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In this paper, systematic characterization of the dual probe, which is designed for the near field simultaneous measurement of both electric and magnetic field, is investigated with a microstrip line as the device under test (DUT). The characterization includes frequency response, transmission performance, symmetry, reflection, the intrusion of probe to the DUT, isolation of electric and magnetic field responses, field profile and spatial resolution, and differential electric field suppression. The dual probes with different design are adopted to demonstrate the systematic characterization.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD)-induced soft failures are a critical issue for electronic systems as the failures are mostly found after the hardware design is completed. Any changes applied to the hardware may delay the project. Diagnostic tools capable of identifying soft failure-induced malfunctions in an early stage of product design help to reduce the risk of late stage ESD-induced project delays. In many cases, soft failures can be directly observed by the user interface, system crash, or other obvious indicators. However, in an early product design stage the operation system may be marginal and applications may not be available. To improve the ability to detect soft failure critical design choices, this paper presents several methods to identify ESD-induced changes which may not be observable via direct observation. These methods include the observation of ac or dc currents, monitoring dc voltages, capturing near fields and processing them via short-term fast fourier transform (FFT), wavelet transformation, down mixing to audible range, and monitoring for latch-up via thermal imaging. The paper introduces the basis of each method, shows examples, and compares them for their detection ability.

To solve the heat dissipation problem of high heat flux components on spacecraft, experiments were carried out to investigate the flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of ammonia in a microchannel heat sink. Verified by gravity-independent criteria, the experimental results can be used to predict the performance of flow boiling heat transfer in microgravity environment. The heat sink consisted of 37 V-shaped microchannels with hydraulic diameters of 280 μm and channel lengths of 45 mm. Saturated flow boiling experiments were conducted with heat fluxes of 60.2~134.3 W/cm2, mass fluxes of 165~883 kg/m2s and saturation temperatures of 25 and 35 °C, as well as subcooled flow boiling experiments with inlet subcooling of 5 °C as a comparison. According to the experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn. (1) As the mass flow rate increases, higher wall superheat is needed to trigger nucleate boiling. (2) In a lower mass flux range, the heat transfer coefficient changes drastically with mass flux, showing convective boiling characteristics, while the value varies slightly in a higher mass flux range, indicating that the nucleate boiling mechanism is dominant. (3) Under the experimental conditions in this work, the average heat transfer coefficient of ammonia reaches its peak when the outlet vapor quality is between 0.21 and 0.31. (4) A subcooled inlet condition has a suppression effect on the average heat transfer capacity of the working fluid at high mass flux, and increasing the saturation temperature reduces the average heat transfer coefficient. In addition, a comparison between the experimental results and existing correlations demonstrated that the correlation proposed by Fang predicted the experimental results well, and then a modified Fang correlation was proposed based on the experimental data obtained in this study. The results could provide references for the prediction of flow boiling heat transfer performance in aerospace environments and the design of heat dissipation systems.

Intelligent manufacturing is considered among the most important elements of the modern industrial revolution, which includes digitalization, networking, and the development of the intelligent manufacturing industry. With the progressive development of modern information technology, particularly the new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, many new opportunities are coming into existence for intelligent machine tool (IMT) development. Intelligent machine tools offer diverse advantages, including learning and optimizing machining processes, error compensation, energy savings, and failure prevention. The paper focuses on the machine tool market in terms of global production, the leading machine tool-producing countries, and the leading countries’ market share in machine tool production. Moreover, the usage of various artificial intelligence techniques in intelligent machining operations is also considered in this comprehensive review, including machining parameter optimization, tool condition monitoring (TCM), and chatter vibration management of intelligent machine tools. Furthermore, future challenges for the machine tool industry are also highlighted.

Developing renewable energy technologies, especially solar energy-based, is of great importance to secure our energy future. Current solar thermal systems, however, have relatively low utilization efficiencies, limited not only by their low solar energy capture efficiency but also the auxiliary pumping power to circulate the working fluid. Here an innovative nanoparticle enabled pump-free direct absorption solar collector concept is presented, which combines the advantages of volumetric solar harvesting and oscillating heat pipes. Two different flow modes have been observed when the concentration of nanofluid is different. There is an optimum filling ratio when the thermal resistance reaches the minimum. Validation experiments show that the proposed concept can efficiently harvest solar energy and spontaneously transfer the heat into targeted areas, providing a novel approach for efficient solar energy utilization.

Because of the simplicity of design and measurement, as well as the accuracy of results, the 2×-thru de-embedding has replaced the traditional de-embedding algorithms such as thru-reflect-line and short-open-load-thru for printed circuit board (PCB) characterization. In this paper, the theory of [$2^{n}$ -port 2×-Thru de-embedding is derived first. The self-error reduction schemes are introduced to mitigate the de-embedding errors due to non-ideal manufacturing effects that make mode conversion terms non-zero. Both the theory and the self-error reduction schemes are fully validated through simulation and measurement cases.

A near-field scanning is usually time-consuming to map the electromagnetic field along the surface of a device. In this communication, a dual probe is proposed with a U-shaped loop to sense radio frequency (RF) magnetic and electric fields simultaneously, so that the one-time scanning by the dual probe can replace the two-time scanning by single-detector probes. Different from the traditional near-field scanning by using a single-detector probe and spectrum analyzer, the proposed scanning can be achieved by the two-output probe and a two-port vector network analyzer connecting to the probe. The efficient near-field scanning measurements of the electric and magnetic field on a conductor-backed coplanar waveguide transmission line and an RF power divider by using the dual probe are in agreement with those by using two single-detector probes.

A cryogenic integrated system, consisting of a neon loop heat pipe, two pulse tube cryocoolers and other components, was designed and tested in the terrestrial environment. This paper presents the test results of the pre-flight thermal performance of the cryogenic integrated system, such as supercritical characteristics, steady-state operating characteristics and critical heat transfer capacity. The integrated system could achieve supercritical startup under auxiliary heat load of 0.4 W and obtain maximum heat transfer capacity of 1.3 W under anti-gravity attitude. The results show that both the function and the thermal performance are in concordance with the expectations, which validates the design of this cryogenic integrated system. Radiator temperature play an important role in the operation of the integrated system, where a temperature increment of 5 °C would lead the supercritical startup to fail.

As a highly efficient cryogenic heat transfer device, cryogenic loop heat pipe (CLHP) promises great application potential in the thermal control of future space infrared detection system. In this work, a CLHP using methane as working fluid operating at 100–190 K was developed, and its thermal performance including the supercritical startup, heat transport capacity under different heat sink, power cycling characteristics, temperature hysteresis phenomenon and thermal resistance variation, was experimentally investigated. Experimental results showed that the CLHP could successfully realize the supercritical startup under various auxiliary heat loads applied to secondary evaporator, reach a various heat transfer capacity under different heat sink temperature over a 0.6 m distance, and manifest good response characteristics to the cycle of heat load applied to the primary evaporator. The temperature hysteresis phenomenon was detected and thermal resistance of the CLHP varied with increasing heat load applied to the primary evaporator, but not the same with that in heat load reverse motion.

Cryogenic loop heat pipes (CLHP) hold significant potential for applications in the thermal control of advanced, space based infrared exploration systems. In the current investigation, a neon CLHP operating in the 30–40 K temperature range was developed and evaluated. The thermal performance characteristics, included assessment of the supercritical startup, matching characteristics of heat loads applied to the primary and secondary evaporators, power cycling, heat transfer limit and thermal resistance variations, all of which were explored and evaluated experimentally. The longitudinal temperature and pressure variations were measured simultaneously at several locations along the loop. The experimental results indicated that the CLHP could successfully achieve the supercritical startup with an input power of 1.5 W applied to the secondary evaporator, and reach a heat transfer limit of approximately 4.0 W over a 0.6 m distance. The CLHP exhibited good response characteristics to step changes in the heat load applied to the primary evaporator, resulting in smooth temperature transitions in the primary evaporator. The thermal resistance of the CLHP was found to decrease monotonically with increasing heat load applied to the primary evaporator, with values as low as 0.4 K/W.

Next generation space infrared sensor and detector have pressing requirement for cryogenic heat transport technology in the temperature range of 30–40 K. Cryogenic loop heat pipe (CLHP) has excellent thermal performance and particular characteristics such as high flexibility transport lines and no moving parts, thus it is regarded as an ideal thermal control solution. A neon CLHP referring to infrared point-to-point heat transfer element in future space application has been designed and experimented. And it could realize supercritical startup successfully. Experimental results show that the supercritical startup were realized successfully at cases of 1.5 W secondary evaporator power, but the startup was failed when 0.5 and 1 W heat load applied to secondary evaporator. The maximum heat transport capability of primary evaporator is between 4.5 and 5 W with proper auxiliary heat load. Before startup, even the heat sink temperature decreased to 35 K, the primary evaporator can still maintain at almost 290 K; and the primary evaporator temperature increased at once when the powers were cut off, which indicated the CLHP has a perfect function of thermal switch. The CLHP could adapt to sudden changes of the primary evaporator power, and reach a new steady-state quickly. Besides, some failure phenomena were observed during the test, which indicated that proper secondary evaporator power and heat sink temperature play important roles on the normal operation.

Neon-charged cryogenic loop heat pipe (CLHP) can realize efficient cryogenic heat transport in the temperature range of 30–40 K, and promises great application potential in the thermal control of future space infrared exploration system. In this work, extensive experimental studies on the supercritical startup and heat transport capability of a neon-charged CLHP integrated with a G-M cryocooler were carried out, where the effects of the auxiliary heat load applied to the secondary evaporator and charged pressure of the working fluid were investigated. Experimental results showed that the CLHP could successfully realize the supercritical startup with an auxiliary heat load of 1.5 W, and there existed an optimum auxiliary heat load and charged pressure of the working fluid respectively, to achieve the maximum temperature drop rate of the primary evaporator during the supercritical startup. The CLHP could reach a maximum heat transport capability of 4.5 W over a distance of 0.6 m corresponding to the optimum charged pressure of the working fluid; however, the heat transport capability decreased with the increase of the auxiliary heat load. Furthermore, the inherent mechanisms responsible for the phenomena observed in the experiments were analyzed and discussed, to provide a better understanding from the theoretical view.

Cryogenic loop heat pipe (CLHP) is one of the key components in the future space infrared exploration system, which enables effective and efficient cryogenic heat transport over a long distance with a flexible thermal link. To realize reliable and long life operation, a CLHP-based thermal control system with redundancy design was proposed in this work, where two nitrogen-charged CLHPs were employed to provide cryocooling at 80–100 K. This study focused on the supercritical startup of the CLHPs with redundancy design, and an extensive experimental study under four possible working modes was conducted. Experimental results showed that with 2.5 W applied to the secondary evaporator, each CLHP could realize the supercritical startup successfully in the normal working mode; however, the required time differed a lot because the difference in the transport line diameter significantly affected the cryocooling capacity to the primary evaporator. In the backup conversion mode, instant switch of the two primary evaporators may cause an operation failure, and an auxiliary operation of the secondary evaporator in advance was necessary to make the primary liquid line filled with liquid. In the malfunction conversion mode, the simulated infrared detector had to be first shut down, but the time needed for the backup CLHP to realize the supercritical startup became obviously shorter than that in the normal working mode, because the primary evaporator of the backup CLHP was always in a cryogenic state. In the dual operation mode, the two CLHPs could realize the supercritical startup simultaneously, but a temperature oscillation phenomenon was observed, which can be eliminated by increasing the heat load applied to the secondary evaporator.