Numerical study on the effect of heat loss upon the critical marangoni number in a half-zone liquid bridge

In a half-zone (HZ) liquid bridge, flow exhibits a transition from a two-dimensional steady to a three-dimensional oscillatory flow if the Marangoni number Ma exceeds a critical value Ma_c, or ΔT>ΔT_c. In case of high Prandtle number fluids, the Mac obtained in the numerical simulations deviated significantly from the ones by the experiments. One of the causes of the difference is due to the heat loss over the free surface. Most of past researches neglected effects of the heat loss through an interface of the liquid bridge. Recently several experimental and analytical works reported that the critical condition is significantly affected by the heat loss. The present study aims to include the effects of the heat loss upon the Ma_c. As the result, the calculated Ma_c agrees well with the experiment for a high Pr fluid.     

Preparation of ultrafine zirconium dioxide particles by thermal decomposition of zirconium alkoxide vapour

Ultrafine zirconia particles are produced by thermal decomposition of zirconium tetratertiary butoxide (ZrTB) vapour. The introduction of ZrTB vapour into the cylindrical electric furnace, is achieved by three different methods: (evaporator, pressurized nebulizer and ultrasonic nebulizer). The properties of the fine particles obtained by these methods are mainly analysed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that ultrafine zirconia particles produced at relatively low temperatures from 600 to 700° C are spherical in the diameter range 0.035 to 0.15 μm and of tetragonal phase. Furthermore, two-component fine particles of zirconia-ilver are generated by putting the silver solid inside the furnace containing alkoxide vapour, and are deposited by inertia on to a glass substrate under low pressure to form films having a thickness of 17 to 33 μm. The electrical characteristics of the films are evaluated, and the conductance of the film is found to increase with the content of the silver component.     

Similarity and co-expression of tumour-associated antigens recognised by different monoclonal antibodies

The concentration of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA130, CA125, SLX, CA19-9, SPan1, and tumour-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG-72) in the culture supernatant of 15 cancer cell lines and in the sera of 58 cancer patients was measured, and the co-expression of these antigens was examined by double determinant immunoradiometric assays. The high correlation coefficient of the concentrations and significant binding in the double determinant assays indicated a close relationship between CA125 and CA130 and between CA19-9 and SPan1. There was variable binding of the 125I-labelled anti-SLX, anti-CA19-9, and anti-SPan1 antibodies to anti-CA130 beads that had been pre-incubated with the culture supernatants, suggesting the presence of the epitopes of SLX, CA19-9, and SPan1 on the molecule expressing CA130. Similarly, the epitopes of SLX, CA19-9, and SPan1 could be present on the molecule expressing CEA. 125I-labelled anti-CA19-9, anti-SLX, and anti-TAG-72 antibodies were bound in variable proportions to anti-CA130 beads or to anti-CEA beads that had been pre-incubated with patients' sera. However, CEA and CA130 were not expressed on the same molecule, either in the culture supernatant, or in patients' sera. In conclusion, the carbohydrate epitopes of CA19-9, SPan1, SLX, and TAG-72 could be present on the molecule recognised by the anti-CA130 or anti-CEA antibody; however, the epitopes of CA130 and CEA did not co-exist on the same molecule.     

Stability of fine water droplet clouds

The rate of evaporation of monodisperse water droplets was first evaluated by solving numerically the modified Maxwell equation, assuming the cellular model for a droplet clouds. The results are discussed in comparison with those for a single isolated droplet, which can be obtained analytically. The critical conditions for the droplet cloud to be stable are then evaluated as a function of droplet number concentration, droplet size and initial conditions of the surrounding air. Secondly, the equilibrated system, where a water droplet cloud is steadily mixed with unsaturated air, was analysed on the basis of enthalpy and material balance of the system to evaluate the total volume change of the droplets. Some of these analyses were verified by experiment, using an ultramicroscopic technique which is useful for droplet size analysis.     

Chaos in simple hybrid system and its control

A simple hybrid system exhibiting chaos is developed and a chaos control method realised. It is shown that, since the dynamics can be expressed by a return map, the system has an observable chaos. The control method, which is based on the pole assignment technique, can stabilise any unstable periodic orbit in the chaos. The theoretical result is verified by laboratory experiments     

New Approach to a High-Power GTO PWM Inverter for AC Motor Drives

A control method for GTO PWM inverter parallel-set operation and a new protection system for prevention of short-circuit faults caused by turn-off failure, both to realize a high-power drive system are described. Timing control of GTO gate pulse command provided by a feedback loop, and a reactor at the output of the inverter can minimize the cross current flowing between inverters and can balance the output current of each inverter in inverter parallel-set operation. This method eliminates the necessity of selecting GTO's of equal characteristics, and can apply to parallel-set operation of three or more inverters. The new protection system judges the on and off states of the GTO from the GTO gate-cathode voltage and detects turn-off failure of the GTO. This method positively stops the inverter system safely and reliably upon turn-off failure of the GTO. Experiments are carried out on a 30-kVA inverter and two sets of 450-kVA GTO inverters.     

Preparation Conditions and Morphology of Superconducting Fine Particles in the Bi-Ca-Sr-Cu-O System Prepared by Spray Pyrolysis

The morphology and crystalline phases of superconducting fine particles with a composition of Bi₂Ca₁Sr₂Cu₂O_x were studied in terms of preparation conditions, using an aerosol flow reactor with varying temperature profiles: constant, increasing, and humped temperature distributions. The temperature profile in the reactor was found to affect greatly the morphology of the superconducting particles produced. The humped distribution with maximum temperatures over 900°C provided solid particles consisting mainly of the 80 K phase, when other preparation conditions were optimized. This finding indicates the possibility of controlling the morphology, as well as the crystalline phases, of superconducting particles by spray pyrolysis.     

Pressure dependence of surface wave-excited plasma column sustained along metal rod antenna

A novel method was proposed to generate high-density microwave-excited plasma along metal surfaces. In our previous work, 2.45 GHz microwaves were confirmed to propagate as surface waves along the interface between overdense (>10¹¹ cm^–3) plasma and a graphite rod biased at a negative voltage against a grounded chamber. The generated plasma showed columnar structure surrounding the rod surface, and thus it was called metal-antenna surface wave-excited plasma (MASWP) column. In this work, the effect of gas pressure on the spatial distribution of MASWP column was investigated. It was confirmed that the length of MASWP column became longer along a graphite rod (25 cm in length and 1 cm in diameter) with increasing gas pressure. In particular, at an Ar gas pressure of 33 Pa, we obtained a long plasma column covering the entire surface of the rod with a negative voltage of −150 V and an input microwave power of 100 W. The same tendency, or the extension of MASWP column with increasing gas pressure was also confirmed by using a copper rod and a stainless-steel rod instead of the graphite rod. This indicates that the extension of MASWP column with increasing gas pressure occurs independently of antenna materials.     

Effect of Time Lag in Response to Switching Signal in Interrupted Electric Circuit

In this study, we analyze the characteristics of an interrupted electric circuit. In particular, we focus on a special situation where the switching action of the circuit is delayed because of a time lag in the response to the switching signal. This situation is observed in switching circuits driven by a high-frequency switching signal. However, the fundamental characteristics of this type of circuit have not yet been clarified. To address this shortfall, we assume that a time lag of the response to the switching signal occurs in simple interrupted electric circuits, and investigate how this time lag affects circuit characteristics. First, we show the model of a circuit whose switching action is the same as that of a current-mode-controlled dc/dc converter. Here by using logic circuits, we impose an artificial time lag on the response to the switching signal. Next, we define a sampled data model (i.e., a return map) that we analyze in detail. Based on the return map, we derive one- and two-parameter bifurcation diagrams. Finally, we compare the bifurcation diagrams constructed with time lag to those constructed without time lag. The results clearly show that time lag is responsible for a new structure in the return map that does not occur in circuits with ideal switching. This new return map structure is a key to understanding the essential characteristics of circuits with time lag. Furthermore, the mathematical results are verified experimentally.     

Homogeneous Nucleation by Continuous Mixing of High Temperature Vapor with Room Temperature Gas

The formation of aerosol particles by homogeneous nucleation in a supersaturated vapor has been studied experimentally and theoretically. In the laboratory, a particle-free gas at room temperature is continuously mixed with a high-temperature gas containing dibutylphthalate vapor in a new device for the study of aerosol nucleation called a particle size magnifier. A highly supersaturated vapor is rapidly formed in the mixing zone of the particle size magnifier, and the resulting number concentrations of aerosol particles are measured under various temperatures, mixing ratios, and mixing methods. Measured number concentrations are compared with those predicted by the classical and Lothe-Pound nucleation theories. The measured concentrations lie between the predictions of the two theories, and the trends with temperature and saturation ratio are consistent with either nucleation theory, provided vapor depletion is considered.