Small Module Size Research Articles

Improvement of fundamental frequency performance of SGII-UP laser facility

The SGII-UP laser facility is one of the most important high power laser systems in China, and it is also one of a few inertial confinement fusion laser devices that operate all year round in the world. In order to further improve its output capacity to meet higher physical requirements, measures such as increasing the number of neodymium glasses, adopting new N41 neodymium glasses, and improving the energy configuration of xenon lamps are taken to improve the gain capacity of the main amplifier. Calculation of the new main amplifier construction model predicts that the small gain coefficient will reach 4.9%. And further modulation of the laser device shows that when the output of 10 kJ fundamental frequency energy is needed, the injection energy decreases from 5 J to 1.26 J, which supports a higher output energy and a stronger basic frequency output capability. Furthermore, it is analyzed that under different laser pulse injection conditions of 1, 5, 10 ns, the <i>B</i> integral is obviously reduced, which means that the near-filed quality of the beams is better. According a small-size modulation suppression is induced by nonlinear phase shift, and high-fluence laser is expected to pass before and after the improvement, which is a key prerequisite for a higher output energy. Based on these analyses, fundamental frequency output energy values with different pulse injections are calculated and an improvement from 8 kJ to 12.5 kJ output is expected under 10 ns square pulse condition. Tests show that the small signal gain coefficient of the device increases from 4.15% cm to 4.94% cm, which is consistent with simulation results, and the average gain multiple of a single beam increases from 9000 to 118000, which is an order of magnitude higher. The output verifies the fundamental frequency output capacity exceeding 12.5 kJ under 10 ns square pulse as well as a small-size modulation suppression around 0.16 mm<sup>–1</sup> as a result of joint action of non-linear phase shift and spatial filtering. After the significant improvement, the SGII-UP laser facility will strongly support more ambitious physical experiment targets.

Grinding edge machining process on small-sized lens module components in a mobile phone.

The periscope phone lens has a bright application prospect; however, the problem of a large chipping size in the grinding process for the periscope phone lens module components seriously limits its development. We address the problem of the large edge chipping size in the grinding process of small-sized module components of periscope mobile phone cameras by investigating the influence of the grinding speed, feed speed, and grinding depth on the chipping size through theoretical simulation analysis and single-factor variable experimental verification. The optimal grinding process parameters were preferred, and yield experiments were conducted using the preferred process parameters. The results show that increasing the grinding speed and decreasing the feed speed and grinding depth can effectively suppress the chipping size of the component grinding edge.

Optimization and modelling of linear Fresnel reflector solar concentrator using various methods based on Monte Carlo Ray–Trace

A Linear Fresnel Reflector Solar Concentrator (LFRSC) consists of three main parts primary mirrors, a secondary reflector, and an absorber tube. However, the primary mirrors, as well as the secondary reflector, need to be more effective than conventional ones for optimal results. In this paper, an LFRSC is considered to optimize its construction to obtain higher efficiency. First, the primary mirrors are considered slightly curved to more concentrate on the rays, and then, the secondary reflector should forward the received rays to the absorber tube. Therefore, a novel structure of the secondary reflector is also proposed that is made of the composition of two simple reflectors. For simulation of LFRSC behavior, a robustness method based on the Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT) is used, which could model its performance, with more than 97 % precision. In the next step, three scenarios as small and medium-size, and full optimization modules, have self–advantages and disadvantages. Then, the Improved Prey Predator Optimization Algorithm (IPPOA) is introduced and used for problem optimization. In addition, other algorithms are investigated and the results are compared. The results of the small-size module with various methods are similar, however, the efficiency obtained by IPPOA is 47.13 %. In the case of medium size, the IPPOA has reached an efficiency of 42.5 %, which is lower than the efficiency of small size. Moreover, the width of the mirrors in the medium case is higher than the small size. In the third optimization case, the final efficiency with IPPOA is calculated as 47.88. As a result, case one, small size, is chosen as the cost-efficient model, and case three, full optimized, is considered as the high-efficiency model.

Research on thermal management system of next-generation hybrid electric vehicle

Abstract New energy vehicles play a bigger role under the National VI emission standard and the double-point policy conditions, which is the focus of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and consumers due to the advantages of low fuel consumption and long battery life. The front cabin of a hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) includes the cooling system of the engine, electric motors, controller and condenser, etc. Compared with fuel and pure electric vehicles, the front cabin has a higher heat load, smaller space, and a great influence of the radiators for PHEV, which has more requirements for the cooling module. As people’s requirements for power and comfort continue to increase, the cost and energy consumption of thermal management systems are also rising. Hence, all OEMs have shifted their focus to developing a new generation of thermal management systems. The performance of the new-generation hybrid vehicle thermal management system can meet the performance requirements of the entire vehicle, and it has the advantages of being suitable for platformization, reducing costs, comprehensive utilization of vehicle energy to reduce energy consumption, high radiating efficiency, small front-end module size, and low fan power.

Distributed vacuum membrane distillation driven by direct-solar heating at ultra-low temperature

Membrane distillation (MD) process is capable of utilizing ultra-low temperature heat (<50 °C), and its compact configuration permits a small module size. Thus a distributed MD device driven by low-grade solar energy for household desalination becomes viable. In this paper, direct solar-heating schemes for vacuum MD (VMD) by photothermal membrane (VMD-PM) and by solar absorber-plate (VMD-FPC) are comparatively analyzed under identical operating conditions. Such a comparison allows for a better understanding of the performance improvement brought by the new structure (VMD-PM) as well as its mechanism. A comprehensive model considering geographical location, date & time, solar absorption, pore diffusion, and dynamic variation etc. was built for performance evaluation. Results revealed that VMD-PM system could achieve a distillate production of 7.14 L m−2, 4.1% higher than VMD-FPC in a 10-h operation with 22.8 MJ m−2 of solar energy. Considering heat recovery for both systems, an even bigger difference in production, up to 11.7% could be observed. Such performance elevation is attributed to the localized heating at membrane surface and more efficient conversion of solar energy to evaporation heat. Results also indicated that utilizing photothermal membranes can indeed relieve the issue of temperature polarization. However, such phenomenon cannot be entirely eliminated.

Wireless Power Transfer and Telemetry for Implantable Bioelectronics.

Implantable bioelectronic devices are becoming useful and prospective solutions for various diseases owing to their ability to monitor or manipulate body functions. However, conventional implantable devices (e.g., pacemaker and neurostimulator) are still bulky and rigid, which is mostly due to the energy storage component. In addition to mechanical mismatch between the bulky and rigid implantable device and the soft human tissue, another significant drawback is that the entire device should be surgically replaced once the initially stored energy is exhausted. Besides, retrieving physiological information across a closed epidermis is a tricky procedure. However, wireless interfaces for power and data transfer utilizing radio frequency (RF) microwave offer a promising solution for resolving such issues. While the RF interfacing devices for power and data transfer are extensively investigated and developed using conventional electronics, their application to implantable bioelectronics is still a challenge owing to the constraints and requirements of in vivo environments, such as mechanical softness, small module size, tissue attenuation, and biocompatibility. This work elucidates the recent advances in RF-based power transfer and telemetry for implantable bioelectronics to tackle such challenges.

Enabling modular dosage form concepts for individualized multidrug therapy: Expanding the design window for poorly water-soluble drugs

Multidrug dosage forms (aka combination dosage forms, polypills, etc.) create value for patients through reduced pill burdens and simplified administration to improve adherence to therapy. Enhanced flexibility of multidrug dosage forms would provide further opportunities to better match emerging needs for individualized therapy. Through modular dosage form concepts, one approach to satisfy these needs is to adapt multidrug dosage forms to a wider variety of drugs, each with a variety of doses and release profiles. This study investigates and technically explores design requirements for extending the capability of modular multidrug dosage form concepts towards individualization. This builds on our recent demonstration of independent tailoring of dose and drug release, which is here extended towards poorly water-soluble drugs. The challenging design requirement of carrying higher drug loads in smaller volumes to accommodate multiple drugs at their clinical dose is here met regarding dose and release performance. With a modular concept, we demonstrate high precision (<5% RSD) in dose and release performance of individual modules containing felodipine or naproxen in Kollidon VA64 at both a wide drug loading range (5% w/w and 50% w/w drug) and a small module size (3.6 mg). In a forward-looking design-based discussion, further requirements are addressed, emphasizing that reproducible individual module performance is predictive of dosage form performance, provided the modules are designed to act independently. Therefore, efforts to incorporate progressively higher drug loads within progressively smaller module volumes will be crucial to extend the design window further towards full flexibility of future dosage forms for individualized multidrug therapy.

P‐59: An Analytical Method of Small Size Module Waving based on the Finite Element Simulation

As the reason for the waving problem in small‐sized panel products is complex and diverse, waving issue is difficult to be solved. In order to solve the waving issue, finding out the reason is one of the most critical parts. Therefore, the effect of the internal and external stress lead to the deformation of LGP are investigated and obtained basing on the finite element analysis software ABAQUS. And combining with the results of experimental data, the main reason for the waving issue is proved. The waving issue is eliminated by effective methods for subsequent adoption. The finite element method provides a constructive guide for assessing the issue of waving.

Ultra-compact structured light projector with all-dielectric metalenses for 3D sensing

The current structured light projector is generally large in size. In order to realize a compact and small-sized module, this paper proposes to substitute the conventional refractive lenses with the most popular meta-lenses to achieve compactness. This paper focuses on the analysis of the metalens performance requirements, design methods and simulation results. Varying diameters of these nano-pillar structures are used to adjust the phase of the electromagnetic wave to realize flat lens. Two types of all-dielectric meta-lenses are designed for using in ultra-compact structured light projector. Parameters of two meta-lenses at wavelength of 850nm are depicted as follows: the focal length f=500um, aperture size D=100um, numerical aperture NA=0.1, FWHM=0.323λ and the focal length is f=50um, aperture size is D=100um, numerical aperture is about NA=0.7, FWHM=0.598λ, respectively. At last, simulation results show that this solution can achieve an ultra-compact structured light projector, which is 77% smaller than the traditional technology.

Modular Optical Cross-Connects (OXCs) for Large-Scale Optical Networks

Due to the explosive growth of traffic demands, large-scale optical cross-connects (OXCs) are highly desired in next-generation optical networks. However, the scalability of classical OXCs is not good in terms of the size of optical switching modules and cabling complexity to meet application requirement. To address this issue, this letter proposes a two-phase approach to construct modular large-scale OXCs, using a set of small-size OXC modules. We first decompose each optical space switch (OS) in a classical OXC to a Clos network and then merge the corresponding links and decomposed optical switching modules of different Clos networks to form small-size OXC modules, which finally yields a modular OXC. We show that the proposed modular OXC has good scalability and acceptable physical-layer performance.

Machine Learning Based Blind Decoding for Space–Time Line Code (STLC) Systems

In this correspondence paper, a novel machine learning (clustering) based blind decoding method is proposed for the space-time line code (STLC) systems without the information of modulation size and channels. The number of clusters, which is equivalent to the modulation size, is estimated from the received signals by using a k-mean cluster validation metrics, such as silhouette score and Davies-Bouldin index, and the cluster indices are directly mapped to the transmitted binary information bits. To improve the clustering performance, received signal normalization and the initial centroids of the clusters are designed by exploiting the combined STLC signal structure. From the numerical results, it is verified that the proposed blind decoding method can achieve near-coherent decoding performance with either small-size modulation, low noise at the receiver, or a large number of transmit antennas.

Technology of Electric Melting of Basalt for Obtaining Mineral Fiber

The basalt electric melting advantages in application of basalt fiber in industrialized construction and heat power engineering are shown. The results of thermodynamic calculations of the process of Kazakhstan basalt melting are given. The calculations have shown that in gaseous and condensed products of the process there are no harmful substances. Experiments on electric melting of basalt in a reactor with electromagnetic mixing of the melt were carried out. The prospects of electric melting of basalt and obtaining mineral fiber with the use of small-size module installations involving an electromagnetic reactor are shown. The specific energy consumption for obtaining a homogeneous basalt melt does not exceed 1.1 kW·h/kg, which is superior to the widely used SHF-reactors in which the specific energy consumption is several times higher.

SM-3MU Small-Size Uniform Seismic Module for High-Resolution Seismometers

The paper describes the development of a new small-size seismic module (SM-3MU) whose characteristics are close to those of SM-3 seismometers. The module operates as a velocimeter with an electronic amplifier, the frequency range is from 0.5 to 40 Hz, the resolution is 10–9 m/s at a frequency of 1 Hz, the dynamic range is about 130 dB, and the conversion factor is 2000 V s/m. The module can be used in one- (vertical) and three-component seismometers for pedestal-based, borehole, and seafloor applications. Draft design and engineering documentation is produced. Three module prototypes were manufactured to explore the characteristics of the module and carry out performance tests. The results of the study and tests showed that the characteristics of the module meet all requirements. Consequently, R&D efforts should move in this direction, enabling the manufacturing of new seismometers based on this module.

Exo-Glove PM: An Easily Customizable Modularized Pneumatic Assistive Glove

Customization is an important issue for assistive gloves because it affects glove performance. In this letter, we propose an assembly based customizable soft pneumatic assistive glove, named Exo-Glove PM. Pneumatic soft robots generally consist of a single structure with embedded actuators. However, when assembled, the region where the assemblies are connected easily undergoes large stress concentration that leads to failure. To overcome this issue, we have developed a hybrid actuator module that combines a soft actuation structure and rigid joining methods. In general, rigid joining methods require a bulky design to enable easy assembly, but Exo-Glove PM is designed to create pathways for assembly tools to access the bolt heads by bending certain parts. This novel way of joining assemblies allows soft robots to be built of multiple parts while minimizing the volume. It ensures small module size and enables modules to cover a wide range of hand sizes; the distance between each module is matched to the length of the user's phalanges using spacers. This approach allows users to customize the glove by assembly of standardized modules and maximizes the comfort and the performance of the glove without custom manufacturing and, thus, reduces costs.

Techno-economic evaluation of modular hybrid concentrating solar power systems

This paper assesses the influence on techno-economic performance of modularising hybrid Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems with fossil fuel backup for both a Hybrid Solar Receiver Combustor (HSRC), which integrates a combustor into a solar cavity receiver, and a Solar Gas Hybrid (SGH) system with a similar cavity receiver and a back-up boiler. It was found that the energy losses in a system of small-sized modules, which employs molten salt as its Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), are dominated by trace heating owing to the increased piping over their larger receiver counterpart. However, this can be reduced significantly by using alternative HTFs with a lower melting point such as sodium. In addition, for modularisation to be cost effective requires it to also enable access to alternative, lower-cost manufacturing methods. That is, the benefit of standard learning rates is insufficient to lower the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) on its own. For a plant with 30 units of 1 MWth modules the LCOE is competitive, relative to a single unit of 30 MWth, after ∼10 plants are installed if the modularised components (i.e. heliostats, receivers and towers) can be decreased by >80% and >40% for molten salt and sodium as the HTF, respectively.

Heat Management in Power Converters: From State of the Art to Future Ultrahigh Efficiency Systems

Thermal management is a key design aspect of power converters since it determines their reliability as well as their final performance and power density. Cooling technologies have been a research area in electronics since the 1940s and, in the last 15 years, the number of articles related to this field has grown significantly. At present, thermal management is essential in new disciplines and it is a critical enabling technology in the development of power electronic systems. This paper aims at presenting a review of the state-of-the-art technology and provides future design guidelines for high efficiency power electronic converters. The main design trends are focused on the need to develop cooling systems able to manage high local density heat fluxes due to two converging trends: higher power dissipation and smaller module size. Considering the latest advances in thermal management, as well as the huge improvement in power electronics in the last decades, a review and classification of the main thermal management techniques is presented. Besides, they are compared considering important parameters such as peak power dissipation, efficiency, cost/complexity, power density or technical maturity, and a design example for an ultrahigh efficiency converter is presented.

Low Cost Semi Automated Assembly Unit for Small Size Back Contact Modules and Low Cost Interconnection Approach

We present our low cost assembly unit to manufacture back contact solar modules based on the conductive backsheet (CBS) approach. This in house developed apparatus was built to assemble test modules containing one up to four 6 inch back contact solar cells. The system is a retrofit of a commercially available CNC system which is equipped with a cell grabber and a manual dispensing system (by Nordson). The total cost of the setup was roughly 4000 € excluding the dispenser unit. Using this equipment we assembled several small size modules containing one and four Zebra cells, which are low cost 6 inch IBC solar cells developed at ISC Konstanz [1,2]. The contact between copper backsheet and back contact cell of the one cell modules we present here is formed by low temperature solder paste (LTSP). First cell to module (CTM) loss evaluations and reliability results suggest that this material could be a viable alternative to electrically conductive adhesive (ECA) which is currently the most commonly used material for this purpose.

Correlation-based iterative clustering methods for time course data: The identification of temporal gene response modules for influenza infection in humans

Many pragmatic clustering methods have been developed to group data vectors or objects into clusters so that the objects in one cluster are very similar and objects in different clusters are distinct based on some similarity measure. The availability of time course data has motivated researchers to develop methods, such as mixture and mixed-effects modelling approaches, that incorporate the temporal information contained in the shape of the trajectory of the data. However, there is still a need for the development of time-course clustering methods that can adequately deal with inhomogeneous clusters (some clusters are quite large and others are quite small). Here we propose two such methods, hierarchical clustering (IHC) and iterative pairwise-correlation clustering (IPC). We evaluate and compare the proposed methods to the Markov Cluster Algorithm (MCL) and the generalised mixed-effects model (GMM) using simulation studies and an application to a time course gene expression data set from a study containing human subjects who were challenged by a live influenza virus. We identify four types of temporal gene response modules to influenza infection in humans, i.e., single-gene modules (SGM), small-size modules (SSM), medium-size modules (MSM) and large-size modules (LSM). The LSM contain genes that perform various fundamental biological functions that are consistent across subjects. The SSM and SGM contain genes that perform either different or similar biological functions that have complex temporal responses to the virus and are unique to each subject. We show that the temporal response of the genes in the LSM have either simple patterns with a single peak or trough a consequence of the transient stimuli sustained or state-transitioning patterns pertaining to developmental cues and that these modules can differentiate the severity of disease outcomes. Additionally, the size of gene response modules follows a power-law distribution with a consistent exponent across all subjects, which reveals the presence of universality in the underlying biological principles that generated these modules.

Extracorporeal endotoxin removal by novel l-serine grafted PVDF membrane modules

► PVDF hollow fiber membrane is chemically grafted with l -serine. ► Modified PVDF membrane can adsorb endotoxin effectively from protein solution. ► Membrane modules are prepared to eliminate endotoxins from sepsis patients’ plasma. ► Animal experiment confirms the efficacy of modules in direct hemoperfusion treatment. In this work, two sizes of affinity membrane modules for extracorporeal elimination of endotoxin from blood were prepared by grafting l -serine (Ser) ligand onto PVDF hollow fiber membrane. The chemical modification of membrane surface was verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The modified fiber's ability to adsorb endotoxins was examined in aqueous solutions with varied pH value and ionic strength, while the protein adsorption of this fiber was investigated in BSA solution. The small-sized module with 159.4 cm 2 effective area was used to remove endotoxin from sepsis patients’ plasma in vitro. As results, when the original concentration was 0.42 EU/ml, the endotoxin adsorption capability was 0.058 EU/cm 2 and the removal efficiency was almost 100% for 15 ml, 93.5% and 48.3% for 20 ml and 40 ml samples, respectively. The recovery ratios of total protein and albumin were achieved up to 85.1% and 92.4% correspondingly. The pig model was finally established to evaluate the endotoxin removal efficacy of the scaled up module in direct hemoperfusion. The endotoxin and the inflammation mediator levels decreased after hemoperfusion treatment, indicating the promising potential of this novel adsorber for blood purification of endotoxin.

Interfaced multidirectional small-scaled modules for intralogistics operations

This article examines options of an innovative design of intralogistics systems by interfacing small-scaled modules. Current intralogistics systems are usually customized for unique solutions and small production lots. In most cases, these systems feature a central main control. To offer highly individual solutions, thus meeting the demand of shorter life cycles, there is a need for more flexible material handling systems. Hence, identical small-scaled modules with integrated intelligence present a promising approach. In the research presented here, a systematic process for the analysis of requirements and options is suggested as a prerequisite for the successful development of a small-scaled module, which in turn serves as standardized building blocks for flexible intralogistics systems. Most essential for a small-sized module is functional flexibility to allow configuring individual intralogistic solutions. Thus, these modules have to combine a variety of functions to provide not only a material flow function but also sorting and distributing functions, for instance. Furthermore, an easy extension of the system in any plane direction should be possible. Approaches based on existing technology, such as roller conveyors or belt conveyors, are considered along with new solutions concerning this ambitious challenge. A further development of swivel wheel technology and some new ideas like a swivel disk present promising solutions. With a flexible mechanical solution, we can design modules that can be developed into self-controlling elements.