Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents the influence of the severe shot peening process on the fatigue life of the laser-cladded Inconel 718 specimens which can be employed during refurbishment of components enduring high mechanical cyclic loads such as gas turbine components. In order to quantitatively evaluate the destructive effect of laser cladding on the fatigue endurance, fatigue tests are first performed on the as-received and laser-cladded specimens. Then, microstructural analysis by scanning electron microscope (SEM) is carried out to identify the root causes of the drawback of laser cladding. Moreover, by employing a comprehensive laser-cladding FE analysis considering cyclic plastic material... 

A novel superabsorbent composite based on chitosan was prepared by graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) in the presence of kaolin powder using methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent and ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator. The synthetic variables (i.e. AA, MBA, and APS concentration, and the kaolin amount) affecting the water absorbency of the resulting superabsorbent composite were studied. Evidence of grafting and kaolin interaction was obtained by comparing the FTIR spectra of the initial substrates with that of the superabsorbent composite. A new absorption band at 1722 cm-1 in the composite spectrum confirmed the kaolin-organic polymer linkage. The effect of... 

Superabsorbent resins of carboxymethylcellulose grafted poly(acrylamide) (CMC-g-PAAm) were synthesized by graft copolymerization based on a free radical reaction. The acrylamide (AAm) was grafted onto CMC by using potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator and methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent. The resulting graft products were saponified using NaOH solutions. The products were identified by infrared spectra. The effects of the preparation conditions (KPS, MBA, AAm concentration as well as reaction temperature) on the water absorbency capacity of hydrolyzed CMC-g-PAAm hydrogels were investigated. The optimum conditions established for water absorbency of hydrolyzed graft... 

In this paper, the dynamic behavior and control of the low pressure methanol synthesis fixed bed reactor have been investigated. For simulation purpose, a heterogeneous one-dimensional model has been developed. First, the reactor simulation is carried out under steady-state condition and the effects of several parameters such as shell temperature, feed composition (especially CO2 concentration) and recycle ratio on the methanol productivity and reactor temperature profile are investigated. Using the steady state model and a trained feedforward neural network that calculates the effectiveness factor, an optimizer which maximizes the reactor yield has been developed. Through the dynamic... 

This paper presents an approach to improve the sliding mode controller performance. Accordingly, a fuzzy controller is designed based on a limited number of rules and independent of the sliding mode controller complexity. To enhance the performance, this controller will continuously optimize the sliding mode controller parameters including hitting control gain, boundary layer thickness, sliding surface slope and intercept. The controller is applied to a two-degree-of-freedom robot and the experimental results are compared with a QFT based and a PID controller. The results demonstrate the significant performance improvement of the proposed controller. © 2005 IEEE  

We report an empirical study of Tehran price index (TEPIX). To analyze our data we use various methods like as, rescaled range analysis (R/S), modified rescaled range analysis (Lo's method), detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and generalized Hurst exponents analysis. Based on numerical results, the scaling range of TEPIX returns is specified, long-memory effect or long-range correlation property in this market is investigated, fractal dimension of probability space of TEPIX returns is derived and finally the stage of development in Tehran stock exchange is determined. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

In this article, impedance control of a two link flexible link manipulators is addressed. The concept of impedance control of flexible link robots is rather new and is being addressed for the first time. Impedance Control provides a universal approach to the control of flexible robots - in both constrained and unconstrained maneuvers. The initial part of the paper concerns the use Hamilton's principle to derive the mathematical equations governing the dynamics of joint angles, vibration of the flexible links and the constraining forces. The approximate elastic deformations are then derived by means of the Assumed-Mode-Method (AMM). Using the singular perturbation method, the dynamic of the... 

A method for simulation-emulation co-operation of Verilog and VHDL models is presented. The method is based on using Programming Language Interface (PLI) to achieve speedup in prototyping and to facilitate the communication between an emulator and a simulator. The PLI technique is implemented for both Verilog and VHDL models. The results show that this simulation-emulation co-operation method can significantly reduce the simulation time of a design implemented by VHDL codes as well as Verilog codes. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002  

Purpose - Aims to describe design, prototyping and characteristics of a pole climbing/manipulating robot with ability of passing bends and branches of the pole. Design/methodology/approach - Introducing a hybrid (parallel/serial) four degree of freedom (DOF) mechanism as the main part of the robot and also introduces a unique gripper design for pole climbing robots. Findings - Finds that a robot, with the ability of climbing and manipulating on poles with bends and branches, needs at least 4 DOFs. Also an electrical cylinder is a good option for climbing robots and has some advantages over pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders. Research limitations/implications - The robot is semi-industrial... 

Potassium fluoride supported on alumina efficiently catalyzes Michael addition of aromatic and aliphatic thiols to a variety of conjugated alkenes such as α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, carboxylic esters, amides, nitriles and chalcones. The Michael adducts are produced in good to excellent yields and relatively in short times. The catalyst can be recycled for subsequent reactions without any appreciable loss of efficiency. Copyright © Taylor & Francis, Inc  

In this paper, we investigate the dynamic analysis of a strongly nonlinear microrobot using a three-term harmonic balance method. The employed locomotion concept, namely "friction drive principle," is based on the superposition of a horizontal vibration at the interface between the robot and work floor and an active variation of friction force, obtained by the vertical vibration of the base at the same interface. The equation of motion for the system reveals a parametrically excited oscillator with discontinuity for which the elastic force term is proportional to a signum function. The obtained periodic solution not only is of high accuracy, but also can predict the contribution of the... 

Among the locomotion concepts employed in the microrobotics, friction-based locomotion principles are of considerable importance. In this study, the dynamic modelling of friction drive microrobots subjected to the tangential and normal excitations is investigated, which have the same frequency, but are shifted in phase. The motion equation of the microrobot reveals a strongly non-linear differential equation with discontinuity for which the elastic force term is proportional to a signum function. Using the homotopy perturbation method, simple expressions are derived for predicting average velocity of the slider. The obtained results are in good agreement with those achieved from numerical... 

This paper presents a novel, sliding, A-shaped microrobot with nanometric resolution for precision positioning applications. The microrobot is actuated near its natural frequency using a piezoelectric stack actuator to produce translational motion. The dynamic modeling of the mechanism is based on the assumptions of the linear piezoelectric behavior and the Coulomb friction model. Using this model the required condition for generating net motion is found. The suitability of three simple, friction-based locomotion modes for implementation on the proposed device is addressed. Influences of some important configuration parameters on the behavior of the microrobot, based on defined criteria, are... 

The friction drive principle, which is based on the superposition of two synchronized perpendicular vibrations at the interface of the robot and the work floor, plays a fundamental role in the locomotion of miniaturized robots. In this paper, the iteration perturbation method proposed by He is used to generate a periodic solution for this type of friction drive microrobot. The equation of motion for the system reveals a parametrically excited oscillator with discontinuity, the elastic force term for which is proportional to a signum function. The obtained solutions are in excellent agreement with those achieved from numerical integration and experiments reported in the literature. Results... 

In this paper, we analytically investigate the dynamic modeling of a nonlinear microrobot based on the "friction drive principle". The superposition of a horizontal vibration at the interface between the robot and work floor and an active variation of friction force, obtained by the vertical vibration of the base, makes the robot to move on the substrate. Periodic solutions obtained from the harmonic balance method can predict the contribution of the friction coefficient on the average velocity of the slider. Unlike traditional analytical techniques and in agreement with both numerical simulations and experiments reported in the literature, results show that the maximum average velocity... 

Understanding the co-crystallization behavior of ternary polyethylene (PE) blends is a challenging task. Herein, in addition to co-crystallization behavior, the rheological and mechanical properties of melt compounded high density polyethylene (HDPE)/low density polyethylene (LDPE)/Zeigler − Natta linear low density polyethylene (ZN-LLDPE) blends have been studied in detail. The HDPE content of the blends was kept constant at 40 wt% and the LDPE/ZN-LLDPE ratio was varied from 0.5 to 2. Rheological measurements confirmed the melt miscibility of the entire blends. Study of the crystalline structure of the blends using DSC, wide angle X-ray scattering, small angle X-ray scattering and field... 

This paper presents operational space control of snake-like robots for tracking designated paths using a double layer sliding mode control algorithm. The snake robot has n links with assumed lateral sliding that leads to n+2 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) while it has only n-1 actuator at joints and therefore it is underactuated. Kinematic constraints were determined which describe the geometric relationship between the position of links' mass center and the joints' relative angle. The outer layer (loop) of the controller was designed to modulate the parameters of the serpenoid curve using the kinematic constraints in order to the mass center of links follow different designated paths. The inner... 

The motion of a stick-slip microrobot propelled by its piezoelectric unimorph legs is mathematically modeled. Using a continuously distributed mass model for the robot's body, the working equation of the mechanism is derived based on the assumption of linear Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and linear piezoelectric behavior. Moreover, the required condition for generating net motion is calculated in terms of physical characteristics of the microrobot. It is demonstrated that the higher the friction constant, then a lower average speed is obtained. Also, it is shown that a microrobot with heavier legs can move in a rougher environment. Regardless of the mass proportion between robot's main body... 

In this paper, we propose a new 4-legged 6-DOF redundantly actuated UPS parallel mechanism. Kinematics, singularity and dynamics analyses of the proposed mechanism are addressed. Inverse kinematics has a closed-form solution, whereas the forward kinematics has a semi-closed form solution. Also, the Jacobian matrix has been determined using the concept of reciprocal screws. Using the principle of virtual work and minimum norm method, a general formulation for the inverse dynamics of redundantly actuated parallel manipulator is presented. Moreover, the proposed redundant mechanism has been compared with a similar but nonredundant mechanism in three aspects: reachable points, and actuation... 

This paper presents a new decision making framework for supplier selectionin a make-to-order-system (MTO) while establishing an information loop between"sale"and"purchasing" functions which play important rolesin successful satisfying of customers. The order entry stage outputs, includingaccepted orders' requirements and their priorities are reflected into thesupplier selection phase; and in return, the outputs of the supplier selectionmodel are fed back into the sale department to revise the orders attributesaccording to the system's supplying capabilities. A ranking procedure usingFuzzy data-envelopment-analysis (DEA) and multi attribute utility model (i.e.similarity to ideal solution...