Novel mass air flow meter for automobile industry based on thermal flow microsensor. I. Analytical model and microsensor

An analytical model of the thermal flow sensor has been developed. The results of analytical model application are utilized to develop a thermal flow microsensor with optimal functional characteristics. The technology to manufacture the microsensor is described. A prototype of the microsensor suitable to be used in the mass air flow meter has been designed. The basic characteristics of the microsensor are presented. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Infrared thermography-calorimetric quantitation of energy expenditure in biomechanically different types of jūdō throwing techniques: a pilot study

It was the purpose of this pilot study to assess the energy expenditure (EE) of two biome-chanically different jūdō throws, namely, the simple mechanical couple-based uchi-mata vs. the lever-based throw ippon-seoi-nage, using infrared thermal calorimetry (ITC). Testing subjects included one Caucasian female elite athlete (age: 26.4 years) and one male veteran jūdōka (age: 50.8 years). ITC images were captured by an Avio NEC InfRec R300 camera and thermal data obtained were plotted into a proprietary equation for estimation of EE. Data were compared to respiratory data obtained by a Cosmed K4 b2 portable gas analyzer. Oxy-gen consumption as estimated by ITC capture during practice of uchi-mata was markedly lower than during performance ippon-seoi-nage in the female (457 mL•min-1 vs. 540 mL•min-1, P<0.05) and male subject (1,078 mL•min-1 vs. 1,088 mL•min-1, NS), with the difference in values between both genders subject being significant (P<0.01). The metabolic cost of the exercise (uchi-mata vs. ippon-seoi-nage) itself was 1.26 kcal•min-1 (88 W) vs. 1.68 kcal•min-1 (117 W) (P<0.05) in the female subject, and 2.97 kcal•min-1 (207 W) (P<0.01) vs. 3.02 kcal•min-1 (211 W) (NS) in the male subject. Values for the female were significantly differ-ent (P<0.01) from those of the male subject. The results support the initial hypothesis that the couple-based jūdō throws (in this case, uchi-mata) are energetically more efficient than lever-based throws, such as ippon-seoi-nage. Application of this approach may be of practical use for coaches in optimizing energy-saving strategies in both elite and veteran jūdō athletes

A Smart Dual-Mode Calorimetric Flow Sensor

A smart thermal flow sensor system is presented. It makes use of a novel heater control circuit which can automatically set the operating mode to either constant power or constant temperature difference. It overcomes the limitations of single-mode thermal flow sensors, such as temperature overshoots at low flow rates at constant power mode, or excessive power consumption at high flow rates at constant temperature difference mode. The system is especially useful for temperature sensitive and portable applications, such as respiratory monitoring for medical diagnostics. In this paper, detailed description of the sensor’s design, implementation, and experimental validation are presented. The proposed dual-mode flow sensor achieves an overtemperature reduction up to 9.5% compared with thermal flow sensors operating in constant power mode alone, and a power reduction up to 13.6% compared with thermal flow sensors operating in constant temperature difference mode alone for the flow range of 0 to 50 slm while offering an improved overall sensitivity

micromachined flow sensors in biomedical applications

Application fields of micromachined devices are growing very rapidly due to the continuous improvement of three dimensional technologies of micro-fabrication. In particular, applications of micromachined sensors to monitor gas and liquid flows hold immense potential because of their valuable characteristics (e.g., low energy consumption, relatively good accuracy, the ability to measure very small flow, and small size). Moreover, the feedback provided by integrating microflow sensors to micro mass flow controllers is essential to deliver accurately set target small flows. This paper is a review of some application areas in the biomedical field of micromachined flow sensors, such as blood flow, respiratory monitoring, and drug delivery among others. Particular attention is dedicated to the description of the measurement principles utilized in early and current research. Finally, some observations about characteristics and issues of these devices are also reported

Energy-efficient, scalable and modular industrial microwave applicator for high temperature alkaline hydrolysis of PET

Microwave-assisted alkaline hydrolysis of PET can be 20 times faster and at lower temperatures. This work presents a novel industrial microwave applicator at 2.45 GHz with homogeneous distribution to support this reaction, which allows an efficient and continuous operation. In addition, an innovative dielectric and calorimetric measurements setup is presented. Furthermore, the modelling of the reaction kinetics based on the measured dielectric parameters is presented

Lab-on-a-chip nucleic-acid analysis towards point-of-care applications

Recent infectious disease outbreaks, such as Ebola in 2013, highlight the need for fast and accurate diagnostic tools to combat the global spread of the disease. Detection and identification of the disease-causing viruses and bacteria at the genetic level is required for accurate diagnosis of the disease. Nucleic acid analysis systems have shown promise in identifying diseases such as HIV, anthrax, and Ebola in the past. Conventional nucleic acid analysis systems are still time consuming, and are not suitable for point-ofcare applications. Miniaturized nucleic acid systems has shown great promise for rapid analysis, but they have not been commercialized due to several factors such as footprint, complexity, portability, and power consumption. This dissertation presents the development of technologies and methods for a labon-a-chip nucleic acid analysis towards point-of-care applications. An oscillatory-flow PCR methodology in a thermal gradient is developed which provides real-time analysis of nucleic-acid samples. Oscillating flow PCR was performed in the microfluidic device under thermal gradient in 40 minutes. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was achieved in the system without an additional heating element for incubation to perform reverse transcription step. A novel method is developed for the simultaneous pattering and bonding of all-glass microfluidic devices in a microwave oven. Glass microfluidic devices were fabricated in less than 4 minutes. Towards an integrated system for the detection of amplified products, a thermal sensing method is studied for the optimization of the sensor output. Calorimetric sensing method is characterized to identify design considerations and optimal parameters such as placement of the sensor, steady state response, and flow velocity for improved performance. An understanding of these developed technologies and methods will facilitate the development of lab-on-a-chip systems for point-of-care analysis

Using IoT to assist monitoring of the methane gas extraction at Lake Kivu

Capstone Project submitted to the Department of Engineering, Ashesi University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering, May 2021Methane gas is a powerful greenhouse gas with global warming potential. The current techniques being used to monitor the leaks are expensive and likely onerous and demands for trained operators. There are available solutions tried by the space agencies such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) using satellites to better understand the distribution of greenhouse gases on regional and global scales. Those are ENVISAT, GOSAT, OCO-2, and the recently launched TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5P satellite, but all these, regardless of the advanced technology associated cannot pinpoint the source of emissions. In this study, the performance of low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and isolation forest anomaly detection machine learning technique was implemented. Isolation Forest is one of the outstanding outlier detectors in the real-time DataStream for faulty detection, and money laundering in banking industry. It was tested in this system to improve the accuracy in detecting the methane gas leak. According to the experimental results, the anomaly detection based on isolation forest achieved an excellent performance in terms of accuracy of outlier detection while minimizing the false positives. Decarbonization is an essential component in the climate system, and this plays a key role in reducing methane emissions. Finally, the study presents future research directions to carry out research on the machine learning with Internet of Things (IoT).Ashesi Universit

Index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1974

The following information was given for 1974: (1) abstracts of reports dealing with new technology derived from the research and development activities of NASA or the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, arranged by subjects: electronics/electrical, electronics/electrical systems, physical sciences, materials/chemistry, life sciences, mechanics, machines, equipment and tools, fabrication technology, and computer programs, (2) indexes for the above documents: subject, personal author, originating center

Building Performance Simulation and Characterisation of Adaptive Facades:

The book “Performance Simulation and Characterisation of Adaptive Facades” responds to the need of providing a general framework, standardised and recognised methods and tools to evaluate the performance of adaptive facades in a quantitative way, by means of numerical and experimental methods, in different domains of interest. This book represents the main outcome of the activities of the Working Group 2 of the COST Action TU1403 Adaptive Façades Network, “Components performance and characterisation methods”, by integrating in one publication the main deliverables of WG2 described in the Memorandum of Understanding: D 2.1. Report on current adaptive facades modelling techniques; D 2.4. Report on the validation of developed simulation tools and models; D 2.5. Report on the developed experimental procedures. These are extended by additional sections regarding structural aspects and key performance indicators for adaptive façade systems. This book is a comprehensive review of different areas of research on adaptive façade systems and provides both general and specific knowledge about numerical and experimental research methods in this field. The fast pace at which building technologies and materials develop, is slowly but constantly followed by the development of numerical and experimental methods and tools to quantify their performance. Therefore this book focuses primarily on general methods and requirements, in an attempt to provide a coherent picture of current and near future possibilities to simulate and characterise the performance of adaptive facades in different domains, which could remain relevant in the coming years. In addition, specific know-how on selected cases is also presented, as a way to clarify and apply the more general approaches and methods described. The present book is published to support practitioners, researchers and students who are interested in designing, researching, and integrating adaptive façade systems in buildings. It targets both the academic and the not-academic sectors, and intends to contribute positively to an increased market penetration of adaptive façade systems, components and materials, aimed at rationalising energy and material resources while achieving a high standard of indoor environmental quality, health and safety in the built environment