A mathematical model of fluid flow in a scraped-surface heat exchanger

A simple mathematical model of fluid flow in a common type of scraped-surface heat exchanger in which the gaps between the blades and the device walls are narrow, so that a lubrication-theory description of the flow is valid, is presented. Specifically steady isothermal flow of a Newtonian fluid around a periodic array of pivoted scraper blades in a channel with one stationary and one moving wall, when there is an applied pressure gradient in a direction perpendicular to the wall motion, is analysed. The flow is three-dimensional, but decomposes naturally into a two-dimensional "transverse" flow driven by the boundary motion and a "longitudinal" pressure-driven flow. First details of the structure of the transverse flow are derived, and, in particular, the equilibrium positions of the blades are calculated. It is shown that the desired contact between blades and the moving wall will be attained, provided that the blades are pivoted sufficiently close to their ends. When the desired contact is achieved, the model predicts that the forces and torques on the blades are singular, and so the model is generalised to include three additional physical effects, namely non-Newtonian power-law behaviour, slip at rigid boundaries, and cavitation in regions of very low pressure, each of which is shown to resolve these singularities. Lastly the nature of the longitudinal flow is discussed

Smart Signs: Showing the way in Smart Surroundings

This paper presents a context-aware guidance and messaging system for large buildings and surrounding venues. Smart Signs are a new type of electronic door- and way-sign based on wireless sensor networks. Smart Signs present in-situ personalized guidance and messages, are ubiquitous, and easy to understand. They combine the easiness of use of traditional static signs with the flexibility and reactiveness of navigation systems. The Smart Signs system uses context information such as user’s mobility limitations, the weather, and possible emergency situations to improve guidance and messaging. Minimal infrastructure requirements and a simple deployment tool make it feasible to easily deploy a Smart Signs system on demand. An important design issue of the Smart Signs system is privacy: the system secures communication links, does not track users, allow almost complete anonymous use, and prevent the system to be used as a tool for spying on users

Sensing motion using spectral and spatial analysis of WLAN RSSI

In this paper we present how motion sensing can be obtained just by observing the WLAN radio signal strength and its fluctuations. The temporal, spectral and spatial characteristics of WLAN signal are analyzed. Our analysis confirms our claim that ’signal strength from access points appear to jump around more vigorously when the device is moving compared to when it is still and the number of detectable access points vary considerably while the user is on the move’. Using this observation, we present a novel motion detection algorithm, Spectrally Spread Motion Detection (SpecSMD) based on the spectral analysis of WLAN signal’s RSSI. To benchmark the proposed algorithm, we used Spatially Spread Motion Detection (SpatSMD), which is inspired by the recent work of Sohn et al. Both algorithms were evaluated by carrying out extensive measurements in a diverse set of conditions (indoors in different buildings and outdoors - city center, parking lot, university campus etc.,) and tested against the same data sets. The 94% average classification accuracy of the proposed SpecSMD is outperforming the accuracy of SpatSMD (accuracy 87%). The motion detection algorithms presented in this paper provide ubiquitous methods for deriving the state of the user. The algorithms can be implemented and run on a commodity device with WLAN capability without the need of any additional hardware support