Modification of chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) by blending with epoxidized polybutadiene

The compatibility of epoxidized poly(cis-1,4-butadiene) (EPB) with chlorinated polyvinylchloride (CPVC) was investigated. Blends studied covered the complete composition range using EPB at two degrees of epoxidation: 20 and 43 mol % oxirane units. Tensile properties of EPB (63)/CPVC were also studied at the 50/50 composition. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that both sets of blends were miscible at the segmental level except for the rich CPVC compositions. All blends showed good tensile properties. even those where DMA indicated phase separation. This may be attributed to strong segmental interactions of the donnor-acceptor type between the oxirane and acidic-hydrogen-containing groups of these complementary dissimilar blend partners.     

Spatial data stream multiplexing scheme for high-throughput WLANs

A novel scheme using spatial data stream multiplexing (SDSM) in the upcoming multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)-based IEEE 802.11n physical layer is proposed. It is shown that with SDSM, the same data rate can be achieved by using less number of transmit and receive antennas and therefore this scheme can reduce the number of antennas which results in reducing mutual coupling effects, hardware costs and implementation complexities. The maximum data rates that can be achieved using a 2times2 MIMO system is 270 Mbps and for a 4times4 MIMO system is 540 Mbps. The same data rates can be achieved using the SDSM technique which reduces the 2times2 MIMO system to 1times1 SISO system and the 4times4 MIMO system to a 2times2 MIMO system.     

A processing scheme for industrial ethanol production from straw

We describe a model for the industrial production of ethanol, using wheat straw as a raw material, for use in automobiles as a fuel mixed with gasoline. In particular for Greece, we have in mind that wheat straw production of the Thessalia Plain.The energy requirements of the factory are covered totally by burning the produced lignin. Particularly, the electric energy needs are covered by an electric generator which consumes part of the thermal energy produced by the combustion of lignin.The fermentable sugars are obtained from cellulose by hydrolysis, using an enzymatic system of cellulases which are produced from a cultivation of Trichoderma viride.The cellulose is separated from the lignin by heating the straw at 100°C, in water solution of NaOH 1%.We propose a fast fermentation method in order to reduce the cost, and the rejected/24 hr yeast from the Laval separators is processed for the production of a protein-containing animal food (8 kg of pressed yeast per 1001 of alcohol).We give the mass and energy balance and the cost, in current prices, of the produced ethanol, which is estimated to be 7.9 Dr ($0.19 U.S.) per liter. We also estimate that the plant cost will be about 20 million dollars for a production capacity of 100 thousand litres of ethanol per day.     

Comparison and analysis of the emissions of a small non-road spark-ignition engine operating under different alcohol–gasoline blended fuels

In this experimental study we focused our interest on comparing the effect of lower and higher molecular mass alcohol–gasoline-blended fuels on the regulated emissions emitted by a small non-road spark-ignition engine. Twenty-one test fuels were used in this experimental study that included gasoline as a reference as well as low and high molecular mass alcohol–gasoline blends containing 5%, 10%, 20% and 40% v/v. In exhaust gases that originated from alcohol gasoline test fuels, low CO/HC and high CO₂/NO_x emissions were observed as the total percentage of alcohol in the blend increased. Methanol–gasoline blends seemed to achieve good combustion efficiency, but the engine will require a catalytic converter against high NO_x emissions. Butanol–gasoline blends in several cases gave lower emissions in comparison with the ethanol and propanol–gasoline blends. Finally, the pentanol–gasoline blends showed exactly the same emission patterns as those of neat gasoline.     

A model for industrial production of fuel grade ethanol from sugar beets

In this work we describe a model for industrial production of low cost ethanol from sugar beets. Care is taken to cover the energy needs of the factory in part by using dry pulp as fuel and in part by solar energy, using suitable solar collectors. Also, care is taken for recovery of rejected energy of vinasse, and we propose the use of one distillation column, instead of three column distillation plants which are used for the production of pure ethanol. A method of high fermentation rate, for reduction of cost, is proposed, and the rejected yeast per day from Laval separators. is processed as an animal protein food (8 kg pressed yeast per 1001 spirit). The mass and energy balance is given and a cost analysis of spirit production in current prices. This cost is 25.0 Dr or $0.50 per 1 (1$ - 50 Dr).     

Comparison of performance characteristics of agricultural tractor diesel engine operating on home and industrially produced biodiesel

Owing to unstable diesel fuel prices in the world market, many farmers have been looking for alternative fuels. Vegetable oils are one of the alternatives, which can be used as fuel in diesel engines either in the form of straight vegetable oil or in the form of biodiesel. This study aims to present experimental data by utilization of home and industrial biodiesel as fuel in an agricultural tractor diesel engine. The home biodiesel production was made from different vegetable oils (crude rapeseed, edible sunflower and waste oil) with the process of one‐stage‐based catalyzed transesterification. A commercially available agricultural tractor ZETOR 7745 was employed. Measurements were taken on the power take‐off shaft by electrical dynamometer FROMENT XT200. According to the results, agricultural tractor diesel engine operating on home biodiesel fuels had better performance characteristics related to industrially produced biodiesel and similar to conventional diesel fuel. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A machine learning approach for the condition monitoring of rotating machinery

Rotating machinery breakdowns are most commonly caused by failures in bearing subsystems. Consequently, condition monitoring of such subsystems could increase reliability of machines that are carrying out field operations. Recently, research has focused on the implementation of vibration signals analysis for health status diagnosis in bearings systems considering the use of acceleration measurements. Informative features sensitive to specific bearing faults and fault locations were constructed by using advanced signal processing techniques which enable the accurate discrimination of faults based on their location. In this paper, the architecture of a diagnostic system for extended faults in bearings based on neural networks is presented. The multilayer perceptron (MLP) with Bayesian automatic relevance determination has been applied in the classification of accelerometer data. New features like the line integral and feature based sensor fusion are introduced which enhance the fault identification performance. Vibration feature selection based on Bayesian automatic relevance determination is introduced for finding better feature combinations.