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21 – 30 of over 29000Lihua Cai, Shuo Dong, Xi Huang, Haifeng Fang and Jianguo She
Flexible mechanical gripper has better safety and adaptability than a rigid mechanical hand. At present, there are few soft grippers for small objects on a millimeter scale…
Abstract
Purpose
Flexible mechanical gripper has better safety and adaptability than a rigid mechanical hand. At present, there are few soft grippers for small objects on a millimeter scale. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to design a soft pneumatic gripper for grasping millimeter-scale small and fragile objects such as jewelry and electronic components.
Design/methodology/approach
By simulating the clamping action of the bird’s mouth and combining the high flexibility of the soft material, the bird’s beak soft pneumatic gripper is designed. First, the internal cavity of the gripping end of the gripper is determined by bending deformation calculation, and the brief manufacturing process of the gripper is outlined. Then, the single finger of the soft gripper is modeled mechanically, and the relationship between air pressure and bending deformation of the single finger is obtained. Finally, the experimental platform of the soft mechanical gripper is built, and the gripping performance of silicone rubber material is tested by comparison test, bending deformation test, stability test, adaptability test and gripping accuracy test.
Findings
The designed gripper has the advantages of simple structure, convenient operation, easy grasping of different small objects of millimeter-scale and good adaptability. It can grasp the precise dispensing needle with a minimum diameter of 0.19 mm, and its accuracy meets daily use.
Originality/value
A new type of soft pneumatic, the mechanical gripper is proposed and manufactured. According to the shape of the bird’s beak and the calculation of bending performance, a hollow finger gripper with better bending performance is designed. Various test results show that the gripper has a significant clamping effect on millimeter small objects, which supplements the research field of millimeter small object gripper.
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Term suggestion is a very useful information retrieval technique that tries to suggest relevant terms for users' queries, to help advertisers find more appropriate terms relevant…
Abstract
Purpose
Term suggestion is a very useful information retrieval technique that tries to suggest relevant terms for users' queries, to help advertisers find more appropriate terms relevant to their target market. This paper aims to focus on the problem of using several semantic analysis methods to implement a term suggestion system.
Design/methodology/approach
Three semantic analysis techniques are adopted – latent semantic indexing (LSI), probabilistic latent semantic indexing (PLSI), and a keyword relationship graph (KRG) – to implement a term suggestion system.
Findings
This paper shows that using multiple semantic analysis techniques can give significant performance improvements.
Research limitations/implications
The suggested terms returned from the system may be out of date, since the system uses a batch processing mode to update the training parameter.
Originality/value
The paper shows that the benefit of the techniques is to overcome the problems of synonymy and polysemy over the information retrieval field, by using a vector space model. Moreover, an intelligent stopping strategy is proposed to save the required number of iterations for probabilistic latent semantic indexing.
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Hailong Du, Zengyao Chen, Xiyan Wang, Yongliang Li, Renshu Yang, Zhiyong Liu, Aibing Jin and Xiaogang Li
The purpose of this paper is to develop new types of anchor bolt materials by adding corrosion-resistant elements for alloying and microstructure regulation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop new types of anchor bolt materials by adding corrosion-resistant elements for alloying and microstructure regulation.
Design/methodology/approach
Three new anchor bolt materials were designed around the 1Ni system. The stress corrosion cracking resistance of the new materials was characterized by microstructure observation, electrochemical testing and slow strain rate tensile testing.
Findings
The strength of the new anchor bolt materials has been improved, and the stress corrosion sensitivity has been reduced. The addition of Nb makes the material exhibit excellent stress corrosion resistance under –1,200 mV conditions, but the expected results were not achieved when Nb and Sb were coupled.
Originality/value
The new anchor bolt materials designed around 1Ni have excellent stress corrosion resistance, which is the development direction of future materials. Nb allows the material to retain its ability to extend in hydrogen-evolution environments.
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Wei Wang and Hairui Yang
Rectangular fluidised beds are commonly used in industry, e.g. circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boilers. Apparently, no one has tried to imagine rectangular fluidised beds by…
Abstract
Purpose
Rectangular fluidised beds are commonly used in industry, e.g. circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boilers. Apparently, no one has tried to imagine rectangular fluidised beds by electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). The purpose of this paper is to design a rectangular ECT sensor to understand the behaviour of a rectangular CFB riser.
Design/methodology/approach
A rectangular sensor with eight electrodes is adopted to obtain the capacitance data. The sensitivity map is simulated to calculate the grey level of pixels for visualisation using the linear back‐projection algorithm.
Findings
Experiments showed that the position of the objects in the riser can be obviously indicated and the central region of the object(s) has significantly higher grey level than other regions in the images using the rectangular ECT sensor.
Research limitations/implications
It has a limitation in providing a higher resolution image.
Practical implications
The results obtained by the rectangular ECT sensor show that it is promising to study the characteristics of flow non‐uniformity in the fast fluidisation regime of CFB.
Originality/value
Without using square and circular ECT sensors, this is the first time a rectangular ECT sensor has been developed to study the unique problems of the characteristics of flow non‐uniformity in a rectangular CFB riser.
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Jie Wan, Biao Chen, Jianghua Shen, Katsuyoshi Kondoh, Shuiqing Liu and Jinshan Li
The metallic alloys and their components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) suffer from the microvoids formed inevitably due to the extreme solidification rate during…
Abstract
Purpose
The metallic alloys and their components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) suffer from the microvoids formed inevitably due to the extreme solidification rate during fabrication, which are impossible to be removed by heat treatment. This paper aims to remove those microvoids in as-built AlSi10Mg alloys by hot forging and enhance their mechanical properties.
Design/methodology/approach
AlSi10Mg samples were built using prealloyed powder with a set of optimized LPBF parameters, viz. 350 W of laser power, 1,170 mm/s of scan speed, 50 µm of layer thickness and 0.24 mm of hatch spacing. As-built samples were preheated to 430°C followed by immediate pressing with two different thickness reductions of 10% and 35%. The effect of hot forging on the microstructure was analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Tensile tests were performed to reveal the effect of hot forging on the mechanical properties.
Findings
By using hot forging, the large number of microvoids in both as-built and post heat-treated samples were mostly healed. Moreover, the Si particles were finer in forged condition (∼150 nm) compared with those in heat-treated condition (∼300 nm). Tensile tests showed that compared with heat treatment, the hot forging process could noticeably increase tensile strength at no expense of ductility. Consequently, the toughness (integration of tensile stress and strain) of forged alloy increased by ∼86% and ∼24% compared with as-built and heat-treated alloys, respectively.
Originality/value
Hot forging can effectively remove the inevitable microvoids in metals fabricated via LPBF, which is beneficial to the mechanical properties. These findings are inspiring for the evolution of the LPBF technique to eliminate the microvoids and boost the mechanical properties of metals fabricated via LPBF.
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Yahua Zhang, Colin C. H. Law and Anming Zhang
The rapid expansion of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in East and Southeast Asia has brought fierce competition to full-service carriers (FSCs). Competition in the air transport market…
Abstract
The rapid expansion of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in East and Southeast Asia has brought fierce competition to full-service carriers (FSCs). Competition in the air transport market is at an all-time high, thanks to the ongoing liberalization in air transport in the last several decades. This chapter assesses the efficiency performance of major FSCs in this region. It provides indicative evidence of the close association between FSCs' efficiency, and air transport liberalization and LCCs penetration. Singapore Airlines and Asiana are identified as the star companies in this region for their ability to achieve higher efficiency and, at the same time, report positive growth in productivity.
Yacine Oussar, Cedric Margo, Jérôme Lucas and Stéphane Holé
Within the framework of image reconstruction in cylindrical electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sensors, the purpose of this study is to select the structure of a sensor in…
Abstract
Purpose
Within the framework of image reconstruction in cylindrical electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sensors, the purpose of this study is to select the structure of a sensor in terms of number and size of the electrodes, to predict the radius and the position of a single circular shape lying in the cross-section defined by the sensor electrodes.
Design/methodology/approach
Nonlinear black-box models using a set of physically independent capacitances and least-square support vector machines models selected with a sophisticated validation method are implemented.
Findings
The coordinates of circular shapes are well estimated in fixed and variable permittivity environments even with noisy data. Various numerical experiments are presented and discussed. Sensors formed by three or four electrodes covering 50 per cent of the sensor perimeter provide the best prediction performances.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed method is limited to the detection of a single circular shape in a cylindrical ECT sensor.
Practical implications
This method can be advantageously implemented in real-time applications, as it is numerically cost-effective and necessitates a small amount of measurements.
Originality/value
The contribution is two-fold: a fast computation of a circular shape position and radius with a satisfactory precision compared to the sensor size, and the determination of a cylindrical ECT sensor architecture that allows the most efficient predictions.
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Zili Li, Chao Yang, Gan Cui, Shouxin Zhang and Chengbin Zhang
When hydrogen evolution reaction occurs on a metal surface, on the one hand, the generated hydrogen atom may penetrate into the metal that causes the hydrogen embrittlement…
Abstract
Purpose
When hydrogen evolution reaction occurs on a metal surface, on the one hand, the generated hydrogen atom may penetrate into the metal that causes the hydrogen embrittlement failure of materials; on the other hand, the hydrogen generation may increase the local pressure in the coating and cause coating blistering. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of NaCl concentration and pH on hydrogen evolution reaction of X60 steel.
Design/methodology/approach
A cathodic polarization curve 257E-2V vs OCP and EIS was obtained by conventional three-electrode system in different NaCl concentrations, 257E3.5 and pH. Second, various parameters such as hydrogen evolution, over-potential current–density polarization resistance and capacitance of double electric layer were obtained based on fitting of the experimental data. Finally, the reaction mechanism was determined by Tafel curves.
Findings
It was concluded that in different NaCl concentrations, diffusion layer induced by concentration polarization affects the diffusion process of H+ ions, which makes over-potential increase. Under great effect of concentration polarization, the reaction is different in acid and alkaline environments, and the dielectric layer shows the characteristic of meta-alkaline adsorption, which makes difference in mechanism.
Originality/value
This research not only has theoretical significance but also gains utilization prospect. Ultimately, this research could be applied to clear hydrogen evolution process and protect long-distance pipeline against delamination.
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Bao Qin, Yexin Zhou and Zheng Zhong
A diffusion-reaction-deformation coupled model is employed and implemented as a user-defined element (UEL) subroutine in the commercial finite element software package ABAQUS.
Abstract
Purpose
A diffusion-reaction-deformation coupled model is employed and implemented as a user-defined element (UEL) subroutine in the commercial finite element software package ABAQUS.
Design/methodology/approach
Chemical reaction and diffusion are treated as two distinct processes by introducing the extent of reaction and the diffusion concentration as two kinds of independent variables, for which the independent governing equations for chemical reaction and diffusion processes are obtained. Furthermore, an exponential form of chemical kinetics, instead of the linearly phenomenological relation, between the reaction rate and the chemical affinity is used to describe reaction process. As a result, complex chemical reaction can be simulated, no matter it is around or away from equilibrium.
Findings
Two numerical examples are presented, one for validation of the model and another for the modeling of the deflection of a plane caused by a chemical reaction.
Originality/value
1. Independent governing equations for diffusion and reaction processes are given. 2. An exponential relation between the reaction rate and its driving force is employed. 3. The UEL subroutine is used to implement the finite element procedure.
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Zhangxiang Zhu, Jiapei Liu and Wei Dong
The conclusions of studies on the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews are inconsistent due to differences in research perspectives, research…
Abstract
Purpose
The conclusions of studies on the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews are inconsistent due to differences in research perspectives, research objects, research methods and data types. This study conducted a meta-analysis to verify a proposed model of perceived usefulness to obtain general conclusions.
Design/methodology/approach
A meta-analysis was conducted to study the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews based on 51 studies.
Findings
The results indicate that, with the exception of negative reviews, the order of relevance for the perceived usefulness of online reviews is as follows: the trust tendency of review readers, review replies, review depth, review pictures, reviewer trustworthiness, positive reviews, reviewer expertise, review time and reviewer information disclosure. Perceived usefulness was significantly positively correlated with purchase intention. Review time, positive reviews and negative reviews were also more significantly correlated with perceived usefulness for search products than for experiential products. Review depth, reviewer trustworthiness, reviewer expertise and purchase intention had greater positive correlations with perceived usefulness for experiential products than for search products.
Originality/value
This study proposes an extended information adoption model based on argument quality and source credibility. The model includes personal factors such as the trust tendency of review readers, constructs a theoretical model of the factors correlated with the perceived usefulness of online reviews and considers the moderating effects of product type.
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