bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Redesign of a Test Environment for an Elastic Mechanism for Usage as Pressure Sensor Element
Authors: Ottnad Thomas , Irlinger Franz , Lueth Tim C. 
Published: October 2013

When dealing with plastics producing techniques such as injection molding and extrusion control of pressure is a decisive parameter influencing the quality and reproducibility of plastics products. Different types of pressure sensors are commonly used which most often transform mechanical deformation into electrical signals and these in turn are converted into the value of pressure. In some cases separate pressure chambers might be necessary, often the pressure range is limited, and usage of electrical components lead to constraints concerning temperature range. This in turn means extensive effort for installation and insulation of the pressure sensors for example when you want to control the pressure at any desired area of the injection system.
This work is based on an approach of using a flexible element and determining the pressure solely by its deformation. This eliminates thermal insulation and electromagnetic shielding. But concurrently this demands some knowledge concerning the mechanical behavior of the flexible element.
To determine the mechanical behavior of the flexible element especially its stiffness different approaches have been taken into account. First one is to regard the flexible element as Kirchhoff plate. This analytic approach implies a constant bending stiffness which means a linear dependency between working pressure and resulting deflection. This could be confirmed evaluating measurement data that has been taken using a test rig specially designed for that task. In the test rig as substitution of the pressure a variable but defined load can be applied.
When carrying out some measurements with one certain flexible element the influence of assembling and disassembling the test rig was obvious. Only when not changing the assembled test rig measurements have been reproducible. Main reason was the radial variance of applied load and the center of the flexible element.
In order to solve that a test rig was redesigned including a centering device to guarantee load transmission happening always at the same point. Additionally influence of certain linkages in the test rig has been investigated. Combination of both leads to a more reliable and better test rig with higher reproducibility.
Characterization of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Materials Based on Microstructural Skeletonization
Authors: Nakajo Arata , Nelson George J. , DeGostin Matthew , Myles Timothy D. , Peracchio Aldo A. , Chiu Wilson K. S. 
Published: October 2013

The understanding of the relationship between the microstructure of materials for energy applications and their transport and electrochemical properties is needed to optimize their long-term performance. The improvements of 3D imaging techniques such as x-ray nanotomography allow access to geometrical and elemental information with ever increasing accuracy and details. These advances warrant determining new relevant metrics for material characterization, the calculation of which will require adaptations of the methodologies for parameter extraction.
This study presents the development of a tool for the characterization of porous, heterogenous materials that provides coherent geometrical and topological information. We illustrate the relevance of the methodology by discussing the differences between geometrical concepts for estimating phase size distributions of real heterogeneous materials investigated using x-ray nanotomography and how research between different scales and physics can be bridged. This is achieved by providing, on the one hand, inputs to classical continuum models and, on the other hand, by synergetic combination with discrete element methods.
Eddy Current Measurement for Characterizing Soft Tissues
Authors: Sequin Emily K. , West Joseph , Subramaniam Vish V. 
Published: October 2013

Real-time and non-invasive imaging of tissues and detection of diseases on millimeter to centimeter scales can be useful in some clinical applications such as determination of margins during cancer surgery and image-guided pathology. In this paper, we describe an eddy current measurement method for characterizing soft tissues. The device consists of a pair of concentrically wound coils, a primary coil excited by a low frequency (<100 kHz) sinusoidal voltage, inducing a voltage and current in the secondary detecting coil. When a conducting sample is present, eddy currents develop in the sample and alter the induced voltage and phase on the detecting coil. The output voltage and phase of the detecting coil are then monitored using lock-in amplification.
Experimental measurements on porcine muscle tissue examine the effects of varying tissue macrostructure and conductivity on the eddy current detector. Three sets of experiments are presented. First, muscle samples cut into different sized grids simulating the restriction of eddy current domains show that morphological structure has a strong influence on the detector signal. Second, eddy current measurements made on porcine muscle samples at varying degrees of dehydration show that as conductivity decreases, eddy current signals also decrease. Finally, measurements on porcine muscle samples soaked overnight in deionized water complement the dehydration experiments and confirm detector voltage and phase changes decrease with decreasing conductivity.
An Innovative Technology Development for Building Humidification and Energy Efficiency
Authors: Wang Dexin , Bao Ainan , Liss William 
Published: October 2013

Currently, the most widely used residential humidification technologies are forced air furnace mounted bypass wetted media, spray mist, and steam humidifiers. They all use city water as a water source and require furnace heat or electricity to evaporate the water. Mineral deposition, white dust, and microbial growth problems are associated with these humidifiers. For commercial building humidification, de-mineralized water is typically used for humidification equipment like steam heat exchangers, fogging system, electric, and ultrasonic humidifiers. Therefore, in addition to the energy consumption for the water evaporation, energy is also needed to produce the high quality de-mineralized water.
An innovative technology called Transport Membrane Humidifier (TMH), has been developed by the authors to humidify home air without external water and energy consumption, while simultaneously recovering waste heat from the home furnace flue gas to enhance the furnace efficiency. The TMH technology is based on our previous extensive study on nanoporous membrane water vapor separation from combustion flue gas, and a design for residential home humidification application was first developed. It has been proved by both laboratory prototype testing for long term performance, and by two occupied single family home demonstrations for two heating seasons. The technology can provide whole house humidification without any external water consumption, and at the same time boost the furnace efficiency. Compared with conventional furnace mounted humidifiers, the TMH does not need additional furnace fuel for the water evaporation, no white dust in the home, no microbial growth since there is no standing water involved. Therefore, it is an innovative technology that can provide energy saving, water saving and healthy building humidification.
Thermoeconomic Optimization of Heat Recovery Steam Generators: A Modular Approach to Define the Layout of Heat Exchange Sections
Authors: Carapellucci Roberto , Giordano Lorena 
Published: October 2013

One of the most efficient energy conversion systems in state-of-the-art electricity generation technology are combined cycle gas turbines. As is well known, the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) configuration has a major impact on the overall performance of a combined-cycle power plant. Thus providing a tool for optimizing design parameters and layout of a HRSG is an important issue.
The present study focuses on HRSG optimization, employing an exergoeconomic methodology. This is based on the minimization of the total cost of HRSG, including capital costs of heat exchanger sections and operating costs related to exergy destruction. The decision variables of the proposed optimization method are the HRSG operating parameters, as well as the layout of the heat exchanger sections.
To predict behavior and performance, the HRSG is regarded as a modular structure, i.e. as a set of elementary components, interacting through nodes affected by mass and energy flows. The modular approach proposed makes the optimization methodology particularly flexible, as the configuration of the HRSG can be identified defining an “interaction matrix” to characterize the mode of interaction of the elementary components.
The TLCD Passive Control: Numerical Investigations vs. Experimental Results
Authors: Di Matteo Alberto , Lo Iacono Francesco , Navarra Giacomo , Pirrotta Antonina 
Published: October 2013

Very recently the tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) is receiving an increasing interest from researchers concerned with vibration control, to be considered an alternative device with respect to the tuned mass damper (TMD), since the former has low cost, easy adjustment, flexible installation.
However, in recent studies the authors [1] have pointed out that for TMD the analytical formulation provides results that are in good agreement with the experimental ones, while for TLCD it has been deducted that the analytical formulation needs further investigation.
In fact using the classical formulation of the problem, numerical results are very different from the experimental results obtained by the authors using the facilities at the experimental dynamic laboratory of University of Palermo.
In particular it has been shown that the total liquid length should be corrected in an effective one, but in a different way from what has been done in literature, where only the variation of section of the vessel has been taken into account. On the other hand, from experimental investigations it is seen that the liquid moves more in the central area of the tube and less in the area in contact with the side walls. This aspect plays a fundamental role for capturing the real performance of TLCD. In fact, being the TLCD a special type of auxiliary damping device which relies on the inertia of liquid column in a U-tube to counteract the forces acting on the structure, then it is necessary to identify the effective moving liquid mass. To aim at this, in this paper the authors differentiate the total liquid mass into a liquid dead mass and a liquid dynamic mass, then introducing these values into a properly modified mathematical formulation numerical results match the experimental ones for all tests.
Trigonometric Collocation for Computation of Steady State Responses of Cracked Structures
Authors: Bakeer Bakeer , Shiryayev Oleg , Tahir Ammaar 
Published: October 2013

Development of vibration-based structural health monitoring techniques requires the use of various computational methods to predict dynamic responses of damaged structures. The method described in this work can be used for prediction of steady state harmonic responses for structures with fatigue cracks and may have several advantages over alternative techniques.
The method appears to be relatively easy to implement and computationally inexpensive. The steady state response of the system at a given number of time points distributed over one vibration period is represented in terms of Fourier series containing higher frequency harmonics. Equations of motion are formulated in the form that allows for easy computation of Fourier coefficients for all terms in the series. Iterative procedure is used for determining the time of stiffness change in order to capture bilinear dynamic behavior. We present results of initial investigation by applying the method to a model of a cantilever beam with a crack.
Traction-Motor Power Ratio and Speed Trajectory Optimization for Power Split PHEVs Using Route Information
Authors: Vajedi Mahyar , Taghavipour Amir , Azad Nasser L. 
Published: October 2013

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are a promising option for future of transportation. They suggest better fuel economy and less emission compared to conventional HEVs. In this work, a method to find the optimum traction-motor power ratio (TMPR) and speed trajectory for a power-split PHEV is proposed in order to minimize the fuel consumption. The traveling path is divided into several segments. Each segment consists of acceleration, constant speed, and deceleration sections. Also, the route information, such as travel distance, traffic data, the maximum permissible speed, and road grade are known in each segment.
The results of simulation show a considerable reduction in the fuel consumption for different energy management strategies; up to 8% in CDCS, 12.9% in manual CDCS, and 18.2% in blended strategy, using the proposed optimum TMPR and speed trajectory.
Design of Remote Laboratory Experiments Using LabVIEW Web Services
Authors: Tumkor Serdar , Esche Sven K. , Chassapis Constantin 
Published: October 2013

Laboratory experiments are an important and integral part of the learning experience for undergraduate engineering students. They help the students in getting hands-on experience and in better understanding theoretical concepts. In recent years, a significant number of remotely accessible experiments have been developed and integrated into engineering laboratory courses at many educational institutions worldwide. There exist several approaches and technologies for making experimental hardware accessible via the Internet.
This paper will discuss some of the available technologies and a specific method for acquiring data from experimental setups via LabVIEW Virtual Instruments over a network. As an example, a remote experimental apparatus that was developed by upgrading a commercially available air flow rig with remote control and monitoring capabilities is presented. This system is used in a junior-level mechanical engineering course on fluid mechanics. It enables the students to access the experimental setup via the Internet either in real-time or batch mode. For real-time use of the experimental setup, remote panels are used. These remote panels are exactly the same as those that would be used on a local on-site server. They can be run under LabVIEW’s Web server to be observed and controlled by the client via any Internet browser. For the batch-mode use of the experimental setup, on the other hand, simple HTML pages in conjunction with forms are used to generate experimental requests that are sent to the LabVIEW server. This server then places these experimental requests in a queue and executes the appropriate LabVIEW scripts on a first-come first-served basis. This paper will discuss and compare both methods for performing remote laboratory experiments.
Detection of Concealed Ferrous Objects in Vehicles Using Magnetometry-Based Technology
Authors: Vang Nar , Porumamilla Hemanth 
Published: October 2013

Acts of insurgency have become an ever increasing threat resulting in extensive measures being taken by the law enforcement authorities to mitigate their devastating effects on human life and infrastructure. This paper introduces a magnetometry based information, and signal processing methodology for detecting concealed ferrous objects in vehicle body panels. From extensive literature research [6–12], it was observed that while magnetic sensors have been used in a variety of related applications but have not been extensively applied to the on-road detection of firearms and explosives concealed in vehicles. This study utilized an extensive experimental protocol for preliminary concept validation. The main idea behind the approach was that almost all concealed weapons and explosives are made up of a considerable amount of ferrous material and hence produce a local distortion in the magnetic footprint of the Earth’s magnetic field which can then be identified by utilizing sensitive magnetic sensors.
To detect concealed ferrous objects, magnetic signatures of a vehicle door panel were obtained and compared to a base magnetic signature of the same vehicle door panel (the magnetic field data of the same vehicle where no foreign ferrous objects were present), by using a scanning assembly with onboard magnetic and infrared sensors. To analyze the data, a top-down, goal-driven signal processing methodology was designed. To achieve the objective of accurately detecting concealed ferrous objects, simple measures such as magnetic field strength and its energy density were computed, and used in conjunction with more sophisticated statistical measures such as normalized cross-correlation and Mahalanobis distance. Although all these methodologies were able to detect a magnetic footprint anomaly in the presence of a concealed object, the Mahalanobis distance approach in particular provided the most conclusive results in all the cases considered.
The Application of Image Correlation in Order to Define Chatter During Milling of Titanium
Authors: Koohestani Afshin , Mo John P. T. 
Published: October 2013

Self-excited vibration or chatter is the main barrier against milling process. Many techniques have been proposed in order to detect chatter during milling. However, they have some limitations in detection of chatter or using in industry.
This paper addresses if can detect chatter during milling process using image correlation. Image correlation is a method of tracking and image registration for 2D and 3D measurements of changes in images. This method is often used to measure any deformation, displacement, or define any changes during an engineering process.
At this research, Poincaré sections are plotted for milling system by reconstruction of phase space. Then, variation of Poincaré maps is measured and parameterized by image correlation technique using Pearson coefficient.
Using Forming Simulation Results in Virtual Assembly Analysis
Authors: Lindau Björn , Andersson Alf , Lindkvist Lars , Söderberg Rikard 
Published: October 2013

In Car Body Assembly Shops, Body in White (BIW), non-rigid sheet metal panels are assembled into car bodies. Depending upon the achieved degree of robustness in part and tool design, the produced items tend to deviate more or less from their nominal specifications. Catching eventual non-robust solutions early on in the development phases is important to minimize time-consuming, expensive testing and trimming activities late in the development- and industrialization phases. To meet these demands, there is today an increased use of virtual forming and assembly tools within the automotive industry. Significant amounts of research have been performed in the area of forming and assembly simulations, but there is still a need to find efficient working methods.
This study has focused upon how forming simulation results can be used in virtual assembly analysis. The predicted springback shapes (offset and variation) of the stamped panels are used in the assembly simulation to study the effects of the part variation when assembled, producing a sub-assembly. The method used is described, and the simulation results are reported. The case shows the potential of using forming simulation results in virtual assembly analysis. Furthermore, the strength of using the Principal Component Analysis technique to describe the part variation in assembly simulations is shown.
A Framework for Enhancing Outside-the-Box Thinking in Engineering Design, Demonstrated on a Case Study
Authors: Roser Holger M. , Dartnall W. John 
Published: October 2013

This paper introduces a framework for enhancing creative thinking in engineering design. As a flexible methodology, the proposed Creative Engineering Design (CED) framework integrates a new concept development tool, the Concept Assessment Taxonomy (CAT), which constitutes the core of the proposed methodology. By combining the procedures of concept generation, evaluation and selection in a single matrix, the CAT aims to systematize and simplify the overall conceptualization process, while delivering design process transparency.
Early trials have shown the effectiveness of the CED framework in offering procedural guidance and a better comprehension of the multifaceted nature of engineering design. It complements well-established textbook-methods in an effort to reduce ad-hoc and trial-and-error approaches, while minimizing decision-making based on intuition and guesswork.
In order to demonstrate its usefulness within a real world context, the proposed methodology is applied to a case study in the field of mechanical design: a new mechanical fuel injection system capable of curbing small engine emissions.
The Influence of Piezo-Viscous Lubricants on EHL Line and Point Contact Problems
Authors: D’Agostino V. , Petrone V. , Senatore A. 
Published: October 2013

A good and accurate prediction of the elastohydrodynamic lubrication behaviour requires consideration of the constitutive equation for the lubricant. In particular, for applications involving synthetic oils or mineral oil with polymeric additives that exhibit shear-thinning behaviour, the use of an appropriate pressure-viscosity relationship for the lubricant is required to predict the EHL behaviour more accurately [1–3]. For this reason, this paper aims to emphasize the importance of implementing piezo-viscous models with accurate treatment methods in EHL applications. Due to the high pressure in an EHL contact, in fact, the elastic deformation of the surfaces and pressure dependence of viscosity play the pivotal role and in many applications, the lubricant exhibits a shear-thinning behaviour which significantly affects the film thickness [4–6]. The effects of different pressure–viscosity relationships, including the exponential model, the Roelands’ model and specifically, the Doolittle model are investigated and a generalized formulation that can efficiently treat shear-thinning fluids with provision for compressibility in the EHL contact is presented.
In the light of above facts, models for 1D and 2D EHL contacts for simulating the behaviour of the pressure distribution and the shape of the film thickness using a generalized Reynolds equation and shear-thinning fluids is developed. In particular for EHL 2D problem a more accurate full multigrid approach has been used and both the analysis is based upon the assumptions of isothermal condition. In this work, in fact, we show that the piezo-viscous rheology of the lubricant plays an important role in determining the value of pressure peaks. Pressure profiles and film shapes are showed and variations of the minimum and central film thickness with dimensionless parameters are also presented. It is found that the real pressure–viscosity behaviour predicted by the free-volume model yields a higher viscosity at the low-pressure area which results in a larger central film thickness. Therefore, due to use of the free-volume model, the presented results are more consistent with literature experimental observations and the Doolittle model effectively predicts the film thickness that closely matches experiments and properly characterizes the behaviour of shear-thinning lubricants.