Reduces Manufacturing Complexity Research Articles

Design and Preliminary experiment of an Off-axis aequilate-mirrors linear Fresnel concentrator with sunlight self-adaptive feature

The Off-Axis Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) is an innovative, compact solar concentrator designed to reduce device height and wind-load without compromising efficiency. It is crucial in applying LFR devices to applications such as building façades. To this aim, The Off-axis LFR design is introduced to addressing the inter-mirror blocking issue that diminishes the efficiency of conventional LFRs. Initially, an optimized Aequilate-mirrors design was proposed to reduce manufacturing complexity and cost. Subsequently, a crank-slider mechanism was introduced as a solution to the issue of inconsistent angle adjustment among the mirrors. Additionally, the paper details the sunlight self-adaptive feature of the Off-axis LFR concentrator, where the LFR mirrors can independently rotate to track the sun’s position, adaptively altering the mirror array’s profile and sunward aperture. This feature maximizes the device’s sunlight harvesting capacity, particularly in angled sunlight conditions. A prototype of the Off-axis LFR device was designed and built for assessment, featuring a focus length of just 78 mm and an overall 145 mm housing height. The paper then discusses how the sunlight self-adaptive features enhance the efficiency during the early morning and twilight hours. Comprehensive testing, including mechanical driving, laser focusing, and outdoor full-function verification, was conducted. Ultimately, comparative photo-thermal efficiency tests with a similarly sized conventional LFR concentrator demonstrated that the Off-axis LFR concentrator could achieve a significant increase in efficiency, with an all-day average thermal efficiency improvement of over 10 %. Based on the previous theoretical study, this study has completed the engineering prototype design and validation. And confirmed a thermal concentration efficiency of 44.36 % within a height of 145 mm in experiments.

Clinical Pharmacology Considerations for the "Off-the-Shelf" Allogeneic Cell Therapies.

Autologous chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies have garnered unprecedented clinical success with multiple regulatory approvals for the treatment of various hematological malignancies. However, there are still several clinical challenges that limit their broad utilization for aggressive disease conditions. To address some of these challenges, allogeneic cell therapies are evaluated as an alternative approach. As compared with autologous products, they offer several advantages, such as a more standardized "off the shelf" product, reduced manufacturing complexity, and no requirement of bridging therapy. As with autologous CAR-T therapies, allogeneic cell therapies also present clinical pharmacology challenges due to their invivo living nature, unique pharmacokinetics or cellular kinetics (CKs), and complex dose-exposure-response relationships that are impacted by various patient- and product-related factors. On top of that, allogeneic cell therapies present additional unique challenges, including attenuated invivo persistence and graft-vs.-host disease risk as compared with autologous counterparts. This review draws comparison between autologous and allogeneic cell therapies, summarizing key engineering aspects unique to allogeneic cell therapy. Clinical pharmacology learnings from emerging clinical data of allogeneic cell therapy programs are also highlighted, with particular emphasis on CK, dose-exposure-response relationship, lymphodepletion regimen, repeat dosing, and patient- and product-related factors that can impact CK and patient outcomes. There are specific unique challenges and opportunities arising from the development of allogeneic cell therapies, especially in optimizing lymphodepletion and establishing a regimen for repeat dosing. This review highlights how clinical pharmacologists are well positioned to help address these challenges by leveraging novel clinical pharmacology and modeling and simulation approaches.

Advance Electric vehicle System for Minimization of wiring Harness Using IoV

The rapid growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market demands innovative solutions to optimize vehicle design, improve efficiency, and enhance user experience. Traditional vehicles heavily rely on extensive wiring harnesses to interconnect various components and systems, leading to increased weight, complexity, and production costs. This abstract presents an advanced electric vehicle system that leverages the power of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) to minimize wiring harnesses, utilizing components such as Wi-Fi, Thinkspeak cloud, Buzzer, solar plat, charging storing in Battery, LED indicators, voltage and current sensor and other smart electronic devices. The proposed system employs Wi-Fi connectivity as a robust wireless communication technology within the vehicle. By utilizing Wi-Fi, the need for physical wiring is significantly reduced, enabling seamless data transfer between vehicle components and the central control unit using ESP-32 now wireless Communications. This approach streamlines the vehicle's internal architecture, leading to a cleaner and lighter design, ultimately improving energy efficiency and reducing manufacturing complexity. Furthermore, the integration of the Thinkspeak cloud serves as a centralized data storage and analysis platform. Thinkspeak cloud enables real-time monitoring and remote access to critical vehicle parameters and performance metrics, facilitating efficient fleet management and predictive maintenance. The cloud-based solution enhances the vehicle's connectivity and allows for over-the-air updates, enabling continuous improvements and adaptability to emerging technologies.

Four challenges to CAR T cells breaking the glass ceiling.

Cell-based therapies using chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T) have had dramatic efficacy in the clinic and can even mediate curative responses in patients with hematologic malignancies. As living drugs, engineered cells can still be detected in some patients even years after the original infusion. The excitement around the cell therapy field continues to expand as recent reports have shown that CAR T cells can induce remission in patients with autoimmune disease. While these promising advances in the field garner hope for wide-spread utility of CAR T therapies across diseases, several roadblocks exist that currently limit the access and efficacy of this therapy in the clinic. Herein, we will discuss four major obstacles that the CAR T field faces, including: toxicity, identifying tumor-specific antigens, improving function in solid tumors, and reducing manufacturing complexity and cost. CAR T cells have potential for a multitude of diseases, but these glass ceilings will need to be broken in order to improve clinical responses and make this potentially life-saving therapy accessible to a larger patient population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Assessment of Product Variety Complexity

Product variety complexity assessment plays a vital role in system design, as it has tremendous negative effects on manufacturing complexity in assembly systems and supply chains. On the other hand, practitioners and researchers frequently consider the number of product variants as a sufficient measure to be used to manage this kind of complexity. However, as shown in this study, such a measure does not reflect all pertinent features of complexity. Therefore, the main goal of the paper is to develop a measurement method for product variety complexity that adequately reflects relevant relations between the portfolio of optional components and the number of product variants. As presented in the paper, the concept of information theory can be effectively applied to measure product variety complexity. Moreover, such a measure can also be useful to better understand this system's properties in order to reduce the level of variety-induced complexity. As such, the proposed method can be viewed as a complementary tool for reducing manufacturing complexity in terms of mass customization. The developed complexity metric was successfully tested on a realistic design example.

Quasi-Elliptical Stub-Based Multi-Resonance Waveguide Filters With Low Manufacturing Complexity for mm-Wave Applications

In this paper, the design and realization of quasi-elliptical waveguide filters with reduced manufacturing complexity are discussed. The filters are based on TE mode cavities, which are loaded with TM mode stubs. It is shown that dual-, triple- and quadruple-resonance segments are obtained by using up to three stubs loaded on the broad side of a TE mode cavity. The structures obtained can either be used as a stand-alone filter or even as a building block suitable for the realization of higher order filters. The multi-resonance blocks reveal several advantages in the mm-wave area: The manufacturing complexity is easy to handle and comparable to simple all-pole filters, which is especially important at high frequencies. Therefore, three prototypes are manufactured as proof of concept in the D-band (110 GHz–170 GHz). Moreover, the building blocks are able to produce <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n-1$</tex-math></inline-formula> transmission zeros (TZs) with <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$</tex-math></inline-formula> being the number of resonances. Therefore, the blocks generate between one (dual-resonance) and up to three (quadruple-resonance) TZs. Advantageously, the filters can be cut in the E-plane in order to reduce the insertion loss and hence consist of only two components. Three examples are manufactured by high precision CNC milling and reveal good agreement to the simulation by obtaining unloaded Q-factors of up to 1000.

A PCB-Embedded 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET Package With Reduced Manufacturing Complexity

A PCB-Embedded 1.2 kV SiC MOSFET Package With Reduced Manufacturing Complexity

Optimization and Fabrication of MEMS suspended structures for nanoscale thermoelectric devices

By eliminating the influence of the substrate on parasitic thermal resistance, MEMS suspended structures become one of the accurate nanoscale thermoelectric performance evaluation devices. However, the process of MEMS suspended thermoelectric devices is complex, and its multilayer suspended structure is easy to fracture due to large stress. As a result, optimizing the design of suspended structures is critical in order to reduce manufacturing complexity and increase yield. In this study, finite element simulation is used to investigate the impacts of varying structures and sizes on the stress of MEMS suspended devices. The maximum stress and average stress of silicon nanomaterials are lowered by 90.89% and 92.35%, respectively, by optimizing the structure and size of the beams and nanobelt. Moreover, MEMS suspended devices of various structures are successfully manufactured. It not only increases the yield to more than 70% but also decreases the impact of strain on thermoelectric performance and can be used to create suspended devices with integrated silicon microstrips.

High Frame Rate Volumetric Imaging of Microbubbles Using a Sparse Array and Spatial Coherence Beamforming.

Volumetric ultrasound imaging of blood flow with microbubbles enables a more complete visualization of the microvasculature. Sparse arrays are ideal candidates to perform volumetric imaging at reduced manufacturing complexity and cable count. However, due to the small number of transducer elements, sparse arrays often come with high clutter levels, especially when wide beams are transmitted to increase the frame rate. In this study, we demonstrate with a prototype sparse array probe and a diverging wave transmission strategy, that a uniform transmission field can be achieved. With the implementation of a spatial coherence beamformer, the background clutter signal can be effectively suppressed, leading to a signal to background ratio improvement of 25 dB. With this approach, we demonstrate the volumetric visualization of single microbubbles in a tissue-mimicking phantom as well as vasculature mapping in a live chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane.

Design and experiment of a magnetic lead screw for the point‐absorbing wave energy conversion system

This study introduces a new structure of the magnetic lead screw (MLS) intended for wave energy conversion (WEC) applications. One of the key challenges in the application of MLS technology for wave energy lies in the manufacturing of its complicated ideal helix. Structural simplification and processing technology are quite essential in promoting the development of the magnet screw. This study proposes a new method for shaping the desired ideal helix in a simple way with parallelly magnetised magnets. This simple structure reduces manufacturing complexity while maintaining good force density. The magnets with parallel magnetisation are also easier and cheaper to manufacture than the magnets with radial magnetisation. A prototype is manufactured and tested in the laboratory. In addition, the electromagnetic performance of the new structure is evaluated as compared with the magnet screw with ideal helix using the three-dimensional finite element analysis, verifying the advantages of the proposed structure.

Operation and physics of photovoltaic solar cells: an overview

Solar energy is considered the primary source of renewable energy on earth; and among them, solar irradiance has both, the energy potential and the duration sufficient to match mankind future energy needs. Nowadays, despite the significant potential of sunlight for supplying energy, solar power provides only a very small fraction (of about 0.5%) of the global energy demand. In order to increase the worldwide installed PV capacity, solar photovoltaic systems must become more efficient, reliable, cost-competitive and responsive to the current demands of the market. In this context, PV industry in view of the forthcoming adoption of more complex architectures requires the improvement of photovoltaic cells in terms of reducing the related loss mechanism, focusing on the optimization of the process design, as well as, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost. Hence a careful choice of materials, a suitable architecture and geometric distribution, passivation techniques and the adoption of a suitable numerical modeling simulation strategy are mandatory. This work is part of a research activity on some advanced technological solutions aimed at enhancing the conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells. In particular, a detailed study on the main concepts related to the physical mechanisms such as generation and recombination process, movement, the collection of charge carriers, and the simple analytical 1D p-n junction model required to properly understand the behavior of solar cell structures. Additionally, the theoretical efficiency limits and the main loss mechanisms that affect the performance of silicon solar cells are explained.

Design Analysis and Optimization of a Single-Layer PDMS Microfluidic Artificial Lung.

Microfluidic artificial lungs (μALs) are being researched for future clinical use due to the potential for increased gas exchange efficiency, small blood contacting surface area, small priming volume, and biomimetic blood flow paths. However, a current roadblock to clinical use is the need to stack hundreds to thousands of these small-scale μALs in parallel to reach clinically relevant blood flows. The need for so many layers not only increases the complexity and projected cost to manufacture a μAL, but also could result in devices which are cumbersome, and, therefore, not suitable for portable artificial lung systems. Here, we describe the design analysis and optimization of a single-layer μAL that simultaneously calculates rated blood flow, blood contacting surface area, blood volume, pressure drop, and shear stress as a function of blood channel height using previously developed closed-form mathematical equations. A μAL designed using this procedure is then implemented and tested. The resulting device exhibits a rated flow of 17 mL/min and reduces the number of layers required for clinically relevant μAL devices by a factor of up to 32X compared to previous work. This procedure could significantly reduce manufacturing complexity as well as eliminate a barrier to the clinical application of these promising devices. The described method results in the highest rated flow for any single-layer μAL to date.

Wideband Phase Shifter in Groove Gap Waveguide Technology Implemented With Glide-Symmetric Holey EBG

A wideband phase shifter in $U$ -band realized in groove gap waveguide (GGWG) technology is presented as a good solution to be integrated in antenna feed structures. The GGWG is implemented by glide-symmetric holes to reduce manufacturing complexity. The design is also proposed to be mechanically variable by changing the height of the dielectric slab used to change the phase. Experimental results evidence the potential of this solution.

Digital Morphing Wing: Active Wing Shaping Concept Using Composite Lattice-Based Cellular Structures.

We describe an approach for the discrete and reversible assembly of tunable and actively deformable structures using modular building block parts for robotic applications. The primary technical challenge addressed by this work is the use of this method to design and fabricate low density, highly compliant robotic structures with spatially tuned stiffness. This approach offers a number of potential advantages over more conventional methods for constructing compliant robots. The discrete assembly reduces manufacturing complexity, as relatively simple parts can be batch-produced and joined to make complex structures. Global mechanical properties can be tuned based on sub-part ordering and geometry, because local stiffness and density can be independently set to a wide range of values and varied spatially. The structure's intrinsic modularity can significantly simplify analysis and simulation. Simple analytical models for the behavior of each building block type can be calibrated with empirical testing and synthesized into a highly accurate and computationally efficient model of the full compliant system. As a case study, we describe a modular and reversibly assembled wing that performs continuous span-wise twist deformation. It exhibits high performance aerodynamic characteristics, is lightweight and simple to fabricate and repair. The wing is constructed from discrete lattice elements, wherein the geometric and mechanical attributes of the building blocks determine the global mechanical properties of the wing. We describe the mechanical design and structural performance of the digital morphing wing, including their relationship to wind tunnel tests that suggest the ability to increase roll efficiency compared to a conventional rigid aileron system. We focus here on describing the approach to design, modeling, and construction as a generalizable approach for robotics that require very lightweight, tunable, and actively deformable structures.

Computational design and optimisation of pin fin heat sinks with rectangular perforations

The benefits of using pin heat sinks (PHSs) with single, rectangular slotted or notched pin perforations, are explored computationally, using a conjugate heat transfer model. Results show that the heat transfer increases monotonically while the pressure drop decreases monotonically as the size of the rectangular perforation increases. Performance comparisons with PHSs with multiple circular perforations show favourable heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. However, the reduced manufacturing complexity of rectangular notched pins in particular provide strong motivation for their use in practical applications. Detailed parameterisation and optimisation studies into the benefits of single rectangular notch perforations demonstrate the scope for improving heat transfer and reducing mechanical fan power consumption yet further by careful design of pin density and pin perforations in PHSs.

Design strategy for reducing manufacturing and assembly complexity of air-breathing Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC)

Conventional flat plate Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) designs have been under investigation for the last five decades with the majority of the research being conducted in fluid dynamics of the reactants, membrane chemistry, thermal characteristics, stacking, and electrical properties. By rigidly adhering to design characteristics and material choices (graphite flow plates and metal end plates), conventional fuel cell designs have become bulky, fastener intense designs that have a high degree of manufacturing and assembly complexity. The department of energy has recognized the need for economical and efficient manufacturing practices to further the market penetration and end user adoption of fuel cells. Therefore this paper analyzes air-breathing PEMFC's from the perspective of reducing manufacturing complexity, assembly complexity, and costs. Areas of complexity like the flow plates, end plates, sealing methods have been reassessed and this paper proposes alternatives to component functions, and the commonly employed materials along with an alternate assembly strategy. Prototypes built using the new design strategy achieved about 90% reduction in weight and number of components while enjoying an 80% reduction in costs. The new prototypes also possess a superior form factor, along with a 10-fold increase in power density as compared to conventional designs.

A High Performance Power Package for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors Using Novel Wire Bondless Power Interconnections

Silicon carbide (SiC) wide bandgap semiconductor power device technologies offer improved electrical and thermal performance over silicon in high performance power electronic applications, such as hybrid or fully electric vehicles, aerospace, solar inverters, and advanced military systems. However, current packaging limitations make it difficult to operate these devices to their full potential. One such limitation includes die interconnections, which are traditionally made using large diameter aluminum wire bonds. This discussion introduces an innovative wire bondless interconnect technique for power packaging called PowerStep. This approach includes a precision etched metal tab with raised regions matching the size and location of device terminals and trenches to accommodate critical features on devices such as passivated surfaces. The tab offers a low profile, low inductance, low resistance, high electrical and thermal conductivity, and mechanically rugged interconnection solution. PowerStep has been implemented to facilitate a single-step interconnection method for a 600 to 1700 V SiC electronics package, replacing wire bonds which are connected one at a time. In addition, a key element of this package is the absence of a baseplate, resulting in lower weight, volume, and cost, as well as reduced manufacturing complexity. The electrical, thermal, and mechanical characteristics of PowerStep interconnections are analyzed and compared to conventional aluminum wire bonds to demonstrate the advantages of wire bondless interconnections coupled with wide bandgap devices. The low parasitics and junction-to-case thermal resistance of the package combined with PowerStep interconnects capture the high performance of SiC for power applications.

A High Temperature, High Power Density Package for SiC and GaN Power Devices

In this work, a compact 600 – 1700 V high current power package housing either silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) power die was designed and developed. Several notable configurations of the package include diode half-bridges, co-packed MOSFET-diode pairs, and cascode configured GaN devices. In order to avoid a significant redesign effort for each new application or improvement in device technology, a device-neutral design strategy enables the use of a variety of die types from any manufacturer depending on the end-use application's requirements. The basic SOT-227 is a widely used package type found in everything from electronic welders and power supplies to motor controls and inverters. This module is a variant of that style of package which also addresses some issues that a standard SOT-227 package has when used in higher voltage applications; it has increased creepage and clearance distances which meet IPC, UL, and IEC standards up to 1700 volts while retaining an isolated substrate. It also has low parasitic values in comparison to the SOT-227. One of the key elements of this design is the removal of the baseplate. This allows for far lower weight, volume, and cost as well as reduced manufacturing complexity. The wide bandgap power package is composed of high temperature capable materials, which allow for the high junction temperatures inherent in these high power density devices. This paves the way for the design of a small, low-profile package with low parasitic inductances and a small junction-to-case thermal resistance. This paper will discuss the mechanical design of the power package as well as the three-dimensional finite-element modeling and analysis of the thermal, electrical, and mechanical characteristics. In addition, the electrical characteristics as a function of temperature of the power module up to 225 °C will be presented.

Analysis of Rogowski Coil with Passive Compensation

The influences of the position of the primary conductor to the mutual inductance of a test Rogowski coil were studied. The test results show that the deviation of the mutual inductances can not be neglected. Manufacturing variations affect the mutual inductance much and make the coils have bad interchangeability. A potentiometer is suggested to be placed in the coil to provide a passive compensation, enabling coil manufacturers to produce coils with uniform performance increasing interchangeability while reducing manufacturing complexity. The error analysis shows that the coil with potentiometer has very good performance.

Modelling and optimizing automotive assembly plant flash-programming time

As automotive companies standardize their electronic control units (ECUs) on a common electrical architecture across all vehicle platforms, more and more software-enabled features will be delivered using assembly plant flash programming. Assembly plant flash programming is the process by which software or calibration data sets are downloaded to vehicle electronic control units using an off-board programming tool during the final vehicle assembly process, thus postponing vehicle product differentiation and customization, reducing the rate of growth in the number of unique ECU part numbers, and reducing manufacturing complexity. As vehicle electronic control modules and their software content or calibration data sets increase, the demand on manufacturing time and space increases significantly. This paper identifies and examines all factors that impact the assembly plant flash-programming time, develops simple and accurate analytical models, and describes an innovative optimization-based approach for determining the parallel flash-programming time for the in-vehicle communication buses that are capable of interleaving packets. The optimization approach can be used to identify the optimal scheme for the parallel flash programming of all vehicle ECUs. By following the suggested scheme, it can dramatically increase the amount of calibration data that can be flash programmed within the same process time constraint, thus increasing manufacturing flexibility and more fully utilizing limited manufacturing production capacity.