvature, thus constraint.

In the present work, the distortion of the circularly curved flanged laminates is studied numerically. The finite element method is used to predict the processing-induced distortion of the part with two different approaches. In the first approach, the shear angles of the composite plies are predicted by a draping analysis. The effect of the fibre shearing on the mechanical properties of the laminates is considered in the model used to predict the distortion. The second simplified approach assumes that the in-plane properties of the laminates are isotropic. The results obtained by these two approaches are compared with those obtained experimentally.     

The influence of dependence of HEMT’s model parameters on gate and drain voltages on upper boundary of LNA’s linearity

On the basis of numerical model the parameters of high electron mobility transistors (HEMT’s) as a function of gate and drain voltages are obtained. The simulation of nonlinear properties of low noise amplifier cascade with HEMT for various modes of its operation has shown that the account of its dependence simultaneously on both the voltages allows to approach the results of calculation to experimental data.     

Experimental data and approximate estimation for dissociation time of hydrate plugs

New experimental data coupled with a numerical model and an approximate solution are proposed to predict dissociation time of hydrate plugs in oil sub-sea pipelines. The experimental hydrate plugs are dissociated by the method of symmetric depressurisation, both in a specially designed apparatus and a classical batch reactor. The agreement between the estimation of the model and the experimental data and the simplicity of the approximate equation presents an advantage in estimating the time of hydrate plug dissociation in pipelines.     

软测量的工程化设计

将软测量应用到工业生产之前必须解决其工程化设计的问题.为此,在软测量技术理论研究和应用经验的基础上,对软测量工程化设计中应解决的关键问题和解决方法进行了研究.软测量的工程化设计包括机理分析、辅助变量选择、数据采集和预处理、建立软测量模型、设计校正模块等步骤.其关键技术在于软测量过程的数据处理、模型的建立和校正.并以杭州龙山化工厂碳酸化塔中C02浓度软测量的工程化设计为例,对工程化设计中的一些关键问题处理进行介绍.实践表明,软测量的工程化设计在实际工业生产中具有很好的应用性和指导性,但也有待更进一步的研究.     

Thermal Expansion Behavior of La1—xSrxMn1—yCoyO3—δ Perovskites

The thermal expansion behavior of La1-xSrxMn1-yCoyO3-δ (x=0.2-0.4, y=0.1-0.3) perovskites in air has been investigated. The average linear thermal expansion coefficients increased with increasing Sr content up to 40 mole fraction or Co content up to 30 mole fraction. The expansion is generally attributed to an increase in the average cation radius as some of the cations in the perovskite are reduced in valence when oxygen ions are removed from the structure.     

Al-Cu-Fe QUASICRYSTALLINE PHASE FORMATION BY MECHANICAL ALLOYING

Al-Cu-Fe alloys were prepared from elemental powders in a high-energy planetary ball mill. A sequence of solid state reactions resulting in quasicrystal (QC) phase formation takes place during heating of the as-milled powder. These reactions were studied by both differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction methods. Mechanically alloyed powders were consolidated by cold and hot pressing, as well as by explosive compaction. After annealing at sufficiently high temperatures, the consolidated samples are single-phase QC, except the ones consolidated by explosion. The high reactivity of the as-milled alloys causes the appearance of high porosity of the consolidated samples after the annealing.     

Preparation of ultra-fine copper powder and its lead-free conductive thick film

In this paper, non-agglomerated monodispersed ultra-fine copper metallic powders have been synthesized with chemical reduction method. Fine lead-free glass powders were also prepared by solid synthesis process. Thick film paste prepared by above-mentioned copper metallic powders and lead-free glass powders was applied as conductive paste of MLCC. Mixture of glass and zinc oxide give the thick film a high adhesion strength which is attributed to the rough interface from interfacial reaction between glass and chip, and a good densification. Diffusion of metal between copper thick film and nickel thick film is clear. Ni-Cu solid solution appears under high temperature firing.