Influence of Reaction Parameters on the Hydrogenolysis of Hydroxymatairesinol Over Carbon Nanofibre Supported Palladium Catalysts

The density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) calculations were applied to investigate the interaction of a Pt₆ particle with the ZSM-5 zeolite framework. The electronic structure of the metal particle is strongly affected by the interaction with basic framework oxygens and acid sites of the zeolite support. Adsorption on basic sites (E_ads = 6 kcal/mol) favors the formation of the electron enriched metal cluster. Interaction of the platinum cluster with the acid site characterized by stabilization energy of 47 kcal/mol results in oxidation of the metal particle and suppression of Brønsted acidity of the support. The hypothesis is put forward that the oxidized platinum particle can function as an active site for the alkane isomerisation on platinum supported high silica zeolites.     

Drying of Prone to Twist Boards in a Pre-Twisted Position

A method to minimize twist has been investigated; i.e., drying the boards in a pre-twisted position. It has been found that Norway spruce boards can be deformed toward straightness by this method. The force exerted by a board on its holders during drying in a pre-twisted position has been measured. When the variation in torsional stiffness as a function of temperature and moisture content is accounted for, it is found that a creep deformation of the board occurs both during the drying phase and the cooling phase. In addition to mechano-sorptive creep, a deformation released by a change in temperature also seems to occur.     

A sensing strategy for the reverse engineering of machined parts

The reverse engineering of machined parts requires sensing an existing part and producing a design (and perhaps a manufacturing process) for it. We have developed a reverse engineering system that has proven effective with a set of machined parts. This paper describes the system, presents some results, and discusses strategy for a new system.This work was supported by ARPA under ARO grant number DAAH04-93-G-0420, DARPA grant N00014-91-J-4123, NSF grant CDA 9024721, and a University of Utah Research Committee grant. All opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring agencies.     

Ozone Cooling Tower Treatment With and Without Mineral Removal

This paper builds on a prior paper by this author, McGrane (1991). In that paper, ozone is used as the sole means of cooling tower water treatment. The paper discusses water conservation by increased cycles of concentration, greatly increased efficiency through extremely low biological populations, and corrosion data which is compared to ozonated and chemically treated towers.

New in this paper are the results from the combination of a low pressure reverse osmosis system with ozone treatment for cooling tower water. Scale formation has continued to plague cooling towers with high concentrations of calcium in the make-up water. The use of a mineral removal system in cases of extremely hard water has made ozone an attractive alternative to traditional chemicals in many areas.     

Experiments of a prototype wind-driven reverse osmosis desalination system with feedback control

A prototype wind-powered reverse osmosis desalination system was constructed and tested on Coconut Island off the northern coast of Oahu, Hawaii, for brackish water desalination. The system has four major subsystems: a multi-vaned windmill/pump, a flow/pressure stabilizer, a reverse osmosis module, and a control mechanism. The feedback control mechanism, developed by this study, allowed this prototype system to be operated satisfactorily under mild ambient wind of 5 m/s or less. No auxiliary power source was needed. The system operational data showed that at an average wind speed of 5 m/s, brackish feedwater at a total dissolved solids concentration of 3000 mg/1 and at a flow rate of 13 1/min could be processed by this system. The average rejection rate of this prototype system was 97% and the average recovery ratio was 20%. The energy efficiency of the system was measured at 3 5%, which is comparable to the typical energy efficiency of well-operated multi-vaned windmills. Generally, the system's energy efficiency decreases as wind speed increases.     

EVALUATION OF SURFACE FORCE-PORE FLOW AND MODIFIED SURFACE FORCE-PORE FLOW MODELS FOR REVERSE OSMOSIS TRANSPORT

The surface force-pore flow (SF-PF) model of reverse osmosis transport and the extended and modified form (the MD-SF-PF model) have been employed to predict the performance of four aromatic polyamide (FilmTec, FT30)reverse osmosis membranes. The evaluation is based on a comparison of model predictions with experimental data. Dilute sodium chloride-water solution experimental data were used to estimate model parameters. The models are then used to predict flux and separation at various operating pressures and concentrations. Membrane performance (i.e., separation and permeate flux) can be well predicted by the MD-SF-PF model while the SF-PF model predicts the performance for the sodium chloride system less satisfactorily.     

Direct 5-axis tool-path generation from point cloud input using 3D biarc fitting

In reverse engineering, geometrical information of a product is obtained directly from a physical shape by a digitizing device. To fabricate the product, manufacturing information (usually tool-path) must be generated from a CAD model. The data digitized must be processed and in most cases, a surface model is constructed from them using some of the surface fitting technologies. However, these technologies are usually complicated and the process for constructing a surface patch from a massive digitizing data is time-consuming. To simplify the process for getting tool-path information, a simple algorithm is proposed in this paper. The algorithm is used to generate a 5-axis machining tool-path. Instead of implementing any complicated surface fitting techniques, a direct method is proposed for constructing three-dimensional (3D) triangular mesh from the digitizing data with the mesh points considered as the tool contact locations. Depending on the locations of the points digitized, a decimation procedure is applied such that some of the digitizing data will be filtered out. Then, the tool axis orientations which must be determined in 5-axis tool-path are calculated and the tool center locations are determined accordingly. A 3D biarc fitting technique is applied for all the tool center locations so that a complete 5-axis tool-path is obtained.     

Motif analysis for automatic segmentation of CT surface contours into individual surface features

This paper presents a new layer-based technique for automatic high-level segmentation of 3-D surface contours into individual surface features through motif analysis. The procedure starts from a contour-based surface model representing a composite surface area of an object. For each of the surface contours, a relative turning angle (RTA) map is derived. The RTA map usually contains noise and minor features. Algorithms based on motif analysis are applied for extracting a main profile of the RTA map free from background noise and other minor features. All feature points on the extracted profile are further identified from the extracted main profile through further motif analysis. The original contour is thus partitioned into individual segments with the identified feature points. A collection of consecutive contour segments among different layers form an individual 3-D surface feature of the original composite surface. The developed approach using motif analysis is particularly useful for the identification of smooth joins between individual surface features and for the elimination of superposed noise and unwanted minor features.     

Parameterization for reconstruction of 3D freeform objects from laser-scanned data based on a PDE method

Published online: 19 July 2001