An insulation technique has been developed which contains a single or combination of materials to help minimize heat loss in actual industrial applications. For the petroleum industry, insulation for deep sea piping is one of the greatest challenges which would prevent the industry from meeting the high demand for oil through exploration into deeper ocean environments. At current seafloor depths (5,000~10,000ft), pipeline insulation is essential in preventing pipeline blockage resulting from the solidification of paraffin waxes and / or hydrate formation which exist in crude oil. To maintain crude oil temperatures above the paraffin solidification point (68°C or 155°F), new and better insulation techniques are essential to minimize pipeline heat loss and maintain crude oil temperatures. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to determine whether or not the thermal resistance of a new insulation concept, which involves IIT (Interstitial Insulation Technology) with screen wire, was greater than existing readily available commercial products through analytical modeling and experimentation. The model takes into account both conforming and nonconforming interfaces at the wire screen contacts within the interstitial space between coaxial pipes. In addition, confirmation was needed to determine whether or not laboratory testing of simulated coupons translate to thermal performance for a prototype pipe segment that fabricated with two layers of low conductivity wire-screen (stainless steel) as the interstitial insulation material. Both the inner and outer surface temperatures of the coaxial pipes were measured in order to evaluate the effective thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the insulation concept. The predicted results from the model compared very favorably with the experimental results, confirming both the trends and magnitudes of the experimental data. In other words, whether the reduction in heat transfer observed for small laboratory samples was realistic for application to a pipeline configuration. This effort involved both analytical modeling for all thermal resistances and experimental test runs for validation of the analytical model. Finally, it was a goal of this investigation to develop a simplified model for a multilayer composite structure which will include radiation heat transfer exchange among the layers that constitute the insulation. With the developed model, feasibility and performance characteristics of the insulation concept were predicted. The thermal predictions have demonstrated the thermal competitiveness of the interstitial insulation technology.

This thesis is focused on a project of all metal aircraft by UL-2 and LSA rules. The background research of aircrafts in existing category has been made in the market. The concept, with whom this thesis deals with, has been projected thanks to this analysis. The second part of the thesis is focused on avionics equipments of aircrafts. Market analysis has been made and the way of medernizing small sports airfts' equipment in categories UL and LSA has been projected.

Theoretical studies using the Kohn-Sham density functional formalism have been carried out to identify and investigate the stability of a variety of atomic clusters for their use in cluster assembled materials. The stable behavior found in a cluster system provides a way to classify inorganic clusters. The clusters in this study can be categorized in one of the following, jellium, all-metal aromatic, Zintl analogue or as a covalent metal-carbide. By understanding the electronic structure and ultimately the stable nature of a cluster first, it is proposed one can construct assemblies based on the stable cluster. The methodology presented is a viable way to design future nanomaterials with a variety of architectures and precise control over properties based on stable cluster motifs.

Depuis plusieurs décennies, la chimie du palladium a connu un véritable essor. Afin de de continuer dans cette optique, plusieurs axes de recherche ont été investigués dans le cadre de cette thèse. Grâce aux récents développements de la catalyse duale palladium/norbornène, la réaction de couplage entre des triflates aryliques et des partenaires bromobenzylamines nous a permis d’accéder à des motifs benzophénanthridines naturels. En parallèle, une nouvelle famille de complexes triangulaires de palladium a été isolée dans notre groupe. Cette espèce arborant 44 électrons de valence et une charge positive délocalisée sur son cœur tri-métallique, est la première molécule stable qui présente un caractère métallo-aromatique de type δ. Après l’optimisation d’une nouvelle voie de synthèse, nous avons pu accéder à des analogues de platine mais aussi à des composés hétéro-métalliques possédant des unités asymétriques similaires. Le caractère base de Lewis de ces complexes ont permis l’isolation de composés tétraédriques de type [M”(M₃)(Ln)]²⁺ malgré la répulsion des charges positives. Ces espèces triangulaires aromatiques ont aussi prouvé leur habileté en tant que catalyseur pour la réaction de semi-hydrogénation d’alcynes. En effet, ce complexe transforme chimiosélectivement les alcynes en alcènes de configuration Z sans présence de produit doublement réduit. / Recent developments on dual palladium/norbornene catalytic reactions led to one-pot synthesis of complexes polyheterocyclic molecules. By extension of this reaction, the coupling of aryl triflates and bromobenzylamines permitted us to synthesize natural benzophenanthridine. In parallel, a new family of triangular palladium complexes has been isolated in our research group. These 44 valence electrons complexes possessing a positive charge delocalized on the trimetallic core were the first stable compounds which presented δ-type aromaticity. After optimization of a new synthetic route, we could be able to isolate platinum analogues and also heterometallic clusters which interestingly had the same asymmetric unit than their homonuclear peers. Despite the unavoidable charge repulsion, the Lewis basic character revealed to be strong enough to bind other cationic species. Indeed, we reached to synthesize tetrahedral [M”(M₃)(Ln)]²⁺ complexes. In another side, we wondered if the stability and special properties of [Pd₃]⁺ clusters could confer to it some catalytic activities. Our studies were focused on semi-reduction reactions of alkynes. After optimization process, the catalyst [Pd₃(SMe)₃{P(C₇H)₃)₃}]⁺ showed results beyond our greatest expectations. Indeed, this cluster selectively produced thermodynamically less stable Z-alkene without traces of over-reduced compound. Total chemioselectivity towards alkynes was proved by the reaction on several molecules bearing functional groups which are sensitive to hydrogenation conditions.

Induction heating has become a popular alternative to other heat sources for stovetop cooking applications due to performance, efficiency, control response, and safety. The main drawback is that extreme difficulty is encountered when trying to head low-resistivity, non-ferromagnetic metals such as aluminum and copper, which are commonly used for cookware in several societies. The lack of ferromagnetic properties, resulting in no hysteresis dissipation, and low resistivity of such metals results in an impractically low resistance reflected through the work coil. The resultant impedance complicates inverter design, as it is too low to be efficiently driven with conventional inverter topologies. The magnitudes of current involved in exciting this impedance also severely impact the efficiency of the coil and resonant components, requiring extreme care in coil design. This work explores various techniques that have been proposed and/or applied to efficiently heat low-resistivity cookware and the associated limitations. A transformer-coupled series-load-resonant topology driven by a full-bridge inverter is proposed as a means of efficiently heating aluminum cookware within practical design constraints. The experimental circuit is built and successfully tested at an output power of 1.66kW. The procedure of optimizing the work coil for improved efficiency is also presented along with the procedure of measuring coil efficiency. An improved circuit incorporating switch voltage detection to guarantee zero-voltage switching is then built in order to overcome limitations of this design. / Master of Science