Geometrical design of variable ratio tooth profile based on Boolean subtraction operation and a novel modification method

Variable transmission ratio racks show great potential in rice transplanters as a key component of variable transmission ratio steering to balance steering portability and sensitivity.The objective of this study was to develop a novel geometrical design method to achieve quick,high-quality modeling of the free curvilinear tooth profile of a variable transmission ratio rack.First,a discrete envelope motion 3D model was established between the pinion-sector and the variable transmission ratio rack blank based on the mapping relationship between the rotation angle of the pinion-sector and the displacement of the rack,according to the variable transmission ratio function.Based on the loop Boolean subtraction operation,which removed the pinion-sector from the rack blank during all moments of the discrete motion process,the final complex changing tooth shape of the variable transmission ratio rack was enveloped.Then,since Boolean cutting residues made the variable ratio tooth surface fluctuant and eventually affected the precision of the model,this study proposed a modification method for establishing a smooth and continuous tooth profile.First,a novel fitting algorithm used approximate variable ratio tooth profile points extracted from the Boolean cutting marks and generated a series of variable ratio tooth profiles by utilizing B-spline with different orders.Next,based on a transmission stability simulation,the variable ratio tooth profile with optimal dynamic performance was selected as the final design.Finally,tests contrasting the transmission stability of the machining samples of the initial variable ratio tooth profile and the final variable ratio tooth profile were conducted.The results indicated that the final variable ratio tooth profile is more effective than the initial variable ratio tooth profile.Therefore,the proposed variable ratio tooth profile modeling and modification method for eliminating Boolean cutting residues and improving surface accuracy is proved to be feasible.

Experimental Study on Interference Effect of Three Risers Arranged in Tandem with Variable Spacing Ratios

Taking the three-riser group arranged in tandem as the research subject,an experimental study was carried out on the risers arranged in tandem.The purpose is to explore the sensitivity of the dynamic response of each riser to spacing ratio and reveal the physical mechanism of riser groups under the interference effect.The spacing ratios of the adj acent risers are 4.0,5.0,6.0,and 8.0.At the spacing between the risers of 4.0D,the strong feedback effect increases the cross-flow(CF) displacement amplitude of the upstream riser.The shielding effect is the key factor affecting the interference effect on the midstream and downstream risers.At low reduced velocities,the shielding area initially appears,the displacement amplitude of the midstream and downstream risers varies greatly,the vibration of the two risers is still dominated by the first-order mode,and the transition between adjacent vibration modes is restrained.The multi-frequency superposition phenomenon is very significant at high reduced velocities.The most sensitive interference spacing under the test conditions is obtained.Due to the separation of the incoming flow and the double shielding effect of the upstream and midstream risers,the regular vortex-induced vibration in the wake area of the downstream riser is broken,and the vibration in the two directions is weakened.In general,the interference effect is more significant for the CF vibration of the three-riser groups than the in-line(IL) vibration.

A Modified Bi-Directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization Procedure with Variable Evolutionary Volume Ratio Applied to Multi-Objective Topology Optimization Problem

Natural frequency and dynamic stiffness under transient loading are two key performances for structural design related to automotive,aviation and construction industries.This article aims to tackle the multi-objective topological optimization problem considering dynamic stiffness and natural frequency using modified version of bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization(BESO).The conventional BESO is provided with constant evolutionary volume ratio(EVR),whereas low EVR greatly retards the optimization process and high EVR improperly removes the efficient elements.To address the issue,the modified BESO with variable EVR is introduced.To compromise the natural frequency and the dynamic stiffness,a weighting scheme of sensitivity numbers is employed to form the Pareto solution space.Several numerical examples demonstrate that the optimal solutions obtained from the modified BESO method have good agreement with those from the classic BESO method.Most importantly,the dynamic removal strategy with the variable EVR sharply springs up the optimization process.Therefore,it is concluded that the modified BESO method with variable EVR can solve structural design problems using multi-objective optimization.

Spatial Variability of Soil Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio and Its Driving Factors in Ili River Valley,Xinjiang,Northwest China

Soil carbon to nitrogen(C/N) ratio is one of the most important variables reflecting soil quality and ecological function,and an indicator for assessing carbon and nitrogen nutrition balance of soils.Its variation reflects the carbon and nitrogen cycling of soils.In order to explore the spatial variability of soil C/N ratio and its controlling factors of the Ili River valley in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,Northwest China,the traditional statistical methods,including correlation analysis,geostatistic alanalys and multiple regression analysis were used.The statistical results showed that the soil C/N ratio varied from 7.00 to 23.11,with a mean value of 10.92,and the coefficient of variation was 31.3%.Correlation analysis showed that longitude,altitude,precipitation,soil water,organic carbon,and total nitrogen were positively correlated with the soil C/N ratio(P < 0.01),whereas negative correlations were found between the soil C/N ratio and latitude,temperature,soil bulk density and soil p H.Ordinary Cokriging interpolation showed that r and ME were 0.73 and 0.57,respectively,indicating that the prediction accuracy was high.The spatial autocorrelation of the soil C/N ratio was 6.4 km,and the nugget effect of the soil C/N ratio was 10% with a patchy distribution,in which the area with high value(12.00–20.41) accounted for 22.6% of the total area.Land uses changed the soil C/N ratio with the order of cultivated land > grass land > forest land > garden.Multiple regression analysis showed that geographical and climatic factors,and soil physical and chemical properties could independently explain 26.8%and 55.4% of the spatial features of soil C/N ratio,while human activities could independently explain 5.4% of the spatial features only.The spatial distribution of soil C/N ratio in the study has important reference value for managing soil carbon and nitrogen,and for improving ecological function to similar regions.

Control of Vehicle Active Front Steering Based on Active Disturbance Rejection Feedback Controller

A control method of active front steering(AFS)based on active disturbance rejection technique was proposed for solving the model nonlinearity and parameter decoupling control in the traditional control methods.The AFS controller consists of the proportional and derivative(PD)feed-forward controller and the active disturbance rejection feedback controller.To improve the steering response characteristics of a vehicle,a PD controller is designed to realize variable steering gear ratio,and to enhance the safety of vehicle when steering.An active disturbance rejection controller(ADRC)is designed to follow the expected yaw rate of the vehicle.According to the input and output of system,extended state observer(ESO)of ADRC can dynamically estimate internal and external disturbance of the system,thus easily realizing the model nonlinear and parameter decoupling control.The AFS controller is simulated and validated in Matlab and CarSim.The simulating results of double lane change(DLC)test and pylon course slalom(PCS)test show that the ADRC can well control the vehicle model to complete the road simulation test of DLC and PCS with small path tracking error.The simulating results of angle step test of steering wheel show that the vehicle under the control of ADRC demonstrates good lateral response characteristic.The controller regulates a wide range of parameters.The model has less precision requirements with good robustness.

Effects of salinity and nutrients on the growth and chlorophyll fluorescence of Caulerpa lentillifera

Caulerpa lentillifera is a green algae that distributes worldwide and is cultivated for food. We assessed vegetative propagation of C. lentillifera by measuring the specific growth rate （SGR） and chlorophyll fluorescence of the green algae cultured at different salinities and nutrient levels. The results indicated that C. lentillifera can survive in salinities ranging from 20 to 50, and can develop at salinities of 30 to 40. The maximum SGR for C. lentillifera occurred at a salinity of 35. Both chlorophyll content and the ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence （F_v/F_m） were also at a maximum at a salinity of 35. Photosynthesis was inhibited in salinities greater than 45 and less than 25. Both the maximum SGR and maximum chlorophyll content were found in algae treated with a concentration of 0.5 mmol/L of NO3-N and 0.1 mmol/L of PO_4-P. The photosynthetic capacity of photosystem Ⅱ （PSⅡ） was inhibited in cultures of C. lentillifera at high nutrient levels. This occurred when NO_3-N concentrations were greater than 1.0 mmol/L and when PO4-P concentrations were at 0.4 mmol/L. As there is strong need for large-scale cultivation of C. lentillifera, these data contribute important information to ensure optimal results.

Simulation and Experimental Design of Load Adaptive Braking System on Two Wheeler

The braking quality is considered the main execution of the adaptive control framework that impacts the vehicle safety and rides solace astoundingly notably the stopping distance.This research work aims to create a pattern and design of an electromechanically adjusted lever that multiplies the applied braking force depending on the inputs given by the sensors to reduce the stopping distance of the vehicle.It is carried out using two main parts of the two-wheeler vehicle:thefirst part deals with the detection of load acting on the vehicle and identifying the required braking force to be applied,and the second part deals with the micro-controller which activates the stepper motor for varying the mechanical leverage ratio from various loads on the vehicle using two actively movable wedges.The electromechanically operated variable braking force system is developed to actuate the braking system based on the load on the motorcycle.The MATLAB simulation and experimental work are carried out for various loading(driver and pillion)conditions on a two-wheeler.The results indicate that the proposed electronically operated braking system is more effective than the conventional braking system for various loads and vehicle speeds.Specifically,the stopping distance of the vehicle is decreased significantly by about 4.9%between the con-ventional braking system and the simulated proposed system.Further,the experi-mental results show that the stopping distance is condensed by about 4.1%.The validation between simulated and experimental results revealed a great deal with the least error percentage of about 0.8%.

SOME POSTERIOR DISTRIBUTIONS FOR THE LAPLACE MEAN

Two posterior distributions for the mean of the Laplace distribution are obtained by deriving the distributions of the product XY and the ratio X/Y when X and Y are Student＇s t and Laplace random variables distributed independently of each other. Tabulations of the associated percentage points are given along with computer programs for generating them.

EXTREMES OF RATIOS OF DETERMINANTS AND CANONICAL CORRELATION VARIABLES

This article develops some extremes of the ratios of determinants. The results are themultivariate extensions of the extremes of quadratic forms, and can be applied to finding thecanonicai correlation variables of two random vectors. Hence a group of canonical correlationvariables is a solution of the extreme of the ratio of determinants.

Investigation on Emission and Combustion with 100% Palm Kernel Methyl Ester as Fuel on VCR-DI-Diesel Engine

Methyl or ethyl esters of vegetable oils are the reliable alternative fuels for the petroleum diesel, because their properties are very nearer to the petroleum diesel. But the flash point and auto-ignition temperatures are very high for these esters. CR （compression ratio） is one of the parameter which influences the atomization and vaporization of fuel. It is also caused for improvement in the turbulence which leads to better combustion. In this work the single cylinder diesel engine was tested at different compression ratios i.e. 16.5：1, 17.5：1, 18.5：1, 19：1 with palm kernel methyl ester without modifications. On increasing compression ratio closeness of molecules of air increases and fuel is injected into that air caused for better combustion. The inbuilt oxygen of methyl or ethyl ester will participate in the combustion and causes for reduction of HC and CO. Better compression ratio for an engine with particular fuel provides satisfactory thermal efficiency and less environmental pollution. In the investigations, for palm kernel methyl ester, 18.5：1 compression ratio is preferable on single cylinder Dl-diesel engine.

Robust control of hand wheel torque for active front steering system

Active front steering(AFS)system has been used as a promising technology which improves the steering portability and handing stability of vehicles.It employs a steering motor to realize the functions of variable steering ratio and vehicle stability control.However,it has a serious problem of unexpected reaction hand wheel torque caused by the additional steering angle.In this paper,the optimum hand wheel torque is designed based on the linear tire model.Considering the uncertainty and disturbance of the steering system and vehicle,an H∞controller is developed to make sure the hand wheel torque follows the reference torque accurately and quickly.The simulation shows that the proposed controller can compensate the unnatural reaction torque and provide a good steering feel for the driver.