Thermally enhanced greases made of dispersions of small conductive particles suspended in fluidic polymers can offer significant advantages when used as a thermal interface material (TIM) in microelectronics cooling applications. A fundamental problem which remains to be addressed is how to predict the effective thermal conductivity of these materials, an important parameter in establishing the bulk resistance to heat flow through the TIM. <br /><br /> The following study presents the application of two simple theorems for establishing bounds on the effective thermal conductivity of such inhomogeneous media. These theorems are applied to the development of models which are the geometric means of the upper and lower bounds for effective thermal conductivity of base fluids into which are suspended particles of various geometries. <br /><br /> Numerical work indicates that the models show generally good agreement for the various geometric dispersions, in particular for particles with low to moderate aspect ratios. The numerical results approach the lower bound as the conductivity ratio is increased. An important observation is that orienting the particles in the direction of heat flow leads to substantial enhancment in the thermal conductivity of the base fluid. Clustering leads to a small enhancement in effective thermal conductivity beyond that which is predicted for systems composed of regular arrays of particles. Although significant enhancement is possible if the clusters are large, in reality, clustering to the extent that solid agglomerates span large distances is unlikely since such clusters would settle out of the fluid. <br /><br /> In addition, experimental work available in the literature indicates that the agreement between the selected experimental data and the geometric mean of the upper and lower bounds for a sphere in a unit cell are in excellent agreement, even for particles which are irregular in shape.

Thermally enhanced greases made of dispersions of small conductive particles suspended in fluidic polymers can offer significant advantages when used as a thermal interface material (TIM) in microelectronics cooling applications. A fundamental problem which remains to be addressed is how to predict the effective thermal conductivity of these materials, an important parameter in establishing the bulk resistance to heat flow through the TIM. <br /><br /> The following study presents the application of two simple theorems for establishing bounds on the effective thermal conductivity of such inhomogeneous media. These theorems are applied to the development of models which are the geometric means of the upper and lower bounds for effective thermal conductivity of base fluids into which are suspended particles of various geometries. <br /><br /> Numerical work indicates that the models show generally good agreement for the various geometric dispersions, in particular for particles with low to moderate aspect ratios. The numerical results approach the lower bound as the conductivity ratio is increased. An important observation is that orienting the particles in the direction of heat flow leads to substantial enhancment in the thermal conductivity of the base fluid. Clustering leads to a small enhancement in effective thermal conductivity beyond that which is predicted for systems composed of regular arrays of particles. Although significant enhancement is possible if the clusters are large, in reality, clustering to the extent that solid agglomerates span large distances is unlikely since such clusters would settle out of the fluid. <br /><br /> In addition, experimental work available in the literature indicates that the agreement between the selected experimental data and the geometric mean of the upper and lower bounds for a sphere in a unit cell are in excellent agreement, even for particles which are irregular in shape.

<p>The role of cardiac tissue structure in both normal and abnormal impulse conduction has been extensively studied by researchers in cardiac electrophysiology. However, much is left unknown on how specific micro- and macroscopic structural features affect conduction and conduction block. Progress in this field is constrained by the inability to simultaneously assess intramural cardiac structure and function, as well as the intrinsic complexity and variability of intact tissue preparations. Cultured monolayers of cardiac cells, on the other hand, present a well-controlled in vitro model system that provides the necessary structural and functional simplifications to enable well-defined studies of electrical phenomena. In this thesis, I developed a novel, reproducible cell culture system that accurately replicates the realistic microstructure of cardiac tissues. This system was then applied to systematically explore the influence of natural structure (e.g. tissue boundaries, expansions, local fiber directions) on normal and arrhythmogenic electrical conduction.</p><p>Specifically, soft lithography techniques were used to design cell cultures based on microscopic DTMRI (diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging) measurements of fiber directions in murine ventricles. Protein micropatterns comprised of mosaics of square pixels with angled lines that followed in-plane cardiac fiber directions were created to control the adhesion and alignment of cardiac cells on a two-dimensional substrate. The high accuracy of cell alignment in the resulting micropatterned monolayers relative to the original DTMRI-measured fiber directions was validated using immunofluorescence and image processing techniques.</p><p>Using this novel model system, I first examined how specific structural features of murine ventricles influence basic electrical conduction. (1) Realistic ventricular tissue boundaries, either alone or with (2) microscopic fiber directions were micropatterned to distinguish their individual functional roles in action potential propagation. By optically mapping membrane potentials and applying low-rate pacing from multiple sites in culture, I found that ventricular tissue boundaries and fiber directions each shaped unique spatial patterns of impulse propagation and additively increased the spatial dispersion of conduction velocity.</p><p>To elucidate the roles that natural tissue structure play in arrhythmogenesis, I applied rapid-rate pacing from multiple sites in culture in an attempt to induce unidirectional conduction block remote from the pacing site--a precursor to reentry. The incidence of remote block was found to be highly dependent on the direction of wave propagation relative to the underlying tissue structure, and with a susceptibility that was synergistically increased by both realistic tissue boundaries and fiber directions. Furthermore, all instances of remote block in these micropatterned cultures occurred at the anterior and posterior junctions of the septum and right ventricular free wall. At these sites, rapid excitation yielded more abrupt conduction slowing and promoted wavefront-waveback interactions that ultimately evolved into transmural lines of conduction block. The location and shape of these lines of block was found to strongly correlate with the spatial distribution of the electrotonic source-load mismatches introduced by ventricular structures, such as tissue expansions and sharp turns in fiber direction.</p><p>In summary, the overall objective of the work described in this thesis was to reveal the distinct influences of realistic cardiac tissue structure on action potential conduction and conduction block by engineering neonatal rat cardiomyocyte monolayers that reproducibly replicated the anatomical details of murine ventricular cross-sections. In the future, this novel model system is expected to further our understanding of structure-function relationships in normal and structurally diseased hearts, and possibly enable the development of novel gene, cell, and ablation therapies for cardiac arrhythmias.</p> / Dissertation

In this thesis, the resistance switching characteristic of Zn:SiO2 -based memory was studied. The resistive memory was fabricated by sputtering to deposit the Metal/Insulator/Metal (MIM) structure. The top and bottom layers were made by Pt and TiN respectively, and the insulator was Zn:SiO2 grown by co-sputtering with SiO2 and Zinc. We found that doping Zinc into SiO2 insulator induced the resistive switching characteristic. By the treatment of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) in Zn:SiO2 -based device,the operation current would decrease. In the result of x-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) , it showed that the defects in Zn:SiO2 thin-film were reduced. And the electric conduction mechanism of low resistance state made a change from ohmic conduction to hopping conduction. To emerge spontaneous phenomenon of hopping conduction, the memory devices were fabricated with a multi-layer structure. In Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), we found the signal of zinc, split into three different kinds of peaks, which met the multi-layer structure. From I-V sweep measurement, the multi-layer structure device could be appeared the spontaneous hopping conduction mechanism. In order to find out the initial state of electric conduction mechanism .We measured the device of Pt/Zn:SiO2/TiN with constant current forming. We found the initial state of electric conduction path out successfully, and it¡¦s operation current below 10 uA.

This thesis develops a power line carrier(PLC) communication module using FSK modulation technology by integration of PLC chip, with various hardware circuits such as DSP, signal coupling and amplifier circuits, filter. The communication performance and conduction EMI tests and executed for the communication module developed. The PLC module is then applied for appliance control of commercial customers to fulfill the demand response function for energy conservation by reducing the summer peak loading. Besides sending the load control command from central station in the smart grid, the power consumption of various appliances can also be collected and transmitted back to the control station via two way communication with the PLC communication module. Finally, the broadband PLC (BPLC) is applied for the CCTV supervision in system to support asset management of distribution room to prevent the power equipment from steal. With the remote control of light brightness and CCTV lens with high data transmission rate provided, the communication performance of PLC can therefore be verified in this study.

名古屋大学博士学位論文 学位の種類 : 博士(医学)(論文) 学位授与年月日:平成4年10月19日 狩野良雄氏の博士論文として提出された

Growth Mechanism and Infrared Detection of High-temperature Superconducting and Colossal Magnetoresistance Films Department of Electrical Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University Meng-Tsong Hong* Ying-Chung Chen**, Hsiung Chou** -------------------------------------------------- Abstract---- The growth mechanism of YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO) films grown by RF sputtering has been investigated. When growing films by RF sputtering, the shape of the plasma and the degree of resputtering effect were varied by setting different relative positions of the heater to the gun. As the substrate was near the plasma, the negative oxygen ions resputtered part of the mobile atoms from the surface of film back into the plasma, which caused the composition distortion, delayed the merge of grains and left uncovered holes. Setting a longer relative distance, the resputtering effect was suppressed and the precipitates appeared on the surface of films resulting in a rough surface. At an optimum relative position between heater and gun, the function of resputtering produced a polishing effect on the surface of films. This polishing effect suppressed the growth of precipitates without slowing down the growth of grains, a smooth and precipitate-free YBCO film might obtain. We also found that the film with smooth and precipitate-free morphology exhibited suppressed superconductivity. The most direct way to enhance the photoresponse of a bolometer is by modifying the microbridge from a single straight bridge to a meander or change the thermal coupling configuration between bolometer and heat sink. In the study of high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) bolometers, it is found that the geometry and thermal coupling configuration play very important roles on the behavior of heat conduction, which alter the thermal conversion efficiency, DT/WD. Actually, DT/WD is a matter of the absorption of the AC thermal irradiation and the dissipation of both the irradiation and the DC joule heat generated by the bias current. The competition between the capability of heat dissipation and the thermal generation determined the magnitude of DT/WD. The La0.67Ca0.33MnO3-y (LCMO) thin films with epitaxial structure and smooth surface morphology have been deposited. A LCMO thin-film microbridge was fabricated into a microbridge by conventional photolithography and dry etching for optical detection. The measured photoresponse, DV, of this LCMO thin-film microbridge reveals that it is bolometric in nature. The photoresponse is linearly proportional to the bias current Ib and the power density of irradiation WD, which strongly suggests the applicability of an LCMO thin-film microbridge to a linear optical detector. The ratio of the photoresponse to the irradiated power density, DV/WD, is independent of the incident-light wavelength l from 0.633 to 3.5 mm. The dependence of the photoresponse on modulated frequency f, follows the DV &#x00B5; f -0.21 relation. Under Ib = 100 mA and f = 5 Hz at an operating temperature Top = 223 K, the responsivity S and noise voltage Vn are 685 V/W and 20 nV¡ÑHz -0.5, respectively, for this LCMO thin-film microbridge. From the measured S and Vn, the noise equivalent power (NEP) and detectivity D* were be calculated to be 2.92&#x00B4;10-11 W¡ÑHz -0.5 and 2.76&#x00B4;109 cm¡ÑHz 0.5¡ÑW -1, respectively, for this LCMO thin-film microbridge. The experimental results from this LCMO thin-film microbridge show the practical applicability of this new detector system compared to other established detectors. *Student **Advisor

An experimental investigation exploring the use of wire mesh/hollow glass microsphere combination for use as thermal insulation was conducted with the aim to conclude whether or not it represents a superior insulation technology to those on the market. Three primary variables, including number of wire mesh layers, filler material, and temperature dependence were studied using an apparatus that was part of L.I.C.H.E.N (LabVIEW Integrated Conduction Heat Experiment Network), a setup whose basic components allow three vertically stacked samples to be thermally and mechanically controlled. Knowing the temperature profile in the upper and lower samples allows for determination of thermal conductivity of the middle material through the use of Fourier?s law. The numbers of layers investigated were two, four, six, and eight, with each separated by a metallic liner. The filler materials included air, s15, s35 and s60HS 3MTM hollow glass microspheres. The experiments were conducted at four temperatures of 300, 330, 366, and 400K with an interface pressure of 20 Psi. The experimental results indicated the ?number of layers? used was the primary factor in determining the effective thermal conductivity value. The addition of hollow glass microspheres as filler material resulted in statistically insignificant changes in effective thermal conductivity. Increasing the number of wire mesh layers resulted in a corresponding increase in effective thermal conductivity of the insulation. Changes in temperature had little to no effect on thermal conductivity. The effective thermal conductivity values for the proposed insulation structure ranged from 0.22 to 0.65 W/m-K, the lowest of which came from the two layer case having air as filler material. The uncertainties associated with the experimental results fell between 10 to 20 percent in all but a few cases. In the best performing cases, when compared with existing insulation technologies, thermal conductivity was approximately 3 to 10 times higher than these methods of insulation. Thus, the proposed insulation scheme with hollow glass-sphere filler material does not represent superior technology, and would be deemed uncompetitive with those readily available in the insulation market.

In the thesis, an LED driver circuit that is applied in low power lighting LED with constant output current and Power Factor Correction (PFC) is presented. The insulated Flyback converter is used for the LED driver. Power Factor Correction is realized with both the method of Voltage Follower Approach Control under Discontinuous Conduction Mode and the method of Boundary Conduction Control under Boundary Conduction Mode. Compared with Voltage Follower Approach Control, Boundary Conduction Control needs only output current feedback. Moreover, it possesses lesser magnetize inductance current, lesser electrical stress of elements, more flexible choice of elements specification, smaller output current ripples, and higher power factor under light load. The circuit design is expounded, and verified by IsSpice simulation and experiment result.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, January, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.