41,693 research outputs found
Preparation of NiO catalyst on FeCrAI substrate using various techniques at higher oxidation process
The cheap nickel oxide (NiO) is a potential catalyst candidate to replace the
expensive available platinum group metals (PGM). However, the current methods to
adhere the NiO powder on the metallic substrates are complicated. Therefore, this
work explored the development of nickel oxide using nickel (Ni) on FeCrAl
substrate through the combination of nickel electroplating and oxidation process for
catalytic converter application. The approach was started with assessment of various
nickel electroplating process based on the weight gain during oxidation. Then, the
next experiment used the best process in which the pre-treatment using the solution
of SiC and/or Al2O3 in methanol. The specimens then were carried out to short term
oxidation process using thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) at 1000
o
C. Meanwhile,
the long term oxidation process was conducted using an automatic furnace at 900,
1000 and 1100
o
C. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used for surface
analysis in nanometer range scale. Meanwhile, roughness test was used for roughness
measurement analysis in micrometer range scale. The scanning electron microscope
(SEM) attached with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) were used for surface and cross
section morphology analysis. The specimen of FeCrAl treated using ultrasonic prior
to nickel electroplating showed the lowest weight gain during oxidation. The surface
area of specimens increased after ultrasonic treatment. The electroplating process
improved the high temperature oxidation resistance. In short term oxidation process
indicated that the ultrasonic with SiC provided the lower parabolic rate constant (kp)
and the Al2O3 and NiO layers were also occurred. The Ni layer was totally
disappeared and converted to NiO layer on FeCrAl surface after long term oxidation
process. From this work, the ultrasonic treatment prior to nickel electroplating was
the best method to adhere NiO on FeCrAl substrate
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Methodological and anatomical modifiers of Achilles tendon moment arm estimates implications for biomechanical modelling: Implications for biomechanical modelling
This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.Moment arms are important in many contexts. Various methods have been used to estimate
moment arms. It has been shown that a moment arm changes as a function of joint angle and contraction state. However, besides the influence of these anatomical factors, results from recent studies suggest that the estimation of moment arm is also dependent
on the methods employed. The overall goal of this thesis was to explore the interaction between the methodological
and anatomical influences on moment arm and their effect on estimates of muscle-tendon
forces during biomechanical modelling. The first experiment was a direct comparison
between two different moment arm methods that have been previously used for the estimation of Achilles tendon moment arm. The results of this experiment revealed a significant difference in Achilles tendon moment arm length dependent on the moment arm
method employed. However, besides the differences found, results from both methods
were well correlated. Based on these results, methodological differences between these two methods were compared across different joint angles and contraction states in study two. Results of experiment two revealed that Achilles tendon moment arms obtained using
both methods change in a similar way as a function of joint angle and contraction state. In the third experiment, results from the first two experiments were used to determine how methodological and anatomical influences on Achilles tendon moment arm would change muscle-tendon forces during the task of submaximal cycling. Results of the third experiment showed the importance of taking the method, ankle angle and contraction state dependence of Achilles tendon moment arm into account when using biomechanical modelling techniques.
Together, these findings emphasis the importance of carefully considering methodological and anatomical modifiers when estimating Achilles tendon moment arm
Online identification and nonlinear control of the electrically stimulated quadriceps muscle
A new approach for estimating nonlinear models of the electrically stimulated quadriceps muscle group under nonisometric conditions is investigated. The model can be used for designing controlled neuro-prostheses. In order to identify the muscle dynamics (stimulation pulsewidth-active knee moment relation) from discrete-time angle measurements only, a hybrid model structure is postulated for the shank-quadriceps dynamics. The model consists of a relatively well known time-invariant passive component and an uncertain time-variant active component. Rigid body dynamics, described by the Equation of Motion (EoM), and passive joint properties form the time-invariant part. The actuator, i.e. the electrically stimulated muscle group, represents the uncertain time-varying section. A recursive algorithm is outlined for identifying online the stimulated quadriceps muscle group. The algorithm requires EoM and passive joint characteristics to be known a priori. The muscle dynamics represent the product of a continuous-time nonlinear activation dynamics and a nonlinear static contraction function described by a Normalised Radial Basis Function (NRBF) network which has knee-joint angle and angular velocity as input arguments. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) approach is chosen to estimate muscle dynamics parameters and to obtain full state estimates of the shank-quadriceps dynamics simultaneously. The latter is important for implementing state feedback controllers. A nonlinear state feedback controller using the backstepping method is explicitly designed whereas the model was identified a priori using the developed identification procedure
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