In this paper, the authors present an extended survey on the evolution and the modern approaches in the thermal analysis of electrical machines. The improvements and the new techniques proposed in the last decade are analyzed in depth and compared in order to highlight the qualities and defects of each. In particular, thermal analysis based on lumped-parameter thermal network, finite-element analysis, and computational fluid dynamics are considered in this paper. In addition, an overview of the problems linked to the thermal parameter determination and computation is proposed and discussed. Taking into account the aims of this paper, a detailed list of books and papers is reported in the references to help researchers interested in these topics.

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Evolution and Modern Approaches for Thermal Analysis of Electrical Machines

An automated irrigation system was developed to optimize water use for agricultural crops. The system has a distributed wireless network of soil-moisture and temperature sensors placed in the root zone of the plants. In addition, a gateway unit handles sensor information, triggers actuators, and transmits data to a web application. An algorithm was developed with threshold values of temperature and soil moisture that was programmed into a microcontroller-based gateway to control water quantity. The system was powered by photovoltaic panels and had a duplex communication link based on a cellular-Internet interface that allowed for data inspection and irrigation scheduling to be programmed through a web page. The automated system was tested in a sage crop field for 136 days and water savings of up to 90% compared with traditional irrigation practices of the agricultural zone were achieved. Three replicas of the automated system have been used successfully in other places for 18 months. Because of its energy autonomy and low cost, the system has the potential to be useful in water limited geographically isolated areas.

Automated Irrigation System Using a Wireless Sensor Network and GPRS Module

A natural carbohydrate biopolymer was extracted from the agricultural biomass waste (durian seed). Subsequently, the crude biopolymer was purified by using the saturated barium hydroxide to minimize the impurities. Finally, the effect of different drying techniques on the flow characteristics and functional properties of the purified biopolymer was investigated. The present study elucidated the main functional characteristics such as flow characteristics, water- and oil-holding capacity, solubility, and foaming capacity. In most cases except for oven drying, the bulk density decreased, thus increasing the porosity. This might be attributed to the increase in the inter-particle voids of smaller sized particles with larger contact surface areas per unit volume. The current study revealed that oven-dried gum and freeze-dried gum had the highest and lowest compressibility index, thus indicating the weakest and strongest flowability among all samples. In the present work, the freeze-dried gum showed the lowest angle of repose, bulk, tapped and true density. This indicates the highest porosity degree of freeze dried gum among dried seed gums. It also exhibited the highest solubility, and foaming capacity thus providing the most desirable functional properties and flow characteristics among all drying techniques. The present study revealed that freeze drying among all drying techniques provided the most desirable functional properties and flow characteristics for durian seed gum.

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Effect of different drying techniques on flowability characteristics and chemical properties of natural carbohydrate-protein Gum from durian fruit seed.

A joint initiative by the British Thoracic Society and the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland was undertaken to update the 2001 guidelines for the selection and assessment of patients with lung cancer who can potentially be managed by radical treatment.

https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/65/Suppl_3/iii1.full.pdf

Guidelines on the radical management of patients with lung cancer

In this paper, we present four purely textile patch antennas for Bluetooth applications in wearable computing using the frequency range around 2.4 GHz. The textile materials and the planar antenna shape provide a smooth integration into clothing while preserving the typical properties of textiles. The four antennas differ in the deployed materials and in the antenna polarization, but all of them feature a microstrip line as antenna feed. We have developed a manufacturing process that guarantees unaffected electrical behavior of the individual materials when composed to an antenna. Thus, the conductive textiles possess a sheet resistance of less than 1Omega/squarein order to keep losses at a minimum. The process also satisfies our requirements in terms of accuracy meeting the Bluetooth specifications. Our investigations not only characterize the performance of the antennas in planar shape, but also under defined bending conditions that resemble those of a worn garment. We show that the antennas can withstand clothing bends down to a radius of 37.5 mm without violating specifications

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Design and Characterization of Purely Textile Patch Antennas

A method for selecting electroencephalographic (EEG) signals in motor imagery-based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCI) is proposed for enhancing the online interoperability and portability of BCI systems, as well as user comfort. The attempt is also to reduce variability and noise of MI-BCI, which could be affected by a large number of EEG channels. The relation between selected channels and MI-BCI performance is therefore analyzed. The proposed method is able to select acquisition channels common to all subjects, while achieving a performance compatible with the use of all the channels. Results are reported with reference to a standard benchmark dataset, the BCI competition IV dataset 2a. They prove that a performance compatible with the best state-of-the-art approaches can be achieved, while adopting a significantly smaller number of channels, both in two and in four tasks classification. In particular, classification accuracy is about 77-83% in binary classification with down to 6 EEG channels, and above 60% for the four-classes case when 10 channels are employed. This gives a contribution in optimizing the EEG measurement while developing non-invasive and wearable MI-based brain-computer interfaces.

Channel Selection for Optimal EEG Measurement in Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces.

An architecture for low-power measurement systems has been designed and employed to arrange a temperature measurement system based on a transponder. The described architecture is modular and the measurement modules have hot-swap and plug&play capabilities. The architecture, therefore, is able to automatically neither identify and configure the measurement modules, so that a new module can be added to the measurement system without power down the system nor interrupt the measurement session. This is particularly useful when long measurement procedures are carried out and the user has the requirement to extend the system

A PlugaPlay Architecture for Low-Power Measurement Systems

This paper describes a virtual environment that allows efficient development of distributed measurement applications. Most of the details associated with the set up of complex measurement systems are hidden to the programmers, so that most programmable instrument can be easily integrated and managed. The environment is based on the Java language so that it can be used on different platforms and is easily extensible to accommodate new processing tasks, interfaces and instruments.

Virtual environment for fast development of distributed measurement applications

This paper presents a long-term in-situ campaign to monitor contemporary bronze statuary exposed outdoors. The case study relates to the characterisation of three sculptures belonging to the Gori Art Collection, located in the Fattoria di Celle: ‘Cavaliere’ and ‘Miracolo – Composizione’ by Marino Marini and ‘Due forme o due ombre n°2’ by Luciano Minguzzi. The overall conservation state of the sculptures was investigated by means of a multi-analytical and non-invasive approach, involving different techniques. Three-dimensional photogrammetry was performed to fully document the artworks. The chemical and microstructural features of the corrosion patinas were then characterised through X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. In addition, the stability and the protective effectiveness of the corrosion products were assessed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Thanks to the combined use of these specific techniques, the information extracted through the different analyses could be correlated with each other and with the exposure conditions. The different corrosion products were identified as being primarily copper sulphates and phosphates, and they were correlated with the different microclimate conditions related to their location on the statues. The information gathered from the presented multi-analytical approach represents the fundamental knowledge required to develop a tailored conservation project to assure the long-lasting preservation of these artworks.

/pdf/in-situ-multi-analytical-study-of-ongoing-corrosion-2d5c1k6adz.pdf

In-situ multi-analytical study of ongoing corrosion processes on bronze artworks exposed outdoors

Developing longtime laboratory experiments is a challenging problem, which requires users to frequently get to the laboratories. “iHomeX” tries to tackle this problem by opening real laboratories to remote access: people working on the experiments are required to go to the laboratory and physically arrange their setups, but later on they can manage the experiment from home. The proposed solution can be used in many environments, but is especially useful in the case of long time tests, such as experiments related to electronic component failures, material fatigue, and corrosion. “iHomeX” lets researchers to remotely change the experimental parameters, while observing the effects of each action not only on signal levels, but also by following the experiment by means of a webcam. “iHomeX” remote laboratory has been employed and validated by the students of the M.Sc. course in corrosion science proving to be a useful and low cost solution.

Marco Parvis

Papers

Channel Selection for Optimal EEG Measurement in Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces.

A PlugaPlay Architecture for Low-Power Measurement Systems

Virtual environment for fast development of distributed measurement applications

In-situ multi-analytical study of ongoing corrosion processes on bronze artworks exposed outdoors

iHomeX: An Internet-Enabled Laboratory for Long-Term Experiment Management