Integration Of Equipment Research Articles

Mixed-scale poly(methyl methacrylate) channel network-based single-particle manipulation via diffusiophoresis.

Despite the unique advantages of nanochannels imparted by their small size, their utility is limited by the lack of affordable and versatile fabrication methods. Moreover, nanochannel-incorporated fluidic devices require micro-sized conduit integration for efficient access of liquid samples. In this study, a simple and cost-effective fabrication method for mixed-scale channel networks via hot-embossing of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) using a carbon stamp is demonstrated. Due to its high rigidity, PMMA ensures collapse-free channel fabrication. The carbon stamp is fabricated using only batch microfabrication and has a convex architecture that allows the fabrication of a complex channel network via a single imprinting process. In addition, the microchannels are connected to nanochannels via three-dimensional (3D) microfunnels that serve as single-particle-entrapment chambers, ensuring smooth transport of samples into the nanochannels. Owing to the 3D geometry of the microfunnels and the small size of the nanochannels, a solute gradient can be generated locally at the microfunnel. This local solute gradient enables the entrapment of microparticles at the microfunnels via diffusiophoresis, which can manipulate the particle motion in a controllable manner, without any external equipment or additional electrode integration into the channels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of diffusiophoresis-based single-particle entrapment.

Holistic soldier fitness: A concept for healthier tomorrow

The flexible and easy-to-use integration of production equipment and IT systems on the shop floor becomes more and more a success factor for manufacturing to adapt rapidly to changing situations. The approach of the Manufacturing Integration Assistant (MIALinx) is to simplify this challenge. The integration steps range from integrating sensors over collecting and rule-based processing of sensor information to the execution of required actions. This paper presents the implementation of MIALinx to retrofit legacy machines for Industry 4.0 in a manufacturing environment and focus on the concept and implementation of the easy-to-use user interface as a key element.

REACH: Responsive Engagement of the Elderly promoting Activity and Customized Healthcare

REACH is a multi-disciplinary, multi-partner EU funded research project that develops within a four-year project duration the next generation of technologies and services for a future value-based and prevention-oriented health care system. Research partners form the scientific backbone of the consortium; industry partners take on various roles from sensor development, rehabilitation equipment integration, to ICT platform deployment and business model and standardization support; use case partners state exemplary care settings and application scenarios for the real-world deployment of the innovations developed in REACH. This special issue of Gerontechnology gives an overview over the scientific achievements of the first project year covering a diversity of areas ranging from user co-creation approaches, the determination of design requirements, systems engineering approaches to personalized persuasive strategies, approaches regarding privacy and safety, and initial sensor and device development and testing, to standardization, innovation management, and business model aspects.

The Redundancy Technology of Measurement and Control Function of the Smart Substation

In order to improve construction economy and system reliability of smart substations, this paper presents an application model of functional redundancy in measurement and control. Puts forward effectiveness identification of data monitor direction in measurement and control functional redundancy, verification of dual monitor, principle of control direction mutex and uniqueness. Makes clear the structure of hardware system, analysis its key technology and realization method. In this method, the central control servers are established in station level. Solves the problems of remote information selection, control authority uniqueness and poor data sharing caused by measure-control devices redundancy configuration according to voltage level in substations. Reduces the numbers of secondary cubicles and interfaces, improves integration of secondary equipment.

Performance of AC servo axial-infeed incremental warm rolling equipment and simulated production of spline shafts

The AC (alternating current) servo axial-infeed incremental warm rolling equipment was studied in this paper on the basis of the integration of process and equipment. Firstly, the details of each subsystem are discussed to demonstrate the features of the novel rolling equipment. Next, the performance of the AC servo axial-infeed incremental warm rolling equipment is investigated through the experiments. The whole rolling process of spline shaft lasted about 2 min in the rolling equipment, which is greatly reduced compared with traditional processes. The testing results of rotational speed show that the root mean square error (RMSE) values of speed are less than 5%, which indicate that the rolling equipment can ensure the precision of rotational speed through servo system. Finally, the simulated production of spline shafts was carried out on the rolling equipment. According to the dimensional measurement results of the formed spline shaft, the percent of pass is 80% for the simulated production. In addition, the microstructure observation and the hardness measurement proved that the formed spline shafts possess an excellent performance.

Alternative Energy Solutions Using BIPV in Apartment Buildings of Developing Countries: A Case Study of North Cyprus

The growth in population of North Cyprus, and the increasing demand for housing, are two important factors that are rapidly shaping the development of the island. To meet this housing demand, contractors are resorting to high-rise apartment buildings as a housing solution. The study was carried out to investigate the possibilities of integrating PV systems into apartment buildings. This is a novel approach in housing within the context of North Cyprus. With the use of building information modelling (BIM) software, the possibility of this approach was tested. The study considered several cost variables and the advantages of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems integrated into apartment buildings at the design stage of the buildings. The willingness to pay (WTP) for this technology was also tested using qualitative methods and an economic analysis was carried out to ascertain the viability and feasibility of this technology. This was in line with present government policies using the net metering system. The method of analysis was carried out using a model proposed for BIPV integration in apartment buildings. The results derived from the survey data suggest that consumers prefer a price lower than €4500 for a 3 kWp integration of solar power equipment to their apartments.

A low-level stress measurement method by integrating white light photoelasticity and spectrometry

To face the increasing demand of residual stress measurement in many hi-tech industries, the integration of photoelasticity and advanced image acquisition equipment is a natural trend. With the integration of photoelasticity and spectrometry, the measurement capability of low-level stress and the stress in low birefringence materials can be enhanced. In fact, there is a significant correlation between the stress level and transmissivity spectrum. The key of the stress measurement method proposed in this paper is to find this scarcely explored correlation. By analyzing the periodic extinction phenomenon of isochromatic fringe pattern obtained from white light photoelasticity and the equation of transmissivity spectrum expressed in stress and wavelength, a three-dimensional (3D) systematic relationship of transmissivity with stress and wavelength can be established. By applying the 3D systematic transmissivity with stress and wavelength, the stress value can be determined directly from the transmissivity of the light transmitted through the polariscope. Moreover, when the proposed method is employed, the required parameters can be directly obtained from the database. There is no need to know the wavelength-dependent stress-optic coefficient beforehand. Glass, a very low birefringence material, was used to confirm the feasibility of the proposed method. Two regression approaches to search the transmissivity extremities were attempted to find the optimum systematic relationship.

Middleware for integration of legacy electrical equipment into smart grid infrastructure using wireless sensor networks

SummaryTo improve the efficiency of electricity distribution, smart grids allow communication between their devices. Pieces of legacy equipment operating in the distribution network do not communicate using any commercial protocol, such as DNP3, IEC 61850, or Modbus. Thus, herein, a middleware is proposed to allow the integration of the legacy electrical equipment into a smart grid using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Each piece of legacy electrical equipment is connected to a sensor node, and the WSN sink node runs a middleware to enable the integration of this device with a smart grid, according to the commercial communication protocols. The middleware model is proposed to guide users in the development of a WSN‐based system for integrating electrical equipment into a smart grid. The middleware was validated in a real environment, which is related to the concept of power metering. Experiments were performed using the software supervisory control and data acquisition and distributed test manager to validate the communication between the electrical equipment and the computer of the power substation control centre.

Recent Advances in Magnetic Microfluidic Biosensors.

The development of portable biosening devices for the detection of biological entities such as biomolecules, pathogens, and cells has become extremely significant over the past years. Scientific research, driven by the promise for miniaturization and integration of complex laboratory equipment on inexpensive, reliable, and accurate devices, has successfully shifted several analytical and diagnostic methods to the submillimeter scale. The miniaturization process was made possible with the birth of microfluidics, a technology that could confine, manipulate, and mix very small volumes of liquids on devices integrated on standard silicon technology chips. Such devices are then directly translating the presence of these entities into an electronic signal that can be read out with a portable instrumentation. For the aforementioned tasks, the use of magnetic markers (magnetic particles—MPs—functionalized with ligands) in combination with the application of magnetic fields is being strongly investigated by research groups worldwide. The greatest merits of using magnetic fields are that they can be applied either externally or from integrated microconductors and they can be well-tuned by adjusting the applied current on the microconductors. Moreover, the magnetic markers can be manipulated inside microfluidic channels by high gradient magnetic fields that can in turn be detected by magnetic sensors. All the above make this technology an ideal candidate for the development of such microfluidic biosensors. In this review, focus is given only to very recent advances in biosensors that use microfluidics in combination with magnetic sensors and magnetic markers/nanoparticles.

A New Efficient Authenticated and Key Agreement Scheme for SIP Using Digital Signature Algorithm on Elliptic Curves

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been recently one of the more popular applications in Internet technology. It benefits lower cost of equipment, operation, and better integration with data applications than voice communications over telephone networks. However, the voice packets delivered over the Internet are not protected. The session initiation protocol (SIP) is widely used signaling protocol that controls communications on the Internet, typically using hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) digest authentication, which is vulnerable to many forms of attacks. This paper proposes a new secure authentication and key agreement scheme based on Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) named (ECDSA). Security analysis demonstrates that the proposed scheme can resist various attacks and it can be applied to authenticate the users with different SIP domains.

Plug-in Based Centralized Control System in Operating Rooms

Centralized equipment controls in an operating room (OR) is crucial to an efficient workflow in the OR. To achieve centralized control, an integrative OR needs to focus on designing a control panel that can appropriately incorporate equipment from different manufactures with various connecting ports and controls. Here we propose to achieve equipment integration using plug-in modules. Each OR will be equipped with a dynamic plug-in control panel containing physically removable connecting ports. Matching outlets will be installed onto the control panels of each equipment used at any given time. This dynamic control panel will be backed with a database containing plug-in modules that can connect any two types of connecting ports common among medical equipment manufacturers. The correct connecting ports will be called using reflection dynamics. This database will be updated regularly to include new connecting ports on the market, making it easy to maintain, update, expand and remain relevant as new equipment are developed. Together, the physical panel and the database will achieve centralized equipment controls in the OR that can be easily adapted to any equipment in the OR.

Balancing the Human Touch with the Need for Integrating Technology in Ambulatory Surgical Environments: Barriers and Facilitators to Nursing Work and Care Team Interactions

Ambulatory surgical environments are dynamic and complex, involving coordination across multiple groups of care providers and requiring numerous sources and handoffs of information. As in other areas of healthcare, these settings have grown increasingly complex over the years with the integration of new equipment and technology such as electronic medical records. However, little thought has been given to the design of workspaces in these settings to support evolving work processes and emerging technologies. The purpose of this research study was to understand nurses’ work patterns in preoperative and postoperative workspaces of ambulatory surgery centers, and to identify environmental design strategies that support or act as barriers to critical interactions between care teams due to the integration of new technologies. In–depth case studies were conducted at two ambulatory surgery centers using a multimethod approach consisting of behavior mapping, shadowing, spatial analysis, and semi–structured interviews with nursing staff. The study data were collected over two consecutive days at each site. The majority of patient care activities such as bedside care and charting were carried out directly with the patient in the patient bays. Nurses were observed standing or walking for approximately 70% of the observations, and face–to–face interactions were dominant in both case studies regardless of the technology implemented. Key environmental facilitators and barriers to nurses’ work in surgery centers include: accessibility, flexibility, visibility, size, and privacy. Architects and interior designers can play an important role in designing human–centered work environments for nurses in surgical settings that effectively support the critical tasks and interactions that must take place. Designing work systems requires a human–factors approach to design that examines the range of activities, interactions, people, technology, and design of the workspace and its elements.

Advanced directional CwD system pushes integration envelope to elevate efficiencies and reduce costs

The evolution of casing while drilling (CwD) illustrates the economic, efficiency and health, safety and environment benefits achievable with the seamless integration of downhole tools and surface drilling equipment. However, several technology gaps have restricted CwD from reaching its full potential to optimise the well construction process. This paper describes the integrated development and application of a retrievable Enhanced Casing Installation (ECI) system, engineered to take directional (Level 3) casing drilling technology to another level and further expand the functionality of both specialised and standard land drilling rigs. The system, which enables directional drilling with composite casing and standard mud motors, differs from typical Level 3 CwD methodologies in that the composite option allows bottom hole assembly (BHA) placement inside the shoetrack, thus helping reduce vibrations and wear on the reamer and other downhole tools. Along with increased well stability and allowing simultaneous logging/measuring while drilling, the ECI device is configured with a comparably lightweight BHA, requiring fewer components, such as jars and roller reamers, making it easily retrievable with cable. As discussed, the cost-effective integration of downhole and surface equipment is clearly reflected in the capacity to rerun the retrieved bit and reamer – a marked difference between the sacrificial bits required for the commonly used Level 2 (vertical) CwD technique. Moreover, the authors will present results of a specialised test stand evaluation and subsequent field trial, where the system was integrated on a fit-for-purpose rig and used for casing drilling at a 45° angle with the BHA pulled intact from 1800 m MD.

Boiling on fins with wire screen of variable effective conductivity

The high scale of integration of modern equipment used for medical, military and other purposes puts heavy demands as regards the removal of great heat fluxes. This can be achieved only in exchangers that apply the phase change phenomena. Among many methods to improve boiling heat transfer, the wire mesh covering demonstrates some advantages due to the possibilities of designing the desired microstructure parameters, availability on the market, and low cost. The wire mesh microstucture with specified geometrical parameters produces anisotropy in conductivity. The different arrangement of the mesh layers relative to the direction of the heat flux is a cause of the change of temperature distribution within the layer. The consequence is a respective change in the discharge conditions of the gas phase and liquid feed. The experiments were conducted on fins covered with a single layer of copper mesh with lumen of 38 % and boiling FC-72 at ambient pressure. Compared with the smooth surface, the wire mesh structures yield an increase in the heat transfer rate at boiling. It is also shown that nucleate boiling is initiated at lower wall superheat. Formulas for longitudinal and perpendicular thermal conductivity are given for different mesh structure arrangements.

Assessing the market potential of electric bicycles and ICT for low carbon school travel: a case study in the smart city of Águeda

Abstract Electric bikes (e-bikes) may help in transport decarbonisation in European cities. To fully assess the market potential of e-bikes, further research is needed to understand users’ preferences and the range of factors that can contribute for people to shift from car use to low carbon vehicles such as e-bikes. This paper is built on the Be4Schools R&D project implemented in the city of Agueda which is considered the first smart city in Portugal. It comprised the former study in the country that examined the willingness of students (aged 15-21 years) to use e-bikes for daily trips to school and that gathered their preferences towards specific ICT related attributes. The methodology comprised a mobility survey and a stated-choice experiment (SC). The SC experiment gathered 2232 observations which were able to provide the relevant attribute trade-off information between car travel and e-bike (with or without specific ICT equipment). An extensive econometric analysis was performed to assess the nature and extent of students’ heterogeneity of preferences which also considered gender issues. The study aimed to contribute to the regional economic cluster on powered two-wheels’ industry & innovation. Research results are interesting for city mobility policies and the regional industry as the possible integration of ICT equipment in e-bikes may speed up the market uptake of this technology.

128: The use of a low fidelity fetal surgery simulator decreases the learning curve required for fetoscopic spin bifida surgery and allows rapid integration of new techniques and equipment

128: The use of a low fidelity fetal surgery simulator decreases the learning curve required for fetoscopic spin bifida surgery and allows rapid integration of new techniques and equipment

Toward dynamic energy management for green manufacturing systems

The manufacturing industry is responsible for significant energy consumption, particularly in the form of electricity. From the perspective of the energy management system in manufacturing, reducing this consumption is not only a matter of exhibiting environmental responsibility, but also of substantially reducing the production cost. We discuss how dynamic energy management in manufacturing systems can not only solve the current technical issues in manufacturing, but can also aid in the integration of additional energy equipment into energy systems. We quantitatively estimate these potential savings through analysis of a simple manufacturing process. We also address a future research direction, wherein advanced manufacturing systems such as Industry 4.0 are deployed.

Using Modelling and Simulation to Predict Dynamics of Converted Ground Vehicle

In order to redesign and convert the passenger ground vehicle Land Rover defender 110 into military vehicle for different surveillance and reconnaissance missions it is necessary, prior to equipment integration, to assess its future dynamic response. For this purpose, the 19-degree of freedom multibody simulation model of the defender was developed using the software package MSC.ADAMS/Car. The simulation model was validated using the instrumented experimental vehicle for two scenarios namely bump test and double lane change manoeuver. Comparison of numerical predictions suggests reasonably good agreement with the actual vehicle responses. The validated model was then used to assess the effect of longitudinal and vertical position of the added equipment on the responses of the upgraded vehicle. Lateral stability degradation due to the added equipment was also investigated defining the rollover threshold as an objective assessment criterion. The obtained results show considerable lateral stability degradation for both marching and operating heights of the added equipment.<br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0.08in; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br style="font-size: medium;" /></span></span></p>

Concept and design of a UAS-based platform for measurements of RF signal-in-space

Abstract. Field strength or signal-in-space (SIS) measurements have been performed by using manned helicopters, aircrafts or from ground level using extendable masts. With the availability of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) such as multicopters a new versatile platform for SIS measurements is deployable. Larger types show up to eight individually driven electric motors and controllers (therefore called octocopter). They provide the ability to fly along predefined traces, to hover at waypoints and to initiate other actions when those have been reached. They provide self-levelling and stabilisation and moreover, they may gear at a point of interest regardless of their actual position, e.g. during their flight around a tower. Their payload mainly depends on the platform size and allows integration of complex measurement equipment. Upgrading their navigation capabilities including state-of-the-art global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and ground station transmitter (real-time kinematic – RTK) enables precise localisation of the UAS. For operation in electromagnetic harsh environments a shielding can be considered and integrated into the concept. This paper describes concept and design of an octocopter and its instrumentation, along with applications in recent projects, in which we measure and validate terrestrial navigation systems applied in air traffic and the weather forecast services. Among those are instrumentation landing systems (ILS), VHF omnidirectional radio ranges (VOR), airport traffic and weather radars as well as military surveillance radars, and UHF wind profilers. Especially to investigate the possible interaction of VORs and radars with single wind turbines (WT) or wind power plants has become a major request of economy, military and politics. Here, UAS can be deployed to deliver measurement data investigating this interaction. Once developed and setup to a certain extent, UAS are easy and cost-efficient to operate. Nonetheless, due to their compact size, UAS will have rather low interaction with the electromagnetic field to be measured compared to the operation of manned helicopters.

Exergy analysis of a polygeneration-enabled district heating and cooling system based on gasification of refuse derived fuel

District heating and cooling (DHC) systems, modified or retrofitted with integration of gasifiers and gas upgrading equipment, represent promising alternatives to traditional approaches since various scenarios of products complementary to heat, cold, and electricity can be realized, namely: char only; char and syngas; char, synthetic natural gas (SNG) and hydrogen (H2); and char, syngas, SNG and H2. This manuscript evaluates a polygeneration-enabled DHC system in detail (operation during a typical year) from exergetic and exergoeconomic perspectives. The base DHC system utilizes natural gas as fuel with a nominal capacity of 29 MW heat, 35 MW of cold, and 5 MW of electricity. The retrofit employs refuse derived fuel (RDF) as feedstock to an atmospheric gasifier with downstream gas clean-up, a gas turbine, and a heat recovery steam generator along with heat exchangers for integration with the base DHC system. The exergy analysis revealed that the polygeneration system presents adequate performance at all scenarios established. Among the sets of value-added products the combination of char and syngas is the most beneficial as the system efficiency reaches a value of ∼72%. The outcomes of the exergoeconomic analysis support the exergy results. The lower production costs for value-added products are achieved for the maximum simultaneous char and syngas production, with each of these costs estimated to be 6.1 USD/GJ.