scholarly journals Small‐Scale Soft Robot with High Speed and Load Capacity Inspired by Kangaroo Hopping

2021 ◽  
pp. 2100129
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Xiaolong Lu ◽  
Ningyi Yuan ◽  
Jianning Ding
2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliott Guenat ◽  
Jürg Schiffmann

Abstract High-speed small-scale turbomachinery for waste heat recovery and vapor compression cycles is typically supported on gas-lubricated bearings operating close to the saturation conditions of the lubricant. Under particular conditions, the gas film might locally reach the saturation pressure with potentially hazardous effects on the performance of the gas bearing. The present work introduces a model based on the Reynolds equation and the development of cavitation modeling in liquid-lubricated bearings for condensing gas bearings. The effect of condensation on load capacity and pressure and density profiles is investigated for two one-dimensional bearing geometries (parabolic and Rayleigh step) and varying operating conditions. The results suggest that the load capacity is generally negatively affected if condensation occurs. An experimental setup consisting of a Rayleigh-step gas journal bearing with pressure taps to measure the local fluid film pressure is presented and operated in R245fa in near-saturated conditions. The comparison between the evolution of the fluid film pressure under perfect gas and near saturation conditions clearly suggests the occurrence of condensation in the fluid film. These results are corroborated by the very good agreement with the model prediction.


Micromachines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 955
Author(s):  
Yao Wu ◽  
Lihua Yang ◽  
Tengfei Xu ◽  
Wei Wu

Temperature rise and elastic deformation are unavoidable issues occurring in high-speed gas microbearings due to the dominant small-scale fluid dynamics in rarefied gas flow applications. In this paper, thermo-elasto-aerodynamic analysis requires simultaneously solving the modified Reynolds equation, modified energy equation, temperature–viscosity relationship and the elasticity equations for predicting the lubrication characteristics of microbearings. A thermo-elasto-aerodynamic lubrication is systematically investigated by using the partial derivative method, finite difference formulation and the finite element approach. The results indicate that, compared with rigid microbearing which has a constant viscosity gas lubricant, the temperature effect increases the load capacity, friction coefficient and stiffness coefficients, and it decreases the attitude angle and damping coefficients of the microbearing. The flexibility of the bearing pad also leads to the increase in load capacity and direct stiffness coefficients, while it remains to further decrease the direct damping coefficients on the basis of thermo-aerodynamic performance. The present study is conducive to accurately analyze the microscopic flow properties in a microbearing-rotor system.


Lubricants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Eckhard Schüler ◽  
Olaf Berner

In high speed, high load fluid-film bearings, the laminar-turbulent flow transition can lead to a considerable reduction of the maximum bearing temperatures, due to a homogenization of the fluid-film temperature in radial direction. Since this phenomenon only occurs significantly in large bearings or at very high sliding speeds, means to achieve the effect at lower speeds have been investigated in the past. This paper shows an experimental investigation of this effect and how it can be used for smaller bearings by optimized eddy grooves, machined into the bearing surface. The investigations were carried out on a Miba journal bearing test rig with Ø120 mm shaft diameter at speeds between 50 m/s–110 m/s and at specific bearing loads up to 4.0 MPa. To investigate the potential of this technology, additional temperature probes were installed at the crucial position directly in the sliding surface of an up-to-date tilting pad journal bearing. The results show that the achieved surface temperature reduction with the optimized eddy grooves is significant and represents a considerable enhancement of bearing load capacity. This increase in performance opens new options for the design of bearings and related turbomachinery applications.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 575
Author(s):  
Jelena Ochs ◽  
Ferdinand Biermann ◽  
Tobias Piotrowski ◽  
Frederik Erkens ◽  
Bastian Nießing ◽  
...  

Laboratory automation is a key driver in biotechnology and an enabler for powerful new technologies and applications. In particular, in the field of personalized therapies, automation in research and production is a prerequisite for achieving cost efficiency and broad availability of tailored treatments. For this reason, we present the StemCellDiscovery, a fully automated robotic laboratory for the cultivation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in small scale and in parallel. While the system can handle different kinds of adherent cells, here, we focus on the cultivation of adipose-derived hMSCs. The StemCellDiscovery provides an in-line visual quality control for automated confluence estimation, which is realized by combining high-speed microscopy with deep learning-based image processing. We demonstrate the feasibility of the algorithm to detect hMSCs in culture at different densities and calculate confluences based on the resulting image. Furthermore, we show that the StemCellDiscovery is capable of expanding adipose-derived hMSCs in a fully automated manner using the confluence estimation algorithm. In order to estimate the system capacity under high-throughput conditions, we modeled the production environment in a simulation software. The simulations of the production process indicate that the robotic laboratory is capable of handling more than 95 cell culture plates per day.


2018 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 02028
Author(s):  
Hassan Zulkifli Abu ◽  
Ibrahim Aniza ◽  
Mohamad Nor Norazman

Small-scale blast tests were carried out to observe and measure the influence of sandy soil towards explosive blast intensity. The tests were to simulate blast impact imparted by anti-vehicular landmine to a lightweight armoured vehicle (LAV). Time of occurrence of the three phases of detonation phase in soil with respect to upward translation time of the test apparatus were recorded using high-speed video camera. At the same time the target plate acceleration was measured using shock accelerometer. It was observed that target plate deformation took place at early stage of the detonation phase before the apparatus moved vertically upwards. Previous data of acceleration-time history and velocity-time history from air blast detonation were compared. It was observed that effects of soil funnelling on blast wave together with the impact from soil ejecta may have contributed to higher blast intensity that characterized detonation in soil, where detonation in soil demonstrated higher plate velocity compared to what occurred in air blast detonation.


Author(s):  
Yu Guo ◽  
Yu Hou ◽  
Qi Zhao ◽  
Xionghao Ren ◽  
Shuangtao Chen ◽  
...  

Foil bearing is considered to be a promising supporting technology in high-speed centrifugal machinery. Due to the high-speed shearing effect in the viscous lubricant film, heat generation could not be ignored. In this paper, a thermo-elastic model of the multi-leaf foil thrust bearing is proposed to predict its thermal and static characteristics. In the model, modified Reynolds equation, energy equation, and Kirchhoff equation are solved in a coupling way. The contact area between the foil and welding plate is taken into account. Besides, the effect of cooling air on the bearing temperature is investigated. The ultimate load capacity and transient overload failure process of the bearing is analyzed and discussed. The effect of rotation speed on the bearing temperature is more obvious than that of the bearing load. The bearing temperature drops obviously by introducing the cooling air, and the cooling effect is improved with the supply pressure. The transient overload failure of the bearing occurs when the bearing load exceeds the ultimate value.


2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 850-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis San Andrés ◽  
Dario Rubio ◽  
Tae Ho Kim

Gas foil bearings (GFBs) satisfy the requirements for oil-free turbomachinery, i.e., simple construction and ensuring low drag friction and reliable high speed operation. However, GFBs have a limited load capacity and minimal damping, as well as frequency and amplitude dependent stiffness and damping characteristics. This paper provides experimental results of the rotordynamic performance of a small rotor supported on two bump-type GFBs of length and diameter equal to 38.10mm. Coast down rotor responses from 25krpm to rest are recorded for various imbalance conditions and increasing air feed pressures. The peak amplitudes of rotor synchronous motion at the system critical speed are not proportional to the imbalance introduced. Furthermore, for the largest imbalance, the test system shows subsynchronous motions from 20.5krpm to 15krpm with a whirl frequency at ∼50% of shaft speed. Rotor imbalance exacerbates the severity of subsynchronous motions, thus denoting a forced nonlinearity in the GFBs. The rotor dynamic analysis with calculated GFB force coefficients predicts a critical speed at 8.5krpm, as in the experiments; and importantly enough, unstable operation in the same speed range as the test results for the largest imbalance. Predicted imbalance responses do not agree with the rotor measurements while crossing the critical speed, except for the lowest imbalance case. Gas pressurization through the bearings’ side ameliorates rotor subsynchronous motions and reduces the peak amplitudes at the critical speed. Posttest inspection reveal wear spots on the top foils and rotor surface.


Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Ka Chung Chan ◽  
Sau Chung Fu ◽  
Christopher Yu Hang Chao

Abstract Flutter-driven triboelectric nanogenerator (FTENG) is one of the most promising methods to harvest small-scale wind energy. Wind causes self-fluttering motion of a flag in the FTENG to generate electricity by contact electrification. A lot of studies have been conducted to enhance the energy output by increasing the surface charge density of the flag, but only a few researches tried to increase the converting efficiency by enlarging the flapping motion. In this study, we show that by simply replacing the rigid flagpole in the FTENG with a flexible flagpole, the energy conversion efficiency is augmented and the energy output is enhanced. It is found that when the flag flutters, the flagpole also undergoes aerodynamic force. The lift force generated from the fluttering flag applies a periodic rotational moment on the flagpole, and causes the flagpole to vibrate. The vibration of the flagpole, in turn amplifies the flutter of the flag. Both the fluttering dynamics of the flags with rigid and flexible flagpoles have been recorded by a high-speed camera. When the flag was held by a flexible flagpole, the fluttering amplitude and the contact area between the flag and electrode plates were increased. The energy enhancement increased as the flow velocity increased and the enhancement can be 113 times when the wind velocity is 10 m/s. The thickness of the flagpole was investigated. An optimal output of open-circuit voltage reaching 1128 V (peak-to-peak value) or 312.40 V (RMS value), and short-circuit current reaching 127.67 μA (peak-to-peak value) or 31.99 μA (RMS value) at 12.21 m/s flow velocity was achieved. This research presents a simple design to enhance the output performance of an FTENG by amplifying the fluttering amplitude. Based on the performance obtained in this study, the improved FTENG has the potential to apply in a smart city for driving electronic devices as a power source for IoT applications.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Lovell ◽  
P. Cohen ◽  
Pradeep L. Menezes ◽  
R. Shankar

When machining miniaturized components, the contact conditions between the tool and the workpiece exhibit very small contact areas that are on the order of 10−5 mm2. Under these conditions, extremely high contact stresses are generated, and it is not clear whether macroscopic theories for the chip formation, cutting forces, and friction mechanisms are applicable. For this reason, the present investigation has focused on creating a basic understanding of the frictional behavior in very small scale machining processes so that evaluations of standard macroscale models could be performed. Specialized machining experiments were conducted on 70/30 brass materials using high-speed steel tools over a range of speeds, feeds, depths of cut, and tool rake angles. At each operating condition studied, the friction coefficient and the shear factor τk were obtained. Based on the experimental results, it was determined that the standard macroscopic theory for analyzing detailed friction mechanisms was insufficient in very small scale machining processes. An approach that utilized the shear factor, in contrast, was found to be better for decoupling the physical phenomena involved. Utilizing the shear factor as an analysis parameter, the parameters that significantly influence the friction in microscale machining processes were ascertained and discussed.


Author(s):  
Guido M. J. Delhaes ◽  
Anton van Beek ◽  
Ron A. J. van Ostayen ◽  
Robert H. Munnig Schmidt

In this paper an innovative air driven spindle for micro cutting applications is presented. The spindle uses a viscous traction concept which has the advantage that the viscous traction forces can act directly on the cylindrical part of the tool, which makes the tool-holder redundant. Furthermore, the tool can be actuated in the axial direction within the housing. In this paper the concept of the viscous turbine, a design of a prototype spindle along with the traction and load-capacity of the spindle are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document