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The (In2O3)77.34(ZnO)x(SnO2)22.66-x(denote to IZTO-2) films with x = 13, 15, 17, 19 wt.% were prepared on PET film with a 100-nm-thick SiO2buffer layer by using RF-magnetron sputtering method, and their electrical stabilities were tested under various external stresses such as moist heat, temperature fluctuations and bending of substrate films. The lowest resistivity of 4.8 × 10−4Ω•cm was observed in the IZTO-2 film of x = 17 wt.% which also had such good properties as high electrical stability, surface uniformity, and high conductivity as compared with those of another (In2O3)90(ZnO)7(SnO2)3(IZTO-1) film. These results suggest that the optimum starting composition for IZTO film with high quality as a flexible transparent conducting oxide(TCO) film is In2O3: ZnO : SnO2= 77.34 : 17 : 5.66 wt.%. The electrical stability of the optimum IZTO-2 film was greatly improved because the SiO2buffer layer introduced between IZTO thin film and PET substrate acted as a blocking barrier to water vapour and organic solvents diffusing from the PET film and also as a buffer layer withstanding the bending damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A nanoporous TiO2film was modified with an aqueous potassium chloride (KCl), and the resulting film was applied to the photoelectrode of dye-sensitizes solar cell (DSSC). The DSSC with KCl-modified photoelctrode showed an increase in short circuit current (Jsc) and open circuit voltage (Voc), resulting in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.04%, compared to that (6.36%) of reference device with bare TiO2. The suppression of charge recombination between photo-injected electrons and triiodide (I3−) ions was found to increase bothJscandVocof the device with KCl-modified photoelctrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stable super-hydrophobic and self-cleaning surface with a high contact angle above 150°and the contact angle hysteresis below 3°were produced by using roughness combined with hydrophobic coatings, which were also confirmed to exhibit extreme water repellence and self-cleaning properties which facilitate removal of contaminant particles. To fabricate micro-patterened aluminium surface, the aluminium was etched with hydrochloric acid. A very thin polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) film was coated on the etched aluminium surface in order to achieve the super-hydrophobic surface. Roughness factors on the aluminium surfaces coated with PTFE were calculated as a function of etching time, based on the homogeneous interface (Wensel model). A critical roughness factor on the super-hydrophobic surface of the aluminium coated with PTFE was found to be 1.51 which can be formed on the surface of the aluminium etched over 10 min with hydrochloric acid of 7 wt.%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An artificial neural network model can help manufacturers determine the positions of induction heating lines and their heating parameters to form a desired shape of plate. The vertical displacements of a deformed plate are considered as the input parameters and the selected induction heating lines as output parameters to develop the model. The training patterns of neural network are obtained using an analytical solution that is derived from the plate theory to predict plate deformations in induction heating process. The plastic region in the analytical solution of the angular deformation of a steel plate is obtained from the thermal analysis of the plate with the heat input calculated from the electro-magnetic analysis of the induction heating process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steel-forming process in shipyards is considered an important stage with respect to productivity and precision of curved plates. The induction heating process has been of interest to steel formation because the power and its distribution are easier to control and reproduce. Besides, induction heating equipment can be easily integrated with a robotic system for automation. The heating process usually utilizes line heating or triangle heating methods to form hull plates. Even though a number of studies on the line heating method have been performed, there have been few studies on the triangle heating method. In this study, using a simplified elasto-plastic model and laminated plate theory, an analytic means of predicting the bending deformation in triangle heating of steel plates is derived. For the purpose of this, the induction heating process is modeled in advance, with numerical heat flux and heat flow analyses to determine the plastic region. The plastic region is considered as an inclusion that has eigenstrains in the laminated plate. The analytic solution is applied to predict deformations to verify its exactness. The results of the analytic solution are quite good compared with those of the triangle heating experiment, revealing the effectiveness of the analytic solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transplanting accuracy of a rice transplanter for picking, conveying and transplanting seedlings mainly depends on the trajectory as well as the return motion of the hoe. The trajectory of the hoe has to be optimized in treating seedlings for a prevailing soil condition. For better transplanting accuracy, a planetary-gear-train system, instead of the four-bar linkage system is used to design a transplanting mechanism. This study proposes a theoretical design method for a transplanting mechanism; the method designs non-circular gears of a planetary-gear-train system for the hoe to trace a prescribed trajectory. An optimization method was used to determine the arm length and tool length; inverse kinematics to determine the configuration angles of the two links and the roll contact condition in transmitting motion between the gears; and a linearization approach to obtain the shapes of the gears. Based on the proposed method, the shapes of the gears and the lengths of the tools of the planetary-gear-train system are determined for three prescribed trajectories. A commercialized package program (ADAMS) is used to carry out a kinematic simulation to confirm that the gear-train system configured from the proposed method is adequate for the transplanting mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]