Aim: to characterise the surface sites present on unrefined and ball milled Cornish kaolin, with a view to ultimately determining the mode of interaction between the mineral and industrially significant organic molecules. Milling and temperature were found to affect the structure of kaolin and types of surface sites present. These changes were monitored primarily by variable temperature diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (VT DRIFTS) and other complementary techniques including XRD and TGA. Curve fitting of the VT DRIFT spectra was used to aid characterisation of the types of water present on the mineral surface. The diagnostic probe molecule pyridine was used to identify the changes in reactive acid sites present as temperature increased both before and after milling, and oleic acid was used as a representative adsorbate to analyse the effects of carboxylic acid treatment. As ball milling time increased, so did the kaolin agglomerate size and the amount of surface sorbed water. The types of water present on the surface of unrefined and ball milled Cornish kaolin have been characterised, and grouped into four main types -strongly hydrogen bonded, moderately strongly hydrogen bonded, weakly hydrogen bonded and very weakly hydrogen bonded. The different water environments were observed using DRIFTS in the bending and stretching regions of the spectrum. Changes in the stretching region were generally less distinct, since the bands were broader than in the bending region. However, changes in both regions were elucidated by curve fitting of the VT DRIFT spectra, and certain bands appeared to have similar thermal behaviour. Freshly milled samples had a greater proportion of strongly hydrogen bonded water compared with the other, more weakly bonded types. Aged samples had less total surface sorbed water, and relatively less strongly hydrogen bonded water compared with the more weakly bonded species. Pyridine displaced the more strongly hydrogen bonded water (an effect similar to ageing). A dehydrated halloysite impurity was found which intercalated pyridine. VT XRD showed that deintercalation occurred at c 100 °C. The hydrogen bonding nature of the halloysite-pyridine interactions became less pronounced as milling increased. Pyridine adsorption to kaolin was via Bronsted sites in the unmilled kaolin. As milling time increased the mineral surface took on Lewis acid character and less hydrogen bonding occurred. Bronsted associations were present in all the milled (and unmilled) samples and became more significant as milling time increased (as more surface water was present). In addition to the intercalation reaction between halloysite and pyridine, this probe molecule is likely to bind to exposed (broken) edge sites on kaolin and/or halloysite, or to sorb between the slightly expanded mineral layers at the edges of the mineral stacks. Oleic acid adsorption onto kaolin at pH 3, was via surface adsorption of monodentate. Acid precipitate was loosely associated with the surface via hydrocarbon chain interactions with the adsorbed salt. At pH 9, total surface adsorption was low. Adsorbed species were monodentate in character. Mono- and dioleate were present as loosely bound surface precipitates. At pH 12 the salt was associated with the surface in the bridged bidentate form. Adsorption was high due to hydrocarbon chain associations with micelles, containing some trapped acid species. The precipitate at pH 12 was strongly held, and there was no significant reduction in intensity after washing.

The ball and beam system is a very simple and powerful control system problem. The easy construction of this system combined with its challenging control design requirement makes it one of the most favorable example models for control engineers. The model contains a horizontal beam which can pivot about its center; a DC Motor whose shaft is connected to the center of the beam; and a ball that can freely roll on top of the beam. The basic idea is to accurately tilt the beam about its center, using the motor, to indirectly control the position of the ball that freely rolls on the beam. In this thesis, the L1 adaptive control technique is considered for precise positioning of the rolling ball on the beam. Two different architectures of L1 adaptive control namely, the L1 adaptive state feedback control and the L1 adaptive output feedback control are designed and verified in simulation. L1 adaptive control guarantees transient performance and robustness in presence of fast adaptation without introducing or enforcing persistence of excitation.

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Orientador: Célia Maria Landi Franco / Banca: Thais de Souza Rocha / Banca: Ana Carolina Conti e Silva / Resumo: Amidos modificados são utilizados pela indústria de alimentos por apresentarem melhor comportamento que amidos nativos. Modificações visando a redução do diâmetro granular para a obtenção de grânulos de tamanho similar aos da molécula de gordura tem sido de grande interesse, pois este amido modificado pode ser usado como substituto de gordura em diversas formulações. Para isso, o pré-tratamento enzimático pode ser usado para fragilizar a estrutura granular do amido e facilitar um posterior tratamento físico como a moagem, obtendo grânulos com menor diâmetro. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar o efeito da hidrólise enzimática seguida de moagem em moinho de bolas sobre as características estruturais e físico-químicas do amido de mandioquinha-salsa (Arracacia xanthorrhiza). Amido isolado de raízes de mandioquinha-salsa foi hidrolisado com α-amilase bacteriana e/ou amiloglucosidase fúngica, a 37 o C, em três diferentes condições: A: 40 SKB/g de α-amilase e 10 U/g amiloglucosidase por 36 h; B: 20 SKB/g de α-amilase e 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h; C: 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h. Após hidrólise os mesmos foram moídos por 1 e 2 h. Os amidos nativos e modificados foram analisados quanto à distribuição de tamanho de grânulos. Houve redução do diâmetro dos grânulos para todos os amidos tratados, mas a condição de hidrólise B foi a escolhida para a continuidade dos experimentos, por ter apresentado uma distribuição de tamanho de grânulos após moagem mais homogênea. Os amidos nativos e hidrolisados com 20 SKB/g de α-amilase e 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h foram analisados quanto a forma dos grânulos, distribuição do comprimento das cadeias laterais da amilopectina, distribuição do tamanho molecular dos componentes do amido, teor de amilose, difração de raios-X... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Modified starches are used by food industry because they have better performance than native starches. Modifications in order to reduce granular diameter to obtain granules of similar size to those of fat molecules has been of great interest, for this modified starch can be used as a fat substitute in various formulations. For this purpose, a enzymatic pretreatment can be used to weaken the granular structure of starch and facilitate a subsequent physical treatment such as grinding. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of enzymatic hydrolysis followed by milling in a ball mill on the structural and physicochemical characteristics of Peruvian carrot (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) starch. Starch isolated from roots of Peruvian Carrot was hydrolyzed with bacterial α-amylase and fungal amyloglucosidase at 37 °C in three different conditions: A: 40 SKB/g of α-amylase and 10 U/g amyloglucosidase for 36 h; B: 20 SKB/g of α-amylase and 5 U/g amyloglucosidase for 12 h; C: 5 U/g amyloglucosidase for 12 h. After hydrolysis, the starches were ball milled for 1 and 2 h. The native and modified starches were analyzed for granular size distribution. There was reduction of the granular diameter for all modified starches, but the B condition of hydrolysis was choosen to continue the experiments because the starches modified in this condition displayed a more homogeneous granular size distribution after milling. The native and hydrolyzed with 20 SKB / g of α-amylase and 5 U / g amyloglucosidase for 12 h starches were analyzed for granule shape, distribution of branch chain length of amylopectin, molecular size distribution of the starch components, apparent amylose content, X-ray diffraction, thermal and pasting properties, swelling power and solubility. The native starch granules, analyzed in optical microscope... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-08-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:50:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 conceicao_fs_me_sjrp.pdf: 781570 bytes, checksum: 15b43ff1876929d7de91439fa3fa6f0b (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Amidos modificados são utilizados pela indústria de alimentos por apresentarem melhor comportamento que amidos nativos. Modificações visando a redução do diâmetro granular para a obtenção de grânulos de tamanho similar aos da molécula de gordura tem sido de grande interesse, pois este amido modificado pode ser usado como substituto de gordura em diversas formulações. Para isso, o pré-tratamento enzimático pode ser usado para fragilizar a estrutura granular do amido e facilitar um posterior tratamento físico como a moagem, obtendo grânulos com menor diâmetro. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar o efeito da hidrólise enzimática seguida de moagem em moinho de bolas sobre as características estruturais e físico-químicas do amido de mandioquinha-salsa (Arracacia xanthorrhiza). Amido isolado de raízes de mandioquinha-salsa foi hidrolisado com α-amilase bacteriana e/ou amiloglucosidase fúngica, a 37 o C, em três diferentes condições: A: 40 SKB/g de α-amilase e 10 U/g amiloglucosidase por 36 h; B: 20 SKB/g de α-amilase e 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h; C: 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h. Após hidrólise os mesmos foram moídos por 1 e 2 h. Os amidos nativos e modificados foram analisados quanto à distribuição de tamanho de grânulos. Houve redução do diâmetro dos grânulos para todos os amidos tratados, mas a condição de hidrólise B foi a escolhida para a continuidade dos experimentos, por ter apresentado uma distribuição de tamanho de grânulos após moagem mais homogênea. Os amidos nativos e hidrolisados com 20 SKB/g de α-amilase e 5 U/g amiloglucosidase por 12 h foram analisados quanto a forma dos grânulos, distribuição do comprimento das cadeias laterais da amilopectina, distribuição do tamanho molecular dos componentes do amido, teor de amilose, difração de raios-X... / Modified starches are used by food industry because they have better performance than native starches. Modifications in order to reduce granular diameter to obtain granules of similar size to those of fat molecules has been of great interest, for this modified starch can be used as a fat substitute in various formulations. For this purpose, a enzymatic pretreatment can be used to weaken the granular structure of starch and facilitate a subsequent physical treatment such as grinding. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of enzymatic hydrolysis followed by milling in a ball mill on the structural and physicochemical characteristics of Peruvian carrot (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) starch. Starch isolated from roots of Peruvian Carrot was hydrolyzed with bacterial α-amylase and fungal amyloglucosidase at 37 °C in three different conditions: A: 40 SKB/g of α-amylase and 10 U/g amyloglucosidase for 36 h; B: 20 SKB/g of α-amylase and 5 U/g amyloglucosidase for 12 h; C: 5 U/g amyloglucosidase for 12 h. After hydrolysis, the starches were ball milled for 1 and 2 h. The native and modified starches were analyzed for granular size distribution. There was reduction of the granular diameter for all modified starches, but the B condition of hydrolysis was choosen to continue the experiments because the starches modified in this condition displayed a more homogeneous granular size distribution after milling. The native and hydrolyzed with 20 SKB / g of α-amylase and 5 U / g amyloglucosidase for 12 h starches were analyzed for granule shape, distribution of branch chain length of amylopectin, molecular size distribution of the starch components, apparent amylose content, X-ray diffraction, thermal and pasting properties, swelling power and solubility. The native starch granules, analyzed in optical microscope... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Understanding the dynamic behavior of particulate materials is extremely important to many industrial processes with a wide range of applications ranging from hopper flows in agriculture to tumbling mills in the mining industry. Thus simulating the dynamics of particulate materials is critical in the design and optimization of such processes. The mechanical behavior of particulate materials is complex and cannot be described by a closed form solution for more than a few particles. A popular and successful numerical approach in simulating the underlying dynamics of particulate materials is the discrete element method (DEM). However, the DEM is computationally expensive and computationally viable simulations are typically restricted to a few particles with realistic particle shape or a larger number of particles with an often oversimplified particle shape. It has been demonstrated for numerous applications that an accurate representation of the particle shape is essential to accurately capture the macroscopic transport of particulates. The most common approach to represent particle shape is by using a cluster of spheres to approximate the shape of a particle. This approach is computationally intensive as multiple spherical particles are required to represent a single non-spherical particle. In addition spherical particles are for certain applications a poor approximation when sharp interfaces are essential to capture the bulk transport behavior. An advantage of this approach is that non-convex particles are handled with ease. Polyhedra represent the geometry of most convex particulate materials well and when combined with appropriate contact models exhibit realistic transport behavior to that of the actual system. However detecting collisions between the polyhedra is computationally expensive, often limiting simulations to only a few thousand of particles. Driven by the demand for real-time graphics, the Graphical Processor Unit (GPU) offers cluster type performance at a fraction of the computational cost. The parallel nature of the GPU allows for a large number of simple independent processes to be executed in parallel. This results in a significant speed up over conventional implementations utilizing the Central Processing Unit (CPU) architecture, when algorithms are well aligned and optimized for the threading model of the GPU. This thesis investigates the suitability of the GPU architecture to simulate the transport of particulate materials using the DEM. The focus of this thesis is to develop a computational framework for the GPU architecture that can model (i) tens of millions of spherical particles and (ii) millions of polyhedral particles in a realistic time frame on a desktop computer using a single GPU. The contribution of this thesis is the development of a novel GPU computational frame- work Blaze-DEM, that encompasses collision detection algorithms and various heuristics that are optimized for the parallel GPU architecture. This research has resulted in a new computational performance level being reached in DEM simulations for both spherical / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

This thesis reports an investigation of the generation of heat on, and the prediction of temperature of high-speed, dry-film lubricated, stainless steel bearing balls.

The intention of this thesis is to analyze the representations of masculinity in the anime series Dragon Ball Z as it aired on Cartoon Network's programming block Toonami, specifically the nature in which they were framed and how oppositional interpretations in the fandom became prevalent as a result. The series emphasizes the evolution of its central characters Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan into performing a sensitive masculinity, but there are a prevalence of images in the series that discredit this. Similarly, the way the series was advertised on Toonami placed emphasis on images of superficial violence and reinforced the masculinity that the series was attempting to move beyond. Understanding the ways fans have interpreted Dragon Ball Z on Toonami helps reveal that there is much more to a media text's influence than its themes and representations of gender.

The linear actuator is widely used in the industrial and aerospace arenas. The application of the linear actuator varies. The ball screw type linear actuator or ball screw system is one design. The ball screw is a mechanical system that converts rotation motion into a linear motion. The ball screw linear actuator, compared with other linear actuators, has better efficiency, higher speed, less noise, and higher load capacity. Ball screw linear actuators are used in a number of areas, such as coordinated measuring machines, 3D printers, and aerospace actuators. In this research, the industrial sponsor provided a ball screw linear actuator, and they required its accuracy to be improved. The linear actuator suffers from an accuracy problem due to various reasons. One of the major problems is nonlinear friction, which makes it difficult to estimate using the simple friction model. In this thesis, a LuGre friction model is introduced and applied to the ball screw system. The sponsor’s ball screw system includes the ball screw sliding table, AC servo drive, AC servo motor, and a linear encoder sensor. The hardware control system for the ball screw system needs to be built. Therefore, this thesis describes how a custom ball screw control system was built. The control hardware ball screw system includes a microcontroller and a custom-made digital-to-analog converter. The linear encoder position sensor’s reading methods were tested and implemented in the microcontroller. A custom digital-to-analog converter was made and tested. The control algorithms based on the LuGre friction compensator are discussed and were simulated in the Matlab Simulink environment. Then, the physical implementation of the control algorithms on ball screw system hardware were made. Finally, a new proposed control method based on the LuGre friction model performed best in terms of accuracy consistence and tracking compare to the other mentioned controllers. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Deep groove and angular con tact 25 and 30 mm bore ball bearings were tested to high speeds using air-oil mist lubrication. Test conditions included cooling air flow rates of 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 scfm (0.05, 0.10, and 0.20 kg/min), thrust loads of 50, 75, and 100 lb (222, 334, and 445 N), and a constant radial load of 25 lb (111 N). Steady-state bearing outer race temperature was recorded at various speeds under each set of test conditions. Maximum ON values of 1.9 x 10⁶, 1.5 x 10⁶, 1.4 x 10⁶, and 1.26 x 10⁶ were achieved on the 30 mm deep groove, the 25 mm deep groove, the 25 mm angular contact, and the 30 mm angular contact bearings, respectively. Tests were usually terminated when the stabilized outer race temperature reached approximately 200°F (366 K) although the 30 mm deep groove bearing was operated to 240°F (389 K). A cooling air flow rate of 1.5 scfm (0.05 kg/min) was judged not adequate for high speed bearing operation under the tested conditions. An outer-race temperature prediction equation, based on a regression analysis of the test results, is presented for each test bearing. / M.S.