Integrated Design Research Articles

Design of Integrated System for the Comprehensive Utilization of Yellow River Sediment-Sealing Machine Structure and Control System Design

With the development of national industrialization, the control of yellow-river sediment needs to develop a complete automatic treatment system. In this paper, the structure and control system of the sealing machine in the integrated system design of the yellow river sediment comprehensive utilization are designed. Firstly, the overall design scheme of the sealing machine is determined, then, the structure and working principle of the sealing machine are introduced in detail. The design part of the actuator is defined. Secondly, finite element analysis is carried out for some of the stressed parts. The results show that the sealing machine system runs normally, the structure is not deformed and damaged, and it can work continuously for 12~16 hours, and the woven bag with sand can be successfully sealed. The sealing machine can not only save manpower and material resources, but also has the characteristics of simple operation and high efficiency. However, affected by the size of the equipment, it can only work in the factory or a large flat site.

A Extensive Review of Recent Technologies and Trends in Low-Power VLSI Design

The demand for energy-efficient electronic devices has driven significant advancements in low-power Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) design. This paper presents a Extensive review of the recent technologies and trends that have emerged to address the challenges associated with power utilization in VLSI circuits. The review covers a broad spectrum of innovations, including advanced transistor technologies such as FinFETs, Gate-All-Around (GAA) FETs, and Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI), which offer improved power efficiency. It also explores cutting-edge power enhance techniques like Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), power gating, and Multi-Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS), highlighting their impact on reducing both dynamic and leakage power. Further, the paper examines energy-efficient architectures, including Near-Threshold Computing (NTC), approximate computing, and asynchronous circuits, which promise substantial power savings. The fusing of machine learning and AI in power optimization and the development of advanced Electronic Design Automation tools are also discussed as emerging trends. Finally, the paper considers future directions, including the potential of 3D Integrated Circuits (3D ICs), quantum and neuromorphic computing, and post-CMOS technologies, to revolutionize low-power VLSI design. This review provides a critical exploration of the actual state of the art and offers comprehensions into the future trajectory of low-power VLSI, making it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners in the field.

Key capabilities for closed-loop supply chain: Empirical evidence from manufacturing firms

The objective of this paper is to explore the capabilities to implement closed-loop supply chain (CLSC). In this regard, a theoretical model grounded in natural resource-based view is proposed, which depicts inter-relationships among the capabilities and CLSC. The model is tested using survey data from Indian manufacturing firms by partial least squares (PLS) approach. The findings show information technology and organizational learning as important lower-order capabilities, and internal integration, demand management and product design as significant higher-order capabilities for CLSC implementation. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine key capabilities for CLSC. The study contributes to CLSC literature by providing an integrative framework, classifying capabilities into lower-order capabilities and higher-order capabilities, and empirically examining the key capabilities for CLSC. The findings provide managers with insights about the hierarchical levels of capabilities for CLSC, which will help them to accordingly deploy the appropriate resources to build capabilities for CLSC.

Generalized proportional–integral extended state observer-based controller design for fully actuated systems

In this paper, a feedback controller based on the extended state observer is proposed for fully actuated systems. First, a generalized proportional–integral observer is designed to estimate states and disturbances simultaneously. Using the linear parameter varying approach and the convexity principle, a linear matrix inequality condition is given to obtain the observer gains. Second, on the basis of the full-actuation property and the estimated states, a feedback controller, utilizing estimated disturbances to compensate for system disturbances, is designed to make all the states of the closed-loop system uniformly ultimately bounded. In addition, if disturbances are constant or slow time-varying, the observation errors and the states of closed-loop system are all exponentially convergent. Two illustrations are provided to show the validity and practicality of the proposed approach. Simulation results show that the estimated disturbances can follow the true values with relatively small errors, so compensating the system disturbances with estimated values can effectively reduce the ultimate bounds of states of the closed-loop system.

Preface

Abstract With the rapid development of science and technology, energy engineering, a cutting-edge field, is increasingly showing its great potential and value. In this context, we are honored to have convened the 2024 4th International Conference on Energy Engineering, New Energy Materials and Devices (NEMD 2024) in Kunming, China during April 26th to 28th, 2024. This conference brought together the world’s top experts, scholars and industry elites to discuss the latest research results and development trends in the fields of energy engineering, new energy materials and device. The theme of this conference focuses on the cross-fertilization and innovative applications of energy engineering, new energy materials and device. The conference agenda covers a wide range of research areas, including but not limited to Advanced Energy Saving Technology, Integrated Design of Energy System, Semiconductor Physics and Devices, New Energy Conversion and Control Technology, New Energy Materials, New Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, etc. A number of exciting academic reports and seminars were arranged for this conference. During these events, participants met face-to-face with experts and scholars to share research results and insights. Quantities of topics related to energy engineering were discussed during the conference. At the same time, the conference also offered a wealth of academic investigation, which provided a good opportunity for participants to establish potential research contacts. Through this platform, new collisions of ideas promoting the scientific and technological progress in the fields of energy engineering, new energy materials and device were stimulated. During the preparation of the conference, we received various excellent paper submissions from all over the world. These papers not only cover the depth of theoretical research, but also show the breadth of practical application. After strict evaluation and screening, we have selected a number of high-quality papers and compiled them into this conference proceedings. These papers not only represent the latest research results in the fields of energy engineering, new energy materials and device, but also provide us with valuable academic references and insights. We would like to thank all the contributing authors and reviewers for their hard work. It is your support and participation that made this conference a success. At the same time, we would also like to thank the organizing committee and all the staff for their endeavor, which provided a strong guarantee for the smooth running of the conference. Let’s work hand in hand to promote the scientific and technological progress and development in the fields of energy engineering, new energy materials and device! The Committee of NEMD 2024 List of Committee Member is available in this Pdf.

A semantic axiomatic design for integrity in IoT

AbstractIn the complex, critical, and rapidly evolving era of Industry 4.0 manufacturing, mature engineering disciplines can be developed to validate system designs at an abstract level, enabling effective fault‐free environments. However, designing integrated IoT platforms presents significant challenges due to their inherent complexity and interoperability issues. To address this challenge, the proposed framework integrates axiomatic design principles with considerations for data integrity and domain ontology. Furthermore, this paper introduces a multi‐level integrity rule repository for IoT application to provides a robust foundation for designing and maintaining IoT systems. To validate the effectiveness of this approach, we conducted a study across four domains of smart cities. The design's quality was assessed using model quality parameters, including completeness, consistency and validity. Our analysis shows that the semantic‐aware axiomatic design framework can effectively address the problem of inconsistencies and low‐quality design in scientific IoT environments, providing a more reliable and efficient solution.

Advancing Internationalization in the Formal Curriculum: Content Integration and Inclusive Design

Advancing Internationalization in the Formal Curriculum: Content Integration and Inclusive Design

Integral morphology and structure design of poly (heptazine imide) for efficient utilization of visible light generated charge carriers in proton reduction reactions

AbstractSufficient utilization of visible‐light generated charge carriers in proton reduction reactions is of great significance for the development of effective solar‐fuel technologies. Achieving simultaneous bulk rapid transfer and surface efficient extraction of charge carriers is still very challenging. Herein, it is found for the first time ammonium persulfate (APS) can significantly influence polymerization processes of C3N4 (CN) from melamine to poly (heptazine imide) (PHI) under the simultaneous oxygen doping and etching effect of SO42−. PHI with high crystallinity, porous structure, and in‐situ oxygen doping was therefore obtained through one‐step APS‐assisted salt strategy. Benefiting from sufficient visible‐light absorption and upshifted conduction band originating from regulated electronic structure and optimized morphology through APS modification, the as‐prepared PHI achieved a H2 evolution activity of 3274.23 μmol h−1 g−1 (λ > 420 nm), which is appropriately 148 and 19 times that of conventional and crystalline CN. This work opens up new opportunities for efficient photocatalysis.

Room Reservation Integration Design to Simplifies Learning Process in University

Room Reservation Integration Design to Simplifies Learning Process in University

3D analysis of crack propagation in nuclear graphite using DVC coupled with finite element analysis

The initiation and propagation of cracks within nuclear graphite components compromise the lifespan of advanced gas-cooled reactors and even lead to safety incidents. A thorough understanding of fracture properties in nuclear graphite is crucial for the effective management and design of graphite structural components. In this work, an in-situ test of a double cleavage drilled compression (DCDC) specimen was conducted using X-ray tomographic imaging to fully analyze the 3D crack propagation behavior in IG-11 nuclear graphite. “Subvolume Splitting” digital volume correlation (SS-DVC) was employed to accurately quantify the displacement fields surrounding the crack. The entire 3D crack propagation and crack surface around the crack front were precisely captured through 3D imaging processing of the gray level residual (GLR) field. Additionally, crack opening displacements (CODs) and stress intensity factors (SIFs) were determined using finite element (FE) analysis with extended finite element method (XFEM). Experimental results indicate that although mode I crack remains predominant throughout the whole process, complex crack propagation exists around the crack front. The utilization of irregular crack surfaces in FE analysis helps to obtain refined displacement fields and accurate SIFs of the crack front. This work provides comprehensive insights into crack propagation and reveals the influence of complex crack morphology on SIF calculations, facilitating accurate prediction of structural integrity and rational design of graphite components.

Design and destructive testing of high-value hook fabricated by laser metal deposition

Laser metal deposition (LMD) provides an emerging opportunity for the economic fabrication of high-value components at low production volume. Despite the technical and commercial opportunities associated with LMD, there exist potential failure-modes that differ from those typical of traditional manufacture; concurrently, LMD is typically applied to high-value components associated with a high consequence of failure. This report contributes to the emerging literature on LMD component design and failure analysis by documenting the design and destructive testing of a high-value tensile loaded hook component, including numerical structural simulation, manufacture characterisation, microstructural analysis and instrumented destructive testing. This systematic design contributes to the understanding of LMD design for structural integrity and supports the application of LMD as a robust commercial additive technology.

Parameters Optimization of Conductive Rubber Snow-Melting Bridge Deck Pavement Based on Material-Structure Integrated Design Idea

Parameters Optimization of Conductive Rubber Snow-Melting Bridge Deck Pavement Based on Material-Structure Integrated Design Idea

Parents' and healthcare providers' perceptions, experiences, knowledge of, and attitudes toward kangaroo care of preterm babies in hospital settings: Mixed-methods systematic review.

Kangaroo care is an effective intervention to increase survival and improve the health and development of preterm infants. Despite this, implementation of kangaroo care globally remains low. The objectives of this review were to: (a) synthesize evidence on parents' and healthcare practitioners' perceptions, experiences, knowledge of, and attitudes toward kangaroo care of preterm babies in hospital settings; and (b) establish parents' satisfaction with kangaroo care. Studies of any design were included if they focused on parents' or healthcare practitioners' perceptions, experiences, knowledge of, and attitudes to kangaroo care of preterm babies, or reported parents' satisfaction, and were conducted in hospital settings. The search of seven electronic databases, African Journals Online, World Health Organization regional databases, and a gray literature search was conducted in April/May 2020, and updated in January 2024. Study selection was undertaken by two independent reviewers. Quality assessment using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool and data extraction were completed by one reviewer with a 10% check by a second reviewer. Data were synthesized narratively using a parallel results convergent integrated design. Thirty-seven studies, 19 quantitative, 16 qualitative, and 2 mixed methods, were included. The findings suggested that while healthcare practitioners generally demonstrated knowledge about kangaroo care, there was a notable minority with insufficient understanding among those who received training. Parents' knowledge, particularly among fathers, was limited. Both healthcare practitioners and parents appeared to have positive attitudes to kangaroo care. Little is known about parental satisfaction with kangaroo care. Most healthcare practitioners were knowledgeable about kangaroo care, but parents had limited knowledge. This review findings suggest a need to enhance parental knowledge of kangaroo care before neonatal unit admission, and training is needed for HCPs to implement kangaroo care consistently.

Structural integrity assessment of a solid propellant grain considering confining pressure effect

Confining pressure has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of solid propellant, and it is crucial to develop a refined structural integrity analysis and assessment method considering confining pressure effect and nonlinearity of propellant material for the design of propellant grain of a solid rocket motor (SRM), especially for the design of high charge modulus. In this work, an existing viscoelastic-viscodamage constitutive model considering confining pressure effect was implemented as a user-defined material subroutine and verified using a few experiments under various confining pressures. The mechanical responses and safety factor of a typical variable cross-section propellant charge SRM with various charge modulus under ignition pressurization load and room temperature were analyzed and evaluated. The results show that the user-defined material subroutine can well describe nonlinear mechanical responses of solid propellant under different experimental conditions. The Von Mises stress and minimum safety factor considering the confining pressure effect are higher than the value without considering the confining pressure effect, while the Von Mises strain is opposite. In addition, regardless of whether the confining pressure effect is considered or not, the maximum Von Mises stress and strain show a nonlinear increasing relationship with the charge modulus, and the minimum safety factor decreases with charge modulus. However, when analyzing the structural integrity of high charge modulus, using two evaluation methods will yield completely different evaluation results. It is believed that this research can support structural integrity analysis and design of high charge modulus SRM.

(Electronics and Photonics Division Award) Research Advances Wide- and Ultrawide-Bandgap Power Switching Devices

Wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN (WBG) and emerging ultrawide-bandgap materials such as Ga2O3, AlGaN, and Diamond (UWBG) represent the next-generation materials for high performance medium voltage and high voltage power switch technology. Such devices have a wide range of immediate Naval applications, including high-power satellite communications and radar, unmanned underwater and aerial vehicles, ship drive components, and hybrid vehicle inverters. Vertical SiC power device technology has matured rapidly over the past two decades, owing to advances in substrates, a fundamental understanding of epitaxial growth to eliminate performance-limiting defects, as well as device design breakthroughs. This has enabled breakthroughs in highly integrated module design for medium voltage power conversion with switching frequency >100 kHz. In parallel, lateral GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology has been highly successful for RF power amplifiers and is well positioned to supersede GaAs-based microwave circuits. Recently, GaN-based vertical and lateral power devices have attracted significant interest due to promising device results coupled with progress in native substrate, epitaxial growth, and processing technology developments. This seminar will present an overview of the WBG/UWBG power device efforts at NRL. This research has four primary focus areas – 1) thermal management in III-N power device structures by diamond thin film integration, 2) characterization of substrate materials and homoepitaxial layers used for drift regions of power devices identify appropriate specifications and benchmark performance, 3) process module development, particularly for selective area doping by ion implantation, and 4) pilot production manufacturing of 1.2kV-class PiN diodes including reliability assessments to identify and mitigate performance limiting defects.

Integral techno-economic design & operational optimization for district heating networks with a Mixed Integer Linear Programming strategy

The Netherlands, with over 90% of homes heated by natural gas is currently in the early phases of the heat transition to find alternative solutions towards 2050. According to ambitions of the Dutch government up to 50% of future implemented heating systems in the built environment will use District Heat Networks. The investment-heavy nature for District Heating System (DHS) makes it challenging to establish viable business-cases as supply-side parties require security of demand. However, resident participation is lacking as there is no integral estimate for the cost of heat over the lifetime in the early planning phase. This paper proposes a network integral techno-economic optimization with minimal a-priori assumptions. An integral network cost optimization enables to achieve a considerably more reliable cost of heat in the early planning phase. Both the investments and operational strategy are optimized with a Mixed Integer Linear Programming approach that captures the physics as well as the financial choices. Linearization of the physics are chosen to have a conservative impact on the costs estimates. The end scenario network is designed where the placement and size of sources, storage components and pipes are optimized together with the operational strategy, e.g. thermal allocation time-series, for all assets. The workflow was applied to a greenfield network for the Dutch municipality of Rijswijk. It was shown that a 18% reduction in Total Cost of Ownership in the primary grid could be achieved by introducing decentralized sources, decentralized storages and seasonal storage.

A novel method to determine bias-dependent source and drain parasitic series resistances in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors

The AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with T-gate that suitable for high frequency applications were fabricated. A novel method to extract the bias-dependent source and drain parasitic series resistances (Rs and Rd) of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is proposed. By analyzing the distributed capacitance and current generator network in the velocity saturated regions of the AlGaN/GaN HEMTs, a new restriction relationship between small-signal equivalent circuit elements is found. The Rs and Rd can be determined under active bias through wideband S-parameter measurements, which can better reflect the physical mechanism of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs under normal operation. The S-parameters and extrinsic transconductance calculated based the small-signal equivalent circuit element values extracted by the method proposed in this paper are very consistent with the experimental values, which reflects the accuracy of this element extraction method. In this paper, the physical mechanism that causes Rs and Rd to vary with bias voltage is also studied. This study has a deeper insight into the bias-dependence of Rs and Rd, which modifies the understanding for physical mechanisms of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. The research results provide new ideas for establishing small-signal equivalent circuit models containing more physical effects and is of great significance to GaN-based integrated circuit design.

Integrating building information modelling (BIM) and extended reality (XR) in the transportation infrastructure industry

Although building information modelling (BIM) has been widely used in the building industry, its usage in infrastructure projects such as bridges has been very challenging. Extended Reality (XR) that simulates a construction project is still considered a new technology in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This paper investigates the viability of integrating both BIM and XR technologies into transportation infrastructure projects. A fully integrated workflow for introducing different XR, Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR), and BIM technologies using different software for a case study of El-Merghani bridge, a reinforced concrete girder type bridge, was developed. The models for the bridge included GIS integration and geometric road design according to AASHTO, documentation, shop drawings and quantification were developed for the bridge. A hypothetical time schedule was generated in Oracle Primavera P6 elevating the BIM model to 4-D and developing VR and AR virtual experiences with the capability to investigate, visualize, and present the model in a virtual environment, at a high level of immersion. Additionally, the associated risk reduction for the considered XR technology was assessed using Monte Carlo simulation. The workflow and the detailed 3D models developed for the bridge along with the highly immersive VR and AR experiences have provided an interactive platform for engineers and different stakeholders to monitor the project during the design and construction phases. The risk analysis showed that significant cost savings can be achieved with the utilization of VR and AR technology in bridges construction.

Organisation design in megaprojects: A systematic literature review and research agenda

Megaprojects have a complex and evolving web of organisations arranged in a multilevel and multiphase structure, with intra- and inter-organisational boundaries evolving during the life cycle. This systematic review explores organisation design in megaprojects, identifying the processes for designing temporary megaproject organisational systems. The review analyses 141 full articles from a sample of 10,078 papers and presents three main contributions: the main theoretical lenses used to develop organisation design research in megaprojects, eight decision dimensions influencing organisation design choices, and the most common organisational capabilities. We present the Megaproject Organisation Design (MegaOD) Framework, as a structure to design organisational boundaries, and to identify the organisational dynamics (design, development, and redesign). We suggest four research streams to advance the design of complex organisations: 1. Design of megaproject ecosystems, 2. Degree of organisational interdependence, 3. Design for integration of product and organisational architectures, and 4. The role of organisational designers.

Life Cycle Structural Integrity Design Approach for the Components of Subsea Production System: SCSSV as a Case Study

Life Cycle Structural Integrity Design Approach for the Components of Subsea Production System: SCSSV as a Case Study