Disc pack cleaning table saves computer time

Disc pack holding table is support frame upon which computer disc pack is loaded and protective cover released. This combination permits manual off-line cleaning of disc pack storage units at any time without shutting down the computer, and eliminates on-line disc drive unit to hold pack during cleaning

Development of nutritionally balanced and acceptable army ration packs : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Product Development at Massey University

Pg 198 not in original - misnumberedNutritionally balanced and consumer acceptable one man ration packs were developed for the N.Z. Army. The rations were designed quantitatively, using firstly mixed integer linear programming and secondly, menu planning techniques with spread sheet analysis. For the mixed integer linear programming model, nutritional and food quantity constraints were obtained from a literature search and from a consumer survey on the present ration packs. The four menus of the first prototype ration pack, developed using mixed integer linear programming model, were consumer tested with a small group of soldiers during a field exercise in New Zealand. Focus groups determined the soldiers' attitudes to the new pack. The results showed that the first prototype ration pack was superior to the present ration pack, though improvements were still required. Redesigning of the ration pack menus included the selection of commercially available foods and the development of 5 canned meat meals with army personnel consumer groups. The final menu planning used spreadsheet analysis, as it provided a quicker output of results. A second prototype ration pack, with four menus, was finally developed. This second prototype ration pack was consumer tested with larger groups of soldiers in Malaysia and New Zealand, on separate field exercises. Both trials indicated high acceptance of the second prototype ration pack, with only the weight and the bulkiness being major problems. A final prototype ration pack was developed based on the foods included in the second prototype. This pack included two main meals in the form of canned meat meals, several snack foods and beverages. The average weight and cost of this final prototype ration pack were 1.411 kg and $10.62, compared to 1.275 kg and$8.10 for the present ration pack. The nutritional composition of this final prototype did not meet all the human requirements, as it was based on the foods in the second prototype ration pack. Some of these foods, particularly the canned meals, need to be reformulated to ensure that the pack provides the complete requirements of the soldiers over the period of an exercise

Failure analysis of some Toyota Prius battery packs and potential for recovery

The Toyota Prius battery pack consists of 38 individual battery blades, each blade contains 6 NiMH cells in series. This means that each pack contains 228 NiMH cells. Each cell has the potential to fail. This report investigates the mode of failure of Prius battery packs by first analysing a number of packs in the lab, and then road testing them in a Toyota Prius. The analysis of the battery packs shows that some packs had aged “linearly”, that is in a balanced manner, such that the state of health of all blades remained similar. However, in other packs discrete blades had significantly different states of health. A pack that consists of cells that are matched in both state of health and state of charge delivers the best performance. The research also showed that the worst cell in the pack determines the overall pack performance. This was demonstrated by substituting reducedcapacity or short-circuited blades into a functioning battery pack. A vehicle with a pack consisting of 37 2400 mAh battery blades and one 1200 mAh battery blade was only able to drive 1.3 km in Electric Vehicle mode, as opposed to 2.6 km with a pack consisting of 38 2400 mAh battery blades

Welded printed circuit (pc) stick

Printed-circuit stick module has reduced comb technique to six steps, cutting process time by approximately 50%. Method incorporates all type of components into one assembly. It reduces design and fabrication time for 14-lead flat pack to less than four hours and for the 22-lead flat pack to four hours. Average weight of each flat pack is also reduced to 2 g

Developing a monitoring system for Toyota Prius battery-packs for longer term performance issues

The Toyota Prius battery pack consists of 38 individual battery blades, each blade contains 6 NiMH cells in series. This means that each pack contains 228 NiMH cells. Given this number of individually manufactured cells combined into a large battery pack, any individual cell or a blade getting weaker than all other linearly degrading cells, will become the performance limiting element in the pack. For example in a situation where one blade weakens down to 1200mAh compared to all other 37 blades maintaining approximately 2400mAh capacity will make the car run only 1.3 km in EV mode, compared to 2.6 km if all 38 blades are of 2400mAh capacity. In order to identify such individually weak cells, a supercapacitor based monitoring system is designed and the paper indicates the approach in developing this system, together with some details explaining the general performance of the overall system and how the new monitoring system can help in managing the battery pack life issues in the Toyota Prius

Electric vehicle battery model identification and state of charge estimation in real world driving cycles

This paper describes a study demonstrating a new method of state-of-charge (SoC) estimation for batteries in real-world electric vehicle applications. This method combines realtime model identification with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). In the study, investigations were carried down on a small-scale battery pack. An equivalent circuit network model of the pack was developed and validated using pulse-discharge experiments. The pack was then subjected to demands representing realistic WLTP and UDDS driving cycles obtained from a model of a representative electric vehicle, scaled match the size of the battery pack. A fast system identification technique was then used to estimate battery parameter values. One of these, open circuit voltage, was selected as suitable for SoC estimation, and this was used as the input to an ANFIS system which estimated the SoC. The results were verified by comparison to a theoretical Coulomb-counting method, and the new method was judged to be effective. The case study used a small 7.2 V NiMH battery pack, but the method described is applicable to packs of any size or chemistry

Wave/current interaction model

The wave-current interaction for the application to remote sensing data via numerical simulations and data comparison is modelled. Using the field data of surface current shear, wind condition and ambient wave spectrum, the numerical simulations of directional wave spectrum evolution were used to interpret and to compare with the aircraft data from Radar Ocean Wave Spectrometer (ROWS) and Surface Contour Radar (SCR) across the front during Frontal Air Sea Interaction Experiment (FASINEX). The wave-ice interaction was inspired by the observation of large amplitude waves hundreds of kms inside the ice pack in the Weddell Sea, resulting in breakup of the ice pack. The developed analysis of processes includes the refraction of waves at the pack edge, the effects of pack compression on wave propagation, wave train stability and buckling stability in the ice pack. Sources of pack compression and interaction between wave momentum and pack compression are investigated. Viscous camping of propagating waves in the marginal ice zone are also studied. The analysis suggests an explanation for the change in wave dispersion observed from the ship and the sequence of processes that cause ice pack breakup, pressure ridge formation and the formation of open bands of water