Analysis of Ride Comfort in Selected Types of Rail Vehicles

The subject of the article is the analysis of ride comfort for a passenger of selected types of rail vehicles on the basis of the main factor determining its level - mechanical vibrations. The research was based on measurements of vibration accelerations and the RMS values in one-third octave bands which were calculated from the measured accelerations. The tested objects were four types of rail vehicles. This article presents the results of the analysis carried out for each vehicle, using two methods of assessing the impact of vibrations on the human body.

Design and simulation of the compact MEMS energy harvester based on aluminium nitride

A device for converting the energy of mechanical vibrations to electricity by the piezoelectric effect is presented. A main part of the transducer is a multilayer cantilever with the inertial mass at the tip. A piezoelectric layer is made of 0.5 μm thick aluminum nitride. A feature of the device is the compact lateral size of about 1 mm, which is 10 times smaller in comparison with conventional harvesters. The device is fully compatible with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The cantilever has a natural frequency of 45-160 Hz, depending on the size and inertial mass. The transducer generates the output voltage of 0.35 V, which is high enough for rectifying by the diode bridge. The output power of 2.7 nW is relatively low due to the small size. Nevertheless, the figure of merit is higher than that for conventional AlN-based energy harvesters.

Are Mechanical Vibrations an Effective Alternative to Accelerate Orthodontic Tooth Movement in Humans? A Systematic Review

The objective of this article was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to contrast the existing evidence on the effect of mechanical vibrations, either high or low frequency, as an alternative to accelerate orthodontic tooth movement in humans. A literature search from 2010 to June 2021 was conducted in the electronic databases: PubMed, NCBI, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Cochrane, and Ovid, using the eligibility criteria to identify the studies. Only randomized clinical trials (RCT) were included. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE tool and the risk of bias (RoB) in individual studies was evaluated according to the Cochrane bias risk tool. Fifteen RTCs were included for final review. Overall, the RoB was classified as low (3), moderate (5), and high (7). Three articles with low RoB, four with moderate RoB, and four with high RoB found no significant effect in the use of vibrations on orthodontic movement. Only four articles, three of them with high RoB and one with moderate RoB, found that mechanical vibrations are effective at accelerating orthodontic tooth movement. The results seemed to indicate that there is no evidence that vibratory stimuli can increase the rate of dental movement or reduce neither the time of dental alignment nor canine retraction during orthodontic treatment. It is important to note that a greater number of high-quality randomized controlled trials are urgently needed.

Multipoint Monitoring of Amplitude, Frequency, And Phase of Vibrations Using Concatenated Modal Interferometers

Concatenated modal interferometers-based multipoint sensing system for detection of amplitude, frequency, and phase of mechanical vibrations is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor probes are fabricated using identical photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sections and integrated along a single fiber channel to act as a compact and efficient sensing system. Each identical probe acts as a modal interferometer to generate a stable interference spectrum over the source spectrum. In presence of external dynamic field about each probe, the probes respond independently, producing a resultant signal that is a superposition of each interferometer response signal. By analysing the resultant signals using computational techniques, the vibration parameters applied to each interferometer are realized. The sensing system has an operation range of 1 Hz-1 kHz with a sensitivity of 51.5 pm/V. Such a sensing system would find wide applications at industrial, infrastructural, and medical fronts for monitoring various unsteady physical phenomena.

Mechanical Energy at the Service of Ecology

When traveling by car, we usually do not realize that shock absorbers are largely responsible for our driving comfort. However, after a while we realize that they no longer fulfill their basic purpose, which is to absorb and dissipate the mechanical vibrations generated while driving. But what if we changed the approach and instead of dispersing unwanted vibrations, tried to use them and thus increase the car’s energy efficiency?

Development and verification of methods for predicting the frequency of self-oscillations in swirling coolant flows of nuclear power plants

Methods and algorithms for calculating the frequency of self-oscillations in swirling coolant flows of nuclear power plants with VVER reactors have been developed. The frequency of self-oscillations occurring in the acoustic sections of the primary circuit and their connections in the starting modes of the power unit and when operating at the rated power level is predicted. It is established that the self-oscillation frequencies can fall into the frequency bandwidth of mechanical vibrations and vibrations of the reactor plant’s internal devices. It is shown that in order to prevent the resonance of self-oscillations of the coolant with the vibration frequencies of internal devices, it is necessary and sufficient to take the frequency of self-oscillations outside the bandwidth of the vibration frequency of structures. The results of verification of the results of forecasting the frequency of self-oscillations in swirling coolant flows at a nuclear power plant unit with VVER are presented. The application of the developed technique shows that the pendulum oscillations of the VVER - 1200 body are caused by an increase in the parameters of the coolant and the geometric dimensions of the VVER - 1200 reactor compared to VVER-1000.

INFLUENCE OF MATERIAL STRUCTURE ON THE MAGNETOSTRICTIVE PROPERTIES OF A RADIATOR FOR DEFROSTING HEAT EXCHANGERS OF VENTILATION EQUIPMENT

the article deals with the properties of ferromagnetics and their behaviour in an external magnetic field. The conditions under which magnetism occurs in materials are shown and the choice of material for a magneto-strictive emitter is justified. The composition and properties of permendur as the most suitable material for the manufacture of magnetostrictive radiators are presented. It is shown that for the manufacture of the magnetostrictor it is feasible to use electro-erosion equipment for cutting packages from permendur com-pared to the costly and cumbersome method of stamping in a matrix of a particular shape. Tests were carried out on a duralumin heat exchanger with artificial frostbite. The evaporator was fed with refrigerant at 0.22 MPa, which corresponds to the boiling point of R 410a refrigerant at 35°C, by means of a refrigerant line made of aluminium pipes. Frostbite was then produced by applying moist air using an ultrasonic steam gen-erator. Frost on the evaporator surface is discharged by means of a magnetostrictor mounted on the heat ex-changer. The proposed method allows for the most effective cleaning of the surfaces of heat exchangers of ventilation equipment from scale, fouling and other mechanical deposits by means of mechanical vibrations.