Hydraulic Test Stand to Model Circulatory System Dynamics for Artificial Heart Evaluation

This work proposes the theory and design of an experimental setup to mimic the dynamic impedance of the human circulatory system for testing the dynamic characteristics of an artificial heart. This platform has the same resistance, compliance, and inertance elements as the well-studied 4-element Windkessel model. As opposed to a circuit analogy model commonly seen in the literature, our platform remains within the same energy domain as the circulatory system. This allows an artificial heart designer to test pump performance and dynamic pressure characteristics under realistic loading. A test platform is designed using a non-hazardous working fluid with the same density and viscosity as blood. The system uses as few custom components as possible and interchangeable parts allow for system tuning.

Effect of Slit Channel Width of a Shim Embedded in Slot-Die Head on High-Density Stripe Coating for OLEDs

With an attempt to achieve high-density fine organic stripes for potential applications in solution-processable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), we have performed slot-die coatings using a shim with slit channels in various shapes (rectangular-shaped narrow, rectangular-shaped wide, and reversely tapered channels) in the presence of narrow µ-tips. Based on hydraulic-electric circuit analogy, we have analyzed the fluid dynamics of an aqueous poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). It is observed that the coating speed can be increased and the stripe width can be reduced using a shim with rectangular-shaped wide slit channels. It is attributed that the hydraulic resistance is decreased and thus more fluid can reach a substrate through µ-tips. This behavior is consistent with the simulation result of the equivalent electrical circuit with a DC voltage source representing a pressure source. Using the shim with 150-µm-wide slit channels, we have successfully fabricated 200 PEDOT:PSS stripes within the effective coating width (150 mm) and 160 OLED stripes (34 stripes per inch) with the luminance of 325 cd/m2 at 5 V.

Influence of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) on the thermal performance of building envelopes

To understand the influence of PCM wall configurations on the thermal performance of building envelopes, an explicit finite element model of heat transfer from indoor to outdoor (or vice versa) is developed. The accuracy of this model is first validated against the electrical circuit analogy model, and then compared with the experimental data measured in a Hot-Box device. A good agreement between the simulation results and experimental results is obtained. The results of this study show that the PCM configuration layer sequence significantly will affect the thermal performance of building envelopes and that the FEM model developed is a promising tool, which after some more development may be used for optimising PCM wall configurations.