Precision Synthesis of a Long-Chain Silane Coupling Agent Using Micro Flow Reactors and Its Application in Dentistry

In dentistry, a wide range of materials is available for restorative treatment;a typical product of such restorative materials mainly consists of radically polymerizable monomer(s) and inorganic filler(s) (for added physical strength), as well as a surface modifier (e.g. silane coupling agent) for improved affinity between monomer and filler. It is favorable to use an optimal surface modifier depending on the respective restorative materials. However, commercially available surface modifiers, which are synthesized by the ton, are not always suited for what is required for properties of the many different dental restorative materials. As a potential solution to such a problem, we focused on the latest technology, “micro flow reactors” that enabled an on-demand low-volume synthesis of many types of surface modifiers. Using micro reaction fields of such flow reactors, we synthesized a novel long-chain silane coupling agent. Compared to the control system synthesized using a conventional reaction flask, the novel system enabled significant reduction in reaction time without inducing any major side reactions. A dental composite resin that was treated with the novel coupling agent exhibited higher toughness, suggesting that such a silane coupling agent was an effective surface modifier.

A 2-Dimensional Micro Flow Sensor with Wide Range Flow Sensing Properties

A new silicon micro flow sensor with multiple temperature sensing elements was proposed and numerically simulated in considering wide range flow measuring properties.The micro flow sensor has three pairs of temperature sensing elements with a central heater compared with typical sensor which has only a temperature sensing element on each side of a central heater.A numerical analysis of the micro flow sensor by Finite Difference Formulation for Heat Transfer Equation was performed.The nearest pair of temperature sensor showed very good linear sensitivity between 0 to 0.4m/s flow and saturated from 0.75m/s flow.However the furthest pair of temperature sensor showed some flow sensitivity even though the flow rate of 2.0m/s.Thus,this suggested new micro flow meter with multiple temperature sensing elements could be used as a thermal mass flow sensor which has accuracy sensitivity for very wide flow range.

微血管血流联合LumiFlow成像技术获取早中孕期胎儿心脏标准切面中的应用

目的探讨微血管血流(MV-Flow)联合LumiFlow成像技术在获取11~17^(+6)周胎儿心脏标准切面中的应用价值。资料与方法回顾性收集2022年7月-2023年8月在解放军总医院第一医学中心接受胎儿超声心动图检查的正常早中孕期孕妇63例,行胎儿超声心动图彩色多普勒血流显像(CDFI)及MV-Flow联合LumiFlow检查,分别获取国际妇产科超声学会推荐的8个诊断切面,对不同模式下各标准切面图的血流要素进行评分,比较CDFI及MV-Flow联合LumiFlow在各诊断切面的显示成功率及评分。结果63例孕妇共进行66次胎儿超声心动图检查,MV-Flow联合LumiFlow在上腹横切面、四腔心切面、主动脉弓切面显示成功率分别为98.48%、98.48%、96.97%,高于CDFI(χ^(2)=5.143、8.100、6.125,P<0.05),在三血管气管切面和左心室流出道切面显示成功率分别为39.40%和43.94%,显著低于CDFI(χ^(2)=13.885、7.579,P<0.05)。MV-Flow联合LumiFlow及CDFI两者在动脉导管弓切面、上下腔静脉长轴切面及所有切面总体评分差异无统计学意义(Z/t=-1.56、-1.77、-0.41,P>0.05);在上腹横切面、四腔心切面及主弓脉弓切面,MV-Flow联合LumiFlow评分显著高于传统CDFI(t=-5.14、-6.08、-6.63,P<0.001),左、右心室流出道切面及三血管气管切面CDFI评分显著高于MV-Flow联合LumiFlow(Z=-4.00、-2.93、-4.61,P<0.05)。结论MV-Flow联合LumiFlow在上腹横切面、四腔心切面与主弓脉弓切面的显示较CDFI更具优势,可以作为早期胎心筛查中血流显像技术的有效补充。

Study on Characteristics of a High-Precision Cold Gas Micro Thruster

In order to improve the reliability of the spacecraft micro cold gas propulsion system and realize the precise control of the spacecraft attitude and orbit, a micro-thrust, high-precision cold gas thruster is carried out, at the same time due to the design requirements of the spacecraft, this micro-thrust should be continuous working more than 60 minutes, the traditional solenoid valve used for the thrusts can’t complete the mission, so a long-life micro latching valve is developed as the control valve for this micro thruster, because the micro latching valve can keep its position when it cuts off the outage. Firstly, the authors introduced the design scheme and idea of the thruster. Secondly, the performance of the latching valve and the flow characteristics of the nozzle were simulated. Finally, from the experimental results and compared with the numerical study, it shows that the long-life micro cold gas thruster developed in this paper meets the mission requirements.

Flexible micro flow sensor for micro aerial vehicles

This article summarizes our studies on micro flow sensors fabricated on a flexible polyimide circuit board by a low-cost hybrid process of thin-film deposition and circuit printing. The micro flow sensor has merits of flexibility, structural simplicity, easy integrability with circuits, and good sensing performance. The sensor, which adheres to an object surface, can detect the surface flow around the object. In our study, we install the fabricated micro flow sensors on micro aerial vehicles （MAVs） to detect the surface flow variation around the aircraft wing and deduce the aerodynamic parameters of the MAVs in flight. Wind tunnel experiments using the sensors integrated with the MAVs are also conducted.

Capillary Micro-Flow Through a Fiber Bundle(Ⅰ)

The present work considered the capillary micro-flow through a fiber bundle.The resin heights in the fiber bundle as a function of time were used to determine the experimental values of capillary pressure and the permeability by the nonlinear regression fitting method.The fitting curves showed a good agreement with experiments.However,these values of capillary pressure from short-time experiments were much lower than the theoretical results from the Yang-Laplace Equation.More accurate capillary pressure was predicted from the presented long-run experiment.

Flow control of micro-ramps on supersonic forward-facing step flow

The effects of the micro-ramps on supersonic turbulent flow over a forward-facing step（FFS） was experimentally investigated in a supersonic low-noise wind tunnel at Mach number 3 using nano-tracer planar laser scattering（NPLS）and particle image velocimetry（PIV） techniques. High spatiotemporal resolution images and velocity fields of supersonic flow over the testing model were captured. The fine structures and their spatial evolutionary characteristics without and with the micro-ramps were revealed and compared. The large-scale structures generated by the micro-ramps can survive the downstream FFS flowfield. The micro-ramps control on the flow separation and the separation shock unsteadiness was investigated by PIV results. With the micro-ramps, the reduction in the range of the reversal flow zone in streamwise direction is 50% and the turbulence intensity is also reduced. Moreover, the reduction in the average separated region and in separation shock unsteadiness are 47% and 26%, respectively. The results indicate that the micro-ramps are effective in reducing the flow separation and the separation shock unsteadiness.

Electrokinetic flow in the U-shaped micro-nanochannels

U-shaped micro-nanochannels can generate significant flow disturbance as well as locally amplified electric field, which gives itself potential to be microfluidic mixers, electrokinetic pumps,and even cell lysis process. Numerical simulation is utilized in this work to study the hidden characteristics of the U-shaped micro-nanochannel system, and the effects of key controlling parameters(the external voltage and pressure) on the device output metrics(current, maximum values of electric field, shear stress and flow velocity) were evaluated. A large portion of current flowing through the whole system goes through the nanochannels, rather than the middle part of the microchannel, with its value increasing linearly with the increase of voltage. Due to the local ion depletion near micro-nanofluidic junction, significantly enhanced electric field(as much as 15 fold at V=1 V and P_0=0) as well as strong shear stress(leading to electrokinetic flow) is generated.With increasing external pressure, both electric field and shear stress can be increased initially(due to shortening of depletion region length), but are suppressed eventually at higher pressure due to the destruction of ion depletion layer. Insights gained from this study could be useful for designing nonlinear electrokinetic pumps and other systems.

经阴道超声结合MV-Flow成像技术在育龄期女性排卵期子宫内膜超声特点分析中的作用

目的探讨经阴道超声结合微血管血流(MV-Flow)成像技术在育龄期女性排卵期子宫内膜超声特点分析中的应用价值。方法选取2022年5-7月在解放军总医院第一医学中心超声诊断科行经阴道妇科超声检查的74例育龄期女性,年龄22~48(34.4±5.0)岁,其中≥35岁的高龄组女性35例,<35岁的低龄组女性39例。根据是否临床诊断为不孕分为不孕组(n=27)与健康对照组(n=47)。于患者排卵日利用经阴道超声测量子宫内膜的厚度、蠕动性评分及容积,子宫螺旋动脉的搏动指数(PI)和阻力指数(RI),双侧子宫动脉的PI和RI,三维能量多普勒血流参数[血流指数(FI)、血管化指数(VI)、血管化血流指数(VFI)]及内膜微血流血管化指数(VIMV)并进行组间比较。结果低龄组与高龄组的不孕病史差异无统计学意义(P=0.281)。低龄组子宫螺旋动脉RI低于高龄组(P<0.05),而内膜三维能量多普勒血流参数(VI、FI、VFI)及内膜VIMV均明显高于高龄组(P<0.05)。不孕组与健康对照组年龄分层差异无统计学意义(P=0.281)。不孕组子宫内膜的厚度、蠕动性评分、容积、三维能量多普勒血流参数(VI、FI、VFI)及VIMV均明显低于健康对照组(P<0.05)。结论经阴道超声检查可在一定程度上评估育龄期女性排卵期子宫内膜的特点,尤其VIMV可定量分析子宫内膜的微血流灌注情况。

A single-phase turbulent flow numerical simulation of a cyclonic-static micro bubble flotation column

Improved fluid dynamics can enhance the separation efficiency of flotation methods. A Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation using FLUENT was performed to model the fluid environment of a cyclonic-static micro bubble flotation column. The simulation results visually show the interior flow and illustrate mixing of the different flows within the apparatus. An analysis of the distribution in velocity and vorticity was used to analyze the separation mechanism and the synergism of the component parts and to strengthen the design of each unit. The conclusions are that axial back mixing and vortexes still exist in the separation unit even in the presence of packing media. The inverted cone structure near the tangential inlet (cone 1) within the cyclonic unit is the main reason for this. The cone 1 structure enhances swirling and focuses energy within the inner area of the cone where there are abundant bubbles. As a result slowly floating minerals are forcibly recovered and tailings are effectively separated within this unit. However, cone 1 also reduces the vorticity downstream from it, which reduces the efficiency of tailings separation within this part. Therefore, the design of cone 1 should be based on the principles of lessening disturbances to the column unit while strengthening the separation effect of the cyclonic unit. Also, the axial distance between the paired cyclonic structures at the bottom of the column (cone 2) and cone 1 poses tough requirements because of an interaction between separation of the middlings and tailings.

Investigation of Micro Formability of Bulk Amorphous Alloy in the Supercooled Liquid State Based on Fluid Flow and Finite Element Analysis

Research results on the viscous flow deformation behavior of bulk amorphous alloy in different systems are reviewed. The material exhibits an ideal Newtonian fluid at a high temperature. Analytical solution of lamellar fluid flow behavior is used to discuss the viscous flow behavior of the bulk amorphous alloy in the supercooled liquid state. A material model, which describes such deformation behavior of Mg6oCusoYlo amorphous alloy, is introduced into the finite element method of microformin8 process. Surface feature size was investigated and found not sensitive to the micro formability. Bulk amorphous alloy may possibly be applied to microelectro-mechanical-systems （MEMS） fabrication.

Weather induced subtidal flows through multiple inlets of an arctic microtidal lagoon

Estuarine processes in the arctic lagoons are among the least studied but important subjects, especially considering the rapid warming of arctic water which may change the length of ice-free period in the summer. In this paper, wind-driven exchange flows in the micro-tidal Elson Lagoon of northern Alaska with multiple inlets of contrasting widths and depths are studied with in situ observations, statistical analysis, numerical experiments, a regression model on the basis of dynamics, and remote sensing data. Water velocity profiles were obtained from a bottom deployed acoustic Doppler current profiler(ADCP) in the northwestern Eluitkak Pass connecting the Beaufort Sea to the Elson Lagoon during a 4.9 day ice-free period in the summer of 2013. The subtidal flow is found correlated with wind(R^2 value ～96%). Frequently occurring east, northeast and north winds from the arctic atmospheric high-and low-pressure systems push water from the Beaufort Sea into the lagoon through the wide inlets on the eastern side of the lagoon, resulting in an outward flow against the wind at the narrow northwestern inlet. The counter-wind flow is a result of an uneven wind forcing acting through the asymmetric inlets and depth,an effect of "torque" or vorticity. Under northwest wind, the exchange flow at the northwestern inlet reverses its direction, with inward flows through the upwind northwestern inlet and outward flows through the downwind eastern inlets. A regression model is established based on the momentum equations and Taylor series expansions. The model is used to predict flows in July and August of 2015 and July of 2017, supported by available Landsat satellite images. About 73%–80% of the time the flows at Eluitkak Pass are out of Elson Lagoon for the summer of 2015 and 2017. Numerical experiments are conducted to corroborate the findings and illustrate the effects under various wind conditions. A quasi-steady state balance between wind force and surface pressure gradient is confirmed.

Capillary Micro-flow Through a Fiber Bundle(Part 2)

A numerical model was proposed to simulate the capillary micro-flow through a fiber bundle. The capillary pressure was predicted by the Young-Laplace equation and the corresponding optimal values of permeability were found by a trial-and-error method. The empirical Kozeny constants which are dependent on fiber volume fraction were recormnended for the prediction of permeability.

Fabrication of micro-flow channels on graphite composite bipolar plates using microplaning

A new method of manufacturing micro-flow channels on graphite composite bipolar plate(GCBPP) microplaning using specially designed multi-tooth tool is proposed. In this method, several or even dozens of parallel micro-flow channels ranging from 100 μm to 500 μm in width can be produced simultaneously. But, edge chippings easily occur on the rib surface of GCBPP during microplaning due to brittleness of graphite composites. Experimental results show that edge chippings result in the increase of contact resistance between bipolar plate and carbon paper at low compaction force. While the edge chippings scarcely exert influence on the contact resistance at high compaction force. Contrary to conventional view, the edge chippings can significantly improve performance of microfuel cell and big edge chippings outperform small edge chippings. In addition, the influence of technical parameters on edge chippings was investigated in order to obtain big, but not oversized edge chippings.

Flow characteristics of supersonic gas passing through a circular micro-channel under different inflow conditions

Gas flow in a micro-channel usually has a high Knudsen number. The predominant predictive tool for such a microflow is the direct simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC) method, which is used in this paper to investigate primary flow properties of supersonic gas in a circular micro-channel for different inflow conditions, such as free stream at different altitudes, with different incoming Mach numbers, and with different angles of attack. Simulation results indicate that the altitude and free stream incoming Mach number have a significant effect on the whole micro-channel flow field, whereas the angle of attack mainly affects the entrance part of micro-channel flow field. The fundamental mechanism behind the simulation results is also presented. With the increase of altitude, thr free stream would be partly prevented from entering into micro-channel.Meanwhile, the gas flow in micro-channel is decelerated, and the increase in the angle of attack also decelerates the gas flow. In contrast, gas flow in micro-channel is accelerated as free stream incoming Mach number increases. A noteworthy finding is that the rarefaction effects can become very dominant when the free stream incoming Mach number is low. In other words, a free stream with a larger incoming velocity is able to reduce the influence of the rarefaction effects on gas flow in the micro-channel.

Research on Micro-Flow Self-Sensing Actuators Based on Piezoelectric Ceramic Stack `

The paper is concerned with the micro-flow self-sensing actuators,the work of which is based on the secondary piezoelectric effect. The piezoelectric ceramic stack can yield micro-displacement due to its first inverse piezoelectric effect. Therefore,we apply this micro-displacement to cell micro-flow injection. Moreover, due to the charge of the secondary direct piezoelectric effect,the piezoelectric ceramic stack is able to detect the force and displacement in the injection by itself. The experiments of first inverse piezoelectric effect and secondary direct piezoelectric effect are conducted. The experiment results show that,subjected to 0- 60 V input,the piezoelectric ceramic stack can generate 13. 45 μm displacement,and control accuracy can achieve 2 nm. It can completely meet the needs of cell micro-flow injection. Also,the experiments demonstrate that the micro-displacement due to the first inverse piezoelectric effect can be well self-sensed by the electric charge due to the secondary direct piezoelectric effect.

Formation mechanism of micro-flows in aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) droplets on a substrate at different temperatures

The drying of aqueous poly（ethylene oxide） （PEO） droplet on a substrate at different temperatures was studied. It was found that the contact line receded when the substrate was at a temperature above 60 ℃. Different nucleation behavior and surface profiles of PEO films were found in different droplets drying processes. The rheological properties of aqueous PEO solutions were studied to understand the mechanism of contact line recession and micro-flow in drying aqueous PEO droplets. It was found that at low temperature, the contact line was static because of great viscous stress; while at high temperature, it receded because of great Marangoni force and the decrease of viscous stress. It was indicated that Marangoni convection was inhibited by the outward capillary flow and viscous stress at low temperature, whereas it became dominant at high temperature. Two types of mechanism for surface profiles and nucleation of PEO film from drying droplets are proposed, providing a theoretical guide for polymer solution application in oil and gas foam flooding technology.

Flowing simulation of injection molded parts with micro-channel

In the micro-molding of component with a micro-sized channel, the ability for polymer melt to flowing into the micro-channel in a macro-sized part is a big challenge. The multidimensional flow behaviors are included in the injection molding the macro-component with a micro-channel. In this case, a simplified model is used to analyze the flow behaviors of the macro-sized part within a micro-channel. The flow behaviors in the macro-cavity are estimated by using the finite element and finite difference methods. The influence of the injection rate, micro-channel size, heat transfer coefficient, and mold temperature on the flowing distance is investigated based on the non-isothermal analytic method. The results show that an increase in the radius of the micro-channel and mold temperature can improve effectively the flowing distance in the micro-channel.

Limitations of Lattice Boltzmann Modeling of Micro-Flows in Complex Nanopores

The multiscale transport mechanism of methane in unconventional reservoirs is dominated by slip and transition flows resulting from the ultra-low permeability of micro/nano-scale pores,which requires consideration of the microscale and rarefaction effects.Traditional continuum-based computational fluid dynamics(CFD)becomes problematic when modeling micro-gaseous flow in these multiscale pore networks because of its disadvantages in the treatment of cases with a complicated boundary.As an alternative,the lattice Boltzmann method(LBM),a special discrete form of the Boltzmann equation,has been widely applied to model the multi-scale and multi-mechanism flows in unconventional reservoirs,considering its mesoscopic nature and advantages in simulating gas flows in complex porous media.Consequently,numerous LBM models and slip boundary schemes have been proposed and reported in the literature.This study investigates the predominately reported LBM models and kinetic boundary schemes.The results of these LBM models systematically compare to existing experimental results,analytical solutions of Navier-Stokes,solutions of the Boltzmann equation,direct simulation of Monte Carlo(DSMC)and information-preservation DSMC(IP_DSMC)results,as well as the numerical results of the linearized Boltzmann equation by the discrete velocity method(DVM).The results point out the challenges and limitations of existing multiple-relaxation-times LBM models in predicting micro-gaseous flow in unconventional reservoirs.

Measuring In-Plane Micro-Motion of Micro-Structure Using Optical Flow

Optical flow method is one of the most important methods of analyzing motion images. Optical flow field is used to analyze characteristics of motion objects. According to motion features of micro-electronic mechani-cal system (MEMS) micro-structure, the optical algorithm based on label field and neighborhood optimization is presented to analyze the in-plane micro-motion of micro-structure. Firstly, high speed motion states for each fre-quency segment of micro-structure in cyclic motion are frozen based on stroboscopic principle. Thus a series of dynamic images of micro-structure are obtained. Secondly, the presented optical algorithm is used to analyze the image sequences, and can obtain reliable and precise optical field and reduce computing time. As micro-resonator of testing object, the phase-amplitude curve of micro-structure is derived. Experimental results indicate that the meas-urement precision of the presented algorithm is high, and measurement repeatability reaches 40 nm under the same experiment condition.