Strip Conductor Research Articles

Analysis and Fabrication of Conductive Strip and Paint-based Hemispherical Helical Antennas on 3D Printed Structure

Analysis and Fabrication of Conductive Strip and Paint-based Hemispherical Helical Antennas on 3D Printed Structure

Building a Digital Twin Simulator Checking the Effectiveness of TEG-ICE Integration in Reducing Fuel Consumption Using Spatiotemporal Thermal Filming Handled by Neural Network Technique

Scholars seek to recycle wasted energy to produce electricity by integrating thermoelectric generators (TEGs) with internal combustion engines (ICE), which rely on the electrical conductivity, β, of the thermal conductor strips. The TEG legs are alloyed from iron, aluminum and copper in a strip shape with specific characteristics that guarantee maximum thermo-electric transformation, which has fluctuated between a uniform, Gaussian, and exponential distribution according to the structure of the alloy. The ICE exhaust and intake gates were chosen as the TEG sides. The digital simulator twin model checks the integration efficiency through two sequential stages, beginning with recording the causes of thermal conductivity failure via filming and extracting their data by neural network procedures in the feed of the second stage, which reveal that the cracks are a major obstacle in reducing the TEG-generated power. Therefore, the interest of the second stage is predicting the cracks’ positions, Pi,j, and their intensity, QP, based on the ant colony algorithm which recruits imaging data (STTF-NN-ACO) to install the thermal conductors far away from the cracks’ positions. The proposed metaheuristic (STTF-NN-ACO) verification shows superiority in the prediction over [Mat-ACO] by 8.2% and boosts the TEGs’ efficiency by 32.21%. Moreover, increasing the total generated power by 12.15% and working hours of TEG by 20.39%, reflects reduced fuel consumption by up to 19.63%.

A Standing-Wave Microstrip Leaky-Wave Antenna on EH₁/EH₃ Modes With Enhanced Broadside Gain

A conventional microstrip EH1-mode bidirectional leaky-wave antenna (LWA) usually works as a traveling wave antenna, and its typical maximum broadside gain is commonly obtained when the phase and leakage constants of the used EH1-mode are exactly equal to each other. In this article, it is, for the first time, revealed that this bidirectional LWA can alternatively operate under standing-wave states when its terminations may be open-circuited. Under some of these states, the open-terminated LWA attains higher efficiency due to the extremely small leakage constant. However, it is unfortunately illustrated that split beams are generated at these concerned states owing to the inherent opposite directions of equivalent magnetic current distributions along the two edges of the strip conductor. In order to transform the unwanted split beams into a single high-gain beam at the broadside, a novel standing-wave bidirectional LWA is presented under the operation of the hybrid EH1 and EH3 propagating modes. By analyzing the transversal electric fields of EH1- and EH3-modes, respectively, it is demonstrated that their leaky electric fields can be crucially made in an antiphase manner. Next, the EH3-mode electric field is employed to periodically replace the original EH1-mode counterpart, so as to reshape the electric fields along the two parallel radiating edges toward a desired in- phase pattern. In such a way, the appealing high-gain beam can be successfully achieved. As an example, such a hybrid-mode standing-wave bidirectional LWA is designed, simulated, and tested. The measured and simulated far-field radiation performances show excellent agreement, and they both powerfully indicate that our reported antenna has enhanced its radiation gain at the broadside compared to the conventional EH1-mode traveling-wave bidirectional LWA

Preparation and transmission characteristics of high-pass woven fabrics

To study the frequency response characteristics of high-pass woven fabric, samples with varying conductive grid structure, structure parameters, material conductivity, and electromagnetic (EM) wave parameters were prepared and measured by the shielding room method. Experimental results showed that conductive grid structure was effective in obtaining bidirectional shielding ability and conductive stripe structure had directional shielding property to the EM wave.. Depending on changing the ratios of dielectric and conductive yarns, structure parameters exerted influences on frequency response characteristics by affecting vertical inductances and horizontal capacities in the equivalent circuit. High-pass woven fabric with high-conductivity yarns could possess stronger shielding ability. Due to the different compactness in weft and warp directions after weaving, bidirectional grid structure fabrics showed distinct polarization selective characteristic as well as unidirectional structure fabric. When the incident angle of the EM wave increased, the incident component decreased and the transmittance became unstable. The experimental results were discussed in-depthbased on mechanism analysis, which could provide reference to the relevant research.

Intelligent reversible electrochromic flexible electronic fabric based on electronic ink microcapsules

In the last several decades, electronic ink (e-ink) microcapsules have been extensively employed in display screens owing to their high reflectivity and contrast under visible light irradiation, as well as their flexibility, low cost, and low power consumption. Herein, a simple coating technique serves to combine e-ink microcapsules containing multiple color particles with fabrics to design an intelligent reversible electrochromic flexible electronic fabric. E-ink microcapsules, transparent Ag nanowires (T-AgNWs), and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are sequentially and uniformly coated on the surface of the double-layer conductive strip structure composed of conductive fabric and insulating fabric. The electrophoretic discoloration of the e-ink microcapsules can be achieved by applying voltages of a certain magnitude between the bottom conductive fabric strip layer and the T-AgNWs/SWCNT composite conductive layer. Large-area flexible electrochromic fabrics can be formed by weaving strips coated with e-ink microcapsules materials based on the results of the continuous bending and soaking experiments, which has great application potential in the research of adaptive camouflage smart fabrics in the visible light field.

Parallel strips coupled split ring resonators for a desktop wireless charging system overcoming irregular route restrictions

In order to achieve efficient long-distance wireless charging and avoid the influence of irregularity of the transmission path, a desktop wireless power transmission (DWPT) implementation method based on parallel-strips-coupled split ring resonators (PSSRR) was proposed in this paper. In the DWPT system, the power was transmitted from the transmitting coil (Tx) to the receiving coil (Rx) through the magnetic resonance coupling and guiding of the PSSRR. The PSSRR consisted of two split ring resonators (SRRs), the dielectric disk above each SRR and two parallel conductor strips for the SRRs’ connection. The SRR and the dielectric disk can realize effective mutual conversion between magnetic field and propagating mode through near field magnetic resonance coupling. The parallel conductor strips were applied to achieve efficient power transmission in the first-ordered mode. The transmission characteristics of the DWPT systems with coplanar or non-coplanar bent paths were analyzed. The simulated and experimental results verified the feasibility and robustness of the DWPT system. Under the plane bent path, the transmission efficiency of the proposed DWPT system can reach 76 % at a transmission distance of 1900 mm. The proposed method provided a solution for long distance WPT through required irregular path or multi-path. The system still had the problem that partial intermediate connection was needed and surrounding metal or high permittivity materials affected the transmission characteristics. Further research can be carried out from these two aspects.

Wideband and Tunable Reflective Cross-Polarization Conversion Metasurface for TeraHertz Applications

An ultrathin and wideband reflective cross-polarization converter is presented in this paper. The design consists of a pair of modified dumbbell shaped resonators which are connected together with a conductive strip. The proposed single-layer THz metasurface achieved a high polarization conversion ratio (PCR) of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ge$</tex-math></inline-formula> 95% in the operating frequency ranging from 1.76–4.26 THz. This wide-bandwidth cross-polarization conversion is obtained by exciting multiple closely spaced resonant frequencies at 1.98 THz, 2.61 THz, 2.95 THz, and 3.93 THz. The working mechanism of the proposed structure is analyzed and the polarizer exhibits an excellent angular stability upto 40 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{0}$</tex-math></inline-formula> of incidence. Further, the proposed cross-polarizer exhibits continuous tunability of PCR over the operating frequencies when photoconductive silicon (Si) is filled in the gap between pair of dumbbell-resonators. The wideband characteristics and the switchable property show that the proposed reflective cross polarizer is an excellent candidate for manipulation and control of polarization in THz communication systems.

A nanofibrous membrane loaded with doxycycline and printed with conductive hydrogel strips promotes diabetic wound healing in vivo

Patients with diabetes suffer from a variety of complications and easily develop diabetic chronic wounds. The microenvironment of diabetic wounds is characterized by an excessive amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and an imbalance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cells/factors, which hinder the regeneration of chronic wounds. In the present study, a wound dressing with immunomodulation and electroconductivity properties was prepared and assayed in vitro and in vivo. [2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl] Trimethylammonium chloride (Bio-IL) and gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) were 3D printed onto a doxycycline hydrochloride (DOXH)-loaded and ROS-degradable polyurethane (PFKU) nanofibrous membrane, followed by UV irradiation to obtain conductive hydrogel strips. DOXH was released more rapidly under a high ROS environment. The dressing promoted migration of endothelial cells and polarization of macrophages to the anti-inflammatory phenotype (M2) in vitro. In a diabetic rat wound healing test, the combination of conductivity and DOXH was most effective in accelerating wound healing, collagen deposition, revascularization, and re-epithelialization by downregulating ROS and inflammatory factor levels as well as by upregulating the M2 macrophage ratio. Statement of significanceThe microenvironment of diabetic wounds is characterized by an excessive amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and an imbalance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cells/factors, which hinder the regeneration of chronic wounds. Herein, a wound dressing composed of a DOXH-loaded ROS-responsive polyurethane membrane and 3D-printed conductive hydrogel strips was prepared, which effectively accelerated skin regeneration in diabetic wounds in vivo with better epithelialization, angiogenesis, and collagen deposition. DOXH regulated the dysfunctional wound microenvironment by ROS scavenging and polarizing macrophages to M2 phenotype, thereby playing a dominant role in diabetic wound regeneration. This design may have great potential for preparing other similar materials for the therapy of other diseases with excessive inflammation or damage to electrophysiological organs, such as nerve defect and myocardial infarction.

Label-free glucose monitoring using Meandered Signal Coplanar Sensor (MSCS) loaded with inter-digitated conductor bricks

This paper presents the microwave glucose sensor configured by loading a Meandered Signal Coplanar Sensor (MSCS) with the inter-digitated conductor bricks in the meander inductor. Two designs are presented in which the meander inductor is placed at the central part of the signal conductor strip of 50 Ohms coplanar waveguide (CPW), where the electric field has been intensified by loading the meander inductor with inter-digitated conductor bricks which are (i) grounded and (ii) ungrounded. The sensor device prototypes are fabricated in-house on the FR4 Printed Circuit Board (PCB), in which the sensing region is realized with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The RF parameters of each sensor device prototype have been measured to determine the aqueous glucose concentration. Experimental S-parameters have been closely observed to quantify the glucose concentration.

Investigation of Terahertz Wave Propagation along Symmetric Coplanar Strpline on Multilayer Dielctric Substrates

Characteristics of the symmetric coplanar strip line on multi-layer dielectric substrates expressed in analytic formulas have been obtained using conformal mapping. But in most previous presented papers, the metal strip is considered as infinitely thin or PEC while the influence of dielectric substrates are not considered. In this paper, the propagation characteristics of symmetric coplanar strip line with finite conductivity and finite metal strip thickness on multilayer substrates are analyzed by conformal mapping at THz regions. The influences of metal strips and dielectric substrates on the propagation characteristics of CPS are also given. The numerical results are very useful for the development of terahertz devices and terahertz material.

Study of Dependence of Capacitance of Coupled Stripline on Stripwidth, Frequency and Spacing Between Two Striplines

In this present paper, we studied about the dependance of capacitance of coupled stripline on strip width, frequency and spacing between two striplines. Miniaturized microwave circuits fabricated by extension of integrated circuits (ICs) technology to microwave frequencies are known as Microwave Integrated Circuits (MICs). MICs promise a real revolution leading to both expansion of present markets of microwaves &amp; opening of many new applications including host of non-military uses in India &amp; abroad. With the advent of MICs planar Transmission Lines have been developed which have been proved to be very significant as regards the fabrication of various microwave-components such as: Directional Coupler, Filters, Isolator &amp; Impedance transformers etc. The planar Transmission Lines are: Stripline, Microstripline, Slot line, Coplanar Striplines &amp; their different variant forms such as inverted and suspended striplines &amp; microstriplines etc. Among these microstripline is the most suited due to its open structure, low losses in gigaharz range of frequency, reduced size, improved reliability and eventual cost reduction in mass production. The microstrip transmission line consists of a narrow strip conductor separated from a conducting ground plane by an intervening supporting dielectric substrate as studied by Wheeler and others. The electromagnetic traveling through such structures suffers from some losses like: Conductor loss &amp; Dielectric loss. There is a change of phase of the wave traveling through the structure also. This phase change (shift) depends on the width of metal strip, height of the dielectric substrate, permittivity of the substrate and operating frequency. The present study is devoted to this objective i.e. we have to study the variation of Phase-Shift of the wave within the structure with width of the stripline, height &amp; effective permittivity of the structure &amp; frequency.

Smartphone paired SIM card-type integrated creatinine biosensor

Medical diagnostic sector is relying on affordable, handheld devices integrating smart biosensing and transducing interfaces that enable clinical analysis with minimal end-user intervention and resource requirements. In response, we propose here, a SIM card-type pH responsive polymer-modified paper-based biosensing device, coupled to a smartphone, for the determination of urinary creatinine. A vertical microfluidic channel was fabricated on a paper strip by wax printing. The hydrophilic area was coated by a poly(methylmethacrylate)/poly(methacrylic acid) random copolymer, PMMA-co-PMAA, and on top of it, creatinine deiminase (CD) was immobilized. Data demonstrated, on the one hand, zero vertical flow of urine through the enzyme-free PMMA-co-PMAA-modified paper strip, i.e., a high selectivity against the components of the matrix, and on the other hand, in the presence of CD, a creatinine -concentration dependent commence of sample’s downward flow due to the selective, creatinine-triggered degradation of the copolymer by the enzymatically produced ammonia. This CD/PMMA-co-PMAA paper-based biosensing smart assembly is coupled with three conductive strips, which enable the automatic on/off (sample addition/measurement end) measurement of the copolymer degradation time, through electric resistance measurements. It also features an in-built sample well and wireless communication support through the integration of a Bluetooth® microprocessor incorporated with time and resistance measuring circuits. Using newly synthesized pH responsive PMMA-co-PMAA at different molecular weights and volume fraction ratios offering tunable dissolution properties, the detection range was adjusted over 3–30 mM creatinine to overspread the normal range of creatinine in urine. The device was successfully applied to the determination of urinary creatinine.

Exploiting Resistive Matrix Technology to Build a Stretchable Sensorised Sock for Gait Analysis in Daily Life.

We describe the development and preliminary evaluation of an innovative low-cost wearable device for gait analysis. We have developed a sensorized sock equipped with 32 piezoresistive textile-based sensors integrated in the heel and metatarsal areas for the detection of signals associated with the contact pressures generated during walking phases. To build the sock, we applied a sensing patch on a commercially available sock. The sensing patch is a stretchable circuit based on the resistive matrix method, in which conductive stripes, based on conductive inks, are coupled with piezoresistive fabrics to form sensing elements. In our sensorized sock, we introduced many relevant improvements to overcome the limitations of the classical resistive matrix method. We preliminary evaluated the sensorized sock on five healthy subjects by performing a total of 80 walking tasks at different speeds for a known distance. Comparison of step count and step-to-step frequency versus reference measurements showed a high correlation between the estimated measure and the real one.

Dual-Band Impedance Matching Using Folded Stubs Composed Of Periodic Structures

Impedance matching devices are essential elements in telecommunication systems. They avoid the reflection of the electromagnetic waves and promote the maximum power transference among circuits with different electric impedances. In dual-band telecommunication systems, new impedance matching techniques have been developed. In this article, the use of folded stubs composed of periodic structure is investigated. This methodology uses two stubs, one for each frequency bands. The isolation between them is achieved by the prohibited electromagnetic bands and the use of folds in the conductive strip, which form the periodic structures, allows reducing the dimensions of the device.

Miniaturized high selectivity bandpass filter based on hairpin two-conductor stripline resonators

A resonator based bandpass filter miniature design formed by two U-shaped metal strip conductors located at different sides of a suspended dielectric substrate is developed. In each conductor one end is grounded to the screen and the other is free. A resonators are connected in pairs with overlapping sections of strip conductors, it leads not only to the reduction in the dimensions of the device, but also to the increase in its selectivity due to transmission zeros near the passband. The prospects of the proposed design are proved by the measured characteristics of the 6th-order filter made on a substrate with the relative permittivity er = 80 (TBNS-ceramic) and the thickness of 0.5 mm. The filter passband central frequency f0 = 150 MHz, and the fractional bandwidth Δf/f0 = 25 %, while the size of the device is only 42 × 20 × 8.25 мм3 (0.02λ0 × 0.01λ0 × 0.005λ0, where λ0 is the wavelength at the center frequency f0). The filter has high slope steepness and a wide stopband, which extends up to the frequency of 3f0 at the level of –50 dB.

Mutual Coupling Reduction in Closely Spaced MIMO Dielectric Resonator Antenna in H-Plane Using Closed Metallic Loop

In this study, the mutual coupling in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is reduced by employing closed metallic loops. The loops are wrapped around the adjacent edges of the dielectric resonators (DR) where magnetic coupling is significant. The proposed method employs only the conductive metallic strips for mutual coupling reduction and this makes the entire design very simple and compact. The impedance bandwidth varies from 4.73 to 5.1 GHz, covering the Sub&#x2013;6 GHz 5G band. The realized MIMO DRA has an isolation of 28 dB at the resonant frequency with a measured peak gain at each port of 3.5 dBi and a peak radiation efficiency of 93%. The obtained measured results yield a low correlation coefficient (&#x003C;0.05) mostly at the entire band that contribute to diversity gain (&#x003E; 9.8 dB) to increase the capacity of communication system, is reported in this paper. The proposed antenna was fabricated and the closed loop strip is wrapped around using in house facility. Furthermore, some issues related to the fabrications tolerance have been investigated to justify the difference between some simulated and measured results.

Синтез связанных полосковых линий с гетерогенным диэлектрическим заполнением

Using the example of coupled strip lines with horizontally and vertically arranged strip conductors, the solution of the inverse problem of finding relative permittivity according to a given ratio of phase velocities of in-phase and antiphase waves propagating in the lines is shown. Per unite capacitances are defined as the sum of partial capacitances in the selected subdomains of the strip structure, in which the accumulated energy of the electric field was calculated. Examples of the synthesis of coupled line structures with a given ratio of phase velocities are shown.

Annular Ring Ultra Wideband Antenna Integrated With Metallic via Array for IoT Applications

An annular ring microstrip antenna (ARMSA) with metallic drilled holes and a defected ground structure is proposed for ultra-wideband applications. The annular ring microstrip patch antenna is excited by the microstrip line feed. The outer radius of the annular ring was optimized in this paper to choose the resonant frequency corresponding to the highest mode. The inner radius boosts the structure&#x2019;s gain. A defected conductive strip with an arc in the center increases bandwidth at the lower end, increases gain and suppresses Co and Cross-pole isolation. Incorporating a metallic via array excites and includes several closely spaced lower order modes, increasing the fractional bandwidth to 108%. The gain of the proposed configuration is 10dBi at the resonance frequency. It offers Front to back lobe ratio (FBR) of 34dB and 97% radiation efficiency. The performance of the fabricated prototype agrees well with the simulated one.

A wide‐angle forward to backward scanning wideband leaky‐wave antenna based on microstrip spoof surface plasmon polaritons

In this work, a wide-angle forward to backward scanning wideband leaky-wave antenna (LWA) based on the microstrip spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) transmission line (TL) is proposed. The proposed microstrip SSPP TL has tapered corrugations on both sides of the metallic strip conductor. After designing an efficient transition with a good transition occupation ratio and excellent transmission efficiency, a wide-angle scanning LWA is realised. A methodology of achieving high gain and wide-angle scanning by adjusting a large number of radiating elements in a compact area is proposed. The proposed antenna operates in the frequency range of 8.9–12.7 GHz having fractional bandwidth of 35.18% with a continuous scanning range from −35° to +51°. The maximum gain of 19.03 dBi with a maximum radiation efficiency of 90% is achieved from the structure. The proposed antenna can easily be integrated with planar wireless communication systems due to the presence of an unbroken ground plane.

Optimization of synthetic aperture approach to radioimage processing with help of the Prony’s method

Application of the Prony’s method with segmented approach to radioimage analysis is researched. Measuring system with a horn antenna is considered. An optimal geometry of the horn antenna for implementation of Fourier-holography in frequency-time domain is estimated with the help of a big perfect reflector model. The mathematical model of the structure with reflector is constructed and used for initial verification of the method. The model is constructed with the help of the transmission line theory. The Prony’s method is then applied to estimation of distances to the points of radioimages constructed with the help of a computer model of an antenna. Distances on the image of a conductive strip obtained by aperture synthesis are estimated with the help of the method. It is found that estimated distance tends to increase with the increase of the lateral distance from the axis of the antenna. This result agrees with the fact that antenna radiates a non-plain wave. It is important for the aperture synthesis calibration procedure with help of the conductive strip.