Search results for: hierarchical structure model.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 9432

Search results for: hierarchical structure model.

642 Analysis of Motor Cycle Helmet under Static and Dynamic Loading

Authors: V. C. Sathish Gandhi, R. Kumaravelan, S. Ramesh, M. Venkatesan, M. Ponraj

Abstract:

Each year nearly nine hundred persons die in head injuries and over fifty thousand persons are severely injured due to non wearing of helmets. In motor cycle accidents, the human head is exposed to heavy impact loading against natural protection. In this work, an attempt has been made for analyzing the helmet with all the standard data. The simulation software ‘ANSYS’ is used to analyze the helmet with different conditions such as bottom fixed-load on top surface, bottom fixed -load on top line, side fixed –load on opposite surface, side fixed-load on opposite line and dynamic analysis. The maximum force of 19.5 kN is applied on the helmet to study the model in static and dynamic conditions. The simulation has been carried out for the static condition for the parameters like total deformation, strain energy, von-Mises stress for different cases. The dynamic analysis has been performed for the parameter like total deformation and equivalent elastic strain. The result shows that these values are concentrated in the retention portion of the helmet. These results have been compared with the standard experimental data proposed by the BIS and well within the acceptable limit.

Keywords: Helmet, Deformation, Strain energy, Equivalent elastic strain.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4854
641 The Effect of Maximum Strain on Fatigue Life Prediction for Natural Rubber Material

Authors: Chang S. Woo, Hyun S. Park, Wan D. Kim

Abstract:

Fatigue life prediction and evaluation are the key technologies to assure the safety and reliability of automotive rubber components. The objective of this study is to develop the fatigue analysis process for vulcanized rubber components, which is applicable to predict fatigue life at initial product design step. Fatigue life prediction methodology of vulcanized natural rubber was proposed by incorporating the finite element analysis and fatigue damage parameter of maximum strain appearing at the critical location determined from fatigue test. In order to develop an appropriate fatigue damage parameter of the rubber material, a series of displacement controlled fatigue test was conducted using threedimensional dumbbell specimen with different levels of mean displacement. It was shown that the maximum strain was a proper damage parameter, taking the mean displacement effects into account. Nonlinear finite element analyses of three-dimensional dumbbell specimens were performed based on a hyper-elastic material model determined from the uni-axial tension, equi-biaxial tension and planar test. Fatigue analysis procedure employed in this study could be used approximately for the fatigue design.

Keywords: Rubber, Material test, Finite element analysis, Strain, Fatigue test, Fatigue life prediction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4622
640 Ranking of Inventory Policies Using Distance Based Approach Method

Authors: Gupta Amit, Kumar Ramesh, Tewari P. C.

Abstract:

Globalization is putting enormous pressure on the business organizations specially manufacturing one to rethink the supply chain in innovative manners. Inventory consumes major portion of total sale revenue. Effective and efficient inventory management plays a vital role for the successful functioning of any organization. Selection of inventory policy is one of the important purchasing activities. This paper focuses on selection and ranking of alternative inventory policies. A deterministic quantitative model based on Distance Based Approach (DBA) method has been developed for evaluation and ranking of inventory policies. We have employed this concept first time for this type of the selection problem. Four inventory policies economic order quantity (EOQ), just in time (JIT), vendor managed inventory (VMI) and monthly policy are considered. Improper selection could affect a company’s competitiveness in terms of the productivity of its facilities and quality of its products. The ranking of inventory policies is a multi-criteria problem. There is a need to first identify the selection criteria and then processes the information with reference to relative importance of attributes for comparison. Criteria values for each inventory policy can be obtained either analytically or by using a simulation technique or they are linguistic subjective judgments defined by fuzzy sets, like, for example, the values of criteria. A methodology is developed and applied to rank the inventory policies.

Keywords: Inventory Policy, Ranking, DBA, Selection criteria.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1792
639 Quasi-Static Analysis of End Plate Beam-to-Column Connections

Authors: A. Al-Rifaie, Z. W. Guan, S. W. Jones

Abstract:

This paper presents a method for modelling and analysing end plate beam-to-column connections to obtain the quasi-static behaviour using non-linear dynamic explicit integration. In addition to its importance to study the static behaviour of a structural member, quasi-static behaviour is largely needed to be compared with the dynamic behaviour of such members in order to investigate the dynamic effect by proposing dynamic increase factors (DIFs). The beam-to-column bolted connections contain various contact surfaces at which the implicit procedure may have difficulties converging, resulting in a large number of iterations. Contrary, explicit procedure could deal effectively with complex contacts without converging problems. Hence, finite element modelling using ABAQUS/explicit is used in this study to address the dynamic effect may be produced using explicit procedure. Also, the effect of loading rate and mass scaling are discussed to investigate their effect on the time of analysis. The results show that the explicit procedure is valuable to model the end plate beam-to-column connections in terms of failure mode, load-displacement relationships. Also, it is concluded that loading rate and mass scaling should be carefully selected to avoid the dynamic effect in the solution.

Keywords: Quasi-static, end plate, finite element, connections.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1908
638 Communication and Quality in Distributed Agile Development: An Empirical Case Study

Authors: R. Green, T. Mazzuchi, S. Sarkani

Abstract:

Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect distributed software development to increase the risks associated with achieving cost, schedule, and quality goals. To compound this problem, agile software development (ASD) insists one of the main ingredients of its success is cohesive communication attributed to collocation of the development team. The following study identified the degree of communication richness needed to achieve comparable software quality (reduce pre-release defects) between distributed and collocated teams. This paper explores the relevancy of communication richness in various development phases and its impact on quality. Through examination of a large distributed agile development project, this investigation seeks to understand the levels of communication required within each ASD phase to produce comparable quality results achieved by collocated teams. Obviously, a multitude of factors affects the outcome of software projects. However, within distributed agile software development teams, the mode of communication is one of the critical components required to achieve team cohesiveness and effectiveness. As such, this study constructs a distributed agile communication model (DAC-M) for potential application to similar distributed agile development efforts using the measurement of the suitable level of communication. The results of the study show that less rich communication methods, in the appropriate phase, might be satisfactory to achieve equivalent quality in distributed ASD efforts.

Keywords: agile software development (ASD), distributedsoftware teams, media richness theory, software development.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2128
637 Assessing Innovation Activity in Mexico and South Korea: An Econometric Approach

Authors: Mario Gómez, Won Ho Kim, Ángel Licona, José Carlos Rodríguez

Abstract:

This article analyzes innovation activity in Mexico and South Korea. It develops an econometric model to test for structural breaks in the number of patent applications filed by residents and nonresidents in these countries during the period of 1965 to 2012. These changes may suggest that firms’ innovative capabilities have changed because of implementing different science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in Mexico and South Korea. Two important features characterize this research from others already developed by these authors. First, the theoretical research framework in this research is the debate between the assimilation view of growth and the accumulation view of growth. This characteristic suggests that trade liberalization should be accompanied by an adequate STI policy to boost competitiveness among indigenous firms. Second, the analysis in this research stresses the importance of key actors (e.g. governments) to successfully develop innovation capabilities among indigenous firms. Therefore, the question conducting this research is how STI policies in Mexico and South Korea contributed to develop firms’ innovation capabilities in these countries during last decades? The results from this research suggests that STI policy in South Korea was more suitable to boost innovation firms to compete in markets. Data to develop this research was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Keywords: Econometric methods, innovation, Mexico, South Korea, STI Policy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 921
636 Assessment of Energy Demand Considering Different Model Simulations in a Low Energy Demand House

Authors: M. Cañada-Soriano, C. Aparicio-Fernández, P. Sebastián Ferrer Gisbert, M. Val Field, J.-L. Vivancos-Bono

Abstract:

The lack of insulation along with the existence of air leakages constitute a meaningful impact on the energy performance of buildings. Both of them lead to increases in the energy demand through additional heating and/or cooling loads. Additionally, they cause thermal discomfort. In order to quantify these uncontrolled air currents, the Blower Door test can be used. It is a standardized procedure that determines the airtightness of a space by characterizing the rate of air leakages through the envelope surface. In this sense, the low-energy buildings complying with the Passive House design criteria are required to achieve high levels of airtightness. Due to the invisible nature of air leakages, additional tools are often considered to identify where the infiltrations take place such as the infrared thermography. The aim of this study is to assess the airtightness of a typical Mediterranean dwelling house, refurbished under the Passive House standard, using the Blower Door test. Moreover, the building energy performance modelling tools TRNSYS (TRaNsient System Simulation program) and TRNFlow (TRaNsient Flow) have been used to estimate the energy demand in different scenarios. In this sense, a sequential implementation of three different energy improvement measures (insulation thickness, glazing type and infiltrations) have been analyzed.

Keywords: Airtightness, blower door, TRNSYS, infrared thermography, energy demand.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 157
635 Complex Condition Monitoring System of Aircraft Gas Turbine Engine

Authors: A. M. Pashayev, D. D. Askerov, C. Ardil, R. A. Sadiqov, P. S. Abdullayev

Abstract:

Researches show that probability-statistical methods application, especially at the early stage of the aviation Gas Turbine Engine (GTE) technical condition diagnosing, when the flight information has property of the fuzzy, limitation and uncertainty is unfounded. Hence the efficiency of application of new technology Soft Computing at these diagnosing stages with the using of the Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks methods is considered. According to the purpose of this problem training with high accuracy of fuzzy multiple linear and non-linear models (fuzzy regression equations) which received on the statistical fuzzy data basis is made. For GTE technical condition more adequate model making dynamics of skewness and kurtosis coefficients- changes are analysed. Researches of skewness and kurtosis coefficients values- changes show that, distributions of GTE workand output parameters of the multiple linear and non-linear generalised models at presence of noise measured (the new recursive Least Squares Method (LSM)). The developed GTE condition monitoring system provides stage-by-stage estimation of engine technical conditions. As application of the given technique the estimation of the new operating aviation engine technical condition was made.

Keywords: aviation gas turbine engine, technical condition, fuzzy logic, neural networks, fuzzy statistics

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2503
634 Predictive Analytics of Student Performance Determinants in Education

Authors: Mahtab Davari, Charles Edward Okon, Somayeh Aghanavesi

Abstract:

Every institute of learning is usually interested in the performance of enrolled students. The level of these performances determines the approach an institute of study may adopt in rendering academic services. The focus of this paper is to evaluate students' academic performance in given courses of study using machine learning methods. This study evaluated various supervised machine learning classification algorithms such as Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbors, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Quadratic Discriminant Analysis, using selected features to predict study performance. The accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score obtained from a 5-Fold Cross-Validation were used to determine the best classification algorithm to predict students’ performances. SVM (using a linear kernel), LDA, and LR were identified as the best-performing machine learning methods. Also, using the LR model, this study identified students' educational habits such as reading and paying attention in class as strong determinants for a student to have an above-average performance. Other important features include the academic history of the student and work. Demographic factors such as age, gender, high school graduation, etc., had no significant effect on a student's performance.

Keywords: Student performance, supervised machine learning, prediction, classification, cross-validation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 486
633 CNC Wire-Cut Parameter Optimized Determination of the Stair Shape Workpiece

Authors: Chana Raksiri, Pornchai Chatchaikulsiri

Abstract:

The objective of this research is parameters optimized of the stair shape workpiece which is cut by CNC Wire-Cut EDM (WEDW). The experiment material is SKD-11 steel of stair-shaped with variable height workpiece 10, 20, 30 and 40 mm. with the same 10 mm. thickness are cut by Sodick's CNC Wire-Cut EDM model AD325L. The experiments are designed by 3k full factorial experimental design at 3 level 2 factors and 9 experiments with 2 replicate. The selected two factor are servo voltage (SV) and servo feed rate (SF) and the response is cutting thickness error. The experiment is divided in two experiments. The first experiment determines the significant effective factor at confidential interval 95%. The SV factor is the significant effective factor from first result. In order to result smallest cutting thickness error of workpieces is 17 micron with the SV value is 46 volt. Also show that the lower SV value, the smaller different thickness error of workpiece. Then the second experiment is done to reduce different cutting thickness error of workpiece as small as possible by lower SV. The second experiment result show the significant effective factor at confidential interval 95% is the SV factor and the smallest cutting thickness error of workpieces reduce to 11 micron with the experiment SV value is 36 volt.

Keywords: CNC Wire-Cut, Variable Thickness Workpiece, Design of Experiments, Full Factorial Design

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4787
632 Hand Gesture Recognition Based on Combined Features Extraction

Authors: Mahmoud Elmezain, Ayoub Al-Hamadi, Bernd Michaelis

Abstract:

Hand gesture is an active area of research in the vision community, mainly for the purpose of sign language recognition and Human Computer Interaction. In this paper, we propose a system to recognize alphabet characters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9) in real-time from stereo color image sequences using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). Our system is based on three main stages; automatic segmentation and preprocessing of the hand regions, feature extraction and classification. In automatic segmentation and preprocessing stage, color and 3D depth map are used to detect hands where the hand trajectory will take place in further step using Mean-shift algorithm and Kalman filter. In the feature extraction stage, 3D combined features of location, orientation and velocity with respected to Cartesian systems are used. And then, k-means clustering is employed for HMMs codeword. The final stage so-called classification, Baum- Welch algorithm is used to do a full train for HMMs parameters. The gesture of alphabets and numbers is recognized using Left-Right Banded model in conjunction with Viterbi algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that, our system can successfully recognize hand gestures with 98.33% recognition rate.

Keywords: Gesture Recognition, Computer Vision & Image Processing, Pattern Recognition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4000
631 Tailormade Geometric Properties of Chitosan by Gamma Irradiation

Authors: F. Elashhab, L. Sheha, R. Fawzi Elsupikhe, A. E. A. Youssef, R. M. Sheltami, T. Alfazani

Abstract:

Chitosans, CSs, in solution are increasingly used in a range of geometric properties in various academic and industrial sectors, especially in the domain of pharmaceutical and biomedical engineering. In order to provide a tailoring guide of CSs to the applicants, gamma (γ)-irradiation technology and simple viscosity measurements have been used in this study. Accordingly, CS solid discs (0.5 cm thickness and 2.5 cm diameter) were exposed in air to Cobalt-60 (γ)-radiation, at room temperature and constant 50 kGy dose for different periods of exposer time (tγ). Diluted solutions of native and different irradiated CS were then prepared by dissolving 1.25 mg cm-3 of each polymer in 0.1 M NaCl/0.2 M CH3COOH. The single-concentration relative viscosity (ƞr) measurements were employed to obtain their intrinsic viscosity ([ƞ]) values and interrelated parameters, like: the molar mass (Mƞ), hydrodynamic radiuses (RH,ƞ), radius of gyration (RG,ƞ), and second virial coefficient (A2,ƞ) of CSs in the solution. The results show an exponential decrease of ƞr, [ƞ], Mƞ, RH,ƞ and RG,ƞ with increasing tγ. This suggests the influence of random chain-scission of CSs glycosidic bonds, with rate constant kr and kr-1 (lifetime τr ~ 0.017 min-1 and 57.14 min, respectively). The results also show an exponential decrease of A2ƞ with increasing tγ, which can be attributed to the growth of excluded volume effect in CS segments by tγ and, hence, better solution quality. The results are represented in following scaling laws as a tailoring guide to the applicants: RH,ƞ = 6.98 x 10-3 Mr0.65; RG,ƞ = 7.09 x 10-4 Mr0.83; A2,ƞ = 121.03 Mƞ,r-0.19.

Keywords: Gamma irradiation, geometric properties, kinetic model, scaling laws, viscosity measurement.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 337
630 Energy Management System with Temperature Rise Prevention on Hybrid Ships

Authors: Asser S. Abdelwahab, Nabil H. Abbasy, Ragi A. Hamdy

Abstract:

Marine shipping has now become one of the major worldwide contributors to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Hybrid ships technology based on multiple energy sources has taken a great scope of research to get rid of ship emissions and cut down fuel expenses. Insufficiency between power generated and the demand load to withstand the transient behavior on ships during severe climate conditions will lead to a blackout. Thus, an efficient energy management system (EMS) is a mandatory scope for achieving higher system efficiency while enhancing the lifetime of the onboard storage systems is another salient EMS scope. Considering energy storage system conditions, both the battery state of charge (SOC) and temperature represent important parameters to prevent any malfunction of the storage system that eventually degrades the whole system. In this paper, a two battery packs ratio fuzzy logic control model is proposed. The overall aim is to control the charging/discharging current while including both the battery SOC and temperature in the energy management system. The full designs of the proposed controllers are described and simulated using Matlab. The results prove the successfulness of the proposed controller in stabilizing the system voltage during both loading and unloading while keeping the energy storage system in a healthy condition.

Keywords: energy storage system, fuzzy logic control, hybrid ship, thermal runaway

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 541
629 Optimizing the Performance of Thermoelectric for Cooling Computer Chips Using Different Types of Electrical Pulses

Authors: Saleh Alshehri

Abstract:

Thermoelectric technology is currently being used in many industrial applications for cooling, heating and generating electricity. This research mainly focuses on using thermoelectric to cool down high-speed computer chips at different operating conditions. A previously developed and validated three-dimensional model for optimizing and assessing the performance of cascaded thermoelectric and non-cascaded thermoelectric is used in this study to investigate the possibility of decreasing the hotspot temperature of computer chip. Additionally, a test assembly is built and tested at steady-state and transient conditions. The obtained optimum thermoelectric current at steady-state condition is used to conduct a number of pulsed tests (i.e. transient tests) with different shapes to cool the computer chips hotspots. The results of the steady-state tests showed that at hotspot heat rate of 15.58 W (5.97 W/cm2), using thermoelectric current of 4.5 A has resulted in decreasing the hotspot temperature at open circuit condition (89.3 °C) by 50.1 °C. Maximum and minimum hotspot temperatures have been affected by ON and OFF duration of the electrical current pulse. Maximum hotspot temperature was resulted by longer OFF pulse period. In addition, longer ON pulse period has generated the minimum hotspot temperature.

Keywords: Thermoelectric generator, thermoelectric cooler, chip hotspots, electronic cooling.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 551
628 Exergetic and Life Cycle Assessment Analyses of Integrated Biowaste Gasification-Combustion System: A Study Case

Authors: Anabel Fernandez, Leandro Rodriguez-Ortiz, Rosa Rodríguez

Abstract:

Due to the negative impact of fossil fuels, renewable energies are promising sources to limit global temperature rise and damage to the environment. Also, the development of technology is focused on obtaining energetic products from renewable sources. In this study, a thermodynamic model including exergy balance and a subsequent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were carried out for four subsystems of the integrated gasification-combustion of pinewood. Results of exergy analysis and LCA showed the process feasibility in terms of exergy efficiency and global energy efficiency of the life cycle (GEELC). Moreover, the energy return on investment (EROI) index was calculated. The global exergy efficiency resulted in 67%. For pretreatment, reaction, cleaning, and electric generation subsystems, the results were 85%, 59%, 87%, and 29%, respectively. Results of LCA indicated that the emissions from the electric generation caused the most damage to the atmosphere, water, and soil. GEELC resulted in 31.09% for the global process. This result suggested the environmental feasibility of an integrated gasification-combustion system. EROI resulted in 3.15, which determines the sustainability of the process.

Keywords: Exergy analysis, Life Cycle Assessment, LCA, renewability, sustainability.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 406
627 Reliability and Cost Focused Optimization Approach for a Communication Satellite Payload Redundancy Allocation Problem

Authors: Mehmet Nefes, Selman Demirel, Hasan H. Ertok, Cenk Sen

Abstract:

A typical reliability engineering problem regarding communication satellites has been considered to determine redundancy allocation scheme of power amplifiers within payload transponder module, whose dominant function is to amplify power levels of the received signals from the Earth, through maximizing reliability against mass, power, and other technical limitations. Adding each redundant power amplifier component increases not only reliability but also hardware, testing, and launch cost of a satellite. This study investigates a multi-objective approach used in order to solve Redundancy Allocation Problem (RAP) for a communication satellite payload transponder, focusing on design cost due to redundancy and reliability factors. The main purpose is to find the optimum power amplifier redundancy configuration satisfying reliability and capacity thresholds simultaneously instead of analyzing respectively or independently. A mathematical model and calculation approach are instituted including objective function definitions, and then, the problem is solved analytically with different input parameters in MATLAB environment. Example results showed that payload capacity and failure rate of power amplifiers have remarkable effects on the solution and also processing time.

Keywords: Communication satellite payload, multi-objective optimization, redundancy allocation problem, reliability, transponder.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1139
626 Analytic Network Process in Location Selection and Its Application to a Real Life Problem

Authors: Eylem Koç, Hasan Arda Burhan

Abstract:

Location selection presents a crucial decision problem in today’s business world where strategic decision making processes have critical importance. Thus, location selection has strategic importance for companies in boosting their strength regarding competition, increasing corporate performances and efficiency in addition to lowering production and transportation costs. A right choice in location selection has a direct impact on companies’ commercial success. In this study, a store location selection problem of Carglass Turkey which operates in vehicle glass branch is handled. As this problem includes both tangible and intangible criteria, Analytic Network Process (ANP) was accepted as the main methodology. The model consists of control hierarchy and BOCR subnetworks which include clusters of actors, alternatives and criteria. In accordance with the management’s choices, five different locations were selected. In addition to the literature review, a strict cooperation with the actor group was ensured and maintained while determining the criteria and during whole process. Obtained results were presented to the management as a report and its feasibility was confirmed accordingly.

Keywords: Analytic Network Process, BOCR, location selection, multi-actor decision making, multi-criteria decision making, real life problem.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2050
625 Direct Measurement of Electromagnetic Thrust of Electrodeless Helicon Plasma Thruster Using Magnetic Nozzle

Authors: Takahiro Nakamura, Kenji Takahashi, Hiroyuki Nishida, Shunjiro Shinohara, Takeshi Matsuoka, Ikkoh Funaki, Takao Tanikawa, Tohru Hada

Abstract:

In order to realize long-lived electric propulsion systems, we have been investigating an electrodeless plasma thruster. In our concept, a helicon plasma is accelerated by the magnetic nozzle for the thrusts production. In addition, the electromagnetic thrust can be enhanced by the additional radio-frequency rotating electric field (REF) power in the magnetic nozzle. In this study, a direct measurement of the electromagnetic thrust and a probe measurement have been conducted using a laboratory model of the thruster under the condition without the REF power input. Fromthrust measurement, it is shown that the thruster produces a sub-milli-newton order electromagnetic thrust force without the additional REF power. The thrust force and the density jump are observed due to the discharge mode transition from the inductive coupled plasma to the helicon wave excited plasma. The thermal thrust is theoretically estimated, and the total thrust force, which is a sum of the electromagnetic and the thermal thrust force and specific impulse are calculated to be up to 650 μN (plasma production power of 400 W, Ar gas mass flow rate of 1.0 mg/s) and 210 s (plasma production power of 400 W, Ar gas mass flow rate of 0.2 mg/s), respectively.

Keywords: Electric propulsion, Helicon plasma, Lissajous acceleration, Thrust stand.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2127
624 Exploration of the Communication Area of Infrared Short-Range Communication Systems for Intervehicle Communication

Authors: Wern-Yarng Shieh, Hsin-Chuan Chen, Ti-Ho Wang, Bo-Wei Chen

Abstract:

Infrared communication in the wavelength band 780- 950 nm is very suitable for short-range point-to-point communications. It is a good choice for vehicle-to-vehicle communication in several intelligent-transportation-system (ITS) applications such as cooperative driving, collision warning, and pileup-crash prevention. In this paper, with the aid of a physical model established in our previous works, we explore the communication area of an infrared intervehicle communication system utilizing a typical low-cost cormmercial lightemitting diodes (LEDs) as the emitter and planar p-i-n photodiodes as the receiver. The radiation pattern of the emitter fabricated by aforementioned LEDs and the receiving pattern of the receiver are approximated by a linear combination of cosinen functions. This approximation helps us analyze the system performance easily. Both multilane straight-road conditions and curved-road conditions with various radius of curvature are taken into account. The condition of a small car communicating with a big truck, i.e., there is a vertical mounting height difference between the emitter and the receiver, is also considered. Our results show that the performance of the system meets the requirement of aforementioned ITS applications in terms of the communication area.

Keywords: Dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), infrared communication, intervehicle communication, intelligent transportation system (ITS).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1623
623 Use of Gaussian-Euclidean Hybrid Function Based Artificial Immune System for Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Authors: Cuneyt Yucelbas, Seral Ozsen, Sule Yucelbas, Gulay Tezel

Abstract:

Due to the fact that there exist only a small number of complex systems in artificial immune system (AIS) that work out nonlinear problems, nonlinear AIS approaches, among the well-known solution techniques, need to be developed. Gaussian function is usually used as similarity estimation in classification problems and pattern recognition. In this study, diagnosis of breast cancer, the second type of the most widespread cancer in women, was performed with different distance calculation functions that euclidean, gaussian and gaussian-euclidean hybrid function in the clonal selection model of classical AIS on Wisconsin Breast Cancer Dataset (WBCD), which was taken from the University of California, Irvine Machine-Learning Repository. We used 3-fold cross validation method to train and test the dataset. According to the results, the maximum test classification accuracy was reported as 97.35% by using of gaussian-euclidean hybrid function for fold-3. Also, mean of test classification accuracies for all of functions were obtained as 94.78%, 94.45% and 95.31% with use of euclidean, gaussian and gaussian-euclidean, respectively. With these results, gaussian-euclidean hybrid function seems to be a potential distance calculation method, and it may be considered as an alternative distance calculation method for hard nonlinear classification problems.

Keywords: Artificial Immune System, Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Euclidean Function, Gaussian Function.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2086
622 A Robust Approach to the Load Frequency Control Problem with Speed Regulation Uncertainty

Authors: S. Z. Sayed Hassen

Abstract:

The load frequency control problem of power systems has attracted a lot of attention from engineers and researchers over the years. Increasing and quickly changing load demand, coupled with the inclusion of more generators with high variability (solar and wind power generators) on the network are making power systems more difficult to regulate. Frequency changes are unavoidable but regulatory authorities require that these changes remain within a certain bound. Engineers are required to perform the tricky task of adjusting the control system to maintain the frequency within tolerated bounds. It is well known that to minimize frequency variations, a large proportional feedback gain (speed regulation constant) is desirable. However, this improvement in performance using proportional feedback comes about at the expense of a reduced stability margin and also allows some steady-state error. A conventional PI controller is then included as a secondary control loop to drive the steadystate error to zero. In this paper, we propose a robust controller to replace the conventional PI controller which guarantees performance and stability of the power system over the range of variation of the speed regulation constant. Simulation results are shown to validate the superiority of the proposed approach on a simple single-area power system model.

Keywords: Robust control, power system, integral action, minimax LQG control.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1888
621 Doubly Fed Induction Generator Based Variable Speed Wind Conversion System Control Enhancement by Applying Fractional Order Controller

Authors: Abdellatif Kasbi, Abderrafii Rahali

Abstract:

In an electric power grid connected wind generation system, dynamic control strategy is essential to use the wind energy efficiently as well as for an energy optimization. The present study has focused on decoupled power regulation of doubly fed induction generator, operating in wind turbine, in accordance with the vector control approach by applying fractional order proportional integral (FOPI) controller. The FOPI controller is designed based on a simple method; up such that the response of closed loop process is similar to the response of a specified fractional model whose transfer function is Bode’s ideal function. In this tuning operation, the parameters of the proposed fractional controller are established analytically using the impulse closed-loop response of the controlled process. To show the superior action of the developed FOPI controller in comparison with standard PI controller in different function conditions, the study is validated through simulation using the software MATLAB/Simulink.

Keywords: Wind generation system, DFIG, vector control approach, fractional order PI controller, Bode’s ideal transfer function, impulse response.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 641
620 Necessity of Risk Management of Various Industry-Associated Pollutants(Case Study of Gavkhoni Wetland Ecosystem)

Authors: Hekmatpanah, M.

Abstract:

Since the beginning of human history, human activities have caused many changes in the environment. Today, a particular attention should be paid to gaining knowledge about water quality of wetlands which are pristine natural environments rich in genetic reserves. If qualitative conditions of industrial areas (in terms of both physicochemical and biological conditions) are not addressed properly, they could cause disruption in natural ecosystems, especially in rivers. With regards to the quality of water resources, determination of pollutant sources plays a pivotal role in engineering projects as well as designing water quality control systems. Thus, using different methods such as flow duration curves, dischargepollution load model and frequency analysis by HYFA software package, risk of various industrial pollutants in international and ecologically important Gavkhoni wetland is analyzed. In this study, a station located at Varzaneh City is used as the last station on Zayanderud River, from where the river water is discharged into the wetland. Results showed that elements- concentrations often exceeded the allowed level and river water can endanger regional ecosystem. In addition, if the river discharge is managed on Q25 basis, this basis can lower concentrations of elements, keeping them within the normal level.

Keywords: Pollutants Risk, Industry, Flow Discharge, Management, Gavkhoni Wetland

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1202
619 Effect of Valve Pressure Drop in Exergy Analysis of C2+ Recovery Plants Refrigeration Cycles

Authors: B. Tirandazi, M. Mehrpooya, A. Vatani

Abstract:

This paper provides an exergy analysis of the multistage refrigeration cycle used for C2+ recovery plant. The behavior of an industrial refrigeration cycle with refrigerant propane has been investigated by the exergy method. A computational model based on the exergy analysis is presented for the investigation of the effects of the valves on the exergy losses, the second law of efficiency, and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The equations of exergy destruction and exergetic efficiency for the main cycle components such as evaporators, condensers, compressors, and expansion valves are developed. The relations for the total exergy destruction in the cycle and the cycle exergetic efficiency are obtained. An ethane recovery unit with its refrigeration cycle has been simulated to prepare the exergy analysis. Using a typical actual work input value; the exergetic efficiency of the refrigeration cycle is determined to be 39.90% indicating a great potential for improvements. The simulation results reveal that the exergetic efficiencies of the heat exchanger and expansion sections get the lowest rank among the other compartments of refrigeration cycle. Refrigeration calculations have been carried out through the analysis of T–S and P–H diagrams where coefficient of performance (COP) was obtained as 1.85. The novelty of this article includes the effect and sensitivity analysis of molar flow, pressure drops and temperature on the exergy efficiency and coefficient of performance of the cycle.

Keywords: exergy; Valve; CRP; refrigeration cycle; propane refrigerant; C2+ Recovery; Ethane Recovery;.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1179
618 Evaluation of Exerting Force on the Heating Surface Due to Bubble Ebullition in Subcooled Flow Boiling

Authors: M. R. Nematollahi

Abstract:

Vibration characteristics of subcooled flow boiling on thin and long structures such as a heating rod were recently investigated by the author. The results show that the intensity of the subcooled boiling-induced vibration (SBIV) was influenced strongly by the conditions of the subcooling temperature, linear power density and flow velocity. Implosive bubble formation and collapse are the main nature of subcooled boiling, and their behaviors are the only sources to originate from SBIV. Therefore, in order to explain the phenomenon of SBIV, it is essential to obtain reliable information about bubble behavior in subcooled boiling conditions. This was investigated at different conditions of coolant subcooling temperatures of 25 to 75°C, coolant flow velocities of 0.16 to 0.53m/s, and linear power densities of 100 to 600 W/cm. High speed photography at 13,500 frames per second was performed at these conditions. The results show that even at the highest subcooling condition, the absolute majority of bubbles collapse very close to the surface after detaching from the heating surface. Based on these observations, a simple model of surface tension and momentum change is introduced to offer a rough quantitative estimate of the force exerted on the heating surface during the bubble ebullition. The formation of a typical bubble in subcooled boiling is predicted to exert an excitation force in the order of 10-4 N.

Keywords: Subcooled boiling, vibration mechanism, bubble behavior.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1512
617 Towards an Enhanced Stochastic Simulation Model for Risk Analysis in Highway Construction

Authors: Anshu Manik, William G. Buttlar, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan

Abstract:

Over the years, there is a growing trend towards quality-based specifications in highway construction. In many Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) specifications, the contractor is primarily responsible for quality control of the process, whereas the highway agency is responsible for testing the acceptance of the product. A cooperative investigation was conducted in Illinois over several years to develop a prototype End-Result Specification (ERS) for asphalt pavement construction. The final characteristics of the product are stipulated in the ERS and the contractor is given considerable freedom in achieving those characteristics. The risk for the contractor or agency depends on how the acceptance limits and processes are specified. Stochastic simulation models are very useful in estimating and analyzing payment risk in ERS systems and these form an integral part of the Illinois-s prototype ERS system. This paper describes the development of an innovative methodology to estimate the variability components in in-situ density, air voids and asphalt content data from ERS projects. The information gained from this would be crucial in simulating these ERS projects for estimation and analysis of payment risks associated with asphalt pavement construction. However, these methods require at least two parties to conduct tests on all the split samples obtained according to the sampling scheme prescribed in present ERS implemented in Illinois.

Keywords: Asphalt Pavement, Risk Analysis, StochasticSimulation, QC/QA.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1473
616 Geostatistical Analysis of Contamination of Soils in an Urban Area in Ghana

Authors: S. K. Appiah, E. N. Aidoo, D. Asamoah Owusu, M. W. Nuonabuor

Abstract:

Urbanization remains one of the unique predominant factors which is linked to the destruction of urban environment and its associated cases of soil contamination by heavy metals through the natural and anthropogenic activities. These activities are important sources of toxic heavy metals such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn). Often, these heavy metals lead to increased levels in some areas due to the impact of atmospheric deposition caused by their proximity to industrial plants or the indiscriminately burning of substances. Information gathered on potentially hazardous levels of these heavy metals in soils leads to establish serious health and urban agriculture implications. However, characterization of spatial variations of soil contamination by heavy metals in Ghana is limited. Kumasi is a Metropolitan city in Ghana, West Africa and is challenged with the recent spate of deteriorating soil quality due to rapid economic development and other human activities such as “Galamsey”, illegal mining operations within the metropolis. The paper seeks to use both univariate and multivariate geostatistical techniques to assess the spatial distribution of heavy metals in soils and the potential risk associated with ingestion of sources of soil contamination in the Metropolis. Geostatistical tools have the ability to detect changes in correlation structure and how a good knowledge of the study area can help to explain the different scales of variation detected. To achieve this task, point referenced data on heavy metals measured from topsoil samples in a previous study, were collected at various locations. Linear models of regionalisation and coregionalisation were fitted to all experimental semivariograms to describe the spatial dependence between the topsoil heavy metals at different spatial scales, which led to ordinary kriging and cokriging at unsampled locations and production of risk maps of soil contamination by these heavy metals. Results obtained from both the univariate and multivariate semivariogram models showed strong spatial dependence with range of autocorrelations ranging from 100 to 300 meters. The risk maps produced show strong spatial heterogeneity for almost all the soil heavy metals with extremely risk of contamination found close to areas with commercial and industrial activities. Hence, ongoing pollution interventions should be geared towards these highly risk areas for efficient management of soil contamination to avert further pollution in the metropolis.

Keywords: Coregionalization, ordinary cokriging, multivariate geostatistical analysis, soil contamination, soil heavy metals, risk maps, spatial distribution.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 813
615 Studying the Effects of Economic and Financial Development as well as Institutional Quality on Environmental Destruction in the Upper-Middle Income Countries

Authors: Morteza Raei Dehaghi, Seyed Mohammad Mirhashemi

Abstract:

The current study explored the effect of economic development, financial development and institutional quality on environmental destruction in upper-middle income countries during the time period of 1999-2011. The dependent variable is logarithm of carbon dioxide emissions that can be considered as an index for destruction or quality of the environment given to its effects on the environment. Financial development and institutional development variables as well as some control variables were considered. In order to study cross-sectional correlation among the countries under study, Pesaran and Friz test was used. Since the results of both tests show cross-sectional correlation in the countries under study, seemingly unrelated regression method was utilized for model estimation. The results disclosed that Kuznets’ environmental curve hypothesis is confirmed in upper-middle income countries and also, financial development and institutional quality have a significant effect on environmental quality. The results of this study can be considered by policy makers in countries with different income groups to have access to a growth accompanied by improved environmental quality.

Keywords: Economic Development, Environmental Destruction, Financial Development, Institutional Development, Seemingly Unrelated Regression.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1909
614 Design and Optimization for a Compliant Gripper with Force Regulation Mechanism

Authors: Nhat Linh Ho, Thanh-Phong Dao, Shyh-Chour Huang, Hieu Giang Le

Abstract:

This paper presents a design and optimization for a compliant gripper. The gripper is constructed based on the concept of compliant mechanism with flexure hinge. A passive force regulation mechanism is presented to control the grasping force a micro-sized object instead of using a sensor force. The force regulation mechanism is designed using the planar springs. The gripper is expected to obtain a large range of displacement to handle various sized objects. First of all, the statics and dynamics of the gripper are investigated by using the finite element analysis in ANSYS software. And then, the design parameters of the gripper are optimized via Taguchi method. An orthogonal array L9 is used to establish an experimental matrix. Subsequently, the signal to noise ratio is analyzed to find the optimal solution. Finally, the response surface methodology is employed to model the relationship between the design parameters and the output displacement of the gripper. The design of experiment method is then used to analyze the sensitivity so as to determine the effect of each parameter on the displacement. The results showed that the compliant gripper can move with a large displacement of 213.51 mm and the force regulation mechanism is expected to be used for high precision positioning systems.

Keywords: Flexure hinge, compliant mechanism, compliant gripper, force regulation mechanism, Taguchi method, response surface methodology, design of experiment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1568
613 A New Approach for Image Segmentation using Pillar-Kmeans Algorithm

Authors: Ali Ridho Barakbah, Yasushi Kiyoki

Abstract:

This paper presents a new approach for image segmentation by applying Pillar-Kmeans algorithm. This segmentation process includes a new mechanism for clustering the elements of high-resolution images in order to improve precision and reduce computation time. The system applies K-means clustering to the image segmentation after optimized by Pillar Algorithm. The Pillar algorithm considers the pillars- placement which should be located as far as possible from each other to withstand against the pressure distribution of a roof, as identical to the number of centroids amongst the data distribution. This algorithm is able to optimize the K-means clustering for image segmentation in aspects of precision and computation time. It designates the initial centroids- positions by calculating the accumulated distance metric between each data point and all previous centroids, and then selects data points which have the maximum distance as new initial centroids. This algorithm distributes all initial centroids according to the maximum accumulated distance metric. This paper evaluates the proposed approach for image segmentation by comparing with K-means and Gaussian Mixture Model algorithm and involving RGB, HSV, HSL and CIELAB color spaces. The experimental results clarify the effectiveness of our approach to improve the segmentation quality in aspects of precision and computational time.

Keywords: Image segmentation, K-means clustering, Pillaralgorithm, color spaces.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3334