Equalizing Energy Use in Homes

The goal of this Interactive Qualifying Project is to determine the amount of electrical energy that can be shifted to reduce the peak consumer demand. Peak demand occurs when consumers require a maximum amount of electrical energy. In turn, this exponentially increases production costs, transmission line losses and greenhouse gas pollution. This report studies how consumers can shift their energy, what economic incentives are possible and what potential savings may result. Collaboration with National Grid’s Smart Energy Solutions Pilot Program allowed data analysis to be conducted to determine that 3.1% of electrical energy could be shifting which yields a costs savings of 1.7%

ACAP: The Autonomous Cargo Aircraft Project

Development of autonomy in fly-by-wire aircraft has long been limited to multi-million dollar systems, or large remotely operated vehicles due to regulatory restrictions and the difficulty of designing a system around existing light aircraft. This report summarises the development of an experimental, optionally piloted aircraft with the capability of fully autonomous decision making and controlled flight. Particular time is spent discussing the safety features of the mechanical and electrical systems, as well as a novel control system design for light aircraft autopilots. This phase of the project included independant ground tests of all electromechanical systems, and simulator tests of all autoflight software. The next phase of the project will include flight testing

A method to produce periodic varied structural composite yarn by forced migrations of convergence point between polymer filaments and the staple strand

A novel composite yarn with a novel structure is prepared by the three-strand conversion method of double polymer filaments to staple fiber, that is, double polymer filaments to staple fiber repeated migration movement. The geometric principle of different relative positions of filament to helix structure change is analyzed theoretically, and the effect of filament position on the spinning-triangle of composite yarn is demonstrated. Furthermore, the structure of six different composite yarns is modeled and compared with each other, which shows the influence of different filament helical structures on the performance of spinning composite yarns. The repeated migration of filaments is observed using the online observation technique in the dynamic rotating triangle region. In addition, changes in yarn structure are caused by different geometric configurations. The results show that the stem, strength, and hair of six new composite yarns with different helical structures are slightly weakened. In summary, the three-strand conversion method is an effective new method to control the structure of filament and staple fibers

Community Leadership in Rural Tourism Development: A Tale of Two Ancient Chinese Villages

Researchers are paying increasing attention to questions of community leadership and rural tourism development. Based on leadership theories and the literature on community leadership and tourism development, this study developed a framework for community leadership in rural tourism development and used it to examine two ancient Chinese villages. We used the longitudinal case study method to collect data, and we used textual analysis to analyze these data. The results show that the rebel leadership characteristic of confrontational actions played an important role in starting the tourism industry in both villages. However, this leadership was difficult to maintain because community leaders and residents had limited power compared to that of outsiders. Losing control of tourism development in the two villages led to banal management, which prevented the emergence of strong community leadership. In the future, we argue that resilient community leadership should be nurtured in the two villages to address more complex problems occurring in tourism development, such as those characterized by vision tensions and conflicts of interest among the stakeholders affected by tourism development. Finally, we suggest that, based on the longitudinal method, future research can focus on the relationship between resilient leadership and the resilience of tourism communities

A Novel Concept to Predict Cotton Yarns’ Coefficient of Variation and Hairiness Index by Online Collected Data During Winding Process

Coefficient of variation (CV value) and hairiness value are important parameters used to assess cotton yarn quality. In order to accurately monitor yarn quality during production, we use online yarn quality detection as the input data of artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple regression (MLR) model, based on data collected by the electronic yarn clearer in the winding process as a novel concept. A prediction model of offline CV value and hairiness value was established, and the prediction performance of the two models was compared. The results show that the correlation coefficients of the offline CV values predicted by the ANN model reached 0.9832 and 0.9658 (bobbin and cheese yarn), which were much higher than the MLR model’s correlation coefficients of 0.8352 and 0.7877. Furthermore, the importance of online detection data for the prediction of CV value was analyzed. For hairiness value prediction, the correlation coefficients for bobbin and cheese yarn were above 0.923. In fact, the prediction accuracy of the ANN model was substantially higher. Therefore, the ANN model more effectively predicts the quality of offline yarn and achieves real-time monitoring

Enhancing the Spun Yarn Properties by Controlling Fiber Stress Distribution in the Spinning Triangle with Rotary Heterogeneous Contact Surfaces

Control of tension distribution in the spinning triangle region that can facilitate fiber motion and transfer is highly desirable for high quality yarn production. Here, the key mechanisms and a mechanical model of gradient regulation of fiber tension and motion with rotary heterogeneous contact surfaces were theoretically analyzed. The linear velocity gradient, effected on a fiber strand using rotary heterogeneous contact surfaces, could balance and stabilize the structure and stress distribution of spinning triangle area, which could capture exposed fiber to reduce hairiness formation and enhance the internal and external fiber transfer to strengthen the fiber utilization rate. Then, varied yarns spun without and with the rotary grooved and rotary heterogeneous contact surfaces were tested to compare the property improvement for verifying above-mentioned theory. The hairiness, irregularity, and tensity of the yarns spun with rotary heterogeneous contact surfaces spun yarns were significantly improved compared to other spun yarns, which effectively corresponded well to the theoretical analysis. Based on this spinning method, this effective, low energy-consuming, easy spinning apparatus can be used with varied fiber materials for high-quality yarn production

The Influence of a Rotary Compact Groove Cylinder on the Properties of Ring Spun Yarn

Hairiness is a key index for yarn quality as it has a critically negative influence on weaving process. Yarns with less hairiness are highly demanded in textile industry. This work introduced an innovative way to mainly reduce the hairiness of ring spun yarns. Rotary compact groove cylinders (CGC) have been installed in the front of spinning nip to minimize the spinning triangle. Theoretical analysis has been carried out to reveal the mechanics of reducing hairiness. Two yarn types spun using conventional ring spinning and Siro spinning both with CGC device have also been compared to investigate this spinning method on the general application of different yarn types. Experimental results indicate that the CGC device can capture and control float fibers in the spinning triangle, pure cotton, and flax/cotton blend yarn were both improved with less hairiness (with reduction ratio of 3 mm hairs at 40% and 38%, respectively). The strength of CGC pure cotton yarn was improved, while the unevenness of CGC flax/cotton blend yarn were slightly deteriorated compared with original yarn. This method is easy to realize and requires no extra energy, which has great potential to be applied in the industrial production of ring spun yarns with better properties