Front Panel Research Articles

Laborem Box: A scalable and open source platform to design remote lab experiments in electronics

Hybrid teaching (face-to-face and distance learning) enables students to better prepare and complete their courses. In science, technology, engineering and mathematics, it is important that practical training be an integral part of the curriculum. Laborem project developed at the technological university institute in Bayonne, France, enables undergraduate students to carry out part of their lab experiments in electronics remotely. Started in 2011, Laborem platform was based on proprietary solutions. Since 2017, the platform has migrated to open source software (PyScada) and open source interface box (Laborem Box), which was developed in order to enable the connection of several circuit boards to be studied. These boards, called plugs, are easily interchangeable and enable teachers to quickly adapt the proposed circuits to their course. The software also provides a simple front panel to adapt the human machine interface that is available for students. Laborem Box consists of a 3D printable box, a power supply board, a set of plugs, and a motherboard that enables students to study the selected plug. In addition, a single board computer is embedded and a hard disk can be used if necessary. This paper is intended to describe the hardware and software design of Laborem platform, and to serve as a guide to explain how to duplicate and deploy this system, primarily dedicated to undergraduate students for learning basic electronics.

Development of an Electronic Instrument for Eddy Current Testing

This article presents the development of a portable electronic variable frequency instrument for eddy current testing. Variations in the conductivity, permeability, or physical characteristics of non-ferromagnetic and ferromagnetic materials cause the impedance of the probe (or coil) connected to a Wheatstone bridge circuit to change. Impedance change causes bridge unbalance, which is indicated by analog and digital indicators on the front panel. The main applications of the equipment are: detection of cracks and surface faults in conductive materials, evaluation of the depths of detected discontinuities, classification of these materials through the variation of conductivity, and evaluation of the thickness of non-conductive layers on a conductive basis. Eddy current testing instruments are superior to equipment that does not use electromagnetic principles for the applications described above. The reason is due to the accuracy and ease of carrying out the inspection. The device developed in this work also has the advantage of the circuits simplicity, the low cost of the electronic components, and the ease of finding them in the market for eventual maintenance. Some test results performed are presented. The instrument performed well for the intended applications.

Finite Element Analysis of the Ballistic Impact on Auxetic Sandwich Composite Human Body Armor.

In this study, the ballistic impact behavior of auxetic sandwich composite human body armor was analyzed using finite element analysis. The auxetic core of the armor was composed of discrete re-entrant unit cells. The sandwich armor structure consisted of a front panel of aluminum alloy (Al 7075-T6), UHMWPE (sandwich core), and a back facet of silicon carbide (SiC) bonded together with epoxy resin. Numerical simulations were run on Explicit Dynamics/Autodyne 3-D code. Various projectile velocities with the same boundary conditions were used to predict the auxetic armor response. These results were compared with those of conventional monolithic body armor. The results showed improved indentation resistance with the auxetic armor. Deformation in auxetic armor was observed greater for each of the cases when compared to the monolithic armor, due to higher energy absorption. The elastic energy dissipation results in the lower indentation in an auxetic armor. The armor can be used safely up to 400 m/s; being used at higher velocities significantly reduced the threat level. Conversely, the conventional monolithic modal does not allow the projectile to pass through at a velocity below 300 m/s; however, the back face becomes severely damaged at 200 m/s. At a velocity of 400 m/s, the front facet of auxetic armor was destroyed; however, the back facet was completely safe, while the monolithic panel did not withstand this velocity and was completely damaged. The results are encouraging in terms of resistance offered by the newly adopted auxetic armor compared to conventional monolithic armor.

The Design of Low-concentration Dust Detection System Based on Mie Scattering Theory

According to the requirement of low-concentration dust emission in China, this paper designed a low-cost and high-precision dust detection system based on Mie scattering. Through theoretical analysis, the relationship between the intensity of scattered light and the concentration of soot is obtained. The laser emitting unit, signal receiving unit and STM32 data processing unit are designed. The driving principle of laser modulation and the principle of selective signal amplification of weak signal are analyzed. The host computer program is written with LabVIEW software, and the test data are displayed on the front panel of the host computer. The experimental results show that this system has high sensitivity, fast response, good repeatability, and can be measured online for a long time, which means this system has good practicability.

Information Technology for Personalized Control of The Coordination of Cyclical Movements of the Limbs

The theoretical and practical principles of the synthesis of information technology for personalized control of the coordination of cyclical movements of the limbs are considered. The technology is implemented by two modifications of 4-channel programmed myostimulators, “TrenKorSyntez-4” and “MioAktyvSyntez-4”. In contrast to existing devices, the developed ones use a flexible structure of muscles involvement in cyclical movements, which is aimed at successful performance of a motor task. Displaying the movement program (model) on the front panels is an additional tool for its adjustment and making changes to the planned model. The results of clinical tests of operating model of “TrenKorSyntez-4” device are considered. Various approaches to cycle time synthesis, which are used by “TrenkorSynthez-4” and “MioAktyvSyntez-4” devices, as well as the advantages of digital-analog technical implementation of “MioAktyvSyntez-4” for the practical usage of the technology and expansion of its functional capabilities are discussed.

Evaluation of impact resistant composites for aircraft cockpit

Several impact events are known to affect the aircrafts airworthiness, namely, bird or hail strike and impacts from uncontained engine rotor failure or other metal debris. Therefore, improvement of impact protection solutions for the cockpit, front and lateral panels is required, capable of endure such events without weight penalty. Several manufacturing technologies were implemented and tested up to 200 m/s with a compressed air gas cannon assembled a smooth bore barrel of 4 meters. Steel and hail spheres were used as projectiles and driven with a sabot. A digital chronograph and two high-speed cameras provide the impact velocities. Ultrasonic phase-array and x-ray inspection were performed to assess the damage. Evaluation was performed by comparison with the provided baselines. Among the tested solutions, carbon fibers impregnated with an epoxy resin doped with carbon nanotubes presented the best energy absorption performance for hail impacts. On the other hand, for metal sphere impacts, a fiber metal laminate solution made of aluminium and Dyneema® present the best behaviour.

Microstructure modeling of microfiber sound absorbers and investigation of improvement of sound absorption coefficient

In the automotive industry, various studies have been conducted to reduce cabin noise. Currently, it is common to use sound-absorbing materials in door panels and front panels to reduce low-frequency noise such as road noise and wind noise. Porous materials such as glass wool and urethane foam are used as sound-absorbing materials, but they currently have problems such as low sound absorption performance at low frequencies. Therefore, this study focused on fiber-based sound-absorbing materials consisting of multiple diameters. A microstructural model was created based on data obtained from microstructural observations of this fiber material. Using this model, flow resistance and sound absorption coefficient were calculated by the homogenization method. The results of the calculations using the model with bundled fibers showed that the effect of changes in the flow path area was significant.

Noise Reduction in Tractor Cabs Using Coupled Resonance Acoustic Materials

The noise level in a tractor cab directly affects the driving experience. Reducing the noise level in a tractor cab is an important means of improving the image of the product brand and protecting the physical and psychological health of employees. To reduce medium- and low-frequency noise in a tractor cab, the influence of the installation of coupled resonance acoustic materials (CRAMs) on tractor driver ear noise is investigated in this study. Theories for sound absorption by perforated plates and sound insulation by thin membranes are used to design a CRAM composed of a perforated plate, elastic membrane and additional mass. The acoustic impedance and sound absorption coefficient of the CRAM are obtained by an equivalent circuit method, and the resonance frequency of a local resonance system composed of an elastic membrane and additional mass is calculated. The effects of different hole diameters and porosities of the perforated plate on the CRAM sound absorption coefficient are compared. The results of tests performed using impedance tubes over a wide frequency range of 50 Hz~1600 Hz show that the maximum sound absorption coefficient is 0.99 and several transmission loss peaks of 15 dB~26 dB. Measurement of the acoustic response of the CRAM installed on the cab front panel shows that an ear noise reduction of approximately 1.3 dB(A) for a tractor working speed of 2200 rpm. The results show that the designed CRAM has a relatively good effect on reducing driver ear noise over a wide frequency band and is a feasible scheme for noise reduction in a tractor cab.

Simulation of a frontal impact on a coach door sub-system using a pseudo-dynamic (PSD) test

Testing automotive structures represents a very important procedure for its safety evaluation aiming the certification. In this work, a pseudo-dynamic procedure was used to assess the deformation energy stored in a coach door structure when subjected to a virtual impact of a swinging striker. Currently, passenger vehicles are tested for its resilience when subjected to an impact of a swinging striker hitting the vehicle frontal surface at a prescribed velocity. This procedure represents some investment, mainly in instrumentation and the complexity of the test rig kinematics. In this work, as a first step for the complete structure validation, the structural behaviour of the vehicle door, normally subjected to an in-plane impact load, was analysed using a pseudo-dynamic method. In this test, only a fraction of the striker mass is considered to deform the door structure, given that the front pillar of the vehicle body is supposed to receive the majority of the striker kinetic energy and it is an absent entity in this alternative experimental procedure. The door is instrumented using 6 uniaxial strain gauges strategically placed. In addition, the continuous deformation and strain fields of the main front panel were measured using contactless 3D digital image correlation.

SIMULATION OPTIMIZATION AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE AIR DISTRIBUTION CHAMBER STRUCTURE OF STRAW-BASED NUTRIENT SEEDING-GROWING BOWL TRAY MICROWAVE–HOT-AIR COUPLING DRYERS

To improve the flow field structure of the air distribution chamber of the microwave–hot-air coupling dryer for a straw-based nutrient seeding-growing bowl tray and enhance the uniformity of the outlet gas velocity distribution, computational fluid dynamics software was used to simulate the flow field of the air distribution chamber based on the gas motion differential equation and the (RNG) k–ε turbulence model. Using the front panel height, upper apex angle, and side wall inclination angle as factors and the speed nonuniformity coefficient as the index, the results showed that when the air distribution chamber front panel height was 33 mm, the upper apex angle was 108°, the side wall inclination angle was 78°, the height of the two spoilers was 40 mm, the outlet airflow speed varied from 5.36 to 5.71 m/s, and the speed unevenness coefficient was reduced from 13.95% in the original model to 6.05%. The maximum deviation between the numerical simulation results and test data was less than 4%, which met the uniformity requirement of the outlet airflow speed of the dryer. The results provide theoretical support for the design and industrial production of microwave–hot-air coupling dryers.

A Distributed Control System for Monitoring and Controlling Different Processes

A set of controllers connected by a data network and appearing to function as one unit is known as a distributed control system (DCS). Despite having diverse roles, locations, configurations, and specifications, they are all connected by a common language of communication. In applications like chemical plants or oil refineries, where there are many input-output modules engaged in communication, DCS is favoured. They are multitasking systems that can handle sizable common databases and support numerous control loops through graphical function block representation. The necessity of the hour is process monitoring and control from a distance. One such option is DCS, which is used in most process control sectors. This idea is based on applying the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) concept in the stations and using DCS to control the existing process stations in the lab (level and flow process). The process control panel for each station’s monitoring and control is developed with a user-friendly Front Panel. The Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) Controller is programmed using functional blocks for the level and flow process.

Low Voltage and Low Power Front Panel Design for 12 Lead ECG

The use of portable devices is increasing day by day. Mainly these devices play a vital role in medical field when the doctors are unavailable. In that one of the important emergency medical portable systems is Electro Cardiogram (ECG). ECGs are used to measure the abnormalities of the heart by performing electrical activities. It can be done by attaching electrodes on the body for few minutes. To collect the information from electrodes data acquisition system is used in ECGs or in any biomedical systems. The major challenge in implementing data acquisition system is the increase in power dissipation due to the excessive contact impedance of electrodes. As a solution to this, A CMOS 12 lead ECG data acquisition circuit is designed by using analog multiplexers is proposed in this paper. The proposed system is designed by using improved DTMOS based analog multiplexers and these works with a power supply of ±0.2 V with a dynamic voltage range from 1uv to 200mv with the Power dissipation of 140 nW.

Behavior of tube-reinforced double-layer honeycomb sandwich structure subjected to low-velocity impact

To improve the load carrying capacity, structural stiffness, and impact resistance of honeycomb sandwich structure, a novel tube-reinforced double-layer honeycomb sandwich structure was proposed by filling metallic tubes on the honeycomb holes. The low-velocity impact test was carried out on the tube-reinforced structure experimentally and numerically to evaluate its low-velocity impact response. It indicated that the stiffness, first linear stage slopes, and impact resistance of the honeycomb sandwich structure were increased by tube filling. Besides, the stress and deformation distribution of front and back panels were changed into more scattered and uniform, resulting in the reduction of maximum deflection. The maximum deflection of the front panel could be effectively reduced by filling the upper honeycomb core with aluminum tubes. Filling the lower honeycomb core with aluminum tubes could greatly reduce the maximum deflection of the middle and rear panels. The tube-reinforced honeycomb sandwich structure was a promising structure for weight sensitive applications owing to its improved load carrying capacity and impact resistance.

The indentation responses of composite Y‐type cores sandwich structure under various temperatures

AbstractThe influences of elevated and cryogenic temperature on the quasi‐static indentation responses and damage mechanism for composite Y‐type cores sandwich structure were studied by experiments in present paper. The quasi‐static indentation experiments were performed to explore the indentation performances for composite Y‐type cores sandwich structures under eight different temperature conditions. The influences of the testing environment temperature on the typical indentation force‐deformation curves, damage patterns and indentation failure load were investigated and analyzed. The experimental results demonstrated that the testing environment temperature made an important influence on the deformation mechanism, typical force‐deformation curves and failure load. Fiber fracture of the front panel was found when the testing environment temperature was below the glass transition temperature, while the fiber microbuckling of the front panel was also revealed when the testing environment temperature was above the glass transition temperature. The failure load increased with the decreasing of the testing environment temperature at cryogenic temperature. Nevertheless, at elevated temperature, the failure load decreased with the increasing of the testing environment temperature attributing to the weakening of the fiber‐matrix interface performances.

Study of front panel electrode coatings for combined visible and short wavelength infrared photodetectors

ZnO-Ga2O3 composite oxide films were RF sputtered and studied how the optical and electrical film properties are affected by the sputtering conditions and film thickness. The aim was to achieve low resistivity and at the same time, high transparency for the visible and short wavelength infrared (SWIR) electromagnetic range for the needs of simple, transparent and indium-free electrodes. A comparison was made with pristine ZnO films. We found that plasma voltage, respectively plasma power plays a crucial role in determining the optoelectronic properties of the deposited films for the fabrication of combined photodetectors. The effective surface roughness of the ZnO-Ga2O3 films varied between 12.9 nm and 16.7 nm when plasma power density varied between 35 and 54 W/cm2, respectively. The increase of the sputtering power narrowed the transmission band to the longer wavelength from the visible spectrum. The transparency in the SWIR range varied between 83 and 96% and decreased with the plasma power increase, while the corresponding transparency in the visible range varied between 60 and 82%. The sheet resistance for the films under the best parameters demonstrating the highest transmission in both electromagnetic ranges showed relatively low sheet resistance of 48 Ω/sq. The potential application of the prepared films is for VIS-IR detectors used in robotics for spatial information gain, gaming and virtual reality and autonomous car navigation, where the day and the night visions are equally important.

Energy absorption performance and optimization of combination modes for carbon fiber reinforced plastics/aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels

ABSTRACTCarbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP)/aluminum honeycomb sandwich panel, as a composite structure with lightweight, energy absorption, shock absorption and strong impact resistance, has been widely used in practical protective engineering. In this paper, CFRP/aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels are taken as the target. Firstly, the accuracy of the simulation is determined by comparing the numerical simulation with the experimental results. Secondly, numerical simulation is carried out by combining front and rear panels with different thicknesses, multi‐layer and different honeycomb apertures. The analysis shows that the thicker the rear panel is, the stronger the impact resistance of the sandwich panel is. The energy absorption effect of the sandwich panel was increased by 21.75% when the rear panel was 5.5 mm compared with that of the front panel. At the same thickness, the impact resistance of multi‐layer sandwich panels is enhanced with the increase of layers, and the energy consumption of eight‐layer sandwich panels is increased by 21.22% compared with that of single‐layer sandwich panels. When the thickness of the rear panel is unchanged, the increase of the aperture of aluminum honeycomb has an exponential relationship with the energy absorption of the sandwich panel. Finally, the energy absorption value of the sandwich panels is fitted with the thickness of each layer, the relationship between the energy absorption value of the sandwich panels ΔE (Y) and the thickness of each part of the sandwich panels (A, B, C) is obtained. The optimal solution is obtained under specific constraint conditions and the combination modes of sandwich panels.

Development of packaging design for new chocolate "Maft" with sugar substitute

The purpose of this work was to develop a packaging design for a new chocolate with a sugar substitute. The article presents the main stages of development of packaging design for the new chocolate "Maft" with a sugar substitute. The main types of packaging of modern chocolate, trends in design. On the basis of this analysis, the choice of packaging materials (foil, cardboard) is justified and the direction for the design development is determined - the presence of a photorealistic image of chocolate pieces on the package and the use of background color and font of the name, different from those already used on the packaging of chocolate bars. The development of packaging design for the new chocolate "Maft" with a sugar substitute on the basis of the created pattern of their own photos of chocolate pieces and elements that reflect its taste. The BremendCFR font is chosen to write the product name. Work was carried out on the placement of design elements, including the required test component. As the background color on the sides of the package used green color (C 35%, M 0%, 49%, K=0%), and as the color of the name and the substrate under it - shades of beige (C 14%, M 31%, 41%, K=0%) and dark brown (C 58%, M 65%, 82%, K=73%), which in combination with the design of the front and rear panels developed pattern also.

The Hole Size that the Japanese Marten (Martes melampus) can Pass through

The Japanese marten (Martes melampus) invades houses through holes and causes excrement problems. These holes should be covered to prevent the marten's intrusion into houses. However, there is no information about what size of hole they can squeeze through. Therefore, we investigated the sizes of the holes that they could pass through using three reared individuals in summer and winter. We put a bait in an experimental box with a replaceable front panel, which had a square or round hole. The minimum passable sizes were recorded in summer. For a square hole the minimum size was 5.0 cm for each side, and for a round hole the minimum sized hole had a diameter of 5.5 cm. It is necessary to cover holes of these sizes or more to prevent their house invasion. The body weight and the hole shape had no significant effect on the minimum passable area. On the other hand, the season had a significant effect on the minimum passable areas. The shoulder seems to be the limiting factor for whether the martens can pass through the holes. Therefore, the seasonal change in the body size around the shoulder may affect the minimum passable area of holes.

The Development of Earthquake Simulator

An earthquake is an event that vibrates or shakes the earth due to the sudden movement or shift of rock layers on the earth's crust due to the movement of tectonic plates. Earthquakes that occur cause damage to buildings and loss of life and can trigger other natural disasters such as tsunamis and even liquefaction. To anticipate this, it is necessary to study the structure of the building and tools to test the strength of the building, so that it becomes an effective tool and is needed to anticipate the occurrence of large losses.
 The earthquake simulator was built in the form of a shaking table driven by a hydraulic actuator. The earthquake simulator is equipped with a proximity sensor to determine the cylinder motion distance which is controlled using proportional and integral using the Arduino Mega2560 controller.
 The results showed that the shaking table can work ideally with a value of P (kc) = 0.066195 and a value of I (ki) = 2.009974 which can produce acceleration data in actual (real-time) which is displayed in graphical form on the LabVIEW front panel.

IoT Based Smart Parking Monitoring Using Labview and Node MCU

This paper is regarding planning a PC-based observance parking system supported IoT that may be applied at the park-like at the searching advanced and offices. This paper focuses on the event of front panel victimization National Instrument's LABVIEW package and Node MCU, Personal Computer (PC), and NODE MCU. The traditional parking lot system doesn't have a board and it cannot show the vacancy of automobile parking space. The user must gamble to hunt any vacancy and need to watch for the opposite automobile to exit from the automobile parking space. Up to the traditional parking system, it'll create the automobile parking space become well organized and user friendly. This paper can produce an automobile detection system by developing a PC-based front panel of parking lot operation knowledge. The system can convert the output from the sensing element to the programmable language to the computer-based mostly board. The board aims to indicate the standing and automobile parking space vacancy. The NODE MCU is employed to supply interfacing between hardware and package. By victimization Lab, VIEW, and Node MCU, the simulation of the physical system will be developed to watch the quantities to be measured and the standing of the instrumentation within the plant from remote purposes while not accessing the inaccessible areas of the plant. Through the traditional parking system victimization Lab VIEW and Node MCU, the front panel is with success developed and explained by planning a physical model of automobile parking space with automobile detector operation. These PC-based observance systems will be applied in varied industrial applications like building security systems and mill automation.