Sharif Digital Repository

A novel approach for particles size separation based on dielectrophoresis (DEP) method is introduced and analyzed both computationally and experimentally. The proposed technique has been utilized for the separation of polystyrene (PS) particles with 8, 6 and 2 μm diameters passing through microchannels with planar electrodes. The performance of the technique has been computationally analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). Considering the structure of the planar electrodes, we propose an approach based on applying an electric potential between one of the global electrodes, and a needle touched the top of the cell suspension. Results of both simulation and experiment show that by... 

This paper extends the analysis of solute dispersion in electrohydrodynamic flows to the case of band broadening in polyelectrolyte-grafted (soft) capillaries by accounting for the effects of ion partitioning, irreversible catalytic reaction and pulsatile flow actuation. In the Debye-Hückel limit, we present the benchmark solutions of electric potential and velocity distribution pertinent to steady and oscillatory mixed electroosmotic-pressure-driven flows in soft capillaries. Afterwards, the mathematical models of band broadening based on the Taylor-Aris theory and generalized dispersion method are presented to investigate the late-time asymptotic state and all-time evolution of... 

This paper extends the analysis of solute dispersion in electrohydrodynamic flows to the case of band broadening in polyelectrolyte-grafted (soft) capillaries by accounting for the effects of ion partitioning, irreversible catalytic reaction and pulsatile flow actuation. In the Debye-Hückel limit, we present the benchmark solutions of electric potential and velocity distribution pertinent to steady and oscillatory mixed electroosmotic-pressure-driven flows in soft capillaries. Afterwards, the mathematical models of band broadening based on the Taylor-Aris theory and generalized dispersion method are presented to investigate the late-time asymptotic state and all-time evolution of... 

Titanium does not react well with the human tissues and due to its bio-inert nature the surface modification has yet to be well-studied. In this study, the sonoelectrochemical process has been carried out to generate TiO2 nanotube arrays on implantable Ti 6–4. All the prepared nanotubes fill with the vancomycin by immersion and electrophoresis method. Drug-releasing properties, antibacterial behavior, protein adsorption and cell attachment of drug-modified nanotubes are examined by UV–vis, flow cytometry, modified disc diffusion, BSA adsorption, and FESEM, respectively. The most uniform morphology, appropriate drug release, cell viability behavior and antibacterial properties can be achieved... 

Despite a diverse range of active pharmaceutical agents currently at our disposal, high morbidity rate diseases continue to pose a major health crisis globally. One of the important parameters in this regard is the controlled cargo delivery at desired sites. Among a variety of synthetic and natural macromolecular systems, chitosan, an abundant biopolymer, offers a platform for tailored architectures that could have high loading capacity of cargo, target and deliver. Stimuli directed accumulation of vehicles and drug release is an area of direct relevance to biomedical applications. In this review, we highlight essential characteristics of modified chitosan that present themselves for... 

Based on the first order shear deformation theory, free vibration behavior of functionally graded (FG) annular sector plates integrated with piezoelectric layers is investigated. The distribution of electric potential along the thickness direction of piezoelectric layers which is assumed to be a combination of linear and sinusoidal functions, satisfies both open and closed circuit electrical boundary conditions. Through a reformulation of governing equations and harmonic motion assumption, a novel decoupling method is suggested to transform the six second order coupled partial differential equations of motion into two eighth order and fourth order equations. A Fourier series method is then... 

A new low voltage bandgap reference (BGR) in CMOS technology, with high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) is presented. The proposed circuit uses a regulated current mode structure and some feedback loops to reach a low voltage, low power and high PSRR voltage reference. The circuit was designed and simulated in 0.18um CMOS technology, with a power supply of 1.4 volt. The results show PSRR is 65dB at 1MHz and the output voltage variation versus temperature (-40 to 140) is less than 0.1%. This circuit shows robustness against process variation. ©2008 IEEE  

This paper presents an optimal phasor measurement units (PMUs) placement algorithm for the purpose of power system observability and also increasing the performance of secondary voltage control scheme. The optimal placement problem (OPP) is formulated such that to minimize the number of PMU installations subject to full network observability and monitoring pilot buses of the system to improve secondary voltage control performance. The branch and bound optimization method is adopted to solve the OPP problem which is suitable for problems with integer and boolean variables. Topology-based algorithm is used for observability analysis. Constraint functions considering adjacent zero-injection... 

In this paper, a unified hybrid vector control of vector modulated VIENNA I rectifier is presented. Feedback linearization technique is used for the DC-link voltage control. For this purpose, at first a mathematical model of the VIENNA I rectifier is derived. Using this model, it is shown that the dynamic of the rectifier falls into two categories; linear inner dynamic which consists of inner current control and neutral-point potential control and nonlinear outer dynamic which consists of the DC-link voltage control. Based on these facts, a hybrid vector control scheme meaning linear vector control of inner dynamics and nonlinear vector control of outer dynamic is devised. Simulations... 

We use an efficient molecular theory approach to study electrokinetic flow within a pH-responsive nanopore grafted with a polyelectrolyte (PE) brush. The flow rate, migration and convective conductance, electric potential and velocity fields, species distributions and the degree of ionization of the weak PE functional groups and nanopore selectivity are obtained and interpreted while considering pH-induced surface charges. The theory is generally based on writing the overall free energy of the system including the entropies arising from the conformations of flexible, excluded volume chains, the mixing of mobile species, electrostatic contribution, and the free energy due to the chemical... 

The dispersion of a neutral solute band by electrokinetic flow in polyelectrolyte layer (PEL)-grafted rectangular/slit microchannels is theoretically studied. The flow is assumed to be both steady and fully developed and a first-order irreversible reaction is considered at the wall to account for probable surface adsorption of solutes. Considering low electric potentials, analytical solutions are obtained for electric potential, fluid velocity and solute concentration. Special solutions are also obtained for the case without wall adsorption. To track the dispersion properties of the solute band, the generalized dispersion model is adopted by considering the exchange, the convection and the... 

Application of Fractional Order PID (FOPID) controller to an Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) is presented and studied in this paper. An FOPID is a PID whose derivative and integral orders are fractional numbers rather than integers. Design stage of such a controller consists of determining five parameters. This paper employs Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to carry out the aforementioned design procedure. A novel cost function is defined to facilitate the control strategy over both the time-domain and the frequencydomain specifications. Comparisons are made with a PID controller from standpoints of transient response, robustness and disturbance rejection characteristics. It is... 

We present the results on the correlation between the flux to voltage transfer function, Vspp, of the rf-SQUID and the rf-bias frequency as well as rf-bias power. Measurements were performed for different SQUID gradiometer samples chosen from the same batch or different batches. In order to have full control on the electronics parameters, an experimental rf-SQUID circuit was designed and implemented with an operation frequency of 600 MHz to 900 MHz. According to our findings, It has been observed that at any particular rf-bias power, Vspp vs. rf-bias frequency shows Sine-like behavior. We observed that the main lobe maxima exist close to the resonance frequency of the LC tank circuit and by... 

The design of a copper chloride laser is described, and the laser is optimised by studying the dependence of its output power on the buffer gas type. The voltage and current of the laser discharge at the optimum buffer gas pressure are measured. The influence of the diaphragm diameter on the specific output power is studied after optimisation of switch parameters. When an diaphragm producing the optimal temperature gradient in the laser gas-discharge tube, the record specific output power of 123 W L-1 is obtained without any admixtures. ©2007 Kvantovaya Elektronika and Turpion Ltd  

In this paper three-dimensional single-phase liquid flow through microchannels with a square-shaped cross-section driven by simultaneous application of pressure gradient and electroosmotic pumping mechanism is studied. The governing system of equations consists of the electric potential field and flow field equations. The solution procedure involves three steps. First, the net charge distribution on the cross-section of the microchannel is computed by solving two-dimensional Poisson-Boltzmann equation using the finite element method. Then, using the computed fluid's charge distribution, the magnitude of the resulting body force due to interaction of an external electric field with the... 

Using YBa 2Cu 3O 7-δ (YBCO) thin films, pulsed laser deposited on 1-mm-thick LaAlO 3 or SrTiO 3 substrates, we made 4 × 1 pixel arrays of transition edge bolometers with separations between neighboring pixels ranging from 40 μm to 170 μm for testing purposes. We investigated the effects of the YBCO film thickness (200 and 400 nm), substrate material, and back-etching of the substrate, on the crosstalk between the pixels of the arrays. The investigation was based on the analysis of the voltage response of the dc current biased bolometers versus the modulation frequency of a near-infrared laser source. We observed that the bolometer arrays made of 400-nm-thick films had less interpixel thermal... 

We have investigated the rf SQUID (radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference device) and its coupling to tank circuit configurations to achieve an optimal front-end assembly for sensitive and high spatial resolution magnetic imaging systems. The investigation of the YBCO rf SQUID coupling to the conventional LC tank circuits revealed that coupling from the back of the SQUID substrate enhances the SQUID signal while facilitating the front-end assembly configuration. The optimal thickness of the substrate material between the SQUID and the tank circuit is 0.4 mm for LaAlO3 resulting in an increase of the SQUID flux-voltage transfer function signal, Vspp, of 1.5 times, and 0.5 mm for... 

Online monitoring of high voltage (HV) cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables is a major requirement and interest of utilities for reliable operation of underground cables. Although XLPE cables have a relatively reliable insulation system, however since its insulating material is less resistant to partial discharges (PD), the failure risk increases significantly after occurrence of any partial discharge. Therefore sensitive sensors and a reliable detection system are required for an effective cable life management. Due to attenuation effects of semiconducting layers of XLPE cables on high frequency components of partial discharge signal, the detection process is easily distorted with... 

With thc advent of Superconductivity, a new category of Integrated Circuits' Technology has been represented called RSFQ (Rapid Single Flux Quantum) Superconductor 'technology, RSFQ superconducting circuits use Josephson Junctions (JJ) as electronic switches. In RSFQ superconducting circuits information is represented as discrete voltage pulses equivalent to the magnetic flux quanta. In this paper, we first describe the Josephson effect and then explain the basic building blocks used in RSFQ circuits and performance of some asynchronous logic gates  

In this investigation, the effect of coloring voltage and thickness on optical and also electrochromical properties of W O3 thin films has been studied. The W O3 thin films were grown on glass and indium tin oxide coated conducting glass substrates by e-beam evaporation at different thicknesses of 200, 400, and 700 nm. Optical properties of the deposited samples were characterized in the ultraviolet-visible range (300-1100 nm). The optical bandgap energy of the W O3 was obtained in a range of 3.3-3.5 eV showing its increase by decreasing the film thickness. The refractive index of the W O3 films was measured around 2 in the visible range. Surface chemical states of the films were studied by...