Road conditions affect fuel efficiency and vehicle fatigue when driving heavy trucks. Information about traveled road conditions enable optimization of chassis configuration when driving, and logging of vehicle stress. Previous work on this topic focus mainly on tuning of active suspension parameters in the car industry. One conceivable application for heavy trucks is implementation of active chassis level control based on road conditions, with possible improvements in driving economy as result. Another is logging of usage conditions which helps explain vehicle faults caused by abnormal wear. This work examines the possibilities to use already on vehicle sensors for road roughness estimation. It also investigates what requirements existing signals must fulfill to ensure reliable estimates. Two methods for road roughness estimation are proposed using rear axle level sensor and a simple linear suspension system model.

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At micrometer length scales of material removal, size effect is observed in mechanical micro-cutting where the energy per unit volume i.e. specific cutting energy increases nonlinearly as the uncut chip thickness is reduced from several hundred microns to a few microns (or less). There is no consensus in the literature on the cutting mechanism that causes this size effect. Noticeable discrepancy is also observed in the surface roughness produced at small feeds in micro-turning between the theoretical and the measured roughness. To date, there has been little effort made to develop a detailed process model for micro-cutting to accurately predict the size effect in specific cutting energy, and to develop a fundamental understanding of surface generation at the low feeds typical of micro-cutting processes. The main objective of this thesis is therefore to develop a predictive process model of micro-cutting of ductile metals that is capable of accurately predicting the size effect in specific cutting energy based on strain gradient based material strengthening considerations. In addition, this thesis attempts to explain the discrepancy between the theoretical and measured surface roughness at small feeds in micro-turning via a model that accounts for the size effect due to material strengthening. A coupled thermo-mechanical finite element model formulation incorporating strain gradient plasticity is developed to simulate orthogonal micro-cutting process. The thermo-mechanical model is experimentally validated in orthogonal micro-cutting of a strain rate insensitive aluminum alloy Al5083-H116. The model is then used to analyze the contributions of two major material strengthening factors to the size effect in specific cutting energy: strain gradient and temperature. The effects of cutting edge radius on the specific cutting energy and its role relative to the material length scale arising from strain gradient plasticity are also examined. A surface roughness model for micro-turning that incorporates the effects of kinematic roughness, cutting edge roughness and surface roughening due to plastic side flow is developed and shown to explain the observed discrepancy between the theoretical and measured surface roughness in micro-cutting. In addition, the model is found to accurately capture the increase in surface roughness at very low feeds.

By using Al interlayer to separate Cu and In, but Al is very easy to be oxidized by air. For avoiding that, using In layer can achieve that goal. And using Al interlayer can reduce the roughness of the CIS surface. The other idea is to substitute Al by Sb. In RTA selenzation process, the roughness of the CIS surface by with Sb interlayer is much smoother than using Al interlayer. And the grain with Sb interlayer is more compact (mean grain size is more than 1£gm). The composition test of CIS is measured by EPMA and EDS of TEM. In EPMA measurement, the composition of CIS by using Sb interlayer is more uniform (standard deviation is less than 1 atomic percent), and the composition of CIS by using Al interlayer is less uniform (standard deviation is 1 to 2 atomic percent). In these experiments, the assumption of composition of CIS is Cu/In=1.05, CIS with Al interlayer is Cu/In=1.05, CIS with Sb interlayer is Cu/In=0.90, and the results are 1.05, 1.05, and 0.89. The assumption is very close to the result. In EDS of TEM measurement, the results are the same as the result of paper (composition is different everywhere) and the standard deviation are bigger than 1 atomic percent, but the mean composition is similar to EPMA.

Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) film exhibits an extreme hardness, low friction coefficient, chemical stability, heat conductivity, and high resistance. Their properties lead to remarkable applications on industry. In the experiment, we use electrondeposition to deposit the DLC film on Si substrate. Different concentrations of electrolyte were used to deposit on the of silicon substrates with different roughness surface. KOH solution was used to etch and to get the different roughness on the surface of silicon substrates. the morphology of surface were observed by SEM and AFM. Composition and microstructure of the DLC film were characterized by the Raman spectroscopy and XPS, repectively. The optical properties of DLC film were investigated by the N&K analyzer. From the AFM results, the surface morphology observed by KOH etching on the surface of silicon substrates during etching time as 0¡B20¡B40¡B60 min, the surface roughness increased from 2.64 to 14.07 nm. Based on thevariation of surface roughness, the growth rate was observed more quicker than the non etch surface. Moreover, to deposit the DLC film on the alkalinity solution was better then acid solution. However, the ID/IG ratio and the sp2/sp3 ratio obtained from Raman and XPS increase with the roughness surface from 1.09 to 1.82 and 0.985 to 2.15, respectively. It is because that the microstructure of DLC film varies and exchange to graphitization. The mixed the ammonia water and ammonium acetate into acetic acid solution was used to deposit DLC film on Si surface, and film shows with lower ID/IG ratio. Additionally, as the amount of ammonium acetate was varied in the solution, the ID/IG ratio of the films observed as decrease from 1.2 to 0.93 with increasing amount of ammonium acetate 10g to 40g. It was due to the methyl radicals increase in the solution. Besides, we can find the optical band gap decreased with DLC films changing to graphitization.

In this study, a conductive polymer is used as tool electrode in machining the stainless steel surface by electrochemical buffing. Using a very small working current of this conductive polymer, the material of the workpiece is dissolved, and the peaks on the workpiece surface is buffed by the abrasive simultaneously. A mirror-like surface can be achieved with high efficiency using this novel method. In the micro-electrochemical machining experiments, the initial surface roughness of the workpiece is about Rmax = 1.645 £gm, the average speed of electrode 25 mm/sec, the machining time 10 min, the electrolyte temperature 25¢J, and the stroke 10 mm. The variable conditions are given as follows: the sodium nitrate (NaNO3) electrolyte of 0 to 40 wt%, the normal load of 0 to 20 N, and the working current of 0 to 100 mA. Experimental results show that the minimum surface roughness of the workpiece can be achieved to about Rmax = 0.3£gm at the electrolyte concentration of 20 wt%, the working current of 25 mA, and the normal load of 10N, which is selected as the optimum operative parameters in the following. The silicon carbide with average particle size of 9.5£gm is added to conduct the electrochemical buffing experiments. Compared with the micro-electrochemical machining method, results show that the maximum machining depth increases to about two times, and the surface roughness decreases to about 50%. In this condition, the mirror-like surface of the workpiece with the working depth of 1.5£gm and Rmax of 0.15£gm can be achieved.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects on DC sputtered thin films after different surface treatments on aluminum targets. Abrasive papers and nonwovens were used to polish the aluminum targets before sputtering. Surface morphology of the aluminum targets before and during sputtering were characterized using surface profiler. In addition, the erosion rate of the aluminum targets was obtained by measuring the changes of the erosion depth with sputtering time at a fixed processing condition. On the other hand, the surface morphology and electrical characteristics of the deposited thin films with respect to different aluminum targets were investigated. We found that surface roughness of the treated aluminum targets is of great importance to the stability of the film quality.

This paper reports the design and development of an underwater laser scanning system to measure the geometry of underwater objects. The application of structure light scanning method requires a calibrated CCD camera as the input device. Because the underwater environment is by far different from that in the air. Conventional calibration methods adopted in the air can not be applied for the underwater cases. In this paper we propose an algorithm which is analogous to the idea of longitudes/latitude in map projection to calibration the CCD. The calibration board pattern is fabricated by laying vertical and horizontal grid dots of 5cm span with an NC milling machine. To obtain the higher accuracy, we redesign the laser source holder to make the board and laser scan line coplane. We use a new laser that is focus adjustable. So we can capture clearer image of the edge on the target. Then, we calibrate the CCD camera with the calibration board. For testing our new system, two test pieces are used. One is sine waves ripples with varying amplitudes from 8mm to 3 mm. The other one is a rough surface with know spatial power spectrum. Scanning results show that: Scanning from rough 1 meter away, the absolute error for the sine wave ripples is less than 1mm along vertical direction. The power spectrum for the rough surface is accurate to the order of 3 to 5mm wave number. In order to survive in the harsh underwater environment, we design and make a rotational scanning system. The system was designed as an automatic image-capturing system, utilizing single board computer as control plane to work in conjunction with PLC(Programmable Logic Controller) for System power management. When using two 12V batteries as main power source, obtaining samples once per hour, capturing 360 images per operation, the system may run for approximately 39 hours.

As the digital technology advances with each passing day and the internet is evolving so quickly, the use of digital images is increasing on the demand. More information is showed in terms of digital patterns or images in our daily life. Besides retrieving image data from a given image database by context, we can alternatively do that by the image features we prescribed. This method is then called content-based image retrieval, CBIR. The wavelet transform possesses the power of multi-resolutional analysis for digital images. It¡¦s bands are mutually independent so that good results can often be obtained from partial analyses. Although wavelet transform is usually used for image compression and texture analysis, it has also many recent applications in the area of image retrieval. In this research, we propose the use of some new image roughness features to represent the variation of image textures. After an image is transformed on the wavelet, we collect the roughness features as well as wavelet energy features from each band. These features are then used to sort out desired images. We can show that the features as used in this work can be extracted even when the images are altered by some rotation, partial magnification or viewpoint changes.

The field strength prediction chart is a set of statistical curves obtained through the analysis of huge amount of field strength measurement data of the specific radio band in some area. It reflects the natural or artificial effects such as geography, atmospheric condition and buildings, etc. that affect the radio wave propagation. One advantage is that we can predict the rough relationship between the field strength and distance easily. As a result, we don¡¦t have to perform simulation field measurement in every radio planning. With prediction chart and field strength interference /protection ratio standard, we can suggest a minimum distance separation criterion between co-channel and adjacent channel broadcasting stations. It also provides a reference to authority to examine the broadcasting service application. The FCC develops the F(50,50) charts and minimum separation between radio stations base on data collected in the U.S.. Presently, the regulations concerning the broadcasting applications in Taiwan still follow the FCC¡¦s suggestion. In general, the field strength distribution is affected by two main factors: geography and atmospheric condition, which can be different from those in the U.S.. With the acquisition of digital terrain data of Taiwan, the terrain profile for a given path can be generated. In this thesis, we¡¦ll use Deygout model and the database of existed broadcasting stations to generate field strength distribution database for each station and analyze the database to develop the prediction chart that is suitable for the propagation environment in Taiwan. When combine with the field strength interference /protection ratio standard, we¡¦ll provide a minimum distance separation criterion of co-channel and adjacent channel in the FM band broadcasting stations. Our study can help the authority to achieve the most effective spectrum management in FM band.