On a dynamic preventive maintenance policy for a system under inspection

The purpose of this article is to propose both state and time-dependent preventive maintenance policy for a multi-state deteriorating system, which is equipped with inspection equipment(s) connected to a computer center. After the system being identified as state x at nd through computation by the computer center after inspection (or measurement) via equipment(s), one maintenance action with the minimum expected total cost since nd till Nd (where N=n+K for a fixed integer 0<K<∞) will be chosen from the set A_x of alternatives also with the help of the computer center. In real case, the expected total costs since nd till Nd will be time-dependent and so is the maintenance action chosen at nd. A numerical example is given to illustrate such a maintenance policy for a Markovian deteriorating system to describe its state dependent aspect only for simplicity reason. Due to the fact that both equipment measurement and computer computation take time, the preventive maintenance policy for a sufficiently small d may be used in fact as the one under continuous inspection.     

Thermal instability of a rotating curved plate subjected to an applied magnetic field

The effect of a magnetic field on thermal instability in mixed convection flow on a heated rotating convex surface is studied in this paper. The onset position characterized by the Goertler number G _δ depends on the Grashof number, the rotational number, the Prandtl number, the magnetic field parameter, and the wave number. The buoyancy force, the centrifugal force, the Lorentz force, and the Coriolis force are found to significantly affect the flow structure and heat transfer of the flow. Negative rotation (clockwise) destabilizes the boundary layer flow on a convex surface. However, the Lorentz force stabilizes the flow. Numerical data in this study show the same order of magnitude like experimental data.     

Numerical study of thermal instability in mixed convection flow over horizontal and inclined surfaces

This paper presents numerical study of thermal instability in mixed convection flow over horizontal and inclined plates. The criterion on the position marking on the onset of longitudinal vortices is defined in the present paper. The results show that the onset position characterized by the Grashof number depends on the Prandtl number, wave number, and the inclined angle φ from the horizontal. The flow is found to become more stable to the vortex mode of instability as the value of inclined angle increases, owing to a decrease in buoyancy force in the normal direction. However, the Prandtl number has a destabilizing effect on the flow. The results of the present numerical prediction show reasonable agreement with the experimental data in the literature.     

Dynamic evolvement and formation of refractive microlenses self-assembled from evaporative polyurethane droplets

This paper proposed a method of microfabrication for the formation of hemispherical refractive microlenses by depositing a colloid evaporative droplet onto hydrophobic surfaces. The microdroplets made of polyurethane (PU) were self-driven by surface tension to evolve their three-dimensional (3D) shapes on the surface-treated substrate. The substrates were coated with low surface energy material (Teflon) to de-pin the fluids obeying classic Young–Laplace equation until drying. Array and size-variation experiments, corresponding to different placement and droplet volume, were performed for the shaping process in which the polymers of the drops were self-assembled to be hemispherical utilizing general principle of minimal surface energy. Using the hydrophobic surfaces, plano-convex shapes with spherical curvature were fabricated with micrometer dimensions (base radius between 70 and 1016 μm). The formed structures were observed to form themselves hemispherically by the de-wetting (de-pinning) process during most of evaporation. Moreover, the gravity flatting effect was further found for the larger drop (radius = 1016 μm) when compared to that of smaller one (radius = 118 μm). In the cases, both the modeling calculations and experimental results were performed and compared to illustrate the similar geometries with the contact angle (70°) using dimensionless analysis. In addition, one interesting and significant finding, based on close morphological inspection of the SEM picture, showed that the resulting elongational polymer chains (width 200 nm) stretched (extension 5 μm) on the surface nearby the corner of the contact area, indicating a shear stress occurrence. Compared to those previous methods operated on (soft-) photolithographic techniques, this present one could rapidly predict and microfabricate the hemispherical formation in terms of the radius, height, and contact angle. It is also potentially appropriate for smaller and complex placement by using drop-on-demand (DOD) nozzle arrays for mass-production process.