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OPEN ACCESS PLUS
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Contents
Pp. 202 - 211
Kaname Sato
[Open Access Plus] |
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Bubbles are widely used for various purposes, such as product cleaning, medical treatments, food processing, and fishery operations. There are several ways to produce smaller bubbles, such as using venturi tube cavitation, pressure discharge, ultrasonic waves, and swirl flows.?? In a number of recent patents, micro/nano-bubbles generated by a swirl flow have been used in several applications because this method involves low cost and simple design and provides high performance as well as the ability to generate very small bubbles. In recent years, the controllable bubble size generator, which enables the bubble size to be changed according to the sequence of operations, has been devised, and this swirl-type generator can be used to vary the bubble size and production rate. The swirl-type generator, which is operated using air and water as fluids, makes bubbles that are divided into smaller bubbles by means of the shear stress produced by the swirl flow. In the present paper, micro/nano-bubble applications and technology mentioned in recent patents are reviewed, and the applicability of the swirl-type generator was discussed. Various applications in six fields, i.e., industry, fishery, medicine, agriculture, home amenity, and miscellanea, were surveyed and introduced for the novel inventions, methods, techniques and design centered on the recent patents using the fine bubble characteristic properties such as electrical charges, suspended floating particles, and large surface area volume ratio. The present article analyzes and compares recent patents involving the use of micro/nano-bubbles and gives the extension/vector of the micro/nano-bubble utilization in profitable business prospects.
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Pp. 83 - 129
Harijono Djojodihardjo
[Open Access Plus] |
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Continuous research efforts have been devoted to the fundamental understanding of aircraft aerodynamics and the introduction of new concepts and innovations for the improvement of basic and fundamental aircraft aerodynamic performance, and hence economy, which leads to the enhancement of lift and the reduction of drag. It is also well known that the trailing vortices which reflect the lift as well as drag characteristics of the aircraft could be optimized for better aircraft performance characteristics and reduction of environmental impact as well as hazardous interference to other flight vehicles and/or objects. Research in enhanced aerodynamic efficiency has led to geometrical modifications, novel devices and features on the aircraft wings, such as blended-wing-body configuration, airfoil profiles and winglet designs, introduction of and/or invention of sensors for identifying relevant physical phenomena or measuring devices, introduction of novel computational methods to assess the prevailing force system with better accuracy through meticulous modeling, and introduction of control system and procedures for wake vortices alleviation and aerodynamic configuration optimization. Typical winglets configuration can significantly reduce the induced drag (in the order of less than 10%) with a resulting increase in wing lift-drag ratio and near the design lift coefficient. The corresponding improvement in lift-drag ratio is more than twice as great as that achieved with the comparable wing-tip extension. As also observed in many aircrafts produced in the last decades, only winglets have demonstrated sufficient benefits to find application on modern airliners. Further enhanced aircraft aerodynamic performance are suggested by introduction of recent innovative designs and patents of winglets, sharklets, blended winglets, capped winglets, s-shaped winglets and spiroidal winglet. The review identifies stability of various configurations of vortices, vortex decay and means of reducing vortex hazard. Passive wake vortices alleviation systems utilize the natural evolution of the instability modes with the highest growth rates while active systems rely on accelerating selected modes of instability by imposing the vortices individually or as a system. The passive system is essentially a vortex wake, hence an aerodynamic surface design, while an active system is an actuator design effort, respectively.
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Pp. 191 - 205
Benjamin F. Dorfman
[Open Access Plus] |
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Scaling down in “nano” direction changes the face of mechanics: ultimately, the electro-mechanical devices and systems become competitive or synergistic with electronics, but some extraordinary barriers for the further progress are revealing as well. This article presents an analytical overview of some recent patents and patent applications in the field of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS). Review is especially focused on challenging, even problematic works and includes the relevant patent publications up-to-date. The reviewed topics are: mechanical resonant frequency in proximity of the GHz-range; towards nanomechanical mass detection in the single Dalton range; synergy of nanomechanics and coherent optics, including implementation in gravity sensors and optical tweezers; nanomechanical-nanoparticles thruster for spacecrafts; memory devices: from continuous movement of the entire storage system to nano-scale movements in selected cells; nanomechanical devices based on quantum phenomena; surface, friction and stiction control in nanomechanical devices; stress- controllable and controlling; in search of nano-construction materials.
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