Effect of the nonlinear material viscosity on the performance of dielectric elastomer transducers

As a typical type of soft electroactive materials, dielectric elastomers (DEs) are capable of producing large voltage-induced deformation, which makes them desirable materials for a variety of applications in transduction technology, including tunable oscillators, resonators, biomimetics and energy harvesters. The dynamic and energy harvesting performance of such DE-based devices is strongly affected not only by multiple failure modes such as electrical breakdown, electromechanical instability, loss-of-tension and fatigue, but also by their material viscoelasticity. Moreover, as suggested by experiments and theoretical studies, DEs possess nonlinear relaxation processes, which makes modeling of the performance of DE-based devices more challenging. In this thesis, by adopting the state-of-art modeling framework of finite-deformation viscoelasticity, the effects of nonlinear viscosity of the polymer chains on the oscillation and frequency tuning of DE membrane oscillators are firstly investigated. From the simulation results, it is found that the nonlinear viscosity only affects the transient state of the frequency tuning process of DE oscillators. Secondly, with both finite-deformation viscoelasticity and deformation-dependent viscosity of polymer chains considered, the energy conversion efficiency and harvested energy of dielectric elastomer generators under equi-biaxial loading are also examined. It is found that when a nonlinear viscosity model is used, DE generators appear to reach an equilibrium state faster and the nonlinear viscosity significantly influences the energy harvesting performance. The modeling framework developed in this work is expected to provide useful guidelines for predicting the performance of DE-based oscillators and energy harvesters as well as their optimal design

Experimental study of a Miller cycle based approach for an efficient boosted downsized gasoline Di engine

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonDriven by the strict fuel consumption and CO2 legislations in Europe and many countries, various technologies have been developed to improve the fuel economy of conventional internal combustion engines. Gasoline engine downsizing has become a popular and effective approach to reduce fleet CO2 emissions of passenger cars. This is typically achieved in the form of boosted direct injection gasoline engines equipped with variable valve timing devices. Downsized gasoline engines reduce vehicle fuel consumption by making engine operate more at higher load to reduce pumping losses and also through reducing total engine friction losses. However, their compression ratio (CR) and efficiency are constrained by knocking combustion as well as the low speed pre-ignition phenomena. Miller cycle is typically achieved in an engine with reduced effective CR through Early Intake Valve Closure (EIVC) or Later Intake Valve Closure (LIVC). This technology has been adopted on modern gasoline engines to reduce in-cylinder charge temperature and enable a higher geometric CR to be used for better fuel economy. The present work investigated the effectiveness and underlying process of a Miller cycle based approach for improving fuel consumption of a boosted downsized gasoline engine. A single cylinder direct injection gasoline engine and the testing facilities were set up and used for extensive engine experiments. Both EIVC and LIVC approaches were tested and compared to the conventional Otto cycle operation with a standard cam profile. Synergy between Miller cycle valve timings and different valve overlap period was analysed. Two pistons with different CRs were used in the Miller cycle engine testing to enable its full potential to be evaluated. The experimental study was carried out in a large engine operation area from idle to up to 4000rpm and 25.6bar NIMEP to determine the optimal Miller cycle strategy for improved engine fuel economy in real applications. In addition, the increased exhaust back pressure and friction losses corresponding to real world boosting devices were calculated to evaluate Miller cycle benefits at high loads in a production engine. The results have shown that EIVC combined with high CR can offer up to 11% reduction of fuel consumption in a downsized gasoline engine with simple setup and control strategy. At the end, this thesis presents an Miller cycle based approach for maximising fuel conversion efficiency of a gasoline engine by combining three-stage cam profiles switching and two-stage variable compression ratio

Slip Modelling, Estimation and Control of Omnidirectional Wheeled Mobile Robots with Powered Caster Wheels

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Universal characteristics of one-dimensional non-Hermitian superconductors

We establish a non-Bloch band theory for one-dimensional(1D) non-Hermitian topological superconductors. The universal physical properties of non-Hermitian topological superconductors are revealed based on the theory. According to the particle-hole symmetry, there exist reciprocal particle and hole loops of generalized Brillouin zone (GBZ). The critical point of quantum phase transition, where the energy gap closes, appears when the particle and hole loops intersect and their values of GBZ satisfy |\beta| = 1. If the non-Hermitian system has skin modes, these modes should be Z2 style, i.e., the corresponding eigenstates of particle and hole localize at opposite ends of an open chain, respectively. The non-Bloch band theory is applied to two examples, non-Hermitian p- and s-wave topological superconductors. Topological phase transitions occur at \beta_{c}= \pm 1 in the two systems. In terms of Majorana Pfaffian, a Z2 non-Bloch topological invariant is defined to establish the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence in non-Hermitian superconductors.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Pathologically Activated Neuroprotection via Uncompetitive Blockade of \u3cem\u3eN\u3c/em\u3e-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptors with Fast Off-rate by Novel Multifunctional Dimer Bis(propyl)-cognitin

Uncompetitive N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists with fast off-rate (UFO) may represent promising drug candidates for various neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we report that bis(propyl)-cognitin, a novel dimeric acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and γ-aminobutyric acid subtype A receptor antagonist, is such an antagonist of NMDA receptors. In cultured rat hippocampal neurons, we demonstrated that bis(propyl)-cognitin voltage-dependently, selectively, and moderately inhibited NMDA-activated currents. The inhibitory effects of bis(propyl)-cognitin increased with the rise in NMDA and glycine concentrations. Kinetics analysis showed that the inhibition was of fast onset and offset with an off-rate time constant of 1.9 s. Molecular docking simulations showed moderate hydrophobic interaction between bis(propyl)-cognitin and the MK-801 binding region in the ion channel pore of the NMDA receptor. Bis(propyl)-cognitin was further found to compete with [3H]MK-801 with a Ki value of 0.27 μm, and the mutation of NR1(N616R) significantly reduced its inhibitory potency. Under glutamate-mediated pathological conditions, bis(propyl)-cognitin, in contrast to bis(heptyl)-cognitin, prevented excitotoxicity with increasing effectiveness against escalating levels of glutamate and much more effectively protected against middle cerebral artery occlusion-induced brain damage than did memantine. More interestingly, under NMDA receptor-mediated physiological conditions, bis(propyl)-cognitin enhanced long-term potentiation in hippocampal slices, whereas MK-801 reduced and memantine did not alter this process. These results suggest that bis(propyl)-cognitin is a UFO antagonist of NMDA receptors with moderate affinity, which may provide a pathologically activated therapy for various neurodegenerative disorders associated with NMDA receptor dysregulation

Metastable state of gas hydrate during decomposition: a novel phenomenon

Natural gas hydrates are solid compounds with cage-like structures formed by gas and water. An intriguing phenomenon that gas hydrates can dissociate at a low rate below the ice freezing point has been viewed as the metastability of hydrate. The mechanisms of hydrate metastability have been widely studied, and many mechanisms were proposed involving the self-preservation effect, supercooled water-gas-hydrate metastable equilibrium, and supersaturated liquid–gas-hydrate system etc. The metastable state of hydrate could be of crucial significance in the kinetics of hydrate formation and decomposition, heat and mass transfer during gas production processes, and the application of hydrate-based technique involving desalination, energy storage and transportation, and gas separation and sequestration. Few researches have systematically considered this phenomenon, and its mechanism remains unclear. In this work, various mechanisms and hypothesis explaining the metastable state of gas hydrates were introduced and discussed. Further studies are still required to reveal the intrinsic nature of this metastable state of gas hydrate, and this work could give some implications on the existing theory and current status of relevant efforts

TLR3 Mediates Repair and Regeneration of Damaged Neonatal Heart through Glycolysis Dependent YAP1 Regulated miR-152 Expression

The present study investigated whether TLR3 is required for neonatal heart repair and regeneration following myocardial infarction (MI). TLR3 deficient neonatal mice exhibited impaired cardiac functional recovery and a larger infarct size, while wild type neonatal mice showed cardiac functional recovery and small infarct size after MI. The data suggest that TLR3 is essential for the regeneration and repair of damaged neonatal myocardium. In vitro treatment of neonatal cardiomyocytes with a TLR3 ligand, Poly (I:C), significantly enhances glycolytic metabolism, YAP1 activation and proliferation of cardiomyocytes which were prevented by a glycolysis inhibitor, 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG). Administration of 2-DG to neonatal mice abolished cardiac functional recovery and YAP activation after MI, suggesting that TLR3-mediated regeneration and repair of the damaged neonatal myocardium is through glycolytic-dependent YAP1 activation. Inhibition of YAP1 activation abolished Poly (I:C) induced proliferation of neonatal cardiomyocytes. Interestingly, activation of YAP1 increases the expression of miR-152 which represses the expression of cell cycle inhibitory proteins, P27kip1 and DNMT1, leading to cardiomyocyte proliferation. We conclude that TLR3 is required for neonatal heart regeneration and repair after MI. The mechanisms involve glycolytic-dependent YAP1 activation, resulting in miR-152 expression which targets DNMT1/p27kip1