Preparation of SiC particles coated with alumina hydrate: Effect of reaction condition on particle coalescence

Alumina-hydrate-coated SiC particles were prepared via a homogeneous precipitation method using urea, and the conditions for uniform coating and less coalescence of the particles were investigated. Coalescence of coated particles could be said to occur by collision and agglomeration followed by deposition of alumina hydrate on the agglomerated particles. Coalescence of coated particles was suppressed by use of low reaction temperature, low concentration of aluminium sulfate, high concentration of urea, intensive stirring, and a flow reactor.     

Evaluation of advanced fuzzy logic PSS on analog network simulatorand actual installation on hydro generators

This paper presents the experimental evaluation of an advanced fuzzy logic PSS on the analog network simulator at the Research Laboratory of Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. The proposed power system stabilizer (PSS) is set up by using a personal computer with A/D and D/A conversion interfaces. The personal computer based PSS was set on the analog network simulator to evaluate the effectiveness of the advanced fuzzy logic control scheme, and to provide sufficient data for the actual installation of the proposed PSS on hydro-units in the Kyushu Electric Power System. This paper also describes the actual installation of the proposed PSS on hydro-units in the Kyushu Electric Power System for the long term evaluation of the proposed PSS using its prototypes     

Development of 170 GHz/500 kW gyrotron

A development of 170GHz/500kW level gyrotron was carried out as R&D work of ITER. The oscillation mode is TE_31,8. In a short pulse experiment, the maximum power of 750kW was achieved at 85kV/40A. The efficiency was 22%. In the depressed collector operation, 500kW/36%/50ms was obtained. The maximum efficiency of 40% was obtained at P_RF=470kW whereas the power decrease by the electron trapping was observed. Pulse extension was done up to 10s at P_RF=170kW with the depressed collector operation. The power was limited by the temperature increase of the output window.     

Experimental study on a quasi-optical mode converter for transforming the whispering-gallery mode into a circularly polarized hollow radiation beam

An experiment was carried out for transforming the 120 GHz-TE_12.2 whispering-gallery mode (WGM) into a circularly polarized hollow radiation beam. A hollow beam was formed by reflecting the WGM, which was radiated from a 16 mm radius circular waveguide cut, with an annular mirror having suitable local normal vectors. The experimentally observed field intensity profiles of the reflected wave were in good agreement with calculated results.     

Damage tolerance of glass mat/epoxy laminates hybridized with flexible resin under static and impact loading

This study deals with the impact property and damage tolerance of matrix hybrid composite laminates with different laminate constitution. The matrix hybrid composite laminates consisted of the laminae with a conventional epoxy resin and the laminae with a flexible epoxy resin modified from the conventional resin to avoid the interlaminar delamination. The impact energy absorption ratio greatly depended on the matrix resin placed at the impact face. The energy absorption was almost constant if the conventional resin was placed at the impact surface layer, while it increased exponentially with the increasing fraction of the flexible resin if the flexible resin was placed at the impact face. The impact energy was absorbed by the damage development and propagation in the laminate with conventional resin laminae as the impacted face, while it was absorbed by both the recoverable deformation of the flexible resin and the damage propagation in the laminate with flexible resin laminae as the impacted face.     

Quasi-optical waveguide-mode converters using a pair of phase correction mirrors

This paper describes a quasi-optical method for the conversion of modes transmitted through highly oversized circular waveguides. A waveguide-mode is radiated once from a waveguide cut in the form of a radiation beam, which is then properly shaped by two curved mirrors and directed back into the waveguide. The curved mirror shapes are iteratively and automatically determined for given propagation distances using the design technique for phase correction mirrors. The proposed method gives favorable results in designing a waveguide expander/reducer, a TE₀₁-TE₀₂ mode converter, and a TE₀₁-HE₁₁ mode converter.     

Interferon therapy after ablation of Kent bundle for a patient with chronic hepatitis type B complicated with WPW syndrome

Cardiotoxicity of interferon-alpha or gamma, such as fatal arrhythmia and myocardial infarction, has been reported. Therefore cardiotoxicity of interferon should be seriously considered before administration for patients with a pre-existing heart disease. We treated a patient with chronic active hepatitis type B, coexisted with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, who has had frequent attacks of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. To prevent the occurrence of fatal arrhythmia with an interferon therapy in this patient, we performed radiofrequency catheter ablation of the Kent bundle. After the successful ablation, we could safely administered recombinant interferon alpha-2b for chronic hepatitis type B.     

Effect of grain size on creep of Ti-53.4mol%Al intermetallics at 1100 K

Constant stress creep under compression stress, 100 to 316 MPa, at 1100 K was investigated on single-phase TiAl intermetallics. The material was ingot-cast, isothermally forged, and then annealed to produce stable equi-axed grain structures, whose average grain diameters were 25, 42 and 70m. Creep curves were very similar among the three specimens with different grain diameters and the creep rates at a given strain, as well as the minimum creep rates, depended little on grain size. Two regimes were observed on the stress dependence of the minimum creep rate. The stress exponent under high stresses was about 4.5, independent of grain size. Under stresses lower than about 150 MPa it became about 8.     

Efficient usage of highly dispersed Pt on carbon nanotubes for electrode catalysts of polymer electrolyte fuel cells

A Pt-deposited carbon nanotube (CNT) shows higher performance than a commercial Pt-deposited carbon black (CB) with reducing 60% Pt load per electrode area in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) below 500 mA/cm². K₂PtCl₄ and H₂PtCl₆·6(H₂O) are used for the Pt deposition onto multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), which are produced by the catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons. The electric power densities produced using the Pt/CNT electrodes are greater than that of the Pt/CB by a factor of two to four on the basis of the Pt load per power. CNTs are thus found to be a good support of Pt particles for PEFC electrodes. TEM images show 2–4-nm Pt nanoparticles dispersed on the CNT surfaces. These high performances are considered to be due to the efficient formation of the triple-phase boundaries of gas–electrode–electrolyte. The mechanisms of Pt deposition are discussed for these Pt-deposited CNTs.