Sharif Digital Repository

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of power on pulsed plasma thruster (PPT) discharge current with respect to its peak, duration, and behavior while the power elevates in a low power range. Design/methodology/approach - A rectangular parallel-plate breech-fed PPT has been developed with a self-inductor coupling element connecting the PPT cathode to the ignitor plug cathode. The PPT has been operated in vacuum chamber at 10-6mbar and its discharge current has been recorded using a Rogowski coil while input power has been changed by means of varying the capacitor voltage at given capacitance and frequency. Findings - The analysis leads to elucidate the effects of... 

Animal models and traditional cell cultures are essential tools for drug development. However, these platforms can show striking discrepancies in efficacy and side effects when compared to human trials. These differences can lengthen the drug development process and even lead to drug withdrawal from the market. The establishment of preclinical drug screening platforms that have higher relevancy to physiological conditions is desirable to facilitate drug development. Here, a heart-on-a-chip platform, incorporating microgrooves and electrical pulse stimulations to recapitulate the well-aligned structure and synchronous beating of cardiomyocytes (CMs) for drug screening, is reported. Each chip... 

Numerical simulation of the electrical field distribution helps in-depth understanding of the mechanisms behind the responses and the benefits of the high voltage pulse comminution. The COMSOL Multiphysics package was used to numerically simulate the effect of ore compositions in this study. Regarding phosphate ore particles shape and composition, the effects of mineral composition, particle size, particle shape and electrodes distance were investigated on the electrical field intensity and distribution. The results show that the induced electrical field is significantly dependent on the electrical properties of minerals, the feed particle size and the location of conductive minerals in... 

Numerical simulation of the electrical field distribution helps in-depth understanding of the mechanisms behind the responses and the benefits of the high voltage pulse comminution. The COMSOL Multiphysics package was used to numerically simulate the effect of ore compositions in this study. Regarding phosphate ore particles shape and composition, the effects of mineral composition, particle size, particle shape and electrodes distance were investigated on the electrical field intensity and distribution. The results show that the induced electrical field is significantly dependent on the electrical properties of minerals, the feed particle size and the location of conductive minerals in... 

The application of electropulsing treatment (EPT) is studied on the microstructure and hardness of cold-rolled low carbon steel. The effects of electrical pulses on the grain refinement, precipitate size evolution and hardness are investigated. It is found that applying electrical pulse decreases the grain and precipitate size and increases the hardness in the early stages of electropulsing, but the grain and precipitate size is increased and the hardness is decreased by continuing electropulsing. Also, the effect of electropulsing treatment variables as well as treated time and number of periods are discussed. It is demonstrated that increasing treated time can accelerate achieving maximum... 

Application of robotic instruments in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has been developing in recent years. The urge to implement biocompatible and less invasive devices found way in use of materials like shape memory alloys. However such designs presented the idea of using heat control actuation in the MIS surgery and some have found noticeable position in robotic surgery. Yet the problems relating to insufficient stroke, slow motion and unfavorable generated heat have to be defeated. In this work it is focused to overcome these problems by a new design. Modern SMA grippers take advantage of two techniques: Net SMA and Spiral SMA. Both of these actuators demand application of high electric...