On a global aerodynamic optimization of a civil transport aircraft

An aerodynamic optimization procedure developed to minimize the drag to lift ratio of an aircraft configuration: wing - body - tail, in accordance with engineering restrictions, is described. An algorithm developed to search a hypersurface with 18 dimensions, which define an aircraft configuration, is discussed. The results, when considered from the aerodynamic point of view, indicate the optimal configuration is one that combines a lifting fuselage with a canard

Anesthesia by electro acupuncture in neurosurgery

Given the fact that in neuroanesthesia the choice of anesthetic substances must take into account the effect they have over the cerebral substance, we felt that using as few drugs as possible eliminates their shortcomings, improving the intraoperative conditions as well as the outcome of the surgical intervention. For this purpose, we have used anesthesia through electro acupunctural stimulation associated to hypnosis, drug relaxation under controlled breathing on a group of 12 patients, from which 10 patients had undergone brain surgery and 2 patients had undergone surgery for herniated disc. The outcomes showed the better effect of this method than that of the classical, the patients showing excellent intraoperative hemodynamic stability, relaxed brain, without the need to use depleted substances, rapid awakening with a much better postoperative analgesia

H-Darrieus Wind Turbine with Blade Pitch Control

A procedure for computing the optimal variation of the blades' pitch angle of an H-Darrieus wind turbine that maximizes its torque at given operational conditions is proposed and presented along with the results obtained on a 7 kW prototype. The CARDAAV code, based on the “Double-Multiple Streamtube” model developed by the first author, is used to determine the performances of the straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine. This was coupled with a genetic algorithm optimizer. The azimuthal variation of the blades' pitch angle is modeled with an analytical function whose coefficients are used as variables in the optimization process. Two types of variations were considered for the pitch angle: a simple sinusoidal one and one which is more general, relating closely the blades' pitch to the local flow conditions along their circular path. A gain of almost 30% in the annual energy production was obtained with the polynomial optimal pitch control