Flexibility in flood management design: proactive planning under uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Smet, K.; de Neufville, R.; van der Vlist, M.

2016-12-01

This paper presents a value-enhancing approach for proactive planning and design of long-lived flood management infrastructure given uncertain future flooding threats. Designing infrastructure that can be adapted over time is a method to safeguard the efficacy of current design decisions given future uncertainties. We explore the value of embedding "options" in a physical structure, where an option is the right but not the obligation to do something at a later date (e.g. over-dimensioning a floodwall foundation now facilitates a future height addition in response to observed increases in sea level; building extra pump bays in a drainage pumping station enables the easy addition of pumping capacity whenever increased precipitation warrants an expansion.) The proposed approach couples a simulation model that captures future climate induced changes to the hydrologic operating environment of a structure, with an economic model that estimates the lifetime economic performance of alternative investment strategies. The economic model uses Real "In" Options analysis, a type of cash flow analysis that quantifies the implicit value of options and the flexibility they provide. We demonstrate the approach using replacement planning for the multi-functional pumping station IJmuiden on the North Sea Canal in the Netherlands. The analysis models flexibility in design decisions, varying the size and specific options included in the new structure. Results indicate that the incorporation of options within the structural design has the potential to improve its economic performance, as compared to more traditional, "build it once and build it big" designs where flexibility is not an explicit design criterion. The added value resulting from the incorporation of flexibility varies with the range of future conditions considered, and the specific options examined. This approach could be applied to explore investment strategies for the design of other flood management structures, as well

Scaling up the production capacity of U-Mo powder by HMD process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pasqualini, E.E.; Lopez, M.; Helzel Garcia, L.J.; Echenique, P.; Adelfang, P.

2002-01-01

The recent discovery that uranium alloys in metastable gamma phase can be hydrided at low temperatures and pressures have allowed developing the method of commuting bulk materials by milling the hydride to desired size and then dehydriding the powder. This process is called HMD (hydriding-milling-dehydriding) and needs an initial step of hydrogen incorporation to allow the alloy to be hydrided. This four step process has been conveniently set up for the production of U-7Mo powder for its use in nuclear fuels. Low equipment investment and low man power are needed for this achievement. The process is being analyzed in its scaling up for one kilogram batches and a 50 kilogram per year production capacity of U-Mo powder. (author)

Designing flexible engineering systems utilizing embedded architecture options

Science.gov (United States)

Pierce, Jeff G.

This dissertation develops and applies an integrated framework for embedding flexibility in an engineered system architecture. Systems are constantly faced with unpredictability in the operational environment, threats from competing systems, obsolescence of technology, and general uncertainty in future system demands. Current systems engineering and risk management practices have focused almost exclusively on mitigating or preventing the negative consequences of uncertainty. This research recognizes that high uncertainty also presents an opportunity to design systems that can flexibly respond to changing requirements and capture additional value throughout the design life. There does not exist however a formalized approach to designing appropriately flexible systems. This research develops a three stage integrated flexibility framework based on the concept of architecture options embedded in the system design. Stage One defines an eight step systems engineering process to identify candidate architecture options. This process encapsulates the operational uncertainty though scenario development, traces new functional requirements to the affected design variables, and clusters the variables most sensitive to change. The resulting clusters can generate insight into the most promising regions in the architecture to embed flexibility in the form of architecture options. Stage Two develops a quantitative option valuation technique, grounded in real options theory, which is able to value embedded architecture options that exhibit variable expiration behavior. Stage Three proposes a portfolio optimization algorithm, for both discrete and continuous options, to select the optimal subset of architecture options, subject to budget and risk constraints. Finally, the feasibility, extensibility and limitations of the framework are assessed by its application to a reconnaissance satellite system development problem. Detailed technical data, performance models, and cost estimates

Flexible design in water and wastewater engineering--definitions, literature and decision guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Spiller, Marc; Vreeburg, Jan H G; Leusbrock, Ingo; Zeeman, Grietje

2015-02-01

Urban water and wastewater systems face uncertain developments including technological progress, climate change and urban development. To ensure the sustainability of these systems under dynamic conditions it has been proposed that technologies and infrastructure should be flexible, adaptive and robust. However, in literature it is often unclear what these technologies and infrastructure are. Furthermore, the terms flexible, adaptive and robust are often used interchangeably, despite important differences. In this paper we will i) define the terminology, ii) provide an overview of the status of flexible infrastructure design alternatives for water and wastewater networks and treatment, and iii) develop guidelines for the selection of flexible design alternatives. Results indicate that, with the exception of Net Present Valuation methods, there is little research available on the design and evaluation of technologies that can enable flexibility. Flexible design alternatives reviewed include robust design, phased design, modular design, modular/component platform design and design for remanufacturing. As developments in the water sector are driven by slow variables (climate change, urban development), rather than market forces, it is suggested that phased design or component platform designs are suitable for responding to change, while robust design is an option when operations face highly dynamic variability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive considerations for helmet-mounted display design

Science.gov (United States)

Francis, Gregory; Rash, Clarence E.

2010-04-01

Helmet-mounted displays (HMDs) are designed as a tool to increase performance. To achieve this, there must be an accurate transfer of information from the HMD to the user. Ideally, an HMD would be designed to accommodate the abilities and limitations of users' cognitive processes. It is not enough for the information (whether visual, auditory, or tactual) to be displayed; the information must be perceived, attended, remembered, and organized in a way that guides appropriate decision-making, judgment, and action. Following a general overview, specific subtopics of cognition, including perception, attention, memory, knowledge, decision-making, and problem solving are explored within the context of HMDs.

Flexible weapons architecture design

Science.gov (United States)

Pyant, William C., III

Present day air-delivered weapons are of a closed architecture, with little to no ability to tailor the weapon for the individual engagement. The closed architectures require weaponeers to make the target fit the weapon instead of fitting the individual weapons to a target. The concept of a flexible weapons aims to modularize weapons design using an open architecture shell into which different modules are inserted to achieve the desired target fractional damage while reducing cost and civilian casualties. This thesis shows that the architecture design factors of damage mechanism, fusing, weapons weight, guidance, and propulsion are significant in enhancing weapon performance objectives, and would benefit from modularization. Additionally, this thesis constructs an algorithm that can be used to design a weapon set for a particular target class based on these modular components.

Flexible weapons architecture design

OpenAIRE

Pyant, William C.

2015-01-01

Present day air-delivered weapons are of a closed architecture, with little to no ability to tailor the weapon for the individual engagement. The closed architectures require weaponeers to make the target fit the weapon instead of fitting the individual weapons to a target. The concept of a flexible weapons aims to modularize weapons design using an open architecture shell into which different modules are inserted to achieve the desired target fractional damage while reducing cost and civilia...

A flexible layout design method for passive micromixers.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yongbo; Liu, Zhenyu; Zhang, Ping; Liu, Yongshun; Gao, Qingyong; Wu, Yihui

2012-10-01

This paper discusses a flexible layout design method of passive micromixers based on the topology optimization of fluidic flows. Being different from the trial and error method, this method obtains the detailed layout of a passive micromixer according to the desired mixing performance by solving a topology optimization problem. Therefore, the dependence on the experience of the designer is weaken, when this method is used to design a passive micromixer with acceptable mixing performance. Several design disciplines for the passive micromixers are considered to demonstrate the flexibility of the layout design method for passive micromixers. These design disciplines include the approximation of the real 3D micromixer, the manufacturing feasibility, the spacial periodic design, and effects of the Péclet number and Reynolds number on the designs obtained by this layout design method. The capability of this design method is validated by several comparisons performed between the obtained layouts and the optimized designs in the recently published literatures, where the values of the mixing measurement is improved up to 40.4% for one cycle of the micromixer.

Combined cycle design flexibility in today's market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeRidder, W.N.; Knott, S.J.

1995-01-01

In the power generation industry, non utility generators (NUG's) comprise a significant portion of new generation growth as electricity demands exceed existing utility capacities. These NUG's are developed by customers with widely varying experiences; bankers, lawyers, architect engineers, original equipment manufacturers, and other organizations involved in such diverse industries as petrochemical, pulp and paper, and steel making. The demands of these customers can be significantly varied in terms of features such as capacity factor, operability, maintainability, equipment redundancy, acceptable design practices, and many others. In addition, both the utility and NUG industries demand flexibility due to external influences such as regulatory policies, environmental conditions new design technologies, and emerging global markets. All of these factors are subject to wide variation across different market regions and even within a given region. This paper discusses the development of a reference plant design approach which focuses on customer flexibility while maximizing the use of proven designs. This approach allows basic system designs to be modified in a modular fashion to meet the differing demands of utility and NUG customers

Flexible heat pipes with integrated bioinspired design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Yang

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In this work we report the facile fabrication and performance evaluation of flexible heat pipes that have integrated bioinspired wick structures and flexible polyurethane polymer connector design between the copper condenser and evaporator. Inside the heat pipe, a bioinspired superhydrophilic strong-base-oxidized copper mesh with multi-scale micro/nano-structures was used as the wicking material and deionized water was selected as working fluid. Thermal resistances of the fabricated flexible heat pipes charged with different filling ratios were measured under thermal power inputs ranging from 2 W to 12 W while the device was bent at different angles. The fabricated heat pipes with a 30% filling ratio demonstrated a low thermal resistance less than 0.01 K/W. Compared with the vertically oriented straight heat pipes, bending from 30° up to 120° has negligible influence on the heat-transfer performance. Furthermore, repeated heating tests indicated that the fabricated flexible heat pipes have consistent and reliable heat-transfer performance, thus would have important applications for advanced thermal management in three dimensional and flexible electronic devices.

High Accuracy Attitude Control System Design for Satellite with Flexible Appendages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenya Zhou

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In order to realize the high accuracy attitude control of satellite with flexible appendages, attitude control system consisting of the controller and structural filter was designed. When the low order vibration frequency of flexible appendages is approximating the bandwidth of attitude control system, the vibration signal will enter the control system through measurement device to bring impact on the accuracy or even the stability. In order to reduce the impact of vibration of appendages on the attitude control system, the structural filter is designed in terms of rejecting the vibration of flexible appendages. Considering the potential problem of in-orbit frequency variation of the flexible appendages, the design method for the adaptive notch filter is proposed based on the in-orbit identification technology. Finally, the simulation results are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed design techniques.

Designing Adaptable Ships: Modularity and Flexibility in Future Ship Designs

Science.gov (United States)

2016-01-01

with motors, belts, shafts , seals, valves, hose spindles , and switches. If ship installation is not installed, the system will be status quo. Ship...Impact: the current centrifugal purifiers (Alfa-Laval) have experienced frequent failures with motor, belts, shafts , seals, valves, hose spindles ... Designing Adaptable Ships Modularity and Flexibility in Future Ship Designs John F. Schank, Scott Savitz, Ken Munson, Brian Perkinson, James

The method to design the length of thin-wall flexible rotor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yue; Yao Zengzhong; Baigu Lafu

2014-01-01

Thin-wall flexible rotor is frequently used in rotating machinery. For this rotor the vibration is very complex under the working speed. So the composition design is very difficult. In this paper, for a thin-wall flexible rotor, the material and rotor diameter are determined from spatial structure, the working speed is determined from strength of the material, the first bending critical speed is determined from working speed, then the influence of length on the critical speed is researched. According to the influence of critical speed on the vibration, the length design method is researched, the design steps and methods are given, the safety margin of vibration is analysed. Design validity is established by test. The method is generally suitable for thin-wall flexible rotor. (authors)

Design of flexible skin based on a mixed cruciform honeycomb

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Jiaxin; Zhou, Li

2017-04-01

As the covering of morphing wings, flexible skin is required to provide adequate cooperation deformation, keep the smoothness of the aerodynamic configuration and bear the air load. The non-deformation direction of flexible skin is required to be restrained to keep the smoothness during morphing. This paper studies the deformation mechanisms of a cruciform honeycomb under zero Poisson's ratio constraint. The morphing capacity and in-plane modulus of the cruciform honeycomb are improved by optimizing the shape parameters of honeycomb unit. To improve the out-of-plane bending capacity, a zero Poisson's ratio mixed cruciform honeycomb is proposed by adding ribs into cruciform honeycomb, which can be used as filling material of flexible skin. The mechanical properties of the mixed honeycomb are studied by theoretical analysis and simulation. The local deformation of flexible skin under air load is also analyzed. Targeting the situation of non-uniform air load, a gradient density design scheme is referred. According to the design requirements of the variable camber trailing edge wing flexible skin, the specific design parameters and performance parameters of the skin based on the mixed honeycomb are given. The results show that the zero Poisson's ratio mixed cruciform honeycomb has a large bending rigidity itself and can have a better deformation capacity in-plane and a larger bending rigidity out-of-plane by optimizing the shape parameters. Besides, the designed skin also has advantages in driving force, deformation capacity and quality compared with conventional skin.

Valuing flexibilities in the design of urban water management systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yinghan; Cardin, Michel-Alexandre; Babovic, Vladan; Santhanakrishnan, Deepak; Schmitter, Petra; Meshgi, Ali

2013-12-15

Climate change and rapid urbanization requires decision-makers to develop a long-term forward assessment on sustainable urban water management projects. This is further complicated by the difficulties of assessing sustainable designs and various design scenarios from an economic standpoint. A conventional valuation approach for urban water management projects, like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis, fails to incorporate uncertainties, such as amount of rainfall, unit cost of water, and other uncertainties associated with future changes in technological domains. Such approach also fails to include the value of flexibility, which enables managers to adapt and reconfigure systems over time as uncertainty unfolds. This work describes an integrated framework to value investments in urban water management systems under uncertainty. It also extends the conventional DCF analysis through explicit considerations of flexibility in systems design and management. The approach incorporates flexibility as intelligent decision-making mechanisms that enable systems to avoid future downside risks and increase opportunities for upside gains over a range of possible futures. A water catchment area in Singapore was chosen to assess the value of a flexible extension of standard drainage canals and a flexible deployment of a novel water catchment technology based on green roofs and porous pavements. Results show that integrating uncertainty and flexibility explicitly into the decision-making process can reduce initial capital expenditure, improve value for investment, and enable decision-makers to learn more about system requirements during the lifetime of the project. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Augmented reality for art, design and cultural heritage-system design and evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Caarls, J.; Jonker, P.P.; Kolstee, Y.; Rotteveel, J.; Eck, van W.

2010-01-01

This paper describes the design of an optical see-through head-mounted display (HMD) system for Augmented Reality (AR). Our goals were to make virtual objects "perfectly" indistinguishable from real objects, wherever the user roams, and to find out to which extent imperfections are hindering

Flexible missile autopilot design studies with PC-MATLAB/386

Science.gov (United States)

Ruth, Michael J.

1989-01-01

Development of a responsive, high-bandwidth missile autopilot for airframes which have structural modes of unusually low frequency presents a challenging design task. Such systems are viable candidates for modern, state-space control design methods. The PC-MATLAB interactive software package provides an environment well-suited to the development of candidate linear control laws for flexible missile autopilots. The strengths of MATLAB include: (1) exceptionally high speed (MATLAB's version for 80386-based PC's offers benchmarks approaching minicomputer and mainframe performance); (2) ability to handle large design models of several hundred degrees of freedom, if necessary; and (3) broad extensibility through user-defined functions. To characterize MATLAB capabilities, a simplified design example is presented. This involves interactive definition of an observer-based state-space compensator for a flexible missile autopilot design task. MATLAB capabilities and limitations, in the context of this design task, are then summarized.

Designing institutions for global democracy: flexibility through escape clauses and sunset provisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan W. Kuyper

2013-12-01

Full Text Available How can advocates of global democracy grapple with the empirical conditions that constitute world politics? I argue that flexibility mechanisms—;commonly used to advance international cooperation—should be employed to make the institutional design project of global democracy more tractable. I highlight three specific reasons underpinning this claim. First, flexibility provisions make bargaining over different institutional designs more manageable. Second, heightened flexibility takes seriously potential concerns about path-dependent institutional development. Finally, deliberately shortening the time horizons of agents by employing flexibility provisions has cognitive benefits as it forces designers to focus specifically on issues of feasibility as well as desirability. I discuss a range of flexibility mechanisms and highlight the utility of sunset provisions and escape clauses. From this analysis, I build an argument for the usage of small-scale democratic experiments through which citizens (or their representatives have a say in global policy making.

Mechanical flexible joint design document

Science.gov (United States)

Daily, Vic

1993-01-01

The purpose of this report is to document the status of the Mechanical Flexible Joint (MFJ) Design Subtask with the intent of halting work on the design. Recommendations for future work is included in the case that the task is to be resumed. The MFJ is designed to eliminate two failure points from the current flex joint configuration, the inner 'tripod configuration' and the outer containment jacket. The MFJ will also be designed to flex 13.5 degrees and have three degrees of freedom. By having three degrees of freedom, the MFJ will allow the Low Pressure Fuel Duct to twist and remove the necessity to angulate the full 11 degrees currently required. The current flex joints are very labor intensive and very costly and a simple alternative is being sought. The MFJ is designed with a greater angular displacement, with three degrees of freedom, to reside in the same overall envelope, to meet weight constraints of the current bellows, to be compatible with cryogenic fuel and oxidizers, and also to be man-rated.

A methodology for designing flexible multi-generation systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lythcke-Jørgensen, Christoffer Ernst; Viana Ensinas, Adriano; Münster, Marie

2016-01-01

An FMG (flexible multi-generation system) consists of integrated and flexibly operated facilities that provide multiple links between the various layers of the energy system. FMGs may facilitate integration and balancing of fluctuating renewable energy sources in the energy system in a cost...... is based on consideration of the following points: Selection, location and dimensioning of processes; systematic heat and mass integration; flexible operation optimization with respect to both short-term market fluctuations and long-term energy system development; global sensitivity and uncertainty...... analysis; biomass supply chains; variable part-load performance; and multi-objective optimization considering economic and environmental performance. Tested in a case study, the methodology is proved effective in screening the solution space for efficient FMG designs, in assessing the importance...

Flexibility and Control : An empirical study relating production flexibility to the design of performance management systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Veen-Dirks, P.M.G.

2002-01-01

A critical challenge facing organizations is the design of management control systems, which play a key role in evaluating the achievement of organizational and individual objectives. This thesis addresses the design of management control (performance management) systems in the current flexible

PROSPECTS OF DESIGNING FLEXIBLE BUSINESS MODEL IN TURBULENT TIMES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amalia DUTU

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to analyze the current global context to capture the characteristics of the new type of volatile and turbulent business environment in which companies must operate nowdays and to bring some propositions in order to guide managers in designing or redesigning business models to achieve flexibility. The central message of this paper, that is a point of view one, is that, nowdays but also in the future, business models that are based on strategic, organizational and operational flexibility and on reaction speed will be those who will provide the greatest capacity to respond to change. Even if the international theory provides a multiple perspective analysis of business model concept, still how it can be achieved such flexibility remains an open issue in the academic debate, but also in the practice of companies. Thus, the paper contains some propositions in order to guide managers in the process of designing or redesigning the business model.

Improved NGL recovery designs maximize operating flexibility and product recoveries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkinson, J.D.; Hudson, H.M.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that the historically cyclical nature in the market for ethane and propane has demonstrated the need for flexible natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery plants. NEwly developed and patented processes are now available which can provide ultra-high recovery of ethane (95%+) when demand for ethane is high and provide essentially complete ethane rejection without the normally concomitant reduction in propane recovery. This provides plant operators the flexibility to respond more readily to NGL market conditions, thus maximizing plant operating profits. The new process designs provide this flexibility without increasing utility requirements. In fact, utility consumption is often lower when compared to conventional designs. This same process technology can also be easily retrofit into existing plants with relatively quick payout of the modifications from both recovery and efficiency improvements

Amplifying the helicopter drift in a conformal HMD

Science.gov (United States)

Schmerwitz, Sven; Knabl, Patrizia M.; Lueken, Thomas; Doehler, Hans-Ullrich

2016-05-01

Helicopter operations require a well-controlled and minimal lateral drift shortly before ground contact. Any lateral speed exceeding this small threshold can cause a dangerous momentum around the roll axis, which may cause a total roll over of the helicopter. As long as pilots can observe visual cues from the ground, they are able to easily control the helicopter drift. But whenever natural vision is reduced or even obscured, e.g. due to night, fog, or dust, this controllability diminishes. Therefore helicopter operators could benefit from some type of "drift indication" that mitigates the influence of a degraded visual environment. Generally humans derive ego motion by the perceived environmental object flow. The visual cues perceived are located close to the helicopter, therefore even small movements can be recognized. This fact was used to investigate a modified drift indication. To enhance the perception of ego motion in a conformal HMD symbol set the measured movement was used to generate a pattern motion in the forward field of view close or on the landing pad. The paper will discuss the method of amplified ego motion drift indication. Aspects concerning impact factors like visualization type, location, gain and more will be addressed. Further conclusions from previous studies, a high fidelity experiment and a part task experiment, will be provided. A part task study will be presented that compared different amplified drift indications against a predictor. 24 participants, 15 holding a fixed wing license and 4 helicopter pilots, had to perform a dual task on a virtual reality headset. A simplified control model was used to steer a "helicopter" down to a landing pad while acknowledging randomly placed characters.

H infinity controller design to a rigid-flexible satellite with two vibration modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Souza, A G; De Souza, L C G

2015-01-01

The satellite attitude control system (ACS) design becomes more complex when the satellite structure has components like, flexible solar panels, antennas and mechanical manipulators. These flexible structures can interact with the satellite rigid parts during translational and/or rotational manoeuvre damaging the ACS pointing accuracy. Although, a well-designed controller can suppress such disturbances quickly, the controller error pointing may be limited by the minimum time necessary to suppress such disturbances thus affecting the satellite attitude acquisition. This paper deals with the rigid-flexible satellite ACS design using the H infinity method. The rigid-flexible satellite is represented by a beam connected to a central rigid hub at one end and free at the other one. The equations of motions are obtained considering small flexible deformations and the Euler-Bernoulli hypothesis. The results of the simulations have shown that the H-infinity controller was able to control the rigid motion and suppress the vibrations. (paper)

Design of micro, flexible light-emitting diode arrays and fabrication of flexible electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao, Dan; Wang, Weibiao; Liang, Zhongzhu; Liang, Jingqiu; Qin, Yuxin; Lv, Jinguang

2016-01-01

In this study, we design micro, flexible light-emitting diode (LED) array devices. Using theoretical calculations and finite element simulations, we analyze the deformation of the conventional single electrode bar. Through structure optimization, we obtain a three-dimensional (3D), chain-shaped electrode structure, which has a greater bending degree. The optimized electrodes not only have a bigger bend but can also be made to spin. When the supporting body is made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the maximum bending degree of the micro, flexible LED arrays (4  ×  1 arrays) was approximately 230 µ m; this was obtained using the finite element method. The device (4  ×  1 arrays) can stretch to 15%. This paper describes the fabrication of micro, flexible LED arrays using microelectromechancial (MEMS) technology combined with electroplating technology. Specifically, the isolated grooves are made by dry etching which can isolate and protect the light-emitting units. A combination of MEMS technology and wet etching is used to fabricate the large size spacing. (paper)

Discipline and Flexibility: A Behavioral Perspective on Product Design in Microfinance

OpenAIRE

Labie, Marc; Laureti, Carolina; Szafarz, Ariane

2016-01-01

The success of both microcredit and micro-savings products rests upon simplicity and standardization in order to stimulate client discipline. Meanwhile, these products lack flexibility. This paper attempts to make sense of behavioral product design in microfinance. We focus on the potential trade-offs between discipline and flexibility. While discipline devices encourage clients make payments duly on time, flexibility improves clients’ day-to-day money management and helps them cope with shoc...

Designing structural supply chain flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mulinski, Ksawery Jan

2012-01-01

In a continuously changing business environment the role of supply chain flexibility is constantly increasing. A flexible supply chain can ensure survival in quickly changing market conditions as well as enable sustainable growth. This thesis explores the topic of supply chain flexibility with focus

Flexibility in Flood Management Design: Proactive Planning Under Climate Change Uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Smet, K.; de Neufville, R.; van der Vlist, M.

2015-12-01

This paper presents an innovative, value-enhancing procedure for effective planning and design of long-lived flood management infrastructure given uncertain future flooding threats due to climate change. Designing infrastructure that can be adapted over time is a method to safeguard the efficacy of current design decisions given uncertainty about rates and future impacts of climate change. This paper explores the value of embedding "options" in a physical structure, where an option is the right but not the obligation to do something at a later date (e.g. over-dimensioning a floodwall foundation now facilitates a future height addition in response to observed increases in sea level; building of extra pump bays in a pumping station now enables the addition of pumping capacity whenever increased precipitation warrants an expansion.) The proposed procedure couples a simulation model that captures future climate induced changes to the hydrologic operating environment of a structure, with an economic model that estimates the lifetime economic performance of alternative investments. The economic model uses Real "In" Options analysis, a type of cash flow analysis that quantifies the implicit value of options and the flexibility they provide. This procedure is demonstrated using replacement planning for the multi-functional pumping station IJmuiden on the North Sea Canal in the Netherlands. Flexibility in design decisions is modelled, varying the size and specific options included in the new structure. Results indicate that the incorporation of options within the structural design has the potential to improve its economic performance, as compared to more traditional, "build it once and build it big" designs where flexibility is not an explicit design criterion. The added value resulting from the incorporation of flexibility varies with the range of future conditions considered, as well as the options examined. This procedure could be applied more broadly to explore

Spectral Design Flexibility of LED Brings Better life

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ou, Haiyan; Corell, Dennis Dan; Ou, Yiyu

2012-01-01

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are penetrating into the huge market of general lighting because they are energy saving and environmentally friendly. The big advantage of LED light sources, compared to traditional incandescent lamps and fluorescent light tubes, is the flexible spectral design to make...

Cycle design flexibility for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beu, T.D.; Keys, T.A.; Gardner, D.R.

1986-01-01

Fuel cycle length flexibility is being included in the cycle designs of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Large end-of-cycle exposure windows are accommodated by adjusting the length of end-of-cycle coastdowns. Constraints on cycle designs are being lessened by application of innovative core loading strategies and through implementation of advanced fuel designs. Changes in design bases are evaluated relatively quickly and factored into cycle designs in order to maintain or improve performance

Effects of Flexible Dry Electrode Design on Electrodermal Activity Stimulus Response Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Haddad, Peter A; Servati, Amir; Soltanian, Saeid; Ko, Frank; Servati, Peyman

2017-12-01

The focus of this research is to evaluate the effects of design parameters including surface area, distance between and geometry of dry flexible electrodes on electrodermal activity (EDA) stimulus response detection. EDA is a result of the autonomic nervous system being stimulated, which causes sweat and changes the electrical characteristics of the skin. Standard silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) EDA electrodes are rigid and lack conformability in contact with skin. In this study, flexible dry Ag/AgCl EDA electrodes were fabricated on a compliant substrate, used to monitor EDA stimulus responses and compared to results simultaneously collected by rigid dry Ag/AgCl electrodes. A repeatable fabrication process for flexible Ag/AgCl electrodes has been established. Surface area, distance between and geometry of electrodes are shown to affect the detectability of the EDA response and the minimum number of sweat glands to be covered by the electrodes has been estimated at 140, or more, in order to maintain functionality. The optimal flexible EDA electrode is a serpentine design with a 0.15 cm 2 surface area and a 0.20 cm distance with an average Pearson correlation coefficient of . Fabrication of flexible electrodes is described and an understanding of the effects of electrode designs on the EDA stimulus response detection has been established and is potentially related to the coverage of sweat glands. This work presents a novel systematic approach to understand the effects of electrode designs on monitoring EDA which is of importance for the design of wearable EDA monitoring devices.

Functional design criteria 241-AP-102 Flexible Receiver System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roblyer, S.P.

1995-01-01

A mixer pump was installed in the 1.07 m (42-in.) riser of the central pump pit of tank 241-AP-102 to mitigate potential fluid separation particle sedimentation by mixing the tank's contents. The mixer pump performed this function until failure. Its removal is now necessary to meet possible tank content removal commitments or other corrective actions. The proposed removal procedure requires a flexible receiver that will provide a barrier to contamination during removal and transfer of the pump to the mixer pump storage container. This document describes the functional design criteria of the flexible receiver. These criteria include the functional and performance requirements of the flexible receiver as a barrier to contamination during normal conditions and contingencies and the instrumentation requirements

Fatigue and rutting strain analysis of flexible pavements designed ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ELO

The study was carried out with the layered elastic analysis software EVERSTRESS. Key words: Layered elastic analysis, fatigue, rutting, strains, design, flexible pavement, CBR. ..... Numerical Computational Stresses and Strains in Multi-Layer ...

Conceptual design of EAST flexible in-vessel inspection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, X.B.; Song, Y.T.; Li, C.C.; Lei, M.Z.; Li, G.

2010-01-01

Remote handling technology, especially the flexible in-vessel inspection system (FIVIS) without breaking the working condition of the vacuum vessel, has been identified as one major challenge on the maintenance for the future tokamak fusion reactor. The FIVIS introduced here is specially developed for EAST superconducting tokamak that has actively cooled plasma facing components (PFCs). It aims flexible close-up inspection of EAST PFCs to help the understanding of operation issues that could occur in the vacuum vessel. This paper resumes the preliminary work of the FIVIS project, including the requirement analysis and the development of the conceptual design. The FIVIS consists out of a long reach multi-articulated manipulator and a process tool. The manipulator has a modular design for its subsystems and can reach all areas of the first wall in the distance of 15 mm and in the range of ±90 o along toroidal direction. It will be folded and hidden in the designated horizontal port during plasma discharge period.

Impact of Building Design Parameters on Thermal Energy Flexibility in a Low-Energy Building

OpenAIRE

Sarran, Lucile; Foteinaki, Kyriaki; Gianniou, Panagiota; Rode, Carsten

2017-01-01

This work focuses on demand-side management potential for the heating grid in residential buildings. The possibility to increase the flexibility provided to the heat network through specific building design is investigated. The role of different parts of the building structure on thermal flexibility is assessed through a parameter variation on a building model. Different building designs are subjected to heat cut-offs, and flexibility is evaluated with respect to comfort preservation and heat...

Optimization of flexible substrate by gradient elastic modulus design for performance improvement of flexible electronic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Minggang; Liang, Chunping; Hu, Ruixue; Cheng, Zhaofang; Liu, Shiru; Zhang, Shengli

2018-05-01

It is imperative and highly desirable to buffer the stress in flexible electronic devices. In this study, we designed and fabricated lamellate poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) samples with gradient elastic moduli, motivated by the protection of the pomelo pulp by its skin, followed by the measurements of their elastic moduli. We demonstrated that the electrical and fatigue performances of a Ag-nanowire thin film device on the PDMS substrate with a gradient elastic modulus are significantly better than those of a device on a substrate with a monolayer PDMS. This study provides a robust scheme to effectively protect flexible electronic devices.

Technical considerations for flexible piping design in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, S.C.; Chou, C.K.

1985-01-01

The overall objective of this research project is to develop a technical basis for flexible piping designs which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. The current study was conducted to establish the necessary groundwork based on the piping reliability analysis. A confirmatory piping reliability assessment indicated that removing rigid supports and snubbers tends to either improve or affect very little the piping reliability. A couple of changes to be implemented in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.61 and RG 1.122 aimed at more flexible piping design were investigated. It was concluded that these changes substantially reduce calculated piping responses and allows piping redesigns with significant reduction in number of supports and snubbers without violating ASME code requirements

Design methodology for flexible energy conversion systems accounting for dynamic performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pierobon, Leonardo; Casati, Emiliano; Casella, Francesco

2014-01-01

This article presents a methodology to help in the definition of the optimal design of power generation systems. The innovative element is the integration of requirements on dynamic performance into the system design procedure. Operational flexibility is an increasingly important specification...

Flexible and efficient genome tiling design with penalized uniqueness score

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Du Yang

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background As a powerful tool in whole genome analysis, tiling array has been widely used in the answering of many genomic questions. Now it could also serve as a capture device for the library preparation in the popular high throughput sequencing experiments. Thus, a flexible and efficient tiling array design approach is still needed and could assist in various types and scales of transcriptomic experiment. Results In this paper, we address issues and challenges in designing probes suitable for tiling array applications and targeted sequencing. In particular, we define the penalized uniqueness score, which serves as a controlling criterion to eliminate potential cross-hybridization, and a flexible tiling array design pipeline. Unlike BLAST or simple suffix array based methods, computing and using our uniqueness measurement can be more efficient for large scale design and require less memory. The parameters provided could assist in various types of genomic tiling task. In addition, using both commercial array data and experiment data we show, unlike previously claimed, that palindromic sequence exhibiting relatively lower uniqueness. Conclusions Our proposed penalized uniqueness score could serve as a better indicator for cross hybridization with higher sensitivity and specificity, giving more control of expected array quality. The flexible tiling design algorithm incorporating the penalized uniqueness score was shown to give higher coverage and resolution. The package to calculate the penalized uniqueness score and the described probe selection algorithm are implemented as a Perl program, which is freely available at http://www1.fbn-dummerstorf.de/en/forschung/fbs/fb3/paper/2012-yang-1/OTAD.v1.1.tar.gz.

Flexible engineering designs for urban water management in Lusaka, Zambia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tembo, Lucy; Pathirana, Assela; van der Steen, Peter; Zevenbergen, Chris

2015-01-01

Urban water systems are often designed using deterministic single values as design parameters. Subsequently the different design alternatives are compared using a discounted cash flow analysis that assumes that all parameters remain as-predicted for the entire project period. In reality the future is unknown and at best a possible range of values for design parameters can be estimated. A Monte Carlo simulation could then be used to calculate the expected Net Present Value of project alternatives, as well as so-called target curves (cumulative frequency distribution of possible Net Present Values). The same analysis could be done after flexibilities were incorporated in the design, either by using decision rules to decide about the moment of capacity increase, or by buying Real Options (in this case land) to cater for potential capacity increases in the future. This procedure was applied to a sanitation and wastewater treatment case in Lusaka, Zambia. It included various combinations of on-site anaerobic baffled reactors and off-site waste stabilisation ponds. For the case study, it was found that the expected net value of wastewater treatment systems can be increased by 35-60% by designing a small flexible system with Real Options, rather than a large inflexible system.

Modern Control Design for Flexible Wind Turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wright, A. D.

2004-07-01

Control can improve energy capture and reduce dynamic loads in wind turbines. In the 1970s and 1980s, wind turbines used classical control designs to regulate power and speed. The methods used, however, were not always successful. Modern turbines are larger, mounted on taller towers, and more dynamically active than their predecessors. Control systems to regulate turbine power and maintain stable, closed-loop behavior in the presence of turbulent wind inflow will be critical for these designs. This report applies modern state-space control design methods to a two-bladed teetering hub upwind machine at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), which is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. The design objective is to regulate turbine speed and enhance damping in several low-damped flexible modes of the turbine. Starting with simple control algorithms based on linear models, complexity is added incrementally until the desired performance is firmly established.

Flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphrey, L. Dennis

1981-01-01

Flexibility is an important aspect of all sports and recreational activities. Flexibility can be developed and maintained by stretching exercises. Exercises designed to develop flexibility in ankle joints, knees, hips, and the lower back are presented. (JN)

An Asynchronous Circuit Design Technique for a Flexible 8-Bit Microprocessor

Science.gov (United States)

Karaki, Nobuo; Nanmoto, Takashi; Inoue, Satoshi

This paper presents an asynchronous design technique, an enabler for the emerging technology of flexible microelectronics that feature low-temperature processed polysilicon (LTPS) thin-film transistors (TFT) and surface-free technology by laser annealing/ablation (SUFTLA®). The first design instance chosen is an 8-bit microprocessor. LTPS TFTs are good for realizing displays having integrated VLSI circuit at lower costs. However, LTPS TFTs have drawbacks, including substantial deviations in characteristics and the self-heating phenomenon. To solve these problems, the authors adopted the asynchronous circuit design technique and developed an asynchronous design language called Verilog+, which is based on a subset of Verilog HDL® and includes minimal primitives used for describing the communications between modules, and the dedicated tools including a translator called xlator and a synthesizer called ctrlsyn. The flexible 8-bit microprocessor stably operates at 500kHz, drawing 180μA from a 5V power source. The microprocessor's electromagnetic emissions are 21dB less than those of the synchronous counterpart.

Design of semi-rigid type of flexible pavements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pranshoo Solanki

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The primary objective of the study presented in this paper is to develop design curves for performance prediction of stabilized layers and to compare semi-rigid flexible pavement designs between the empirical AASHTO 1993 and the mechanistic-empirical pavement design methodologies. Specifically, comparisons were made for a range of different sections consisting of cementitious layers stabilized with different types and percentages of additives. It is found that the design thickness is influenced by the type of soil, additive, selection of material property and design method. Cost comparisons of sections stabilized with different percentage and type of additives showed that CKD-stabilization provides economically low cost sections as compared to lime- and CFA-stabilized sections. Knowledge gained from the parametric analysis of different sections using AASHTO 1993 and MEPDG is expected to be useful to pavement designers and others in implementation of the new MEPDG for future pavement design. Keywords: Semi-rigid, Mechanistic, Resilient modulus, Fatigue life, Reliability, Traffic

Augmented Reality for Art, Design and Cultural Heritage—System Design and Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joachim Rotteveel

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design of an optical see-through head-mounted display (HMD system for Augmented Reality (AR. Our goals were to make virtual objects “perfectly” indistinguishable from real objects, wherever the user roams, and to find out to which extent imperfections are hindering applications in art and design. For AR, fast and accurate measuring of head motions is crucial. We made a head-pose tracker for the HMD that uses error-state Kalman filters to fuse data from an inertia tracker with data from a camera that tracks visual markers. This makes on-line head-pose based rendering of dynamic virtual content possible. We measured our system, and found that with an A4-sized marker viewed from >20∘ at 5 m distance with an SXGA camera (FOV 108∘, the RMS error in the tracker angle was <0.5∘ when moving the head slowly. Our Kalman filters suppressed the pose error due to camera delay, which is proportional to the angular and linear velocities, and the dynamic misalignment was comparable to the static misalignment. Applications of artists and designers lead to observations on the profitable use of our AR system. Their exhibitions at world-class museums showed that AR is a powerful tool for disclosing cultural heritage.

Design a Fuzzy Logic Controller for a Rotary Flexible Joint Robotic Arm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jalani Jamaludin

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to design a fuzzy logic feedback controller (FLC in order to control a desired tip angle position a rotary flexible joint robotic arm. The FLC is also employed to dampen the vibration emanated from a rotary flexible joint robotic arm when reaching a desired tip angle position. The performance of FLC is tested in simulation and experiment. It is found that the FLC is successfully designed, applied and tested. The results show that fuzzy logic controller performed satisfactorily control a desired tip angle position and reduce the oscillations.

Matrix Transfer Function Design for Flexible Structures: An Application

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, T. J.; Compito, A. V.; Doran, A. L.; Gustafson, C. L.; Wong, C. L.

1985-01-01

The application of matrix transfer function design techniques to the problem of disturbance rejection on a flexible space structure is demonstrated. The design approach is based on parameterizing a class of stabilizing compensators for the plant and formulating the design specifications as a constrained minimization problem in terms of these parameters. The solution yields a matrix transfer function representation of the compensator. A state space realization of the compensator is constructed to investigate performance and stability on the nominal and perturbed models. The application is made to the ACOSSA (Active Control of Space Structures) optical structure.

Flexible Molybdenum Electrodes towards Designing Affinity Based Protein Biosensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamakoti, Vikramshankar; Panneer Selvam, Anjan; Radha Shanmugam, Nandhinee; Muthukumar, Sriram; Prasad, Shalini

2016-07-18

Molybdenum electrode based flexible biosensor on porous polyamide substrates has been fabricated and tested for its functionality as a protein affinity based biosensor. The biosensor performance was evaluated using a key cardiac biomarker; cardiac Troponin-I (cTnI). Molybdenum is a transition metal and demonstrates electrochemical behavior upon interaction with an electrolyte. We have leveraged this property of molybdenum for designing an affinity based biosensor using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. We have evaluated the feasibility of detection of cTnI in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and human serum (HS) by measuring impedance changes over a frequency window from 100 mHz to 1 MHz. Increasing changes to the measured impedance was correlated to the increased dose of cTnI molecules binding to the cTnI antibody functionalized molybdenum surface. We achieved cTnI detection limit of 10 pg/mL in PBS and 1 ng/mL in HS medium. The use of flexible substrates for designing the biosensor demonstrates promise for integration with a large-scale batch manufacturing process.

Design, Prototyping and Control of a Flexible Cystoscope for Biomedical Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Sozer, Canberk; Ghorbani, Morteza; Alcan, Gokhan; Uvet, Huseyin; Unel, Mustafa; Kosar, Ali

2017-07-01

Kidney stone and prostate hyperplasia are very common urogenital diseases all over the world. To treat these diseases, one of the ESWL (Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy), PCNL (Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy), cystoscopes or open surgery techniques can be used. Cystoscopes named devices are used for in-vivo intervention. A flexible or rigid cystoscope device is inserted into human body and operates on interested area. In this study, a flexible cystoscope prototype has been developed. The prototype is able to bend up to ±40°in X and Y axes, has a hydrodynamic cavitation probe for rounding sharp edges of kidney stone or resection of the filled prostate with hydrodynamic cavitation method and contains a waterproof medical camera to give visual feedback to the operator. The operator steers the flexible end-effector via joystick toward target region. This paper presents design, manufacturing, control and experimental setup of the tendon driven flexible cystoscope prototype. The prototype is 10 mm in outer diameter, 70 mm in flexible part only and 120 mm in total length with flexible part and rigid tube. The experimental results show that the prototype bending mechanism, control system, manufactured prototype parts and experimental setup function properly. A small piece of real kidney stone was broken in targeted area.

Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ter Hoeven, C.L.; van Zoonen, W.

2015-01-01

Advances in communication technology continue to expand the possibilities for redesigning work environments to allow for temporal and spatial flexibility. Although flexible work designs (FWDs) are typically launched with high expectations, recent research shows that FWDs also pose challenges to

Mechanism Design and Testing of a Self-Deploying Structure Using Flexible Composite Tape Springs

Science.gov (United States)

Footdale, Joseph N.; Murphey, Thomas W.

2014-01-01

The detailed mechanical design of a novel deployable support structure that positions and tensions a membrane optic for space imagining applications is presented. This is a complex three-dimensional deployment using freely deploying rollable composite tape spring booms that become load bearing structural members at full deployment. The deployment tests successfully demonstrate a new architecture based on rolled and freely deployed composite tape spring members that achieve simultaneous deployment without mechanical synchronization. Proper design of the flexible component mounting interface and constraint systems, which were critical in achieving a functioning unit, are described. These flexible composite components have much potential for advancing the state of the art in deployable structures, but have yet to be widely adopted. This paper demonstrates the feasibility and advantages of implementing flexible composite components, including the design details on how to integrate with required traditional mechanisms.

Efficient Design of Flexible and Low Cost Paper-Based Inkjet-Printed Antenna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. M. Mansour

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A new, efficient, flexible, and cheap antenna designed at 1.57 GHz microstrip patch antenna based on simple inkjet printer with improved performance using silver nanoparticles ink is developed. The antenna is printed on a kind of flexible substrate “glossy paper,” to offer the advantage of light and flexibility for different applications. The performance of silver nanoparticles ink has been studied through inkjet printing versus postsynthesis annealing and multilayer printing. The conductivity has been improved to have promising values up to 2 Ω/cm at temperatures up to 180°C. The surface morphology of the circuits has been analyzed using SEM with mean diameter of the nanoparticles around 100 nm, uniform surface distribution, and mean thickness of the printed layer around 230 microns. Also, a simple design of a coplanar waveguide (CPW monopole Z-shaped antenna has been considered as an application of fabricated printed antenna using the studied silver nanoparticles ink through a cheap printer.

Comparative Analysis of Possible Designs for Flexible Distribution System Operation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lin, Jeremy; Knezovic, Katarina

2016-01-01

for achieving the most efficient utilization of these resources while meeting the forecasted load. In this paper, we present possible system design frameworks proposed for flexible distribution system operation. Critical evaluations and comparison of these models are made based on a number of key attributes...

Flexible Software Design for Korean WA-DGNSS Reference Station

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wan Sik Choi

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we describe the software design results of WA-DGNSS reference station that will be constructed in Korea in the near future. Software design of the WRS (Wide area Reference Station is carried out by applying object oriented software methodology in order to provide flexibilities: easy of model change (namely ionospheric delay model etc and system addition (Galileo, GLONASS in addition to GPS etc. Software design results include the use case diagrams for the functions to be executed, the architecture diagram showing components and their relationships, the activity diagrams of behaviors and models among them, and class diagrams describing the attribute and operation.

An interactive and flexible approach to stamping design and optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, Subir; Kunju, Ravi; Kirby, David

2004-01-01

This paper describes an efficient method that integrates finite element analysis (FEA), mesh morphing and response surface based optimization in order to implement an automated and flexible software tool to optimize stamping tool and process design. For FEA, a robust and extremely fast inverse solver is chosen. For morphing, a state of the art mesh morpher that interactively generates shape variables for optimization studies is used. The optimization algorithm utilized in this study enables a global search for a multitude of parameters and is highly flexible with regards to the choice of objective functions. A quality function that minimizes formability defects resulting from stretching and compression is implemented

Towards prioritizing flexibility in the design and construction of concentrating solar power plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Topel, Monika; Lundqvist, Mårten; Haglind, Fredrik

2017-01-01

In the operation and maintenance of concentrating solar power plants, high operational flexibility is required in order to withstand the variability from the inherent solar fluctuations. However, during the development phases of a solar thermal plant, this important objective is overlooked...... as a relevant factor for cost reduction in the long term. This paper will show the value of including flexibility aspects in the design of a concentrating solar power plant by breaking down their potential favorable impact on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) calculations. For this, three scenarios...... to include flexibility as a design objective are analyzed and their potential impact on the LCOE is quantified. The scenarios were modeled and analyzed using a techno-economic model of a direct steam generation solar tower power plant. Sensitivity studies were carried out for each scenario, in which...

High-Level Design Space and Flexibility Exploration for Adaptive, Energy-Efficient WCDMA Channel Estimation Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoltán Endre Rákossy

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the fast changing wireless communication standards coupled with strict performance constraints, the demand for flexible yet high-performance architectures is increasing. To tackle the flexibility requirement, software-defined radio (SDR is emerging as an obvious solution, where the underlying hardware implementation is tuned via software layers to the varied standards depending on power-performance and quality requirements leading to adaptable, cognitive radio. In this paper, we conduct a case study for representatives of two complexity classes of WCDMA channel estimation algorithms and explore the effect of flexibility on energy efficiency using different implementation options. Furthermore, we propose new design guidelines for both highly specialized architectures and highly flexible architectures using high-level synthesis, to enable the required performance and flexibility to support multiple applications. Our experiments with various design points show that the resulting architectures meet the performance constraints of WCDMA and a wide range of options are offered for tuning such architectures depending on power/performance/area constraints of SDR.

Design for low-power and reliable flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Tsung-Ching (Jim)

Flexible electronics are emerging as an alternative to conventional Si electronics for large-area low-cost applications such as e-paper, smart sensors, and disposable RFID tags. By utilizing inexpensive manufacturing methods such as ink-jet printing and roll-to-roll imprinting, flexible electronics can be made on low-cost plastics just like printing a newspaper. However, the key elements of exible electronics, thin-film transistors (TFTs), have slower operating speeds and less reliability than their Si electronics counterparts. Furthermore, depending on the material property, TFTs are usually mono-type -- either p- or n-type -- devices. Making air-stable complementary TFT circuits is very challenging and not applicable to most TFT technologies. Existing design methodologies for Si electronics, therefore, cannot be directly applied to exible electronics. Other inhibiting factors such as high supply voltage, large process variation, and lack of trustworthy device modeling also make designing larger-scale and robust TFT circuits a significant challenge. The major goal of this dissertation is to provide a viable solution for robust circuit design in exible electronics. I will first introduce a reliability simulation framework that can predict the degraded TFT circuits' performance under bias-stress. This framework has been validated using the amorphous-silicon (a-Si) TFT scan driver for TFT-LCD displays. To reuse the existing CMOS design ow for exible electronics, I propose a Pseudo-CMOS cell library that can make TFT circuits operable under low supply voltage and which has post-fabrication tunability for reliability and performance enhancement. This cell library has been validated using 2V self-assembly-monolayer (SAM) organic TFTs with a low-cost shadow-mask deposition process. I will also demonstrate a 3-bit 1.25KS/s Flash ADC in a-Si TFTs, which is based on the proposed Pseudo-CMOS cell library, and explore more possibilities in display, energy, and sensing

Flexible pavement rehabilitation design based on pavement service life time span left

OpenAIRE

Gamelyak, I.; Shevchuk, V.

2005-01-01

The design of flexible pavement rehabilitation is analysed in terms of durability-cost. A notion of the remaining service life span is described. the model of rehabilitation strategy selection is presented for both design project and operation stages. the results can be used in the pavement management system.

Design of a Compact Actuation and Control System for Flexible Medical Robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Morimoto, Tania K; Hawkes, Elliot Wright; Okamura, Allison M

2017-07-01

Flexible medical robots can improve surgical procedures by decreasing invasiveness and increasing accessibility within the body. Using preoperative images, these robots can be designed to optimize a procedure for a particular patient. To minimize invasiveness and maximize biocompatibility, the actuation units of flexible medical robots should be placed fully outside the patient's body. In this letter, we present a novel, compact, lightweight, modular actuation, and control system for driving a class of these flexible robots, known as concentric tube robots. A key feature of the design is the use of three-dimensional printed waffle gears to enable compact control of two degrees of freedom within each module. We measure the precision and accuracy of a single actuation module and demonstrate the ability of an integrated set of three actuation modules to control six degrees of freedom. The integrated system drives a three-tube concentric tube robot to reach a final tip position that is on average less than 2 mm from a given target. In addition, we show a handheld manifestation of the device and present its potential applications.

Constructal Theory and Aeroelastic Design of Flexible Flying Wing Aircraft

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pezhman Mardanpour

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The aeroelastic behavior of high-aspect-ratio very flexible flying wing is highly affected by the geometric nonlinearities of the aircraft structure. This paper reviews the findings on how these nonlinearities influence the structural and flight dynamics, and it shows that the aeroelastic flight envelope could significantly be extended with proper choices of design parameters such as engine placement. Moreover, in order to investigate the physics behind the effects of design parameters, constructal theory of design is reviewed. The constructal theory advances the philosophy of design as science, it states that the better structural design emerges when stress flow strangulation is avoided. Furthermore, it shows that airplanes, through their evolution, have obeyed theoretical allometric rules that unite their designs.

Conflicting flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Jong, P.; Schaap, A.

2011-01-01

New buildings are designed for first users. For a sustainable approach there are many advantages in designing in flexibility and adjustability in order to enable and facilitate the other sequential users. For the first investor this flexibility is translated into improved exit values due to

Local Flexibility Market Design for Aggregators Providing Multiple Flexibility Services at Distribution Network Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pol Olivella-Rosell

2018-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a general description of local flexibility markets as a market-based management mechanism for aggregators. The high penetration of distributed energy resources introduces new flexibility services like prosumer or community self-balancing, congestion management and time-of-use optimization. This work is focused on the flexibility framework to enable multiple participants to compete for selling or buying flexibility. In this framework, the aggregator acts as a local market operator and supervises flexibility transactions of the local energy community. Local market participation is voluntary. Potential flexibility stakeholders are the distribution system operator, the balance responsible party and end-users themselves. Flexibility is sold by means of loads, generators, storage units and electric vehicles. Finally, this paper presents needed interactions between all local market stakeholders, the corresponding inputs and outputs of local market operation algorithms from participants and a case study to highlight the application of the local flexibility market in three scenarios. The local market framework could postpone grid upgrades, reduce energy costs and increase distribution grids’ hosting capacity.

Design and Prototyping Flow of Flexible and Efficient NISC-Based Architectures for MIMO Turbo Equalization and Demapping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Rizk

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In the domain of digital wireless communication, flexible design implementations are increasingly explored for different applications in order to cope with diverse system configurations imposed by the emerging wireless communication standards. In fact, shrinking the design time to meet market pressure, on the one hand, and adding the emerging flexibility requirement and, hence, increasing system complexity, on the other hand, require a productive design approach that also ensures final design quality. The no instruction set computer (NISC approach fulfills these design requirements by eliminating the instruction set overhead. The approach offers static scheduling of the datapath, automated register transfer language (RTLsynthesis and allows the designer to have direct control of hardware resources. This paper presents a complete NISC-based design and prototype flow, from architecture specification till FPGA implementation. The proposed design and prototype flow is illustrated through two case studies of flexible implementations, which are dedicated to low-complexity MIMO turbo-equalizer and a universal turbo-demapper. Moreover, the flexibility of the proposed prototypes allows supporting all communication modes defined in the emerging wireless communication standards, such LTE, LTE-Advanced, WiMAX, WiFi and DVB-RCS. For each prototype, its functionality is evaluated, and the resultant performance is verified for all system configurations.

A flexible Li-ion battery with design towards electrodes electrical insulation

Science.gov (United States)

Vieira, E. M. F.; Ribeiro, J. F.; Sousa, R.; Correia, J. H.; Goncalves, L. M.

2016-08-01

The application of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology in several consumer electronics leads to the development of micro/nano power sources with high power and MEMS integration possibility. This work presents the fabrication of a flexible solid-state Li-ion battery (LIB) (~2.1 μm thick) with a design towards electrodes electrical insulation, using conventional, low cost and compatible MEMS fabrication processes. Kapton® substrate provides flexibility to the battery. E-beam deposited 300 nm thick Ge anode was coupled with LiCoO2/LiPON (cathode/solid-state electrolyte) in a battery system. LiCoO2 and LiPON films were deposited by RF-sputtering with a power source of 120 W and 100 W, respectively. LiCoO2 film was annealed at 400 °C after deposition. The new design includes Si3N4 and LiPO thin-films, providing electrode electrical insulation and a battery chemical stability safeguard, respectively. Microstructure and battery performance were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, electric resistivity and electrochemical measurements (open circuit potential, charge/discharge cycles and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). A rechargeable thin-film and lightweight flexible LIB using MEMS processing compatible materials and techniques is reported.

OSPREY: protein design with ensembles, flexibility, and provable algorithms.

Science.gov (United States)

Gainza, Pablo; Roberts, Kyle E; Georgiev, Ivelin; Lilien, Ryan H; Keedy, Daniel A; Chen, Cheng-Yu; Reza, Faisal; Anderson, Amy C; Richardson, David C; Richardson, Jane S; Donald, Bruce R

2013-01-01

We have developed a suite of protein redesign algorithms that improves realistic in silico modeling of proteins. These algorithms are based on three characteristics that make them unique: (1) improved flexibility of the protein backbone, protein side-chains, and ligand to accurately capture the conformational changes that are induced by mutations to the protein sequence; (2) modeling of proteins and ligands as ensembles of low-energy structures to better approximate binding affinity; and (3) a globally optimal protein design search, guaranteeing that the computational predictions are optimal with respect to the input model. Here, we illustrate the importance of these three characteristics. We then describe OSPREY, a protein redesign suite that implements our protein design algorithms. OSPREY has been used prospectively, with experimental validation, in several biomedically relevant settings. We show in detail how OSPREY has been used to predict resistance mutations and explain why improved flexibility, ensembles, and provability are essential for this application. OSPREY is free and open source under a Lesser GPL license. The latest version is OSPREY 2.0. The program, user manual, and source code are available at www.cs.duke.edu/donaldlab/software.php. osprey@cs.duke.edu. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design and performance of an ultra-flexible two-photon microscope for in vivo research

Science.gov (United States)

Mayrhofer, Johannes M.; Haiss, Florent; Haenni, Dominik; Weber, Stefan; Zuend, Marc; Barrett, Matthew J. P.; Ferrari, Kim David; Maechler, Philipp; Saab, Aiman S.; Stobart, Jillian L.; Wyss, Matthias T.; Johannssen, Helge; Osswald, Harald; Palmer, Lucy M.; Revol, Vincent; Schuh, Claus-Dieter; Urban, Claus; Hall, Andrew; Larkum, Matthew E.; Rutz-Innerhofer, Edith; Zeilhofer, Hanns Ulrich; Ziegler, Urs; Weber, Bruno

2015-01-01

We present a cost-effective in vivo two-photon microscope with a highly flexible frontend for in vivo research. Our design ensures fast and reproducible access to the area of interest, including rotation of imaging plane, and maximizes space for auxiliary experimental equipment in the vicinity of the animal. Mechanical flexibility is achieved with large motorized linear stages that move the objective in the X, Y, and Z directions up to 130 mm. 360° rotation of the frontend (rotational freedom for one axis) is achieved with the combination of a motorized high precision bearing and gearing. Additionally, the modular design of the frontend, based on commercially available optomechanical parts, allows straightforward updates to future scanning technologies. The design exceeds the mobility of previous movable microscope designs while maintaining high optical performance. PMID:26600989

Flexible Multi-Body Spacecraft Simulator: Design, Construction, and Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

required analysis. The first step in applying Pontryagin’s Principle is writing the control Hamiltonian: ( , , , ) ( , , ) ( , , )TH x u t F x u t f...of holes allows the adapter plate to be fastened to the MBSS top plate. 26 The base and link are designed to be modular and expandable. The link...https://www.quanser.com/products/2-dof-serial-flexible-joint/ 79 INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST 1. Defense Technical Information Center Ft. Belvoir

The Design of a Novel Flexible Tactile Sensor Based on Pressure-conductive Rubber

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Xu

2011-01-01

Full Text Available A novel flexible tactile sensor using conductive rubber with electrical-wires knitted method is presented. The sensor’s design is based on rubber’s pressure-sensitive property. It is flexible and can be mounted on any object to measure tactile information. The mathematic piezoresistivity model of the rubber is described, and we also discuss the sensor’s structure and scanning method. The simulation results show that the sensor can detect pressure accurately.

OpenMDAO: Framework for Flexible Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Heath, Christopher M.; Gray, Justin S.

2012-01-01

The OpenMDAO project is underway at NASA to develop a framework which simplifies the implementation of state-of-the-art tools and methods for multidisciplinary design, analysis and optimization. Foremost, OpenMDAO has been designed to handle variable problem formulations, encourage reconfigurability, and promote model reuse. This work demonstrates the concept of iteration hierarchies in OpenMDAO to achieve a flexible environment for supporting advanced optimization methods which include adaptive sampling and surrogate modeling techniques. In this effort, two efficient global optimization methods were applied to solve a constrained, single-objective and constrained, multiobjective version of a joint aircraft/engine sizing problem. The aircraft model, NASA's nextgeneration advanced single-aisle civil transport, is being studied as part of the Subsonic Fixed Wing project to help meet simultaneous program goals for reduced fuel burn, emissions, and noise. This analysis serves as a realistic test problem to demonstrate the flexibility and reconfigurability offered by OpenMDAO.

Flexible energy-storage devices: design consideration and recent progress.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xianfu; Lu, Xihong; Liu, Bin; Chen, Di; Tong, Yexiang; Shen, Guozhen

2014-07-23

Flexible energy-storage devices are attracting increasing attention as they show unique promising advantages, such as flexibility, shape diversity, light weight, and so on; these properties enable applications in portable, flexible, and even wearable electronic devices, including soft electronic products, roll-up displays, and wearable devices. Consequently, considerable effort has been made in recent years to fulfill the requirements of future flexible energy-storage devices, and much progress has been witnessed. This review describes the most recent advances in flexible energy-storage devices, including flexible lithium-ion batteries and flexible supercapacitors. The latest successful examples in flexible lithium-ion batteries and their technological innovations and challenges are reviewed first. This is followed by a detailed overview of the recent progress in flexible supercapacitors based on carbon materials and a number of composites and flexible micro-supercapacitors. Some of the latest achievements regarding interesting integrated energy-storage systems are also reviewed. Further research direction is also proposed to surpass existing technological bottle-necks and realize idealized flexible energy-storage devices. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Modeling and Design of a New Flexible Graphene-on-Silicon Schottky Junction Solar Cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Dell’Olio

2016-10-01

Full Text Available A new graphene-based flexible solar cell with a power conversion efficiency >10% has been designed. The environmental stability and the low complexity of the fabrication process are the two main advantages of the proposed device with respect to other flexible solar cells. The designed solar cell is a graphene/silicon Schottky junction whose performance has been enhanced by a graphene oxide layer deposited on the graphene sheet. The effect of the graphene oxide is to dope the graphene and to act as anti-reflection coating. A silicon dioxide ultrathin layer interposed between the n-Si and the graphene increases the open-circuit voltage of the cell. The solar cell optimization has been achieved through a mathematical model, which has been validated by using experimental data reported in literature. The new flexible photovoltaic device can be integrated in a wide range of microsystems powered by solar energy.

Design and development an insect-inspired humanoid gripper that is structurally sound, yet very flexible

Science.gov (United States)

Hajjaj, S.; Pun, N.

2013-06-01

One of the biggest challenges in mechanical robotics design is the balance between structural integrity and flexibility. An industrial robotic gripper could be technically advanced, however it contains only 1 Degree of Freedom (DOF). If one is to add more DOFs the design would become complex. On the other hand, the human wrist and fingers contain 23 DOFs, and is very lightweight and highly flexible. Robotics are becoming more and more part of our social life, they are more and more being incorporated in social, medical, and personal application. Therefore, for such robots to be effective, they need to mimic human performance, both in performance as well as in mechanical design. In this work, a Humanoid Gripper is designed and built to mimic a simplified version of a human wrist and fingers. This is attempted by mimicking insect and human designs of grippes. The main challenge was to insure that the gripper is structurally sound, but at the same time flexible and lightweight. A combination of light weight material and a unique design of finger actuators were applied. The gripper is controlled by a PARALLAX servo controller 28823 (PSCI), which mounted on the assembly itself. At the end, a 6 DOF humanoid gripper made of lightweight material, similar in size to the human arm, and is able to carry a weight of 1 Kg has been designed and built.

Design and development an insect-inspired humanoid gripper that is structurally sound, yet very flexible

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hajjaj, S; Pun, N

2013-01-01

One of the biggest challenges in mechanical robotics design is the balance between structural integrity and flexibility. An industrial robotic gripper could be technically advanced, however it contains only 1 Degree of Freedom (DOF). If one is to add more DOFs the design would become complex. On the other hand, the human wrist and fingers contain 23 DOFs, and is very lightweight and highly flexible. Robotics are becoming more and more part of our social life, they are more and more being incorporated in social, medical, and personal application. Therefore, for such robots to be effective, they need to mimic human performance, both in performance as well as in mechanical design. In this work, a Humanoid Gripper is designed and built to mimic a simplified version of a human wrist and fingers. This is attempted by mimicking insect and human designs of grippes. The main challenge was to insure that the gripper is structurally sound, but at the same time flexible and lightweight. A combination of light weight material and a unique design of finger actuators were applied. The gripper is controlled by a PARALLAX servo controller 28823 (PSCI), which mounted on the assembly itself. At the end, a 6 DOF humanoid gripper made of lightweight material, similar in size to the human arm, and is able to carry a weight of 1 Kg has been designed and built.

Design, fabrication and performance tests for a polymer-based flexible flat heat pipe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsieh, Shou-Shing; Yang, Ya-Ru

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Fabrication of a polymer-based flexible flat heat pipe. ► Bending angle of 15° will lead to a better thermal performance of the system. ► Powers higher than 12.67 W can be transferred/delivered. - Abstract: In this paper, we report on the novel design, fabrication and performance tests for a polymer-based flexible flat heat pipe (FHP) with a bending angle in the range of 15–90°. Each heat pipe is 4 mm thick, 20 mm wide and 80 mm long, with two layers of No. 250 copper mesh as the wicking material. A copper/silicone rubber hybrid structure is designed and fabricated to achieve the flexibility of the heat pipe. Thermal characteristics are measured and studied for de-ionized water under different working conditions. Experimental results reveal that a bending angle of 15° on the vertical plane has a better thermal performance than those of heat pipes with/without bending. In addition, a higher power of 12.67 W can be transferred/delivered

Balance and flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

2003-12-01

The 'work-life balance' and flexible working are currently key buzz terms in the NHS. Those looking for more information on these topics should visit Flexibility at www.flexibility.co.uk for a host of resources designed to support new ways of working, including information on flexible workers and flexible rostering, the legal balancing act for work-life balance and home working.

Dynamic registration of an optical see-through HMD into a wide field-of-view rotorcraft flight simulation environment

Science.gov (United States)

Viertler, Franz; Hajek, Manfred

2015-05-01

To overcome the challenge of helicopter flight in degraded visual environments, current research considers headmounted displays with 3D-conformal (scene-linked) visual cues as most promising display technology. For pilot-in-theloop simulations with HMDs, a highly accurate registration of the augmented visual system is required. In rotorcraft flight simulators the outside visual cues are usually provided by a dome projection system, since a wide field-of-view (e.g. horizontally > 200° and vertically > 80°) is required, which can hardly be achieved with collimated viewing systems. But optical see-through HMDs do mostly not have an equivalent focus compared to the distance of the pilot's eye-point position to the curved screen, which is also dependant on head motion. Hence, a dynamic vergence correction has been implemented to avoid binocular disparity. In addition, the parallax error induced by even small translational head motions is corrected with a head-tracking system to be adjusted onto the projected screen. For this purpose, two options are presented. The correction can be achieved by rendering the view with yaw and pitch offset angles dependent on the deviating head position from the design eye-point of the spherical projection system. Furthermore, it can be solved by implementing a dynamic eye-point in the multi-channel projection system for the outside visual cues. Both options have been investigated for the integration of a binocular HMD into the Rotorcraft Simulation Environment (ROSIE) at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen. Pros and cons of both possibilities with regard on integration issues and usability in flight simulations will be discussed.

Design and Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Wire-Driven Multi-Section Flexible Robot

OpenAIRE

Li, Zheng; Du, Ruxu

2013-01-01

This paper presents a bio-inspired wire-driven multi-section flexible robot. It is inspired by the snake skeleton and octopus arm muscle arrangements. The robot consists of three sections and each section is made up of several identical vertebras, which are articulated by both spherical joints and a flexible backbone. Each section is driven by two groups of wires, controlling the bending motion in X and Y directions. This design integrates the serpentine robots' structure and the continuum ro...

Treatment and Reuse of Wastewaters Discharged by Petroleum Industries (HMD/Algeria)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sellami, MH, E-mail: sellami2000dz@gmail.com [Process Engineering Department, Laboratory of Process Engineering, Ouargla University (Algeria); Loudiyi, K [Renewable Energies Laboratory (REL) Al Akhawayne University, Ifrane (Morocco); Boubaker, MC; Habbaz, H [Process Engineering Department, Laboratory of Process Engineering, Ouargla University (Algeria)

2015-12-23

Industrial wastewaters discharged by petroleum industries contains: oil, heavy metals and chemicals used in the process of oil separation and treatment. These waters are a source of soil, water and air pollution, and lead a mortal danger to the ecosystem. Our aim in this work has an aspect that can contribute to the collective effort to address the enormous amount of water purges storage bins and reuse them to avoid any environmental damage. This was achieved by chemical treating of these wastewaters discharged from three different locations of Hassi Messaoud (HMD) petroleum field by flocculation with (C-5563) followed by coagulation with (C-2061) using two different acids as sequestering namely: Ascorbic and Citric acid. After experiments, the results showed that the wastewater can be treated without sequestering by adding 40 ppm of activated silicates. The best result was obtained by addition of 160 ppm of Ascorbic acid as sequestering agent and 20 ppm of activated silicates; resulting in removal of 92.81 % of suspended matter and 95.53 % of turbidity. Finally we concluded that this wastewater was satisfactorily treated and we recommend either inject it for enhanced oil recovery in industrial closest field (North field) to maintain the reservoir pressure and the improved rate recovery of oil reserves or reuse it in garden irrigation. In order to see the impact of the treated water on plants, irrigation tests have conducted on two types of plants (date palm and shaft apocalyptic) for one year. The tests showed that the thick layer of 5 cm and 0.08mm of particles diameter of dune sand removes most of remaining oil. The sand layer that fills the basin surrounding the shaft is removed and replaced every 06 months. So, Dune sand plays the role of natural filter. The garden plants appear and grow normally.

Treatment and Reuse of Wastewaters Discharged by Petroleum Industries (HMD/Algeria)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sellami, MH; Loudiyi, K; Boubaker, MC; Habbaz, H

2015-01-01

Industrial wastewaters discharged by petroleum industries contains: oil, heavy metals and chemicals used in the process of oil separation and treatment. These waters are a source of soil, water and air pollution, and lead a mortal danger to the ecosystem. Our aim in this work has an aspect that can contribute to the collective effort to address the enormous amount of water purges storage bins and reuse them to avoid any environmental damage. This was achieved by chemical treating of these wastewaters discharged from three different locations of Hassi Messaoud (HMD) petroleum field by flocculation with (C-5563) followed by coagulation with (C-2061) using two different acids as sequestering namely: Ascorbic and Citric acid. After experiments, the results showed that the wastewater can be treated without sequestering by adding 40 ppm of activated silicates. The best result was obtained by addition of 160 ppm of Ascorbic acid as sequestering agent and 20 ppm of activated silicates; resulting in removal of 92.81 % of suspended matter and 95.53 % of turbidity. Finally we concluded that this wastewater was satisfactorily treated and we recommend either inject it for enhanced oil recovery in industrial closest field (North field) to maintain the reservoir pressure and the improved rate recovery of oil reserves or reuse it in garden irrigation. In order to see the impact of the treated water on plants, irrigation tests have conducted on two types of plants (date palm and shaft apocalyptic) for one year. The tests showed that the thick layer of 5 cm and 0.08mm of particles diameter of dune sand removes most of remaining oil. The sand layer that fills the basin surrounding the shaft is removed and replaced every 06 months. So, Dune sand plays the role of natural filter. The garden plants appear and grow normally

A Markovian state-space framework for integrating flexibility into space system design decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Lafleur, Jarret M.

The past decades have seen the state of the art in aerospace system design progress from a scope of simple optimization to one including robustness, with the objective of permitting a single system to perform well even in off-nominal future environments. Integrating flexibility, or the capability to easily modify a system after it has been fielded in response to changing environments, into system design represents a further step forward. One challenge in accomplishing this rests in that the decision-maker must consider not only the present system design decision, but also sequential future design and operation decisions. Despite extensive interest in the topic, the state of the art in designing flexibility into aerospace systems, and particularly space systems, tends to be limited to analyses that are qualitative, deterministic, single-objective, and/or limited to consider a single future time period. To address these gaps, this thesis develops a stochastic, multi-objective, and multi-period framework for integrating flexibility into space system design decisions. Central to the framework are five steps. First, system configuration options are identified and costs of switching from one configuration to another are compiled into a cost transition matrix. Second, probabilities that demand on the system will transition from one mission to another are compiled into a mission demand Markov chain. Third, one performance matrix for each design objective is populated to describe how well the identified system configurations perform in each of the identified mission demand environments. The fourth step employs multi-period decision analysis techniques, including Markov decision processes from the field of operations research, to find efficient paths and policies a decision-maker may follow. The final step examines the implications of these paths and policies for the primary goal of informing initial system selection. Overall, this thesis unifies state-centric concepts of

Design of variable energy and price components of electricity tariffs as an incentive for system-efficient energy management of flexible consumers in households; Design variabler Energie- und Leistungspreiskomponenten von Stromtarifen als Anreiz fuer ein systemdienliches Energiemanagement flexibler Verbraucher in Haushalten

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schreiber, Michael

2017-11-01

To mitigate anthropogenic climate change, both the heating and transport sectors will need to be electrically driven, with the higher electrical demand met by emission-free technologies, in addition to general efficiency improvements. On the generation side, wind and photovoltaic power plants must have a rated power significantly exceeding the current peak demand, in order to cover this increased electrical requirement. On the consumption side, heat pumps and private electric vehicles will increase the percentage of energy withdrawn at the low-voltage level of the new system. Given the right incentives, these customers will shift the energy demand in such a way as to benefit the system. This flexibility can be used as a tool to deal with variable renewable insertion while avoiding simultaneous overloading of the power grid. This thesis analyses and evaluates the effects of different electricity tariff designs on energy consumption. These tariffs should incentivise households to adapt their energy consumption to market prices, without inducing critical peak demands in times of particularly low prices. Therefore, time-varying energy price components and power price components are combined into flexible electricity tariffs and implemented as target functions within an optimization problem. The cost-minimizing effect of household energy management is determined under these flexible tariffs, and the effects of the tariff designs on energy consumption and the induced costs are evaluated. Additionally, the results of the flexible tariff approach are compared with results from a centralized optimization by a virtual power plant. It is possible to develop a design for a suitable flexible tariff that decreases the energy procurement costs of electric vehicles while simultaneously reducing peak demand in comparison to a single real-time pricing incentive. Furthermore, this thesis shows that certain kinds of electricity tariff design do not only fail to support but actually

A Flexible 5G Frame Structure Design for Frequency-Division Duplex Cases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Klaus I.; Berardinelli, Gilberto; Frederiksen, Frank

2016-01-01

A 5G frame structure designed for efficient support of users with highly diverse service requirements is proposed. It includes support for mobile broadband data, mission-critical communication, and massive machine communication. The solution encompasses flexible multiplexing of users on a shared...

New Flexible Medical Compact Antenna: Design and Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yann Mahe

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Some results on embedded antennas for medical wireless communication systems are presented. Medical telemetry can advantageously assist medical diagnostics. For example, you can better locate a diseased area by monitoring temperature inside the human body. In order to establish efficient wireless links in such an environment, a special attention should be paid to the antenna design. It is required to be of a low profile, very small regardless of the working frequency—434 MHz in the ISM band, safe, and cost effective. Design of the as-considered antenna is proposed based on a simple model. The approach has been demonstrated for a compact flexible antenna with a factor of 10 with respect to the half-wave antenna, rolling up inside an ingestible pill. Measured and calculated impedance behaviour and radiation characteristics of the modified patch are determined. Excellent agreement was found between experiment and theory.

Design and Nonlinear Control of a 2-DOF Flexible Parallel Humanoid Arm Joint Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leijie Jiang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper focuses on the design and nonlinear control of the humanoid wrist/shoulder joint based on the cable-driven parallel mechanism which can realize roll and pitch movement. In view of the existence of the flexible parts in the mechanism, it is necessary to solve the vibration control of the flexible wrist/shoulder joint. In this paper, a cable-driven parallel robot platform is developed for the experiment study of the humanoid wrist/shoulder joint. And the dynamic model of the mechanism is formulated by using the coupling theory of the flexible body’s large global motion and small flexible deformation. Based on derived dynamics, antivibration control of the joint robot is studied with a nonlinear control method. Finally, simulations and experiments were performed to validate the feasibility of the developed parallel robot prototype and the proposed control scheme.

Flexible work designs and employee well-being: examining the effects of resources and demands

OpenAIRE

ter Hoeven, C.L.; van Zoonen, W.

2015-01-01

Advances in communication technology continue to expand the possibilities for redesigning work environments to allow for temporal and spatial flexibility. Although flexible work designs (FWDs) are typically launched with high expectations, recent research shows that FWDs also pose challenges to employees and can even impede employee well-being. Based on the Job Demands-Resources model, we argue that FWDs offer both advantages (FWD-related resources) and challenges (FWD-related demands) to emp...

Layout designs of surface barrier coatings for boosting the capability of oxygen/vapor obstruction utilized in flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Chang-Chun; Huang, Pei-Chen; He, Jing-Yan

2018-04-01

Organic light-emitting diode-based flexible and rollable displays have become a promising candidate for next-generation flexible electronics. For this reason, the design of surface multi-layered barriers should be optimized to enhance the long-term mechanical reliability of a flexible encapsulation that prevents the penetration of oxygen and vapor. In this study, finite element-based stress simulation was proposed to estimate the mechanical reliability of gas/vapor barrier design with low-k/silicon nitride (low-k/SiNx) stacking architecture. Consequently, stress-induced failure of critical thin films within the flexible display under various bending conditions must be considered. The feasibility of one pair SiO2/SiNx barrier design, which overcomes the complex lamination process, and the critical bending radius, which is decreased to 1.22 mm, were also examined. In addition, the influence of distance between neutral axes to the concerned layer surface dominated the induced-stress magnitude rather than the stress compliant mechanism provided from stacked low-k films.

Designing flexible, ''chemist-friendly'' software to control a radiochemistry autosynthesizer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feliu, A.L.

1989-01-01

To enhance the utility of process control software to control radiochemistry autosynthesizers used with short-lived positron-emitting isotopes, a scheme is proposed by which routine executive-level tasks, hardware control operations, and chemical procedures have been segregated. This strategy can lead to chemist-friendly control programs for any desired hardware configuration, as illustrated in new software designed to exploit the features and flexibility of the CTI/Siemens Chemical Process Control Unit. (author)

Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) Design Implementation & Monitoring for Flexible Pavements : 2018 PROJECT SUMMARY

Science.gov (United States)

2018-06-01

This document is a summary of the tasks performed for Project ICT-R27-149-1. Mechanistic-empirical (M-E)based flexible pavement design concepts and procedures were previously developed in Illinois Cooperative Highway Research Program projects IHR-...

2000 MCM electrical power jumper cable with controlled flexibility: Design and life cycle test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bultman, D.H.; Sims, J.R.; Reass, W.A.

1989-01-01

The ZTH Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) plasma confinement experiment being built at the Los Alamos National Laboratory will use magnet coils to provide ohmic heating currents in the plasma. The ohmic heating coils are supported by a structure that will allow them limited movement with respect to surrounding hardware and the connecting electrical bus work. To minimize displacement-induced stresses in the coils, ''flexible'' power conducting links are necessary to accommodate the relative motion between the bus work and the coils. A semi-flexible 2000 MCM jumper cable has been designed with enough flexibility to allow free movement of the coils, yet it is stiff enough to withstand large magnetically-induced lateral loads and minimize the effect of the lateral loads on the magnet coil leads. A full-power life cycle test of the jumper was performed under magnetic, thermal and dynamic loads that closely simulate the expected operating conditions. This test evaluated the structural and electrical integrity of the jumper as well as the quality and reliability of the bolted electrical connections at the jumper ends in a high-stress, cyclic-loading environment. The jumper cable design is presented with an explanation of the requirements for a semi-flexible link. A description of the life cycle test and test results are given, as well as a description of the test apparatus and setup. 4 figs

Highly-wrinkled reduced graphene oxide-conductive polymer fibers for flexible fiber-shaped and interdigital-designed supercapacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bo; Cheng, Jianli; Wang, Zhuanpei; Li, Yinchuan; Ni, Wei; Wang, Bin

2018-02-01

Flexible supercapacitors have attracted great interest due to outstanding flexibility and light weight. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) fibers have the great potential in using as electrodes for flexible supercapacitors due to the good flexibility. However, the reported conductivity and specific capacitance of these PEDOT: PSS fibers are not very high, which limit their electrochemical performances. In this work, composite fibers of reduced graphene oxide(rGO)-PEDOT: PSS with a highly-wrinkled structure on the surface and pores inside are prepared by wet spinning. The fibers with different ratios of graphene to PEDOT:PSS show a distinctly enhanced conductivity up to ca. 590 S·cm-1 and high strength up to ca. 18.4 MPa. Meanwhile, the composite fibers show an improved electrochemical performances, including a high specific areal capacitance of 131 mF cm-2 and high specific areal energy density of 4.55 μWh·cm-2. The flexible supercapacitors including fiber-shaped supercapacitors and interdigital designed supercapacitors not only could work in different bending states without obvious capacitance decay, but also have small leakage current. The interdigital design can further improve the performances of composite fibers with high capacitance and high utilization compared with traditional parallel connected structure.

RNAblueprint: flexible multiple target nucleic acid sequence design.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammer, Stefan; Tschiatschek, Birgit; Flamm, Christoph; Hofacker, Ivo L; Findeiß, Sven

2017-09-15

Realizing the value of synthetic biology in biotechnology and medicine requires the design of molecules with specialized functions. Due to its close structure to function relationship, and the availability of good structure prediction methods and energy models, RNA is perfectly suited to be synthetically engineered with predefined properties. However, currently available RNA design tools cannot be easily adapted to accommodate new design specifications. Furthermore, complicated sampling and optimization methods are often developed to suit a specific RNA design goal, adding to their inflexibility. We developed a C ++  library implementing a graph coloring approach to stochastically sample sequences compatible with structural and sequence constraints from the typically very large solution space. The approach allows to specify and explore the solution space in a well defined way. Our library also guarantees uniform sampling, which makes optimization runs performant by not only avoiding re-evaluation of already found solutions, but also by raising the probability of finding better solutions for long optimization runs. We show that our software can be combined with any other software package to allow diverse RNA design applications. Scripting interfaces allow the easy adaption of existing code to accommodate new scenarios, making the whole design process very flexible. We implemented example design approaches written in Python to demonstrate these advantages. RNAblueprint , Python implementations and benchmark datasets are available at github: https://github.com/ViennaRNA . s.hammer@univie.ac.at, ivo@tbi.univie.ac.at or sven@tbi.univie.ac.at. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Incentivizing Flexibility in System Operations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milligan, Michael [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bloom, Aaron P [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Townsend, Aaron [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Ela, Erik [Electric Power Research Institute; Botterud, Audun [Argonne National Laboratory; Levin, Todd [Argonne National Laboratory

2018-02-15

Defining flexibility has been a challenge that a number of industry members and researchers have attempted to address in recent years. With increased variability and uncertainty of variable generation (VG), the resources on the system will have to be more flexible to adjust output, so that power output ranges, power ramp rates, and energy duration sustainability are sufficient to meet the needs of balancing supply with demand at various operational timescales. This chapter discusses whether existing market designs provide adequate incentives for resources to offer their flexibility into the market to meet the increased levels of variability and uncertainty introduced by VG in the short-term operational time frame. It presents a definition of flexibility and discusses how increased levels of VG require increased needs for flexibility on power systems. Following this introductory material, the chapter examines how existing market designs ensure that resources have the right incentives to provide increased flexibility, and then discusses a number of emerging market design elements that impact flexibility incentives.

A Triblock Copolymer Design Leads to Robust Hybrid Hydrogels for High-Performance Flexible Supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guangzhao; Chen, Yunhua; Deng, Yonghong; Wang, Chaoyang

2017-10-18

We report here an intriguing hybrid conductive hydrogel as electrode for high-performance flexible supercapacitor. The key is using a rationally designed water-soluble ABA triblock copolymer (termed as IAOAI) containing a central poly(ethylene oxide) block (A) and terminal poly(acrylamide) (PAAm) block with aniline moieties randomly incorporated (B), which was synthesized by reversible additional fragment transfer polymerization. The subsequent copolymerization of aniline monomers with the terminated aniline moieties on the IAOAI polymer generates a three-dimensional cross-linking hybrid network. The hybrid hydrogel electrode demonstrates robust mechanical flexibility, remarkable electrochemical capacitance (919 F/g), and cyclic stability (90% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles). Moreover, the flexible supercapacitor based on this hybrid hydrogel electrode presents a large specific capacitance (187 F/g), superior to most reported conductive hydrogel-based supercapacitors. With the demonstrated additional favorable cyclic stability and excellent capacitive and rate performance, this hybrid hydrogel-based supercapacitor holds great promise for flexible energy-storage device.

Flexible Design and Operation of a Smart Charging Microgrid (Briefing Charts)

Science.gov (United States)

2014-04-08

release; distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Briefing Charts for SAE World Congress 2014 14. ABSTRACT A microgrid is a controllable ...UNCLASSIFIED Distribution Statement A: Approved for Public Release Flexible Design and Operation of a Smart Charging Microgrid Annette G... control number. 1. REPORT DATE 08 APR 2014 2. REPORT TYPE Briefing Charts 3. DATES COVERED 08-01-2014 to 09-03-2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Integral Manifold in System Design with Application to Flexible Link Robot Control

Science.gov (United States)

1988-06-01

environment. I am very grateful to my advisor . Professor Kokotovic. whose insight and guidance in my research work led me to the beginning of my...MANIFOLD IN SVSTEM DESIGN WITH RPLICATION TT 2Z2 FLEXIBLE LINK ROBO (U) ILLINOIS UNIV AT URBANA DECISION AND CONTROL LAB H C TSENG JUN 98

Flexible Programmes in Higher Professional Education: Expert Validation of a Flexible Educational Model

Science.gov (United States)

Schellekens, Ad; Paas, Fred; Verbraeck, Alexander; van Merrienboer, Jeroen J. G.

2010-01-01

In a preceding case study, a process-focused demand-driven approach for organising flexible educational programmes in higher professional education (HPE) was developed. Operations management and instructional design contributed to designing a flexible educational model by means of discrete-event simulation. Educational experts validated the model…

Layout design optimization of dynamic environment flexible manufacturing systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaber Abu Qudeiri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The proper positioning of machine tools in flexible manufacturing system is one of the factors that lead to increase in production efficiency. Choosing the optimum position of machine tools curtails the total part handling cost between machine tools within the flexible manufacturing system. In this article, a two-stage approach is presented to investigate the best locations of the machine tools in flexible manufacturing system. The location of each machine tool is selected from the available specific and fixed locations in such a way that it will result in best throughput of the flexible manufacturing system. In the first stage of the two-stage approach, the throughput of randomly selected locations of the machine tool in flexible manufacturing system is computed by proposing a production simulation system. The production simulation system utilizes genetic algorithms to find the locations of the machine tools in flexible manufacturing system that achieve the maximum throughput of the flexible manufacturing system. In the second stage, the generated locations are fed into artificial neural network to find a relation between a machine tool’s location and the throughput that can be used to predict the throughput for any other set of locations. Artificial neural network will result in mitigating the computational time.

Flexible Electronics Research Facility

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Flexible Electronics Research Facility designs, synthesizes, tests, and fabricates materials and devices compatible with flexible substrates for Army information...

Flexible Structural Design for Side-Sliding Force Reduction for a Caterpillar Climbing Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weina Cui

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Due to sliding force arising from the closed chain mechanism among the adhering points of a climbing caterpillar robot (CCR, a sliding phenomenon will happen at the adhering points, e.g., the vacuum pads or claws holding the surface. This sliding force makes the attachment of the climbing robot unsteady and reducesthe motion efficiency. According to the new bionic research on the soft-body structure of caterpillars, some flexible structures made of natural rubber bars are applied in CCRs correspondingly as an improvement to the old rigid mechanical design of the robotic structure. This paper firstly establishes the static model of the sliding forces, the distortion of flexible bars and the driving torques of joints. Then, a method to reduce the sliding force by exerting a compensating angle to an active joint of the CCR is presented. The analyses and experimental results indicate that the flexible structure and the compensating angle method can reduce the sliding forces remarkably.

Flexible displays as key for high-value and unique automotive design

Science.gov (United States)

Isele, Robert

2011-03-01

Within the last few years' car industry changed very fast. Information and Communication became more important and displays are now standard in nearly every car. But this is not the only trend which could be recognized in this industry. CO2 emission, fuel price as well as the increasing traffic inside the Mega Cities initialized a big change in the behavior of the customers. The big battle for the car industry will enter the interior extremely fast, and the premium cars need ore innovative design icons. Flexible Displays are one big step that enables totally different designs and a new value of the driver experience.

Process Materialization Using Templates and Rules to Design Flexible Process Models

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Akhil; Yao, Wen

The main idea in this paper is to show how flexible processes can be designed by combining generic process templates and business rules. We instantiate a process by applying rules to specific case data, and running a materialization algorithm. The customized process instance is then executed in an existing workflow engine. We present an architecture and also give an algorithm for process materialization. The rules are written in a logic-based language like Prolog. Our focus is on capturing deeper process knowledge and achieving a holistic approach to robust process design that encompasses control flow, resources and data, as well as makes it easier to accommodate changes to business policy.

Comparative Study of Flexible Pavement Designs for New Road in Great Britain and Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Basri, Hanafi

2009-01-01

The objective of this article is to compare the design methods for flexible pavements for new roads and overlays between two countries, Great Britain and Indonesia.Pavement design procedures provide a structure that can be accepted in a specific environmental condition and able to satisfy the anticipated traffic loading. There are many factors influencing the thickness design of pavement, such as pavement materials, traffic load and climatic conditions, there is no doubt that the method of pa...

Design criteria for XeF2 enabled deterministic transformation of bulk silicon (100) into flexible silicon layer

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Aftab M.

2016-07-15

Isotropic etching of bulk silicon (100) using Xenon Difluoride (XeF2) gas presents a unique opportunity to undercut and release ultra-thin flexible silicon layers with pre-fabricated state-of-the-art Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. In this work, we present design criteria and mechanism with a comprehensive mathematical model for this method. We consider various trench geometries and parametrize important metrics such as etch time, number of cycles and area efficiency in terms of the trench diameter and spacing so that optimization can be done for specific applications. From our theoretical analysis, we conclude that a honeycomb-inspired hexagonal distribution of trenches can produce the most efficient release of ultra-thin flexible silicon layers in terms of the number of etch cycles, while a rectangular distribution of circular trenches provides the most area efficient design. The theoretical results are verified by fabricating and releasing (varying sizes) flexible silicon layers. We observe uniform translation of design criteria into practice for etch distances and number of etch cycles, using reaction efficiency as a fitting parameter.

Design criteria for XeF2 enabled deterministic transformation of bulk silicon (100) into flexible silicon layer

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Aftab M.; Shaikh, Sohail F.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2016-01-01

Isotropic etching of bulk silicon (100) using Xenon Difluoride (XeF2) gas presents a unique opportunity to undercut and release ultra-thin flexible silicon layers with pre-fabricated state-of-the-art Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. In this work, we present design criteria and mechanism with a comprehensive mathematical model for this method. We consider various trench geometries and parametrize important metrics such as etch time, number of cycles and area efficiency in terms of the trench diameter and spacing so that optimization can be done for specific applications. From our theoretical analysis, we conclude that a honeycomb-inspired hexagonal distribution of trenches can produce the most efficient release of ultra-thin flexible silicon layers in terms of the number of etch cycles, while a rectangular distribution of circular trenches provides the most area efficient design. The theoretical results are verified by fabricating and releasing (varying sizes) flexible silicon layers. We observe uniform translation of design criteria into practice for etch distances and number of etch cycles, using reaction efficiency as a fitting parameter.

The mechanical design of a humanoid robot with flexible skin sensor for use in psychiatric therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Alec; Tadesse, Yonas

2014-03-01

In this paper, a humanoid robot is presented for ultimate use in the rehabilitation of children with mental disorders, such as autism. Creating affordable and efficient humanoids could assist the therapy in psychiatric disability by offering multimodal communication between the humanoid and humans. Yet, the humanoid development needs a seamless integration of artificial muscles, sensors, controllers and structures. We have designed a human-like robot that has 15 DOF, 580 mm tall and 925 mm arm span using a rapid prototyping system. The robot has a human-like appearance and movement. Flexible sensors around the arm and hands for safe human-robot interactions, and a two-wheel mobile platform for maneuverability are incorporated in the design. The robot has facial features for illustrating human-friendly behavior. The mechanical design of the robot and the characterization of the flexible sensors are presented. Comprehensive study on the upper body design, mobile base, actuators selection, electronics, and performance evaluation are included in this paper.

Investigation on innovative water reactor for flexible fuel cycle (FLWR). (1) Conceptual design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uchikawa, Sadao; Okubo, Tsutomu; Kugo, Teruhiko; Akie, Hiroshi; Nakano, Yoshihiko; Ohnuki, Akira; Iwamura, Takamichi

2005-01-01

A concept of Innovative Water Reactor for Flexible Fuel Cycle (FLWR) has been investigated in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) in order to ensure sustainable energy supply in the future based on the well-experienced Light Water Reactor (LWR). The concept aims at effective and flexible utilization of uranium and plutonium resources through plutonium multiple recycling by two stages. In the first stage, the FLWR core realizes a high conversion type core concept, which is basically intended to keep the smooth technical continuity from current LWR and coming LWR-MOX technologies without significant gaps in technical point of view. The core in the second stage represents the Reduced-Moderation Water Reactor (RMWR) core concept, which realizes a high conversion ratio over 1.0 being useful for the long-term sustainable energy supply through plutonium multiple recycling based on the well-experienced LWR technologies. The key point is that the core concepts in both stages utilize the compatible and the same size fuel assemblies, and hence during the reactor operation period, the former concept can proceed to the latter in the same reactor system, corresponding flexibly to the expected change in the future circumstances of natural uranium resource, or establishment of economical reprocessing technology of MOX spent fuel. The FLWR is essentially a BWR-type reactor, and its core design is characterized by use of hexagonal-shaped fuel assemblies with the triangular-lattice fuel rod configuration of highly enriched MOX fuel, control rods with Y-shaped blades, and a short and flat core design. Detailed investigations have been performed on the core design, in conjunction with the other related studies such as on thermal hydraulics in the tight lattice core including experimental activities, and the results obtained so far have shown the proposed concept is feasible and promising. (author)

Impact of Building Design Parameters on Thermal Energy Flexibility in a Low-Energy Building

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarran, Lucile; Foteinaki, Kyriaki; Gianniou, Panagiota

This work focuses on demand-side management potential for the heating grid in residential buildings. The possibility to increase the flexibility provided to the heat network through specific building design is investigated. The role of different parts of the building structure on thermal flexibil...

Multi-flexible-body analysis for application to wind turbine control design

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Donghoon

The objective of the present research is to build a theoretical and computational framework for the aeroelastic analysis of flexible rotating systems, more specifically with special application to a wind turbine control design. The methodology is based on the integration of Kane's approach for the analysis of the multi-rigid-body subsystem and a mixed finite element method for the analysis of the flexible-body subsystem. The combined analysis is then strongly coupled with an aerodynamic model based on Blade Element Momentum theory for inflow model. The unified framework from the analysis of subsystems is represented as, in a symbolic manner, a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with time-variant, periodic coefficients, which describe the aeroelastic behavior of whole system. The framework can be directly applied to control design due to its symbolic characteristics. The solution procedures for the equations are presented for the study of nonlinear simulation, periodic steady-state solution, and Floquet stability of the linearized system about the steady-state solution. Finally the linear periodic system equation can be obtained with both system and control matrices as explicit functions of time, which can be directly applicable to control design. The structural model is validated by comparison of its results with those from software, some of which is commercial. The stability of the linearized system about periodic steady-state solution is different from that obtained about a constant steady-state solution, which have been conventional in the field of wind turbine dynamics. Parametric studies are performed on a wind turbine model with various pitch angles, precone angles, and rotor speeds. Combined with composite material, their effects on wind turbine aeroelastic stability are investigated. Finally it is suggested that the aeroelastic stability analysis and control design for the whole system is crucial for the design of wind turbines, and the

Printable Fabrication of Nanocoral-Structured Electrodes for High-Performance Flexible and Planar Supercapacitor with Artistic Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuanjing; Gao, Yuan; Fan, Zhiyong

2017-11-01

Planar supercapacitors with high flexibility, desirable operation safety, and high performance are considered as attractive candidates to serve as energy-storage devices for portable and wearable electronics. Here, a scalable and printable technique is adopted to construct novel and unique hierarchical nanocoral structures as the interdigitated electrodes on flexible substrates. The as-fabricated flexible all-solid-state planar supercapacitors with nanocoral structures achieve areal capacitance up to 52.9 mF cm -2 , which is 2.5 times that of devices without nanocoral structures, and this figure-of-merit is among the highest in the literature for the same category of devices. More interestingly, due to utilization of the inkjet-printing technique, excellent versatility on electrode-pattern artistic design is achieved. Particularly, working supercapacitors with artistically designed patterns are demonstrated. Meanwhile, the high scalability of such a printable method is also demonstrated by fabrication of large-sized artistic supercapacitors serving as energy-storage devices in a wearable self-powered system as a proof of concept. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Design of Flexible RF Building Blocks : A Method for Implementing Configurable RF Transceiver Architectures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vidojkovic - Andjelovic, M.; Tang, van der J.D.; Baltus, P.G.M.; Roermund, van A.H.M.

2005-01-01

In today's world, new communication standards evolve fast, putting a significant burden on set makers and RFIC designer houses to bring integrated and cheap solutions quickly into the market place. The shift towards flexible RF systems that can support a range of applications via adjustability and

Design criteria for XeF{sub 2} enabled deterministic transformation of bulk silicon (100) into flexible silicon layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hussain, Aftab M.; Shaikh, Sohail F.; Hussain, Muhammad M., E-mail: muhammadmustafa.hussain@kaust.edu.sa [Integrated Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and Integrated Disruptive Electronics Applications (IDEA) Laboratory, Computer Electrical Mathematical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology - KAUST, Thuwal 23955-6900 (Saudi Arabia)

2016-07-15

Isotropic etching of bulk silicon (100) using Xenon Difluoride (XeF{sub 2}) gas presents a unique opportunity to undercut and release ultra-thin flexible silicon layers with pre-fabricated state-of-the-art Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) electronics. In this work, we present design criteria and mechanism with a comprehensive mathematical model for this method. We consider various trench geometries and parametrize important metrics such as etch time, number of cycles and area efficiency in terms of the trench diameter and spacing so that optimization can be done for specific applications. From our theoretical analysis, we conclude that a honeycomb-inspired hexagonal distribution of trenches can produce the most efficient release of ultra-thin flexible silicon layers in terms of the number of etch cycles, while a rectangular distribution of circular trenches provides the most area efficient design. The theoretical results are verified by fabricating and releasing (varying sizes) flexible silicon layers. We observe uniform translation of design criteria into practice for etch distances and number of etch cycles, using reaction efficiency as a fitting parameter.

Collaboration in-between The Care Hotel and Designing for Flexible Use

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bossen, Claus; Grönvall, Erik

2015-01-01

In this paper, we analyse the challenges of working between organizations and established information infrastructures. The Care Hotel is a municipal healthcare facility where persons, typically following a hospital stay, undergo rehabilitation to enable them to live independently at home. Admission......, stay, and discharge from the Care Hotel entail numerous coordination activities with a variety of frequent and sporadic, heterogeneous, external collaborators, including general practitioners, relatives, and hospitals, some of which are already part of large information infrastructures, whereas others...... are too small or shifting to allow for stable arrangements. Hence, work at the Care Hotel may be characterized as "collaboration in-between". We propose a design solution for flexible use to further stimulate reflection on design implications, and how to meet the challenges of collaboration in...

Sustainable green inner-wall design for flexible floor plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tawil, N M; Husaini, H A; Ani, A I; Saleh, R M; Basri, H

2013-01-01

The rises of house price in the market is so drastic that it effects the younger generation nowadays especially young executives and young couples who could not afford to buy their first home. The factors that determine the house price presumably are the interior and exterior structural of the house itself. So to lessen the house price, we have to minimize the usage of wet construction thus the idea of having a sustainable green inner-wall implemented into the house with a flexible floor plan. This concept is user-friendly as it is built on needs and the ownership's affordability. They can design the interior of the house however they want with using minimal cost because it does not involve wet construction.

Application of FPGA's in Flexible Analogue Electronic Image Generator Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Kulla

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on usage of the FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays Xilinx as a part of our more complex workdedicated to design of flexible analogue electronic images generator for application in TV measurement technique or/and TV servicetechnique or/and education process. The FPGAs performs here the role of component colour R, G, B, synchronization and blanking signals source. These signals are next processed and amplified in other parts of the generator as NTSC/PAL source encoder and RF modulator. The main aim of this paper is to show the possibilities how with suitable development software use a FPGAs in analog TV technology.

Design and Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Wire-Driven Multi-Section Flexible Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zheng Li

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a bio-inspired wire-driven multi-section flexible robot. It is inspired by the snake skeleton and octopus arm muscle arrangements. The robot consists of three sections and each section is made up of several identical vertebras, which are articulated by both spherical joints and a flexible backbone. Each section is driven by two groups of wires, controlling the bending motion in X and Y directions. This design integrates the serpentine robots' structure and the continuum robots' actuation. As a result, it is more compact than traditional serpentine robots and has a higher positioning accuracy than typical continuum soft robots, such as OctArm V. A Kinematics model and a workspace model of the robot are developed based on the piece wise constant curvature assumption. To evaluate the design, a prototype is built and experiments are carried out. The average distal end positioning error is less than 4%. Characteristics of the wire-driven robot are also discussed, including the leverage effect and the manipulability under constraint. These features makes the proposed robot well suited to confined spaces, especially for working in minimally invasive surgery, nuclear reactor pipelines, disaster debris, etc.

Analytical quality by design: a tool for regulatory flexibility and robust analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Peraman, Ramalingam; Bhadraya, Kalva; Padmanabha Reddy, Yiragamreddy

2015-01-01

Very recently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few new drug applications (NDA) with regulatory flexibility for quality by design (QbD) based analytical approach. The concept of QbD applied to analytical method development is known now as AQbD (analytical quality by design). It allows the analytical method for movement within method operable design region (MODR). Unlike current methods, analytical method developed using analytical quality by design (AQbD) approach reduces the number of out-of-trend (OOT) results and out-of-specification (OOS) results due to the robustness of the method within the region. It is a current trend among pharmaceutical industry to implement analytical quality by design (AQbD) in method development process as a part of risk management, pharmaceutical development, and pharmaceutical quality system (ICH Q10). Owing to the lack explanatory reviews, this paper has been communicated to discuss different views of analytical scientists about implementation of AQbD in pharmaceutical quality system and also to correlate with product quality by design and pharmaceutical analytical technology (PAT).

ESF [Exploratory Shaft Facility] flexibility analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brusenback, R.W.

1987-03-01

This report directs that uncertainty allowances be included within the ESF facilities. The recommendations herein developed are intended as input to Title II Design criteria. Flexibility is measured first by lineal ft of drift, and then by hoisting rate and capacity of supporting utilities and services. A defined probability of need shows an extra 10,000 ft of drift for the first level of flexibility responding to testing and operations, and over 60,000 ft of drift for the second level of flexibility which recognizes possible need for perimeter drifting to investigate geologic stratigraphy. Observing there will be time constraints, a single shaft muck hoisting rate up to 170 to 250 tons per hour is recommended. The potential hoisting rate recommended for flexibility should be satisfied by a hoist approximately equivalent to, or conveniently upgraded from those being considered for sinking and construction, or 1000 horsepower. The cost of flexibility is limited to engineering planning and design (mostly conceptual) which makes later expansion achievable, and to selected items for initial construction where later upgrading would be impractical, impossible, or very costly. The cost is fixed to the level of flexibility and does not vary with excavated footage. The incremental margin is only a small fraction of the additional footage made available. Flexibility presents a strategy and not a position of design or technology. Examples used in this report are intended to be illustrative only, and not to lead design or cost estimates. 7 tabs

Design and Dynamic Modeling of Flexible Rehabilitation Mechanical Glove

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, M. X.; Ma, G. Y.; Liu, F. Q.; Sun, Q. S.; Song, A. Q.

2018-03-01

Rehabilitation gloves are equipment that helps rehabilitation doctors perform finger rehabilitation training, which can greatly reduce the labour intensity of rehabilitation doctors and make more people receive finger rehabilitation training. In the light of the defects of the existing rehabilitation gloves such as complicated structure and stiff movement, a rehabilitation mechanical glove is designed, which provides driving force by using the air cylinder and adopts a rope-spring mechanism to ensure the flexibility of the movement. In order to fit the size of different hands, the bandage ring which can adjust size is used to make the mechanism fixed. In the interest of solve the complex problem of dynamic equation, dynamic simulation is carried out by using Adams to obtain the motion curve, which is easy to optimize the structure of ring position.

Dynamic Model of a Rotating Flexible Arm-Flexible Root Mechanism Driven by a Shaft Flexible in Torsion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.Z. Ismail

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a dynamic model of a rotating flexible beam carrying a payload at its tip. The model accounts for the driving shaft and the arm root flexibilities. The finite element method and the Lagrangian dynamics are used in deriving the equations of motion with the small deformation theory assumptions and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The obtained model is a nonlinear-coupled system of differential equations. The model is simulated for different combinations of shaft and root flexibilities and arm properties. The simulation results showed that the root flexibility is an important factor that should be considered in association with the arm and shaft flexibilities, as its dynamics influence the motor motion. Moreover, the effect of system non-linearity on the dynamic behavior is investigated by simulating the equivalent linearized system and it was found to be an important factor that should be considered, particularly when designing a control strategy for practical implementation.

Flexible devices: from materials, architectures to applications

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Mingzhi; Ma, Yue; Yuan, Xin; Hu, Yi; Liu, Jie; Jin, Zhong

2018-01-01

Flexible devices, such as flexible electronic devices and flexible energy storage devices, have attracted a significant amount of attention in recent years for their potential applications in modern human lives. The development of flexible devices is moving forward rapidly, as the innovation of methods and manufacturing processes has greatly encouraged the research of flexible devices. This review focuses on advanced materials, architecture designs and abundant applications of flexible devices, and discusses the problems and challenges in current situations of flexible devices. We summarize the discovery of novel materials and the design of new architectures for improving the performance of flexible devices. Finally, we introduce the applications of flexible devices as key components in real life. Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2017YFA0208200, 2016YFB0700600, 2015CB659300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21403105, 21573108), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 020514380107).

Simplified design of flexible expansion anchored plates for nuclear structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mehta, N.K.; Hingorani, N.V.; Longlais, T.G.; Sargent and Lundy, Chicago, IL)

1984-01-01

In nuclear power plant construction, expansion anchored plates are used to support pipe, cable tray and HVAC duct hangers, and various structural elements. The expansion anchored plates provide flexibility in the installation of field-routed lines where cast-in-place embedments are not available. General design requirements for expansion anchored plate assemblies are given in ACI 349, Appendix B (1). The manufacturers recommend installation procedures for their products. Recent field testing in response to NRC Bulletin 79-02 (2) indicates that anchors, installed in accordance with manufacturer's recommended procedures, perform satisfactorily under static and dynamic loading conditions. Finite element analysis is a useful tool to correctly analyze the expansion anchored plates subject to axial tension and biaxial moments, but it becomes expensive and time-consuming to apply this tool for a large number of plates. It is, therefore, advantageous to use a simplified method, even though it may be more conservative as compared to the exact method of analysis. This paper presents a design method referred to as the modified rigid plate analysis approach to simplify both the initial design and the review of as-built conditions

Development and Design of a Flexible Measurement System for Offshore Wind Farm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kocewiak, Lukasz Hubert; Arana Aristi, Iván; Hjerrild, Jesper

The development process of a flexible measurement system for multi-point, high-speed and long-term offshore data logging is described in this paper. This covers the complete design taking into account precise synchronisation, electromagnetic compatibility, software development and sensor...... calibration. The presented measurement set-up was tested in a rough offshore environment. Results from measurement campaigns at Avedøre and Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farms including synchronisation precision and accuracy, electromagnetic interference of power electronic devices are briefly presented....

Development and Design of a Flexible Measurement System for Offshore Wind Farms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kocewiak, Lukasz Hubert; Arana Aristi, Ivan; Hjerrild, Jesper

2011-01-01

The development process of a flexible measurement system for multi-point, high-speed and long-term offshore data logging is described in this paper. This covers the complete design taking into account precise synchronisation, electromagnetic compatibility, software development and sensor...... calibration. The presented measurement set-up was tested in a rough offshore environment. Results from measurement campaigns at Avedøre and Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farms including synchronisation precision and accuracy, electromagnetic interference of power electronic devices are briefly presented....

Aeroelastic Analysis of a Flexible Wing Wind Tunnel Model with Variable Camber Continuous Trailing Edge Flap Design

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Nhan; Ting, Eric; Lebofsky, Sonia

2015-01-01

This paper presents data analysis of a flexible wing wind tunnel model with a variable camber continuous trailing edge flap (VCCTEF) design for drag minimization tested at the University of Washington Aeronautical Laboratory (UWAL). The wind tunnel test was designed to explore the relative merit of the VCCTEF concept for improved cruise efficiency through the use of low-cost aeroelastic model test techniques. The flexible wing model is a 10%-scale model of a typical transport wing and is constructed of woven fabric composites and foam core. The wing structural stiffness in bending is tailored to be half of the stiffness of a Boeing 757-era transport wing while the torsional stiffness is about the same. This stiffness reduction results in a wing tip deflection of about 10% of the wing semi-span. The VCCTEF is a multi-segment flap design having three chordwise camber segments and five spanwise flap sections for a total of 15 individual flap elements. The three chordwise camber segments can be positioned appropriately to create a desired trailing edge camber. Elastomeric material is used to cover the gaps in between the spanwise flap sections, thereby creating a continuous trailing edge. Wind tunnel data analysis conducted previously shows that the VCCTEF can achieve a drag reduction of up to 6.31% and an improvement in the lift-to-drag ratio (L=D) of up to 4.85%. A method for estimating the bending and torsional stiffnesses of the flexible wingUWAL wind tunnel model from static load test data is presented. The resulting estimation indicates that the stiffness of the flexible wing is significantly stiffer in torsion than in bending by as much as 9 to 1. The lift prediction for the flexible wing is computed by a coupled aerodynamic-structural model. The coupled model is developed by coupling a conceptual aerodynamic tool Vorlax with a finite-element model of the flexible wing via an automated geometry deformation tool. Based on the comparison of the lift curve slope

Automated design and optimization of flexible booster autopilots via linear programming, volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

Hauser, F. D.

1972-01-01

A nonlinear programming technique was developed for the automated design and optimization of autopilots for large flexible launch vehicles. This technique, which resulted in the COEBRA program, uses the iterative application of linear programming. The method deals directly with the three main requirements of booster autopilot design: to provide (1) good response to guidance commands; (2) response to external disturbances (e.g. wind) to minimize structural bending moment loads and trajectory dispersions; and (3) stability with specified tolerances on the vehicle and flight control system parameters. The method is applicable to very high order systems (30th and greater per flight condition). Examples are provided that demonstrate the successful application of the employed algorithm to the design of autopilots for both single and multiple flight conditions.

The Experimental Research on E-Learning Instructional Design Model Based on Cognitive Flexibility Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Xianzhong; Wang, Feng; Zheng, Zhongmei

The paper reports an educational experiment on the e-Learning instructional design model based on Cognitive Flexibility Theory, the experiment were made to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the model in promoting the learning quality in ill-structured domain. The study performed the experiment on two groups of students: one group learned through the system designed by the model and the other learned by the traditional method. The results of the experiment indicate that the e-Learning designed through the model is helpful to promote the intrinsic motivation, learning quality in ill-structured domains, ability to resolve ill-structured problem and creative thinking ability of the students.

Design Optimization of a Cable-Driven Two-DOF Flexible Joint Module

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Zhang

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the kinematics, kinetostatics and design optimization of a 2-DOF cable-driven flexible joint module. Based on the motion characteristics of the 2-DOF joint module, the concept of instantaneous screw axis in conjunction with the Product-Of-Exponentials (POE formula is proposed to formulate its kinematic model. However, as the instantaneous screw axis is unfixed, the Lie group method is employed to derive the instantaneous kinematic model of the joint module. In order to generate the feasible workspace subject to positive tension constraint, the kinetostatics of the joint module is addressed, where the stiffness resulting from both the driving cables and the flexible backbone are considered. A numerical orientation workspace evaluation method is proposed based on an equi-volumetric partition in its parametric space and the volume-element associated integral factor. A global singular value (GSV index, which considers the minimum singular value of the stiffness matrix of joint module over the achievable workspace, is employed to optimize the geometric size of joint module. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed GSV optimization algorithm.

Process design and economics of a flexible ethanol-butanol plant annexed to a eucalyptus kraft pulp mill.

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Guilherme C Q; Braz, Danilo S; Hamaguchi, Marcelo; Ezeji, Thaddeus C; Maciel Filho, Rubens; Mariano, Adriano P

2018-02-01

This work proposes a strategy, from a process design standpoint, for pulp companies to enter the Brazilian ethanol market. The flexible plant converts eucalyptus-derived glucose to either ethanol or butanol (according to market conditions) and xylose only to butanol production. Depending on the biomass pretreatment technology, Monte Carlo simulations showed that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the flexible plant increases by 20-28% in relation to an ethanol-dedicated plant. Whereas the lower costs of the steam explosion technology turns the investment more attractive (NPV = 184 MMUSD; IRR = 29%), the organosolv technology provides better flexibility to the plant. This work also shows that excessive power consumption is a hurdle in the development of flash fermentation technology chosen for the flexible plant. These results indicate that conventional batch fermentation is preferable if the enzymatic hydrolysis step operates with solids loading up to 20 wt%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combat vehicle crew helmet-mounted display: next generation high-resolution head-mounted display

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Scott A.

1994-06-01

The Combat Vehicle Crew Head-Mounted Display (CVC HMD) program is an ARPA-funded, US Army Natick Research, Development, and Engineering Center monitored effort to develop a high resolution, flat panel HMD for the M1 A2 Abrams main battle tank. CVC HMD is part of the ARPA High Definition Systems (HDS) thrust to develop and integrate small (24 micrometers square pels), high resolution (1280 X 1024 X 6-bit grey scale at 60 frame/sec) active matrix electroluminescent (AMEL) and active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD) for head mounted and projection applications. The Honeywell designed CVC HMD is a next generation head-mounted display system that includes advanced flat panel image sources, advanced digital display driver electronics, high speed (> 1 Gbps) digital interconnect electronics, and light weight, high performance optical and mechanical designs. The resulting dramatic improvements in size, weight, power, and cost have already led to program spin offs for both military and commercial applications.

Design of variable energy and price components of electricity tariffs as an incentive for system-efficient energy management of flexible consumers in households

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schreiber, Michael

2017-01-01

To mitigate anthropogenic climate change, both the heating and transport sectors will need to be electrically driven, with the higher electrical demand met by emission-free technologies, in addition to general efficiency improvements. On the generation side, wind and photovoltaic power plants must have a rated power significantly exceeding the current peak demand, in order to cover this increased electrical requirement. On the consumption side, heat pumps and private electric vehicles will increase the percentage of energy withdrawn at the low-voltage level of the new system. Given the right incentives, these customers will shift the energy demand in such a way as to benefit the system. This flexibility can be used as a tool to deal with variable renewable insertion while avoiding simultaneous overloading of the power grid. This thesis analyses and evaluates the effects of different electricity tariff designs on energy consumption. These tariffs should incentivise households to adapt their energy consumption to market prices, without inducing critical peak demands in times of particularly low prices. Therefore, time-varying energy price components and power price components are combined into flexible electricity tariffs and implemented as target functions within an optimization problem. The cost-minimizing effect of household energy management is determined under these flexible tariffs, and the effects of the tariff designs on energy consumption and the induced costs are evaluated. Additionally, the results of the flexible tariff approach are compared with results from a centralized optimization by a virtual power plant. It is possible to develop a design for a suitable flexible tariff that decreases the energy procurement costs of electric vehicles while simultaneously reducing peak demand in comparison to a single real-time pricing incentive. Furthermore, this thesis shows that certain kinds of electricity tariff design do not only fail to support but actually

Interfacial characterization of flexible hybrid electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Najafian, Sara; Amirkhizi, Alireza V.; Stapleton, Scott

2018-03-01

Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHEs) are the new generation of electronics combining flexible plastic film substrates with electronic devices. Besides the electrical features, design improvements of FHEs depend on the prediction of their mechanical and failure behavior. Debonding of electronic components from the flexible substrate is one of the most common and critical failures of these devices, therefore, the experimental determination of material and interface properties is of great importance in the prediction of failure mechanisms. Traditional interface characterization involves isolated shear and normal mode tests such as the double cantilever beam (DCB) and end notch flexure (ENF) tests. However, due to the thin, flexible nature of the materials and manufacturing restrictions, tests mirroring traditional interface characterization experiments may not always be possible. The ideal goal of this research is to design experiments such that each mode of fracture is isolated. However, due to the complex nonlinear nature of the response and small geometries of FHEs, design of the proper tests to characterize the interface properties can be significantly time and cost consuming. Hence numerical modeling has been implemented to design these novel characterization experiments. This research involves loading case and specimen geometry parametric studies using numerical modeling to design future experiments where either shear or normal fracture modes are dominant. These virtual experiments will provide a foundation for designing similar tests for many different types of flexible electronics and predicting the failure mechanism independent of the specific FHE materials.

Design of a flexible tactile sensor for classification of rigid and deformable objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Drimus, Alin; Kootstra, Gert; Bilberg, Arne

2014-01-01

of the sensor in an active object-classification system. A robotic gripper with two sensors mounted on its fingers performs a palpation procedure on a set of objects. By squeezing an object, the robot actively explores the material properties, and the system acquires tactile information corresponding......For both humans and robots, tactile sensing is important for interaction with the environment: it is the core sensing used for exploration and manipulation of objects. In this paper, we present a novel tactile-array sensor based on flexible piezoresistive rubber.We describe the design of the sensor...... and data acquisition system.We evaluate the sensitivity and robustness of the sensor, and show that it is consistent over time with little relaxation. Furthermore, the sensor has the benefit of being flexible, having a high resolution, it is easy to mount, and simple to manufacture. We demonstrate the use...

Flexible position probe assembly

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitz, J.J.

1977-01-01

The combination of a plurality of tubular transducer sections and a flexible supporting member extending through the tubular transducer sections forms a flexible elongated probe of a design suitable for monitoring the level of an element, such as a nuclear magnetically permeable control rod or liquid. 3 claims, 23 figures

Simple flexibility factor to facilitate the design of energy-flex-buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marszal, Anna Joanna; Stoustrup, Jakob; Widén, Joakim

2017-01-01

are focused on minimizing the building energy use and do not quantify the flexibility potential of the buildings. As the energy flexibility is of interest for the built and network environment, this paper presents a simple energy flexibility factor, which combines the needs of both and can be easily applied...

DFM for maskmaking: design-aware flexible mask-defect analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Driessen, Frank A. J. M.; Westra, J.; Scheffer, M.; Kawakami, K.; Tsujimoto, E.; Yamaji, M.; Kawashima, T.; Hayashi, N.

2007-10-01

We present a novel software system that combines design intent as known by EDA designers with defect inspection results from the maskshop to analyze the severity of defects on photomasks. The software -named Takumi Design- Driven Defect Analyzer (TK-D3A)- analyzes defects by combining actions in the image domain with actions in the design domain and outputs amongst others flexible mask-repair decisions in production formats used by the maskshop. Furthermore, TK-D3A outputs clips of layout (GDS/OASIS) that can be viewed with its graphical user interface for easy review of the defects and associated repair decisions. As inputs the system uses reticle defect-inspection data (text and images) and the respective multi-layer design layouts with the definitions of criticalities. The system does not require confidential design data from IDM, Fabless Design House, or Foundry to be sent to the maskshop and it also has minimal impact on the maskshop's mode of operation. The output of TK-D3A is designed to realize value to the maskshop and its customers in the forms of: 1) improved yield, 2) reduction of delivery times of masks to customers, and 3) enhanced utilization of the maskshop's installed tool base. The system was qualified together with a major IDM on a large set of production reticles in the 90 and beyond-65 nm technology nodes of which results will be presented that show the benefits for maskmaking. The accuracy in detecting defects is extremely high. We show the system's capability to analyze defects well below the pixel resolution of all inspection tools used, as well as the capability to extract multiple types of transmission defects. All of these defects are analyzed design-criticality-aware by TK-D3A, resulting in a large fraction of defects that do not need to be repaired because they are located in non-critical or less-critical parts of the layout, or, more importantly, turn out to be repairable or negligible despite of originally being classified as

A Flex-market Design for Flexibility Services through DERs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Chunyu; Ding, Yi; Østergaard, Jacob

2013-01-01

services of DERs are stipulated accommodating the various requirements of DSOs. The trading setups and processes are illustrated in details as well. Additionally, the demonstration diagram of Flex-market is also introduced in this paper. The diagram is utilized to test the feasibility and robustness......The high penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) will significantly challenge the power system operation due to their intermittent characteristic. In order to utilize the DERs as economically efficient as possible in the distribution grid, an Aggregator-based Flex-market is proposed...... in this paper. With the brand new notion of Flexibility Clearing House (FLECH), the proposed Flex-market has the ability to promote small scale DERs (up to 5MW) to participate in flexibility services trading. Accordingly, efforts to relieve the congestions in local grid areas, the contractual flexibility...

Grant programs : design features shape flexibility, accountability, and performance information

Science.gov (United States)

1998-06-01

Flexible grants--block grants and similar programs that give state or local governments the flexibility to adapt funded activities to fit the state or local context--are an adaptable policy tool and are found in fields from urban transit to community...

Robust and flexible mapping for real-time distributed applications during the early design phases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gan, Junhe; Pop, Paul; Gruian, Flavius

2012-01-01

has a high chance of being schedulable, considering the wcet uncertainties, whereas a flexible mapping has a high chance to successfully accommodate the future scenarios. We propose a Genetic Algorithm-based approach to solve this optimization problem. Extensive experiments show the importance......We are interested in mapping hard real-time applications on distributed heterogeneous architectures. An application is modeled as a set of tasks, and we consider a fixed-priority preemptive scheduling policy. We target the early design phases, when decisions have a high impact on the subsequent...... in the functionality requirements are captured using “future scenarios”, which are task sets that model functionality likely to be added in the future. In this context, we derive a mapping of tasks in the application, such that the resulted implementation is both robust and flexible. Robust means that the application...

Comparison of helmet-mounted display designs in support of wayfinding

Science.gov (United States)

Kumagai, Jason K.; Massel, Lisa; Tack, David; Bossi, Linda

2003-09-01

The Canadian Soldier Information Requirements Technology Demonstration (SIREQ TD) soldier modernization research and development program has conducted experiments to help determine the types and amount of information needed to support wayfinding across a range of terrain environments, the most effective display modality for providing the information (visual, auditory or tactile) that will minimize conflict with other infantry tasks, and to optimize interface design. In this study, seven different visual helmet-mounted display (HMD) designs were developed based on soldier feedback from previous studies. The displays and an in-service compass condition were contrasted to investigate how the visual HMD interfaces influenced navigation performance. Displays varied with respect to their information content, frame of reference, point of view, and display features. Twelve male infantry soldiers used all eight experimental conditions to locate bearings to waypoints. From a constant location, participants were required to face waypoints presented at offset bearings of 25, 65, and 120 degrees. Performance measures included time to identify waypoints, accuracy, and head misdirection errors. Subjective measures of performance included ratings of ease of use, acceptance for land navigation, and mental demand. Comments were collected to identify likes, dislikes and possible improvements required for HMDs. Results underlined the potential performance enhancement of GPS-based navigation with HMDs, the requirement for explicit directional information, the desirability of both analog and digital information, the performance benefits of an egocentric frame of reference, the merit of a forward field of view, and the desirability of a guide to help landmark. Implications for the information requirements and human factors design of HMDs for land-based navigational tasks are discussed.

Recycling production designs: the value of coordination and flexibility in aluminum recycling operations

Science.gov (United States)

Brommer, Tracey H.

The growing motivation for aluminum recycling has prompted interest in recycling alternative and more challenging secondary materials. The nature of these alternative secondary materials necessitates the development of an intermediate recycling facility that can reprocess the secondary materials into a liquid product Two downstream aluminum remelters will incorporate the liquid products into their aluminum alloy production schedules. Energy and environmental benefits result from delivering the products as liquid but coordination challenges persist because of the energy cost to maintain the liquid. Further coordination challenges result from the necessity to establish a long term recycling production plan in the presence of long term downstream aluminum remelter production uncertainty and inherent variation in the daily order schedule of the downstream aluminum remelters. In this context a fundamental question arises, considering the metallurgical complexities of dross reprocessing, what is the value of operating a coordinated set of by-product reprocessing plants and remelting cast houses? A methodology is presented to calculate the optimal recycling center production parameters including 1) the number of recycled products, 2) the volume of recycled products, 3) allocation of recycled materials across recycled products, 4) allocation of recycled products across finished alloys, 4) the level of flexibility for the recycling center to operate. The methods implemented include, 1) an optimization model to describe the long term operations of the recycling center, 2) an uncertainty simulation tool, 3) a simulation optimization method, 4) a dynamic simulation tool with four embedded daily production optimization models of varying degrees of flexibility. This methodology is used to quantify the performance of several recycling center production designs of varying levels of coordination and flexibility. This analysis allowed the identification of the optimal recycling

Free-form Flexible Lithium-Ion Microbattery

KAUST Repository

Kutbee, Arwa T.

2016-03-02

Wearable electronics need miniaturized, safe and flexible power sources. Lithium ion battery is a strong candidate as high performance flexible battery. The development of flexible materials for battery electrodes suffers from the limited material choices. In this work, we present integration strategy to rationally design materials and processes to report flexible inorganic lithium-ion microbattery with no restrictions on the materials used. The battery shows an enhanced normalized capacity of 147 μAh/cm2 when bent.

49 CFR 178.940 - Standards for flexible Large Packagings.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

.... Flexible Large Packagings types are designated: (1) 51H flexible plastics. (2) 51M flexible paper. (b... this subchapter, flexible Large Packaging must be resistant to aging and degradation caused by ultraviolet radiation. (5) For plastic flexible Large Packagings, if necessary, protection against ultraviolet...

Design and experimental evaluation of flexible manipulator control algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, D.S.; Hwang, D.H.; Babcock, S.M.; Kress, R.L.

1995-01-01

Within the Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Program of the US Department of Energy, the remediation of single-shell radioactive waste storage tanks is one of the areas that challenge state-of-the-art equipment and methods. The use of long-reach manipulators is being seriously considered for this task. Because of high payload capacity and high length-to-cross-section ratio requirements, these long-reach manipulator systems are expected to use hydraulic actuators and to exhibit significant structural flexibility. The controller has been designed to compensate for the hydraulic actuator dynamics by using a load-compensated velocity feedforward loop and to increase the bandwidth by using an inner pressure feedback loop. Shaping filter techniques have been applied as feedforward controllers to avoid structural vibrations during operation. Various types of shaping filter methods have been investigated. Among them, a new approach, referred to as a ''feedforward simulation filter'' that uses embedded simulation, has been presented

Numerical study and design optimization of electromagnetic energy harvesters integrated with flexible magnetic materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoon, Sang Won [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-05-15

This study presents a new design of an electromagnetic energy harvester integrated with a soft magnetic material. The harvester design optimizes the magnetic material characteristics and the size of a rectangular permanent magnet. The design employs a complete magnetic circuit made of (1) a thin-film soft magnetic material that facilitates a flexible but highly (magnetically) permeable beam and (2) an optimally-sized magnet that maximizes the harvester performance. The design is demonstrated to reduce magnetic flux leakage, and thus considerably enhances both magnetic flux density (B) and its change by time (dB/dt), which both influence harvester performance. The improvement in harvester performances strongly depends on critical design parameters, especially, the magnet size and characteristics of magnetic materials, including permeability, stiffness, and thickness. The analyses conclude that recently-introduced nanomaterials (having ultrahigh magnetic permeability) can potentially innovate harvester performances. However, the performance may be degraded without design optimization. Once optimized, the integrated nanomaterials facilitate a significant improvement compared with a conventional design without integrated magnetic materials.

Numerical study and design optimization of electromagnetic energy harvesters integrated with flexible magnetic materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Sang Won

2017-01-01

This study presents a new design of an electromagnetic energy harvester integrated with a soft magnetic material. The harvester design optimizes the magnetic material characteristics and the size of a rectangular permanent magnet. The design employs a complete magnetic circuit made of (1) a thin-film soft magnetic material that facilitates a flexible but highly (magnetically) permeable beam and (2) an optimally-sized magnet that maximizes the harvester performance. The design is demonstrated to reduce magnetic flux leakage, and thus considerably enhances both magnetic flux density (B) and its change by time (dB/dt), which both influence harvester performance. The improvement in harvester performances strongly depends on critical design parameters, especially, the magnet size and characteristics of magnetic materials, including permeability, stiffness, and thickness. The analyses conclude that recently-introduced nanomaterials (having ultrahigh magnetic permeability) can potentially innovate harvester performances. However, the performance may be degraded without design optimization. Once optimized, the integrated nanomaterials facilitate a significant improvement compared with a conventional design without integrated magnetic materials.

Curriculum learning designs: teaching health assessment skills for advanced nursing practitioners through sustainable flexible learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzgerald, Les; Wong, Pauline; Hannon, John; Solberg Tokerud, Marte; Lyons, Judith

2013-10-01

Innovative curriculum designs are vital for effective learning in contemporary nursing education where traditional modes of delivery are not adequate to meet the learning needs of postgraduate students. This instance of postgraduate teaching in a distributed learning environment offered the opportunity to design a flexible learning model for teaching advanced clinical skills. To present a sustainable model for flexible learning that enables specialist nurses to gain postgraduate qualifications without on-campus class attendance by teaching and assessing clinical health care skills in an authentic workplace setting. An action research methodology was used to gather evidence and report on the process of curriculum development of a core unit, Comprehensive Health Assessment (CHA), within 13 different postgraduate speciality courses. Qualitative data was collected from 27 teaching academics, 21 clinical specialist staff, and 7 hospital managers via interviews, focus groups and journal reflections. Evaluations from the initial iteration of CHA from 36 students were obtained. Data was analyzed to develop and evaluate the curriculum design of CHA. The key factors indicated by participants in the curriculum design process were coordination and structuring of teaching and assessment; integration of content development; working with technologies, balancing specialities and core knowledge; and managing induction and expectations. A set of recommendations emerged as a result of the action research process. These included: a constructive alignment approach to curriculum design; the production of a facilitator's guide that specifies expectations and unit information for academic and clinical education staff; an agreed template for content authors; and the inclusion of synchronous communication for real-time online tutoring. The highlight of the project was that it built curriculum design capabilities of clinicians and students which can sustain this alternative model of online

Simple and cost-effective fabrication of highly flexible, transparent superhydrophobic films with hierarchical surface design.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Tae-Hyun; Ha, Sung-Hun; Jang, Nam-Su; Kim, Jeonghyo; Kim, Ji Hoon; Park, Jong-Kweon; Lee, Deug-Woo; Lee, Jaebeom; Kim, Soo-Hyung; Kim, Jong-Man

2015-03-11

Optical transparency and mechanical flexibility are both of great importance for significantly expanding the applicability of superhydrophobic surfaces. Such features make it possible for functional surfaces to be applied to various glass-based products with different curvatures. In this work, we report on the simple and potentially cost-effective fabrication of highly flexible and transparent superhydrophobic films based on hierarchical surface design. The hierarchical surface morphology was easily fabricated by the simple transfer of a porous alumina membrane to the top surface of UV-imprinted polymeric micropillar arrays and subsequent chemical treatments. Through optimization of the hierarchical surface design, the resultant superhydrophobic films showed superior surface wetting properties (with a static contact angle of >170° and contact angle hysteresis of 82% at 550 nm wavelength). The superhydrophobic films were also experimentally found to be robust without significant degradation in the superhydrophobicity, even under repetitive bending and pressing for up to 2000 cycles. Finally, the practical usability of the proposed superhydorphobic films was clearly demonstrated by examining the antiwetting performance in real time while pouring water on the film and submerging the film in water.

Design of a CMOS readout circuit on ultra-thin flexible silicon chip for printed strain gauges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Elsobky

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Flexible electronics represents an emerging technology with features enabling several new applications such as wearable electronics and bendable displays. Precise and high-performance sensors readout chips are crucial for high quality flexible electronic products. In this work, the design of a CMOS readout circuit for an array of printed strain gauges is presented. The ultra-thin readout chip and the printed sensors are combined on a thin Benzocyclobutene/Polyimide (BCB/PI substrate to form a Hybrid System-in-Foil (HySiF, which is used as an electronic skin for robotic applications. Each strain gauge utilizes a Wheatstone bridge circuit, where four Aerosol Jet® printed meander-shaped resistors form a full-bridge topology. The readout chip amplifies the output voltage difference (about 5 mV full-scale swing of the strain gauge. One challenge during the sensor interface circuit design is to compensate for the relatively large dc offset (about 30 mV at 1 mA in the bridge output voltage so that the amplified signal span matches the input range of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC. The circuit design uses the 0. 5 µm mixed-signal GATEFORESTTM technology. In order to achieve the mechanical flexibility, the chip fabrication is based on either back thinned wafers or the ChipFilmTM technology, which enables the manufacturing of silicon chips with a thickness of about 20 µm. The implemented readout chip uses a supply of 5 V and includes a 5-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC, a differential difference amplifier (DDA, and a 10-bit successive approximation register (SAR ADC. The circuit is simulated across process, supply and temperature corners and the simulation results indicate excellent performance in terms of circuit stability and linearity.

Rational Design of Coordination Polymers with Flexible Oxyethylene Side Chains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Eun Young; Gao, Chunji; Lee, Suck Hyun; Kwon, O Pil

2012-01-01

We rationally designed and synthesized metallopolymers with organic 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (BDC) linkers with different lengths of oxyethylene side chains in order to examine the influence of side chains on the coordination characteristics. While in a previous report the BDC linkers with alkyl side chains were found to form three-dimensional (3D) isoreticular metal-organic framework (IRMOF) structures or one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymeric structures with short -O(CH 2 ) 6 CH 3 or long -O(CH 2 ) 9 CH 3 side chains, respectively, new BDC linkers with oxyethylene side chains of the same lengths, -(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 2 CH 3 and -(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 3 CH 3 , form only 3D IRMOF structures. This result is attributed to the higher flexibility and smaller volume of oxyethylene side chains compared to alkyl side chains

Incorporating Flexibility in the Design of Repairable Systems - Design of Microgrids

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

MICROGRIDS Vijitashwa Pandey1 Annette Skowronska1,2...optimization of complex systems such as a microgrid is however, computationally intensive. The problem is exacerbated if we must incorporate...flexibility in terms of allowing the microgrid architecture and its running protocol to change with time. To reduce the computational effort, this paper

Flexible transparent electrode

Science.gov (United States)

Demiryont, Hulya; Shannon, Kenneth C., III; Moorehead, David; Bratcher, Matthew

2011-06-01

This paper presents the properties of the EclipseTECTM transparent conductor. EclipseTECTM is a room temperature deposited nanostructured thin film coating system comprised of metal-oxide semiconductor elements. The system possesses metal-like conductivity and glass-like transparency in the visible region. These highly conductive TEC films exhibit high shielding efficiency (35dB at 1 to 100GHz). EclipseTECTM can be deposited on rigid or flexible substrates. For example, EclipseTECTM deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is extremely flexible that can be rolled around a 9mm diameter cylinder with little or no reduction in electrical conductivity and that can assume pre-extension states after an applied stress is relieved. The TEC is colorless and has been tailored to have high visible transmittance which matches the eye sensitivity curve and allows the viewing of true background colors through the coating. EclipseTECTM is flexible, durable and can be tailored at the interface for applications such as electron- or hole-injecting OLED electrodes as well as electrodes in flexible displays. Tunable work function and optical design flexibility also make EclipseTECTM well-suited as a candidate for grid electrode replacement in next-generation photovoltaic cells.

THE FLEXIBILITY-AUTOMATION CORRESPONDENCE TO A VIRTUAL COMMERCIAL SOCIETY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana Doble

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Design and operation of FMS is based on system requirement can be as productive and flexible as necessary, i.e. obtaining controlled correspondence between the degree of flexibility and automation of system.The flexibility of a FMS (Flexible Manufacturing Systems is determined by two important criteria: Flexible hardware structure of the system; Flexible software structure. Flexible hardware structure of the CS system (calculation system is determined to its turn according to three components: Flexibility of technological subsystem; Flexibility subsystem of storage, transport and handling;Flexibility of informational subsystem.

Design of a Flexible Hardware Interface for Multiple Remote Electronic practical Experiments of Virtual Laboratory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farah Said

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work is to present a new design of a Flexible Hardware Interface (FHI based on PID control techniques to use in a virtual laboratory. This flexible hardware interface allows the easy implementation of different and multiple remote electronic practical experiments for undergraduate engineering classes. This interface can be viewed as opened hardware architecture to easily develop simple or complex remote experiments in the electronic domain. The philosophy of the use of this interface can also be expanded to many other domains as optic experiments for instance. It is also demonstrated that software can be developed to enable remote measurements of electronic circuits or systems using only Web site Interface. Using standard browsers (such as Internet explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari, different students can have a remote access to different practical experiments at a time.

Flexible Design Research to validate communication in persons with dementia in advanced stages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ridder, Hanne Mette Ochsner

2003-01-01

. The method is an ethnographical process research using Atlas.ti as qualitative research software for the analysis and administration of transcribed data, and using physiological data to validate observational data in a case study design. In a flexible design both quantitative and qualitative data collection...... enable ways of communication adjusted to the person. The songs function to structure, motivate, stimulate, and regulate, and finally as means of enabling communication and dialogue. The research is trying to investigate if songs have regulative effects and to outline different levels of communication...... methods are used as a rich approach to understanding communication. The qualitative analysis is based on principles of grounded theory using selective, open, and axial coding techniques. The quantitative data is combined with time scales, sequence measures and event coding adding different perspectives...

Re-evaluation of the AASHTO-flexible pavement design equation with neural network modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiğdemir, Mesut

2014-01-01

Here we establish that equivalent single-axle loads values can be estimated using artificial neural networks without the complex design equality of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). More importantly, we find that the neural network model gives the coefficients to be able to obtain the actual load values using the AASHTO design values. Thus, those design traffic values that might result in deterioration can be better calculated using the neural networks model than with the AASHTO design equation. The artificial neural network method is used for this purpose. The existing AASHTO flexible pavement design equation does not currently predict the pavement performance of the strategic highway research program (Long Term Pavement Performance studies) test sections very accurately, and typically over-estimates the number of equivalent single axle loads needed to cause a measured loss of the present serviceability index. Here we aimed to demonstrate that the proposed neural network model can more accurately represent the loads values data, compared against the performance of the AASHTO formula. It is concluded that the neural network may be an appropriate tool for the development of databased-nonparametric models of pavement performance.

Reliability analysis of stiff versus flexible piping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, S.C.

1985-01-01

The overall objective of this research project is to develop a technical basis for flexible piping designs which will improve piping reliability and minimize the use of pipe supports, snubbers, and pipe whip restraints. The current study was conducted to establish the necessary groundwork based on the piping reliability analysis. A confirmatory piping reliability assessment indicated that removing rigid supports and snubbers tends to either improve or affect very little the piping reliability. The authors then investigated a couple of changes to be implemented in Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.61 and RG 1.122 aimed at more flexible piping design. They concluded that these changes substantially reduce calculated piping responses and allow piping redesigns with significant reduction in number of supports and snubbers without violating ASME code requirements. Furthermore, the more flexible piping redesigns are capable of exhibiting reliability levels equal to or higher than the original stiffer design. An investigation of the malfunction of pipe whip restraints confirmed that the malfunction introduced higher thermal stresses and tended to reduce the overall piping reliability. Finally, support and component reliabilities were evaluated based on available fragility data. Results indicated that the support reliability usually exhibits a moderate decrease as the piping flexibility increases. Most on-line pumps and valves showed an insignificant reduction in reliability for a more flexible piping design

Functional Design of Dielectric-Metal-Dielectric-Based Thin-Film Encapsulation with Heat Transfer and Flexibility for Flexible Displays.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Jeong Hyun; Choi, Seungyeop; Jeon, Yongmin; Kim, Hyuncheol; Chang, Ki Soo; Choi, Kyung Cheol

2017-08-16

based on a dielectric-metal-dielectric structure was thus effectively designed considering the transmittance, gas-permeation barrier properties, flexibility, and heat dissipation effect by exploiting the advantages of each separate layer.

Flexible Learning in an Information Society

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Badrul, Ed.

2007-01-01

Flexible Learning in an Information Society uses a flexible learning framework to explain the best ways of creating a meaningful learning environment. This framework consists of eight factors--institutional, management, technological, pedagogical, ethical, interface design, resource support, and evaluation--and a systematic understanding of these…

Continuous high order sliding mode controller design for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jie; Zong, Qun; Su, Rui; Tian, Bailing

2014-05-01

This paper investigates the problem of tracking control with uncertainties for a flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicle (FAHV). In order to overcome the analytical intractability of this model, an Input-Output linearization model is constructed for the purpose of feedback control design. Then, the continuous finite time convergence high order sliding mode controller is designed for the Input-Output linearization model without uncertainties. In addition, a nonlinear disturbance observer is applied to estimate the uncertainties in order to compensate the controller and disturbance suppression, where disturbance observer and controller synthesis design is obtained. Finally, the synthesis of controller and disturbance observer is used to achieve the tracking for the velocity and altitude of the FAHV and simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the control strategies. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sense of humour and adolescents' cognitive flexibility | Esterhuyse ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Design: A correlational research design was used in which pupils were asked to complete the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale to assess their sense of humour. In order to determine the cognitive flexibility of the sample group, Martin and Rubin's Cognitive Flexibility Scale was applied. Setting and subjects: The ...

Nuclear reactor power control system based on flexibility model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Gang; Zhao Fuyu; Li Chong; Tai Yun

2011-01-01

Design the nuclear reactor power control system in this paper to cater to a nonlinear nuclear reactor. First, calculate linear power models at five power levels of the reactor as five local models and design controllers of the local models as local controllers. Every local controller consists of an optimal controller contrived by the toolbox of Optimal Controller Designer (OCD) and a proportion-integration-differentiation (PID) controller devised via Genetic Algorithm (GA) to set parameters of the PID controller. According to the local models and controllers, apply the principle of flexibility model developed in the paper to obtain the flexibility model and the flexibility controller at every power level. Second, the flexibility model and the flexibility controller at a level structure the power control system of this level. The set of the whole power control systems corresponding to global power levels is to approximately carry out the power control of the reactor. Finally, the nuclear reactor power control system is simulated. The simulation result shows that the idea of flexibility model is feasible and the nuclear reactor power control system is effective. (author)

Living in a Flexible Space

Science.gov (United States)

Canepa, Simona

2017-10-01

How long does a space or an object have to last? If in the past an object or a building manufacturing was designed to last as much as possible, nowadays it is designed to have a life related to the time in which it will be used. Flexibility is what characterizes a space, it’s the ability to be variable and adaptable to changes in the lives of users or in relation to the use which these will make over time. The evolution of the labour market, the difficulty of inserting within it and the need to push more and more frequent move today in the trial of living space models increasingly flexible: people, especially young people, are forced to move on territory outlining a new condition to which the flexible nomadic dwellings offer an adequate response, ensuring high functional performance in confined spaces.

Vibration of rotating-shaft design spindles with flexible bases

Science.gov (United States)

Tseng, Chaw-Wu

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate an accurate mathematical model predicting forced vibration of rotating-shaft HDD spindle motors with flexible stationary parts. The mathematical model consists of three parts: a rotating part, a stationary part, and bearings. The rotating part includes a flexible hub, a flexible shaft press-fit into the hub, and N elastic disks mounted on the hub. The stationary part can include motor bracket (stator), base casting, and top cover. The bearings under consideration can be ball bearings or hydrodynamic bearings (HDB). The rotating disks are modelled through the classical plate theory. The rotating part (except the disks) and the stationary part are modelled through finite element analyses (FEA). With mode shapes and natural frequencies obtained from FEA, the kinetic and potential energies of the rotating and stationary parts are formulated and discretized to compensate for the gyroscopic effects from rotation. Finally, use of Lagrange equation results in the equations of motion. To verify the mathematical model, frequency response functions are measured experimentally for an HDB spindle carrying two identical disks at motor and drive levels. Experimental measurements agree very well with theoretical predictions not only in resonance frequency but also in resonance amplitude.

Study on the value of flexibility in the management and design basis of distribution networks in France. Summary - Version dated 7 December 2015

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2015-01-01

;net' value of flexibility is defined as the difference between income and costs. Only the direct economic value of flexibility is analysed in this report: the environmental impact and knock-on effect on employment are not taken into consideration. Furthermore, study of the market design of flexibility (contracting method, division of responsibilities, financial equalization, etc.) is not included in the scope of the study. In conclusion, this study shows that flexibility is of value for electricity distribution networks, at least from a theoretical point of view in some of the 'case studies', and in all likelihood also in practice, in certain situations. However, this study does not provide any results on the overall potential of the value of flexibility at national level. Several other studies must be undertaken to determine this potential, as well as to define the regulatory framework and the market design that would promote its use for the national community. Incorporating failure of the flexibility in terms of its design basis, the sharing of responsibility and penalties resulting from failure will be some of the decisive factors in successfully using the flexibility

Flexible MEMS: A novel technology to fabricate flexible sensors and electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Tu, Hongen

This dissertation presents the design and fabrication techniques used to fabricate flexible MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) devices. MEMS devices and CMOS(Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) circuits are traditionally fabricated on rigid substrates with inorganic semiconductor materials such as Silicon. However, it is highly desirable that functional elements like sensors, actuators or micro fluidic components to be fabricated on flexible substrates for a wide variety of applications. Due to the fact that flexible substrate is temperature sensitive, typically only low temperature materials, such as polymers, metals, and organic semiconductor materials, can be directly fabricated on flexible substrates. A novel technology based on XeF2(xenon difluoride) isotropic silicon etching and parylene conformal coating, which is able to monolithically incorporate high temperature materials and fluidic channels, was developed at Wayne State University. The technology was first implemented in the development of out-of-plane parylene microneedle arrays that can be individually addressed by integrated flexible micro-channels. These devices enable the delivery of chemicals with controlled temporal and spatial patterns and allow us to study neurotransmitter-based retinal prosthesis. The technology was further explored by adopting the conventional SOI-CMOS processes. High performance and high density CMOS circuits can be first fabricated on SOI wafers, and then be integrated into flexible substrates. Flexible p-channel MOSFETs (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistors) were successfully integrated and tested. Integration of pressure sensors and flow sensors based on single crystal silicon has also been demonstrated. A novel smart yarn technology that enables the invisible integration of sensors and electronics into fabrics has been developed. The most significant advantage of this technology is its post-MEMS and post-CMOS compatibility. Various high

Active structural control of a floating wind turbine with a stroke-limited hybrid mass damper

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yaqi; He, Erming

2017-12-01

Floating wind turbines are subjected to more severe structural loads than fixed-bottom wind turbines due to additional degrees of freedom (DOFs) of their floating foundations. It's a promising way of using active structural control method to improve the structural responses of floating wind turbines. This paper investigates an active vibration control strategy for a barge-type floating wind turbine by setting a stroke-limited hybrid mass damper (HMD) in the turbine's nacelle. Firstly, a contact nonlinear modeling method for the floating wind turbine with clearance between the HMD and the stroke limiters is presented based on Euler-Lagrange's equations and an active control model of the whole system is established. The structural parameters are validated for the active control model and an equivalent load coefficient method is presented for identifying the wind and wave disturbances. Then, a state-feedback linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller is designed to reduce vibration and loads of the wind turbine, and two optimization methods are combined to optimize the weighting coefficients when considering the stroke of the HMD and the active control power consumption as constraints. Finally, the designed controllers are implemented in high fidelity simulations under five typical wind and wave conditions. The results show that active HMD control strategy is shown to be achievable and the designed controllers could further reduce more vibration and loads of the wind turbine under the constraints of stroke limitation and power consumption. "V"-shaped distribution of the TMD suppression effect is inconsistent with the Weibull distribution in practical offshore floating wind farms, and the active HMD control could overcome this shortcoming of the passive TMD.

Design of a holographic waveguide with L configuration

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, Guangxin-Xin; Li, Wen-Qiang

2016-10-01

In order to decrease the complexity to design and manufacture the turning grating of the configuration with one reflecting surface, an L-shape two-dimension extended configuration with single plate is given in the paper. This configuration consists of one specular reflecting surface and three holographic gratings two in which periods and the groove orientations are totally same, which makes gratings design and fabrication easier. According to the calculation and analysis to the optical path of configuration, the dimension of the turning grating is no larger than 40mm×30mm. The simulation result demonstrates the display configuration is reasonable and correct and can realize the display effect with 30°×30° field of view and Φ30mm large exit pupil. This configuration can be applied to an Augmented Reality Display (AR) or a Head-Mounted Display (HMD).

Analysis of a Thrust Bearing with Flexible Pads and Flexible Supports

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klit, Peder; Thomsen, Kim

2007-01-01

A theoretical analysis of a hydrodynamic thrust bearing is presented. The bearing investigated is used in an ndustrial product. The lubricant is water, but the results are valid also for other lubricants.At first the results from a 1-dimensional model for the fluid film forces and the associated...... deformation of the bearing geometry is presented. This model enlightens the influence of pad flexibility and support location and flexibility. Subsequently results from a 2-dimensional model of the bearing is presented. The model is used to carry out an optimization of the bearing design, and the obtained...

Hydrodynamic analysis, performance assessment, and actuator design of a flexible tail propulsor in an artificial alligator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Philen, Michael; Neu, Wayne

2011-01-01

The overall objective of this research is to develop analysis tools for determining actuator requirements and assessing viable actuator technology for design of a flexible tail propulsor in an artificial alligator. A simple hydrodynamic model that includes both reactive and resistive forces along the tail is proposed and the calculated mean thrust agrees well with conventional estimates of drag. Using the hydrodynamic model forces as an input, studies are performed for an alligator ranging in size from 1 cm to 2 m at swimming speeds of 0.3–1.8 body lengths per second containing five antagonistic pairs of actuators distributed along the length of the tail. Several smart materials are considered for the actuation system, and preliminary analysis results indicate that the acrylic electroactive polymer and the flexible matrix composite actuators are potential artificial muscle technologies for the system

Aligning flexibility with uncertainty in software development arrangements through a contractual typology

OpenAIRE

Lichtenstein, Y.; Finkelstein, L.; Wyss, S.

2018-01-01

Purpose\\ud The purpose of this study is to identify a typology of procurement contracts in the context of software development projects that allows firms to align design flexibility with design uncertainty at the project level. The theoretical lenses of contract theory and software engineering are used to explain why the five archetypes in the proposed typology provide gradually increasing levels of design flexibility and to develop hypotheses about the associations between design flexibility...

Flexible Consumption

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm Jacobsen, Peter; Pallesen, Trine

This report presents the first findings from our qualitative study of consumer behaviour vis-à-vis flexible consumption. The main of objective of this report is to present our first round of data from Bornholm, and to assist the design of products/services designed in WP6. In the report, we adopt...... the perspective of the consumer: what does living in a demand response setup look like to participants – and what kinds of behaviour and interest motivate – and emerge from – their participation in EcoGrid 2.0....

Contagious flexibility? A study on whether schedule flexibility facilitates work-life enrichment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Vivi Bach; Jeppesen, Hans Jeppe

2012-08-01

Schedule flexibility defines an important generating resource for work-life enrichment; however, our knowledge about how such spillovers take place is limited. This multiple case study examines how workers from different working time contexts with varying levels of schedule flexibility experience work-life interplay. Given the adopted explorative design, it is important to interpret the findings in a tentative light. Nonetheless, the study offers important insight into work-life enrichment that may guide future research in this field. The findings indicate that schedule flexibility may act as a boundary-spanning resource owing to the agency potential it offers workers. Thus, it seemed that flexible schedule opportunities enabled workers to engage more fully in personal life activities, which in turn had a positive influence on their work involvement through positive affect. Such positive role engagements appeared, however, to be greatly determined by workers' boundary management and by time conditions of work and family. In conclusion, the major findings and limitation of the study are discussed against existing research and theory. © 2012 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2012 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Developing a mixture design specification for flexible base construction.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-01

In the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), flexible base producers typically generate large stockpiles of material exclusively for TxDOT projects. This large state-only inventory often maintained by producers, along with time requiremen...

Nature-Inspired Structural Materials for Flexible Electronic Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yaqing; He, Ke; Chen, Geng; Leow, Wan Ru; Chen, Xiaodong

2017-10-25

Exciting advancements have been made in the field of flexible electronic devices in the last two decades and will certainly lead to a revolution in peoples' lives in the future. However, because of the poor sustainability of the active materials in complex stress environments, new requirements have been adopted for the construction of flexible devices. Thus, hierarchical architectures in natural materials, which have developed various environment-adapted structures and materials through natural selection, can serve as guides to solve the limitations of materials and engineering techniques. This review covers the smart designs of structural materials inspired by natural materials and their utility in the construction of flexible devices. First, we summarize structural materials that accommodate mechanical deformations, which is the fundamental requirement for flexible devices to work properly in complex environments. Second, we discuss the functionalities of flexible devices induced by nature-inspired structural materials, including mechanical sensing, energy harvesting, physically interacting, and so on. Finally, we provide a perspective on newly developed structural materials and their potential applications in future flexible devices, as well as frontier strategies for biomimetic functions. These analyses and summaries are valuable for a systematic understanding of structural materials in electronic devices and will serve as inspirations for smart designs in flexible electronics.

Comparative analysis on flexibility requirements of typical Cryogenic Transfer lines

Science.gov (United States)

Jadon, Mohit; Kumar, Uday; Choukekar, Ketan; Shah, Nitin; Sarkar, Biswanath

2017-04-01

The cryogenic systems and their applications; primarily in large Fusion devices, utilize multiple cryogen transfer lines of various sizes and complexities to transfer cryogenic fluids from plant to the various user/ applications. These transfer lines are composed of various critical sections i.e. tee section, elbows, flexible components etc. The mechanical sustainability (under failure circumstances) of these transfer lines are primary requirement for safe operation of the system and applications. The transfer lines need to be designed for multiple design constraints conditions like line layout, support locations and space restrictions. The transfer lines are subjected to single load and multiple load combinations, such as operational loads, seismic loads, leak in insulation vacuum loads etc. [1]. The analytical calculations and flexibility analysis using professional software are performed for the typical transfer lines without any flexible component, the results were analysed for functional and mechanical load conditions. The failure modes were identified along the critical sections. The same transfer line was then refurbished with the flexible components and analysed for failure modes. The flexible components provide additional flexibility to the transfer line system and make it safe. The results obtained from the analytical calculations were compared with those obtained from the flexibility analysis software calculations. The optimization of the flexible component’s size and selection was performed and components were selected to meet the design requirements as per code.

VIBRATION REDUCTION ON SINGLE-LINK FLEXIBLE MANIPULATOR USING H∞ CONTROL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberd Saragih

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the vibration and position control of a single link flexible manipulator. Robot link manipulators are widely used in various industrial applications. It is desirable to build light weight flexible manipulators. Light flexible manipulators have a variety of applications, most significantly in space exploration,manufacturing automation, construction, mining, and hazardous operation. Timoshenko beam theory is used to derive mathematical model of a flexible manipulator. The dynamic equations of motion are obtained using the Lagrange's formulation of dynamics.The H∞ controller is designed for vibration and position control of the system. Simulations are presented and show that vibration and position control of a single flexible link can be controlled with the designed H∞ controller.

Linking Flexible-Dynamic Team Structures through Distributed Leadership: A Qualitative Evaluation with Single Design Case Approach and Application of Roster Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aykut BERBER

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Fierce competition in every sector has forced companies to re-design their structures towards being more customer-focused, faster and more responsive. In this vein, there is rising dominance of flexible-dynamic team structures in organizations and these teams are, most of the times, self-managed. Among these team structures, leadership characteristics are not only observed in official team leaders but such characteristics are distributed among team members. The concept of "leading without leaders" has gained scholarly interest and in this paper, aim is to evaluate and combine constructs of distributed leadership and flexible-dynamic team structures within a single design case approach. Local division of a multinational company that operates in luxury cosmetics sector is selected. In-depth interviews were conducted at the company site, and flexible-dynamic team structures were examined in detail. As a second tool, Roster method is applied to see existence and strength of distributed leadership among different departments. Findings supported that organizational structure of this company has become more flexible-dynamic with distributed leadership characteristics seen across all departments. These findings were significant because our selected company entered into Turkey market twice and the second entry has been operationally successful. Arguments are offered regarding differences between two periods and further implications are suggested in relation to adoption of a new and more responsive company structure. Structural changes between two periods constituted the focal point of this research.

A Skin-attachable Flexible Piezoelectric Pulse Wave Energy Harvester

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoon, Sunghyun; Cho, Young-Ho

2014-01-01

We present a flexible piezoelectric generator, capable to harvest energy from human arterial pulse wave on the human wrist. Special features and advantages of the flexible piezoelectric generator include the multi-layer device design with contact windows and the simple fabrication process for the higher flexibility with the better energy harvesting efficiency. We have demonstrated the design effectiveness and the process simplicity of our skin- attachable flexible piezoelectric pulse wave energy harvester, composed of the sensitive P(VDF-TrFE) piezoelectric layer on the flexible polyimide support layer with windows. We experimentally characterize and demonstrate the energy harvesting capability of 0.2∼1.0μW in the Human heart rate range on the skin contact area of 3.71cm 2 . Additional physiological and/or vital signal monitoring devices can be fabricated and integrated on the skin attachable flexible generator, covered by an insulation layer; thus demonstrating the potentials and advantages of the present device for such applications to the flexible multi-functional selfpowered artificial skins, capable to detect physiological and/or vital signals on Human skin using the energy harvested from arterial pulse waves

Optical packet switched design with relaxed maximum hardware parameters and high service-class granularity for flexible switch node dimensioning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nord, Martin

2004-01-01

This work proposes a quality of service differentiation algorithm, improving the service class granularity and isolation of our recently presented waveband plane based design. The design aims at overcoming potential hardware limitations and increasing the switch node dimensioning flexibility...... in core networks. Exploiting the wavelength dimension for contention resolution, using partially shared wavelength converter pools, avoids optical buffers and reduces wavelength converter count. These benefits are illustrated by numerical simulations, and are highlighted in a dimensioning study with three...

Development and Plasticity of Cognitive Flexibility in Early and Middle Childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttelmann, Frances; Karbach, Julia

2017-01-01

Cognitive flexibility, the ability to flexibly switch between tasks, is a core dimension of executive functions (EFs) allowing to control actions and to adapt flexibly to changing environments. It supports the management of multiple tasks, the development of novel, adaptive behavior and is associated with various life outcomes. Cognitive flexibility develops rapidly in preschool and continuously increases well into adolescence, mirroring the growth of neural networks involving the prefrontal cortex. Over the past decade, there has been increasing interest in interventions designed to improve cognitive flexibility in children in order to support the many developmental outcomes associated with cognitive flexibility. This article provides a brief review of the development and plasticity of cognitive flexibility across early and middle childhood (i.e., from preschool to elementary school age). Focusing on interventions designed to improve cognitive flexibility in typically developing children, we report evidence for significant training and transfer effects while acknowledging that current findings on transfer are heterogeneous. Finally, we introduce metacognitive training as a promising new approach to promote cognitive flexibility and to support transfer of training.

Design and Testing of a Flexible Inclinometer Probe for Model Tests of Landslide Deep Displacement Measurement.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yongquan; Tang, Huiming; Li, Changdong; Lu, Guiying; Cai, Yi; Zhang, Junrong; Tan, Fulin

2018-01-14

The physical model test of landslides is important for studying landslide structural damage, and parameter measurement is key in this process. To meet the measurement requirements for deep displacement in landslide physical models, an automatic flexible inclinometer probe with good coupling and large deformation capacity was designed. The flexible inclinometer probe consists of several gravity acceleration sensing units that are protected and positioned by silicon encapsulation, all the units are connected to a 485-comunication bus. By sensing the two-axis tilt angle, the direction and magnitude of the displacement for a measurement unit can be calculated, then the overall displacement is accumulated according to all units, integrated from bottom to top in turn. In the conversion from angle to displacement, two spline interpolation methods are introduced to correct and resample the data; one is to interpolate the displacement after conversion, and the other is to interpolate the angle before conversion; compared with the result read from checkered paper, the latter is proved to have a better effect, with an additional condition that the displacement curve move up half the length of the unit. The flexible inclinometer is verified with respect to its principle and arrangement by a laboratory physical model test, and the test results are highly consistent with the actual deformation of the landslide model.

Optical see-through head-mounted display with occlusion capability

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Chunyu; Lin, Yuxiang; Hua, Hong

2013-05-01

Lack of mutual occlusion capability between computer-rendered and real objects is one of fundamental problems for most existing optical see-through head-mounted displays (OST-HMD). Without the proper occlusion management, the virtual view through an OST-HMD appears "ghost-like", floating in the real world. To address this challenge, we have developed an innovative optical scheme that uniquely combines the eyepiece and see-through relay optics to achieve an occlusion-capable OST-HMD system with a very compelling form factor and high optical performances. The proposed display system was based on emerging freeform optical design technologies and was designed for highly efficient liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) type spatial light modulator (SLM) and bright Organic LED (OLED) microdisplay. The proposed display technology was capable of working in both indoor and outdoor environments. Our current design offered a 1280x1024 color resolution based on 0.8" microdisplay and SLM. The MTF values for the majority of the fields at the cutoff frequency of 40lps/mm, which is determined by the pixel size of the microdisplay, are better than 15%. The design achieved a diagonal FOV of 40 degrees, 31.7 degrees horizontally and 25.6 degrees vertically, an exit pupil diameter of 8mm (non-vignetted), and an eye clearance of 18mm. The optics weights about 20 grams per eye. Our proposed occlusion capable OST-HMD system can easily find myriads of applications in various military and commercial sectors such as military training, gaming and entertainment.

Coral-Inspired Nanoengineering Design for Long-Cycle and Flexible Lithium-Ion Battery Anode.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yangyong; Wang, Cheng; Xue, Yinghui; Zhang, Qin; Mendes, Rafael G; Chen, Linfeng; Zhang, Tao; Gemming, Thomas; Rümmeli, Mark H; Ai, Xinping; Fu, Lei

2016-04-13

Conversion reaction electrode materials (CREMs) have gained significant interest in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical gravimetric capacity. However, traditional CREMs-based electrodes, with large strain arising from Li(+) intercalation/deintercalation causes pulverization or electrical breakdown and cracking of the active materials which leads to structural collapse, limiting performance. Therefore, in order to construct electrodes with a strong tolerance to the strain incurred during the conversion reaction process, we design a coral-like three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical heterostructure by using cross-linked nanoflakes interspersed with nanoparticles (NPs) standing vertically on graphene foam (GF). The coral-like 3D hierarchical heterostructures can efficiently disperse the strain from both internal and external forces as well as increase the specific surface area for enhanced electrochemical reactions. These features lead to long-cycle stability and excellent flexibility in LIBs. Fe3O4 NPs and CoO NFs are utilized as a model system to demonstrate our strategy. The as-prepared coral-like hierarchical electrode is studied as an anode in LIBs for the first time and is shown to deliver a high reversible specific gravimetric capacity of ∼1200 mA h g(-1) at a rate of 0.5 A g(-1) for 400 cycles. In addition, our batteries can even power a green light-emitting diode when bent to high degrees confirming the excellent flexibility of the material.

Subnanomolar Inhibitor of Cytochrome bc1 Complex Designed via Optimizing Interaction with Conformationally Flexible Residues

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Pei-Liang; Wang, Le; Zhu, Xiao-Lei; Huang, Xiaoqin; Zhan, Chang-Guo; Wu, Jia-Wei; Yang, Guang-Fu

2009-01-01

Cytochrome bc1 complex (EC 1.10.2.2, bc1), an essential component of the cellular respiratory chain and the photosynthetic apparatus in photosynthetic bacteria, has been identified as a promising target for new drugs and agricultural fungicides. X-ray diffraction structures of the free bc1 complex and its complexes with various inhibitors revealed that the phenyl group of Phe274 in the binding pocket exhibited significant conformational flexibility upon different inhibitors binding to optimize respective π-π interactions, whereas the side chains of other hydrophobic residues showed conformational stability. Therefore, in the present study, a strategy of optimizing the π-π interaction with conformationally flexible residues was proposed to design and discover new bc1 inhibitors with a higher potency. Eight new compounds were designed and synthesized, among which compound 5c with a Ki value of 570 pM was identified as the most promising drug or fungicide candidate, significantly more potent than the commercially available bc1 inhibitors including azoxystrobin (AZ), kresoxim-methyl (KM), and pyraclostrobin (PY). To our knowledge, this is the first bc1 inhibitor discovered from structure-based design with a potency of subnanomolar Ki value. For all of the compounds synthesized and assayed, the calculated binding free energies correlated reasonably well with the binding free energies derived from the experimental Ki values with a correlation coefficient of r2 = 0.89. The further inhibitory kinetics studies revealed that compound 5c is a non-competitive inhibitor with respect to substrate cytochrome c, but is a competitive inhibitor with respect to substrate ubiquinol. Due to its subnanomolar Ki potency and slow dissociation rate constant (k−0 = 0.00358 s−1), compound 5c could be used as a specific probe for further elucidation of the mechanism of bc1 function and as a new lead compound for future drug discovery. PMID:19928849

Influence of hinge point on flexible flap aerodynamic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, H Y; Ye, Z; Wu, P; Li, C

2013-01-01

Large scale wind turbines lead to increasing blade lengths and weights, which presents new challenges for blade design. This paper selects NREL S809 airfoil, uses the parameterized technology to realize the flexible trailing edge deformation, researches the static aerodynamic characteristics of wind turbine blade airfoil with flexible deformation, and the dynamic aerodynamic characteristics in the process of continuous deformation, analyses the influence of hinge point position on flexible flap aerodynamic performance, in order to further realize the flexible wind turbine blade design and provides some references for the active control scheme. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, proper trailing edge deformation can improve the lift coefficient, reduce the drag coefficient, and thereby more efficiently realize flow field active control. With hinge point moving forward, total aerodynamic performance of flexible flap improves. Positive swing angle can push the transition point backward, thus postpones the occurrence of the transition phenomenon

PROSPECTS FOR APPLICATION OF FLEXIBLE ULTRASONIC WAVEGUIDE SYSTEMS IN MEDICINE AND ENGINEERING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. T. Minchenya

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents comprehensive review of current and possible future applications of flexible ultrasonic waveguides in medicine and engineering. Issues of design, modelling and manufacturing of flexible waveguides are considered. The article also presents some results of the authors in this field, particularly modelling techniques developed for the design of flexible waveguides and ultrasonic technologies and equipment for ultrasonic thromboectomy, heating of frozen fuel and ultrasonic drilling of brittle materials. Novel technology for manufacturing flexible waveguides based on electrolytic-plasma machining is also described

Co-Design Method and Wafer-Level Packaging Technique of Thin-Film Flexible Antenna and Silicon CMOS Rectifier Chips for Wireless-Powered Neural Interface Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenji Okabe

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a co-design method and a wafer-level packaging technique of a flexible antenna and a CMOS rectifier chip for use in a small-sized implantable system on the brain surface are proposed. The proposed co-design method optimizes the system architecture, and can help avoid the use of external matching components, resulting in the realization of a small-size system. In addition, the technique employed to assemble a silicon large-scale integration (LSI chip on the very thin parylene film (5 μm enables the integration of the rectifier circuits and the flexible antenna (rectenna. In the demonstration of wireless power transmission (WPT, the fabricated flexible rectenna achieved a maximum efficiency of 0.497% with a distance of 3 cm between antennas. In addition, WPT with radio waves allows a misalignment of 185% against antenna size, implying that the misalignment has a less effect on the WPT characteristics compared with electromagnetic induction.

Co-Design Method and Wafer-Level Packaging Technique of Thin-Film Flexible Antenna and Silicon CMOS Rectifier Chips for Wireless-Powered Neural Interface Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Okabe, Kenji; Jeewan, Horagodage Prabhath; Yamagiwa, Shota; Kawano, Takeshi; Ishida, Makoto; Akita, Ippei

2015-12-16

In this paper, a co-design method and a wafer-level packaging technique of a flexible antenna and a CMOS rectifier chip for use in a small-sized implantable system on the brain surface are proposed. The proposed co-design method optimizes the system architecture, and can help avoid the use of external matching components, resulting in the realization of a small-size system. In addition, the technique employed to assemble a silicon large-scale integration (LSI) chip on the very thin parylene film (5 μm) enables the integration of the rectifier circuits and the flexible antenna (rectenna). In the demonstration of wireless power transmission (WPT), the fabricated flexible rectenna achieved a maximum efficiency of 0.497% with a distance of 3 cm between antennas. In addition, WPT with radio waves allows a misalignment of 185% against antenna size, implying that the misalignment has a less effect on the WPT characteristics compared with electromagnetic induction.

Comparison and evaluation of flexible and stiff piping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, W.; Tang, H.T.; Tang, Y.K.

1983-01-01

An experimental and numerical study was performed on a piping system, with various support configurations, to assess the difference in piping response for flexible and stiff piping systems. Questions have arisen concerning a basic design philosophy employed in present day piping designs. One basic question is, the reliability of a flexible piping system greater than that of a stiff piping system by virtue of the fact that a flexible system has fewer snubber supports. With fewer snubbers, the pipe is less susceptible to inadvertent thermal stresses introduced by snubber malfunction during normal operation. In addition to the technical issue, the matter of cost savings in flexible piping system design is a significant one. The costs associated with construction, in-service inspection and maintenance are all significantly reduced by reducing the number of snubber supports. The evaluation study, sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute, was performed on a boiler feedwater line at Consolidated Edison's Indian Point Unit 1. In this study, the boiler feedwater line was tested and analyzed with two fundamentally different support systems. The first system was very flexible, employing rod and spring hangers, and represented the 'old' design philosophy. The pipe system was very flexible with this support system, due to the long pipe span lengths between supports and the fact that there was only one lateral support. This support did not provide much restraint since it was near an anchor. The second system employed strut and snubber supports and represented the 'modern' design philosophy. The pipe system was relatively stiff with this support system, primarily due to the increased number of supports, including lateral supports, thereby reducing the pipe span lengths between supports. The second support system was designed with removable supports to facilitate interchange of the supports with different support types (i.e., struts, mechanical snubbers and hydraulic

Design rules for piping: experimental validation of flexibility and elastic stress indices for elbows under bending

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Touboul, F.; Ben Jdidia, M.; Acker, D.

1989-01-01

Design rules for class 1 piping components are based on stress indices (B, C, K) and flexibility factors (k). For elbows, adjacent straight parts and internal pressure inhibit ovalization of the cross-section, so reducing the sub-mentioned indices. Published theoretical works and experimental results allow for improvement of coded values. End effect may be represented by a suitable function of the elbow angle. The favourable effect of pressure on C 2 , for fatigue damage evaluation, can be taken into account

Controller design for flexible, distributed parameter mechanical arms via combined state space and frequency domain techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Book, W. J.; Majett, M.

1982-01-01

The potential benefits of the ability to control more flexible mechanical arms are discussed. A justification is made in terms of speed of movement. A new controller design procedure is then developed to provide this capability. It uses both a frequency domain representation and a state variable representation of the arm model. The frequency domain model is used to update the modal state variable model to insure decoupled states. The technique is applied to a simple example with encouraging results.

An innovative design for using flexible printed coils for magnetostrictive-based longitudinal guided wave sensors in steel strand inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tse, P W; Liu, X C; Wang, X J; Liu, Z H; Wu, B; He, C F

2011-01-01

Magnetostrictive sensors (MsSs) that can excite and receive guided waves are commonly used in detecting defects that may occur in cables and strands for supporting heavy structures. A conventional MsS has a hard sensing coil that is wound onto a bobbin with electric wires to generate the necessary dynamic magnetic field to excite the desired guided waves. This tailor-made hard coil is usually bulky and is not flexible enough to fit steel strands of various sizes. The conventional MsS also cannot be mounted to any steel strand that does not have a free end to allow the bobbin to pass through the structure of the tested strand. Such inflexibilities limit the use of conventional MsSs in practical situations. To solve these limitations, an innovative type of coil, called a flexible printed coil (FPC), which is made out of flexible printed film, has been designed to replace the inflexible hard coil. The flexible structure of the FPC ensures that the new MsS can be easily installed on and removed from steel strands with different diameters and without free ends. Moreover, the FPC-based MsS can be wrapped into multiple layers due to its thin and flexible design. Although multi-layer FPC creates a minor asymmetry in the dynamic magnetic field, the results of finite element analysis and experiments confirm that the longitudinal guided waves excited by a FPC-based MsS are comparable to those excited by a conventional hard coil MsS. No significant reduction in defect inspection performance was found; in fact, further advantages were identified when using the FPC-based MsS. When acting as the transmitter, the innovative FPC-based MsS can cover a longer inspection length of strand. When acting as the receiver, the FPC-based MsS is more sensitive to smaller defects that are impossible to detect using a hard coil MsS. Hence, the multi-layer FPC-based MsS has great potential for replacing the conventional hard coil MsS because of its convenient installation, and ease of fitting to

Flexible workspace design and ergonomics training: impacts on the psychosocial work environment, musculoskeletal health, and work effectiveness among knowledge workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Michelle M; Huang, Yueng-Hsiang; O'Neill, Michael J; Schleifer, Lawrence M

2008-07-01

A macroergonomics intervention consisting of flexible workspace design and ergonomics training was conducted to examine the effects on psychosocial work environment, musculoskeletal health, and work effectiveness in a computer-based office setting. Knowledge workers were assigned to one of four conditions: flexible workspace (n=121), ergonomics training (n=92), flexible workspace+ergonomics training (n=31), and a no-intervention control (n=45). Outcome measures were collected 2 months prior to the intervention and 3 and 6 months post-intervention. Overall, the study results indicated positive, significant effects on the outcome variables for the two intervention groups compared to the control group, including work-related musculoskeletal discomfort, job control, environmental satisfaction, sense of community, ergonomic climate, communication and collaboration, and business process efficiency (time and costs). However, attrition of workers in the ergonomics training condition precluded an evaluation of the effects of this intervention. This study suggests that a macroergonomics intervention is effective among knowledge workers in office settings.

Flexible Products in Microfinance: Overcoming the Demand-Supply Mismatch

OpenAIRE

Labie, Marc; Laureti, Carolina; Szafarz, Ariane

2013-01-01

The success of microfinance rests upon product simplicity, standardization, and the capacity to stimulate client discipline. However, poor people desperately need flexible financial products to improve their day-to-day money management and cope with shocks. This paper discusses how microfinance institutions could design flexible products efficiently. First, we clarify the concept of financial flexibility. Second, based on literature in microfinance, banking, and behavioral economics, we summa...

Conformational Dynamics and Binding Free Energies of Inhibitors of BACE-1: From the Perspective of Protonation Equilibria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Olivia Kim

2015-10-01

Full Text Available BACE-1 is the β-secretase responsible for the initial amyloidogenesis in Alzheimer's disease, catalyzing hydrolytic cleavage of substrate in a pH-sensitive manner. The catalytic mechanism of BACE-1 requires water-mediated proton transfer from aspartyl dyad to the substrate, as well as structural flexibility in the flap region. Thus, the coupling of protonation and conformational equilibria is essential to a full in silico characterization of BACE-1. In this work, we perform constant pH replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations on both apo BACE-1 and five BACE-1-inhibitor complexes to examine the effect of pH on dynamics and inhibitor binding properties of BACE-1. In our simulations, we find that solution pH controls the conformational flexibility of apo BACE-1, whereas bound inhibitors largely limit the motions of the holo enzyme at all levels of pH. The microscopic pKa values of titratable residues in BACE-1 including its aspartyl dyad are computed and compared between apo and inhibitor-bound states. Changes in protonation between the apo and holo forms suggest a thermodynamic linkage between binding of inhibitors and protons localized at the dyad. Utilizing our recently developed computational protocol applying the binding polynomial formalism to the constant pH molecular dynamics (CpHMD framework, we are able to obtain the pH-dependent binding free energy profiles for various BACE-1-inhibitor complexes. Our results highlight the importance of correctly addressing the binding-induced protonation changes in protein-ligand systems where binding accompanies a net proton transfer. This work comprises the first application of our CpHMD-based free energy computational method to protein-ligand complexes and illustrates the value of CpHMD as an all-purpose tool for obtaining pH-dependent dynamics and binding free energies of biological systems.

Wearable Flexible Sensors: A Review

KAUST Repository

Nag, Anindya

2017-05-18

The paper provides a review on some of the significant research work done on wearable flexible sensors (WFS). Sensors fabricated with flexible materials have been attached to a person along with the embedded system to monitor a parameter and transfer the significant data to the monitoring unit for further analyses. The use of wearable sensors has played a quite important role to monitor physiological parameters of a person to minimize any malfunctioning happening in the body. The paper categorizes the work according to the materials used for designing the system, the network protocols and different types of activities that were being monitored. The challenges faced by the current sensing systems and future opportunities for the wearable flexible sensors regarding its market values are also briefly explained in the paper.

Wearable Flexible Sensors: A Review

KAUST Repository

Nag, Anindya; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas Chandra; Kosel, Jü rgen

2017-01-01

The paper provides a review on some of the significant research work done on wearable flexible sensors (WFS). Sensors fabricated with flexible materials have been attached to a person along with the embedded system to monitor a parameter and transfer the significant data to the monitoring unit for further analyses. The use of wearable sensors has played a quite important role to monitor physiological parameters of a person to minimize any malfunctioning happening in the body. The paper categorizes the work according to the materials used for designing the system, the network protocols and different types of activities that were being monitored. The challenges faced by the current sensing systems and future opportunities for the wearable flexible sensors regarding its market values are also briefly explained in the paper.

Load and Flexibility Models for Distribution Grid Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kouzelis, Konstantinos

to advanced metering and control infrastructure investments. These investments will transform distribution networks into smarter" grids which will facilitate flexible load/generation control in return for financial and reliability benefits to electricity consumers. The theoretical idea of modernising the grid...... involve lack of generic load forecasts, need for flexible load/generation estimation techniques from smart meter measurements, deficiencies in online load distribution observability, and, finally, energy market compatible control algorithms which treat consumer flexibility in a fair manner. These modules...... congestions, is proposed. In the first step, a central controller manages flexibility proactively, whereas in the second step a decentralised control scheme deals with flexibility reactively. Both controllers are designed in such a way, that compatibility with contemporary markets is assured, while special...

Supply chain integration, risk management and manufacturing flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chaudhuri, Atanu; Boer, Harry; Taran, Yariv

2018-01-01

, respectively, and manufacturing flexibility. Design/methodology/approach – Using hierarchical regression, data are analyzed from a sample of 343 manufacturing plants in Asia collected in 2013-2014 as part of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Findings – Internal integration and supply......Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of internal integration, external integration and supply chain risk management on manufacturing flexibility, and the moderating effect of supply chain risk management on the relationships between internal and external integration...... chain risk management have a direct effect on manufacturing flexibility. Supply chain risk management moderates the relationship between external integration and flexibility. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed to generalize beyond the flexibility performance of discrete...

Issues and Challenges Facing Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries for Practical Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Cha, Hyungyeon; Kim, Junhyeok; Lee, Yoonji; Cho, Jaephil; Park, Minjoon

2017-12-27

With the advent of flexible electronics, lithium-ion batteries have become a key component of high performance energy storage systems. Thus, considerable effort is made to keep up with the development of flexible lithium-ion batteries. To date, many researchers have studied newly designed batteries with flexibility, however, there are several significant challenges that need to be overcome, such as degradation of electrodes under external load, poor battery performance, and complicated cell preparation procedures. In addition, an in-depth understanding of the current challenges for flexible batteries is rarely addressed in a systematical and practical way. Herein, recent progress and current issues of flexible lithium-ion batteries in terms of battery materials and cell designs are reviewed. A critical overview of important issues and challenges for the practical application of flexible lithium-ion batteries is also provided. Finally, the strategies are discussed to overcome current limitations of the practical use of flexible lithium-based batteries, providing a direction for future research. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Qualification test for the Flexible Receiver. Revision 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keller, C.M.

1994-01-01

This document provides the test plan and procedures to certify and design verify the 42 in. and 4 in. -- 6 in. Flexible Receiver as a safety class 3 system. The Flexible Receiver will be used by projects W-151 and W-320 for removing equipment from tanks C-106 and Az-101

Flexible Multi-Numerology Systems for 5G New Radio

OpenAIRE

Yazar, Ahmet; Peköz, Berker; Arslan, Hüseyin

2018-01-01

The physical layer of 5G cellular communications systems is designed to achieve better flexibility in an effort to support diverse services and user requirements. OFDM waveform parameters are enriched with flexible multi-numerology structures. This paper describes the differences between Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems and new radio (NR) from the flexibility perspective. Research opportunities for multi-numerology systems are presented in a structured manner. Finally, inter-numerology inter...

Design of a Novel Flexible Capacitive Sensing Mattress for Monitoring Sleeping Respiratory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wen-Ying Chang

2014-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, an algorithm to extract respiration signals using a flexible projected capacitive sensing mattress (FPCSM designed for personal health assessment is proposed. Unlike the interfaces of conventional measurement systems for poly-somnography (PSG and other alternative contemporary systems, the proposed FPCSM uses projected capacitive sensing capability that is not worn or attached to the body. The FPCSM is composed of a multi-electrode sensor array that can not only observe gestures and motion behaviors, but also enables the FPCSM to function as a respiration monitor during sleep using the proposed approach. To improve long-term monitoring when body movement is possible, the FPCSM enables the selection of data from the sensing array, and the FPCSM methodology selects the electrodes with the optimal signals after the application of a channel reduction algorithm that counts the reversals in the capacitive sensing signals as a quality indicator. The simple algorithm is implemented in the time domain. The FPCSM system is used in experimental tests and is simultaneously compared with a commercial PSG system for verification. Multiple synchronous measurements are performed from different locations of body contact, and parallel data sets are collected. The experimental comparison yields a correlation coefficient of 0.88 between FPCSM and PSG, demonstrating the feasibility of the system design.

Design, simulation and characterization of a MEMS inertia switch with flexible CNTs/Cu composite array layer between electrodes for prolonging contact time

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Yang; Yang, Zhuoqing; Xu, Qiu; Chen, Wenguo; Ding, Guifu; Zhao, Xiaolin

2015-01-01

This paper reports an inertia switch with a flexible carbon nanotubes/copper (CNTs/Cu) composite array layer between movable and fixed electrodes, which achieves a longer contact time compared to the traditional design using rigid-to-rigid impact between electrodes. The CNTs/Cu layer is fabricated using the composite electroplating method, and the whole device is completed by multi-layer metal electroplating based on the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) process. The dynamic responses of the designed inertia switch and the contact impact between a single CNT and a fixed electrode/another CNT have both been simulated by the ANSYS finite-element-method (FEM). It is shown that the contact time of the designed inertia switch is about 100 µs under the applied 80 g half-sine-shaped acceleration in the sensing direction. Finally, the fabricated MEMS inertia switch with the flexible CNTs/Cu composite array layer between electrodes has been evaluated by a dropping hammer system. The test contact time is about112 µs, which has a good agreement with the simulation and is much longer than that of the traditional design. (paper)

Inclusion of Structural Flexibility in Design Load Analysis for Wave Energy Converters: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo, Yi [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Yu, Yi-Hsiang [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); van Rij, Jennifer A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Tom, Nathan M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-08-14

Hydroelastic interactions, caused by ocean wave loading on wave energy devices with deformable structures, are studied in the time domain. A midfidelity, hybrid modeling approach of rigid-body and flexible-body dynamics is developed and implemented in an open-source simulation tool for wave energy converters (WEC-Sim) to simulate the dynamic responses of wave energy converter component structural deformations under wave loading. A generalized coordinate system, including degrees of freedom associated with rigid bodies, structural modes, and constraints connecting multiple bodies, is utilized. A simplified method of calculating stress loads and sectional bending moments is implemented, with the purpose of sizing and designing wave energy converters. Results calculated using the method presented are verified with those of high-fidelity fluid-structure interaction simulations, as well as low-fidelity, frequency-domain, boundary element method analysis.

Trajectory planning of tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Hesheng [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China, 200240 Shanghai (China); Chen, Weidong, E-mail: wdchen@sjtu.edu.cn [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China, 200240 Shanghai (China); Lai, Yinping; He, Tao [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China, 200240 Shanghai (China)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • A tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is designed. • Two trajectory planning methods are used to ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning. • The method is tested on a simulated platform of EAST with the flexible in-vessel inspection robot. • Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. - Abstract: Tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is mainly designed to carry a camera for close observation of the first wall of the vacuum vessel, which is essential for the maintenance of the future tokamak reactor without breaking the working condition of the vacuum vessel. A tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is designed. In order to improve efficiency of the remote maintenance, it is necessary to design a corresponding trajectory planning algorithm to complete the automatic full coverage scanning of the complex tokamak cavity. Two different trajectory planning methods, RS (rough scanning) and FS (fine scanning), according to different demands of the task, are used to ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning. To quickly locate the damage position, the first trajectory planning method is targeted for quick and wide-ranging scan of the tokamak D-shaped section, and the second one is for careful observation. Furthermore, both of the two different trajectory planning methods can ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning with an optimal end posture. The method is tested on a simulated platform of EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) with the flexible in-vessel inspection robot, and the results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Trajectory planning of tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Hesheng; Chen, Weidong; Lai, Yinping; He, Tao

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is designed. • Two trajectory planning methods are used to ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning. • The method is tested on a simulated platform of EAST with the flexible in-vessel inspection robot. • Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. - Abstract: Tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is mainly designed to carry a camera for close observation of the first wall of the vacuum vessel, which is essential for the maintenance of the future tokamak reactor without breaking the working condition of the vacuum vessel. A tokamak flexible in-vessel inspection robot is designed. In order to improve efficiency of the remote maintenance, it is necessary to design a corresponding trajectory planning algorithm to complete the automatic full coverage scanning of the complex tokamak cavity. Two different trajectory planning methods, RS (rough scanning) and FS (fine scanning), according to different demands of the task, are used to ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning. To quickly locate the damage position, the first trajectory planning method is targeted for quick and wide-ranging scan of the tokamak D-shaped section, and the second one is for careful observation. Furthermore, both of the two different trajectory planning methods can ensure the full coverage of the first wall scanning with an optimal end posture. The method is tested on a simulated platform of EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) with the flexible in-vessel inspection robot, and the results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Flexible HVAC System for Lab or Classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedan, Jonathan

2001-01-01

Discusses an effort to design a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system flexible enough to accommodate an easy conversion of classrooms to laboratories and dry labs to wet labs. The design's energy efficiency and operations and maintenance are examined. (GR)

Design of a Large-scale Three-dimensional Flexible Arrayed Tactile Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junxiang Ding

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a new type of large-scale three-dimensional flexible arrayed tactile sensor based on conductive rubber. It can be used to detect three-dimensional force information on the continuous surface of the sensor, which realizes a true skin type tactile sensor. The widely used method of liquid rubber injection molding (LIMS method is used for "the overall injection molding" sample preparation. The structure details of staggered nodes and a new decoupling algorithm of force analysis are given. Simulation results show that the sensor based on this structure can achieve flexible measurement of large-scale 3-D tactile sensor arrays.

Qualification test for the flexible receiver. Revision 2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tedeschi, D.J.

1994-12-12

This document provides the test plan and procedures to certify and design verify the 42{double_prime} and 4{double_prime}-6{double_prime} Flexible Receiver as a safety class 3 system. The Flexible Receiver will be used by projects W-151 and W-320 for removing equipment from tanks C-106 and AZ-101.

Qualification test for the flexible receiver. Revision 2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tedeschi, D.J.

1994-01-01

This document provides the test plan and procedures to certify and design verify the 42 double-prime and 4 double-prime-6 double-prime Flexible Receiver as a safety class 3 system. The Flexible Receiver will be used by projects W-151 and W-320 for removing equipment from tanks C-106 and AZ-101

C-HEAP : a heterogeneous multi-processor architecture template and scalable and flexible protocol for the design of embedded signal processing systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nieuwland, A.K.; Kang, J.; Gangwal, O.P.; Sethuraman, R.; Busá, N.G.; Goossens, K.G.W.; Peset Llopis, R.; Lippens, P.E.R.

2002-01-01

The key issue in the design of Systems-on-a-Chip (SoC) is to trade-off efficiency against flexibility, and time to market versus cost. Current deep submicron processing technologies enable integration of multiple software programmable processors (e.g., CPUs, DSPs) and dedicated hardware components

Valuing Flexibility. Phase 2

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-29

Quarterly (2): 38-49. Cormier, P., Olewnik, A., and Lewis, K. 2008. An Approach to Quantifying Design Flexibility for Mass Customization in Early...C. Clarkson, P., and Zanker, W. 2004. Change and customisation in complex engineering domains, Res Eng Des 15(1), 1–21. Ekstrom, M. and Bjornsson, H

Flexible Multi-Bit Feedback Design for HARQ Operation of Large-Size Data Packets in 5G

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khosravirad, Saeed; Mudolo, Luke; Pedersen, Klaus I.

2017-01-01

large-size data packet thanks to which the transmitter node can reduce the retransmission size to only include the initially failed segments of the packet. We study the effect of feedback size on retransmission efficiency through extensive link-level simulations over realistic channel models. Numerical......A reliable feedback channel is vital to report decoding acknowledgments in retransmission mechanisms such as the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). While the feedback bits are known to be costly for the wireless link, a feedback message more informative than the conventional single......-bit feedback can increase resource utilization efficiency. Considering the practical limitations for increasing feedback message size, this paper proposes a framework for the design of flexible-content multi-bit feedback. The proposed design is capable of efficiently indicating the faulty segments of a failed...

Minimising the economic cost and risk to accelerator-driven subcritical reactor technology: The case of designing for flexibility: Part 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steer, Steven J.; Cardin, Michel-Alexandre; Nuttall, William J.; Parks, Geoffrey T.; Gonçalves, Leonardo V.N.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Accelerator performance is a risk to ADSR reactor technology demonstration. ► Sensitivity of ADSR economic value to accelerator performance is assessed. ► Economic value of ADSRs with and without accelerator redundancy is tested. ► Real options identify design flexibility to accelerator performance uncertainty. ► Multiple ADSR “park” with a single integrated accelerator system is proposed. - Abstract: Demonstrating the generation of electricity for commercial markets with accelerator-driven subcritical reactor (ADSR) technology will incur substantial financial risk. This risk will arise from traditional uncertainties associated with the construction of nuclear power stations and also from new technology uncertainties such as the reliability of the required accelerator system. The sensitivity of the economic value of ADSRs to the reliability of the accelerator system is assessed. Using linear accelerators as an example of choice for the accelerator technology, the economic assessment considers an ADSR with either one or two accelerators driving it. The extent to which a second accelerator improves the accelerator system reliability is determined, as are the costs for that reliability improvement. Two flexible designs for the accelerator system are also considered, derived from the real options analysis technique. One seeks to achieve the benefits of both the single and dual accelerator ADSR configurations through initially planning to build a second accelerator, but only actually constructing it once it is determined to be economically beneficial to do so. The other builds and tests an accelerator before committing to constructing a reactor. Finally, a phased multiple-reactor park with an integrated system of accelerators is suggested and discussed. The park uses the principles of redundancy as for the Dual accelerator ADSR and flexibility as for the real options design, but for a lower cost per unit of electricity produced.

Flexible magnetic thin films and devices

Science.gov (United States)

Sheng, Ping; Wang, Baomin; Li, Runwei

2018-01-01

Flexible electronic devices are highly attractive for a variety of applications such as flexible circuit boards, solar cells, paper-like displays, and sensitive skin, due to their stretchable, biocompatible, light-weight, portable, and low cost properties. Due to magnetic devices being important parts of electronic devices, it is essential to study the magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices fabricated on flexible substrates. In this review, we mainly introduce the recent progress in flexible magnetic thin films and devices, including the study on the stress-dependent magnetic properties of magnetic thin films and devices, and controlling the properties of flexible magnetic films by stress-related multi-fields, and the design and fabrication of flexible magnetic devices. Project supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFA0201102), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51571208, 51301191, 51525103, 11274321, 11474295, 51401230), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2016270), the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KJZD-EW-M05), the Ningbo Major Project for Science and Technology (No. 2014B11011), the Ningbo Science and Technology Innovation Team (No. 2015B11001), and the Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (No. 2015A610110).

Design and implementation of visual inspection system handed in tokamak flexible in-vessel robot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Hesheng; Xu, Lifei; Chen, Weidong

2016-01-01

In-vessel viewing system (IVVS) is a fundamental tool among the remote handling systems for ITER, which is used to providing information on the status of the in-vessel components. The basic functional requirement of in-vessel visual inspection system is to perform a fast intervention with adequate optical resolution. In this paper, we present the software and hardware solution, which is designed and implemented for tokamak in-vessel viewing system that installed on end-effector of flexible in-vessel robot working under vacuum and high temperature. The characteristic of our in-vessel viewing system consists of two parts: binocular heterogeneous vision inspection tool and first wall scene emersion based augment virtuality. The former protected with water-cooled shield is designed to satisfy the basic functional requirement of visual inspection system, which has the capacity of large field of view and high-resolution for detection precision. The latter, achieved by overlaying first wall tiles images onto virtual first wall scene model in 3D virtual reality simulation system, is designed for convenient, intuitive and realistic-looking visual inspection instead of viewing the status of first wall only by real-time monitoring or off-line images sequences. We present the modular division of system, each of them in smaller detail, and go through some of the design choices according to requirements of in-vessel visual inspection task.

Design and implementation of visual inspection system handed in tokamak flexible in-vessel robot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Hesheng; Xu, Lifei [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China (China); Chen, Weidong, E-mail: wdchen@sjtu.edu.cn [Department of Automation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China); Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China (China)

2016-05-15

In-vessel viewing system (IVVS) is a fundamental tool among the remote handling systems for ITER, which is used to providing information on the status of the in-vessel components. The basic functional requirement of in-vessel visual inspection system is to perform a fast intervention with adequate optical resolution. In this paper, we present the software and hardware solution, which is designed and implemented for tokamak in-vessel viewing system that installed on end-effector of flexible in-vessel robot working under vacuum and high temperature. The characteristic of our in-vessel viewing system consists of two parts: binocular heterogeneous vision inspection tool and first wall scene emersion based augment virtuality. The former protected with water-cooled shield is designed to satisfy the basic functional requirement of visual inspection system, which has the capacity of large field of view and high-resolution for detection precision. The latter, achieved by overlaying first wall tiles images onto virtual first wall scene model in 3D virtual reality simulation system, is designed for convenient, intuitive and realistic-looking visual inspection instead of viewing the status of first wall only by real-time monitoring or off-line images sequences. We present the modular division of system, each of them in smaller detail, and go through some of the design choices according to requirements of in-vessel visual inspection task.

A flexible WLAN receiver

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schiphorst, Roelof; Hoeksema, F.W.; Slump, Cornelis H.

2003-01-01

Flexible radio receivers are also called Software Defined Radios (SDRs) [1], [2]. The focus of our SDR project [3] is on designing the front end, from antenna to demodulation in bits, of a °exible, multi-standard WLAN receiver. We try to combine an instance of a (G)FSK receiver (Bluetooth) with an

Dealing with Flexible Modes in 6 DOFs Robust Servo Control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oomen, T.A.E.; Bosgra, O.H.; Angelis, G.Z.

2007-01-01

Control of high performance multi-input multi-output electromechanical systems with flexible dynamics is investigated. Present feedforward and feedback control design approaches mainly focus on rigid-body plant behaviour. To achieve higher performance, flexible dynamics should be explicitly

Experimental Study of Active Vibration Control of Planar 3-RRR Flexible Parallel Robots Mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qinghua Zhang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available An active vibration control experiment of planar 3-RRR flexible parallel robots is implemented in this paper. Considering the direct and inverse piezoelectric effect of PZT material, a general motion equation is established. A strain rate feedback controller is designed based on the established general motion equation. Four control schemes are designed in this experiment: three passive flexible links are controlled at the same time, only passive flexible link 1 is controlled, only passive flexible link 2 is controlled, and only passive flexible link 3 is controlled. The experimental results show that only one flexible link controlled scheme  suppresses elastic vibration and cannot suppress the elastic vibration of the other flexible links, whereas when three passive flexible links are controlled at the same time, they are able to effectively suppress the elastic vibration of all of the flexible links. In general, the experiment verifies that a strain rate feedback controller is able to effectively suppress the elastic vibration of the flexible links of plane 3-RRR flexible parallel robots.

Evaluation of a flexible bronchoscope prototype designed for bronchoscopy during mechanical ventilation: a proof-of-concept study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nay, M-A; Auvet, A; Mankikian, J; Herve, V; Dequin, P-F; Guillon, A

2017-06-01

Bronchoscopy during mechanical ventilation of patients' lungs significantly affects ventilation because of partial obstruction of the tracheal tube, and may thus be omitted in the most severely ill patients. It has not previously been possible to reduce the external diameter of the bronchoscope without reducing the diameter of the suction channel, thus reducing the suctioning capacity of the device. We believed that a better-designed bronchoscope could improve the safety of bronchoscopy in patients whose lungs were ventilated. We designed a flexible bronchoscope prototype with a drumstick-shaped head consisting of a long, thin proximal portion; a short and large distal portion for camera docking; and a large suction channel throughout the length of the device. The aims of our study were to test the impact of our prototype on mechanical ventilation when inserted into the tracheal tube, and to assess suctioning capacity. We first tested the efficiency of the suction channel, and demonstrated that the suction flow of the prototype was similar to that of conventional adult bronchoscopes. We next evaluated the consequences of bronchoscopy when using the prototype on minute ventilation and intrathoracic pressures during mechanical ventilation: firstly, in vitro using a breathing simulator; and secondly, in vivo using a porcine model of pulmonary ventilation. The insertion of adult bronchoscopes into the tracheal tube immediately impaired the protective ventilation strategy employed, whereas the prototype preserved it. For the first time, we have developed an innovative flexible bronchoscope designed for bronchoscopy during invasive mechanical ventilation, that both preserved the protective ventilation strategy, and enabled efficient suction flow. © 2017 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Making Professional Development Flexible: A Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Forsyth, Rachel

2002-01-01

Presents a case study of an online course that was designed for staff professional development at Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom). Discusses the flexibility of online courses; course design; activities for short online workshops; evaluation methods for course evaluation; and results of participant questionnaires. (LRW)

Requirements for flexible learner monitoring

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Glahn, Christian; Specht, Marcus; Koper, Rob

2007-01-01

Glahn, C., Specht, M., & Koper, R. (2007). Requirements for flexible learner monitoring. In T. Navarette, J. Blat & R. Koper (Eds.). Proceedings of the 3rd TENCompetence Open Workshop 'Current Research on IMS Learning Design and Lifelong Competence Development Infrastructures' (pp. 89-96). June,

A Dose of Reality: Overcoming Usability Challenges\\ud in VR Head-Mounted Displays

OpenAIRE

McGill, M.; Boland, Daniel; Murray-Smith, Roderick; Brewster, Stephen

2015-01-01

We identify usability challenges facing consumers adopting\\ud Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) in a survey\\ud of 108 VR HMD users. Users reported significant issues\\ud in interacting with, and being aware of their real-world\\ud context when using a HMD. Building upon existing work on\\ud blending real and virtual environments, we performed three\\ud design studies to address these usability concerns. In a typing\\ud study, we show that augmenting VR with a view of reality\\ud sig...

A universal and smart helmet-mounted display of large FOV

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Nan; Weng, Dongdong; Wang, Yongtian; Li, Xuan; Liu, Youhai

2011-11-01

HMD (head-mounted display) is an important virtual reality device, which has played a vital role in VR application system. Compared with traditional HMD which cannot be applied in the daily life owing to their disadvantage on the price and performance, a new universal and smart Helmet-Mounted Display of large FOV uses excellent performance and widespread popularity as its starting point. By adopting simplified visual system and transflective system that combines the transmission-type and reflection-type display system with transflective glass based on the Huggens-Fresnel principle, we have designed a HMD with wide field of view, which can be easy to promote and popularize. Its resolution is 800*600, and field of view is 36.87°(vertical)* 47.92°(horizontal). Its weight is only 1080g. It has caught up with the advanced world levels.

Workplace flexibility: from research to action.

Science.gov (United States)

Galinsky, Ellen; Sakai, Kelly; Wigton, Tyler

2011-01-01

Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton explore the "time famine" among American workers-the continuing sense among employees of not having enough time to manage the multiple responsibilities of work and personal and family life. Noting that large shares of U.S. employees report feeling the need for greater workplace flexibility to enable them to take better care of family responsibilities, the authors examine a large-scale community-engagement initiative to increase workplace flexibility voluntarily. Using the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce as a primary source of data, the authors begin with an overview of the prevalence of flexibility in today's American workplace. They track which categories of employees have access to various flexibility options, as well as the extent to which employees with access to various types of flexibility use those options. Findings from the study indicate that the majority of employees want flexibility but that access to it varies, with more advantaged employees--those who are well educated, have high salaries, and work full time, for example--being doubly advantaged in having greater access to flexibility. A number of employers, say the authors, tend to be skeptical of the value of workplace flexibility and to fear that employees will abuse it if it is offered. But the study data reveal that most employees use flexibility quite conservatively. When the authors use their nationally representative data set to investigate correlations between access to workplace flexibility and a range of workplace outcomes especially valued by employers--employee engagement, job satisfaction, retention, and health--they find that employers as well as employees can benefit from flexibility. Finally, the authors discuss When Work Works, a large, national community-based initiative under way since 2003 to increase voluntary adoption of workplace flexibility. The authors detail the conceptual basis of the project's design, noting its

Flexible Bronchoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Russell J; Casal, Roberto F; Lazarus, Donald R; Ost, David E; Eapen, George A

2018-03-01

Flexible bronchoscopy has changed the course of pulmonary medicine. As technology advances, the role of the flexible bronchoscope for both diagnostic and therapeutic indications is continually expanding. This article reviews the historical development of the flexible bronchoscopy, fundamental uses of the flexible bronchoscope as a tool to examine the central airways and obtain diagnostic tissue, and the indications, complications, and contraindications to flexible bronchoscopy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Designing flexible instructional space for teaching introductory physics with emphasis on inquiry and collaborative active learning

Science.gov (United States)

Bykov, Tikhon

2010-03-01

In recent years McMurry University's introductory physics curriculum has gone through a series of significant changes to achieve better integration of traditional course components (lecture/lab/discussion) by means of instructional design and technology. A system of flexible curriculum modules with emphasis on inquiry-based teaching and collaborative active learning has been introduced. To unify module elements, a technology suite has been used that consists of Tablet PC's and software applications including Physlets, tablet-adapted personal response system, PASCO data acquisition systems, and MS One-note collaborative writing software. Adoption of the new teaching model resulted in reevaluation of existing instructional spaces. The new teaching space will be created during the renovation of the McMurry Science Building. This space will allow for easy transitions between lecture and laboratory modes. Movable partitions will be used to accommodate student groups of different sizes. The space will be supportive of small peer-group activities with easy-to-reconfigure furniture, multiple white and black board surfaces and multiple projection screens. The new space will be highly flexible to account for different teaching functions, different teaching modes and learning styles.

Design of a Generic and Flexible Data Structure for Efficient Formulation of Large Scale Network Problems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quaglia, Alberto; Sarup, Bent; Sin, Gürkan

2013-01-01

structure for efficient formulation of enterprise-wide optimization problems is presented. Through the integration of the described data structure in our synthesis and design framework, the problem formulation workflow is automated in a software tool, reducing time and resources needed to formulate large......The formulation of Enterprise-Wide Optimization (EWO) problems as mixed integer nonlinear programming requires collecting, consolidating and systematizing large amount of data, coming from different sources and specific to different disciplines. In this manuscript, a generic and flexible data...... problems, while ensuring at the same time data consistency and quality at the application stage....

Flexible goal attribution in early mindreading.

Science.gov (United States)

Michael, John; Christensen, Wayne

2016-03-01

The 2-systems theory developed by Apperly and Butterfill (2009; Butterfill & Apperly, 2013) is an influential approach to explaining the success of infants and young children on implicit false-belief tasks. There is extensive empirical and theoretical work examining many aspects of this theory, but little attention has been paid to the way in which it characterizes goal attribution. We argue here that this aspect of the theory is inadequate. Butterfill and Apperly's characterization of goal attribution is designed to show how goals could be ascribed by infants without representing them as related to other psychological states, and the minimal mindreading system is supposed to operate without employing flexible semantic-executive cognitive processes. But research on infant goal attribution reveals that infants exhibit a high degree of situational awareness that is strongly suggestive of flexible semantic-executive cognitive processing, and infants appear moreover to be sensitive to interrelations between goals, preferences, and beliefs. Further, close attention to the structure of implicit mindreading tasks--for which the theory was specifically designed--indicates that flexible goal attribution is required to succeed. We conclude by suggesting 2 approaches to resolving these problems. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A tactical supply chain planning model with multiple flexibility options

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esmaeilikia, Masoud; Fahimnia, Behnam; Sarkis, Joeseph

2016-01-01

Supply chain flexibility is widely recognized as an approach to manage uncertainty. Uncertainty in the supply chain may arise from a number of sources such as demand and supply interruptions and lead time variability. A tactical supply chain planning model with multiple flexibility options...... incorporated in sourcing, manufacturing and logistics functions can be used for the analysis of flexibility adjustment in an existing supply chain. This paper develops such a tactical supply chain planning model incorporating a realistic range of flexibility options. A novel solution method is designed...

Design and simulation of CONWIP in the complex flexible job shop of a Make-To-Order manufacturing firm ,

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanni Romagnoli

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a methodology for the design and integration of CONWIP in a make-to-order firm. The approach proposed was applied directly to the flexible job shop of a real manufacturing firm in order to assess the validity of the methodology. After the description of the whole plant layout, attention was focused on a section of the shop floor (21 workstations. The CONWIP system deals with multiple-product families and is characterized by path-type cards and a pull-from-the-bottleneck scheme. The cards release strategy and a customized dispatching rule were created to meet the firm’s specific needs. After the simulation model of the present state was built and validated, the future state to be implemented was created and simulated (i.e. the CONWIP system. The comparison between the two systems achieved excellent results, and showed that CONWIP is a very interesting tool for planning and controlling a complex flexible job shop.

Movable MEMS Devices on Flexible Silicon

KAUST Repository

Ahmed, Sally

2013-05-05

Flexible electronics have gained great attention recently. Applications such as flexible displays, artificial skin and health monitoring devices are a few examples of this technology. Looking closely at the components of these devices, although MEMS actuators and sensors can play critical role to extend the application areas of flexible electronics, fabricating movable MEMS devices on flexible substrates is highly challenging. Therefore, this thesis reports a process for fabricating free standing and movable MEMS devices on flexible silicon substrates; MEMS flexure thermal actuators have been fabricated to illustrate the viability of the process. Flexure thermal actuators consist of two arms: a thin hot arm and a wide cold arm separated by a small air gap; the arms are anchored to the substrate from one end and connected to each other from the other end. The actuator design has been modified by adding etch holes in the anchors to suit the process of releasing a thin layer of silicon from the bulk silicon substrate. Selecting materials that are compatible with the release process was challenging. Moreover, difficulties were faced in the fabrication process development; for example, the structural layer of the devices was partially etched during silicon release although it was protected by aluminum oxide which is not attacked by the releasing gas . Furthermore, the thin arm of the thermal actuator was thinned during the fabrication process but optimizing the patterning and etching steps of the structural layer successfully solved this problem. Simulation was carried out to compare the performance of the original and the modified designs for the thermal actuators and to study stress and temperature distribution across a device. A fabricated thermal actuator with a 250 μm long hot arm and a 225 μm long cold arm separated by a 3 μm gap produced a deflection of 3 μm before silicon release, however, the fabrication process must be optimized to obtain fully functioning

[Influence of coping material selection and porcelain firing on marginal and internal fit of computer-aided design/computer- aided manufacturing of zirconia and titanium ceramic implant-supported crowns].

Science.gov (United States)

Cuiling, Liu; Liyuan, Yang; Xu, Gao; Hong, Shang

2016-06-01

This study aimed to investigate the influence of coping material and porcelain firing on the marginal and internal fit of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) of zirconia ceramic implant- and titanium ceramic implant-supported crowns. Zirconia ceramic implant (group A, n = 8) and titanium metal ceramic implant-supported crowns (group B, n = 8) were produced from copings using the CAD/CAM system. The marginal and internal gaps of the copings and crowns were measured by using a light-body silicone replica technique combined with micro-computed tomography scanning to obtain a three-dimensional image. Marginal gap (MG), horizontal marginal discrepancy (HMD), and axial wall (AW) were measured. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0. Prior to porcelain firing, the measurements for MG, HMD, and AW of copings in group A were significantly larger than those in group B (P 0.05). Porcelain firing significantly reduced MG (P 0.05). The marginal fits of CAD/CAM zirconia ceramic implant-supported crowns were superior to those of CAD/CAM titanium ceramic-supported crowns. The fits of both the CAD/CAM zirconia ceramic implant- and titanium ceramic implant-supported crowns were obviously influenced by porcelain firing.

MoveBots - Flexible Object Handling using Dexterous Grippers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Jimmy Alison

.This dissertation present work that focus on increasing flexibility ofrobotic grasping by using simulation tools, dexterous hands and tactile sensors.The work is centered on development of tools and methods for graspplanning, analysis and simulation.Overall the research contributes with valuable tools......Within recent years there has been an increased focus in flexible automationin industrial production. This focus is strongly related to the demandfor small product batches and individually customized products. To enablesuch flexibility large machinery is exchanged or upgraded with high degreeof...... freedom robot manipulators. These manipulators are programmable andmultipurpose and often only limited by their gripper systems. These limitationsare significant since the design and flexibility of the gripper determineswhich objects the system can handle.Current gripper systems are typically simple...

Rethink space: (Re)designing a workspace using human-centered design to support flexibility, collaboration, and engagement among clinical and translational research support services.

Science.gov (United States)

Doshi, Aalap; Clay, Christina

2017-06-01

Space matters. We read space like we read people's faces. Space is an instrument of collaboration and innovation. At the University of Michigan's Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), a team was created to creatively and economically enhance our operating space into a flexible workspace that supports privacy, innovation, creativity, and most important, a culture of collaboration. The team used a human-centered design process to creatively engage the staff at large into analyzing our existing space, identifying latent needs, proposing solutions, generating feedback, and economically building the rethought process. The redesigned workspace embraces the differences among MICHR's teams while encouraging collaboration and teamwork and keeping costs at a minimum. It has resulted in a flexible space that includes co-located teams, spaces dedicated to different work goals, an open area for collaboration, quiet zones for focused work, and better wayfinding. Through our Rethink Space project, we hope to have demonstrated that, by initiating the project internally and by engaging the users of the space themselves in an empathetic, visual, and human-centered way, a space redesign can be undertaken economically while also leading to improved levels of employee and team satisfaction.

Nonlinear modeling, strength-based design, and testing of flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters under large dynamic loads for rotorcraft applications

Science.gov (United States)

Leadenham, Stephen; Erturk, Alper

2014-04-01

There has been growing interest in enabling wireless health and usage monitoring for rotorcraft applications, such as helicopter rotor systems. Large dynamic loads and acceleration fluctuations available in these environments make the implementation of vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesters a very promising choice. However, such extreme loads transmitted to the harvester can also be detrimental to piezoelectric laminates and overall system reliability. Particularly flexible resonant cantilever configurations tuned to match the dominant excitation frequency can be subject to very large deformations and failure of brittle piezoelectric laminates due to excessive bending stresses at the root of the harvester. Design of resonant piezoelectric energy harvesters for use in these environments require nonlinear electroelastic dynamic modeling and strength-based analysis to maximize the power output while ensuring that the harvester is still functional. This paper presents a mathematical framework to design and analyze the dynamics of nonlinear flexible piezoelectric energy harvesters under large base acceleration levels. A strength-based limit is imposed to design the piezoelectric energy harvester with a proof mass while accounting for material, geometric, and dissipative nonlinearities, with a focus on two demonstrative case studies having the same linear fundamental resonance frequency but different overhang length and proof mass values. Experiments are conducted at different excitation levels for validation of the nonlinear design approach proposed in this work. The case studies in this work reveal that harvesters exhibiting similar behavior and power generation performance at low excitation levels (e.g. less than 0.1g) can have totally different strength-imposed performance limitations under high excitations (e.g. above 1g). Nonlinear modeling and strength-based design is necessary for such excitation levels especially when using resonant cantilevers with no

Chemically modified graphene based supercapacitors for flexible and miniature devices

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Debasis; Kim, Sang Ouk

2015-09-01

Rapid progress in the portable and flexible electronic devises has stimulated supercapacitor research towards the design and fabrication of high performance flexible devices. Recent research efforts for flexible supercapacitor electrode materials are highly focusing on graphene and chemically modified graphene owing to the unique properties, including large surface area, high electrical and thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical flexibility, and outstanding chemical stability. This invited review article highlights current status of the flexible electrode material research based on chemically modified graphene for supercapacitor application. A variety of electrode architectures prepared from chemically modified graphene are summarized in terms of their structural dimensions. Novel prototypes for the supercapacitor aiming at flexible miniature devices, i.e. microsupercapacitor with high energy and power density are highlighted. Future challenges relevant to graphene-based flexible supercapacitors are also suggested. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Aggregation of demand side flexibility in a smart grid: A review for European market design

OpenAIRE

Eid , Cherrelle; Codani , Paul; Chen , Yurong; Perez , Yannick; Hakvoort , Rudi

2015-01-01

International audience; The increased share of renewable generation and the integration of Distributed Generation (DG) require more electricity system flexibility. One way to increase this flexibility is to use the potentials of demand response (DR). In order to activate the full range of customers in DR, a new market intermediary actor is needed to aggregate the resources in an adequate technical and economical format. These actors, so called " aggregators " , can act as flexibility provider...

Effect Assessment the Impact of Filler Types on the Input Design Parameter of Flexible Pavements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sahar S. Neham

2017-08-01

Full Text Available To meet the requirements of flexible pavements (safety, economy, limited the stresses on the natural subgrade and a smooth ride, good quality material of surface course must be used so to prevent pavement distresses caused by the different types of loadings (structural and environmental loadings, while the resilient modulus is important input data when flexible pavement was designed, it is selected to show its effect by different types of mineral filler as a partial replacement. In this paving mix, to improve the quality of the mix material and to represent the effect of these replacements materials on the elastic characterization by measuring the resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt (HMA: Fly Ash (FA, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC, Hydrated Lime (HL and Silica Fume (SF are used as a partial percent of filler (Limestone Dust (LSD replacement, where these materials are locally available including (40-50 penetration grade asphalt binder. To achieve the goal of study; asphalt concrete mixes are prepared at their optimum asphalt content using Marshall Method of mix design. Four replacement percent’s were used; 0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 percent by total weight of aggregate for each filler types. According to ASTM D4123 criteria (Resilient Modulus was tested by UTM¬25. Mixes modified with (FA, (OPC, (HL and (SF were found to have average improvement in the value of Resilient Modulus by (13.37, 9.63, 11.14, 24.00 % at 1.5 percent of filler replacement and by (24.54, 16.63, 18.73, 38.31 % at 3.0 percent of filler replacement also the percent of improvement is: (39.55, 26.36, 29.82, 58.30 at 4.5percent of filler replacement sequentially.

Distribution method optimization : inventory flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Asipko, D.

2010-01-01

This report presents the outcome of the Logistics Design Project carried out for Nike Inc. This project has two goals: create a model to measure a flexibility aspect of the inventory usage in different Nike distribution channels, and analyze opportunities of changing the decision model of splitting

Influence of inflow angle on flexible flap aerodynamic performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, H Y; Ye, Z; Li, Z M; Li, C

2013-01-01

Large scale wind turbines have larger blade lengths and weights, which creates new challenges for blade design. This paper selects NREL S809 airfoil, and uses the parameterized technology to realize the flexible trailing edge deformation, researches the dynamic aerodynamic characteristics in the process of continuous flexible deformation, analyses the influence of inflow angle on flexible flap aerodynamic performance, in order to further realize the flexible wind turbine blade design and provides some references for the active control scheme. The results show that compared with the original airfoil, proper trailing edge deformation can improve the lift coefficient, reduce the drag coefficient, and thereby more efficiently realize flow field active control. With inflow angle increases, dynamic lift-drag coefficient hysteresis loop shape deviation occurs, even turns into different shapes. Appropriate swing angle can improve the flap lift coefficient, but may cause early separation of flow. To improve the overall performance of wind turbine blades, different angular control should be used at different cross sections, in order to achieve the best performance

Automatic design of decision-tree induction algorithms tailored to flexible-receptor docking data.

Science.gov (United States)

Barros, Rodrigo C; Winck, Ana T; Machado, Karina S; Basgalupp, Márcio P; de Carvalho, André C P L F; Ruiz, Duncan D; de Souza, Osmar Norberto

2012-11-21

This paper addresses the prediction of the free energy of binding of a drug candidate with enzyme InhA associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This problem is found within rational drug design, where interactions between drug candidates and target proteins are verified through molecular docking simulations. In this application, it is important not only to correctly predict the free energy of binding, but also to provide a comprehensible model that could be validated by a domain specialist. Decision-tree induction algorithms have been successfully used in drug-design related applications, specially considering that decision trees are simple to understand, interpret, and validate. There are several decision-tree induction algorithms available for general-use, but each one has a bias that makes it more suitable for a particular data distribution. In this article, we propose and investigate the automatic design of decision-tree induction algorithms tailored to particular drug-enzyme binding data sets. We investigate the performance of our new method for evaluating binding conformations of different drug candidates to InhA, and we analyze our findings with respect to decision tree accuracy, comprehensibility, and biological relevance. The empirical analysis indicates that our method is capable of automatically generating decision-tree induction algorithms that significantly outperform the traditional C4.5 algorithm with respect to both accuracy and comprehensibility. In addition, we provide the biological interpretation of the rules generated by our approach, reinforcing the importance of comprehensible predictive models in this particular bioinformatics application. We conclude that automatically designing a decision-tree algorithm tailored to molecular docking data is a promising alternative for the prediction of the free energy from the binding of a drug candidate with a flexible-receptor.

The effect of viewing a virtual environment through a head-mounted display on balance.

Science.gov (United States)

Robert, Maxime T; Ballaz, Laurent; Lemay, Martin

2016-07-01

In the next few years, several head-mounted displays (HMD) will be publicly released making virtual reality more accessible. HMD are expected to be widely popular at home for gaming but also in clinical settings, notably for training and rehabilitation. HMD can be used in both seated and standing positions; however, presently, the impact of HMD on balance remains largely unknown. It is therefore crucial to examine the impact of viewing a virtual environment through a HMD on standing balance. To compare static and dynamic balance in a virtual environment perceived through a HMD and the physical environment. The visual representation of the virtual environment was based on filmed image of the physical environment and was therefore highly similar. This is an observational study in healthy adults. No significant difference was observed between the two environments for static balance. However, dynamic balance was more perturbed in the virtual environment when compared to that of the physical environment. HMD should be used with caution because of its detrimental impact on dynamic balance. Sensorimotor conflict possibly explains the impact of HMD on balance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simulated laparoscopy using a head-mounted display vs traditional video monitor: an assessment of performance and muscle fatigue.

Science.gov (United States)

Maithel, S K; Villegas, L; Stylopoulos, N; Dawson, S; Jones, D B

2005-03-01

The direction of visual gaze may be an important ergonomic factor that affects operative performance. We designed a study to determine whether a head-mounted display (HMD) worn by the surgeon would improve task performance and/or reduce muscle fatigue during a laparoscopic task when compared to the use of a traditional video monitor display (VMD). Surgical residents (n = 30) were enrolled in the study. A junior group, consisting of 15 postgraduate year (PGY) = 1 subjects with no previous laparoscopic experience, and a senior group, consisting of 15 PGY 4 and PGY 5 subjects with experience, completed a laparoscopic task that was repeated four times using the Computer Enhanced Laparoscopic Training System (CELTS). Groups alternated between using the HMD with the task placed in a downward frontal position and the VMD with the task at a 30 degrees lateral angle. The CELTS module assessed task completion time, depth perception, path length of instruments, response orientation, motion smoothness; the system then generated an overall score. Electromyography (EMG) was used to record sternocleidomastoid muscle activity. Display preference was surveyed. The senior residents performed better than the junior residents overall on all parameters (p < 0.05) except for motion smoothness, where there was no difference. In both groups, the HMD significantly improved motion smoothness when compared to the VMD (p < 0.05). All other parameters were equal. There was less muscle fatigue when using the VMD (p < 0.05). We found that 66% of the junior residents but only 20% of the senior residents preferred the HMD. The CELTS module demonstrated evidence of construct validity by differentiating the performances of junior and senior residents. By aligning the surgeon's visual gaze with the instruments, HMD improved smoothness of motion. Experienced residents preferred the traditional monitor display. Although the VMD produced less muscle fatigue, inexperienced residents preferred the HMD

Optical fiber cabling technologies for flexible access network

Science.gov (United States)

Tanji, Hisashi

2008-07-01

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) outside plant infrastructure should be so designed and constructed as to flexibly deal with increasing subscribers and system evolution to be expected in the future, taking minimization of total cost (CAPEX and OPEX) into consideration. With this in mind, fiber access architectures are reviewed and key technologies on optical fiber and cable for supporting flexible access network are presented. Low loss over wide wavelength (low water peak) and bend-insensitive single mode fiber is a future proof solution. Enhanced separable ribbon facilitates mid-span access to individual fibers in a cable installed, improving fiber utilizing efficiency and flexibility of distribution design. It also contributes to an excellent low PMD characteristic which could be required for video RF overlay system or high capacity long reach metro-access convergence network in the future. Bend-insensitive fiber based cabling technique including field installable connector greatly improves fiber/cable handling in installation and maintenance work.

Flexible circuits with integrated switches for robotic shape sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Harnett, C. K.

2016-05-01

Digital switches are commonly used for detecting surface contact and limb-position limits in robotics. The typical momentary-contact digital switch is a mechanical device made from metal springs, designed to connect with a rigid printed circuit board (PCB). However, flexible printed circuits are taking over from the rigid PCB in robotics because the circuits can bend while carrying signals and power through moving joints. This project is motivated by a previous work where an array of surface-mount momentary contact switches on a flexible circuit acted as an all-digital shape sensor compatible with the power resources of energy harvesting systems. Without a rigid segment, the smallest commercially-available surface-mount switches would detach from the flexible circuit after several bending cycles, sometimes violently. This report describes a low-cost, conductive fiber based method to integrate electromechanical switches into flexible circuits and other soft, bendable materials. Because the switches are digital (on/off), they differ from commercially-available continuous-valued bend/flex sensors. No amplification or analog-to-digital conversion is needed to read the signal, but the tradeoff is that the digital switches only give a threshold curvature value. Boundary conditions on the edges of the flexible circuit are key to setting the threshold curvature value for switching. This presentation will discuss threshold-setting, size scaling of the design, automation for inserting a digital switch into the flexible circuit fabrication process, and methods for reconstructing a shape from an array of digital switch states.

Nanocarbon-Based Materials for Flexible All-Solid-State Supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Lv, Tian; Liu, Mingxian; Zhu, Dazhang; Gan, Lihua; Chen, Tao

2018-04-01

Because of the rapid development of flexible electronics, it is important to develop high-performance flexible energy-storage devices, such as supercapacitors and metal-ion batteries. Compared with metal-ion batteries, supercapacitors exhibit higher power density, longer cycling life, and excellent safety, and they can be easily fabricated into all-solid-state devices by using polymer gel electrolytes. All-solid-state supercapacitors (ASSSCs) have the advantages of being lightweight and flexible, thus showing great potential to be used as power sources for flexible portable electronics. Because of their high specific surface area and excellent electrical and mechanical properties, nanocarbon materials (such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon nanofibers, and so on) have been widely used as efficient electrode materials for flexible ASSSCs, and great achievements have been obtained. Here, the recent advances in flexible ASSSCs are summarized, from design strategies to fabrication techniques for nanocarbon electrodes and devices. Current challenges and future perspectives are also discussed. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Texas flexible pavements overlays : review and analysis of existing databases.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-01

Proper calibration of pavement design and rehabilitation performance models to : conditions in Texas is essential for cost-effective flexible pavement design. The degree of : excellence with which TxDOTs pavement design models is calibrated will d...

User-centered virtual environment assessment and design for cognitive rehabilitation applications

Science.gov (United States)

Fidopiastis, Cali Michael

Virtual environment (VE) design for cognitive rehabilitation necessitates a new methodology to ensure the validity of the resulting rehabilitation assessment. We propose that benchmarking the VE system technology utilizing a user-centered approach should precede the VE construction. Further, user performance baselines should be measured throughout testing as a control for adaptive effects that may confound the metrics chosen to evaluate the rehabilitation treatment. To support these claims we present data obtained from two modules of a user-centered head-mounted display (HMD) assessment battery, specifically resolution visual acuity and stereoacuity. Resolution visual acuity and stereoacuity assessments provide information about the image quality achieved by an HMD based upon its unique system parameters. When applying a user-centered approach, we were able to quantify limitations in the VE system components (e.g., low microdisplay resolution) and separately point to user characteristics (e.g., changes in dark focus) that may introduce error in the evaluation of VE based rehabilitation protocols. Based on these results, we provide guidelines for calibrating and benchmarking HMDs. In addition, we discuss potential extensions of the assessment to address higher level usability issues. We intend to test the proposed framework within the Human Experience Modeler (HEM), a testbed created at the University of Central Florida to evaluate technologies that may enhance cognitive rehabilitation effectiveness. Preliminary results of a feasibility pilot study conducted with a memory impaired participant showed that the HEM provides the control and repeatability needed to conduct such technology comparisons. Further, the HEM affords the opportunity to integrate new brain imaging technologies (i.e., functional Near Infrared Imaging) to evaluate brain plasticity associated with VE based cognitive rehabilitation.

Ultrasonically spray coated silver layers from designed precursor inks for flexible electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Marchal, W.; Vandevenne, G.; D'Haen, J.; Almeida, A. Calmont de Andrade; Durand Sola, M. A., Jr.; van den Ham, E. J.; Drijkoningen, J.; Elen, K.; Deferme, W.; Van Bael, M. K.; Hardy, A.

2017-05-01

Integration of electronic circuit components onto flexible materials such as plastic foils, paper and textiles is a key challenge for the development of future smart applications. Therefore, conductive metal features need to be deposited on temperature sensitive substrates in a fast and straightforward way. The feasibility of these emerging (nano-) electronic technologies depends on the availability of well-designed deposition techniques and on novel functional metal inks. As ultrasonic spray coating (USSC) is one of the most promising techniques to meet the above requirements, innovative metal organic decomposition (MOD) inks are designed to deposit silver features on plastic foils. Various amine ligands were screened and their influence on the ink stability and the characteristics of the resulting metal depositions were evaluated to determine the optimal formulation. Eventually, silver layers with excellent performance in terms of conductivity (15% bulk silver conductivity), stability, morphology and adhesion could be obtained, while operating in a very low temperature window of 70 °C-120 °C. Moreover, the optimal deposition conditions were determined via an in-depth analysis of the ultrasonically sprayed silver layers. Applying these tailored MOD inks, the USSC technique enabled smooth, semi-transparent silver layers with a tunable thickness on large areas without time-consuming additional sintering steps after deposition. Therefore, this novel combination of nanoparticle-free Ag-inks and the USSC process holds promise for high throughput deposition of highly conductive silver features on heat sensitive substrates and even 3D objects.

Sources of Operational Flexibility, Greening the Grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Katz, Jessica; Milligan, Michael; Cochran, Jaquelin

2015-05-01

Changes in electricity demand and generation must be constantly balanced to maintain power system stability and reliability. Operational flexibility refers to the ability of a power system to respond to these changes. Power systems are designed and operated to efficiently manage variability and uncertainty in electricity demand and resource availability. Variable renewable energy (VRE) increases this inherent variability and uncertainty, and thus increases the need for flexibility. Systems with significant variability and uncertainty require flexible generators that can rapidly change output, operate efficiently at lower outputs, and operate for short durations. This flexibility in turn can reduce the need to curtail (decrease the output of) solar and wind generation; improve investor confidence in VRE and revenue streams; decrease the risk of negative market pricing (which results when conventional generators cannot turn down to low outputs during times of high VRE output); and reduce environmental impacts by increasing system efficiency and maximizing the utilization of VRE.

Pressurized oxy-coal combustion: Ideally flexible to uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zebian, Hussam; Mitsos, Alexander

2013-01-01

Simultaneous multi-variable gradient-based optimization with multi-start is performed on a 300 MWe wet-recycling pressurized oxy-coal combustion process with carbon capture and sequestration, subject to uncertainty in fuel, ambient conditions, and other input specifications. Two forms of flue gas thermal recovery are studied, a surface heat exchanger and a direct contact separation column. Optimization enables ideal flexibility in the processes: when changing the coal utilized, the performance is not compromised compared to the optimum performance of a process specifically designed for that coal. Similarly, the processes are immune to other uncertainties like ambient conditions, air flow, slurry water flow, atomizer stream flow and the oxidizer stream oxygen purity. Consequently, stochastic programming is shown to be unnecessary. Close to optimum design, the processes are also shown to be insensitive towards design variables such as the areas of the feedwater heaters. Recently proposed thermodynamic criteria are used as embedded design specifications in the optimization process, rendering it faster and more robust. - Highlights: • Proposed formulation to assess the flexibility of power generation processes facing uncertainties. • Obtained ideal flexibility of pressurized oxy-coal combustion with respect to coal type. • Performance of processes under uncertainty match performance of optimal processes for specific set of inputs. • Stochastic programming is not required and instead hierarchic optimization is utilized

Sliding Mode Control of a Slewing Flexible Beam

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, David G.; Parker, Gordon G.; Starr, Gregory P.; Robinett, Rush D., III

1997-01-01

An output feedback sliding mode controller (SMC) is proposed to minimize the effects of vibrations of slewing flexible manipulators. A spline trajectory is used to generate ideal position and velocity commands. Constrained nonlinear optimization techniques are used to both calibrate nonlinear models and determine optimized gains to produce a rest-to-rest, residual vibration-free maneuver. Vibration-free maneuvers are important for current and future NASA space missions. This study required the development of the nonlinear dynamic system equations of motion; robust control law design; numerical implementation; system identification; and verification using the Sandia National Laboratories flexible robot testbed. Results are shown for a slewing flexible beam.

Design of Large Area PLEDs on Flexible Substrates: Highly Efficient Flexible Devices Using a Statistical Copolymer of Oxadiazole-Containing PPV

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Christian, Hermona Y; Vaidyanathan, Subbu; Ko, Changhee; Galvin, Mary E; Beyer, Rick

2004-01-01

With polymers as the active layer on a plastic substrate, construction of flexible devices is possible, although the use of calcium cathodes places stringent requirements on the encapsulation of the device...

Flexible Design for α-Duplex Communications in Multi-Tier Cellular Networks

KAUST Repository

Alammouri, Ahmad; Elsawy, Hesham; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2016-01-01

the foreseen FD gains. This paper presents flexible and tractable modeling framework for multi-tier cellular networks with FD BSs and FD/HD UEs. The presented model is based on stochastic geometry and accounts for the intrinsic vulnerability of uplink

The business model impact of flexible spectrum management and cognitive networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Delaere, S.; Ballon, P.

2007-01-01

Purpose - This paper aims to give a short overview of European Union policy trends towards more flexible forms of spectrum management. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a business modelling analysis, scenario construction, policy analysis and roadmapping. It argues that both flexible

Rationality, decision flexibility and pensions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koç, Emre

2015-01-01

In this thesis several different aspects of the standard economic theory (SET) are examined. One of the premises of the SET is that whether or not an agent has choice flexibility does not influence his behavior. In the first chapter of the thesis we design an experiment to test the validity of this

Can counter-stereotypes boost flexible thinking?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goclowska, M.A.; Crisp, R.J.; Labuschagne, K.

2013-01-01

To reduce prejudice psychologists design interventions requiring people to think of counter-stereotypes (i.e., people who defy stereotypic expectations—a strong woman, a Black President). Grounded in the idea that stereotypes constrain the ability to think flexibly, we propose that thinking of

On flexibility

OpenAIRE

Weiss, Christoph R.; Briglauer, Wolfgang

2000-01-01

By building on theoretical work by Mills and Schumann (1985) and Ungern-Sternberg (1990) this paper provides evidence on the determinants of two dimensions of flexibility, the flexibility in adjusting aggregate output over time (tactical flexibility) as well as the ability to switch quickly between products (operational flexibility). Econometric analysis of a sample of 40.000 farms in Upper-Austria for the period 1980 to 1990 suggests that larger full-time farms operated by younger, better ed...

Visuomotor adaptation in head-mounted virtual reality versus conventional training

Science.gov (United States)

Anglin, J. M.; Sugiyama, T.; Liew, S.-L.

2017-01-01

Immersive, head-mounted virtual reality (HMD-VR) provides a unique opportunity to understand how changes in sensory environments affect motor learning. However, potential differences in mechanisms of motor learning and adaptation in HMD-VR versus a conventional training (CT) environment have not been extensively explored. Here, we investigated whether adaptation on a visuomotor rotation task in HMD-VR yields similar adaptation effects in CT and whether these effects are achieved through similar mechanisms. Specifically, recent work has shown that visuomotor adaptation may occur via both an implicit, error-based internal model and a more cognitive, explicit strategic component. We sought to measure both overall adaptation and balance between implicit and explicit mechanisms in HMD-VR versus CT. Twenty-four healthy individuals were placed in either HMD-VR or CT and trained on an identical visuomotor adaptation task that measured both implicit and explicit components. Our results showed that the overall timecourse of adaption was similar in both HMD-VR and CT. However, HMD-VR participants utilized a greater cognitive strategy than CT, while CT participants engaged in greater implicit learning. These results suggest that while both conditions produce similar results in overall adaptation, the mechanisms by which visuomotor adaption occurs in HMD-VR appear to be more reliant on cognitive strategies. PMID:28374808

A Gradient-Field Pulsed Eddy Current Probe for Evaluation of Hidden Material Degradation in Conductive Structures Based on Lift-Off Invariance.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yong; Jing, Haoqing; Zainal Abidin, Ilham Mukriz; Yan, Bei

2017-04-25

Coated conductive structures are widely adopted in such engineering fields as aerospace, nuclear energy, etc. The hostile and corrosive environment leaves in-service coated conductive structures vulnerable to Hidden Material Degradation (HMD) occurring under the protection coating. It is highly demanded that HMD can be non-intrusively assessed using non-destructive evaluation techniques. In light of the advantages of Gradient-field Pulsed Eddy Current technique (GPEC) over other non-destructive evaluation methods in corrosion evaluation, in this paper the GPEC probe for quantitative evaluation of HMD is intensively investigated. Closed-form expressions of GPEC responses to HMD are formulated via analytical modeling. The Lift-off Invariance (LOI) in GPEC signals, which makes the HMD evaluation immune to the variation in thickness of the protection coating, is introduced and analyzed through simulations involving HMD with variable depths and conductivities. A fast inverse method employing magnitude and time of the LOI point in GPEC signals for simultaneously evaluating the conductivity and thickness of HMD region is proposed, and subsequently verified by finite element modeling and experiments. It has been found from the results that along with the proposed inverse method the GPEC probe is applicable to evaluation of HMD in coated conductive structures without much loss in accuracy.

The Energy System of the Future is Smart and Flexible

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pallesen, Trine; Karnøe, Peter; Holm Jacobsen, Peter

and policy makers are debating the possible organization of a system based on 100% renewables and the market design providing the best ‘fit’ for this system. Despite controversies, one thing seems clear: the energy system of the future is smart and flexible. But what smart and flexible means – and how...

Sensitivity of traffic input parameters on rutting performance of a flexible pavement using Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur Hossain

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The traffic input parameters in the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG are: (a general traffic inputs, (b traffic volume adjustment factors, and (c axle load spectra (ALS. Of these three traffic inputs, the traffic volume adjustment factors specifically monthly adjustment factor (MAF and the ALS are widely considered to be important and sensitive factors, which can significantly affect design of and prediction of distress in flexible pavements. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to assess the sensitivity of ALS and MAF traffic inputs on rutting distress of a flexible pavement. The traffic data of four years (from 2008 to 2012 were collected from an instrumented test section on I-35 in Oklahoma. Site specific traffic input parameters were developed. It was observed that significant differences exist between the MEPDG default and developed site-specific traffic input values. However, the differences in the yearly ALS and MAF data, developed for these four years, were not found to be as significant when compared to one another. In addition, quarterly field rut data were measured on the test section and compared with the MEPDG predicted rut values using the default and developed traffic input values for different years. It was found that significant differences exist between the measured rut and the MEPDG (AASHTOWare-ME predicted rut when default values were used. Keywords: MEPDG, Rut, Level 1 inputs, Axle load spectra, Traffic input parameters, Sensitivity

Towards Flexible Self-powered Micro-scale Integrated Systems

KAUST Repository

Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto

2014-04-01

Today’s information-centered world leads the ever-increasing consumer demand for more powerful, multifunctional portable devices. Additionally, recent developments on long-lasting energy sources and compliant, flexible systems, have introduced new required features to the portable devices industry. For example, wireless sensor networks are in urgent need of self-sustainable, easy-to-deploy, mobile platforms, wirelessly interconnected and accessible through a cloud computing system. The objective of my doctoral work is to develop integration strategies to effectively fabricate mechanically flexible, energy-independent systems, which could empower sensor networks for a great variety of new exciting applications. The first module, flexible electronics, can be achieved through several techniques and materials. Our main focus is to bring mechanical flexibility to the state-of-the-art high performing silicon-based electronics, with billions of ultra-low power, nano-sized transistors. Therefore, we have developed a low-cost batch fabrication process to transform standard, rigid, mono-crystalline silicon (100) wafer with devices, into a thin (5-20 m), mechanically flexible, optically semi-transparent silicon fabric. Recycling of the remaining wafer is possible, enabling generation of multiple fabrics to ensure lowcost and optimal utilization of the whole substrate. We have shown mono, amorphous and poly-crystalline silicon and silicon dioxide fabrics, featuring industry’s most advanced high-/metal-gate based capacitors and transistors. The second module consists on the development of efficient energy scavenging systems. First, we have identified an innovative and relatively young technology, which can address at the same time two of the main concerns of human kind: water and energy. Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are capable of producing energy out the metabolism of bacteria while treating wastewater. We have developed two micro-liter MFC designs, one with carbon

A shut-off valve for flexible tubing

Science.gov (United States)

Reyburn, W. W.

1972-01-01

Design of light weight valve for flexible tubing is described. Valve is hand operated and provides positive sealing in normally closed position. Diagram is provided to show construction of valve. Principles of operation are explained.

REVIEW OF FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM BASED ON MODELING AND SIMULATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SAREN Sanjib Kumar

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This paper focused on the literature survey of the use of flexible manufacturing system design and operation problems on the basis of simulation tools and their methodology which has been widely used for manufacturing system design and analysis. During this period, simulation has been proving to be an extremely useful analysis and optimization tool, and many articles, papers, and conferences have focused directly on the topic. This paper presents a scenario the use of simulation tools and their methodology in flexible manufacturing system from a period 1982 to 2015.

Flexible time-varying filter banks

Science.gov (United States)

Tuncer, Temel E.; Nguyen, Truong Q.

1993-09-01

Linear phase maximally flat FIR Butterworth filter approximations are discussed and a new filter design method is introduced. This variable cutoff filter design method uses the cosine modulated versions of a prototype filter. The design procedure is simple and different variants of this procedure can be used to obtain close to optimum linear phase filters. Using this method, flexible time-varying filter banks with good reconstruction error are introduced. These types of oversampled filter banks have small magnitude error which can be easily controlled by the appropriate choice of modulation frequency. This error can be further decreased by magnitude equalization without increasing the computational complexity considerably. Two dimensional design examples are also given.

Towards flexible solid-state supercapacitors for smart and wearable electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Dubal, Deepak P; Chodankar, Nilesh R; Kim, Do-Heyoung; Gomez-Romero, Pedro

2018-03-21

Flexible solid-state supercapacitors (FSSCs) are frontrunners in energy storage device technology and have attracted extensive attention owing to recent significant breakthroughs in modern wearable electronics. In this study, we review the state-of-the-art advancements in FSSCs to provide new insights on mechanisms, emerging electrode materials, flexible gel electrolytes and novel cell designs. The review begins with a brief introduction on the fundamental understanding of charge storage mechanisms based on the structural properties of electrode materials. The next sections briefly summarise the latest progress in flexible electrodes (i.e., freestanding and substrate-supported, including textile, paper, metal foil/wire and polymer-based substrates) and flexible gel electrolytes (i.e., aqueous, organic, ionic liquids and redox-active gels). Subsequently, a comprehensive summary of FSSC cell designs introduces some emerging electrode materials, including MXenes, metal nitrides, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), polyoxometalates (POMs) and black phosphorus. Some potential practical applications, such as the development of piezoelectric, photo-, shape-memory, self-healing, electrochromic and integrated sensor-supercapacitors are also discussed. The final section highlights current challenges and future perspectives on research in this thriving field.

Printed electronic on flexible and glass substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Futera, Konrad; Jakubowska, Małgorzata; Kozioł, Grażyna

2010-09-01

Organic electronics is a platform technology that enables multiple applications based on organic electronics but varied in specifications. Organic electronics is based on the combination of new materials and cost-effective, large area production processes that provide new fields of application. Organic electronic by its size, weight, flexibility and environmental friendliness electronics enables low cost production of numerous electrical components and provides for such promising fields of application as: intelligent packaging, low cost RFID, flexible solar cells, disposable diagnostic devices or games, and printed batteries [1]. The paper presents results of inkjetted electronics elements on flexible and glass substrates. The investigations was target on characterizing shape, surface and geometry of printed structures. Variety of substrates were investigated, within some, low cost, non specialized substrate, design for other purposes than organic electronic.

Design of modular coils for a quasi-axisymmetric stellarator with a flexible control of the magnetic field configuration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, A.; Okamura, S.; Isobe, M.; Suzuki, C.; Nishimura, S.; Watari, T.; Matsuoka, K.

2002-08-01

A design of the modular coil system for CHS-qa has been made for the plasma configuration '2b32' with the aspect ratio 3.2. The magnetic field strength and the major radius are 1.5 T and 1.5 m, respectively. The normal component of magnetic field produced by the modular coils is minimized on the plasma boundary to obtain the optimum coil design. We put engineering constraint on the distance between adjacent modular coils and the radius of coil curvature. The dependence of the residual normal component of the field on these conditions is examined, and the realistic values for them are selected. Additional coils to control various properties of the magnetic field configuration (the rotational transform, the magnetic well depth, etc.) have been designed and a flexibility of the magnetic field configuration is realized. For the case that the rotational transform crosses the low-order rational value resulting in magnetic islands, the residues of islands are evaluated with which a further improvement of coil design can be made to eliminate magnetic islands. (author)

Large-area high-efficiency flexible PHOLED lighting panels

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Huiqing; Mandlik, Prashant; Levermore, Peter A.; Silvernail, Jeff; Ma, Ruiqing; Brown, Julie J.

2012-09-01

Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) provide various attractive features for next generation illumination systems, including high efficiency, low power, thin and flexible form factor. In this work, we incorporated phosphorescent emitters and demonstrated highly efficient white phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) devices on flexible plastic substrates. The 0.94 cm2 small-area device has total thickness of approximately 0.25 mm and achieved 63 lm/W at 1,000 cd/m2 with CRI = 85 and CCT = 2920 K. We further designed and fabricated a 15 cm x 15 cm large-area flexible white OLED lighting panels, finished with a hybrid single-layer ultra-low permeability single layer barrier (SLB) encapsulation film. The flexible panel has an active area of 116.4 cm2, and achieved a power efficacy of 47 lm/W at 1,000 cd/m2 with CRI = 83 and CCT = 3470 K. The efficacy of the panel at 3,000 cd/m2 is 43 lm/W. The large-area flexible PHOLED lighting panel is to bring out enormous possibilities to the future general lighting applications.

Novel Flexible Artificial Magnetic Conductor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. E. de Cos

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A novel flexible uniplanar AMC design is presented. An AMC prototype is manufactured using laser micromachining and it is characterized under flat and bent conditions by measuring its reflection coefficient phase in an anechoic chamber. The designed prototype shows broad AMC operation bandwidth (6.96% and higher and polarization angle independency. Its angular stability margin, when operating under oblique incidence, is also tested obtaining ±8° as limit for a 14.4 cm × 14.4 cm prototype.

High mammographic density is associated with an increase in stromal collagen and immune cells within the mammary epithelium.

Science.gov (United States)

Huo, Cecilia W; Chew, Grace; Hill, Prue; Huang, Dexing; Ingman, Wendy; Hodson, Leigh; Brown, Kristy A; Magenau, Astrid; Allam, Amr H; McGhee, Ewan; Timpson, Paul; Henderson, Michael A; Thompson, Erik W; Britt, Kara

2015-06-04

Mammographic density (MD), after adjustment for a women's age and body mass index, is a strong and independent risk factor for breast cancer (BC). Although the BC risk attributable to increased MD is significant in healthy women, the biological basis of high mammographic density (HMD) causation and how it raises BC risk remain elusive. We assessed the histological and immunohistochemical differences between matched HMD and low mammographic density (LMD) breast tissues from healthy women to define which cell features may mediate the increased MD and MD-associated BC risk. Tissues were obtained between 2008 and 2013 from 41 women undergoing prophylactic mastectomy because of their high BC risk profile. Tissue slices resected from the mastectomy specimens were X-rayed, then HMD and LMD regions were dissected based on radiological appearance. The histological composition, aromatase immunoreactivity, hormone receptor status and proliferation status were assessed, as were collagen amount and orientation, epithelial subsets and immune cell status. HMD tissue had a significantly greater proportion of stroma, collagen and epithelium, as well as less fat, than LMD tissue did. Second harmonic generation imaging demonstrated more organised stromal collagen in HMD tissues than in LMD tissues. There was significantly more aromatase immunoreactivity in both the stromal and glandular regions of HMD tissues than in those regions of LMD tissues, although no significant differences in levels of oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor or Ki-67 expression were detected. The number of macrophages within the epithelium or stroma did not change; however, HMD stroma exhibited less CD206(+) alternatively activated macrophages. Epithelial cell maturation was not altered in HMD samples, and no evidence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition was seen; however, there was a significant increase in vimentin(+)/CD45(+) immune cells within the epithelial layer in HMD tissues. We confirmed increased

Design of Control System for Flexible Packaging Bags Palletizing Production Line Based on PLC

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Huiping; Chen, Lin; Zhao, Xiaoming; Liu, Zhanyang

Flexible packaging bags palletizing production line is to put the bags in the required area according to particular order and size, in order to finish handling, storage, loading and unloading, transportation and other logistics work of goods. Flexible packaging bags palletizing line is composed of turning bags mechanism, shaping mechanism, indexing mechanism, marshalling mechanism, pushing bags mechanism, pressing bags mechanism, laminating mechanism, elevator, tray warehouse, tray conveyor and loaded tray conveyor. Whether the whole production line can smoothly run depends on each of the above equipment and precision control among them. In this paper the technological process and the control logic of flexible packaging bags palletizing production line is introduced. Palletizing process of the production line realized automation by means of a control system based on programmable logic controller (PLC). It has the advantages of simple structure, reliable and easy maintenance etc.

First order sensitivity analysis of flexible multibody systems using absolute nodal coordinate formulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pi Ting; Zhang Yunqing; Chen Liping

2012-01-01

Design sensitivity analysis of flexible multibody systems is important in optimizing the performance of mechanical systems. The choice of coordinates to describe the motion of multibody systems has a great influence on the efficiency and accuracy of both the dynamic and sensitivity analysis. In the flexible multibody system dynamics, both the floating frame of reference formulation (FFRF) and absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF) are frequently utilized to describe flexibility, however, only the former has been used in design sensitivity analysis. In this article, ANCF, which has been recently developed and focuses on modeling of beams and plates in large deformation problems, is extended into design sensitivity analysis of flexible multibody systems. The Motion equations of a constrained flexible multibody system are expressed as a set of index-3 differential algebraic equations (DAEs), in which the element elastic forces are defined using nonlinear strain-displacement relations. Both the direct differentiation method and adjoint variable method are performed to do sensitivity analysis and the related dynamic and sensitivity equations are integrated with HHT-I3 algorithm. In this paper, a new method to deduce system sensitivity equations is proposed. With this approach, the system sensitivity equations are constructed by assembling the element sensitivity equations with the help of invariant matrices, which results in the advantage that the complex symbolic differentiation of the dynamic equations is avoided when the flexible multibody system model is changed. Besides that, the dynamic and sensitivity equations formed with the proposed method can be efficiently integrated using HHT-I3 method, which makes the efficiency of the direct differentiation method comparable to that of the adjoint variable method when the number of design variables is not extremely large. All these improvements greatly enhance the application value of the direct differentiation

Control system design for flexible rotors supported by actively lubricated bearings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nicoletti, Rodrigo; Santos, Ilmar

2008-01-01

and keeping the lengths of the two eigenvalues constant in the real-imaginary plane. The methodology is applied to an industrial gas compressor supported by active tilting-pad journal bearings. The unbalance response functions and mode shapes of the flexible rotor with and without active control are presented...

A Flexible Capacitive Sensor with Encapsulated Liquids as Dielectrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasunari Hotta

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Flexible and high-sensitive capacitive sensors are demanded to detect pressure distribution and/or tactile information on a curved surface, hence, wide varieties of polymer-based flexible MEMS sensors have been developed. High-sensitivity may be achieved by increasing the capacitance of the sensor using solid dielectric material while it deteriorates the flexibility. Using air as the dielectric, to maintain the flexibility, sacrifices the sensor sensitivity. In this paper, we demonstrate flexible and highly sensitive capacitive sensor arrays that encapsulate highly dielectric liquids as the dielectric. Deionized water and glycerin, which have relative dielectric constants of approximately 80 and 47, respectively, could increase the capacitance of the sensor when used as the dielectric while maintaining flexibility of the sensor with electrodes patterned on flexible polymer substrates. A reservoir of liquids between the electrodes was designed to have a leak path, which allows the sensor to deform despite of the incompressibility of the encapsulated liquids. The proposed sensor was microfabricated and demonstrated successfully to have a five times greater sensitivity than sensors that use air as the dielectric.

Development of Megawatt Demand Setter for Plant Operating Flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Se Chang; Hah, Yeong Joon; Song, In Ho; Lee, Myeong Hun; Chang, Do Ik; Choi, Jung In

1993-05-01

The Conceptual design of the Megawatt Demand Setter (MDS) is presented for the Korean Standardized Nuclear Power Plant. The MDS is a digital supervisory limitation system. The MDS assures that the plant does not exceed the operating limits by regulating the plant operations through monitoring the operating margins of the critical parameters. MDS is aimed at increasing the operating flexibility which allow the nuclear plant to meet the grid demand in very efficient manner. It responds to the grid demand without penalizing plant availability by limiting the load demand when the operating limits are approached or violated. MDS design concepts were tested using simulation responses of Yonggwang Units 3, 4. The design of the Yonggwang Units 3, 4 would be used as a reference which designs of Korean Standardized Nuclear Power Plants would be based upon. The simulation results illustrate that the MDS can be used to improve operating flexibility. (Author)

Polyimide-Epoxy Composites with Superior Bendable Properties for Application in Flexible Electronics

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sangyoup; Yoo, Taewon; Han, Youngyu; Kim, Hanglim; Han, Haksoo

2017-08-01

The need for flexible electronics with outstanding bending properties is increasing due to the demand for wearable devices and next-generation flexible or rollable smartphones. In addition, the requirements for flexible or rigid-flexible electronics are sharply increasing to achieve the design of space-saving electronic devices. In this regard, coverlay (CL) film is a key material used in the bending area of flexible electronics, albeit infrequently. Because flexible electronics undergo folding and unfolding numerous times, CL films with superior mechanical and bending properties are required so that the bending area can endure such severe stress. However, because current CL films are only used for a designated bending area in the flexible electronics panel, their highly complicated and expensive manufacturing procedure is a disadvantage. In addition, the thickness of CL films must be decreased to satisfy the ongoing requirement for increasingly thin products. However, due to the limitations of the two-layer structure of existing CL films, the manufacturing process cannot be made more cost effective by simply applying more thin film onto the board. To address this problem, we have developed liquid coverlay inks (LCIs) with superior bendable properties, in comparison with CL films, when applied onto flexible electronics using a screen-printing method. The results show that LCIs have the potential to become one of the leading candidates to replace existing CL films because of their lower cost and faster manufacturing process.

Integrating Multi-Domain Distributed Energy Systems with Electric Vehicle PQ Flexibility: Optimal Design and Operation Scheduling for Sustainable Low-Voltage Distribution Grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morvaj, Boran; Knezovic, Katarina; Evins, Ralph

2016-01-01

on the grid operation, in addition to coordinated charging, is analysed. Results showed that when the system can be optimally designed, emissions decrease by 64% and additionally 32% with proactive EV integration, whereas EV reactive power control enables integration of larger EV amounts and provides...... in the stable operation. The model was applied to a real low-voltage Danish distribution grid where measurement data is available on hourly basis in order to determine EV flexibility impacts on carbon emissions, as well as the benefits of optimal DES design. The influence of EV reactive power control...

A Study of Flexible Composites for Expandable Space Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Scotti, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

Payload volume for launch vehicles is a critical constraint that impacts spacecraft design. Deployment mechanisms, such as those used for solar arrays and antennas, are approaches that have successfully accommodated this constraint, however, providing pressurized volumes that can be packaged compactly at launch and expanded in space is still a challenge. One approach that has been under development for many years is to utilize softgoods - woven fabric for straps, cloth, and with appropriate coatings, bladders - to provide this expandable pressure vessel capability. The mechanics of woven structure is complicated by a response that is nonlinear and often nonrepeatable due to the discrete nature of the woven fiber architecture. This complexity reduces engineering confidence to reliably design and certify these structures, which increases costs due to increased requirements for system testing. The present study explores flexible composite materials systems as an alternative to the heritage softgoods approach. Materials were obtained from vendors who utilize flexible composites for non-aerospace products to determine some initial physical and mechanical properties of the materials. Uniaxial mechanical testing was performed to obtain the stress-strain response of the flexible composites and the failure behavior. A failure criterion was developed from the data, and a space habitat application was used to provide an estimate of the relative performance of flexible composites compared to the heritage softgoods approach. Initial results are promising with a 25% mass savings estimated for the flexible composite solution.

Innovation in wearable and flexible antennas

CERN Document Server

Khaleel, Haider

2014-01-01

This book covers the design, numerical simulation, state of the art fabrication processes, qualitative and quantitative tests, and measurement techniques of wearable and flexible antennas of various topologies, such as: Printed Monopoles, Micropoles and Microstrips. It serves as a vital reference source for scientists and engineers in this field.

LEARNING ON FLEXIBILITY FROM EXPERIENCES

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Ib Steen; Bonke, Sten

2011-01-01

aiming at stimulating the development of new building designs with an improved technological adaptability to new demands and flexibility. The data input to this review is extracted from 15 residential areas with a total of about 1000-1200 apartments which were built in the 1980s after a competition which...... storey housing with cross bearing walls. Within multi storey housing the developed system design appeared to be less adaptable to later alterations. Therefore The Danish Ministry of Housing and Building in 1983 issued an initiative to stimulate technology development of residential non profit housing...

A head-mounted display-based personal integrated-image monitoring system for transurethral resection of the prostate.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Soichiro; Kihara, Kazunori; Takeshita, Hideki; Fujii, Yasuhisa

2014-12-01

The head-mounted display (HMD) is a new image monitoring system. We developed the Personal Integrated-image Monitoring System (PIM System) using the HMD (HMZ-T2, Sony Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) in combination with video splitters and multiplexers as a surgical guide system for transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). The imaging information obtained from the cystoscope, the transurethral ultrasonography (TRUS), the video camera attached to the HMD, and the patient's vital signs monitor were split and integrated by the PIM System and a composite image was displayed by the HMD using a four-split screen technique. Wearing the HMD, the lead surgeon and the assistant could simultaneously and continuously monitor the same information displayed by the HMD in an ergonomically efficient posture. Each participant could independently rearrange the images comprising the composite image depending on the engaging step. Two benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients underwent TURP performed by surgeons guided with this system. In both cases, the TURP procedure was successfully performed, and their postoperative clinical courses had no remarkable unfavorable events. During the procedure, none of the participants experienced any HMD-wear related adverse effects or reported any discomfort.

LMFBR flexible pipe joint development program. Annual technical progress report, government fiscal year 1977

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-01-01

Currently, the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code does not allow the use of flexible pipe joints (bellows) in Section III, Class 1 reactor primary piping systems. Studies have shown that the primary piping loops of LMFBR's could be simplified by using these joints. This simplification translates directly into shorter primary piping runs and reduced costs for the primary piping system. Further cost savings result through reduced vault sizes and reduced containment building diameter. In addition, the use of flexible joints localizes the motions from thermally-induced piping growth into components which are specifically designed to accommodate this motion. This reduces the stress levels in the piping system and its components. It is thus economically and structurally important that flexible piping joints be available to the LMFBR designer. The overall objective of the Flexible Joint Program is to provide this availability. This will be accomplished through the development of ASME rules which allow the appropriate use of such joints in Section III, Class 1 piping systems and through the development and demonstration of construction methods which satisfy these rules. The rule development includes analytic and testing methodology formulations which will be supported by subscale bellows testing. The construction development and demonstration encompass the design, fabrication, and in-sodium testing of prototypical LMFBR plant-size flexible pipe joints which meet all ASME rule requirements. The satisfactory completion of these developmental goals will result in an approved flexible pipe joint design for the LMFBR. Progress is summarized in the following efforts undertaken during 1977 to accomplish these goals: (1) code case support, (2) engineering and design, (3) material development, (4) testing, and (5) manufacturing development

Development and validation of resource flexibility measures for manufacturing industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gulshan Chauhan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Global competition and ever changing customers demand have made manufacturing organizations to rapidly adjust to complexities, uncertainties, and changes. Therefore, flexibility in manufacturing resources is necessary to respond cost effectively and rapidly to changing production needs and requirements.  Ability of manufacturing resources to dynamically reallocate from one stage of a production process to another in response to shifting bottlenecks is recognized as resource flexibility. This paper aims to develop and validate resource flexibility measures for manufacturing industry that could be used by managers/ practitioners in assessing and improving the status of resource flexibility for the optimum utilization of resources. Design/methodology/approach: The study involves survey carried out in Indian manufacturing industry using a questionnaire to assess the status of various aspects of resource flexibility and their relationships. A questionnaire was specially designed covering various parameters of resource flexibility. Its reliability was checked by finding the value of Cronback alpha (0.8417. Relative weightage of various measures was found out by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation analysis was carried out to find out relationships between various parameters. Findings: From detailed review of literature on resource flexibility, 17 measures of resource flexibility and 47 variables were identified. The questionnaire included questions on all these measures and parameters. ‘Ability of machines to perform diverse set of operations’ and ability of workers to work on different machines’ emerged to be important measures with contributing weightage of 20.19% and 17.58% respectively.  All the measures were found to be significantly correlated with overall resource flexibility except ‘training of workers’, as shown by Pearson’s coefficient of correlation. This indicates that

FlexibleSUSY-A spectrum generator generator for supersymmetric models

Science.gov (United States)

Athron, Peter; Park, Jae-hyeon; Stöckinger, Dominik; Voigt, Alexander

2015-05-01

We introduce FlexibleSUSY, a Mathematica and C++ package, which generates a fast, precise C++ spectrum generator for any SUSY model specified by the user. The generated code is designed with both speed and modularity in mind, making it easy to adapt and extend with new features. The model is specified by supplying the superpotential, gauge structure and particle content in a SARAH model file; specific boundary conditions e.g. at the GUT, weak or intermediate scales are defined in a separate FlexibleSUSY model file. From these model files, FlexibleSUSY generates C++ code for self-energies, tadpole corrections, renormalization group equations (RGEs) and electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) conditions and combines them with numerical routines for solving the RGEs and EWSB conditions simultaneously. The resulting spectrum generator is then able to solve for the spectrum of the model, including loop-corrected pole masses, consistent with user specified boundary conditions. The modular structure of the generated code allows for individual components to be replaced with an alternative if available. FlexibleSUSY has been carefully designed to grow as alternative solvers and calculators are added. Predefined models include the MSSM, NMSSM, E6SSM, USSM, R-symmetric models and models with right-handed neutrinos.

The cost and effectiveness of surfactant replacement therapy at Johannesburg Hospital, November 1991-December 1992.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, V A; Ballot, D E; Rothberg, A D

1995-07-01

To assess the impact of surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) on the outcome of hyaline membrane disease (HMD) and to assess the cost implications of a policy of selective administration of artificial surfactant. The short-term outcome of 103 newborns ventilated for HMD (61 selected for SRT according to initial and/or ongoing oxygen requirements) was compared with that of a historical control group of 173 infants ventilated for HMD before the introduction of SRT. Mortality and morbidity of HMD including death, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, pneumothorax, pulmonary haemorrhage, patent ductus arteriosus and intraventricular haemorrhage. There were significant demographic differences between the treatment and control groups (black patients 74% v. 28%, P cost of treating a patient ventilated for HMD. The selective use of SRT had the effect of converting severe disease into moderate disease rather than achieving maximal benefit in all cases of HMD through routine use of the product. A policy of restricting use may result in cost savings where resources are limited.

Office flexible cystoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavoussi, L R; Clayman, R V

1988-11-01

Since the development of the first purpose-built flexible cystoscope in 1984, flexible cystoscopy has become an accepted diagnostic and therapeutic modality. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 10 per cent of practicing urologists are already familiar with this technology. The flexible cystoscope has markedly extended the urologist's ability to examine the bladder, and it has become a valuable adjunct to the rigid cystoscope. Although the operation of this instrument is vastly different from that of its rigid counterpart, with practice, the technique can be learned. After experience is obtained with diagnostic flexible cystoscopy, the urologist will likely prefer this new instrument for bladder inspection, as it provides for a more thorough yet less morbid and less expensive examination. In the future, the development of improved and smaller instrumentation will further extend the therapeutic indications for flexible cystoscopy. Indeed, advances in laser technology are already providing the urologist with 300- to 600-micron (0.9 to 1.8F) flexible probes capable of incision (KTP laser), fulguration (Nd:YAG laser), and stone disintegration (tunable dye laser). Lastly, the skills obtained in using the flexible cystoscope are all readily applicable to the development of dexterity with the already available flexible nephroscope and the more recently developed flexible ureteroscope.

Modeling of Flexible Beams for Robotic Manipulators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martins, Jorge; Ayala Botto, Miguel; Costa, Jose sa da

2002-01-01

This work treats the problem of modeling robotic manipulators with structural flexibility. A mathematical model of a planar manipulator with a single flexible link is developed. This model is capable of reproducing nonlinear dynamic effects, such as the beam stiffening due to the centrifugal forces induced by the rotation of the joints, giving it the capability to predict reliable dynamic behaviors for a wide range of applications. On the other hand, the model complexity is reduced, in order to keep it amenable for analysis and controller design. The models found in current literature for control design of flexible manipulator arms present dynamic limitations for the sake of real time implementation in a control scheme. These limitations are the result of premature linearization in the formulation of the dynamics equations. In this paper, this common linearization is presented and their dynamic limitations uncovered. An alternative reliable model is then presented. The model is founded on two basic assumptions: inextensibility of the neutral fiber and moderate rotations of the cross sections in order to account for the foreshortening of the beam due to bending. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed model has the closest dynamic behavior to the real beam

The Paradox of More Flexibility in Education : Better Control of Educational Activities as a Prerequisite for More Flexibility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Henk Plessius; Pascal Ravesteijn

2010-01-01

From the article The paradigm shift towards competency-based education in the Netherlands has a logical counterpart: the need for more flexibility in the curricula. After all, in competency-based education it is recognized that learning not only takes place in designated places (school, university),

Which standards’ characteristics increase system flexibility? Comparing ICT and Batch Processing Infrastructures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Egyedi, T.M.; Verwater-Lukszo, Z.

2005-01-01

Most large Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems develop in a piece-meal fashion. Their complexity and evolution is difficult to manage. They lack flexibility. This contrasts sharply with system design in the batch-wise processing industry, where flexibility has always had a high

Identification of critical factors affecting flexibility in hospital construction projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Nils E O; Hansen, Geir K

2010-01-01

This paper analyzes the dynamics relating to flexibility in a hospital project context. Three research questions are addressed: (1) When is flexibility used in the life cycle of a project? (2) What are the stakeholders' perspectives on project flexibility? And (3) What is the nature of the interaction between flexibility in the process of a project and flexibility in terms of the characteristics of a building? Flexibility is discussed from both a project management point of view and from a hospital architecture perspective. Flexibility in project life cycle and from a stakeholder perspective is examined, and the interaction between flexibility in scope lock-in and building flexibility is investigated. The results are based on case studies of four Norwegian hospital projects. Information relating to the projects has been obtained from evaluation reports, other relevant documents, and interviews. Observations were codified and analyzed based on selected parameters that represent different aspects of flexibility. One of the cases illustrates how late changes can have a significant negative impact on the project itself, contributing to delays and cost overruns. Another case illustrates that late scope lock-in on a limited part of the project, in this case related to medical equipment, can be done in a controlled manner. Project owners and users appear to have given flexibility high priority. Project management teams are less likely to embrace changes and late scope lock-in. Architects and consultants are important for translating program requirements into physical design. A highly flexible building did not stop some stakeholders from pushing for significant changes and extensions during construction.

CAPD Software Development for Automatic Piping System Design: Checking Piping Pocket, Checking Valve Level and Flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ari Satmoko; Edi Karyanta; Dedy Haryanto; Abdul Hafid; Sudarno; Kussigit Santosa; Pinitoyo, A.; Demon Handoyo

2003-01-01

One of several steps in industrial plant construction is preparing piping layout drawing. In this drawing, pipe and all other pieces such as instrumentation, equipment, structure should be modeled A software called CAPD was developed to replace and to behave as piping drafter or designer. CAPD was successfully developed by adding both subprogram CHKUPIPE and CHKMANV. The first subprogram can check and gives warning if there is piping pocket in the piping system. The second can identify valve position and then check whether valve can be handled by operator hand The main program CAPD was also successfully modified in order to be capable in limiting the maximum length of straight pipe. By limiting the length, piping flexibility can be increased. (author)

Workforce flexibility - in defence of professional healthcare work.

Science.gov (United States)

Wise, Sarah; Duffield, Christine; Fry, Margaret; Roche, Michael

2017-06-19

Purpose The desirability of having a more flexible workforce is emphasised across many health systems yet this goal is as ambiguous as it is ubiquitous. In the absence of empirical studies in healthcare that have defined flexibility as an outcome, the purpose of this paper is to draw on classic management and sociological theory to reduce this ambiguity. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the Weberian tool of "ideal types". Key workforce reforms are held against Atkinson's model of functional flexibility which aims to increase responsiveness and adaptability through multiskilling, autonomy and teams; and Taylorism which seeks stability and reduced costs through specialisation, fragmentation and management control. Findings Appeals to an amorphous goal of increasing workforce flexibility make an assumption that any reform will increase flexibility. However, this paper finds that the work of healthcare professionals already displays most of the essential features of functional flexibility but many widespread reforms are shifting healthcare work in a Taylorist direction. This contradiction is symptomatic of a failure to confront inevitable trade-offs in reform: between the benefits of specialisation and the costs of fragmentation; and between management control and professional autonomy. Originality/value The paper questions the conventional conception of "the problem" of workforce reform as primarily one of professional control over tasks. Holding reforms against the ideal types of Taylorism and functional flexibility is a simple, effective way the costs and benefits of workforce reform can be revealed.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Flexible Duct Junction Box Design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beach, Robert [IBACOS Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Prahl, Duncan [IBACOS Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Lange, Rich [IBACOS Inc., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

2013-12-01

IBACOS explored the relationships between pressure and physical configurations of flexible duct junction boxes by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict individual box parameters and total system pressure, thereby ensuring improved HVAC performance. Current Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) guidance (Group 11, Appendix 3, ACCA Manual D, Rutkowski 2009) allows for unconstrained variation in the number of takeoffs, box sizes, and takeoff locations. The only variables currently used in selecting an equivalent length (EL) are velocity of air in the duct and friction rate, given the first takeoff is located at least twice its diameter away from the inlet. This condition does not account for other factors impacting pressure loss across these types of fittings. For each simulation, the IBACOS team converted pressure loss within a box to an EL to compare variation in ACCA Manual D guidance to the simulated variation. IBACOS chose cases to represent flows reasonably correlating to flows typically encountered in the field and analyzed differences in total pressure due to increases in number and location of takeoffs, box dimensions, and velocity of air, and whether an entrance fitting is included. The team also calculated additional balancing losses for all cases due to discrepancies between intended outlet flows and natural flow splits created by the fitting. In certain asymmetrical cases, the balancing losses were significantly higher than symmetrical cases where the natural splits were close to the targets. Thus, IBACOS has shown additional design constraints that can ensure better system performance.

Free form CMOS electronics: Physically flexible and stretchable

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa

2015-12-07

Free form (physically flexible and stretchable) electronics can be used for applications which are unexplored today due to the rigid and brittle nature of the state-of-the-art electronics. Therefore, we show integration strategy to rationally design materials, processes and devices to transform advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics into flexible and stretchable one while retaining their high performance, energy efficiency, ultra-large-scale-integration (ULSI) density, reliability and performance over cost benefit to expand its applications for wearable, implantable and Internet-of-Everything electronics.

New Computational Approaches for NMR-based Drug Design: A Protocol for Ligand Docking to Flexible Target Sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gracia, Luis; Speidel, Joshua A.; Weinstein, Harel

2006-01-01

NMR-based drug design has met with some success in the last decade, as illustrated in numerous instances by Fesik's ''ligand screening by NMR'' approach. Ongoing efforts to generalize this success have led us to the development of a new paradigm in which quantitative computational approaches are being integrated with NMR derived data and biological assays. The key component of this work is the inclusion of the intrinsic dynamic quality of NMR structures in theoretical models and its use in docking. A new computational protocol is introduced here, designed to dock small molecule ligands to flexible proteins derived from NMR structures. The algorithm makes use of a combination of simulated annealing monte carlo simulations (SA/MC) and a mean field potential informed by the NMR data. The new protocol is illustrated in the context of an ongoing project aimed at developing new selective inhibitors for the PCAF bromodomains that interact with HIV Tat

Modern trunnions are more flexible: a mechanical analysis of THA taper designs.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, David A; Urban, Robert M; Jacobs, Joshua J; Gilbert, Jeremy L; Rodriguez, José A; Cooper, H John

2014-12-01

There is renewed concern surrounding the potential for corrosion at the modular head-neck junction to cause early failure in contemporary THAs. Although taper corrosion involves a complex interplay of many factors, a previous study suggested that a decrease in flexural rigidity of the femoral trunnion may be associated with an increased likelihood of corrosion at retrieval. By analyzing a large revision retrieval database of femoral stems released during a span of three decades, we asked: (1) how much does flexural rigidity vary among different taper designs; (2) what is the contribution of taper geometry alone to flexural rigidity of the femoral trunnion; and (3) how have flexural rigidity and taper length changed with time in this group of revised retrievals? A dual-center retrieval analysis of 85 modular femoral stems released between 1983 and 2012 was performed, and the flexural rigidity and length of the femoral trunnions were determined. These stems were implanted between 1991 and 2012 and retrieved at revision or removal surgery between 2004 and 2012. There were 10 different taper designs made from five different metal alloys from 16 manufacturers. Digital calipers were used to measure taper geometries by two independent observers. Median flexural rigidity was 228 N-m(2); however, there was a wide range of values among the various stems spanning nearly an order of magnitude between the most flexible (80 N-m(2)) and most rigid (623 N-m(2)) trunnions, which was partly attributable to the taper geometry and to the material properties of the base alloy. There was a negative correlation between flexural rigidity and length of the trunnion and release date of the stem. There is wide variability in flexural rigidity of various taper designs, with a trend toward trunnions becoming shorter and less rigid with time. This temporal trend may partly explain why taper corrosion is being seen with increasing frequency in modern THAs.

Flexible structured high-frequency film bulk acoustic resonator for flexible wireless electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Changjian; Shu, Yi; Yang, Yi; Ren, Tian-Ling; Jin, Hao; Dong, Shu-Rong; Chan, Mansun

2015-01-01

Flexible electronics have inspired many novel and very important applications in recent years and various flexible electronic devices such as diodes, transistors, circuits, sensors, and radiofrequency (RF) passive devices including antennas and inductors have been reported. However, the lack of a high-performance RF resonator is one of the key bottlenecks to implement flexible wireless electronics. In this study, for the first time, a novel ultra-flexible structured film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) is proposed. The flexible FBAR is fabricated on a flexible polyimide substrate using piezoelectric thin film aluminum nitride (AlN) for acoustic wave excitation. Both the shear wave and longitudinal wave can be excited under the surface interdigital electrodes configuration we proposed. In the case of the thickness extension mode, a flexible resonator with a working frequency as high as of 5.2325 GHz has been realized. The resonators stay fully functional under bending status and after repeated bending and re-flattening operations. This flexible high-frequency resonator will serve as a key building block for the future flexible wireless electronics, greatly expanding the application scope of flexible electronics. (paper)

Flexible rotor balancing by the influence coefficient method: Multiple critical speeds with rigid or flexible supports

Science.gov (United States)

Tessarzik, J. M.

1975-01-01

Experimental tests were conducted to demonstrate the ability of the influence coefficient method to achieve precise balance of flexible rotors of virtually any design for operation through virtually any speed range. Various practical aspects of flexible-rotor balancing were investigated. Tests were made on a laboratory quality machine having a 122 cm (48 in.) long rotor weighing 50 kg (110 lb) and covering a speed range up to 18000 rpm. The balancing method was in every instance effective, practical, and economical and permitted safe rotor operation over the full speed range covering four rotor bending critical speeds. Improved correction weight removal methods for rotor balancing were investigated. Material removal from a rotating disk was demonstrated through application of a commercially available laser.

Flexible power and bandwidth allocation in mobile satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Keyes, L. A.

The introduction of L-band mobile communication services by spot beam satellites creates a payload design challenge due to uncertainty in the location and size of the new market to be served. A combination of payload technologies that allow a flexible allocation of power and bandwidth to any portion of the coverage area is described. Power flexibility is achieved by a novel combination of a low-level beam-forming network and a matrix power module which ensures equal sharing of power among individual amplifiers. This eliminates the loss of efficiency and increased mass when an amplifier associated with a beam must be over-designed to meet uncertainties in power distribution between beams. Flexibility in allocation of bandwidth to beams is achieved by intermediate frequency subdivision of the L-band service categories defined by ITU. These spectral subdivisions are assigned to beams by an IF interconnect matrix having beam ports and filter ports as inputs and outputs, respectively. Two such filter switch matrices are required, one for the inbound L-band to feeder link transponder, and one for the outbound feeder link to L-band transponder.

Role of Pectoral Fin Flexibility in Robotic Fish Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Bazaz Behbahani, Sanaz; Tan, Xiaobo

2017-08-01

Pectoral fins play a vital role in the maneuvering and locomotion of fish, and they have become an important actuation mechanism for robotic fish. In this paper, we explore the effect of flexibility of robotic fish pectoral fins on the robot locomotion performance and mechanical efficiency. A dynamic model for the robotic fish is presented, where the flexible fin is modeled as multiple rigid elements connected via torsional springs and dampers. Blade element theory is used to capture the hydrodynamic force on the fin. The model is validated with experimental results obtained on a robotic fish prototype, equipped with 3D-printed fins of different flexibility. The model is then used to analyze the impacts of fin flexibility and power/recovery stroke speed ratio on the robot swimming speed and mechanical efficiency. It is found that, in general, flexible fins demonstrate advantages over rigid fins in speed and efficiency at relatively low fin-beat frequencies, while rigid fins outperform flexible fins at higher frequencies. For a given fin flexibility, the optimal frequency for speed performance differs from the optimal frequency for mechanical efficiency. In addition, for any given fin, there is an optimal power/recovery stroke speed ratio, typically in the range of 2-3, that maximizes the speed performance. Overall, the presented model offers a promising tool for fin flexibility and gait design, to achieve speed and efficiency objectives for robotic fish actuated with pectoral fins.

Business rules for creating process flexibility : Mapping RIF rules and BDI rules

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gong, Y.; Overbeek, S.J.; Janssen, M.

2011-01-01

Business rules and software agents can be used for creating flexible business processes. The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) is a new W3C recommendation standard for exchanging rules among disparate systems. Yet, the impact that the introduction of RIF has on the design of flexible business processes

Adaptive fiber optics collimator based on flexible hinges.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhi, Dong; Ma, Yanxing; Ma, Pengfei; Si, Lei; Wang, Xiaolin; Zhou, Pu

2014-08-20

In this manuscript, we present a new design for an adaptive fiber optics collimator (AFOC) based on flexible hinges by using piezoelectric stacks actuators for X-Y displacement. Different from traditional AFOC, the new structure is based on flexible hinges to drive the fiber end cap instead of naked fiber. We fabricated a real AFOC based on flexible hinges, and the end cap's deviation and resonance frequency of the device were measured. Experimental results show that this new AFOC can provide fast control of tip-tilt deviation of the laser beam emitting from the end cap. As a result, the fiber end cap can support much higher power than naked fiber, which makes the new structure ideal for tip-tilt controlling in a high-power fiber laser system.

Flexible design of band gaps in the biopolymer photonic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Savić-Šević, S

2012-01-01

One-dimensional photonic crystals (PC) are fabricated in dichromate-sensitized biopolymer as volume holograms. The flexibility of the PC band gap (BG) parameters was investigated. The spectral position of a BG can be varied by changing the exposure for two concentrations of sensitizer during the fabrication process. The spectral measurements show that the BG centre shifts towards longer wavelengths with decreasing exposure and concentration of the sensitizer. A tuning of the position of the BG for about 120 nm was obtained.

Transparent, flexible supercapacitors from nano-engineered carbon films

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Hyun Young; Karimi, Majid B.; Hahm, Myung Gwan; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Jung, Yung Joon

2012-10-01

Here we construct mechanically flexible and optically transparent thin film solid state supercapacitors by assembling nano-engineered carbon electrodes, prepared in porous templates, with morphology of interconnected arrays of complex shapes and porosity. The highly textured graphitic films act as electrode and current collector and integrated with solid polymer electrolyte, function as thin film supercapacitors. The nanostructured electrode morphology and the conformal electrolyte packaging provide enough energy and power density for the devices in addition to excellent mechanical flexibility and optical transparency, making it a unique design in various power delivery applications.

Flexibility@Work 2013: yearly report on flexible labor and employment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, E.; Heyma, A.; Prins, J.

2013-01-01

There is no clear evidence that the strong growth in the share of flexible labor relations between 2002 and 2007 points at a worldwide trend towards a larger share of flexible labor at the expense of traditional open-ended labor contracts. The growth in flexible labor varies too much between

Essays on the Design of Contracts and Markets for Power System Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boscán Flores, Luis Rafael

This PhD thesis consists of five essays on the economics of Power System Flexibility, a topic that has traditionally been addressed from a technical perspective by engineers, system planners, electricity industry stakeholders and energy policymakers interested in the integration of Variable Renew...

Design Considerations of Very Low Profile Coupled Inductors for Flexible Photovoltaic Module

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ouyang, Ziwei; Acanski, M; Popovic, J

2012-01-01

Power converters with flexible PCB integrated magnetic components are highly demanded in future photovoltaic (PV) applications, resulting in a higher power density. In this paper, a 1.5-mm thickness integrated coupled inductor with planar sandwich core structure is under investigation. Several...

Building flexibility into the design of a pilot plant for the immobilisation of Pu containing residues and wastes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Scales, C R; Maddrell, E R [NNL, Havelock Rd, Workington, CA14 3YQ (United Kingdom); Hobbs, J; Stephen, R [Sellafield Ltd, Sellafield, CA20 1 PG (United Kingdom); Moricca, S; Stewart, M W A [ANSTO, New Illawara Road, Lucas Heights 2234 (Australia)

2013-07-01

NNL and ANSTO on behalf of Sellafield Ltd have developed a process for the immobilisation of a range of Pu containing wastes and residues. Following the inactive demonstration of the technology the project is now focusing on the design of an active pilot plant capable of validating the technology and ultimately immobilising a waste inventory containing around 100 kg plutonium. The diverse wastes from which it is uneconomic to recover Pu, require a flexible process with a wide product envelope capable of producing a wasteform suitable for disposal in a UK repository. Ceramics, glass ceramics and metal encapsulated waste-forms can be delivered by the process line which incorporates size reduction and heat treatment techniques with the aim of feeding a hot isostatic pressing process designed to deliver the highly durable waste-forms. Following a demonstration of feasibility, flowsheet development is progressing to support the design which has the aim of a fully flexible facility based in NNL's Central Laboratory on the Sellafield site. Optimisation of the size reduction, mixing and blending operations is being carried out using UO{sub 2} as a surrogate for PuO{sub 2}. This work is supporting the potential of using an enhanced glass ceramic formulation in place of the full ceramic with the aim of simplifying glove box operations. Heat treatment and subsequent HIPing strategies are being explored in order to eliminate any carbon from the feeds without increasing the valence state of the uranium present in some of the inventory which can result in an unwanted increase in wasteform volumes. The HIP and ancillary systems are being specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Sellafield site and within the constraints of the NNL Central Laboratory. The HIP is being configured to produce consolidated product cans consistent with the requirements of ongoing storage and disposal. With the aim of one cycle per day, the facility will deliver its mission of

Towards automated visual flexible endoscope navigation.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Stap, Nanda; van der Heijden, Ferdinand; Broeders, Ivo A M J

2013-10-01

The design of flexible endoscopes has not changed significantly in the past 50 years. A trend is observed towards a wider application of flexible endoscopes with an increasing role in complex intraluminal therapeutic procedures. The nonintuitive and nonergonomical steering mechanism now forms a barrier in the extension of flexible endoscope applications. Automating the navigation of endoscopes could be a solution for this problem. This paper summarizes the current state of the art in image-based navigation algorithms. The objectives are to find the most promising navigation system(s) to date and to indicate fields for further research. A systematic literature search was performed using three general search terms in two medical-technological literature databases. Papers were included according to the inclusion criteria. A total of 135 papers were analyzed. Ultimately, 26 were included. Navigation often is based on visual information, which means steering the endoscope using the images that the endoscope produces. Two main techniques are described: lumen centralization and visual odometry. Although the research results are promising, no successful, commercially available automated flexible endoscopy system exists to date. Automated systems that employ conventional flexible endoscopes show the most promising prospects in terms of cost and applicability. To produce such a system, the research focus should lie on finding low-cost mechatronics and technologically robust steering algorithms. Additional functionality and increased efficiency can be obtained through software development. The first priority is to find real-time, robust steering algorithms. These algorithms need to handle bubbles, motion blur, and other image artifacts without disrupting the steering process.

Flexible spacecraft dynamics, control and guidance technologies by giovanni campolo

CERN Document Server

Mazzini, Leonardo

2016-01-01

This book is an up-to-date compendium on spacecraft attitude and orbit control (AOC) that offers a systematic and complete treatment of the subject with the aim of imparting the theoretical and practical knowledge that is required by designers, engineers, and researchers. After an introduction on the kinematics of the flexible and agile space vehicles, the modern architecture and functions of an AOC system are described and the main AOC modes reviewed with possible design solutions and examples. The dynamics of the flexible body in space are then considered using an original Lagrangian approach suitable for the control applications of large space flexible structures. Subsequent chapters address optimal control theory, attitude control methods, and orbit control applications, including the optimal orbital transfer with finite and infinite thrust. The theory is integrated with a description of current propulsion systems, with the focus especially on the new electric propulsion systems and state of the art senso...

Interactive Web-based e-learning for Studying Flexible Manipulator Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abul K. M. Azad

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract— This paper presents a web-based e-leaning facility for simulation, modeling, and control of flexible manipulator systems. The simulation and modeling part includes finite difference and finite element simulations along with neural network and genetic algorithm based modeling strategies for flexible manipulator systems. The controller part constitutes a number of open-loop and closed-loop designs. Closed loop control designs include the classical, adaptive, and neuro-model based strategies. Matlab software package and its associated toolboxes are used to implement these. The Matlab web server is used as the gateway between the facility and web-access. ASP.NET technology and SQL database are utilized to develop web applications for access control, user account and password maintenance, administrative management, and facility utilization monitoring. The reported facility provides a flexible but effective approach of web-based interactive e-learning facility of an engineering system. This can be extended to incorporate additional engineering systems within the e-learning framework.

Integrated Power, Avionics, and Software (IPAS) Flexible Systems Integration

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Integrated Power, Avionics, and Software (IPAS) facility is a flexible, multi-mission hardware and software design environment. This project will develop a...

Design of flexible polyphenylene proton-conducting membrane for next-generation fuel cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyake, Junpei; Taki, Ryunosuke; Mochizuki, Takashi; Shimizu, Ryo; Akiyama, Ryo; Uchida, Makoto; Miyatake, Kenji

2017-10-01

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising devices for clean power generation in automotive, stationary, and portable applications. Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomers (for example, Nafion) have been the benchmark PEMs; however, several problems, including high gas permeability, low thermal stability, high production cost, and environmental incompatibility, limit the widespread dissemination of PEMFCs. It is believed that fluorine-free PEMs can potentially address all of these issues; however, none of these membranes have simultaneously met the criteria for both high performance (for example, proton conductivity) and durability (for example, mechanical and chemical stability). We present a polyphenylene-based PEM (SPP-QP) that fulfills the required properties for fuel cell applications. The newly designed PEM exhibits very high proton conductivity, excellent membrane flexibility, low gas permeability, and extremely high stability, with negligible degradation even under accelerated degradation conditions, which has never been achieved with existing fluorine-free PEMs. The polyphenylene PEM also exhibits reasonably high fuel cell performance, with excellent durability under practical conditions. This new PEM extends the limits of existing fluorine-free proton-conductive materials and will help to realize the next generation of PEMFCs via cost reduction as well as the performance improvement compared to the present PFSA-based PEMFC systems.

Robust on-off pulse control of flexible space vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wie, Bong; Sinha, Ravi

1993-01-01

The on-off reaction jet control system is often used for attitude and orbital maneuvering of various spacecraft. Future space vehicles such as the orbital transfer vehicles, orbital maneuvering vehicles, and space station will extensively use reaction jets for orbital maneuvering and attitude stabilization. The proposed robust fuel- and time-optimal control algorithm is used for a three-mass spacing model of flexible spacecraft. A fuel-efficient on-off control logic is developed for robust rest-to-rest maneuver of a flexible vehicle with minimum excitation of structural modes. The first part of this report is concerned with the problem of selecting a proper pair of jets for practical trade-offs among the maneuvering time, fuel consumption, structural mode excitation, and performance robustness. A time-optimal control problem subject to parameter robustness constraints is formulated and solved. The second part of this report deals with obtaining parameter insensitive fuel- and time- optimal control inputs by solving a constrained optimization problem subject to robustness constraints. It is shown that sensitivity to modeling errors can be significantly reduced by the proposed, robustified open-loop control approach. The final part of this report deals with sliding mode control design for uncertain flexible structures. The benchmark problem of a flexible structure is used as an example for the feedback sliding mode controller design with bounded control inputs and robustness to parameter variations is investigated.

Exploring the impact of Lean manufacturing on flexibility in SMEs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lucherini, Franco; Rapaccini, Mario

2017-07-01

This paper describes the use of simulation and case-study research to assess flexibility gains induced by the adoption of three Lean Manufacturing practices. Design/methodology/approach: We gather useful material and information about the manufacturing process of a selected Small-Medium Enterprise by adopting a case-research approach. The Value Stream Mapping is the method used for visualizing flows of products and information along the production system. Starting from the current arrangement of the company, computer simulation is used to assess the benefits arising from Cellular Manufacturing, Just-in-Time Delivery by Suppliers, and Single Minute Exchange of Dies. Findings: To investigate the flexibility improvements coming from the introduction of Lean Manufacturing, we present a simulation model of the described company on which we performed our analysis. We quantify the flexibility of different configurations according to the new 5-step approach in order to segregate the contribution of different lean techniques. Originality/value: We extend the combined use of Case Research and Computer Simulation to the research on Manufacturing Flexibility within Small-Medium Enterprises. We enhance the knowledge on this under investigated context collecting quantitative field data. Moreover, building on the factorial Design of Experiment, we introduce a new 5-step method to appraise the cost benefit ratio of lean techniques for flexibility. The managerial implication of this research is mostly related to the provision of a supporting method for the decision making process propaedeutic to Lean Manufacturing introduction.

Exploring the impact of Lean manufacturing on flexibility in SMEs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Franco Lucherini

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose: This paper describes the use of simulation and case-study research to assess flexibility gains induced by the adoption of three Lean Manufacturing practices. Design/methodology/approach: We gather useful material and information about the manufacturing process of a selected Small-Medium Enterprise by adopting a case-research approach. The Value Stream Mapping is the method used for visualizing flows of products and information along the production system. Starting from the current arrangement of the company, computer simulation is used to assess the benefits arising from Cellular Manufacturing, Just-in-Time Delivery by Suppliers, and Single Minute Exchange of Dies. Findings: To investigate the flexibility improvements coming from the introduction of Lean Manufacturing, we present a simulation model of the described company on which we performed our analysis. We quantify the flexibility of different configurations according to the new 5-step approach in order to segregate the contribution of different lean techniques. Originality/value: We extend the combined use of Case Research and Computer Simulation to the research on Manufacturing Flexibility within Small-Medium Enterprises. We enhance the knowledge on this under investigated context collecting quantitative field data. Moreover, building on the factorial Design of Experiment, we introduce a new 5-step method to appraise the cost benefit ratio of lean techniques for flexibility. The managerial implication of this research is mostly related to the provision of a supporting method for the decision making process propaedeutic to Lean Manufacturing introduction.

Exploring the impact of Lean manufacturing on flexibility in SMEs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucherini, Franco; Rapaccini, Mario

2017-01-01

This paper describes the use of simulation and case-study research to assess flexibility gains induced by the adoption of three Lean Manufacturing practices. Design/methodology/approach: We gather useful material and information about the manufacturing process of a selected Small-Medium Enterprise by adopting a case-research approach. The Value Stream Mapping is the method used for visualizing flows of products and information along the production system. Starting from the current arrangement of the company, computer simulation is used to assess the benefits arising from Cellular Manufacturing, Just-in-Time Delivery by Suppliers, and Single Minute Exchange of Dies. Findings: To investigate the flexibility improvements coming from the introduction of Lean Manufacturing, we present a simulation model of the described company on which we performed our analysis. We quantify the flexibility of different configurations according to the new 5-step approach in order to segregate the contribution of different lean techniques. Originality/value: We extend the combined use of Case Research and Computer Simulation to the research on Manufacturing Flexibility within Small-Medium Enterprises. We enhance the knowledge on this under investigated context collecting quantitative field data. Moreover, building on the factorial Design of Experiment, we introduce a new 5-step method to appraise the cost benefit ratio of lean techniques for flexibility. The managerial implication of this research is mostly related to the provision of a supporting method for the decision making process propaedeutic to Lean Manufacturing introduction.

Designing Flexible E-Business Workflow Systems

OpenAIRE

Cătălin Silvestru; Codrin Nisioiu; Marinela Mircea; Bogdan Ghilic-Micu; Marian Stoica

2010-01-01

In today’s business environment organizations must cope with complex interactions between actors adapt fast to frequent market changes and be innovative. In this context, integrating knowledge with processes and Business Intelligenceis a major step towards improving organization agility. Therefore, traditional environments for workflow design have been adapted to answer the new business models and current requirements in the field of collaborative processes. This paper approaches the design o...

Continuous compliance compensation of position-dependent flexible structures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kontaras, Nikolaos; Heertjes, Marcel; Zwart, Heiko J.

2016-01-01

The implementation of lightweight high-performance motion systems in lithography and other applications imposes lower requirements on actuators, amplifiers, and cooling. However, the decreased stiffness of lightweight designs increases the effect of structural flexibilities especially when the point

Free form CMOS electronics: Physically flexible and stretchable

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa; Rojas, Jhonathan Prieto; Sevilla, Galo T.; Hussain, Aftab M.; Ghoneim, Mohamed T.; Hanna, Amir; Kutbee, Arwa T.; Nassar, Joanna M.; Cruz, Melvin

2015-01-01

Free form (physically flexible and stretchable) electronics can be used for applications which are unexplored today due to the rigid and brittle nature of the state-of-the-art electronics. Therefore, we show integration strategy to rationally design

Ergonomic design for operator flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pope, R.H.

1980-01-01

The Three Mile Island accident highlighted the importance of ergonomic design of control rooms. Emphasis has been on a reappraisal of the reactor/operator interface, but in the United Kingdom the CEGB maintains that safe efficient operation needs a centralised information system optimised for all control room staff. (author)

Design and implementation of flexible TWDM-PON with PtP WDM overlay based on WSS for next-generation optical access networks

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bin; Yin, Hongxi; Qin, Jie; Liu, Chang; Liu, Anliang; Shao, Qi; Xu, Xiaoguang

2016-09-01

Aiming at the increasing demand of the diversification services and flexible bandwidth allocation of the future access networks, a flexible passive optical network (PON) scheme combining time and wavelength division multiplexing (TWDM) with point-to-point wavelength division multiplexing (PtP WDM) overlay is proposed for the next-generation optical access networks in this paper. A novel software-defined optical distribution network (ODN) structure is designed based on wavelength selective switches (WSS), which can implement wavelength and bandwidth dynamical allocations and suits for the bursty traffic. The experimental results reveal that the TWDM-PON can provide 40 Gb/s downstream and 10 Gb/s upstream data transmission, while the PtP WDM-PON can support 10 GHz point-to-point dedicated bandwidth as the overlay complement system. The wavelengths of the TWDM-PON and PtP WDM-PON are allocated dynamically based on WSS, which verifies the feasibility of the proposed structure.

Liquid-phase tuning of porous PVDF-TrFE film on flexible substrate for energy harvesting

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Dajing; Chen, Kaina; Brown, Kristopher; Hang, Annie; Zhang, John X. J.

2017-04-01

Emerging wearable and implantable biomedical energy harvesting devices demand efficient power conversion, flexible structures, and lightweight construction. This paper presents Polyvinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) micro-porous structures, which can be tuned to specific mechanical flexibilities and optimized for piezoelectric power conversion. Specifically, the water vapor phase separation method was developed to control microstructure formation, pore diameter, porosity, and mechanical flexibility. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of the piezoelectric layer to supporting layer Young's modulus ratio, through using both analytical calculation and experimentation. Both structure flexibility and stress-induced voltage were considered in the analyses. Specification of electromechanical coupling efficiency, made possible by carefully designed three-dimensional porous structures, was shown to increase the power output by five-fold relative to uncoupled structures. Therefore, flexible PVDF-TrFE films with tunable microstructures, paired with substrates of different rigidities, provide highly efficient designs of compact piezoelectric energy generating devices.

Flexibility in competency-based workplace transition programs: an exploratory study of community child and family health nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Cusack, Lynette; Gilbert, Sandra; Fereday, Jennifer

2013-03-01

Successful transition to practice programs that use competency-based assessment require the involvement of all staff, especially those undertaking the preceptor role. Qualitative data were collected using interview methods. Participants were 14 newly employed nurses and 7 preceptors in the child and family community health service in South Australia. Participant narratives were recorded electronically, transcribed, and thematically analyzed using the paradigm of critical social science. Five themes were identified that describe enablers as well as barriers to applying a flexible transition to practice program using competency-based assessment. These included flexibility in the program design, flexibility on the part of preceptors, flexibility to enable recognition of previous learning, flexibility in the assessment of competencies, and flexibility in workload. To ensure successful application of a transition to practice program using competency-based assessment, preceptors must understand the flexible arrangements built into the program design and have the confidence and competence to apply them. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

A flexible inkjet printed antenna for wearable electronics applications

KAUST Repository

Karimi, Muhammad Akram

2016-11-02

Wearable electronics has gained enormous attention since past few years because it is a promising technology to enhance the human experience. This paper shows a modified inverted-F antenna (IFA), inkjet printed directly on the fabric. A flexible and UV curable interface layer has been used to reduce the surface roughness of the fabric to realize the antenna on top of fabric with fine features. Flexibility tests of the prototype confirm the viability of the design for the wearable applications.

Robotic Hand with Flexible Fingers for Grasping Cylindrical Objects

OpenAIRE

柴田, 瑞穂

2015-01-01

In this manuscript, a robotic hand for grasping a cylindrical object is proposed. This robotic hand has flexible fingers that can hold a cylindrical object during moving. We introduce a grasping strategy for a cylindrical object in terms of state transition graph. In this strategy the robotic hand picks up the cylindrical object utilizing a suction device before the hand grasp the object. We also design the flexible fingers; then, we investigate the validity of this robotic hand via several e...

Computer support for social awareness in flexible work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bødker, Susanne; Christiansen, Ellen

2006-01-01

 How do we conceptualize social awareness, and what support is needed to develop and maintain social awareness in flexible work settings? The paper begins by arguing the relevance of designing for social awareness in flexible work. It points out how social awareness is suspended in the field...... of tension that exists between the ephemerality and continuity of social encounters, exploring ways to construct identity through relationships by means of social encounters - notably those that are accidental and unforced. We probe into this issue through design research: In particular, we present three......, to belonging, and to care. Analyzing these three prototypes in their microcosmic usage setting results in specific recommendations for the three types of applications with respect to social awareness. The experiences indicate that the metaphors a ‘shared mirror' and ‘breadcrumbs' are promising foundations...

Role of transabdominal ultrasound of lung bases and follow-up in premature neonates with respiratory distress soon after birth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahuja, Chirag Kamal; Saxena, Akshay Kumar; Sodhi, Kushaljeet Singh; Kumar, Praveen; Khandelwal, Niranjan

2012-01-01

Chest radiography has been the traditional method of diagnostic evaluation of patients of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). Lung sonography (USG) has been lately explored as an alternative modality. To explore the application of transabdominal USG of lung bases (TASL) in the evaluation of HMD in premature neonates with respiratory distress soon after birth. Tertiary care institutional setup. Study duration–18 months. Follow-up–variable, up to 1 month. Prospective descriptive study. Eighty-eight consecutive patients admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with gestational age <32 weeks having respiratory distress within 6 h of birth were enrolled. The diagnosis of HMD was made if the patient had negative gastric shake test and/or suggestive chest radiograph. TASL was performed in all patients within the first 24 h of life and biweekly subsequently. USG was interpreted as normal, HMD pattern, or broncho-pulmonary dysplasia (BPD) pattern. Biweekly follow-up was done for patients showing HMD till normalization of the sonographic HMD pattern, development of the sonographic BPD pattern, or death/discharge of the neonate from the hospital. TASL showed 85.7% sensitivity, 75% specificity, 88.88% positive predictive value, and 69.2% negative predictive value for the diagnosis of HMD. The abnormal sonographic findings on day 14 had 94.1% accuracy for prediction of eventual occurrence of clinical BPD. TASL is complementary to chest radiograph in the diagnosis of HMD. It is also useful for the early prediction of BPD with the potential of reducing the cumulative radiation dose to these neonates

Dynamic Model and Vibration Power Flow of a Rigid-Flexible Coupling and Harmonic-Disturbance Exciting System for Flexible Robotic Manipulator with Elastic Joints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yufei Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the dynamic of a flexible robotic manipulator (FRM which consists of rigid driving base, flexible links, and flexible joints. With considering the motion fluctuations caused by the coupling effect, such as the motor parameters and mechanism inertias, as harmonic disturbances, the system investigated in this paper remains a parametrically excited system. An elastic restraint model of the FRM with elastic joints (FRMEJ is proposed, which considers the elastic properties of the connecting joints between the flexible arm and the driving base, as well as the harmonic disturbances aroused by the electromechanical coupling effect. As a consequence, the FRMEJ accordingly remains a flexible multibody system which conveys the effects of rigid-flexible couple and electromechanical couple. The Lagrangian function and Hamilton’s principle are used to establish the dynamic model of the FRMEJ. Based on the dynamic model proposed, the vibration power flow is introduced to show the vibration energy distribution. Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the effect of the joint elasticities and the disturbance excitations, and the influences of the structure parameters and motion parameters on the vibration power flow are studied. The results obtained in this paper contribute to the structure design, motion optimization, and vibration control of FRMs.

Broadband and flexible acoustic focusing by metafiber bundles

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hong-Xiang; Chen, Jia-He; Ge, Yong; Yuan, Shou-Qi; Liu, Xiao-Jun

2018-06-01

We report a broadband and flexible acoustic focusing through metafiber bundles in air, in which each metafiber consists of eight circular and narrow rectangular cavities. The fractional bandwidth of the acoustic focusing could reach about 0.2, which arises from the eigenmodes of the metafiber structure. Besides, owing to the flexible characteristic of the metafibers, the focus position can be manipulated by bending the metafiber bundles, and the metafiber bundles could bypass rigid scatterers inside the lens structure. More interestingly, the acoustic propagation and focusing directions can be changed by using a designed right-angled direction converter fabricated by the metafibers, and a waveform converter and a focusing lens of the cylindrical acoustic source are realized based on the metafiber bundles. The proposed focusing lens has the advantages of broad bandwidth, flexible structure, and high focusing performance, showing great potentials in versatile applications.

Viewing medium affects arm motor performance in 3D virtual environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Subramanian, Sandeep K; Levin, Mindy F

2011-06-30

2D and 3D virtual reality platforms are used for designing individualized training environments for post-stroke rehabilitation. Virtual environments (VEs) are viewed using media like head mounted displays (HMDs) and large screen projection systems (SPS) which can influence the quality of perception of the environment. We estimated if there were differences in arm pointing kinematics when subjects with and without stroke viewed a 3D VE through two different media: HMD and SPS. Two groups of subjects participated (healthy control, n=10, aged 53.6 ± 17.2 yrs; stroke, n=20, 66.2 ± 11.3 yrs). Arm motor impairment and spasticity were assessed in the stroke group which was divided into mild (n=10) and moderate-to-severe (n=10) sub-groups based on Fugl-Meyer Scores. Subjects pointed (8 times each) to 6 randomly presented targets located at two heights in the ipsilateral, middle and contralateral arm workspaces. Movements were repeated in the same VE viewed using HMD (Kaiser XL50) and SPS. Movement kinematics were recorded using an Optotrak system (Certus, 6 markers, 100 Hz). Upper limb motor performance (precision, velocity, trajectory straightness) and movement pattern (elbow, shoulder ranges and trunk displacement) outcomes were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs. For all groups, there were no differences in endpoint trajectory straightness, shoulder flexion and shoulder horizontal adduction ranges and sagittal trunk displacement between the two media. All subjects, however, made larger errors in the vertical direction using HMD compared to SPS. Healthy subjects also made larger errors in the sagittal direction, slower movements overall and used less range of elbow extension for the lower central target using HMD compared to SPS. The mild and moderate-to-severe sub-groups made larger RMS errors with HMD. The only advantage of using the HMD was that movements were 22% faster in the moderate-to-severe stroke sub-group compared to the SPS. Despite the similarity in

Viewing medium affects arm motor performance in 3D virtual environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Subramanian Sandeep K

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background 2D and 3D virtual reality platforms are used for designing individualized training environments for post-stroke rehabilitation. Virtual environments (VEs are viewed using media like head mounted displays (HMDs and large screen projection systems (SPS which can influence the quality of perception of the environment. We estimated if there were differences in arm pointing kinematics when subjects with and without stroke viewed a 3D VE through two different media: HMD and SPS. Methods Two groups of subjects participated (healthy control, n = 10, aged 53.6 ± 17.2 yrs; stroke, n = 20, 66.2 ± 11.3 yrs. Arm motor impairment and spasticity were assessed in the stroke group which was divided into mild (n = 10 and moderate-to-severe (n = 10 sub-groups based on Fugl-Meyer Scores. Subjects pointed (8 times each to 6 randomly presented targets located at two heights in the ipsilateral, middle and contralateral arm workspaces. Movements were repeated in the same VE viewed using HMD (Kaiser XL50 and SPS. Movement kinematics were recorded using an Optotrak system (Certus, 6 markers, 100 Hz. Upper limb motor performance (precision, velocity, trajectory straightness and movement pattern (elbow, shoulder ranges and trunk displacement outcomes were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVAs. Results For all groups, there were no differences in endpoint trajectory straightness, shoulder flexion and shoulder horizontal adduction ranges and sagittal trunk displacement between the two media. All subjects, however, made larger errors in the vertical direction using HMD compared to SPS. Healthy subjects also made larger errors in the sagittal direction, slower movements overall and used less range of elbow extension for the lower central target using HMD compared to SPS. The mild and moderate-to-severe sub-groups made larger RMS errors with HMD. The only advantage of using the HMD was that movements were 22% faster in the moderate-to-severe stroke sub

Flexibility in Europe's power sector — An additional requirement or an automatic complement?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertsch, Joachim; Growitsch, Christian; Lorenczik, Stefan; Nagl, Stephan

2016-01-01

By 2050, the European Union aims to reduce greenhouse gases by more than 80%. The EU member states have therefore declared to strongly increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES-E) in the next decades. Given a large deployment of wind and solar capacities, there are two major impacts on electricity systems: First, the electricity system must be flexible enough to cope with the volatile RES-E generation, i.e., ramp up supply or ramp down demand on short notice. Second, sufficient back-up capacities are needed during times with low feed-in from wind and solar capacities. This paper analyzes whether there is a need for additional incentive mechanisms for flexibility in electricity markets with a high share of renewables. For this purpose, we simulate the development of the European electricity markets up to the year 2050 using a linear investment and dispatch optimization model. Flexibility requirements are implemented in the model via ramping constraints and provision of balancing power. We found that an increase in fluctuating renewables has a tremendous impact on the volatility of the residual load and consequently on the flexibility requirements. However, any market design that incentivizes investments in least (total system) cost generation investment does not need additional incentives for flexibility. The main trigger for investing in flexible resources is the achievable full load hours and the need for backup capacity. In a competitive market, the cost-efficient technologies that are most likely to be installed, i.e., gas-fired power plants or flexible CCS plants, provide flexibility as a by-product. Under the condition of system adequacy, flexibility never poses a challenge in a cost-minimal capacity mix. Therefore, any market design incentivizing investments in efficient generation thus provides flexibility as an inevi complement. - Highlights: • We analyze flexibility in electricity systems with a high share of renewables. • For scenario

Flexibility Driven Scheduling and Mapping for Distributed Real-Time Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pop, Paul; Eles, Petru; Peng, Zebo

2002-01-01

In this paper we present an approach to mapping and scheduling of distributed hard real-time systems, aiming at improving the flexibility of the design process. We consider an incremental design process that starts from an already existing system running a set of applications, with preemptive...

20 CFR 661.440 - What limitations apply to the State's Workforce Flexibility Plan authority under WIA?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... limitations apply to the State's Workforce Flexibility Plan authority under WIA? (a)(1) Under work-flex waiver... flexibility plan. Once approved, a State's work-flex designation is conditioned on the State demonstrating it... Workforce Flexibility Plan authority under WIA? 661.440 Section 661.440 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND...

A flexible framework for process-based hydraulic and water ...

Science.gov (United States)

Background Models that allow for design considerations of green infrastructure (GI) practices to control stormwater runoff and associated contaminants have received considerable attention in recent years. While popular, generally, the GI models are relatively simplistic. However, GI model predictions are being relied upon by many municipalities and State/Local agencies to make decisions about grey vs. green infrastructure improvement planning. Adding complexity to GI modeling frameworks may preclude their use in simpler urban planning situations. Therefore, the goal here was to develop a sophisticated, yet flexible tool that could be used by design engineers and researchers to capture and explore the effect of design factors and properties of the media used in the performance of GI systems at a relatively small scale. We deemed it essential to have a flexible GI modeling tool that is capable of simulating GI system components and specific biophysical processes affecting contaminants such as reactions, and particle-associated transport accurately while maintaining a high degree of flexibly to account for the myriad of GI alternatives. The mathematical framework for a stand-alone GI performance assessment tool has been developed and will be demonstrated.Framework Features The process-based model framework developed here can be used to model a diverse range of GI practices such as green roof, retention pond, bioretention, infiltration trench, permeable pavement and

All-solid state flexible supercapacitors based on graphene/polymer composites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jung Won; Choi, Bong Gill, E-mail: bgchoi@kangwon.ac.kr

2015-06-01

Recent advances in lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronic equipment has led to advancements in the development of sufficiently compact and flexible energy storage. A challenge remains to integrate the storage elements as closely as possible within a fully flexible device. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of all-solid state flexible supercapacitors with the integration of two electrodes that consist of graphene/polymer composites. Robust conductive free-standing thin graphene/polymer composite electrodes were prepared through a simple “physical grinding” process. As-prepared composite electrodes store energy up to a reversible gravimetric capacitance of 90.6 F/g, at a constant current density of 0.5 A/g while also delivering long-term durability (90% retention) for excess of five-thousands of cycles. Notably, the enhancement of mechanical properties of supercapacitors enables them to maintain their electrochemical performance even when twisted or folded. This straightforward approach to the fabrication of fully flexible supercapacitors provides new design opportunities within wearable electronics and electrochemical applications. - Highlights: • All solid-sate supercapacitors were fabricated using graphene/polymer composite electrodes. • Supercapacitor devices show an excellent mechanical flexibility. • High electrochemical performances were demonstrated.

All-solid state flexible supercapacitors based on graphene/polymer composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jung Won; Choi, Bong Gill

2015-01-01

Recent advances in lightweight, flexible, and wearable electronic equipment has led to advancements in the development of sufficiently compact and flexible energy storage. A challenge remains to integrate the storage elements as closely as possible within a fully flexible device. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of all-solid state flexible supercapacitors with the integration of two electrodes that consist of graphene/polymer composites. Robust conductive free-standing thin graphene/polymer composite electrodes were prepared through a simple “physical grinding” process. As-prepared composite electrodes store energy up to a reversible gravimetric capacitance of 90.6 F/g, at a constant current density of 0.5 A/g while also delivering long-term durability (90% retention) for excess of five-thousands of cycles. Notably, the enhancement of mechanical properties of supercapacitors enables them to maintain their electrochemical performance even when twisted or folded. This straightforward approach to the fabrication of fully flexible supercapacitors provides new design opportunities within wearable electronics and electrochemical applications. - Highlights: • All solid-sate supercapacitors were fabricated using graphene/polymer composite electrodes. • Supercapacitor devices show an excellent mechanical flexibility. • High electrochemical performances were demonstrated

Control of flexible robots with prismatic joints and hydraulic drives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Love, L.J.; Kress, R.L.; Jansen, J.F.

1997-01-01

The design and control of long-reach, flexible manipulators has been an active research topic for over 20 years. Most of the research to date has focused on single link, fixed length, single plane of vibration test beds. In addition, actuation has been predominantly based upon electromagnetic motors. Ironically, these elements are rarely found in the existing industrial long-reach systems. One example is the Modified Light Duty Utility Arm (MLDUA) designed and built by Spar Aerospace for Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). This arm operates in larger, underground waste storage tanks located at ORNL. The size and nature of the tanks require that the robot have a reach of approximately 15 ft and a payload capacity of 250 lb. In order to achieve these criteria, each joint is hydraulically actuated. Furthermore, the robot has a prismatic degree-of-freedom to ease deployment. When fully extended, the robot's first natural frequency is 1.76 Hz. Many of the projected tasks, coupled with the robot's flexibility, present an interesting problem. How will many of the existing flexure control algorithms perform on a hydraulic, long-reach manipulator with prismatic links? To minimize cost and risk of testing these algorithms on the MLDUA, the authors have designed a new test bed that contains many of the same elements. This manuscript described a new hydraulically actuated, long-reach manipulator with a flexible prismatic link at ORNL. Focus is directed toward both modeling and control of hydraulic actuators as well as flexible links that have variable natural frequencies

Influence of boron reduction strategies on PWR accident management flexibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papukchiev, Angel Aleksandrov; Liu, Yubo; Schaefer, Anselm

2007-01-01

In conventional pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs, soluble boron is used for reactivity control over core fuel cycle. Design changes to reduce boron concentration in the reactor coolant are of general interest regarding three aspects - improved reactivity feedback properties, lower impact of boron dilution scenarios on PWR safety and eventually more flexible accident management procedures. In order to assess the potential advantages through the introduction of boron reduction strategies in current PWRs, two low boron core configurations based on fuel with increased utilization of gadolinium and erbium burnable absorbers have been developed. The new PWR designs permit to reduce the natural boron concentration in reactor coolant at begin of cycle to 518 ppm and 805 ppm. For the assessment of the potential safety advantages of these cores a hypothetical beyond design basis accident has been simulated with the system code ATHLET. The analyses showed improved inherent safety and increased accident management flexibility of the low boron cores in comparison with the standard PWR. (author)

Advancing System Flexibility for High Penetration Renewable Integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milligan, Michael [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Frew, Bethany [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Zhou, Ella [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Arent, Douglas J. [Joint Inst. for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO (United States)

2015-10-01

This report summarizes some of the issues discussed during the engagement on power system flexibility. By design, the focus is on flexibility options used in the United States. Exploration of whether and how U.S. experiences can inform Chinese energy planning will be part of the continuing project, and will benefit from the knowledge base provided by this report. We believe the initial stage of collaboration represented in this report has successfully started a process of mutual understanding, helping Chinese researchers to begin evaluating how lessons learned in other countries might translate to China's unique geographic, economic, social, and political contexts.

Stiffness requirement of flexible skin for variable trailing-edge camber wing

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2010-01-01

The method for analyzing the deformation of flexible skin under the air loads was developed based on the panel method and finite element method.The deformation of flexible skin under air pressures and effects of the local deformation on the aerodynamic characteristics were discussed.Numerical results show that the flexible skin on the upper surface of trailing-edge will bubble under the air loads and the bubble has a powerful effect on the aerodynamic pressure near the surface of local deforma-tion.Then the stiffness requirements for flexible skin of variable trailing-edge were given by using the Jacobs rule,i.e.,the maximum displacement of skin is not greater than 0.1% of wing chord.Results show that the in-plane stiffness can be reduced by increasing the ratio of bending stiffness to in-plane stiffness.Although the deformation of flexible skin increases with the in-plane stiffness decreasing,it depends on the bending stiffness.When the bending stiffness exceeds critical value,the deformation of flexible skin only depends on the bending stiffness and has nothing to do with the in-plane stiffness.The conclusions can be used for the structural design of flexible skin.

Modular Principles for Flexibility of Spaces in Skill Acquisition ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The design of skill centre around the country is such that they are specific to particular skill type and usually the buildings cannot be used for another activity. The need to use spaces for multiple functions has ensured that flexible spaces in skill acquisition centres are designed such that the spaces can easily be varied into ...

Wing flexibility effects in clap-and-fling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Percin, M.; Hu, Y.; Van Oudheusden, B.W.; Remes, B.; Scarano, F.

2011-01-01

The work explores the use of time-resolved tomographic PIV measurements to study a flapping-wing model, the related vortex generation mechanisms and the effect of wing flexibility on the clap-and-fling movement in particular. An experimental setup is designed and realized in a water tank by use of a

Global Sourcing Flexibility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ørberg Jensen, Peter D.; Petersen, Bent

2013-01-01

the higher costs (but decreased risk for value chain disruption) embedded in a more flexible global sourcing model that allows the firm to replicate and/or relocate activities across multiple locations. We develop a model and propositions on facilitating and constraining conditions of global sourcing...... sourcing flexibility. Here we draw on prior research in the fields of organizational flexibility, international business and global sourcing as well as case examples and secondary studies. In the second part of the paper, we discuss the implications of global sourcing flexibility for firm strategy...... and operations against the backdrop of the theory-based definition of the construct. We discuss in particular the importance of global sourcing flexibility for operational performance stability, and the trade-off between specialization benefits, emerging from location and service provider specialization, versus...

Very Thin Flexible Coupled Inductors for PV Module Integrated GaN Converter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Acanski, Milos; Ouyang, Ziwei; Popovic-Gerber, Jelena

2012-01-01

converter integrated directly into a low cost flexible PV module. Additional problems arise in this case, specifically in magnetics design, due to the requirements for very low profile flexible construction and limited thermal headroom. Overcoming these limitations presents a challenge, but can lead...... to a cost effective, reliable solution for PV systems with improved integration level and power density....

Creating a flexible learning environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, B A; Jones, S; Winters, P

1990-01-01

Lack of classroom space is a common problem for many hospital-based nurse educators. This article describes how nursing educators in one institution redesigned fixed classroom space into a flexible learning center that accommodates their various programs. Using the nursing process, the educators assessed their needs, planned the learning environment, implemented changes in the interior design, and evaluated the outcome of the project. The result was a learning environment conducive to teaching and learning.

Flexible supercapacitor yarns with coaxial carbon nanotube network electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smithyman, Jesse; Liang, Richard

2014-01-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Fabricated flexible yarn supercapacitor with coaxial electrodes. • Use of multifunctional carbon nanotube network electrodes eliminates inactive components and enables high energy/power density. • Robust structure maintains >95% of energy/power while under deformation. - Abstract: Flexible supercapacitors with a yarn-like geometry were fabricated with coaxially arranged electrodes. Carbon nanotube (CNT) network electrodes enabled the integration of the electronic conductor and active material of each electrode into a single component. CNT yarns were employed as the inner electrode to provide the supporting structure of the device. These part integration strategies eliminated the need for inactive material, which resulted in device volumetric energy and power densities among the highest reported for flexible carbon-based EDLCs. In addition, the coaxial yarn cell design provided a robust structure able to undergo flexural deformation with minimal impact on the energy storage performance. Greater than 95% of the energy density and 99% of the power density were retained when wound around an 11 cm diameter cylinder. The electrochemical properties were characterized at stages throughout the fabrication process to provide insights and potential directions for further development of these novel cell designs

On the relation between flexibility analysis and robust optimization for linear systems

KAUST Repository

Zhang, Qi

2016-03-05

Flexibility analysis and robust optimization are two approaches to solving optimization problems under uncertainty that share some fundamental concepts, such as the use of polyhedral uncertainty sets and the worst-case approach to guarantee feasibility. The connection between these two approaches has not been sufficiently acknowledged and examined in the literature. In this context, the contributions of this work are fourfold: (1) a comparison between flexibility analysis and robust optimization from a historical perspective is presented; (2) for linear systems, new formulations for the three classical flexibility analysis problems—flexibility test, flexibility index, and design under uncertainty—based on duality theory and the affinely adjustable robust optimization (AARO) approach are proposed; (3) the AARO approach is shown to be generally more restrictive such that it may lead to overly conservative solutions; (4) numerical examples show the improved computational performance from the proposed formulations compared to the traditional flexibility analysis models. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 3109–3123, 2016

A comparison of head-mounted and hand-held displays for 360° videos with focus on attitude and behavior change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fonseca, Diana; Kraus, Martin

2016-01-01

The present study is designed to test how immersion, presence, and narrative content (with a focus on emotional immersion) can affect one's pro-environmental attitude and behavior with specific interest in 360° videos and meat consumption as a non pro-environmental behavior. This research describes...... a between-group design experiment that compares two systems with different levels of immersion and two types of narratives, one with and one without emotional content. In the immersive video (IV) condition (high immersion), 21 participants used a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) to watch an emotional 360° video...... about meat consumption and its effects on the environment; another 21 participants experienced the tablet condition (low immersion) where they viewed the same video but with a 10.1 inch tablet; 22 participants in the control condition viewed a non emotional video about submarines with an HMD...

Flexibility in the context of intelligent plant's development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernando Augusto Pereira

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Globalization and competition among companies bring changes in the product development, reducing increasingly its life's cycle. Corporations are opting to world-wide products platforms, with global strategies. Besides the wider vision about corporative strategies, dynamic markets and strong competition are impacting in the medium and short term companies' demands. All these characteristics create turbulences in the organizations, but they can also convey opportunities. In order to take strategic advantage in this process, companies ought to innovate, changing the manner of planning and operating its plants. One possibility to achieve these goals is using flexibility in the manufacture. In this paper, flexibility aspects will be addressed in context of band, reply and dimension, and, how companies can apply this benefit to get better design in their plants and manufacture process, and eliminate waste. Key-words: Flexibility, Toyota Production System, Lean Manufacturing, Intelligent Plants, Wastes’ elimination.

A Water-/Fireproof Flexible Lithium-Oxygen Battery Achieved by Synergy of Novel Architecture and Multifunctional Separator.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Yan-Bin; Yang, Xiao-Yang; Chang, Zhi-Wen; Zhu, Yun-Hai; Liu, Tong; Yan, Jun-Min; Jiang, Qing

2018-01-01

To meet the increasing demands for portable and flexible devices in a rapidly developing society, it is urgently required to develop highly safe and flexible electrochemical energy-storage systems. Flexible lithium-oxygen batteries with high theoretical specific energy density are promising candidates; however, the conventional half-open structure design prevents it from working properly under water or fire conditions. Herein, as a proof-of-concept experiment, a highly safe flexible lithium-oxygen battery achieved by the synergy of a vital multifunctional structure design and a unique composite separator is proposed and fabricated. The structure can effectively prevent the invasion of water from the environment and combustion, which is further significantly consolidated with the help of a polyimide and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) composite separator, which holds good water resistance, thermal stability, and ionic conductivity. Unexpectedly, the obtained lithium-oxygen battery exhibits superior flexibility, water resistance, thermal resistance, and cycling stability (up to 218 cycles; at a high current of 1 mA and capacity of 4 mA h). This novel water/fireproof, flexible lithium-oxygen battery is a promising candidate to power underwater flexible electronics. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Health and psychosocial effects of flexible working hours.

Science.gov (United States)

Janssen, Daniela; Nachreiner, Friedhelm

2004-12-01

To examine whether any impairments in health and social lives can be found under different kinds of flexible working hours, and whether such effects are related to specific characteristics of these working hours. Two studies -- a company based survey (N=660) and an internet survey (N=528) -- have been conducted. The first one was a questionnaire study (paper and pencil) on employees working under some 'typical' kinds of different flexible working time arrangements in different companies and different occupational fields (health care, manufacturing, retail, administration, call centres). The second study was an internet-based survey, using an adaptation of the questionnaire from the first study. The results of both studies consistently show that high variability of working hours is associated with increased impairments in health and well-being and this is especially true if this variability is company controlled. These effects are less pronounced if variability is self-controlled; however, autonomy does not compensate the effects of variability. Recommendations for an appropriate design of flexible working hours should be developed in order to minimize any impairing effects on health and psychosocial well-being; these recommendations should include -- besides allowing for discretion in controlling one's (flexible) working hours -- that variability in flexible working hours should be kept low (or at least moderate), even if this variability is self-controlled.

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Cobley, Matthew J; Rayfield, Emily J; Barrett, Paul M

2013-01-01

The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus). The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50). This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

Inter-vertebral flexibility of the ostrich neck: implications for estimating sauropod neck flexibility.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew J Cobley

Full Text Available The flexibility and posture of the neck in sauropod dinosaurs has long been contentious. Improved constraints on sauropod neck function will have major implications for what we know of their foraging strategies, ecology and overall biology. Several hypotheses have been proposed, based primarily on osteological data, suggesting different degrees of neck flexibility. This study attempts to assess the effects of reconstructed soft tissues on sauropod neck flexibility through systematic removal of muscle groups and measures of flexibility of the neck in a living analogue, the ostrich (Struthio camelus. The possible effect of cartilage on flexibility is also examined, as this was previously overlooked in osteological estimates of sauropod neck function. These comparisons show that soft tissues are likely to have limited the flexibility of the neck beyond the limits suggested by osteology alone. In addition, the inferred presence of cartilage, and varying the inter-vertebral spacing within the synovial capsule, also affect neck flexibility. One hypothesis proposed that flexibility is constrained by requiring a minimum overlap between successive zygapophyses equivalent to 50% of zygapophyseal articular surface length (ONP50. This assumption is tested by comparing the maximum flexibility of the articulated cervical column in ONP50 and the flexibility of the complete neck with all tissues intact. It is found that this model does not adequately convey the pattern of flexibility in the ostrich neck, suggesting that the ONP50 model may not be useful in determining neck function if considered in isolation from myological and other soft tissue data.

Flexibility practices, wages and productivity : evidence from Norway

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meer, P.H.; Ringdal, K.

2009-01-01

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to test whether the use of numerical and functional flexibility practices in firms affect their performance. Design/methodology/approach - A combined employer/employee Norwegian data set is used to estimate production function like equations. The data stem from

Linking meters and markets: Roles and incentives to support a flexible demand side

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Katz, Jonas

2014-01-01

wholesale market participants to the demand side is mostly infeasible, resulting in flexibility tasks being aggregated and delegated to balancing responsible wholesale traders. This analysis focuses on whether current incentives and roles are appropriate and where the design could be improved to establish......Present trends in the development of electricity systems are expected to generate a growing need for flexibility in decentralised resources, including demand response. In order to enable decentralised actors to create value, the organisation of markets and incentives should incorporate these new...... a flexible demand side with a particular focus on the Danish case. Design-related barriers are identified that affect expected value, associated risks, and the distribution of responsibilities. This serves as a basis to define policy options in the context of Nordic electricity markets. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd...

Use of flexible engineered cementitious composite in buildings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khitab, A.; Nadeem, M.; Hussain, S.

2011-01-01

This article describes the applications and benefits of a recently developed smart building material namely Engineered cementitious composite (ECC), also known as flexible or bendable concrete. Conventional concretes have a strain capacity of only 0.1 percent and are highly brittle and rigid. This lack of bend ability is a major cause of failure under strain and has been a pushing factor in the development of an elegant material which is capable to exhibit an enhanced flexibility. An ECC has a strain capacity of more than 3 percent and thus acts more like a ductile metal rather than like a brittle glass. The aim of this paper is to highlight a probable success of ECC in terms of industrial and commercial use in Pakistan. With the introduction of flexible concrete in building technology, it is likely to have safer and more durable construction. The material is expected to display reduced detrimental impacts on the natural environment. A bendable concrete is composed of all the ingredients of a traditional concrete minus coarse aggregates or crushed stones and is reinforced with micro mechanically designed polymer fibers. The mechanism of action of the micro-polymeric fibers in concrete has also been emphasized. The principles of mix designs of the mortar incorporating fibers to make an ECC have also been explained. It has also been mentioned in detail as how this technology can be used to enhance the flexibility of some modern concrete types like flowing concrete, self-compacting concrete, and lightweight concrete. ECC is a green construction material. The possible benefits like environment friendliness, cost effectiveness, and durability have been also been elucidated in the paper. (author)

Towards Cost-Effective Crystalline Silicon Based Flexible Solar Cells: Integration Strategy by Rational Design of Materials, Process, and Devices

KAUST Repository

Bahabry, Rabab R.

2017-11-30

The solar cells market has an annual growth of more than 30 percent over the past 15 years. At the same time, the cost of the solar modules diminished to meet both of the rapid global demand and the technological improvements. In particular for the crystalline silicon solar cells, the workhorse of this technology. The objective of this doctoral thesis is enhancing the efficiency of c-Si solar cells while exploring the cost reduction via innovative techniques. Contact metallization and ultra-flexible wafer based c-Si solar cells are the main areas under investigation. First, Silicon-based solar cells typically utilize screen printed Silver (Ag) metal contacts which affect the optimal electrical performance. To date, metal silicide-based ohmic contacts are occasionally used for the front contact grid lines. In this work, investigation of the microstructure and the electrical characteristics of nickel monosilicide (NiSi) ohmic contacts on the rear side of c-Si solar cells has been carried out. Significant enhancement in the fill factor leading to increasing the total power conversion efficiency is observed. Second, advanced classes of modern application require a new generation of versatile solar cells showcasing extreme mechanical resilience. However, silicon is a brittle material with a fracture strains <1%. Highly flexible Si-based solar cells are available in the form thin films which seem to be disadvantageous over thick Si solar cells due to the reduction of the optical absorption with less active Si material. Here, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology based integration strategy is designed where corrugation architecture to enable an ultra-flexible solar cell module from bulk mono-crystalline silicon solar wafer with 17% efficiency. This periodic corrugated array benefits from an interchangeable solar cell segmentation scheme which preserves the active silicon thickness and achieves flexibility via interdigitated back contacts. These cells

High performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs

KAUST Repository

Fahad, Hossain M.

2014-06-01

We demonstrate the first ever CMOS compatible soft etch back based high performance flexible CMOS SOI FinFETs. The move from planar to non-planar FinFETs has enabled continued scaling down to the 14 nm technology node. This has been possible due to the reduction in off-state leakage and reduced short channel effects on account of the superior electrostatic charge control of multiple gates. At the same time, flexible electronics is an exciting expansion opportunity for next generation electronics. However, a fully integrated low-cost system will need to maintain ultra-large-scale-integration density, high performance and reliability - same as today\\'s traditional electronics. Up until recently, this field has been mainly dominated by very weak performance organic electronics enabled by low temperature processes, conducive to low melting point plastics. Now however, we show the world\\'s highest performing flexible version of 3D FinFET CMOS using a state-of-the-art CMOS compatible fabrication technique for high performance ultra-mobile consumer applications with stylish design. © 2014 IEEE.

Recent Progress on Flexible and Wearable Supercapacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Qi; Sun, Jinfeng; Huang, Yan; Zhu, Minshen; Pei, Zengxia; Li, Hongfei; Wang, Yukun; Li, Na; Zhang, Haiyan; Zhi, Chunyi

2017-12-01

Recently, wearable electronic devices including electrical sensors, flexible displays, and health monitors have received considerable attention and experienced rapid progress. Wearable supercapacitors attract tremendous attention mainly due to their high stability, low cost, fast charging/discharging, and high efficiency; properties that render them value for developing fully flexible devices. In this Concept, the recent achievements and advances made in flexible and wearable supercapacitors are presented, especially highlighting the promising performances of yarn/fiber-shaped and planar supercapacitors. On the basis of their working mechanism, electrode materials including carbon-based materials, metal oxide-based materials, and conductive polymers with an emphasis on the performance-optimization method are introduced. The latest representative techniques and active materials of recently developed supercapacitors with superior performance are summarized. Furthermore, the designs of 1D and 2D electrodes are discussed according to their electrically conductive supporting materials. Finally, conclusions, challenges, and perspective in optimizing and developing the electrochemical performance and function of wearable supercapacitors for their practical utility are addressed. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Design and Voluntary Motion Intention Estimation of a Novel Wearable Full-Body Flexible Exoskeleton Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunjie Chen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The wearable full-body exoskeleton robot developed in this study is one application of mobile cyberphysical system (CPS, which is a complex mobile system integrating mechanics, electronics, computer science, and artificial intelligence. Steel wire was used as the flexible transmission medium and a group of special wire-locking structures was designed. Additionally, we designed passive joints for partial joints of the exoskeleton. Finally, we proposed a novel gait phase recognition method for full-body exoskeletons using only joint angular sensors, plantar pressure sensors, and inclination sensors. The method consists of four procedures. Firstly, we classified the three types of main motion patterns: normal walking on the ground, stair-climbing and stair-descending, and sit-to-stand movement. Secondly, we segregated the experimental data into one gait cycle. Thirdly, we divided one gait cycle into eight gait phases. Finally, we built a gait phase recognition model based on k-Nearest Neighbor perception and trained it with the phase-labeled gait data. The experimental result shows that the model has a 98.52% average correct rate of classification of the main motion patterns on the testing set and a 95.32% average correct rate of phase recognition on the testing set. So the exoskeleton robot can achieve human motion intention in real time and coordinate its movement with the wearer.

SCC500: next-generation infrared imaging camera core products with highly flexible architecture for unique camera designs

Science.gov (United States)

Rumbaugh, Roy N.; Grealish, Kevin; Kacir, Tom; Arsenault, Barry; Murphy, Robert H.; Miller, Scott

2003-09-01

A new 4th generation MicroIR architecture is introduced as the latest in the highly successful Standard Camera Core (SCC) series by BAE SYSTEMS to offer an infrared imaging engine with greatly reduced size, weight, power, and cost. The advanced SCC500 architecture provides great flexibility in configuration to include multiple resolutions, an industry standard Real Time Operating System (RTOS) for customer specific software application plug-ins, and a highly modular construction for unique physical and interface options. These microbolometer based camera cores offer outstanding and reliable performance over an extended operating temperature range to meet the demanding requirements of real-world environments. A highly integrated lens and shutter is included in the new SCC500 product enabling easy, drop-in camera designs for quick time-to-market product introductions.

FEMME, a flexible environment for mathematically modelling the environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soetaert, K.E.R.; DeClippele, V.; Herman, P.M.J.

2002-01-01

A new, FORTRAN-based, simulation environment called FEMME (Flexible Environment for Mathematically Modelling the Environment), designed for implementing, solving and analysing mathematical models in ecology is presented. Three separate phases in ecological modelling are distinguished: (1) the model

Flexible organic solar cells including efficiency enhancing grating structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Oliveira Hansen, Roana Melina; Liu Yinghui; Madsen, Morten; Rubahn, Horst-Günter

2013-01-01

In this work, a new method for the fabrication of organic solar cells containing functional light-trapping nanostructures on flexible substrates is presented. Polyimide is spin-coated on silicon support substrates, enabling standard micro- and nanotechnology fabrication techniques, such as photolithography and electron-beam lithography, besides the steps required for the bulk-heterojunction organic solar cell fabrication. After the production steps, the solar cells on polyimide are peeled off the silicon support substrates, resulting in flexible devices containing nanostructures for light absorption enhancement. Since the solar cells avoid using brittle electrodes, the performance of the flexible devices is not affected by the peeling process. We have investigated three different nanostructured grating designs and conclude that gratings with a 500 nm pitch distance have the highest light-trapping efficiency for the selected active layer material (P3HT:PCBM), resulting in an enhancement of about 34% on the solar cell efficiency. The presented method can be applied to a large variety of flexible nanostructured devices in future applications. (paper)

Flexible Carbon Aerogels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marina Schwan

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Carbon aerogels are highly porous materials with a large inner surface area. Due to their high electrical conductivity they are excellent electrode materials in supercapacitors. Their brittleness, however, imposes certain limitations in terms of applicability. In that context, novel carbon aerogels with varying degree of flexibility have been developed. These highly porous, light aerogels are characterized by a high surface area and possess pore structures in the micrometer range, allowing for a reversible deformation of the aerogel network. A high ratio of pore size to particle size was found to be crucial for high flexibility. For dynamic microstructural analysis, compression tests were performed in-situ within a scanning electron microscope allowing us to directly visualize the microstructural flexibility of an aerogel. The flexible carbon aerogels were found to withstand between 15% and 30% of uniaxial compression in a reversible fashion. These findings might stimulate further research and new application fields directed towards flexible supercapacitors and batteries.

Flexibility and trackability of laser cut coronary stent systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Szabadíts, Péter; Puskás, Zsolt; Dobránszky, János

2009-01-01

Coronary stents are the most important supports in present day cardiology. Flexibility and trackability are two basic features of stents. In this paper, four different balloon-expandable coronary stent systems were investigated mechanically in order to compare their suitability. The coronary stent systems were assessed by measurements of stent flexibility as well as by comparison of forces during simulated stenting in a self-investigated coronary vessel model. The stents were cut by laser from a single tube of 316L stainless steel or L-605 (CoCr) cobalt chromium alloy. The one-and four-point bending tests were carried out to evaluate the stent flexibility E x I (Nmm(2)), under displacement control in crimped and expanded configurations. The flexibility of stents would be rather dependent on the design than on raw material. In general a more flexible stent needs lower tracking force during the implantation. The L-605 raw material stents need lower track force to pass through in the vessel model than the 316L raw material stents. The sort and long stents passed through the curved vessel model in different ways. The long stents nestled to the vessel wall at the outer arc and bent, while the short stents did not bend in the curve, only the delivery systems bent.

Nonlinear model and attitude dynamics of flexible spacecraft with large amplitude slosh

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Mingle; Yue, Baozeng

2017-04-01

This paper is focused on the nonlinearly modelling and attitude dynamics of spacecraft coupled with large amplitude liquid sloshing dynamics and flexible appendage vibration. The large amplitude fuel slosh dynamics is included by using an improved moving pulsating ball model. The moving pulsating ball model is an equivalent mechanical model that is capable of imitating the whole liquid reorientation process. A modification is introduced in the capillary force computation in order to more precisely estimate the settling location of liquid in microgravity or zero-g environment. The flexible appendage is modelled as a three dimensional Bernoulli-Euler beam and the assumed modal method is employed to derive the nonlinear mechanical model for the overall coupled system of liquid filled spacecraft with appendage. The attitude maneuver is implemented by the momentum transfer technique, and a feedback controller is designed. The simulation results show that the liquid sloshing can always result in nutation behavior, but the effect of flexible deformation of appendage depends on the amplitude and direction of attitude maneuver performed by spacecraft. Moreover, it is found that the liquid sloshing and the vibration of flexible appendage are coupled with each other, and the coupling becomes more significant with more rapid motion of spacecraft. This study reveals that the appendage's flexibility has influence on the liquid's location and settling time in microgravity. The presented nonlinear system model can provide an important reference for the overall design of the modern spacecraft composed of rigid platform, liquid filled tank and flexible appendage.

Vibration Control of Flexible Mode for a Beam-Type Substrate Transport Robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheol Hoon Park

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Beam-type substrate transport robots are widely used to handle substrates, especially in the solar cell manufacturing process. To reduce the takt time and increase productivity, accurate position control becomes increasingly important as the size of the substrate increases. However, the vibration caused by the flexible forks in beam-type robots interferes with accurate positioning, which results in long takt times in the manufacturing process. To minimize the vibration and transport substrates on the fork as fast as possible, the trajectories should be prevented from exciting the flexible modes of the forks. For this purpose, a fifth-order polynomial trajectory generator and input shaping were incorporated into the controller of the beam-type robot in this study. The flexible modes of the forks were identified by measuring the frequency response function (FRF, and the input shaping was designed so as not to excite the flexible modes. The controller was implemented by using MATLAB/xPC Target. In this paper, the design procedure of input shaping and its effectiveness for vibration attenuation in both “no load” and “load” cases is presented.

Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Yasser; Ostfeld, Aminy E; Lochner, Claire M; Pierre, Adrien; Arias, Ana C

2016-06-01

Advances in wireless technologies, low-power electronics, the internet of things, and in the domain of connected health are driving innovations in wearable medical devices at a tremendous pace. Wearable sensor systems composed of flexible and stretchable materials have the potential to better interface to the human skin, whereas silicon-based electronics are extremely efficient in sensor data processing and transmission. Therefore, flexible and stretchable sensors combined with low-power silicon-based electronics are a viable and efficient approach for medical monitoring. Flexible medical devices designed for monitoring human vital signs, such as body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse oxygenation, and blood glucose have applications in both fitness monitoring and medical diagnostics. As a review of the latest development in flexible and wearable human vitals sensors, the essential components required for vitals sensors are outlined and discussed here, including the reported sensor systems, sensing mechanisms, sensor fabrication, power, and data processing requirements. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Model for Flexibly Editing CSCL Scripts

Science.gov (United States)

Sobreira, Pericles; Tchounikine, Pierre

2012-01-01

This article presents a model whose primary concern and design rationale is to offer users (teachers) with basic ICT skills an intuitive, easy, and flexible way of editing scripts. The proposal is based on relating an end-user representation as a table and a machine model as a tree. The table-tree model introduces structural expressiveness and…

Full-color wide field-of-view holographic helmet-mounted display for pilot/vehicle interface development and human factors studies

Science.gov (United States)

Burley, James R., II; LaRussa, Joseph A.

1990-10-01

A Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) which utilizes highly efficient trichromatic holographic elements has been designed to support pilot vechicle interface development and human factors studies at the NASA-Langley Research Center. While the optics are fully color corrected, the miniature CRT's are monochromatic. This design provides an upgrade path to full-color when miniature display technology matures to color. The optical design conforms to the helmet shape and provides a 50 degree field-of-view (FOV) to each eye. Built-in adjustments allow each ocular to be independently moved so that the overall horizontal FOV may be varied from 50 degrees to 100 degrees with a corresponding change in the stereo overlap region. The helmet design and interpupillary adjustment allow for the 5th through 95th percentile male and female wearer. Total head-borne weight is approximately 4.2 pounds. The high-resolution monochromatic CRTs are driven by a set of multisync electronics with a maximum video bandwidth of 88 Mhz and supports bith raster and stroke modes. The electronics are designed to be compatiable with the Silicon Graphics IRIS 4D graphics workstations and the ADAGE 340 stroke graphics computer. A Polhemus magnetic tracking device is used to determine the helmet line-of-sight. The helmet will be used to develop innovative new display concepts for the F- 1 8 High-Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV) which make use of the unique display properties of the HMD. Pictorial displays, which convey the appropriate information intuitively, are envisioned. Human factors studies are also planned to evaluate the utility of stereopsis and determine the FOV requirements for different tasks. Concepts proven in the simulator will be carried to flight test in 1993 with a lighter weight, "hardened" version of this HMD design.

Reversibly Bistable Flexible Electronics

KAUST Repository

Alfaraj, Nasir

2015-05-01

Introducing the notion of transformational silicon electronics has paved the way for integrating various applications with silicon-based, modern, high-performance electronic circuits that are mechanically flexible and optically semitransparent. While maintaining large-scale production and prototyping rapidity, this flexible and translucent scheme demonstrates the potential to transform conventionally stiff electronic devices into thin and foldable ones without compromising long-term performance and reliability. In this work, we report on the fabrication and characterization of reversibly bistable flexible electronic switches that utilize flexible n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. The transistors are fabricated initially on rigid (100) silicon substrates before they are peeled off. They can be used to control flexible batches of light-emitting diodes, demonstrating both the relative ease of scaling at minimum cost and maximum reliability and the feasibility of integration. The peeled-off silicon fabric is about 25 µm thick. The fabricated devices are transferred to a reversibly bistable flexible platform through which, for example, a flexible smartphone can be wrapped around a user’s wrist and can also be set back to its original mechanical position. Buckling and cyclic bending of such host platforms brings a completely new dimension to the development of flexible electronics, especially rollable displays.

A Novel High-Performance Beam-Supported Membrane Structure with Enhanced Design Flexibility for Partial Discharge Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chenzhao Fu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available A novel beam-supported membrane (BSM structure for the fiber optic extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI sensors showing an enhanced performance and an improved resistance to the temperature change was proposed for detecting partial discharges (PDs. The fundamental frequency, sensitivity, linear range, and flatness of the BSM structure were investigated by employing the finite element simulations. Compared with the intact membrane (IM structure commonly used by EFPI sensors, BSM structure provides extra geometrical parameters to define the fundamental frequency when the diameter of the whole membrane and its thickness is determined, resulting in an enhanced design flexibility of the sensor structure. According to the simulation results, it is noted that BSM structure not only shows a much higher sensitivity (increased by almost four times for some cases, and a wider working range of fundamental frequency to choose, but also an improved linear range, making the system development much easier. In addition, BSM structure presents a better flatness than its IM counterpart, providing an increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR. A further improvement of performance is thought to be possible with a step-forward structural optimization. The BSM structure shows a great potential to design the EFPI sensors, as well as others for detecting the acoustic signals.

Predicting the tolerated sequences for proteins and protein interfaces using RosettaBackrub flexible backbone design.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colin A Smith

Full Text Available Predicting the set of sequences that are tolerated by a protein or protein interface, while maintaining a desired function, is useful for characterizing protein interaction specificity and for computationally designing sequence libraries to engineer proteins with new functions. Here we provide a general method, a detailed set of protocols, and several benchmarks and analyses for estimating tolerated sequences using flexible backbone protein design implemented in the Rosetta molecular modeling software suite. The input to the method is at least one experimentally determined three-dimensional protein structure or high-quality model. The starting structure(s are expanded or refined into a conformational ensemble using Monte Carlo simulations consisting of backrub backbone and side chain moves in Rosetta. The method then uses a combination of simulated annealing and genetic algorithm optimization methods to enrich for low-energy sequences for the individual members of the ensemble. To emphasize certain functional requirements (e.g. forming a binding interface, interactions between and within parts of the structure (e.g. domains can be reweighted in the scoring function. Results from each backbone structure are merged together to create a single estimate for the tolerated sequence space. We provide an extensive description of the protocol and its parameters, all source code, example analysis scripts and three tests applying this method to finding sequences predicted to stabilize proteins or protein interfaces. The generality of this method makes many other applications possible, for example stabilizing interactions with small molecules, DNA, or RNA. Through the use of within-domain reweighting and/or multistate design, it may also be possible to use this method to find sequences that stabilize particular protein conformations or binding interactions over others.

Low-cost, High Flexibility I-V Curve Tracer for Photovoltaic Modules

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ibirriaga, Julen Joseba Maestro; Pena, Xabier Miquelez de Mendiluce; Opritescu, Adrian

2010-01-01

This work presents the design, construction and test of an in-door low cost, high flexibility I-V curve tracer for photovoltaic modules. The tracer is connected to a Xenon lamp based flashing solar simulator. The designed tracer is able to deal with the very fast changing irradiation conditions...

23rd International Conference on Flexible Automation & Intelligent Manufacturing

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

The proceedings includes the set of revised papers from the 23rd International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM 2013). This conference aims to provide an international forum for the exchange of leading edge scientific knowledge and industrial experience regarding the development and integration of the various aspects of Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems covering the complete life-cycle of a company’s Products and Processes. Contents will include topics such as: Product, Process and Factory Integrated Design, Manufacturing Technology and Intelligent Systems, Manufacturing Operations Management and Optimization and Manufacturing Networks and MicroFactories.

Flexible Carpooling: Exploratory Study

OpenAIRE

Dorinson, Diana; Gay, Deanna; Minett, Paul; Shaheen, Susan

2009-01-01

Energy consumption could be reduced if more people shared rides rather than driving alone yet carpooling represents a small proportion of all potential carpoolers. Prior research has found that many who might carpool were concerned about reduced flexibility with carpooling. If flexibility is one of the barriers how could carpooling be organized to be more flexible? In Northern Virginia a flexible system has evolved where there are 3,500 single-use carpools per day. In another example there ...

Study of a zero Poisson’s ratio honeycomb used for flexible skin

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Jiaxin; Zhou, Li

2017-04-01

Flexible skin used in morphing wings is required to provide adequate cooperation deformation as well as bear the air load. Besides, according to the requirement of smoothness, the non-deformation direction of flexible skin needs to be restrained. This paper studies the mechanical properties of a cruciform honeycomb under a zero Poisson’s ratio constraint. The in-plane morphing capacity of the honeycomb is improved by optimizing the shape parameters of the honeycomb unit. To improve the out-of-plane bending capacity, a zero Poisson’s ratio mixed cruciform honeycomb with additional ribs is proposed. The mechanical properties of the mixed honeycomb are studied by theoretical analysis and simulation. Based on the design requirements of variable-camber trailing-edge flexible skin, the specific design parameters and performance parameters of the skin based on the mixed honeycomb are given. The results show that the zero Poisson’s ratio mixed cruciform honeycomb has high bending rigidity itself and can have better deformation capacity in-plane and higher bending rigidity out-of-plane by optimizing the shape parameters. The designed skin also has advantages in driving force, deformation capacity and quality over conventional skin.

A comparative reliability and performance study of different stent designs in terms of mechanical properties: foreshortening, recoil, radial force, and flexibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dong Bin; Choi, Hyuk; Joo, Sang Min; Kim, Han Ki; Shin, Jae Hee; Hwang, Min Ho; Choi, Jaesoon; Kim, Dong-Gon; Lee, Kwang Ho; Lim, Chun Hak; Yoo, Sun Kook; Lee, Heung-Man; Sun, Kyung

2013-04-01

This study seeks to improve the mechanical performance of stents by conducting reliability performance testing and finite element method (FEM)-based simulations for coronary stents. Three commercially available stent designs and our own new design were tested to measure the factors affecting performance, specifically foreshortening, recoil, radial force, and flexibility. The stents used in the present experiments were 3 mm in working diameter and 18 mm of working length. The results of the experiments indicate that the foreshortening of stents A, B, C, and our new design, D, was equivalent to 2.25, 0.67, 0.46, and 0.41%, respectively. The recoil of stents A, B, C, and D was 6.00, 4.35, 3.50, and 4.36%, respectively. Parallel plate radial force measurements were A, 3.72 ± 0.28 N; B, 3.81 ± 0.32 N; C, 4.35 ± 0.18 N; and D, 4.02 ± 0.24 N. Radial forces determined by applying uniform pressure in the circumferential direction were A, 28.749 ± 0.81 N; B, 32.231 ± 1.80 N; C, 34.522 ± 3.06 N; and D, 42.183 ± 2.84 N. The maximum force of crimped stent at 2.2-mm deflection was 1.01 ± 0.08 N, 0.82 ± 0.08 N, 0.92 ± 0.12 N, and 0.68 ± 0.07 N for each of stents A, B, C and D. The results of this study enabled us to identify several factors to enhance the performance of stents. In comparing these stents, we found that our design, stent D, which was designed by a collaborative team from seven universities, performed better than the commercial stents across all parameter of foreshortening, recoil, radial force, and flexibility. © 2013, Copyright the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2013, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Flexible and Stretchable Energy Storage: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Song, Min-Sang; Kong, Biao; Cui, Yi

2017-01-01

Energy-storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors have become fundamental building blocks in modern society. Recently, the emerging direction toward the ever-growing market of flexible and wearable electronics has nourished progress in building multifunctional energy-storage systems that can be bent, folded, crumpled, and stretched while maintaining their electrochemical functions under deformation. Here, recent progress and well-developed strategies in research designed to accomplish flexible and stretchable lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are reviewed. The challenges of developing novel materials and configurations with tailored features, and in designing simple and large-scaled manufacturing methods that can be widely utilized are considered. Furthermore, the perspectives and opportunities for this emerging field of materials science and engineering are also discussed. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Flexibility of MFTF-B for thermal-barrier modifications and axisymmetric upgrades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomassen, K.I.

1981-01-01

Flexibility in MFTB-B will be achieved partly by using the margins in particle and energy control designed into the machine and partly by making modest changes based on results obtained in TMX Upgrade. This latter flexibility is permitted by the schedule for vessel construction and component fabrication. The changes we might expect were determined by an examination of the processes involved in creating a thermal barrier and by speculating on the range of outcomes from TMX Upgrade experiments

[Inspecting the cochlear scala tympanic with flexible and semi-flexible micro-endoscope].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Daoxcing; Zhang, Yankun

2006-02-01

Flexible and semi-flexible micro-endoscopes were used in cochlear scala tympani inspection , to explore their application in inner ear examination. Fifteen profound hearing loss patients preparing for cochlear implant were included in this study. During the operation, micro-endoscopy was performed after opening the cochlear scala tympani. And 1 mm diameter semi-flexible micro-endoscope could go as deep as 9 mm into the cochlear scala tympani, while 0. 5 mm diameter flexible micro-endoscope could go as deep as 25 mm. The inspecting results were compared with video recording. Using 0.5 mm flexible micro-endoscope, we canould check cochlear scala tympani with depth range of 15-25 mm, but the video imaging was not clear enough to examine the microstructure in the cochlear. With 1 mm diameter semi-flexible micro-endoscope, we could reach 9 mm deep into the cochlear. During the examination, we found 3 cases with calcification deposit in osseous spiral lamina, l case with granulation tissue in the lateral wall of scala tympani, no abnormal findings in the other 11 cases. Inspecting the cochlear scala tympani with 0.5 mm flexible micro-endoscope, even though we can reach the second circuit of the cochlear, it is difficult to find the pathology in the cochlear because of the poor video imaging. With 1 mm semi-flexible micro-endoscope, we can identify the microstructure of the cochlear clearly and find the pathologic changes, but the inserting depth was limited to 9 mm with limitation to examine the whole cochlear.

High-Performance Flexible Force and Temperature Sensing Array with a Robust Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Min-Seok; Song, Han-Wook; Park, Yon-Kyu

We have developed a flexible tactile sensor array capable of sensing physical quantities, e.g. force and temperature with high-performances and high spatial resolution. The fabricated tactile sensor consists of 8 × 8 force measuring array with 1 mm spacing and a thin metal (copper) temperature sensor. The flexible force sensing array consists of sub-millimetre-size bar-shaped semi-conductor strain gage array attached to a thin and flexible printed circuit board covered by stretchable elastomeric material on both sides. This design incorporates benefits of both materials; the semi-conductor's high performance and the polymer's mechanical flexibility and robustness, while overcoming their drawbacks of those two materials. Special fabrication processes, so called “dry-transfer technique” have been used to fabricate the tactile sensor along with standard micro-fabrication processes.

Qualification of new design of flexible pipe against singing: testing at multiple scales

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Golliard, J.; Lunde, K.; Vijlbrief, O.

2016-01-01

Flexible pipes for production of oil and gas typically present a corrugated inner surface. This has been identified as the cause of "singing risers": Flow-Induced Pulsations due to the interaction of sound waves with the shear layers at the small cavities present at each of the multiple

Development of Flexible Pneumatic Cylinder with Built-in Flexible Linear Encoder and Flexible Bending Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Akagi, Tetsuya; Dohta, Shujiro; Matsushita, Hisashi; Fukuhara, Akimasa

The purpose of this study is to develop a lightweight and intelligent soft actuator which can be safely attached to the human body. A novel flexible pneumatic cylinder that can be used even if it is deformed by external force had been proposed. The cylinder can realize both pushing and pulling motions even if the cylinder bends. In this paper, a flexible pneumatic cylinder with a built-in flexible linear encoder is proposed and tested. The encoder can detect the cylinder displacement even if the cylinder bends. In the next step, to realize an intelligent flexible cylinder, it is essential to recognize the angle of deflection of the cylinder to estimate the direction of the external force. Therefore, a flexible bending sensor that can measure the directional angle by attaching it to the end of the cylinder is also proposed and tested. The tested bending sensor also consists of four inexpensive photo-reflectors set on the circumferential surface to the cylinder tube every 90 degrees from the center of the tube. By measuring the distance between the photo reflector and the surface of the tube at each point, the bending directional angle of the cylinder can be obtained. A low cost measuring system using a micro-computer incorporating a programmed Up/Down counter to measure the displacement of the cylinder is also developed. As a result, it was confirmed that the measuring accuracy of the bending directional angle was good, less than 0.7 degrees as a standard deviation.

A generalized quarter car modelling approach with frame flexibility ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

HUSAIN KANCHWALA

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India e-mail: ... Quarter-car model; laplace domain; other wheel effects; reduced order; wheel hop; frame flexibility. ..... simply involve adding some internal modelling details. ... scale simulation, analysis and control design, and has been.

Qualification test for the flexible receiver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keller, C.M.

1994-01-01

This document provides the test plan and procedures to certify and design verify the 42 inch and 4--6 inch Flexible Receiver (FR) is a safety class 3 system. Verification of the design will be handled in two parts. The first part will be to show that it meets design requirements set forth by documents and the second part will perform test(s) to verify its operational aspects. To qualify the design of the FR systems for field use this test will demonstrate environmentally safe removal of a Tank Farm pump mock-up from a Tank Farm riser mock-up. Testing will also demonstrate the performance of supporting equipment. The FR and the Secondary Bagging (SB) equipment shall be tested to verify successful operation of the equipment to the following criteria: The FR can be placed on a riser and connections made to the supporting equipment; The FR bag can accept equipment and be successfully sealed; The SB system encases the seal of the primary FR bag; The flexible bag(s) do not tear and maintain integrity during the entire test; The FR control system operates in the fail safe forced sequence mode; The FR control system will operate in the manual override mode (out of sequence operations); The CCTV Video system monitors and records the removal of the test item; The spray wash system operates without leaks and effectively provides coverage; The item being removed can be reinserted to a depth of 8 feet and the bag reinstalled onto the vertical bag supports; and The system prohibits momentary mechanical fluctuations due to the application of system power, including power interruptions

Urban water supply infrastructure planning under predictive groundwater uncertainty: Bayesian updating and flexible design

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, S.; Strzepek, K.

2017-12-01

Many urban water planners face increased pressure on water supply systems from increasing demands from population and economic growth in combination with uncertain water supply, driven by short-term climate variability and long-term climate change. These uncertainties are often exacerbated in groundwater-dependent water systems due to the extra difficulty in measuring groundwater storage, recharge, and sustainable yield. Groundwater models are typically under-parameterized due to the high data requirements for calibration and limited data availability, leading to uncertainty in the models' predictions. We develop an integrated approach to urban water supply planning that combines predictive groundwater uncertainty analysis with adaptive water supply planning using multi-stage decision analysis. This allows us to compare the value of collecting additional groundwater data and reducing predictive uncertainty with the value of using water infrastructure planning that is flexible, modular, and can react quickly in response to unexpected changes in groundwater availability. We apply this approach to a case from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Riyadh relies on fossil groundwater aquifers and desalination for urban use. The main fossil aquifers incur minimal recharge and face depletion as a result of intense withdrawals for urban and agricultural use. As the water table declines and pumping becomes uneconomical, Riyadh will have to build new supply infrastructure, decrease demand, or increase the efficiency of its distribution system. However, poor groundwater characterization has led to severe uncertainty in aquifer parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, and therefore severe uncertainty in how the water table will respond to pumping over time and when these transitions will be necessary: the potential depletion time varies from approximately five years to 100 years. This case is an excellent candidate for flexible planning both because of its severity and the potential for

Optimal Reference Strain Structure for Studying Dynamic Responses of Flexible Rockets

Science.gov (United States)

Tsushima, Natsuki; Su, Weihua; Wolf, Michael G.; Griffin, Edwin D.; Dumoulin, Marie P.

2017-01-01

In the proposed paper, the optimal design of reference strain structures (RSS) will be performed targeting for the accurate observation of the dynamic bending and torsion deformation of a flexible rocket. It will provide the detailed description of the finite-element (FE) model of a notional flexible rocket created in MSC.Patran. The RSS will be attached longitudinally along the side of the rocket and to track the deformation of the thin-walled structure under external loads. An integrated surrogate-based multi-objective optimization approach will be developed to find the optimal design of the RSS using the FE model. The Kriging method will be used to construct the surrogate model. For the data sampling and the performance evaluation, static/transient analyses will be performed with MSC.Natran/Patran. The multi-objective optimization will be solved with NSGA-II to minimize the difference between the strains of the launch vehicle and RSS. Finally, the performance of the optimal RSS will be evaluated by checking its strain-tracking capability in different numerical simulations of the flexible rocket.

INFLUENCE OF IONIZING IRRADIATION ON THE PARAMETERS OF ZN NANOTUBES ARRAYS FOR DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS ELEMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. B. Kadyrzhanov

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is establishing the possibility of using Zn nanotube arrays as a basis for design compact and lightweight elements of flexible electronics, including operating under influence of ionizing irradiation.The paper presents the results of the synthesis of Zn nanotubes obtained by electrochemical deposition in the pores of polymer matrices and the study of their structural and electrophysical properties after directional modification by ionizing radiation with different doses. Using the methods of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive analysis, the structure of nanotubes having a polycrystalline structure and completely consisting of zinc was studied and it was demonstrated that irradiation with Ar8+ ions with a dose from 1 × 109 to 5 × 1011 ion/cm2 and energy 1.75 MeV/nucleon has an effect on the crystal structure of nanotubes.At high doses, localized highly defect zones arise, leading to a critical change in the structure and physical properties of the nanotubes, respectively. It is shown that the consequence of the modification of the crystal structure is a change in the electrical conductivity of nanotubes: at low doses the electrical conductivity increases, but when the threshold value is reached, it sharply decreases. The change in the crystal structure and the corresponding changes in the conductive properties of Zn nanotubes due to irradiation determine the mechanism of ionizing radiation influence on nanomaterials and determine the possibility of using Zn nanotubes arrays as a basis for creating compact and lightweight elements of flexible electronics.

Simulations of Micropumps Based on Tilted Flexible Fibers

Science.gov (United States)

Hancock, Matthew; Elabbasi, Nagi; Demirel, Melik

2015-11-01

Pumping liquids at low Reynolds numbers is challenging because of the principle of reversibility. We report here a class of microfluidic pump designs based on tilted flexible structures that combines the concepts of cilia (flexible elastic elements) and rectifiers (e.g., Tesla valves, check valves). We demonstrate proof-of-concept with 2D and 3D fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics®of micropumps consisting of a source for oscillatory fluidic motion, e.g. a piston, and a channel lined with tilted flexible rods or sheets to provide rectification. When flow is against the rod tilt direction, the rods bend backward, narrowing the channel and increasing flow resistance; when flow is in the direction of rod tilt, the rods bend forward, widening the channel and decreasing flow resistance. The 2D and 3D simulations involve moving meshes whose quality is maintained by prescribing the mesh displacement on guide surfaces positioned on either side of each flexible structure. The prescribed displacement depends on structure bending and maintains mesh quality even for large deformations. Simulations demonstrate effective pumping even at Reynolds numbers as low as 0.001. Because rod rigidity may be specified independently of Reynolds number, in principle, rod rigidity may be reduced to enable pumping at arbitrarily low Reynolds numbers.

Design Developing of IC- Model Using VHDL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inzar-Anas

2005-01-01

In present, the electronic design required to become simple, small and flexible. The physical dimension of IC and number of pin can be significantly reduced while the flexibility and compatibility of IC was not change. Implementation of VHDL(VHSIC Hardware Description Language) seem as a great progress in the design of digital circuit. By using this language designing of model can be more simple, flexible and efficient. This paper was purposed to introduce VHDL and its features. Sample in modeling to illustrate the advantage of VHDL will also be described. (author)

Effects of a pilates school program on hamstrings flexibility of adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Noelia González-Gálvez

2015-08-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Low levels of hamstring flexibility may trigger certain acute and chronic pathologies and injuries. Poor flexibility is observed among teenagers and several authors have recommended the use of specific programs in this population to improve flexibility levels. The Pilates Method (PM may be an appropriate intervention to achieve this purpose and has rarely been used with this population. Objective: Study was to assess changes in the flexibility of hamstrings after running a didactic PM unit for high-school students.METHODS: This research was developed through a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 66 high-school students divided into experimental group (EG=39 and control group (CG=27. The intervention was carried out 2 times a week for six weeks. Each session lasted 55 minutes divided into three parts: warm-up, main part and cool down. Hamstring flexibility was assessed using the toe-touch test. Paired Student t-test and t-test for independent samples were applied. The size of the effect (d was determined.RESULTS: The EG showed significant provident in hamstring flexibility (+3.54±3.9cm. The effect size was low (d>d>0,2d>0.21.15 which means that a large proportion of participants improved their results.CONCLUSION: This study showed that six-weeks of Pilates training in Physical Education classes has significantly improved the hamstrings flexibility among adolescents.

Energy Flexibility in Retail Buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Kjærgaard, Mikkel Baun

2017-01-01

Retail buildings has an important role for demand side energy flexibility because of their high energy consumption, variety of energy flexibility resources, and centralized control via building control systems. Energy flexibility requires agreements and collaborations among different actors......), with the discussion of the stakeholders’ roles and their interrelation in delivering energy flexibility with the influential factors to the actual implementation of energy flexible operation of their buildings. Based on a literature analysis, the results cover stakeholders’ types and roles, perceptions (drivers......, barriers, and benefits), energy management activities and technology adoptions, and the stakeholders’ interaction for the energy flexibility in retail buildings....

FDM 3D printed coffee glove embedded with flexible electronic

KAUST Repository

Bahri, Meznan

2017-10-31

With the advances in 3D printing technology, Flexible Electronics can now be exploited to form the so-called “Embedded Electronics”. This paper describes experiences learned from a research project which ran during summer 2016 at KAUST, in collaboration with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Effat University, and aimed at creating a heating coffee glove product operating on double alkaline batteries using Kapton© as a flexible substrate for the circuit. The circuit and its batteries are encapsulated in a 3D printed glove, designed using SolidWorks©. The proposed methodology and techniques applied during this work could be further used in implementing other technologies, such as thermoelectric coolers head patches, smart garments, and flexible smartphones. Limitation and recommendation of the present methodology are also discussed.

Design and fabrication of magnetically functionalized flexible micropillar arrays for rapid and controllable microfluidic mixing

KAUST Repository

Zhou, BingPu

2015-03-25

Magnetically functionalized PDMS-based micropillar arrays have been successfully designed, fabricated and implanted for controllable microfluidic mixing. The arrangement of PDMS micropillar arrays inside the microchannel can be flexibly controlled by an external magnetic field. As a consequence, the flow fields inside the microchannel can be regulated at will via magnetic activation conveniently. When a microchannel is implanted with such micropillar arrays, two microstreams can be mixed easily and controllably upon the simple application of an on/off magnetic signal. Mixing efficiencies based on micropillar arrays with different densities were investigated and compared. It was found that micropillar arrays with higher density (i.e. smaller pillar pitch) would render better mixing performance. Our microfluidic system is capable of generating highly reproducible results within many cycles of mixing/non-mixing conversion. We believe that the simple mixing-triggering method together with rapid and controllable mixing control will be extraordinarily valuable for various biological or chemical applications in the future. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015.

Design and fabrication of magnetically functionalized flexible micropillar arrays for rapid and controllable microfluidic mixing

KAUST Repository

Zhou, BingPu; Xu, Wei; Syed, Ahad; Chau, Yeungyeung; Chen, Longqing; Chew, Basil; Yassine, Omar; Wu, Xiaoxiao; Gao, Yibo; Zhang, Jingxian; Xiao, Xiao; Kosel, Jü rgen; Zhang, Xixiang; Yao, Zhaohui; Wen, Weijia

2015-01-01

Magnetically functionalized PDMS-based micropillar arrays have been successfully designed, fabricated and implanted for controllable microfluidic mixing. The arrangement of PDMS micropillar arrays inside the microchannel can be flexibly controlled by an external magnetic field. As a consequence, the flow fields inside the microchannel can be regulated at will via magnetic activation conveniently. When a microchannel is implanted with such micropillar arrays, two microstreams can be mixed easily and controllably upon the simple application of an on/off magnetic signal. Mixing efficiencies based on micropillar arrays with different densities were investigated and compared. It was found that micropillar arrays with higher density (i.e. smaller pillar pitch) would render better mixing performance. Our microfluidic system is capable of generating highly reproducible results within many cycles of mixing/non-mixing conversion. We believe that the simple mixing-triggering method together with rapid and controllable mixing control will be extraordinarily valuable for various biological or chemical applications in the future. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015.

Flexible Word Classes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

• First major publication on the phenomenon • Offers cross-linguistic, descriptive, and diverse theoretical approaches • Includes analysis of data from different language families and from lesser studied languages This book is the first major cross-linguistic study of 'flexible words', i.e. words...... that cannot be classified in terms of the traditional lexical categories Verb, Noun, Adjective or Adverb. Flexible words can - without special morphosyntactic marking - serve in functions for which other languages must employ members of two or more of the four traditional, 'specialised' word classes. Thus......, flexible words are underspecified for communicative functions like 'predicating' (verbal function), 'referring' (nominal function) or 'modifying' (a function typically associated with adjectives and e.g. manner adverbs). Even though linguists have been aware of flexible world classes for more than...

Three-dimensional head-mounted gaming task procedure maximizes effects of vestibular rehabilitation in unilateral vestibular hypofunction: a randomized controlled pilot trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Micarelli, Alessandro; Viziano, Andrea; Augimeri, Ivan; Micarelli, Domenico; Alessandrini, Marco

2017-12-01

Considering the emerging advantages related to virtual reality implementation in clinical rehabilitation, the aim of the present study was to discover possible (i) improvements achievable in unilateral vestibular hypofunction patients using a self-assessed head-mounted device (HMD)-based gaming procedure when combined with a classical vestibular rehabilitation protocol (HMD group) as compared with a group undergoing only vestibular rehabilitation and (ii) HMD procedure-related side effects. Therefore, 24 vestibular rehabilitation and 23-matched HMD unilateral vestibular hypofunction individuals simultaneously underwent a 4-week rehabilitation protocol. Both otoneurological measures (vestibulo-ocular reflex gain and postural arrangement by studying both posturography parameters and spectral values of body oscillation) and performance and self-report measures (Italian Dizziness Handicap Inventory; Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale; Zung Instrument for Anxiety Disorders, Dynamic Gait Index; and Simulator Sickness Questionnaire) were analyzed by means of a between-group/within-subject analysis of variance model. A significant post-treatment between-effect was found, and the HMD group demonstrated an overall improvement in vestibulo-ocular reflex gain on the lesional side, in posturography parameters, in low-frequency spectral domain, as well as in Italian Dizziness Handicap Inventory and Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale scores. Meanwhile, Simulator Sickness Questionnaire scores demonstrated a significant reduction in symptoms related to experimental home-based gaming tasks during the HMD procedure. Our findings revealed the possible advantages of HMD implementation in vestibular rehabilitation, suggesting it as an innovative, self-assessed, low-cost, and compliant tool useful in maximizing vestibular rehabilitation outcomes.

Iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine cardiac scintigraphy in patients with diabetes mellitus. Therapeutic effects of aldose reductase inhibitor and vitamin B12

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Utsunomiya, Keita

1997-01-01

Twenty normal volunteers (C group) and 56 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) who did not have ischemic heart diseases (DM group), were evaluated by means of iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy. The uptake ratio between the cardiac muscle and the upper mediastinum was calculated. The ratio determined from the initial I-123-MIBG scintigraphy image was expressed as HMi, and that determined from the delayed image was expressed as HMd. The washout rate percentage (%WR) was calculated. At least one instance of either the HMi, the HMd, or %WR was outside the mean±1 standard deviation of C group in 34 DM group patients. Aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI) was administered to 17 of the 34 patients and Vitamin B 12 (VB 12 ) to the remaining 17 patients, for 3 to 5 months. Before and after treatment, scintigraphic studies with I-123-MIBG were carried out, and the HMi, HMd, and %WR were calculated. There were no significant differences found in FBG, HbA1c, or 1.5-AG levels after treatment with either drug, when compared to the pretreatment values. Both HMi and HMd in the DM group were significantly lower, and %WR was significantly higher than in the C group. The changes in HMi, HMd, and %WR after treatment with ARI were not significant. After treatment with VB 12 , the HMi and HMd levels were significantly increased (p 12 was shown to be effective for improvement of HMi and HMd in NIDDM. (author)

A low-cost multimodal head-mounted display system for neuroendoscopic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Xinghua; Zheng, Yi; Yao, Shujing; Sun, Guochen; Xu, Bainan; Chen, Xiaolei

2018-01-01

With rapid advances in technology, wearable devices as head-mounted display (HMD) have been adopted for various uses in medical science, ranging from simply aiding in fitness to assisting surgery. We aimed to investigate the feasibility and practicability of a low-cost multimodal HMD system in neuroendoscopic surgery. A multimodal HMD system, mainly consisted of a HMD with two built-in displays, an action camera, and a laptop computer displaying reconstructed medical images, was developed to assist neuroendoscopic surgery. With this intensively integrated system, the neurosurgeon could freely switch between endoscopic image, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructed virtual endoscopy images, and surrounding environment images. Using a leap motion controller, the neurosurgeon could adjust or rotate the 3D virtual endoscopic images at a distance to better understand the positional relation between lesions and normal tissues at will. A total of 21 consecutive patients with ventricular system diseases underwent neuroendoscopic surgery with the aid of this system. All operations were accomplished successfully, and no system-related complications occurred. The HMD was comfortable to wear and easy to operate. Screen resolution of the HMD was high enough for the neurosurgeon to operate carefully. With the system, the neurosurgeon might get a better comprehension on lesions by freely switching among images of different modalities. The system had a steep learning curve, which meant a quick increment of skill with it. Compared with commercially available surgical assistant instruments, this system was relatively low-cost. The multimodal HMD system is feasible, practical, helpful, and relatively cost efficient in neuroendoscopic surgery.

Rationally Designed, Multifunctional Self-Assembled Nanoparticles for Covalently Networked, Flexible and Self-Healable Superhydrophobic Composite Films.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yujin; You, Eun-Ah; Ha, Young-Geun

2018-03-21

For constructing bioinspired functional films with various superhydrophobic functions, including self-cleaning, anticorrosion, antibioadhesion, and oil-water separation, hydrophobic nanomaterials have been widely used as crucial structural components. In general, hydrophobic nanomaterials, however, cannot form strong chemical bond networks in organic-inorganic hybrid composite films because of the absence of chemically compatible binding components. Herein, we report the rationally designed, multifunctional self-assembled nanoparticles with tunable functionalities of covalent cross-linking and hydrophobicity for constructing three-dimensionally interconnected superhydrophobic composite films via a facile solution-based fabrication at room temperature. The multifunctional self-assembled nanoparticles allow the systematic control of functionalities of composite films, as well as the stable formation of covalently linked superhydrophobic composite films with excellent flexibility (bending radii of 6.5 and 3.0 mm, 1000 cycles) and self-healing ability (water contact angle > 150°, ≥10 cycles). The presented strategy can be a versatile and effective route to generating other advanced functional films with covalently interconnected composite networks.

In vitro results of flexible light-emitting antimicrobial bandage designed for prevention of surgical site infections

Science.gov (United States)

Greenberg, Mitchell; Sharan, Riti; Galbadage, Thushara; Sule, Preeti; Smith, Robert; Lovelady, April; Cirillo, Jeffrey D.; Glowczwski, Alan; Maitland, Kristen C.

2018-02-01

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality and a significant expense to the healthcare system and hospitals. The majority of these infections are preventable; however, increasing bacterial resistance, biofilm persistence, and human error contribute to the occurrence of these healthcare-associated infections. We present a flexible antimicrobial blue-light emitting bandage designed for use on postoperative incisions and wounds. The photonic device is designed to inactivate bacteria present on the skin and prevent bacterial colonization of the site, thus reducing the occurrence of SSIs. This antimicrobial light emitting bandage uses blue light's proven abilities to inactivate a wide range of clinical pathogens regardless of their resistance to antibiotics, inactivate bacteria without harming mammalian cells, improve wound healing, and inactivate bacteria in biofilms. The antimicrobial bandage consists of a thin 2"x2" silicone sheet with an array of 77 LEDs embedded in multiple layers of the material for thermal management. The 405 nm center wavelength LED array is designed to be a wearable device that integrates with standard hospital infection prevention protocols. The device was characterized for irradiance of 44.5 mW/cm2. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus seeded in a petri dish was used to evaluate bacterial inactivation in vitro. Starting with a concentration of 2.16 x 107 colony forming units (CFU)/mL, 45% of the bacteria was inactivated within 15 minutes, 65% had been inactivated by 30 minutes, 99% was inactivated by 60 minutes, and a 7 log reduction and complete sterilization was achieved within 120 minutes.

A Flexible Statechart-to-Model-Checker Translator

Science.gov (United States)

Rouquette, Nicolas; Dunphy, Julia; Feather, Martin S.

2000-01-01

Many current-day software design tools offer some variant of statechart notation for system specification. We, like others, have built an automatic translator from (a subset of) statecharts to a model checker, for use to validate behavioral requirements. Our translator is designed to be flexible. This allows us to quickly adjust the translator to variants of statechart semantics, including problem-specific notational conventions that designers employ. Our system demonstration will be of interest to the following two communities: (1) Potential end-users: Our demonstration will show translation from statecharts created in a commercial UML tool (Rational Rose) to Promela, the input language of Holzmann's model checker SPIN. The translation is accomplished automatically. To accommodate the major variants of statechart semantics, our tool offers user-selectable choices among semantic alternatives. Options for customized semantic variants are also made available. The net result is an easy-to-use tool that operates on a wide range of statechart diagrams to automate the pathway to model-checking input. (2) Other researchers: Our translator embodies, in one tool, ideas and approaches drawn from several sources. Solutions to the major challenges of statechart-to-model-checker translation (e.g., determining which transition(s) will fire, handling of concurrent activities) are retired in a uniform, fully mechanized, setting. The way in which the underlying architecture of the translator itself facilitates flexible and customizable translation will also be evident.

49 CFR 178.710 - Standards for flexible IBCs.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... used in the manufacture of the tested design type, retesting may be omitted if the carbon black content... material. (6) No used material other than production residues or regrind from the same manufacturing process may be used in the manufacture of plastic flexible IBCs. This does not preclude the re-use of...

Design Optimization Toolkit: Users' Manual

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguilo Valentin, Miguel Alejandro [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Computational Solid Mechanics and Structural Dynamics

2014-07-01

The Design Optimization Toolkit (DOTk) is a stand-alone C++ software package intended to solve complex design optimization problems. DOTk software package provides a range of solution methods that are suited for gradient/nongradient-based optimization, large scale constrained optimization, and topology optimization. DOTk was design to have a flexible user interface to allow easy access to DOTk solution methods from external engineering software packages. This inherent flexibility makes DOTk barely intrusive to other engineering software packages. As part of this inherent flexibility, DOTk software package provides an easy-to-use MATLAB interface that enables users to call DOTk solution methods directly from the MATLAB command window.

Characteristics and parametric analysis of a novel flexible ink-based thermoelectric generator for human body sensor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qing, Shaowei; Rezaniakolaei, Alireza; Rosendahl, Lasse Aistrup

2018-01-01

Flexible thermoelectric generator became an attractive technology for its wide use especially for curved surfaces applications. This study proposes design of a flexible thermoelectric generator, which is part of a sensor and supplies required electrical power for human body application...... elements thickness and thermoelectric module row number in a proper range can significantly enhance thermoelectric generator performance. The maximum output power can reach 0.2 μW/cm2, which indicates the proposed design is promising for supplying human body sensors. In addition, the basic optimal design....... The thermoelectric generator module has ink-based thermoelements which are made of nano-carbon bismuth telluride materials. Flexible fins conduct the body heat to the thermoelectric uni-couples, extended fins exchange the heat from the cold side of the thermoelectric generator to the ambient. A fully developed one...

Flexible magnetoimpedance sensor

KAUST Repository

Li, Bodong; Kavaldzhiev, Mincho; Kosel, Jü rgen

2015-01-01

Flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensors fabricated using a NiFe/Cu/NiFe tri-layer on Kapton substrate have been studied. A customized flexible microstrip transmission line was employed to investigate the MI sensors's magnetic field and frequency

Stochastic Dynamics Underlying Cognitive Stability and Flexibility.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Ueltzhöffer

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Cognitive stability and flexibility are core functions in the successful pursuit of behavioral goals. While there is evidence for a common frontoparietal network underlying both functions and for a key role of dopamine in the modulation of flexible versus stable behavior, the exact neurocomputational mechanisms underlying those executive functions and their adaptation to environmental demands are still unclear. In this work we study the neurocomputational mechanisms underlying cue based task switching (flexibility and distractor inhibition (stability in a paradigm specifically designed to probe both functions. We develop a physiologically plausible, explicit model of neural networks that maintain the currently active task rule in working memory and implement the decision process. We simplify the four-choice decision network to a nonlinear drift-diffusion process that we canonically derive from a generic winner-take-all network model. By fitting our model to the behavioral data of individual subjects, we can reproduce their full behavior in terms of decisions and reaction time distributions in baseline as well as distractor inhibition and switch conditions. Furthermore, we predict the individual hemodynamic response timecourse of the rule-representing network and localize it to a frontoparietal network including the inferior frontal junction area and the intraparietal sulcus, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This refines the understanding of task-switch-related frontoparietal brain activity as reflecting attractor-like working memory representations of task rules. Finally, we estimate the subject-specific stability of the rule-representing attractor states in terms of the minimal action associated with a transition between different rule states in the phase-space of the fitted models. This stability measure correlates with switching-specific thalamocorticostriatal activation, i.e., with a system associated with flexible working memory

Impact of Flexibility of Manufacturing System Components on Competitiveness of SMEs in Northern India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shakun Preet Kaur

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present manufacturing environment is characterized by a number of changes which poses challenges to a typical manufacturing unit. Time demands a shift from the traditional manufacturing strategies as they do not fit to present market competition. A flexible systems strategy has to be designed for remaining competitive in the market and perform well. For designing strategies and policies it is important to know the factors that influence performance of the system. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the flexibility of manufacturing system components on competitiveness of SMEs in northern India. A questionnaire based survey was conducted in the SMEs across northern India analysing three sectors namely automotive, machine tool and light engineering (mechanical components and equipment. The study contributes to the existing literature by empirically investigating the impact of machine, material handling and worker flexibility on competitiveness of manufacturing firms. This paper presents a Structural Equation Model displaying the impact of flexibility of manufacturing system components on competitiveness of SMEs.

Flexible Conversion Ratio Fast Reactor Systems Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neil Todreas; Pavel Hejzlar

2008-06-30

Conceptual designs of lead-cooled and liquid salt-cooled fast flexible conversion ratio reactors were developed. Both concepts have cores reated at 2400 MWt placed in a large-pool-type vessel with dual-free level, which also contains four intermediate heat exchanges coupling a primary coolant to a compact and efficient supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion system. Decay heat is removed passively using an enhanced Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System and a Passive Secondary Auxiliary Cooling System. The most important findings were that (1) it is feasible to design the lead-cooled and salt-cooled reactor with the flexible conversion ratio (CR) in the range of CR=0 and CR=1 n a manner that achieves inherent reactor shutdown in unprotected accidents, (2) the salt-cooled reactor requires Lithium thermal Expansion Modules to overcme the inherent salt coolant's large positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficient, (3) the preferable salt for fast spectrum high power density cores is NaCl-Kcl-MgCl2 as opposed to fluoride salts due to its better themal-hydraulic and neutronic characteristics, and (4) both reactor, but attain power density 3 times smaller than that of the sodium-cooled reactor.

Flexible Conversion Ratio Fast Reactor Systems Evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neil Todreas; Pavel Hejzlar

2008-01-01

Conceptual designs of lead-cooled and liquid salt-cooled fast flexible conversion ratio reactors were developed. Both concepts have cores treated at 2400 MWt placed in a large-pool-type vessel with dual-free level, which also contains four intermediate heat exchanges coupling a primary coolant to a compact and efficient supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle power conversion system. Decay heat is removed passively using an enhanced Reactor Vessel Auxiliary Cooling System and a Passive Secondary Auxiliary Cooling System. The most important findings were that (1) it is feasible to design the lead-cooled and salt-cooled reactor with the flexible conversion ratio (CR) in the range of CR=0 and CR=1 n a manner that achieves inherent reactor shutdown in unprotected accidents, (2) the salt-cooled reactor requires Lithium thermal Expansion Modules to overcome the inherent salt coolant's large positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficient, (3) the preferable salt for fast spectrum high power density cores is NaCl-Kcl-MgCl2 as opposed to fluoride salts due to its better thermal-hydraulic and neutronic characteristics, and (4) both reactor, but attain power density 3 times smaller than that of the sodium-cooled reactor

Flexible thin film magnetoimpedance sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kurlyandskaya, G.V.; Fernández, E.; Svalov, A.; Burgoa Beitia, A.; García-Arribas, A.; Larrañaga, A.

2016-01-01

Magnetically soft thin film deposited onto polymer substrates is an attractive option for flexible electronics including magnetoimpedance (MI) applications. MI FeNi/Ti based thin film sensitive elements were designed and prepared using the sputtering technique by deposition onto rigid and flexible substrates at different deposition rates. Their structure, magnetic properties and MI were comparatively analyzed. The main structural features were sufficiently accurately reproduced in the case of deposition onto cyclo olefine polymer substrates compared to glass substrates for the same conditions. Although for the best condition (28 nm/min rate) of the deposition onto polymer a significant reduction of the MI field sensitivity was found satisfactory for sensor applications sensitivity: 45%/Oe was obtained for a frequency of 60 MHz. - Highlights: • [FeNi/Ti] 3 /Cu/[FeNi/Ti] 3 films were prepared by sputtering at different deposition rates. • Polymer substrates insure sufficiently accurate reproducibility of the film structure. • High deposition rate of 28 nm/min insures the highest values of the magnetoimpedance sensitivity. • Deposition onto polymer results in the satisfactory magnetoimpedance sensitivity of 45%/Oe.

Flexible thin film magnetoimpedance sensors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurlyandskaya, G.V., E-mail: galina@we.lc.ehu.es [Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica, P.O. Box 644, Bilbao 48080 (Spain); Ural Federal University, Laboratory of Magnetic sensoric, Lenin Ave. 51, 620083 Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation); Fernández, E. [BCMaterials UPV-EHU, Vizcaya Science and Technology Park, 48160 Derio (Spain); Svalov, A. [Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica, P.O. Box 644, Bilbao 48080 (Spain); Ural Federal University, Laboratory of Magnetic sensoric, Lenin Ave. 51, 620083 Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation); Burgoa Beitia, A. [Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica, P.O. Box 644, Bilbao 48080 (Spain); García-Arribas, A. [Universidad del País Vasco, UPV/EHU, Departamento de Electricidad y Electrónica, P.O. Box 644, Bilbao 48080 (Spain); BCMaterials UPV-EHU, Vizcaya Science and Technology Park, 48160 Derio (Spain); Larrañaga, A. [SGIker, Servicios Generales de Investigación, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), 48080 Bilbao (Spain)

2016-10-01

Magnetically soft thin film deposited onto polymer substrates is an attractive option for flexible electronics including magnetoimpedance (MI) applications. MI FeNi/Ti based thin film sensitive elements were designed and prepared using the sputtering technique by deposition onto rigid and flexible substrates at different deposition rates. Their structure, magnetic properties and MI were comparatively analyzed. The main structural features were sufficiently accurately reproduced in the case of deposition onto cyclo olefine polymer substrates compared to glass substrates for the same conditions. Although for the best condition (28 nm/min rate) of the deposition onto polymer a significant reduction of the MI field sensitivity was found satisfactory for sensor applications sensitivity: 45%/Oe was obtained for a frequency of 60 MHz. - Highlights: • [FeNi/Ti]{sub 3}/Cu/[FeNi/Ti]{sub 3} films were prepared by sputtering at different deposition rates. • Polymer substrates insure sufficiently accurate reproducibility of the film structure. • High deposition rate of 28 nm/min insures the highest values of the magnetoimpedance sensitivity. • Deposition onto polymer results in the satisfactory magnetoimpedance sensitivity of 45%/Oe.

Flexible magnetoimpedance sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Bodong; Kavaldzhiev, Mincho N.; Kosel, Jürgen

2015-01-01

Flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensors fabricated using a NiFe/Cu/NiFe tri-layer on Kapton substrate have been studied. A customized flexible microstrip transmission line was employed to investigate the MI sensors's magnetic field and frequency responses and their dependence on the sensors's deflection. For the first time, the impedance characteristic is obtained through reflection coefficient analysis over a wide range of frequencies from 0.1 MHz to 3 GHz and for deflections ranging from zero curvature to a radius of 7.2 cm. The sensor element maintains a high MI ratio of up to 90% and magnetic sensitivity of up to 9.2%/Oe over different bending curvatures. The relationship between the curvature and material composition is discussed based on the magnetostriction effect and stress simulations. The sensor's large frequency range, simple fabrication process and high sensitivity provide a great potential for flexible electronics and wireless applications. - Highlights: • A flexible magnetoimpedance (MI) sensor is developed. • Studies are carried out using a flexible microstrip transmission line. • An MI ratio of up to 90% is obtained. • The effect of magnetostriction is studied

Flexible Foam Model.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Neilsen, Michael K.; Lu, Wei-Yang; Werner, Brian T.; Scherzinger, William M.; Lo, Chi S.

2018-03-01

Experiments were performed to characterize the mechanical response of a 15 pcf flexible polyurethane foam to large deformation at different strain rates and temperatures. Results from these experiments indicated that at room temperature, flexible polyurethane foams exhibit significant nonlinear elastic deformation and nearly return to their original undeformed shape when unloaded. However, when these foams are cooled to temperatures below their glass transition temperature of approximately -35 o C, they behave like rigid polyurethane foams and exhibit significant permanent deformation when compressed. Thus, a new model which captures this dramatic change in behavior with temperature was developed and implemented into SIERRA with the name Flex_Foam to describe the mechanical response of both flexible and rigid foams to large deformation at a variety of temperatures and strain rates. This report includes a description of recent experiments. Next, development of the Flex Foam model for flexible polyurethane and other flexible foams is described. Selection of material parameters are discussed and finite element simulations with the new Flex Foam model are compared with experimental results to show behavior that can be captured with this new model.

A technical review of flexible endoscopic multitasking platforms.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeung, Baldwin Po Man; Gourlay, Terence

2012-01-01

Further development of advanced therapeutic endoscopic techniques and natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) requires a powerful flexible endoscopic multitasking platform. Medline search was performed to identify literature relating to flexible endoscopic multitasking platform from year 2004-2011 using keywords: Flexible endoscopic multitasking platform, NOTES, Instrumentation, Endoscopic robotic surgery, and specific names of various endoscopic multitasking platforms. Key articles from articles references were reviewed. Flexible multitasking platforms can be classified as either mechanical or robotic. Purely mechanical systems include the dual channel endoscope (DCE) (Olympus), R-Scope (Olympus), the EndoSamurai (Olympus), the ANUBIScope (Karl-Storz), Incisionless Operating Platform (IOP) (USGI), and DDES system (Boston Scientific). Robotic systems include the MASTER system (Nanyang University, Singapore) and the Viacath (Hansen Medical). The DCE, the R-Scope, the EndoSamurai and the ANUBIScope have integrated visual function and instrument manipulation function. The IOP and DDES systems rely on the conventional flexible endoscope for visualization, and instrument manipulation is integrated through the use of a flexible, often lockable, multichannel access device. The advantage of the access device concept is that it allows optics and instrument dissociation. Due to the anatomical constrains of the pharynx, systems are designed to have a diameter of less than 20 mm. All systems are controlled by traction cable system actuated either by hand or by robotic machinery. In a flexible system, this method of actuation inevitably leads to significant hysteresis. This problem will be accentuated with a long endoscope such as that required in performing colonic procedures. Systems often require multiple operators. To date, the DCE, the R-Scope, the IOP, and the Viacath system have data published relating to their application in human. Alternative forms of

Modelling, simulation and experiment of the spherical flexible joint stiffness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Li

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The spherical flexible joint is extensively used in engineering. It is designed to provide flexibility in rotation while bearing vertical compression load. The linear rotational stiffness of the flexible joint is formulated. The rotational stiffness of the bonded rubber layer is related to inner radius, thickness and two edge angles. FEM is used to verify the analytical solution and analyze the stiffness. The Mooney–Rivlin, Neo Hooke and Yeoh constitutive models are used in the simulation. The experiment is taken to obtain the material coefficient and validate the analytical and FEM results. The Yeoh model can reflect the deformation trend more accurately, but the error in the nearly linear district is bigger than the Mooney–Rivlin model. The Mooney–Rivlin model can fit the test result very well and the analytical solution can also be used when the rubber deformation in the flexible joint is small. The increase of Poisson's ratio of the rubber layers will enhance the vertical compression stiffness but barely have effect on the rotational stiffness.

Demand-Side Flexibility for Energy Transitions: Policy Recommendations for Developing Demand Response

OpenAIRE

Nursimulu, Anjali; Florin, Marie-Valentine; Vuille, François

2016-01-01

As a follow-up to IRGC's report on demand-side flexibility for energy transitions, this Policy Brief highlights that increasing flexibility in power systems is needed to accommodate higher shares of non-controllable and intermittent renewable generation, and that this requires changes to the market design and regulatory framework, to facilitate the development and deployment of appropriate technologies and market-based instruments (e.g. taxes and subsidies). The Policy Brief focuses on demand...

The effect of chordwise flexibility on flapping foil propulsion in quiescent fluid

Science.gov (United States)

Shinde, Sachin; Arakeri, Jaywant

2010-11-01

Motivated to understand the role of wing flexibility of flying creatures during hovering, we experimentally study the effect of chordwise flexibility on the flow generated in quiescent fluid by a sinusoidally pitching rigid symmetrical foil with a flexible flap attached at the trailing edge. This foil produces a narrow, coherent jet containing reverse Karman vortex street, and a corresponding thrust. The thrust and flow is similar to that produced by a hovering bird or insect, however the mechanism seems to be different from known hovering mechanisms. Novelty of the present hovering mechanism is that the thrust generation is due to the coordinated pushing action of rigid foil and flexible flap. We identify the flow and vortex generation mechanism. This foil produces jet flows over a range of flapping frequencies and amplitudes. In contrast, the foil without flap i.e. with rigid trailing edge produces a weak, divergent jet that meanders randomly. Appending a flexible flap to the foil suppresses jet-meandering and strengthens the jet. Flexibility of flap is crucial in determining the flow structure. This study is useful in designing MAVs and thrusters.

Design of Soil Salinity Policies with Tinamit, a Flexible and Rapid Tool to Couple Stakeholder-Built System Dynamics Models with Physically-Based Models

Science.gov (United States)

Malard, J. J.; Baig, A. I.; Hassanzadeh, E.; Adamowski, J. F.; Tuy, H.; Melgar-Quiñonez, H.

2016-12-01

Model coupling is a crucial step to constructing many environmental models, as it allows for the integration of independently-built models representing different system sub-components to simulate the entire system. Model coupling has been of particular interest in combining socioeconomic System Dynamics (SD) models, whose visual interface facilitates their direct use by stakeholders, with more complex physically-based models of the environmental system. However, model coupling processes are often cumbersome and inflexible and require extensive programming knowledge, limiting their potential for continued use by stakeholders in policy design and analysis after the end of the project. Here, we present Tinamit, a flexible Python-based model-coupling software tool whose easy-to-use API and graphical user interface make the coupling of stakeholder-built SD models with physically-based models rapid, flexible and simple for users with limited to no coding knowledge. The flexibility of the system allows end users to modify the SD model as well as the linking variables between the two models themselves with no need for recoding. We use Tinamit to couple a stakeholder-built socioeconomic model of soil salinization in Pakistan with the physically-based soil salinity model SAHYSMOD. As climate extremes increase in the region, policies to slow or reverse soil salinity buildup are increasing in urgency and must take both socioeconomic and biophysical spheres into account. We use the Tinamit-coupled model to test the impact of integrated policy options (economic and regulatory incentives to farmers) on soil salinity in the region in the face of future climate change scenarios. Use of the Tinamit model allowed for rapid and flexible coupling of the two models, allowing the end user to continue making model structure and policy changes. In addition, the clear interface (in contrast to most model coupling code) makes the final coupled model easily accessible to stakeholders with

A flexible Bayesian assessment for the expected impact of data on prediction confidence for optimal sampling designs

Science.gov (United States)

Leube, Philipp; Geiges, Andreas; Nowak, Wolfgang

2010-05-01

Incorporating hydrogeological data, such as head and tracer data, into stochastic models of subsurface flow and transport helps to reduce prediction uncertainty. Considering limited financial resources available for the data acquisition campaign, information needs towards the prediction goal should be satisfied in a efficient and task-specific manner. For finding the best one among a set of design candidates, an objective function is commonly evaluated, which measures the expected impact of data on prediction confidence, prior to their collection. An appropriate approach to this task should be stochastically rigorous, master non-linear dependencies between data, parameters and model predictions, and allow for a wide variety of different data types. Existing methods fail to fulfill all these requirements simultaneously. For this reason, we introduce a new method, denoted as CLUE (Cross-bred Likelihood Uncertainty Estimator), that derives the essential distributions and measures of data utility within a generalized, flexible and accurate framework. The method makes use of Bayesian GLUE (Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimator) and extends it to an optimal design method by marginalizing over the yet unknown data values. Operating in a purely Bayesian Monte-Carlo framework, CLUE is a strictly formal information processing scheme free of linearizations. It provides full flexibility associated with the type of measurements (linear, non-linear, direct, indirect) and accounts for almost arbitrary sources of uncertainty (e.g. heterogeneity, geostatistical assumptions, boundary conditions, model concepts) via stochastic simulation and Bayesian model averaging. This helps to minimize the strength and impact of possible subjective prior assumptions, that would be hard to defend prior to data collection. Our study focuses on evaluating two different uncertainty measures: (i) expected conditional variance and (ii) expected relative entropy of a given prediction goal. The

Using high thermal stability flexible thin film thermoelectric generator at moderate temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Zhuang-Hao; Luo, Jing-Ting; Chen, Tian-Bao; Zhang, Xiang-Hua; Liang, Guang-Xing; Fan, Ping

2018-04-01

Flexible thin film thermoelectric devices are extensively used in the microscale industry for powering wearable electronics. In this study, comprehensive optimization was conducted in materials and connection design for fabricating a high thermal stability flexible thin film thermoelectric generator. First, the thin films in the generator, including the electrodes, were prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition. The "NiCu-Cu-NiCu" multilayer electrode structure was applied to ensure the thermal stability of the device used at moderate temperature in an air atmosphere. A design with metal layer bonding and series accordant connection was then employed. The maximum efficiency of a single PN thermocouple generator is >11%, and the output power loss of the generator is <10% after integration.

Capacity enhancement and flexible operation of unified power quality conditioner in smart and microgrid network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shafiuzzaman Khan Khadem

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new approach to design Unified Power Quality Conditioner (UPQC, termed as distributed UPQC (D-UPQC, for smart or microgrid network where capacity enhancement and flexible operation of UPQC are the important issues. This paper shows the possibility of capacity enhancement and operational flexibility of UPQC through a coordinated control of existing resources. This UPQC consists of a single unit series active power filter (APFse and multiple shunt APF (APFsh units in a distributed (parallel mode. These units can be connected with a common/separate dc linked capacitor(s. The requirement of capacity enhancement arises from the flexibility to cope up with the increased harmonic load demand at low voltage (LV distribution network. This can be accomplished by a coordinated control where multiple APFsh units are operated by utilizing the capacity of APFse while it is in idle/low mode using. Operational flexibility can be accomplished by compensating (i the reactive and harmonic current individually or (ii splitting the combined reactive and harmonic current/power among the APFsh units. Design and control issues have been discussed to identify the capacity enhancement limit with the possibility of operational flexibility. A system then has been simulated in MATLAB to show the effectiveness of D-UPQC in capacity enhancement and flexible operation by applying its existing resource utilization capability.

Aircrew helmet design and manufacturing enhancements through the use of advanced technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Cadogan, David P.; George, Alan E.; Winkler, Edward R.

1993-12-01

With the development of helmet mounted displays (HMD) and night vision systems (NVS) for use in military and civil aviation roles, new methods of helmet development need to be explored. The helmet must be designed to provide the user with the most lightweight, form fitting system, while meeting other system performance requirements. This can be achieved through a complete analysis of the system requirements. One such technique for systems analysis, a quality function deployment (QFD) matrix, is explored for this purpose. The advanced helmet development process for developing aircrew helmets includes the utilization of several emerging technologies such as laser scanning, computer aided design (CAD), computer generated patterns from 3-D surfaces, laser cutting of patterns and components, and rapid prototyping (stereolithography). Advanced anthropometry methods for helmet development are also available for use. Besides the application of advanced technologies to be used in the development of helmet assemblies, methods of mass reduction are also discussed. The use of these advanced technologies will minimize errors in the development cycle of the helmet and molds, and should enhance system performance while reducing development time and cost.

New flexible endoscope for otologic application

Science.gov (United States)

Marchan, Mark L.

1993-07-01

Endoscopy has become an important procedure in many medical specialties. For the Otologist, however, space limitations within the ear have restricted development of endoscopic procedures. The desire for minimally invasive techniques in Otology has demonstrated itself through the work of numerous physicians who have performed procedures ranging from diagnostic inspection of the middle ear to viewing the interior of the cochlea. To assist in performing such endoscopic procedures, Xomed-Treace has developed a line of flexible fiberoptic endoscopes for use by the Otologist. These scopes combine illumination and imaging fiber bundles within a small diameter unit ranging in size from 0.8 mm to 1.2 mm. The 1.2 mm scope is produced with an angled, rigid stainless steel sheath. The 0.8 mm scope is flexible with the ability to articulate 120 degree(s) in one direction. The fiberscopes have been designed for the Otologist to produce a good resolution image while allowing ease of operation through ergonomics and consideration of the surgical anatomy.

Evolutionary mechanics: new engineering principles for the emergence of flexibility in a dynamic and uncertain world.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitacre, James M; Rohlfshagen, Philipp; Bender, Axel; Yao, Xin

2012-09-01

Engineered systems are designed to deftly operate under predetermined conditions yet are notoriously fragile when unexpected perturbations arise. In contrast, biological systems operate in a highly flexible manner; learn quickly adequate responses to novel conditions, and evolve new routines and traits to remain competitive under persistent environmental change. A recent theory on the origins of biological flexibility has proposed that degeneracy-the existence of multi-functional components with partially overlapping functions-is a primary determinant of the robustness and adaptability found in evolved systems. While degeneracy's contribution to biological flexibility is well documented, there has been little investigation of degeneracy design principles for achieving flexibility in systems engineering. Actually, the conditions that can lead to degeneracy are routinely eliminated in engineering design. With the planning of transportation vehicle fleets taken as a case study, this article reports evidence that degeneracy improves the robustness and adaptability of a simulated fleet towards unpredicted changes in task requirements without incurring costs to fleet efficiency. We find that degeneracy supports faster rates of design adaptation and ultimately leads to better fleet designs. In investigating the limitations of degeneracy as a design principle, we consider decision-making difficulties that arise from degeneracy's influence on fleet complexity. While global decision-making becomes more challenging, we also find degeneracy accommodates rapid distributed decision-making leading to (near-optimal) robust system performance. Given the range of conditions where favorable short-term and long-term performance outcomes are observed, we propose that degeneracy may fundamentally alter the propensity for adaptation and is useful within different engineering and planning contexts.

Highly flexible SRAM cells based on novel tri-independent-gate FinFET

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chengsheng; Zheng, Fanglin; Sun, Yabin; Li, Xiaojin; Shi, Yanling

2017-10-01

In this paper, a novel tri-independent-gate (TIG) FinFET is proposed for highly flexible SRAM cells design. To mitigate the read-write conflict, two kinds of SRAM cells based on TIG FinFETs are designed, and high tradeoff are obtained between read stability and speed. Both cells can offer multi read operations for frequency requirement with single voltage supply. In the first TIG FinFET SRAM cell, the strength of single-fin access transistor (TIG FinFET) can be flexibly adjusted by selecting five different modes to meet the needs of dynamic frequency design. Compared to the previous double-independent-gate (DIG) FinFET SRAM cell, 12.16% shorter read delay can be achieved with only 1.62% read stability decrement. As for the second TIG FinFET SRAM cell, pass-gate feedback technology is applied and double-fin TIG FinFETs are used as access transistors to solve the severe write-ability degradation. Three modes exist to flexibly adjust read speed and stability, and 68.2% larger write margin and 51.7% shorter write delay are achieved at only the expense of 26.2% increase in leakage power, with the same layout area as conventional FinFET SRAM cell.

Relational Language Facilitates the Development of Cognitive Flexibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gomila, Antoni

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In several papers, Gentner has shown that relational language facilitates spatial analogical reasoning tasks. In this work we set this question in the context of the development of cognitive flexibility, understood not just as at the representation level, but also at the executive one. To this extent, we modify the design by Ratterman & Gentner (1988 by including order of presentation of the elements as a variable, to increase the executive demands of the task so that the elements to be mentally ordered, which also allows to exclude that the successful answer is based on perceptual appearance. Our results confirm the facilitatory effect of relational language on the development of cognitive flexibility. They also point that a disordered presentation also facilitates correct responses.

Guanabara Bay and Pecem LNG flexible metering systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Torres, Vinicus Roberto C.; Carvalho, Gustavo L.A.; Bruel, Edson L.; Santana, Jose P.C. de; Vidal, Lud C.C.N. [PETROBRAS S.A., Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2009-12-19

This work presents to the community the metering systems installed in the Liquefied Natural (LNG) Gas Flexible Terminals of the Pecem Port and Guanabara Bay. A brief description of the Terminals facilities and its operation is firstly made to provide a background of the systems discussed. Then, the LNG custody transfer metering system, the operational control metering system, the energy balance of the LNG transferring system and the Natural Gas custody transfer metering system - that are our systems of interest - are described in detail. It is intended to use the philosophy adopted in the Guanabara Bay and Pecem Flexible Terminals design as a standard to future installations, integrated with improvements brought by the operation experience that will be obtained in those terminals. (author)

Users’ Perceptions Using Low-End and High-End Mobile-Rendered HMDs: A Comparative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.-Carmen Juan

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Currently, it is possible to combine Mobile-Rendered Head-Mounted Displays (MR HMDs with smartphones to have Augmented Reality platforms. The differences between these types of platforms can affect the user’s experiences and satisfaction. This paper presents a study that analyses the user’s perception when using the same Augmented Reality app with two MR HMD (low-end and high-end. Our study evaluates the user’s experience taking into account several factors (control, sensory, distraction, ergonomics and realism. An Augmalpha-lowerented Reality app was developed to carry out the comparison for two MR HMDs. The application had exactly the same visual appearance and functionality for both devices. Forty adults participated in our study. From the results, there were no statistically significant differences for the users’ experience for the different factors when using the two MR HMDs, except for the ergonomic factors in favour of the high-end MR HMD. Even though the scores for the high-end MR HMD were higher in nearly all of the questions, both MR HMDs provided a very satisfying viewing experience with very high scores. The results were independent of gender and age. The participants rated the high-end MR HMD as the best one. Nevertheless, when they were asked which MR HMD they would buy, the participants chose the low-end MR HMD taking into account its price.