Box Design Research Articles

3D limb dynamics of flyball dogs turning on different box angles.

There are no regulations for the flyball box angulation, which ranges from 45° to 89°. As such at present, the box turn is deemed to represent the greatest injury risk to competitors. The aim of this study was to understand the influence of box angle on kinematic variables during a flyball turn, by comparing dogs turning on three different angulations of flyball box (45°, 60° and 83°) to allow for recommendations to be made regarding the most appropriate box design in terms of limiting risk of injury across the sport, to increase both wellbeing and safety for competitors. Turning on a 45° box generates significantly more flexion in the forelimbs and carpus, whereas turning on an 83° box generates greater degrees of extension in the elbow, shoulder, hock and stifle. What our 3D analysis has shown is that the relationship between box angle and the physical demands placed on the dog are complex, and related mainly to asymmetrical nature of the sport, and as such no one angle may be more or less suitable for training and competition, but the 60° seems to be a mid-ground, whereas direction of turn may be fundamental in generating the potential for injury.

Gas Box Exhaust Design Modification for Accidental Hazardous Gas Releases in Semiconductor Industry

Hazardous substances such as hydrogen and chlorine are used in semiconductor manufacturing. When these gasses are discharged, they are mixed with outside air and are connected to a treatment facility through a duct inside a gas box. This study investigated an optimal exhaust design to prevent fire explosions and toxic exposure by optimizing the exhaust volume when hazardous substances leak from the gas box of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In this study, carbon monoxide was used for modeling. A 75 mm duct was used, and the tracer gas was released into the gas box at 15.4 LPM. The concentrations were measured at nine points inside and outside the gas box. According to the test results, in an experiment designed with 0% air intake, the internal leakage concentration was measured to be more than 25% of the LEL (lower explosive limit) for 10 min when leakage occurred due to stagnant flow, and the outside toxicity concentration was also measured to be more than 50% of the TWA (time-weighted average) value. When the air intake ratio was designed to be 100%, there was a point on the outside that exceeded 50% of the TWA, confirming that excessive air intake could also cause gas to leak outside. Finally, when the intake ratio was designed to be 50% in both directions, it was confirmed that the airflow was maintained smoothly, and the hazardous gasses were safely diluted and discharged through the duct. This study was conducted to improve the safety of workers in the field in the event of leakage of flammable and toxic gasses by testing the location and area of the air intake hole in the gas box exhaust port. Through this effort, the aim is to present specific standards for gas box design and to assist in establishing a legal framework or standardized guidelines.

What drives demand for loot boxes? An experimental study

The market for video games is booming, with in-game purchases accounting for a substantial share of developers’ revenues. Policymakers and the general public alike are concerned that so-called “loot boxes” – lotteries that offer random rewards to be used in-game – induce consumers to overspend on video games. We provide experimental evidence suggesting that common design features of loot boxes (such as opaque odds and positively selected feedback) indeed induce overspending by inflating the belief of winning a prize. In combination, these features double the average willingness-to-pay for lotteries. Based on our findings, we argue for the need to regulate the design of loot boxes to protect consumers from overspending.

Structure design and ultimate strength envelope of a modular carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate tube box on a 5000 ft deep-sea ultra large unmanned underwater vehicle

Deep-sea tube box is a crucial and basic structural component of various deep-sea equipment such as deep-sea submarine and unmanned underwater vehicles. The deep-sea ultra large unmanned underwater vehicle (ULUUV) is the most representative one of them. Tube boxes are the basic modular members on the ULUUV, which are widely used as the load-bearing hull in torpedo launch, load transportation, pipeline protection and etc. Due to the extremely harsh operation condition, deep-sea tube box simultaneously suffers extremely high lateral water pressure and tremendous axial compression induced by water pressure. Considering the strict requirements for lightweight, high strength, and corrosion resistance of deep-sea tube boxes, carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) have become the most potential choice for the construction materials of future deep-sea tube box. Thus, the aim of this paper is to make a structure design of a deep-sea CFRP tube box which can operate at the water depth of 5000 ft. In this paper, a detailed design process of the deep-sea CFRP tube box was introduced, including geometrical configuration, critical buckling load prediction method, FE modeling technique and experimental validation. Corresponding to 5 ply schemes, 495 cases of FE analyses were performed to obtain the ultimate strength envelopes of the CFRP tube box subjected to combined axial compression and external lateral water pressure. Based on the obtained results, the best ply scheme for the deep-sea CFRP tube box was figured out. This paper could provide design method and data references for deep-sea CFRP structures which are subjected to combined loads.

Design optimization for inner core of crash box for vehicle based on NPR/PU structure

Vehicle crashworthiness is a critical aspect of the passive safety domain in passenger cars, and crash boxes play a significant role in vehicle collisions. Currently, the crash boxes predominantly utilized in vehicles are primarily simple thin-walled structures, which exhibit average energy-absorbing capabilities. To enhance vehicle collision safety, this article proposes an inner core filled with negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) structure and polyurethane (PU) material to the design of crash box. Initially, a double-arrow type NPR structure is selected as the framework, with polyurethane (PU) serving as the filling material. This combination forms the inner core of the crash box. A collision analysis is conducted on three types of crash boxes, examining the differences in their performance indicators in detail to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed design. Subsequently, variables that significantly influence the evaluation metrics were identified through extreme value difference analysis, and these variables were designated as the design parameters for the subsequent optimization process. Finally, the Neighborhood Cultivation Genetic Algorithm (NCGA) and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) were employed as optimization algorithms for the optimal design, and the optimal results of the two algorithms are determined separately using Normal Boundary Intersection (NBI) method, and then compared to determine the overall optimal solution. The simulation results indicate that the NSGA-II optimized NPR/PU collision box provides substantial advantages in overall performance. After NSGA-II optimization, the NPR/PU crash box exhibits reduced overall collapse displacement and maximum peak collision force compared to other crash boxes, along with enhanced specific energy absorption capacity. These findings indicate that the designed NPR/PU crash box significantly improves the vehicle’s crashworthiness in the event of a collision. This article offers valuable theoretical insights to support the development and exploration of automotive crash boxes.

Failure mechanism and crashworthiness optimization of variable stiffness nested origami crash box

In recent years, the study of the crashworthiness of lightweight and efficient thin-walled energy-absorbing structures has received increasing attention. In this work, 3D printing technology was adopted to create a nested origami crash box with stiffness variation, which was made of short carbon fiber reinforced nylon material. The structure effectively inhibits the development of failure behavior of short carbon fiber-reinforced nylon origami crash box due to material brittleness. The quasi-static compression experiment results indicate that compared to origami crash box, nested origami crash box improves by 40% in specific energy absorption and 50% in crash force efficiency, while the initial peak crushing force remains unchanged. The effects of three key geometrical parameters, namely dihedral angle, distance between tubes, and height difference on the damage mechanism of the nested origami crash box are discussed in detail using the finite element method, and the response surface model combined with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is used for multi-objective optimization. In this work, the concepts of origami theory and nested systems are integrated for the first time, aiming to achieve a stable and efficient energy-absorbing deformation mode by precisely modulating the stress transfer path of the structure and its stiffness. This work provides new ideas for the design and fabrication of novel lightweight energy-absorption boxes.

Machine tool cross beam design, fabrication, and testing using metal big area additive manufacturing

This paper describes the application of metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing (mBAAM) to the fabrication of a machine tool cross beam. The replacement of a traditional box design weldment with a new design printed by wire arc additive manufacturing using the MedUSA system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is detailed. This requires a new design strategy based on the unique mBAAM capabilities. The intent of the new design is to reduce mass, while maintaining the dynamic stiffness. To compare the two designs, the natural frequencies and mode shapes are measured using impact testing and predicted using finite element analysis. It is confirmed that the printed structure dynamics agreed with the numerical model predictions, which demonstrates that it is feasible to model a large-scale mBAAM part and understand its behavior prior to printing. Another notable outcome of this study is that the significant residual stress and distortion in the print indicate that knowledge gaps remain for widespread implementation of mBAAM.

Mechanical behaviors of composite auxetic structures under quasi-static compression and dynamic impact

This paper presents a low-velocity impact study on two types of structures, namely (1) planar multi-cellular auxetic structures (AUS) composed of multiple re-entrant cell structures made of unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRP) laminate, and (2) sandwich CFRP-AUS structures (Al/CFRP-AUS), whereby the CFRP-AUS was sandwiched by aluminium plates. The experimental results reveal the mechanical behaviors of CFRP-AUS under quasi-static compression and drop hammer impact loading, and the mechanical behavior of Al/CFRP-AUS under drop impact loading. The energy absorption of the CFRP-AUS associated with quasi-static compression is greater than that associated with drop hammer impact, which is consistent with the observed differences in failure modes. The impact energy absorption capacity of the Al/CFRP-AUS is slightly higher than that of the CFRP-AUS due to the interaction between the plates and the AUS. The corresponding finite element analysis was performed and the drop hammer impact of the multi-layered CFRP-AUS was predicted. In conclusion, the CFRP-AUS structures have good energy absorption capacity during impact loading, and the known complex mechanical behaviors of deformation, failure and contact can provide guidance for the design of energy absorption box and bumper in engineering application.

Multi‐parameter design optimization of crash box for crashworthiness analysis

AbstractThis study focuses on the optimization process of crash box design. The design optimization process is resource‐intensive and requires multiple dynamic simulations. Numerous design parameters can be varied to satisfy the crashworthiness objectives. Therefore an intelligent and robust machine learning (ML) framework has been developed. This framework can be employed to assist in the optimization of various crashworthiness components with different crashworthiness objectives.Here, a reinforcement learning‐based (RL) machine learning framework is developed. It consists of a finite element method (FEM) surrogate and RL environment. The FEM surrogate is trained using data from FEM simulations as well as synthetic data generated by a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). An inverse problem is solved for optimizing the geometrical parameters of the boundary value problem while the RL is receiving input from the FEM surrogate. RL has proven to be accurate in many fields due to its ability to explore and exploit the learned dynamics. Conventional algorithms require numerous iterations and tuned functions to achieve appropriate results and need to be initialized after a slight change in the problem. Due to an optimization of input parameters in an inverse problem, RL is chosen for the present investigation.For the simulation data needed, the crash box is designed with linear first‐order accurate four nodal shell elements. Also, bilinear elastoplastic material along with geometrical nonlinearity is used to simulate the dynamic deformation process.The RL agents learn to vary the crash box design parameters and search for the optimal parameters. The optimal parameters are based on the user‐defined crashworthiness objectives.

Design and Application of the New Multi-functional Moxibustion Box

Our team is dedicated to exploring new models for the treatment of spleen and stomach diseases using external therapy techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We have developed a new multi-functional external therapy device for TCM that innovatively combines the concept of combined therapy with moxibustion. Additionally, through the application of artificial intelligence and new cross-industry intelligent manufacturing technologies, we have creatively incorporated an intelligent anti-burning system, enhancing the automation and informatization level of the product. We have implemented the concept of digitalization from the design stage, thus truly realizing an in-depth exploration of moxibustion, a method of external therapy in TCM. This chapter will summarize the design and application of a new multi-functional moxibustion box, aiming to provide a comprehensive reference for improving the symptoms of spleen and stomach diseases through moxibustion therapy.

ON THE ISSUE OF ENSURING THE OPERABILITY OF FREIGHT CAR AXLE BOXES

The article is devoted to analysing the reliability of freight car axle boxes. Wheelsets and axle boxes are especially important for ensuring the traffic safety of trains. The study examined cases of cars uncoupling from a train along the route due to technical faults resulting in delays in train movement. The analysis covered the period of 1995–2023. It found that failures of car axle boxes and automatic brakes predominated. After a significant decrease from 2000–2014, the number of roller axle box failures in recent years fluctuated at 30% of the total number of uncouplings. The analysis obtained a dependency for the change in car detachments due to roller bearing failures, calculated per 1,000 cars in the operating fleet. Despite fluctuations in the number of railcars, the safety level of operations in recent years remained virtually at the same level. The study highlighted that excessive heating accompanies damage in the elements of the axle box unit. It considered methods for detecting possible failures and their advantages and disadvantages. The authors identified the primary causes of axle box component failures. Cylindrical bearings and end mountings remain the most dangerous for failure probability. We demonstrated that the axle box design with cylindrical bearings has a fundamental flaw. Axial forces are perceived through the rolling friction of the ends of the rollers against the ring flanges, leading to the formation of ‘chevron’ scratches and dents on the roller ends, which are stress concentrators. The study established that the surface of the axle box housing is constantly in contact with the side frame of the freight car bogie and wears out. It results in pinching of the axle box body and contributes to the appearance of additional permanent forces acting on the axle box assembly. The end-bearing mounts are weakened and destroyed. Skewed rollers in the bearings cause fatigue failure of the rolling races. It leads to increased heating of the axle box assemblies and uncoupling of the car. A promising direction is the improvement of axle box bodies. Keywords: rolling stock, traffic safety, reliability, axle box assembly, roller bearing, axle box body, failure.

3D Printing of Periodic Porous Metamaterials for Tunable Electromagnetic Shielding Across Broad Frequencies

HighlightsThe stable periodic porous shielding materials were prepared by combining the strategies of 3D printing and metamaterial design.The relationship between porous material structure and electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency (EMI SE) effectiveness was deeply explored, revealing the important structural parameters for realizing tunable EMI SE property.The optimized design of the periodic porous shielding box achieves effective EMI shielding in a wide wavelength range (over 2.4 GHz).

Optimization of crashworthiness design of foam-filled crash boxes under oblique loading for electric vehicles

To increase the energy-absorbing capability of frontal collision management systems and improve vehicle crash safety, foam-filled crash boxes should be optimized. On the basis of a double tubular construction, a novel foam-filled crash box with a different design is developed. The energy absorption capacity, initial peak force, and deformation modes of the original and improved crash boxes were examined using impact models. As opposed to the full-filling design, it is demonstrated that the filling design may utilize less foam while increasing specific energy absorption. The stability of continuing deformation after the first buckling is determined by the foam-filled crash box. For the foam-filled crash box, a better-optimized design technique is suggested using the Taguchi method and principal component analysis (PCA). Compression tests are used to validate the design concept. Therefore, the optimal design technique of the crash box is suitable and practical for the crashworthiness design of crash boxes, considering the combined effect of significant indicators for electric vehicles.

Design of a Smart Donation Box Based on IoT

This research, entitled "IoT-based Intelligent Charity Box Design", aims to develop a charity box system that utilizes the Internet of Things (Iot) technology to enhance public participation in charity. In this context, the charity box not only serves as a container for storing donations, but is also equipped with features that can automatically monitor and calculate the amount of money inserted. The system uses the Wemos D1 Mini as a microcontroller connected to the Internet, allowing users to access data in real time through a website. In addition, this smart charity box is equipped with a PIR sensor that detects motion and triggers sound on the DFPlayer, as well as a TCS3200 color sensor that counts the paper money entered. Thus, the research not only offers technological solutions, but also seeks to remind the public of the importance of charity in a more interactive and efficient way. The results of this research are expected to benefit the management of charity funds and raise social awareness in the community.

Optimizing crash box design to meet injury criteria: a protocol for accurate simulation and material selection

The design of a deformation element or crash box that meets a given injury criterion based on deceleration requires careful consideration of physical properties and space requirements. Variations in material yield stress or geometry can result in statistical variations in the injury criterion output. Optimizing the crash box to fulfil two different injury criteria and two different energy levels may require more space than initially specified. In this study, we propose a protocol where the crash box is collapsed, and force–displacement is fitted to an equation. This fit is carried out with just two simulations and compared to 30 possible scenarios, obtaining a maximum error of 38.9%. With this initial fit, the appropriate thickness and yield stress can be chosen to perform crashes with two energy levels and monitor four injury values. With the ideal yield stress and sheet metal thickness, we introduce real statistical distributions using Monte Carlo design to perform 200 simulations and obtain 400 injury values for each design proposal. This technique ensures that the design will meet injury requirements for any possible combination of thickness and yield stress accepted by quality inspection. If only one simulation is performed, all designs meet the requirements, but only the last proposed design decreased the average injury to 9.2 g with a standard deviation of 2.68 g and a maximum value of 14.4 g, which is less than the required 15 g. This technique minimizes the risk of finding combinations of yield stress and thickness that produce an undesirable injury criterion.

Characterization of embankment material using sand tire mix as additive and validating the results obtained from large scale direct shear test in Abaqus software

Laboratory direct shear tests often overlook larger particles due to limitations in shear box design, resulting in an inadequate portrayal of real-world soil conditions. To address this gap, the use of large-scale direct shear apparatus capable of accommodating larger particles is essential. However, conducting such tests with varied sizes of tire shreds, mixing ratios, and loads is intricate and resource-intensive. Therefore, the utilization of numerical modeling is suggested to simulate sand-tire mixtures under diverse conditions. This study presents conclusions derived from comparing numerical results with experimental observations, demonstrating a close correspondence between the two. It offers a comprehensive examination of the impact of sand and shredded tires mixtures on shear strength, indicating a consistent pattern: increased quantities of tire shreds correspond to heightened friction angles. Furthermore, specimens containing larger shredded tire particles display elevated friction angles, implying a possible connection between particle size and frictional behavior. This investigation underscores the importance of numerical modeling as a cost-efficient and effective approach to complement experimental inquiries, enriching our comprehension of soil-tire mixture dynamics and guiding practical applications in transportation and geotechnical engineering.

No evidence of adaptive tolerance of parasitism in a cavity-nesting brood parasite host

Abstract Acceptance of avian brood parasitism by hosts is one of the most enigmatic aspects of brood parasite–host coevolution. The most common explanation for acceptance of parasitism by hosts of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is evolutionary lag, which suggests that hosts have not had enough time to evolve defenses against parasitism. Alternatively, acceptance may be the optimal strategy when the costs of rejecting parasitism exceed the benefits. The lack of nest site hypothesis applies to secondary cavity-nesting birds that cannot excavate their own nests and predicts that hosts accept parasitism instead of deserting a parasitized nest when there are no vacant nest sites available in which to renest. I tested this hypothesis using the prothonotary warbler (Pronotaria citrea), a commonly parasitized, cavity-nesting cowbird host. I used a paired nest box design and predicted that if hosts accept parasitism because of a lack of alternative nest sites, they should desert parasitized nests and renest in the vacant nest box on their territory. I recorded 37 cases where a nest was parasitized and warblers only deserted 2 parasitized nest boxes for a vacant nest box. Both desertions were attributable to factors other than parasitism and the rate of desertion did not differ from controls that only had a single nest box. Moreover, 7 of the warblers initiated clutches in nest boxes that already contained cowbird egg despite having vacant nest boxes available on their territories. These results indicate that warblers do not accept parasitism because of tolerance, but likely due to evolutionary lag.

A Morphological Approach to Development of a Process for Measurement Uncertainty Estimation

The problem of increasing the reliability of uncertainty estimation of measurement results is considered. The purpose of this work was to justify the application of the process approach to the formation of the algorithm of uncertainty estimation on the basis of morphological analysis. It is theoretically substantiated that from the standpoint of the system approach to achieving an acceptable degree of reliability of measurement uncertainty estimates it is necessary to implement a process approach to the formation of the estimation method as an algorithm of actions. The main stages of the estimation process are defined. It is established that each stage of the estimation process can be realized by alternative methods. The morphological box method as a realization of morphological analysis is proposed as a basis for its solution. A morphological box design of the uncertainty estimation process with an open architecture is presented, based only on commonly accepted methods and approaches for realizing each step of the process. Two aspects of the application of the morphological box method are identified. On the one hand, the morphological box allows to form an algorithm of the uncertainty assessment process, maximally acceptable for the laboratory conditions, as a combination of process steps, based on the task at hand, combining different variants of realization of these steps. On the other hand, the morphological box acts as a tool for development of new methods of realization of various stages of the uncertainty assessment process. Examples of using the morphological box method to develop alternative algorithms of the uncertainty estimation process of the same measurement method and to develop new methods of realization of different stages of the estimation process are considered.

블라인드 박스 패키지 전략과 소비자 구매욕구

With the development of the economy, consumption levels are getting better and better. At the same time, people's cultural awareness and needs have also improved. Against this background, as the first contact between consumers and brands, the package is an important touch point, carrying cultural symbols and brand image, and is becoming more and more important. This study focuses on the package design of blind box, which aims to explore the connection between package design and consumers' purchase desire through case analysis and online survey. Through the analysis of the package design, we will explore how design elements influence consumers' purchase decisions and explore potential psychological mechanisms. The insights from the study were that package design should maximize the use of visual elements, combine the content of the product, and present information clearly and accurately to make the product understandable and stimulate consumption.

Design and experiment of high-performance small magnetic shielding box

Investigating the state of cells in zero magnetic or near-zero magnetic environments is an important scientific issue. However, standard cell culture incubators can only provide general conditions such as constant temperature, constant humidity, sterility, and carbon dioxide, and cannot provide zero magnetic or near-zero magnetic environments for cell culture. To address this issue, an optimization method was proposed in this paper based on the combination of the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) and the finite element method (FEM), achieving the optimization design of a magnetic shielding box (MSB) with a small volume, high shielding factor, and low residual field. Firstly, the high-permeability layer and high-conductivity layer were optimized respectively using the PSO and FEM. Then, the effectiveness of this method was analyzed through experiments. The experimental results show that the shielding factors in three directions at the center point of the optimized MSB are 786.8 (east-west), 2182.7 (north-south), and 1389.4 (vertical) respectively at 0.01 Hz. Meanwhile, the maximum residual field in the cubic region with a side length of 10 cm inside the MSB is 11.9 nT. Finally, the MSB designed by this method was placed in a standard cell culture incubator to cultivate cells in a zero-magnetic or near-zero magnetic environment. Then the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) experiments to evaluate the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy drugs on tumor cells in a weak magnetic environment (WMF). The results show that the lethality of paclitaxel (PTX) to Epidermal carcinoma cell (A431) increases by 25.96 times and the lethality of gemcitabine (GE) to Lung carcinoma cell (NCI-H460) increases by 24.23 times in a WMF. At the same time, the maximum proliferation inhibition rate of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on NCI-H460 cells in a WMF environment increased by 15.69%. That is, WMF could significantly improve the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy drugs on tumor cells.