A Simple Method for the Detection of Biofilms Using a Heatable Capacitive Sensor Structure (CSS): Description, Proof of Concept, and Some Technical Improvements

This article presents a novel method for the detection of biofilms based on a heatable, capacitive sensor structure (CSS). Biofilms are capable of strongly binding large amounts of water to their extracellular biopolymer matrix, which is detectable via its dielectric properties. A main challenge is to determine the difference between the inherent occurring presence of moisture in the ecosystem, which is necessary to form a biofilm and an actual formed biofilm. Therefore, the CSS is carefully heated to evaporate unbound surface moisture and determine whether there is a remaining residual alternation of the capacitance in comparison to the dry state. As a reproduceable substitute for complex, real biofilms, a hygroscopic, medical hydrogel-based on polysaccharides was used and applied by spray coating. Printed circuit boards (PCB) in different geometries and materials were used as CSS and compared in terms of their performance. A layer-thickness of 20 µm for the hydrogel coating to be sufficiently detected was defined as a realistic condition based on known values for real biofilms cited in literature. For this thickness a double-meander structure proves to be preferable over interdigitating and spiral geometries. It does offer a 30% lower, yet sufficient sensitivity, but shows advantages in manufacturing (one layer instead of two) and conductive heating capability. In the experiments, free water showed virtually no residual change, while the hydrogel-coated CSS still shows an approx. 300% higher value compared to a dry capacity. Yet, the overall small capacities of about 6–30 pF in dry state are difficult to measure and therefore sensitive to interferences and noise, which results in a high deviation. The principle of measurement can be evaluated as proofed by the carried out experiments, though offering room for improvement in the design of the study. The new method might be especially useful for pipes (e.g., hydrodynamically ineffective sensors installed in a pipe wall) if they at least are not permanently flooded with an aqueous medium, but can occasionally dry. If the internal surface is still only moist, it can be dried by initial heating.

The impact of efficient insulation on thermal performance of building elements in hot arid region

The application of thermal insulation technique for buildings in hot arid region still under development and requires investigation for many aspects, especially those related to the individual elements of the construction. The present study investigates the impact of efficient insulation on the thermal performance of the following construction elements: wall, roof and foundation. The techniques used for the insulation have followed the Passive House criteria. The study introduces many benefits for passive design of the building in extreme hot climate. The work has done experimentally in Kirkuk, Iraq for two building models; one is efficiently insulated and the other is traditional. The data, which are collected in summer time, show reduction in indoor temperature of the efficient model by 8 °C in average comparing to that of traditional one. Measurements show stability in the internal wall temperatures for efficient model with an average temperature of 33 °C comparing to 42 °C for traditional one. Similarly, the insulated roof radiates less heat into the indoor than that of traditional model. Furthermore, the effect of both efficient insulated roof and canopy shading reduces the temperature of internal surface temperature of the roof by 12 °C comparing to the traditional model. A local simulation program based on ASHRAE relations has shown an energy saving in the cooling load up to 70%.

The Influences of the Hyperbolic Two-Temperatures Theory on Waves Propagation in a Semiconductor Material Containing Spherical Cavity

This article focuses on the study of redial displacement, the carrier density, the conductive and thermodynamic temperatures and the stresses in a semiconductor medium with a spherical hole. This study deals with photo-thermoelastic interactions in a semiconductor material containing a spherical cavity. The new hyperbolic theory of two temperatures with one-time delay is used. The internal surface of the cavity is constrained and the density of carriers is photogenerated by a heat flux at the exponentially decreasing pulse boundaries. The analytical solutions by the eigenvalues approach under the Laplace transformation approaches are used to obtain the solution of the problem and the inversion of the Laplace transformations is performed numerically. Numerical results for semiconductor materials are presented graphically and discussed to show the variations of physical quantities under the present model.

Flexure based gripper to grasp hollow objects by internal surface interaction

The paper focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of a gripper intended to hold hollow objects by interacting with the inner surface. The gripper moves towards the inside of the hollow object and grips it using the friction forces applied on the surface of the object. The design also ensures the application of variable normal forces on the surface of the object to be grasped. The mathematical architecture is verified using prototypes and experiments.

AN UPDATED METHOD FOR HEATING CALCULATING IN BUILDINGS WITH INTERMITTENT HEATING

An updated method of heating calculation of buildings operated in the conditions of intermitt ent heating is considered. On the basis of the conducted studies, analytical dependences were obtained for determining energy consumption during heating of building enclosing structures, taking into account the infl uence of the order of location of thermal insulation and structural layers, as well as temperature changes during heating of each layer. Formulas for fi nding the change in the temperature of the internal air during the heating of the premises and the internal surface of the enclosing structures are obtained. On the basis of the proposed refi ned methodology, the calculation of the heating of the living room of a country cott age located on the territory of the Samara region was performed.

Sensor-Embedded Face Masks for Detection of Volatiles in Breath: A Proof of Concept Study

The correlation between breath volatilome and health is prompting a growing interest in the development of sensors optimized for breath analysis. On the other hand, the outbreak of COVID-19 evidenced that breath is a vehicle of infection; thus, the introduction of low-cost and disposable devices is becoming urgent for a clinical implementation of breath analysis. In this paper, a proof of concept about the functionalization of face masks is provided. Porphyrin-based sensors are among the most performant devices for breath analysis, but since porphyrins are scarcely conductive, they make use of costly and bulky mass or optical transducers. To overcome this drawback, we introduce here a hybrid material made of conducting polymer and porphyrins. The resulting material can be easily deposited on the internal surface of standard FFP face masks producing resistive sensors that retain the chemical sensitivity of porphyrins implementing their combinatorial selectivity for the identification of volatile compounds and the classification of complex samples. The sensitivity of sensors has been tested with respect to a set of seven volatile compounds representative of diverse chemical families. Sensors react to all compounds but with a different sensitivity pattern. Functionalized face masks have been tested in a proof-of-concept test aimed at identifying changes of breath due to the ingestion of beverages (coffee and wine) and solid food (banana- and mint-flavored candies). Results indicate that sensors can detect volatile compounds against the background of normal breath VOCs, suggesting the possibility to embed sensors in face masks for extensive breath analysis

Adaptive surface geometry determination in multi-material x-ray computed tomography using fringe projection

One of the main challenges during digital post-processing of x-ray computed tomographic (XCT) measurement data is the reconstruction of the surface geometry of the measured objects. Conventionally, the surface geometry is defined as an isosurface of identical greyscale values, i.e. the x-ray absorbance of the material, based on a linear interpolation between neighboring voxels. Due to the complex surface geometry and rough surface, XCT measurements of additively manufactured (AM) parts are particularly prone to measurement artefacts caused by various physical effects when the x-rays penetrate the material. The irregular greyscale values at the measured surface geometry render commonly used single threshold greyscale value based isosurfaces as insufficient for representing the external and internal surface of the measured objects. This issue becomes particularly apparent when measuring multi-material objects, such as additively manufactured objects with integrated RFID tags. To address this challenge, this study presents a methodology for reliable surface geometry determination of XCT data based on previously acquired fringe projection (FP) data. For this purpose, the conventionally acquired surfaces geometries from the XCT and FP measurements are extracted, pre-processed and registered to each other before being merged into a single mesh. This merged data set is subsequently used as a starting point or reference for a locally adaptive threshold surface detection algorithm, which is able to capture the surface geometry at a sub-voxel resolution. In order to validate the methodology and confirm the envisaged benefits, selected geometry elements of the resulting surface geometry from measurements samples manufactured by additive manufacturing with integrated RIFD tags are compared to coordinate measurement machine (CMM) reference measurements. The results indicate a more robust surface geometry detection against artifacts especially for multi-material applications.

Integrity Challenges Associated with Stray Current Corrosion Across Monolithic IJ's and Resolutions

Corrosion and subsequent failures is one of the main factors affecting uninterrupted operations of Oil & Gas Industries. Pipelines are considered as most convenient means of crude and gas transportation in Oil & Gas Industry. Buried pipelines generally made of low carbon steel material are protected externally by coating and applying impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP). Monitoring and maintaining adequate level of Cathodic Protection (CP) for such pipelines remains challenging for corrosion engineers due to increased level of field congestion, complexity in accurate current mapping and mitigation of corrosion phenomena. Failure of pipelines due to corrosion can be catastrophic with following consequences: Loss of containment fluid and thereby probable fatalityDamage to asset/company reputationSafety and Environment (Fire, Toxic gases and Oil Spill)Resource and downtime cost impact Isolation joints IJ's are designed with very high insulating material at mating areas and installed on pipelines by welding to avoid loss of Cathodic Protection (CP) current. Due to high electrical insulation, a potential difference is formed across of IJ's due to applied CP current and stray currents. In upstream Oil & Gas Industry, multiphase crude transported via pipeline will have certain percentage of water and will induce an internal conductive path across the IJs resulting in ionic current discharge at anodic areas within internal surface. This study focuses on factors contributing to such internal stray current corrosion, limitation in monitoring methodology and mitigation programs. The study concludes with recommendations such as design modifications, improvement in internal lining properties and improved installation guidelines. The study practically illustrates effectiveness of combined resistive bonding and zinc earthing cells installation for controlling stray current propagation in order to reduce the corrosion rate so as to maintain Integrity of pipelines.

Thermal Fluxes and Solar Energy Storage in a Massive Brick Wall in Natural Conditions

The thermal state of building elements is a combination of steady and transient states. Changes in temperature and energy streams in the wall of the building in the transient state are particularly intense in its outer layer. The factors causing them are solar radiation, ambient temperature and long-wave radiation. Due to the greater variability of these factors during the summer, the importance of the transient state increases at this time. The study analysed heat transfer in three aspects, temperatures in the outer, middle and inner parts of the wall, heat fluxes between these layers and absorption of solar energy, heat transfer coefficient on the wall exterior was also calculated. The analysis is based on temperature measurements at several depths in the wall and measurements of solar radiation. The subject of research is a solid brick wall. The results show that the characteristics of heat flow in winter and summer for the local climate show distinct differences. In the winter, the maximum temperature difference between the external and internal surface of the wall was 10 °C and in summer, 20 °C. In the winter, the negative flux on the internal surface reached 10 W/m2 and on the external 40 W/m2 and was constant throughout the day. The mean heat transfer coefficient on the exterior surface for winter week was 8 W/(mK). A Nusselt and Biot number for dimensionless convection analysis was calculated. The research contributes to the calculation of the variability of heat or cold demand in a daily period and to learn about the processes of energy storage in the wall using sensible heat.