Filament Path Optimization with Curvilinear Trajectories for Additive Manufacturing of Load-Bearing Components

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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Optimized Material Deposition for Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing of Structural Components

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is an extrusion-based Additive Manufacturing method widely used in various industries for prototyping applications. Since FFF's invention in the 1980s, this technology has undergone numerous advancements in terms of available material, software and equipment. Nevertheless, FFF parts are often limited to non-critical, non-load-bearing applications, partly because the existing design and manufacturing tools do not capitalize on FFF's high design freedom. In particular, the slicing software that generates printing instructions prints filaments in predefined patterns and cannot realize filament paths that are locally optimized to enhance the structural performance, thus, hindering the best utilization of FFF parts for load-bearing purposes. The current thesis aims to develop dedicated tools for designing and printing optimized filament paths for improved structural performance from FFF parts. First, an algorithmic framework that optimizes the in-plane filament paths for minimum compliance of FFF structures is presented, particularly focusing on obtaining production-ready design solutions by including the manufacturing constraints in the optimization process. Then, a new filament deposition algorithm is proposed to address the manufacturability issues observed in existing optimization strategies. The proposed algorithm accepts the point-wise orientation fields resulting from the optimization procedures and deploy filaments along the orientation fields to realize optimized designs. Both the contributions facilitate the seamless production of structural FFF parts, which we prove by applying them to design structurally-informed filament trajectories and printing the parts.Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologieinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Analysis of Hybrid Offshore Floating Wind and Marine Power

Wind energy is a major part of renewable energy production. With fossil fuel depletion and climate change at the cusp, it is an absolute need to implement or evolve the current source or utilization of renewable energy. The wind has been dominating the onshore for many decades and offshore wind turbines are available at shallow depths.  To extract more wind energy source deep sea location is recommended. Also, in deep seas, ocean current energy is utilized very sparsely compared to the dominating wind and solar energy. So far no hybrid offshore horizontal axis and ocean current system are in existence. Based on the depth of the sea water the offshore floating structure is classified. Usually, for any floating structure stability is an apprehension. In an offshore floating structure, the damping with respect to the thrust force exerted on the wind turbine will affect the life of the wind turbine. During high wind speed, the angle of inclination would go up to about 4 degrees. The time required for the floating structure to come to rest may also be high. We present an analysis based on an existing floating structure which is a ballast stabilized the floating structure. In this paper, we add an additional submerged turbine and do a 2D analysis on the floating structure to find out whether the structure’s oscillation is well damped or not. We also discuss whether the weight of the submerged will influence the stability or by changing the radius of blades of the submerged turbine will affect the damping

QUANTIFYING ERRORS IN PITCH ANGLE POSITION USING BEM THEORY

The wind industry is always seeking ways to better understand the performance of a wind turbine and improve its efficiency. During the operation phase and maintenance, wind turbines go through regular optimization. Due to the regular change in wind speed and direction, wind turbines need to be regulated and positioned accordingly. For a specific wind speed, there are a specific set of pitch angle positions. The study aims to quantify the errors in pitch angle positions and validate how much would the loss be if it deviates from its ideal pitch angle position. In this study, airfoil data from an NREL 5 MW turbine is used. Qblade is used in the simulation for error estimation. The simulation is based on BEM theory. A wind turbine blade is developed based on the given airfoil data. Multi-parameter BEM simulation is conducted for a range of wind speed, pitch angle, and rpm. Later the ideal pitch angle position for each wind speed bin is recorded. During the simulation process, downscaling the 5 MW to a 1.5 MW turbine was executed. Validation of the downscaling method was also executed. It showed good agreement with the obtained SCADA data of a working turbine. Later, pitch angle errors are introduced in the simulation.  The results are presented in two cases. Case 1 showed that at below-rated wind speed, there is a significant loss in power production if the error in pitch angle up to 1 degree.  Case 2 also shows error up to 5 degrees in region 2. This study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of pitch angle errors and their loss of power. This study took into account steady wind condition only and does not include climatic conditions or turbulence. A further study focusing on simulating in a high-fidelity setting, including real-time wind or topography conditions, is recommended to achieve a further understanding of the pitch angle errors in a wind turbine.

QUANTIFYING ERRORS IN PITCH ANGLE POSITION USING BEM THEORY

The wind industry is always seeking ways to better understand the performance of a wind turbine and improve its efficiency. During the operation phase and maintenance, wind turbines go through regular optimization. Due to the regular change in wind speed and direction, wind turbines need to be regulated and positioned accordingly. For a specific wind speed, there are a specific set of pitch angle positions. The study aims to quantify the errors in pitch angle positions and validate how much would the loss be if it deviates from its ideal pitch angle position. In this study, airfoil data from an NREL 5 MW turbine is used. Qblade is used in the simulation for error estimation. The simulation is based on BEM theory. A wind turbine blade is developed based on the given airfoil data. Multi-parameter BEM simulation is conducted for a range of wind speed, pitch angle, and rpm. Later the ideal pitch angle position for each wind speed bin is recorded. During the simulation process, downscaling the 5 MW to a 1.5 MW turbine was executed. Validation of the downscaling method was also executed. It showed good agreement with the obtained SCADA data of a working turbine. Later, pitch angle errors are introduced in the simulation.  The results are presented in two cases. Case 1 showed that at below-rated wind speed, there is a significant loss in power production if the error in pitch angle up to 1 degree.  Case 2 also shows error up to 5 degrees in region 2. This study contributes to a better understanding of the effect of pitch angle errors and their loss of power. This study took into account steady wind condition only and does not include climatic conditions or turbulence. A further study focusing on simulating in a high-fidelity setting, including real-time wind or topography conditions, is recommended to achieve a further understanding of the pitch angle errors in a wind turbine.

Analysis of Hybrid Offshore Floating Wind and Marine Power

Wind energy is a major part of renewable energy production. With fossil fuel depletion and climate change at the cusp, it is an absolute need to implement or evolve the current source or utilization of renewable energy. The wind has been dominating the onshore for many decades and offshore wind turbines are available at shallow depths.  To extract more wind energy source deep sea location is recommended. Also, in deep seas, ocean current energy is utilized very sparsely compared to the dominating wind and solar energy. So far no hybrid offshore horizontal axis and ocean current system are in existence. Based on the depth of the sea water the offshore floating structure is classified. Usually, for any floating structure stability is an apprehension. In an offshore floating structure, the damping with respect to the thrust force exerted on the wind turbine will affect the life of the wind turbine. During high wind speed, the angle of inclination would go up to about 4 degrees. The time required for the floating structure to come to rest may also be high. We present an analysis based on an existing floating structure which is a ballast stabilized the floating structure. In this paper, we add an additional submerged turbine and do a 2D analysis on the floating structure to find out whether the structure’s oscillation is well damped or not. We also discuss whether the weight of the submerged will influence the stability or by changing the radius of blades of the submerged turbine will affect the damping

Filament path optimization of Fused Filament Fabricated parts incorporating the effect of pre-fusion densities

Fused Filament Fabricated parts exhibit mechanical anisotropy induced by the filament extrusion pattern and possibly due to the intrinsic nature of feedstock material. Consequently, an optimized filament deposition strategy is desirable for improving the part’s functionality. The present work optimizes the in-plane filament paths of Fused Filament Fabricated parts to strengthen component load-bearing capacity, with a particular focus on obtaining production-ready design solutions through a direct imposition of the manufacturing constraints. To perform an effective in-plane filament path optimization, the present contribution also addresses, among several other aspects, the following: (i) the development and implementation of a new material model that incorporates the transverse stiffness loss before inter-filament fusion, and (ii) a comparative study between a two-step gradient-based minimization and a global metaheuristic minimization. The results indicate that the new material model yields more realistic filament patterns compared to the assumption of neglecting the transverse stiffness loss at low filament densities. Further, the comparison of optimization approaches suggests the preference for the two-step gradient-based approach due to its better efficiency, flexibility, and compatibility with the proposed material model.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Thermally Stable PVDF-HFP-Based Gel Polymer Electrolytes for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

The development of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has paved the way to powering futuristic technological applications such as hybrid electric vehicles and portable electronic devices. Despite their multiple advantages, non-aqueous liquid electrolytes (LEs) possess certain drawbacks, such as plasticizers with flammable ethers and esters, electrochemical instability, and fluctuations in the active voltage scale, which limit the safety and working span of the batteries. However, these shortcomings can be rectified using GPEs, which result in the enhancement of functional properties such as thermal, chemical, and mechanical stability; electrolyte uptake; and ionic conductivity. Thus, we report on PVDF-HFP/PMMA/PVAc-based GPEs comprising poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-co-HFP) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) host polymers and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) as a guest polymer. A physicochemical characterization of the polymer membrane with GPE was conducted, and the electrochemical performance of the NCM811/Li half-cell with GPE was evaluated. The GPE exhibited an ionic conductivity of 4.24 × 10−4 S cm−1, and the NCM811/Li half-cell with GPE delivered an initial specific discharge capacity of 204 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 0.1 C. The cells exhibited excellent cyclic performance with 88% capacity retention after 50 cycles. Thus, this study presents a promising strategy for maintaining capacity retention, safety, and stable cyclic performance in rechargeable LIBs