As one type of resistance furnace, the electrical tube furnace (ETF) typically experiences input noise, measurement noise, system uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances, which significantly degrade its temperature control performance. To provide precise, and robust temperature tracking performance for the ETF, a robust composite control (RCC) method is proposed in this paper. The overall RCC method consists of four elements: First, the mathematical model of the ETF system is deduced, then a state feedback control (SFC) is constructed. Third, a novel disturbance observer (DO) is designed to estimate the lumped disturbance with one observer parameter. Moreover, the stability of the closed loop system including controller

lar water heating systems with heat pipes of three diameter groups of 16, 22 and 28.5 mm. The first and third groups had evaporator lengths of 1150, 1300 and 1550 mm. The second group had an additional length of 1800 mm. all heat pipes were of fixed condenser length of 200 mm. Ethanol at 50% fill charge ratio of the evaporator volume was used as the heat pipes working fluid. Each heat pipe condenser section was inserted in a storage tank and the evaporator section inserted into an evacuated glass tube of the Owens- Illinois type. The combined heat pipe and evacuated glass tube form an active solar collector of a unique design.
The resulting ten solar water heating systems were tested outdoors under the meteorological conditions of Bag

Concrete filled steel tube (CFST) columns are being popular in civil engineering due to their superior structural characteristics. This paper investigates enhancement in axial behavior of CFST columns by adding steel fibers to plain concrete that infill steel tubes. Four specimens were prepared: two square columns (100*100 mm) and two circular columns (100 mm in diameter). All columns were 60 cm in length. Plain concrete mix and concrete reinforced with steel fibers were used to infill steel tube columns. Ultimate axial load capacity, ductility and failure mode are discussed in this study. The results showed that the ultimate axial load capacity of CFST columns reinforced with steel fibers increased by 28% and 20 % for circular and square c

In this paper, a polymer-based composite material was prepared by hand Lay-up method consisting of epoxy resin as a base material reinforced by magnesium oxide powder once and silicon dioxide powder again and with different weight ratios (3, 6, 9 and 12) wt %. The three-point bending test was performed in normal conditions and after immersion in sulfuric acid. The results showed that the bending value decreased with the increase of the weighted ratio of the reinforcement material (MgO, SiO2). The Bending of samples reinforced by SiO2 was found to be less than the bending of samples reinforced by particles (MgO). For example, the bending of the SiO2 sample (0.32 mm) at the weighted ratio (3%) and for the MgO (0.18mm) sample at the weight

Hydrophobic silica aerogels were successfully preparation by an ambient pressure drying method from sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) with different pH values (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10). In this study, acidic HCl (1M), a basic NH4OH (1M) were selected as a catalyst to perform the surface modification in a TMCS (trimethylchlorosilane) solution. The surface chemical modification of the aerogels was assured by the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Other physical properties, such as pore volume and pore size and specific surface area were determined by Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) method. The effect of pH values on the bulk density of aerogel. The sol–gel parameter pH value in the sol, have marked effects on the physical proper

The refractive index sensors based on tapered optical fiber are attractive for many industries due to sensing capability in a variety of application. In this paper, we proposed a refractive index sensor based on multicore fiber (MCF) sandwiched between two standard single mode fibers (SMF). The sensor consisting of three sections, SMF- MCF-SMF is structurally simple and can be easily produced by joining these parts. The MFC contains seven cores and these cores are surrounded by a single cladding. The sensing region is obtained by tapering the MCF section where the evanescent field is generated. The single mode propagating along the SMF is stimulated at the first joint and is coupled to the cladding modes. These modes interfere with the core

Low-temperature stratification, high-volumetric storage capacity, and less-complicated material processing make phase-changing materials (PCMs) very suitable candidates for solar energy storage applications. However, their poor heat diffusivities and suboptimal containment designs severely limit their decent storage capabilities. In these systems, the arrangement of tubes conveying the heat transport fluid (HTF) plays a crucial role in heat communication between the PCM and HTF during phase transition. This study investigates a helical coil tube-and-shell thermal storage system integrated with a novel central return tube to enhance heat transfer effectiveness. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations compare the proposed d

It is through a review of conversion of vegetable oils into glycidyl ethers focusing on their roles in achieving sustainability and improved epoxy resin performance. It involves functionalization of triglycerides in the form of epoxidation followed by glycidylation and yields bio-based monomers having improved mechanical as well as thermal properties. The review covers the underlying chemistry, production drivers, industrial applications, and future issues, supported by quantitative data and comparative studies. In addition, it integrates recent data on catalyst choice, feedstock flexibility, and environmental performance factors of bio-based resins, indicating their suitability for replacing traditional petroleum-based components.<