Mass transfer in polycrystalline ytterbium monosilicate under oxygen potential gradients at high temperatures

Mass transfer in polycrystalline Yb₂SiO₅ wafers with precise composition control was evaluated and analyzed by oxygen permeation experiments at high temperatures using an oxygen tracer. Oxygen permeation proceeded due to mutual grain boundary diffusion of oxide ions and Yb ions without synergistic effects such as acceleration or suppression. The oxygen shielding properties of Yb₂SiO₅ were compared with those of the other line compounds such as Yb₂Si₂O₇ and Al₂O₃ based on the determined mass transfer parameters. It was found that the more preferentially an oxide ion diffuses in the grain boundary compared to the interior of the grain, the greater the effect of suppressing the movement of the oxide ion by applying an oxygen potential gradient becomes.     

Systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle: Case studies on laundry detergent and milk

This study presents systematic packaging design tools integrating functional and environmental consequences on product life cycle. To design packaging for sustainability, the trade-offs between functional and environmental aspects of packaging throughout the product life cycle should be considered. However, it is difficult for packaging designers to understand the overall trade-offs because the extent of the design consequences on the entire life cycle of packaging and its contents is unclear. We developed two tools for packaging design: the Life Cycle Association Matrix (LCAM) and the Function Network Diagram (FND). The following three steps, based on literature reviews and interviews with industrial experts, were applied. Firstly, we listed the product functions and design variables related to the functions as the attributes allocated to the product life cycle. Secondly, the attributes were connected appropriately based on causal relationships. Lastly, we identified the factors to support decision making in the packaging design procedure. As a result, the LCAM depicts the design consequences on the life cycle, and the FND determines the stakeholders affected by the design consequences. Two case studies were demonstrated to analyze the trade-offs by using our tools. In the case studies, a liquid laundry detergent bottle and a milk carton were redesigned. The tools identified the design consequences and stakeholders affected by the redesign of the usability and protective function for the detergent and milk cases, respectively. The results showed the significance of understanding the design consequences on the product life cycle by integrating the functional and environmental aspects.     

Generation of gas bubbles in microflow using micropipette with ultrasound

Ultrasound was applied to a micropipette micromixer to improve dispersion of gas and liquid in a microchannel. Flow visualization using a high-speed camera was performed to examine the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on bubble generation in the microchannel. Basically, nitrogen gas was injected using a (0.5 µm ID) glass micropipette into ethanol flowing in a rectangular (100 µm×200 µm) microchannel on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Gas and liquid flow rates were regulated using mass flow controllers. At aflow condition that is typical of bubbly flow, ultrasound was transmitted into the microchannel using a piezo-electric (PZT) transducer over a range of operating voltages (2 to 200 Vp-p) and frequencies (50 to 60 kHz). Images captured during the action of the PZT transducer indicate that bubble formation is influenced by ultrasound. When subjected to ultrasound above 50 Vp-p and at the resonant frequency of the PZT transducer, bubbles formed that were smaller and closer together, signifying enhanced shearing of the gas at the micropipette tip by the liquid. The observation of gas slugs occurring sooner might be attributed to the coalescence of gas bubbles that became closely spaced.     

InxGa1−xAs ohmic contacts to n-type GaAs with a tungsten nitride barrier

Significant reduction of the contact resistance of In_0.7Ga_0.3As/Ni/W contacts (which were previously developed by sputtering in our laboratory) was achieved by depositing a W₂N barrier layer between the Ni layer and W layer. The In_0.7Ga_0.3 As/Ni/W₂N/W contact prepared by the radio-frequency sputtering technique showed the lowest contact resistance of 0.2 Ωmm after annealing at 550°C for 10 s. This contact also provided a smooth surface, good reproducibility, and excellent thermal stability at 400°C. The polycrystalline W₂N layer was found to suppress the In diffusion to the contact surface, leading to improvement of the surface morphology and an increase in the total area of the In_xGa−As between metal and the GaAs substrate. These improvements are believed to reduce the contact resistance.     

Power swing analysis in a future metropolitan electric power system on a contingent trip of cryogenic high-power cables

A cryogenic power cable is expected to be capable of carrying bulk power as a main transmission line in a future metropolitan electric power system. It is important to establish a strategy of how to sustain power supply when such a highly densified power supply route trips from the network due to contingency. It is proposed here that the bulk power transmitted by the cryogenic cable could be distributed into the parallel conventional transmission lines by suitable circuit breaker operations in the system. In this process, power-flow routes are forced to be changed with a remarkable modification in the system configuration. In this paper, the power swings associated with the large power-flow change following contingent faults are analyzed by means of a transient network analyzer. It is found that the proposed system modification could be realized without any harmful power swing if the parameters in generators as well as in control devices have conventional magnitudes. It is shown also by simulations that the margin to occurrence in an unstable power swing is left sufficient even if the parameters deviate somewhat from the present magnitudes.     

Color registration error reduction method compensating the influence of belt thickness variation in electrophotographic process

This paper proposes a new belt drive control method for reducing a belt velocity-fluctuation that is caused by a belt thickness-variation in the circumferential direction. A belt driving system performs feedback control with a rotary encoder-output mounted on a driven roller. This proposed method correct the reference value of the feedback control for the purpose of the belt velocity regulation. The correction includes two steps. The first step acquires the encoder-output of the driven roller and calculates the rotational angular velocity-fluctuation with one cycle of the belt rotation. The second step converts from the velocity-fluctuation to the correction value of the feedback reference. The correction value cancels a detection error of the driven roller caused by the belt thickness-variation. After these steps, the belt driving system controls the belt velocity as compensating the belt velocity-fluctuation. Experimental result showed the significant fluctuation reduction on a typical tandem-engine printer.     

Effect of antioxidant contained in poly(ethylene glycol) on cell fusion

The effect of antioxidants contained in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) on cell fusion was studied using L929 cells in the monolayer state. Hydroquinone monomethyl ether (HQME), 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MB), butyl hydroxyanisole (BHA) and 2,6-di-(t-butyl)-4-methylphenol (BHT) were chosen from the antioxidants that have currently been used to protect commercially available PEG from oxidation. Cell culture was conducted in 40% w/w aqueous solution of PEG with a molecular weight of 3000 in the presence of different concentrations of antioxidants. BHA clearly enhanced membrane fusion of L929 cells with increasing concentration in PEG solution, whereas HQME, MB and BHT had no significant effect on cell fusion. The enhancement of cell fusion by BHA might be ascribed to balanced hydrophobicity and high water solubility in comparison with the other three antioxidants.     

Schottky barrier heights of contact metals to p-type ZnSe

Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) of a variety of metals (In, Cd, Nb, Ti, W, Cu, Ag, Au, Ni, Pt, and Se) contacting to p-ZnSe grown by a molecular beam epitaxy method were determined by analyzing capacitance-voltage (C-V) and/or current density-voltage (J-V) curves. The SBH values of the Au and Ni contacts were determined from intersections of straight lines of the C⁻²-V curves to be 1.23 and 1.13 eV, respectively. The J-V calculations provided a large SBH value of 1.2 ± 0.1 eV for a variety of metals, indicating that the Fermi-level could be pinned at the contact interface. Reduction of the SBH values to a level lower than 0.4 eV and/or increase of doping concentrations to a level higher than 10²⁰ cm⁻³ are essential to obtain an ohmic contact with contact resistivity of around 10⁻³ Ω·cm².     

On‐Line Detection Of State‐Of‐Charge In Lead Acid Battery Using Radial Basis Function Neural Network

To realize a stable supply of electric power in an automobile, an accurate and reliable detection method of SOC (state‐of‐charge) in a lead acid battery is required. However the dynamics of the battery is very complicated. The characteristics of the battery greatly change due to its degradation. Moreover a automobile has many driving patterns, which are unknown beforehand. Thus it is not easy to detect the SOC analytically. In this paper, to overcome this problem, a new on‐line SOC detection method with a radial basis function neural network is proposed. In order to increase the detection accuracy of degraded batteries, physical values related to the degradation degree are used as input signal in the neural network. The detection accuracies for different sized batteries and various degradation states are investigated.     

Development of cable fault location method using fiber optic distributed temperature sensor

When ground-fault problems occur on a cable line, immediate fault location and restoration are required. Therefore, various new methods to locate the fault point instantaneously have been investigated to replace such conventional methods as the Murray loop method and the pulse radar method [1]. These methods require a long time to locate the fault point. One possible fault location method is to sense the temperature rise following a ground fault using a fiber optic distributed temperature sensor. Application of this method was found feasible through sensing the temperature rise at a ground-fault test using a thermocouple as a temperature sensor with test cables [4]. A power/optical composite cable was prepared experimentally and after verifying its thermal mechanical performance, the temperature rise at an incidence of a fault was determined and the anticipated performance was demonstrated in a ground-fault test. This article describes the outline of the test.