Mechanical endurance of polymer electrolyte membrane and PEM fuel cell durability

The life of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is currently limited by the mechanical endurance of polymer electrolyte membranes and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). In this paper, the authors report recent experimental and modeling work toward understanding the mechanisms of delayed mechanical failures of polymer electrolyte membranes and MEAs under relevant PEMFC operating conditions. Mechanical breach of membranes/MEAs in the form of pinholes and tears has been frequently observed after long‐term or accelerated testing of PEMFC cells/stacks. Catastrophic failure of cell/stack due to rapid gas crossover shortly follows the mechanical breach. Ex situ mechanical characterizations were performed on MEAs after being subjected to the accelerated chemical aging and relative humidity (RH) cycling tests. The results showed significant reduction of MEA ductility manifested as drastically reduced strain‐to‐failure of the chemically aged and RH‐cycled MEAs. Postmortem analysis revealed the formation and growth of mechanical defects such as cracks and crazing in the membranes and MEAs. A finite element model was used to estimate stress/strain states of an edge‐constrained MEA under rapid RH variations. Damage metrics for accelerated testing and life prediction of PEMFCs are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2346–2357, 2006     

Effects of microstructure on the temperature dependence of relative initial permeability of NiCuZn ferrites

In the present work, ferrites with compositions of (Ni_0.27Zn_0.64Cu_x)Fe_1.98O₄ (x=0.1, 0.2) were prepared by conventional ceramic methods. The relationship between the microstructure and the temperature dependence of relative initial permeability was investigated. It was found that intergranular pores in the ferrites generate large demagnetizing fields, reducing the temperature dependence of the effective anisotropy field H_eff, and decreasing the temperature dependence of the relative initial permeability accordingly. However, intragranular pores pin the movement of domain walls. Compared with the permeability induced by domain wall motion, the permeability that resulted from the spin rotation is more sensitive to temperature. As a result, the relative initial permeability of ferrites becomes more sensitive to temperature with increasing micropores within grains.     

Strong instability of solitary waves for nonlinear Klein–Gordon equations and generalized Boussinesq equations

We study here instability problems of standing waves for the nonlinear Klein–Gordon equations and solitary waves for the generalized Boussinesq equations. It is shown that those special wave solutions may be strongly unstable by blowup in finite time, depending on the range of the wave's frequency or the wave's speed of propagation and on the nonlinearity.     

A MEMS-Based Piezoelectric Power Generator for Low Frequency Vibration Energy Harvesting

A novel power generator has been achieved to convert vibration to electrical energy via the piezoelectric effect. The generator obtained by micro fabrication process mainly consists of silicon based frame and composite cantilever. The prototype tested at resonant vibration generates 1.15μW of effective power to a 20.4-kΩ resistance load. The potential of this work is to offer miniaturization solutions for power generators, and with the proposed method the ambient ubiquitous vibration can be harvested effectively as endless energy source to form an integrated self-powering system.     

Model and empirical study on some collaboration networks

In this paper we present an empirical study of a few practical systems described by cooperation networks, and propose a model to understand the results obtained. We study four non-social systems, which are the Bus Route Networks of Beijing and Yangzhou, the Travel Route Network of China, Huai-Yang recipes of Chinese cooked food, and a social system, which is the Collaboration Network of Hollywood Actors. In order to explain the results related to the degree distribution, act-degree distribution and act-size distribution (especially about the degree distribution, which may be better fitted using a stretched exponential distribution (SED)), we suggest a simple model to show a possible evolutionary mechanism for the emergence of such networks. The analytic and numerical results obtained from the model are in good agreement with the empirical results.     

模糊神经网络在复合地基沉降量预测中的应用

复合地基后期沉降变形对于建筑物设计及安全具有重要意义,针对通过长期沉降观测以得到复合地基的最终沉降需要耗费较多资源的问题,提出了一种基于模糊神经网络的预测方法.该方法考虑沉降变化过程有较大的随机性和模糊性,直接将样本数据进行模糊化,所得的模糊数代表了样本点集与控制点集中各分量之间的相关度,并依此建立模糊BP神经网络进行学习和估算.实验结果表明了该方法对沉降进行预测是可行与有效的,且在相对误差的有效控制方面优于BP网络方法与灰色方法.     

Robust stabilization of internally delayed uncertain systems via sliding mode control

Summary The problem of robust stabilization of internally delayed uncertain systems via sliding mode controllers (SMC's) is studied in this paper. The robustness property and assymptotic stability of the system are discussed. Some sufficient conditions for the design of SMC and the switching hyperplane are given. Further generalization results, which lead to a simple design and implementation, are made for the system being described in companion form. A method is suggested for the elimination of limit cycles in systems being regulated by a relay SMC while allowing the generation of sliding motion and thus ensuring the closed-loop asymptotic stability.     

锁相电子散斑系统

电子散斑干涉计量在变形量检测¹、无损探伤、振动分析^(2,3)等领域具有广泛的应用前景,目前它之所以未能实用化,最重要的原因就是该系统对环境的要求过高,特别是物体的振动和空气的扰动对测量结果影响很大,甚至会导致测量失败,因而国内外学者在不断寻找解决此问题的锁相技术。本文提出了一种简易的切实可行的锁相方法-光学锁相法,消除了物体的振动和空气扰动对电子散斑测量的影响。     

Variational study of vacuum structure with fermions ind+1 dimensional Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory

The physical vacuum state and general expression for the Hamiltonian ofd+1 dimensional lattice gauge theory are given by incorporating the exact ground state of pure gauge theory and the variational fermion vacuum state. The applications toSU(2) andSU(3) gauge theories in 2+1 and 3+1 dimensions are demonstrated and the fermion condensates \(\left\langle {\bar \psi \psi } \right\rangle \) as functions of 1/g ² are calculated.