Windshield Research Articles

Mobile Measurements of Particulate Matter in a Car Cabin: Local Variations, Contrasting Data from Mobile versus Stationary Measurements and the Effect of an Opened versus a Closed Window.

Air pollution of particulate matter (PM) from traffic emissions has a significant impact on human health. Risk assessments for different traffic participants are often performed on the basis of data from local air quality monitoring stations. Numerous studies demonstrated the limitation of this approach. To assess the risk of PM exposure to a car driver more realistically, we measure the exposure to PM in a car cabin with a mobile aerosol spectrometer in Frankfurt am Main under different settings (local variations, opened versus a closed window) and compare it with data from stationary measurement. A video camera monitored the surroundings for potential PM source detection. In-cabin concentrations peaked at 508 µg m−3 for PM10, 133.9 µg m−3 for PM2.5, and 401.3 µg m−3 for coarse particles, and strongly depended on PM size and PM concentration in ambient air. The concentration of smaller particles showed low fluctuations, but the concentration of coarse particles showed high fluctuations with maximum values on busy roads. Several of these concentration peaks were assigned to the corresponding sources with characteristic particle size distribution profiles. The closure of the car window reduced the exposure to PM, and in particular to coarse particles. The mobile measured PM values differed significantly from stationary PM measures, although good correlations were computed for finer particles. Mobile rather than stationary measurements are essential to assess the risk of PM exposure for car passengers.

Adjusting precipitation measurements from the TRwS204 automatic weighing gauge in the Qilian Mountains, China

With the popularity of the automatic precipitation gauges in national weather stations, testing their performance and adjusting their measurements are top priorities. Additionally, because different climatic conditions may have different effects on the performance of the precipitation gauges, it is also necessary to test the gauges in different areas. This study mainly analyzed precipitation measurements from the single-Alter-shielded TRwS204 automatic weighing gauge (TRwSSA) relative to the adjusted manual measurements (reference precipitation) from the Chinese standard precipitation gauge in a double-fence wind shield (CSPGDF) in the Hulu watershed in the Qilian Mountains, China. The measurements were compared over the period from August 2014 to July 2017, and the transfer function derived from the work by Kochendorfer et al. (2017a) for correcting wind-induced losses was applied to the TRwSSA measurements. The results show that the average loss of TRwSSA measurements relative to the reference precipitation decreased from 0.55 mm (10.7%) to 0.51 mm (9.9%) for rainfall events, from 0.35 mm (8.5%) to 0.22 mm (5.3%) for sleet events, and from 0.49 mm (18.9%) to 0.33 mm (12.7%) for snowfall events after adjustment. The uncorrected large biases of TRwSSA measurements are considered to be mainly caused by specific errors of TRwSSA, different gauge orifice area and random errors. These types of errors must be considered when comparing precipitation measurements for different gauge types, especially in the mountains.

Experimental determination of failure strength in automotive windscreens using acoustic emission and fractography

This paper presents a methodology to determine failure stresses from components consisting of laminated safety glass. For this purpose, automotive windscreens were tested under quasi-static loading by a head impactor for pedestrian protection. Automotive windscreens consist of two glass ply connected by a polyvinyl butyral interlayer. During the experiment, the failure origin was determined by acoustic emission localisation. The computed failure origins were examined for fracture marks, particularly for the fracture mirror. Fracture mirrors have a direct relation to failure stresses by a material constant, which can be used to determine the failure stresses of brittle materials. It is shown, that the measured stress samples fit best to a two parameter Weibull distribution. The experimentally obtained failure stresses are compared to numerical results obtained by finite element analysis. Furthermore, observations on fracture marks confirm the conclusion, that the glass ply both failed at the interior side. It could also be shown, that in eleven of twenty experiments, the interior ply failed first. With the gained failure stresses and the fracture toughness, conclusions were drawn for critical flaw sizes and their statistical distribution.

Exploitive properties of composites on the polymer waste from the manufacture of car windows

In the last five years, the number of laminated glass produced in Poland for the automotive industry has almost doubled. It is the effect of increasing requirements in the area of vehicle safety and use. This also caused the increase in the amount of waste in glass production technology. The demands of circular economy require the re-use of waste as raw materials. PVB as a structural material is characterized by good mechanical properties in a wide range of positive and negative temperatures and high sensitivity to moisture (high hygroscopy). On the basis of PVB waste from the production of glass and using recyclate of polyethylene and polyester-glass dust, new material composites were made. Taking into account the hygroscopic properties of PVB, aging tests of new materials were made after exposure to them in the HHC climate. The influence of the aging process on the tested properties was determined. The results confirmed the possibility of using composites for technical products in the automotive industry.

Wind Dynamics Over a Highly Heterogeneous Oasis Area: An Experimental and Numerical Study

AbstractOases are unique heterogeneous landscapes that coexist within the Gobi desert in the arid and semiarid regions, which are vital for agricultural production and economic development. The heterogeneity of the land surface with vegetation will significantly influence the wind dynamics and airflow characteristics. The current study utilized an integrated approach, combining the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method with the k‐ɛ turbulence model and high‐resolution ground‐measurement data to analyze the wind dynamics over an oasis. Specifically, (1) the Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF) data were used as boundary conditions to initiate the simulations; (2) the canopy leaf area density estimated from airborne laser scanning data was added as the source terms of the momentum and turbulence transport equations, which represented the highly heterogeneous vegetation structures in the oasis area. CFD‐simulated wind field results agreed well with the flux observation matrix data (17 tower measurements in a 5.5 km × 5.5 km experimental area). The spatial and temporal variations of wind fields affected by heterogeneous land surfaces were successfully captured. The CFD‐simulated wind fields also clearly showed the “wind shield effect” over highly heterogeneous land surfaces, wherein the existence of shorter and longer wind speed reduction areas at the windward and leeward sides of the shelterbelts contribute to protecting farmlands and orchards from wind erosion. In addition, the current approach of estimating aerodynamic roughness length (z0m) based on high‐resolution CFD‐simulated wind profiles was demonstrated to be a promising method of capturing wind dynamics over heterogeneous surfaces.

Isolation of Seismic Signal from InSight/SEIS-SP Microseismometer Measurements

The InSight mission is due to launch in May 2018, carrying a payload of novel instruments designed and tested to probe the interior of Mars whilst deployed directly on the Martian regolith and partially isolated from the Martian environment by the Wind and Thermal Shield. Central to this payload is the seismometry package SEIS consisting of two seismometers, which is supported by a suite of environmental/meteorological sensors (Temperature and Wind Sensor for InSight TWINS; and Auxiliary Payload Sensor Suite APSS). In this work, an optimal estimations inversion scheme which aims to decorrelate the short-period seismometer (SEIS-SP) signal due to seismic activity alone from the environmental signal and random noise is detailed, and tested on both simulated and Viking data. This scheme also applies a module to identify measurements contaminated by Single Event Phenomena (SEP). This scheme will be deployed as the pre-processing pipeline for all SEIS-SP data prior to release to the scientific community for analysis.

How Ecology Can Edify Ethics: The Scope of Morality

Over the past several decades environmental ethics has grown markedly, normative ethics having provided essential grounding in assessing human treatment of the environment. Even a systematic approach, such as Paul Taylor’s, in a sense tells the environment how it is to be treated, whether that be Earth’s ecosystem or the universe itself. Can the environment, especially the ecosystem, as understood through the study of ecology, in turn offer normative and applied (environmental) ethics any edification? The study of ecology has certainly increased awareness of the fact that it is not possible for a moral agent within the ecosystem to step outside its intricate mesh of actions and events, of causes and effects. That is, absolutely everything that an agent can do can have some, often unforeseeable, outcome in the environment. An incompletely snuffed-out match tossed out a car window can cause a forest fire, which causes biome destruction, which causes x, y, and z. In sum, the ecosystem can edify ethics in terms of the scope of ethics, which remains an unsettled, if too-often ignored, matter. By such an inclusive view of moral scope, as derived in part from ecology and as presented here, the scope of moral behavior would include—whether or not adventitiously—every action an agent may do. By this view, moral scope is, in essence, unlimited. The article offers some ramifications of this view of moral scope.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Based Power Window System

In driving the safety factor, comfort, and convenience become things to note. This study discusses the control of window power using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and applications on Android. Many of us experience anxiety and discomfort when we forget to close our window or enter our car in the hot air. IOT system can be applied to solve this problem by controlling the window power. This research makes it easy for us either to open or to close car windows from around 10 to 30 meters separated from the vehicle through Android smartphone. With this approach, the user can open or close the car window.

Wind Shielding Impacts on Water Quality in an Urban Reservoir

This study applied an atmospheric Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model and a three-dimensional hydrodynamic-ecological lake model to investigate the impacts of variable wind forcing on lake hydrodynamics and water quality. The CFD model was used to predict the wind field over the lake surface which served as the meteorological forcing for the lake model. The study was carried out for the Marina Reservoir in downtown Singapore where field measurements of the wind field showed that temporal and spatial differences in wind field were found to be significant. By comparing simulations using uniform and spatially variable wind inputs in terms of thermal stratification, Richardson number, vorticity, and spatial gradients, this study demonstrates that the variability in wind forcing in urban lakes that arise from shielding and seasonal effects can have significant impacts on the hydrodynamics and water quality in the reservoir.

Material flow design and simulation for a glass panel recycling installation.

The current paper presents the design of a glass panels recycling flow and the method used for establishing the optimal processing installation architecture. In the solution provided in the current research, a novel approach centred on applying digital twinning in the design of the requested processing architecture is presented. It involves designing the virtual prototype of the diffused processing architecture and modelling the glass waste flow as a hybrid material flow. Dedicated analysis and simulation software is then used for establishing installation architecture and the specific parameters for each processing and transport capacity. The assessment of different processing scenarios by virtual modelling and simulations can also be used for exploring options to increase productivity and profit for other different recycling architectures. The main practical value of the study consists of creating the means to improve the waste recycling of automotive windshields, float glass or construction glass panels with metallic meshes, all representing categories of waste insufficiently recycled in Romania. The simulation results of the study were validated by tests made on the glass panel recycling installation. Also, a recovery glass rate of minimum 85% of the amount of waste loaded into the recycling system was achieved, obtaining a waste recycling quantity three times higher than initially anticipated.

A Full-Visible-Spectrum Invisibility Cloak for Mesoscopic Metal Wires.

Structured metals can sustain a very large scattering cross-section that is induced by localized surface plasmons, which often has an adverse effect on their use as transparent electrodes in displays, touch screens, and smart windows due to an issue of low clarity. Here, we report a broadband optical cloaking strategy for the network of mesoscopic metal wires with submicrometer to micrometer diameters, which is exploited for manufacturing and application of high-clarity metal-wires-based transparent electrodes. We prepare electrospun Ag wires with 300-1800 nm in diameter and perform a facile surface oxidation process to form Ag/Ag2O core/shell heterogeneous structures. The absorptive Ag2O shell, together with the coating of a dielectric cover, leads to the cancellation of electric multipole moments in Ag wires, thereby drastically suppressing plasmon-mediated scattering over the full visible spectrum and rendering Ag wires to be invisible. Simultaneously with the effect of invisibility, the transmittance of Ag/Ag2O wires is significantly improved compared to bare Ag wires, despite the formation of an absorptive Ag2O shell. As an application example, we demonstrate that these invisible Ag wires serve as a high-clarity, high-transmittance, and high-speed defroster for automotive windshields.

Keeping that Doggie in the (Car) Window Safe: Recommendations for Driving with Canine Companions

Part I of this article uses the empirical research of experts (animal behaviorists, ethologists, and cynologists) to explain reasons canine companions and their humans love riding together. It also highlights the potential risks when dogs distract drivers. Acknowledging that only a few studies exist, it provides whatever statistics are available and posits that data strongly suggest dogs who are roaming free in a car cause or at least contribute to many accidents. This means, in addition to drivers and passengers in other vehicles and even pedestrians, these animals represent a significant potential danger to themselves and occupants of their car in one of two respects. First, they can distract the driver in any number of ways and cause or contribute to an accident. Second, they can become deadly projectiles if there is a collision (or even just the need to stop short).

Automatic Car Window Opening System by using Oxygen and Sound Sensor

Automatic Car Window Opening System by using Oxygen and Sound Sensor

Dynamic Analysis of Head-Form Test on Actual Automotive Windscreen

The head-form test on actual automotive windscreen with the analytic method of explicit dynamics is researched in this paper. Based on the experiment specification, the geometric models of head-form weight and laminated glass for actual automotive windscreen are built, and the loading conditions of the head-form test are also acquired. According to the analysis results, the process of crack initiation & propagation and the failure mechanism in laminated glass are studied, which is of great significance for the evaluation on laminated glass for actual automotive windscreen.

Automatic Car Window Opener for safe Driving

Automatic Car Window Opener for safe Driving

Testing and development of transfer functions for weighing precipitation gauges in WMO-SPICE

Abstract. Weighing precipitation gauges are used widely for the measurement of all forms of precipitation, and are typically more accurate than tipping-bucket precipitation gauges. This is especially true for the measurement of solid precipitation; however, weighing precipitation gauge measurements must still be adjusted for undercatch in snowy, windy conditions. In WMO-SPICE (World Meteorological Organization Solid Precipitation InterComparison Experiment), different types of weighing precipitation gauges and shields were compared, and adjustments were determined for the undercatch of solid precipitation caused by wind. For the various combinations of gauges and shields, adjustments using both new and previously existing transfer functions were evaluated. For most of the gauge and shield combinations, previously derived transfer functions were found to perform as well as those more recently derived. This indicates that wind shield type (or lack thereof) is more important in determining the magnitude of wind-induced undercatch than the type of weighing precipitation gauge. It also demonstrates the potential for widespread use of the previously developed transfer functions. Another overarching result was that, in general, the more effective shields, which were associated with smaller unadjusted errors, also produced more accurate measurements after adjustment. This indicates that although transfer functions can effectively reduce measurement biases, effective wind shielding is still required for the most accurate measurement of solid precipitation.

The use of LA-ICP-MS databases to calculate likelihood ratios for the forensic analysis of glass evidence

Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has been shown to be an excellent technique for the discrimination of glass originating from different sources and for the association of glass originating from the same source. Typically, a match criterion is used to compare the elemental profile of the known sample to a questioned sample and if the glass samples are determined to “match” this may be followed by the use of a verbal scale to report the forensic practitioner's conclusion. This approach has several disadvantages: a fixed match criterion suffers from the “fall-off-the-cliff effect,” the rarity of an elemental profile is not taken into account, and the use of a verbal scale to assign a weight of evidence may be considered as subjective and can vary by examiner. An alternative approach includes the use of a continuous likelihood ratio that provides a quantitative measure of the value of the evidence in support of any hypothesis and accounts for the rarity of an elemental profile through the use of a glass database. In the present study, two glass databases were used to evaluate the performance of the likelihood ratio; the first database includes 420 automotive windshield samples, while the second database includes 385 glass samples from casework. The multivariate kernel model was used for the calculation of the likelihood ratio. However, this model led to unreasonably large (or small) likelihood ratios. Thus, a calibration step, using the Pool Adjacent Violators (PAV) algorithm, was necessary in order to limit the likelihood ratio to reasonable values. The calibrated likelihood ratio presented rates of misleading evidence of <1.5% (for LRs<1 when objects came from the same source), and of <1.0% (for LRs>1 when objects came from different sources), which improved over the analogous ASTM false inclusion and false exclusion rates previously reported. In addition, the likelihood ratio limited the magnitude of the misleading evidence, providing only weak to moderate support for the incorrect hypothesis. Finally, most of the pairs found to present LR>1 when objects originated from different sources were explained by similarity of manufacturer of the glass source.

On Active Passengering

We describe the development of an interactive car window system designed to support passengers in engaging with the external environment during a journey. Through advances in embedded digital technologies, cars increasingly have a potential to become interactive spaces, in which passengers will find it possible to interact with the external environment through in-car interfaces. However the utility and benefit of such interactive systems for passengers has not been well studied. There is a need therefore, to study the design and use of these technologies, as they are emerging. We thus investigated how digital technology might support passengers' interactions with the external environment. Through a focus group (n=6) and interviews (n=5) we investigated passengers' attitudes towards, and practices during, ordinary car journeys. From this scoping study we formulated five design considerations for designing/implementing a prototype interactive car-window system. This system was then evaluated through an in-lab user study (n=8). Qualitative thematic analysis of interviews during the user study suggested a variety of orientations towards ‘passengering’, the act of being a passenger, on a journey. Herein we critically examine the role of our interactive technology in supporting desired experiences of ‘active passengering’.

This Is Also Tangier

This Is Also Tangier Joseph Pearson (bio) You come from the other side?" a young man later asks me, in the bar in Tangier. ________ On the flight from Lisbon to Morocco, I try to see where Europe ends and Africa begins. The coast must be somewhere below me, but it's lost in the diffusion of clouds. I stare at the cabin wall opposite, where strange shapes, long trapezoids, morph; they're projected from the late sun blazing to the south. I want to say "African sun," but that rings false, like something said in the nineteenth century. The iconic Tangier arrival is, of course, by boat, but these days a flight is less expensive. I bargained away seeing the continent loom from a ferry navigating between the two pillars of Hercules. The first step taken from the boat to land would have felt somehow more decisive. New rules would have applied. I would have felt it in my feet. But up here in the air all I see, at first, is an indistinct, pale band. Then a pronounced beach, an estuary, a perimeter fence. The airplane turns, we plunge into shadow, the light disappears, then, lower, dimly, the hills are articulated, variegated in patches, and winter green. There is surprise when the view fully opens. I do not see an organic maze of a city, but an illuminated geometry, interlocking polygons of suburban housing estates, precise and planned. I feel a twinge of disappointment. Perhaps the scruffy port, with its would-be guides and jostling taxi drivers fighting for my tender, would've been more reassuring than this arrivals hall. It is arid, spotless, tiled with perfect squares, and I wait less than a minute for my stamp. I should be walking from the port up to the Medina. There should be details out of a novel by Paul Bowles, a storm, a palm pounding a wall in the wind. I should reach a hotel without electricity, with just a lonely candle in the window. I should be on my knees in the darkened hallway, searching for where I've dropped the key. Burial In Bowles's Let It Come Down, a sixteen-year-old girl turns to look across the straits to Europe from Tangier. She shudders: "That is where they kill people." The novel was set in the shadow of both the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Europe must have seemed a savage land. Now, it is the sea, below [End Page 14] the Medina, that buries those fleeing to Europe. A graveyard lies between the two continents. The Window From the airport, I am in the capsule of an old Mercedes—with torn cloth walls, a silent driver—and the vehicle threatens to go dead at any time, depositing me in some suburb, aimless with my bag, looking for something I do not expect. Then the taxi picks up speed and rounds the coast of the central city. It's past dusk. I see the Medina illuminated, white. We chug up the old alleys; men are rapping on the car windows. I find the hotel easily, just across from the Grande Mosquée. In my room, the shower drain emits a sickly sweet smell. But the space is tidy, with white walls and ironed sheets, a purple embroidered coverlet, an industrially produced kilim rug, and bronze lamp. I go out to explore immediately, into the maze. Everything is closer than I expected: the Petit Socco where the Beat poets picked up their rent boys, and then the Grand Socco almost around the corner. I had wanted to get lost here. I shouldn't have studied the map. I should have left my smartphone in the room. The Grand Socco is busy with night hawkers, dusty carts, lottery ticket sellers. The bar of the Cinema Rif bursts with Moroccan hipsters, men who spill into the square. The ritual evening stroll, a poorly-lit paseo, is more tawdry than on the other side of the Mediterranean. There are more shadows. I criss-cross through side streets. Soon I find myself wandering down a very dark road along a construction site...

The Loneliest Moon

The Loneliest Moon Steven Schwartz (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by NASA 1 One of the most pernicious stages of insomnia is when it becomes an opponent. You want to outfox, outflank, out-smart it (lots of adversarial synonyms go through your head at three am). You spend much of your waking day plotting what tactics to use against it. In your head, you readjust your bedtime. If I wait until one am, I might sleep through the night. You calculate how much sleep you got [End Page 53] the night before as a prognostication of how much you’ll get tonight. It’s like an eating disorder, except the obsession is with hours slept instead of pounds lost. You strategize, you negotiate, you bargain to game an impenetrable system. And then, in the middle of the night when you’re wide awake, you realize that endeavoring to trick yourself back to sleep means the trick is on you. The insomnia has set a trap by making you believe it has a menacing existence outside your own conspiring mind. ________ I made an appointment for an overnight sleep study because, according to my wife, Emily, my snoring was becoming louder. Hooked up to a nest of wires running from head to toe, I took two hours and thirteen minutes to fall asleep. Eighty-two minutes later, the tech woke me up, found a mask that worked for me, and turned on the CPAP machine. I nodded off for another eighty minutes until the tech woke me at five am. She undid the belt monitor around my chest and peeled off the electrodes from my face and legs. “Did I sleep enough?” I asked her. She’d been understanding about my trouble getting to sleep, about my requests for an extra blanket and (I’m embarrassed to admit) a night-light. “Yes, we can get the data needed from even a few hours.” “How did I do?” “The doctor will let you know,” she said, smiling but noncommittal. A week later the results came back. I had moderate sleep apnea. Most of my score was made up of hypopneas—slow or shallow breathing due to partial obstruction—rather than apneas—a complete blockage of the breathing. But neither was good. My throat closed enough during sleep that breathing was compromised. The treatment: CPAP, the gold standard for preventing future cognitive impairment, high blood pressure, heart attacks, arrhythmia, diabetes, and strokes. ________ CPAP at work on my nightstand, I fall asleep but take off the mask after an hour. Wearing the CPAP mask has been compared to sticking your head out a car window at sixty miles an hour. Not exactly conducive to that floaty feeling of sleep, especially if, like me, you tend toward claustrophobia. When I explain that I’m having trouble adjusting to the machine, the doctor lowers the pressure. I also get fitted for a more comfortable mask. But that night, just as I’m drifting off, I jerk awake. It happens over and over, a sensation of being snapped back to consciousness by [End Page 54] the suspenders. Or being on the edge of a cliff and scaring yourself awake. In two weeks I’m scheduled to teach at a ten-day writing conference. I start to mull over how little sleep I’ve gotten at this conference in the past. What if I really can’t sleep? Not the usual poor-me whine of martyred sleeplessness, hyperbolic in its cri de coeur over forfeited hours, but an absolute inability to stop being awake. I listen to the whooshing of the CPAP mask—its battering ram of forced air to prevent the soft tissue in the back of my throat from collapsing. But I can’t stop thinking about going without sleep at the conference. Though I know it’s ridiculous to worry about it now, the worry grows tumid, feeding off some gathering force on the horizon that won’t let me fall asleep the remainder of the night. I decide to put off using the CPAP until I get back from the conference. I should have known the pressure of trying...