Oil quality in diesel engines with on line oil cleaning using a heated lubricating oil recycler

A method of cleaning the oil on line was investigatedusing a bypass fine particulate filter followed by an infra red heater to remove water and light diesel fractions in the oil. This was tested on a range of on road vehicles and a Ford 1.8 litre IDI passenger car engine on a test bed. Comparison was made with the oil quality on the same vehicles and engines without the on-line recycler. Test times were from 200 to 1500 hours of oil ageing and some of the tests showed that the oil quality was still good after 4 times the normal oil life. The results showed that the on line oil recycler cleaning system reduced the rate of fall of the TBN and rate of increase of the TAN. There was a very significant reduction in the soot in oil and the fuel dilution. There was also a consistent reduction in all the wear metals apart from copper and a decrease in the rate of reduction of oil additives. There was also measured on the Ford IDI engine a 5% reduced fuel consumption. Many of these effects were attributed to an influence of the cleaner oil on reduced engine deposits

Oil quality in diesel engines with on line oil cleaning using a heated lubricating oil recycler

A method of cleaning the oil on line was investigatedusing a bypass fine particulate filter followed by an infra red heater to remove water and light diesel fractions in the oil. This was tested on a range of on road vehicles and a Ford 1.8 litre IDI passenger car engine on a test bed. Comparison was made with the oil quality on the same vehicles and engines without the on-line recycler. Test times were from 200 to 1500 hours of oil ageing and some of the tests showed that the oil quality was still good after 4 times the normal oil life. The results showed that the on line oil recycler cleaning system reduced the rate of fall of the TBN and rate of increase of the TAN. There was a very significant reduction in the soot in oil and the fuel dilution. There was also a consistent reduction in all the wear metals apart from copper and a decrease in the rate of reduction of oil additives. There was also measured on the Ford IDI engine a 5% reduced fuel consumption. Many of these effects were attributed to an influence of the cleaner oil on reduced engine deposits

Correlating low energy impact damage with changes in modal parameters: a preliminary study on composite beams

This paper is an experimental study of the effects of multi-site damage on the vibration response of a composite beam damaged by low energy impact. The variation of the modal parameters with different levels of impact energy and density of impact is studied. Specimens are impacted symmetrically in order to induce a global rate of damage. A damage detection tool Damage Index is introduced in order to verify the estimation of damping ratios. Design of Experiments is used to establish the sensitivity of both energy of impact and density of damage. The DOE analysis results (using natural frequency only) indicate that impact energy for 2nd, 3rd and 4th bending modes is the most significant factor contributing to the changes in the modal parameters for this kind of symmetrical dynamic test

Modeling the contact mechanics of hydrogels

A computationally lean model for the coarse-grained description of contact mechanics of hydrogels is proposed and characterized. It consists of a simple bead-spring model for the interaction within a chain, potentials describing the interaction between monomers and mold or confining walls, and a coarse-grained potential reflecting the solvent-mediated effective repulsion between non-bonded monomers. Moreover, crosslinking only takes place after the polymers have equilibrated in their mold. As such, the model is able to reflect the density, solvent quality, and the mold hydrophobicity that existed during the crosslinking of the polymers. Finally, such produced hydrogels are exposed to sinusoidal indenters. The simulations reveal a wavevector-dependent effective modulus E*(q) with the following properties: (i) stiffening under mechanical pressure, and a sensitivity of E*(q) on (ii) the degree of crosslinking at large wavelengths, (iii) the solvent quality, and (iv) the hydrophobicity of the mold in which the polymers were crosslinked. Finally, the simulations provide evidence that the elastic heterogeneity inherent to hydrogels can suffice to pin a compressed hydrogel to a microscopically frictionless wall that is undulated at a mesoscopic length scale. Although the model and simulations of this feasibility study are only two-dimensional, its generalization to three dimensions can be achieved in a straightforward fashion. © 2019 by the authors

Comparison of two non-primitive methods for path integral simulations: Higher-order corrections vs. an effective propagator approach

Two methods are compared that are used in path integral simulations. Both methods aim to achieve faster convergence to the quantum limit than the so-called primitive algorithm (PA). One method, originally proposed by Takahashi and Imada, is based on a higher-order approximation (HOA) of the quantum mechanical density operator. The other method is based upon an effective propagator (EPr). This propagator is constructed such that it produces correctly one and two-particle imaginary time correlation functions in the limit of small densities even for finite Trotter numbers P. We discuss the conceptual differences between both methods and compare the convergence rate of both approaches. While the HOA method converges faster than the EPr approach, EPr gives surprisingly good estimates of thermal quantities already for P = 1. Despite a significant improvement with respect to PA, neither HOA nor EPr overcomes the need to increase P linearly with inverse temperature. We also derive the proper estimator for radial distribution functions for HOA based path integral simulations.Comment: 17 pages, latex, 6 postscript figure

Structural and molecular basis of the assembly of the TRPP2/PKD1 complex

Mutations in PKD1 and TRPP2 account for nearly all cases of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). These 2 proteins form a receptor/ion channel complex on the cell surface. Using a combination of biochemistry, crystallography, and a single-molecule method to determine the subunit composition of proteins in the plasma membrane of live cells, we find that this complex contains 3 TRPP2 and 1 PKD1. A newly identified coiled-coil domain in the C terminus of TRPP2 is critical for the formation of this complex. This coiled-coil domain forms a homotrimer, in both solution and crystal structure, and binds to a single coiled-coil domain in the C terminus of PKD1. Mutations that disrupt the TRPP2 coiled-coil domain trimer abolish the assembly of both the full-length TRPP2 trimer and the TRPP2/PKD1 complex and diminish the surface expression of both proteins. These results have significant implications for the assembly, regulation, and function of the TRPP2/PKD1 complex and the pathogenic mechanism of some ADPKD-producing mutations

Slowly rotating charged black holes in anti-de Sitter third order Lovelock gravity

In this paper, we study slowly rotating black hole solutions in Lovelock gravity (n=3). These exact slowly rotating black hole solutions are obtained in uncharged and charged cases, respectively. Up to the linear order of the rotating parameter a, the mass, Hawking temperature and entropy of the uncharged black holes get no corrections from rotation. In charged case, we compute magnetic dipole moment and gyromagnetic ratio of the black holes. It is shown that the gyromagnetic ratio keeps invariant after introducing the Gauss-Bonnet and third order Lovelock interactions.Comment: 14 pages, no figur

On the lowest eigenvalue of Laplace operators with mixed boundary conditions

In this paper we consider a Robin-type Laplace operator on bounded domains. We study the dependence of its lowest eigenvalue on the boundary conditions and its asymptotic behavior in shrinking and expanding domains. For convex domains we establish two-sided estimates on the lowest eigenvalues in terms of the inradius and of the boundary conditions

Study on the Activity of PI3K/AKT, Death Receptor and 14-3-3 Mediated Signaling Pathways Regulating Hepatocyte Apoptosis during Rat Liver Regeneration

Studies have shown that apoptosis is closely related to the rat liver regeneration. To understand the mechanism of hepatocyte apoptosis during rat liver regeneration at the gene transcription level, the Rat Genome 230 2.0 Array was used to determine the expression changes of genes. Then the genes associated with cell apoptosis were searched by GO and NCBI databases, and cell apoptosis signaling pathways were searched by the database of QIAGEN and KEGG. Their signaling activities were calculated by spectral function E(t). The mechanism of hepatocyte apoptosis during rat liver regeneration was analyzed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis 9.0 (IPA). The results showed that among the 27 signaling pathways regulating cell apoptosis, the E(t) values of Apoptosis signaling pathway and 14-3-3 mediated signaling pathway were significantly increased in the progression phase (6-72h after PH) of rat liver regeneration, and the E(t) values of hepatocyte apoptosis mediated by mitochondria rout were also significantly increased. The E(t) values of death receptor signaling pathway and PI3K/AKT branch of 14-3-3 mediated signaling pathway were significantly increased in the progression phase and the terminal phase (72-168h after PH) of rat liver regeneration, and the E(t) values of hepatocyte apoptosis mediated by cytomembrane route and nucleus route were also significantly increased. Conclusion: PI3K/AKT, death receptor and mitochondria branch played a key role in promoting cell apoptosis during rat liver regeneration

Experimental characterization and multi-physics simulation of a triple-junction cell in a novel hybrid III:V concentrator photovoltaic–thermoelectric receiver design with secondary optical element

A lattice-matched monolithic triple-junction Concentrator Photovoltaic cell (InGa(0.495)P/GaIn(0.012)As/Ge) was electrically and thermally interfaced to a Thermoelectric Peltier module. A single optical design secondary lens was bonded to the CPV-TE receiver. The hybrid SILO-CPV-TE solar energy harvesting device was electrically, thermally and theoretically investigated. The electrical performance data for the cell under variable irradiance and cell temperature conditions were measured using the integrated thermoelectric module as both a temperature sensor and as a solid-state heat pump. The cell was electrically characterised under standard test conditions (1000 W/m2 irradiance, 25°C temperature and AM1.5G spectrum) for comparison with literature data. Transient multiphysics simulations in ANSYS CFX 15.0 were carried out to calculate cell temperatures and to determine the short circuit current and temperature coefficient in a scaling law. The optimization was used to determine 15 model parameters for the component sub-cells within the triple-junction cell at STC with a MATLAB scaling law. The root-mean-square error in electrical currents between measurement and simulations was 0.66%