Synthesis of spherical microcapsules by photopolymerization in aerosols

 The preparation of polymer microcapsules of well defined size in the range of 10–50 μm with different shell thickness to core diameter ratios is described. An aerosol of monodisperse droplets of a homogeneous ternary liquid system which contained a hydrophobic component and a hydrophilic component dissolved in a high-volatile mutual solvent, was produced by dispersing with a vibrating-orifice aerosol generator. After the evaporation of the solvent in a nitrogen atmosphere the particles demix and form a two-phase droplet of core-shell type. These droplets were illuminated with UV light and polymerized to highly monodisperse microcapsules with a solid polymer shell and a liquid core. The properties of the resulting particles (size, size distribution, shell thickness, shape and surface characteristics) were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy on single optically levitated particles, and confocal Raman micro spectroscopy. The microcapsules were highly monodisperse and have spherical shape. Received: 24 July 1996 Accepted: 29 August 1996     

Active transient elasto-acoustic response damping of a thick-walled liquid-coupled piezolaminated cylindrical vessel

The linear 3D piezoelasticity theory in conjunction with the versatile transfer matrix approach and the wave equation for the internal acoustic domain are employed for active non-stationary vibroacoustic response control of an arbitrarily thick, tri-laminate, fluid-filled, simply supported, piezocomposite cylindrical tank, excited by arbitrary (non-axisymmetric) time-dependent on-surface mechanical loads. The smart structure is composed of a supporting core layer of functionally graded orthotropic material perfectly bonded to inner and outer spatially distributed radially polarized functionally graded piezoceramic sensor and uniform force actuator (FGPM) layers. Active vibration damping is implemented by transferring the accumulated voltage on the sensor layer to the piezoelectric actuator layer in context of proportional and derivative control laws. Durbin's numerical inverse Laplace transform scheme is utilized to calculate the time response histories of the relevant interface displacement/stress components, center-point acoustic pressure, and actuator voltage, for selected loading configurations (i.e., concentrated step, impulse, and moving external loads). Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the adopted distributed sensing/actuation configuration together with the active damping control strategy in suppressing the vibroacoustic response of a three-layered (Ba₂NaNb₅O₁₅/Al/PZT4) water-filled piezoelastic cylindrical tank. Limiting cases are considered and the validity of results is established by comparison with the available data as well as with the aid of a commercial finite element package.     

Measuring densities of polymers by magneto-archimedes levitation

In magneto-Archimedes levitation, a polymer can be levitated to a balanced position, and its levitation height is mainly related to the density of the polymer. Here, a novel method for measuring the density of polymers based on magneto- Archimedes levitation is proposed. For a designed measurement device, an equation can be fitted by a series of experiments with standard density glass beads. Then, the polymer's density can be calculated via the equation. In this paper, a device with magnets at a distance of 60 mm was chosen as an example. Experimental results showed that the proposed method could measure all types of polymer with an accuracy of 0.002–0.01 g/cm³. Moreover, the proposed method can clearly distinguish between polymers with small density differences (<0.03 g/cm³). Because of its high accuracy, high sensitivity, low cost and convenience, the proposed method could be widely used in polymer testing, especially in density-based testing.     

An Ensemble Kalman Filter Approach Based on Level Set Parameterization for Acoustic Source Identification Using Multiple Frequency Information

In this paper, a reconstruction problem of the spatial dependent acoustic source from multiple frequency data is discussed. Suppose that the source function is supported on a bounded domain and the piecewise constant intensities of the source are known on the support. We characterize unknown domain by the level set technique. And the level set function can be modeled by a Hamilton-Jacobi system. We use the ensemble Kalman filter approach to analyze the system state. This method can avoid to deal with the nonlinearity directly and reduce the computation complexity. In addition, the algorithm can achieve the stable state quickly with the Hamilton-Jacobi system. From some numerical examples, we show these advantages and verify the feasibility and effectiveness.     

Time reversal acoustic communication receivers: DSP implementation and fast channel estimation

A communication system is implemented on digital signal processors (DSPs) for the underwater acoustic environment. The implemented receiver uses time reversal multi-channel combining followed by a single-channel decision feedback equalizer. Periodic channel estimation is employed to track the channel fluctuations. These techniques are used to mitigate time-varying inter-symbol interference, which is the main challenge in the underwater acoustic channel at operating frequencies greater than 10 kHz. Various optimization tasks are performed to reduce the receiver computational complexity. A fast implementation of the matching pursuit algorithm is tested on the DSP platform. Its performance, in terms of accuracy and run-time, is compared with that of the basic matching pursuit algorithm. Experimental results of the transmission and demodulation of binary phase-shift keying signals at three different symbol rates were obtained in the local Delaware Bay. The low bit error rates demonstrate the effectiveness of our implementation.     

Energy harvesting from a magnetic levitation system

Numerical and experimental studies of a magnetic levitation harvester are presented in the paper. The idea is based on the motion of permanent cylinder magnet in a coil exploited for energy harvesting. The novel model is based on a new definition of the coupling coefficient (inductive coefficient) which relates mechanical and an electrical components. The performed static and dynamics experimental tests show that this coefficient is a nonlinear function of the magnet position, and highly depends on the magnet coordinate in the coil, in such a way that the maximum energy is obtained in a coil ends. The comparison between classical – fixed value model – and novel nonlinear model of the inductive coefficient is presented for selected cases. The most essential differences are presented.     

水声通信中基于信道辨识的盲turbo均衡方法

水声信道多途效应明显,造成接收信号存在严重的码间干扰(ISI,Intersymbol interference)。基于最小均方误差(MMSE,Minimum mean square error)准则的turbo均衡器级联了均衡和信道译码,能够有效去除ISI,并获得优良的性能。由于水声信道的时变性,传统MMSE-turbo均衡需要周期性的训练序列,以实现连续可靠的通信。训练序列虽然提高了通信的可靠性,但降低了信息的有效传输速率。因此,为提高通信效率,本文提出了一种盲turbo均衡方法,该方法通过引入新的盲信道辨识器来同时获得信道估计响应和已去除部分ISI的初步均衡输出信号,并为turbo均衡提供初始的响应参数和比特软信息。与水声通信中应用较多的盲判决反馈均衡器(DFE,Decision feedback equalizer)相比,海上实验结果证明本文提出的盲turbo均衡方法抗信道多途衰落的能力较强,并且与传统MMSE-turbo均衡相比无需训练序列,因此提高了信息的有效传输速率。     

单矢量水听器估计目标方位的方法与实验

为评估基于单矢量水听器的方位估计能力,在黄海海域对矢量水听器进行实验。矢量水听器吊放于接收船尾部,采用平均声强器和复声强器方位估计方法,并提出以概率密度值最大的方位角作为目标方位估计值的具体处理准则,对恒定方向、匀速行驶的目标船方位进行估计,并求出两种方法的方位估计误差。结果表明,水听器布放深度10 m时,对正横距离为0.42 km的航速10 kn的目标船,平均声强器方法的水平方位角估计误差18°,极角估计误差为5°,可以在离目标船最远1.17 km处估计其方位;复声强法的水平方位角估计误差为13°,极角估计误差为8°,可以在离目标船最远2.35 km处估计其方位。在有接收船的噪声干扰情况下,复声强器比平均声强器方法估计的方位更准确,可以对更远处的噪声源进行方位估计。