Breathable water-repellent garments are common products on the outdoor market. There are many recommendations on how to wash and waterproof your garment in order to make sure that its water-repellence is cared for, but the advice given by different sources is inconsistent. Are expensive products really necessarily or are regular laundry products just as good? What waterproofing agents should one use in order to insure that the water-repellent layer is restored? Four different water-repellent wash-in products were tested on polyester and polyamide fabrics. Seven laundry products and two water-repellent wash-in products were tested on jackets with dendrimer based finishes and untreated polyamide fabrics. The results were evaluated by spray testing according to ISO EN 24920 and sessile drop tests. Not all wash-in products offer good water-repellence on polyamide and polyester fabrics. Two laundry detergents decreased the water-repellence of the jackets. The laundry detergents did not affect the function of wash-in waterproofing agents on the jackets. The water-repellence of one wash-in product was affected by the use of two different detergents on untreated fabric / Program: Textilingenjörsutbildningen

Dans certaines conditions, une baisse significative de la taille des gouttes se produit en émulsification membranaire avec vibrations transversales. Pour comprendre les mécanismes impliqués, nous avons développé deux dispositifs expérimentaux, dans lesquels une goutte unique est formée à travers un capillaire dans une phase externe, qui est soit stationnaire, soit en écoulement. Le capillaire peut être mis en vibration parallèlement à son axe.Lorsque la phase externe est stationnaire, au-delà d’une amplitude seuil de forçage, la taille des gouttes formées diminue significativement. La goutte entre en résonance quand sa fréquence propre coïncide avec la fréquence de forçage et elle se détache si elle atteint une élongation critique. La goutte est modélisée comme un oscillateur harmonique linéaire forcé. Un terme d’amortissement additionnel décrit la dissipation visqueuse entre la goutte et la surface du capillaire. Ce modèle prédit bien les amplitudes seuils et les diamètres de gouttes.Lorsque la phase externe s’écoule, nous avons étudié deux régimes de formation de gouttes, en goutte à goutte (dripping) ou à partir d’un jet (jetting). Expérimentalement, la transition du dripping au jetting se produit à un nombre de Weber interne seuil, dont la valeur dépend des nombres capillaire et d’Ohnesorge externes. Le jet se rétrécit (narrowing) ou s’élargit (widening) selon le rapport de vitesses des phases choisi. En dripping, les diamètres de gouttes sont bien prédits par un bilan des moments. En jetting, un modèle basé sur l’équation du mouvement permet d’estimer la vitesse critique permettant la transition au jetting et les diamètres de gouttes résultants. / In transversally vibrating membrane emulsification, significantly smaller drops are generated in certain conditions. We aim to explain the mechanisms involved. To do so, two experimental setups were developed. A single drop is formed from a nozzle into an outer phase, which is either stationary or cross-flowing. The nozzle can be submitted to axial vibrations.For a drop formed into a stationary phase, a transition in drop generation occurs above a critical forcing amplitude. Below the threshold, a large drop forms by dripping. Above the threshold, a drop detaches when its first eigenfrequency and the forcing frequency coincide. The drop then resonates and detaches once a critical elongation ratio is reached. We model a drop as a linearly forced harmonic oscillator and add an extra damping term to account for the viscous dissipation between the drop and nozzle surface. We well reproduce the threshold amplitudes and drop diameters.We also study drops generated into cross-flow. In dripping mode, drop diameters are described by a torque balance. At a critical inner Weber number function of the outer capillary and Ohnesorge numbers, a transition to jetting occurs. Jet widening or narrowing takes place depending on the phase velocity ratio. We propose a model to account for the transition to jetting based on the drop equation of motion. Overall, we adequately account for the jetting velocity and drop diameters, with discrepancies which were explained.

O Fundo de Financiamento ao Estudantil (Fies), programa de financiamento estudantil a taxas de juros subsidiadas, foi criado em 1999, mas passou por uma forte expansão após 2010, ano em que ocorreu a reformulação das condições de financiamento, como a redução dos juros para 3,4% a.a., ampliação dos prazos de carência e de pagamento e a dispensa da exigência de fiador para estudantes de menor renda. A partir de então, mais de 1,1 milhão de estudantes formalizaram contratos com o Fies, envolvendo recursos orçamentários da ordem de R$ 14 bilhões. A partir do Censo da Educação Superior de 2009 a 2012 e dos dados do Enade de 2009 a 2010, e utilizando a metodologia de diferenças em diferenças, este estudo avalia o impacto do Fies na quantidade de matrículas e nas taxas de evasão nos cursos presenciais de instituições privadas brasileiras de ensino superior. Como resultados, foram encontrados efeitos do Fies sobre as matrículas de 6,3% a 9% e sobre a taxa de evasão de -2 a -2,6 pontos percentuais. Como forma de testar a robustez dos resultados realizaram-se testes de placebo, em que os resultados foram replicados para a rede pública, para cursos não habilitados ao Fies e para o período pré-tratamento. Não foram encontrados efeitos estatisticamente significativos para nenhum dos casos, exceto para o teste de placebo para a taxa de evasão utilizando os dados anteriores ao início do tratamento, e estes significativos a 10%. / The Financing Fund the Higher Education Student (FIES), a student financing program of subsidized interest rates was established in 1999, but passed by a strong expansion after 2010 when there was an overhaul of the financing conditions, as the reduction of interest to 3.4% per year, expansion of grace period and payment deadlines to dispenses a guarantor requirement paragraph students of lower income. From then on, over 1.1 million students formalized contracts with Fies involving budgetary resources of the order of R$ 14 billion. At from the Census of the Higher Education from 2009 to 2012 and Enade data from 2009 and 2010, this study uses differences in differences methodology with the objective of evaluating the impact of Fies on enrollment amount and evasion rates in courses of brazilian higher education private institutions. The results suggest increase on enrollment from 6.3% to 9% and the dropout rate of -2 to -2.6 percentage points. In order to test the robustness of the results were performed placebo tests where the results were replicated to the public courses, for courses not entitled to Fies and for the pre-treatment period. No statistically significant effects were found for any of the cases, except for the placebo test for the dropout rate using data prior to the start of treatment, and these significant 10%.

A disciplina de bioquímica é parte integrante do currículo de todos os cursos de graduação da Área Biológica, sendo pré-requisito para outras disciplinas. São de conhecimento geral as dificuldades que os estudantes enfrentam no aproveitamento desta disciplina. Para investigar estas dificuldades foi criado um Plantão de Dúvidas on line, disponível para estudantes graduandos, com três finalidades: (i) oferecer um suporte aos estudantes para facilitar o prosseguimento dos seus estudos, (ii) analisar as dúvidas apresentadas como uma estratégia para diagnóstico das dificuldades mais freqüentes e (iii) realizar uma classificação do nível cognitivo das dúvidas recebidas. Ao final do período de atendimento, foram recebidas e respondidas 416 questões. Houve várias questões conceituais, a enorme maioria tendo sido problemas ou exercícios a serem resolvidos. Os assuntos mais freqüentemente questionados foram: (i) metabolismo celular (42,5%), principalmente metabolismo de lipídios e a respiração celular; (ii) conceitos básicos (14,2%) sobre aminoácidos, tampão entre outros; (iii) estrutura de proteínas (8,7%) e (iv) enzimas (7,0%). Estes percentuais correlacionam-se com a carga horária dedicada a cada um dos tópicos na maioria das disciplinas. Uma importante dificuldade encontrada foi a integração dos processos metabólicos. Em relação ao nível cognitivo, 61% das dúvidas foram de nível baixo, 28% foram de nível médio e 11% foram de nível alto. Uma análise mais aprofundada é necessária para investigar as causas das dificuldades apontadas. / The biochemistry discipline integrates the curriculum of all graduation courses on the Biological Area and is a basis for other disciplines. The students difficulties in this discipline are already widely recognized. To investigate these difficulties, we created a drop-in on line service that had three purposes: (i) to give support to students learning by answering their questions and solving their problems whenever they appear, (ii) to analyze the questions presented, as a strategy to diagnose the most prevalent difficulties and (3) to carry through a classification of the cognitive level of the received doubts. After the period of attendance of this service on line, 416 questions were received and answered. There were many conceptual questions being the majority related to problems and exercises. The most frequent questions dealt with cell metabolism (42.5%), mainly lipid metabolism and aerobic metabolism; basic concepts (14.2%) such as about amino acids and buffer, protein structure (8.7%) and enzymes (7.0%). These percentages are correlated to the number of hours dedicated to each subjects in the disciplines. The main difficulty founded was the integration of metabolic processes. Related to the cognitive level, 61% of the doubts had been of low level, 28% had been of average level and 11% had been of high level. A more in-deep analysis will be necessary to investigate the causes of the pointed difficulties.

Many daily life products consist of mixtures of oil and water. When an immiscible material is dispersed an interface in-between the two phases is created which gives rise to rheological phenomena which can be exploited for product formulation; this is the case in products such as hand-creams and food products. Furthermore emulsions are used to transport hydrophobic materials, for example, many pharmaceuticals are injected as emulsions into the bloodstream. The performance of such products depends on their microstructure, which is determined by its formulation and how its constituents are mixed together; therefore the microstructure depends on the properties of the dispersed phases, the emulsifier used, the equipment used and its processing conditions. Emulsified products are seldom mono-dispersed due to the complex drop breakup mechanism in the turbulent fields inside the equipment in which the phases are forced together. The chaotic breakup mechanism of highly viscous dispersed phases yield complex and broad drop size distributions (DSD) as a result of the dominating viscous cohesive stresses inside the parent drop. Former studies have used the Sauter mean diameter and/or the size of the largest drop as the characteristic measure of central tendency of the DSD to correlate their results and to prove mechanistic or phenomenological models; however these parameters in isolation are insufficient to characterise the whole DSD of highly polydisperse emulsions. In this dissertation a vast amount of silicon oils of different viscosity were used as dispersed phase to study the effect of various processing conditions and formulations on the resulting DSD. The effect of several formulation and processing parameters were studied for two different mixing devices: stirred vessels and in-line high-shear mixers. (1) For stirred vessels, the effect of stirring speed, continuous phase viscosity and dispersed phase volume fraction were studied in combination with the viscosity of the dispersed phase for steady-state systems. (2) For in-line high-shear mixers a model that links batch and multi-pass continuous emulsification for multimodal DSD was derived from a transient mass balance. Processing parameters such as time and volume, flow rate and number of passes through the mixer, and stirring speed were studied for a wide dispersed phase viscosity range. The analytical methodology implemented included the use of one or more probability density functions to describe the shape of the DSD. The models proposed gave reasonable approximations of the Sauter mean diameter and allowed to study the drop size changes and the relative amount of different types of drops resulting from different breakup mechanisms.

Reliable thermal modelling approaches are crucial to transformer thermal design and operation. The highest temperature in the winding, usually referred to as the hot-spot temperature, is of the greatest interest because the insulation paper at the hot-spot undergoes the severest thermal ageing, and determines the life expectancy of the transformer insulation. Therefore, the primary objective of transformer thermal design is to control the hot-spot temperature rise over the ambient temperature within certain limit. For liquid-immersed power transformers, the hot-spot temperature rise over the ambient temperature is controlled by the winding geometry, power loss distribution, liquid flow rate and liquid properties. In order to obtain universally applicable thermal modelling results, dimensional analysis is adopted in this PhD thesis to guide computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for disc-type transformer windings in steady state and their experimental verification. The modelling work is split into two parts on oil forced and directed (OD) cooling modes and oil natural (ON) cooling modes. COMSOL software is used for the CFD simulation work For OD cooling modes, volumetric oil flow proportion in each horizontal cooling duct (Pfi) and pressure drop coefficient over the winding (Cpd) are found mainly controlled by the Reynolds number at the winding pass inlet (Re) and the ratio of horizontal duct height to vertical duct width. The correlations for Pfi and Cpd with the dimensionless controlling parameters are derived from CFD parametric sweeps and verified by experimental tests. The effects of different liquid types on the flow distribution and pressure drop are investigated using the correlations derived. Reverse flows at the bottom part of winding passes are shown by both CFD simulations and experimental measurements. The hot-spot factor, H, is interpreted as a dimensionless temperature at the hot-spot and the effects of operational conditions e.g. ambient temperature and loading level on H are analysed. For ON cooling modes, the flow is driven by buoyancy forces and hot-streak dynamics play a vital role in determining fluid flow and temperature distributions. The dimensionless liquid flow and temperature distributions and H are all found to be controlled by Re, Pr and Gr/Re2. An optimal design and operational regime in terms of obtaining the minimum H, is identified from CFD parametric sweeps, where the effects of buoyancy forces are balanced by the effects of inertial forces. Reverse flows are found at the top part of winding passes, opposite to the OD results. The total liquid flow rates of different liquids for the same winding geometry with the same power loss distribution in an ON cooling mode are determined and with these determined total liquid flow rates, the effects of different liquids on fluid flow and temperature distributions are investigated by CFD simulations. The CFD modelling work on disc-type transformer windings in steady state present in this PhD thesis is based on the dimensional analyses on the fluid flow and heat transfer in the windings. Therefore, the results obtained are universally applicable and of the simplest form as well. In addition, the dimensional analyses have provided insight into how the flow and temperature distribution patterns are controlled by the dimensionless controlling parameters, regardless of the transformer operational conditions and the coolant liquid types used.

O carvão responde pela maior parte da produção da eletricidade em vários países, e é o combustível mais queimado em caldeiras de usinas termelétricas no mundo, sendo assim uma das principais fontes de gases de efeito estufa. A biomassa de madeira é um combustível renovável, e o dióxido de carbono tem um ciclo curto nos processos de oxidação das biomassas. Este estudo teve como principais objetivos comparar a combustão de dois carvões minerais (um brasileiro e outro colombiano) e um carvão vegetal em um forno tubular de queda livre, comumente chamado de forno DTF (Drop Tube Furnace). Um DTF consiste em um reator cilíndrico vertical, com aquecimento homogêneo, onde a combustão de partículas de um combustível sólido ocorre em condições semelhantes às que ocorrem em caldeiras de leito pulverizado. Recentemente foi construído no Laboratório de Combustão do Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica da UFRGS um forno DTF com 1,340 m de altura útil e que opera até 1200°C. A combustão foi avaliada a 1100°C em termos de burnout, análise de temperatura e espécies químicas ao longo do comprimento do reator. Dos resultados obtidos, o carvão colombiano mostrou-se mais reativo por ter sido consumido mais rapidamente, alcançando burnouts mais elevados do que o carvão brasileiro e o carvão vegetal. O carvão vegetal e o carvão brasileiro obtiveram burnouts semelhantes ao longo do comprimento do forno. O carvão vegetal liberou mais CO que os carvões minerais no início da combustão. A emissão de NO foi mais alta na combustão do carvão colombiano e do carvão vegetal porque estes concentram mais nitrogênio em sua estrutura. As emissões de SO2 também foram proporcionais ao teor de enxofre nos carvões, de maneira que o carvão brasileiro apresentou as maiores concentrações, seguido pelo carvão colombiano e por último, o carvão vegetal. O ar comprimido afeta de forma regular a temperatura no forno, sendo maior a diferença de temperatura entre o perfil com ar comprimido e o perfil sem ar comprimido próximo ao ponto de injeção, o queimador. O perfil sem ar comprimido demostra que o aquecimento do DTF não é homogêneo. A combustão do carvão aumenta significativamente a temperatura no forno, chegando próximo ao perfil de temperatura sem a injeção de ar comprimido. Este trabalho incluiu ainda um estudo prévio do dosador de partículas, considerando diferentes tipos de carvão e carvão vegetal. / Coal is the main fuel in thermoelectric generation in many countries in the world, in spite of its well known being one of the main sources of greenhouse gases. On the other hand, wood biomass is a renewable energy source, associated to a short life cycle of the carbon dioxide produced in its oxidation processes. This study aimed at comparing the reactivity, in combustion atmosphere, of two coals, a Colombian one and a Brazilian one, as well as of a charcoal, by means of a drop tube furnace (DTF). A DTF consists in a vertical cylindrical reactor, capable of mantaining a homogeneously heated section along which combustion of solid fuel particles take place in similar heating rate and temperature conditions as those that are found in the operation of industrial-scale pulverized coal boilers. A DTF was built in the Combustion Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The reactor measures 1340 mm in testing height and can be heated to provide inner temperatures up to 1200ºC. Combustion of samples of the selected fuels was evaluated in terms of the evolution of burnout, gas temperature and composition of the gas and of the char collected in a set of positions along the DTF axys. As main results, it was observed that the reactivity of the Colombian coal is higher than that of the other fuels all along the DTF height. Similar results for burnout were found for the Brazilian coal and the charcoal. Emissions were also investigated. It was observed that combustion of the charcoal releases more CO in the initial portion of the particles displacement inside the reactor. Emission of NO was found to be higher in the combustion of the Colombian coal as well as in the combustion of the charcoal, accomopanying the higher nitrogen content in the composition of the two fuels. Emissions of SO2 were also proportional to sulphur content in the fuels, so that the higher amounts of this species were found in the combustion of the Brazilian coal, followed by the Colombian coal and the charcoal. Temperature measurements were made with a probe specifically designed for that purpose. It was verified that the DTF provides a satisfactory testing length as long as combustion takes place. Discussion of the results includes the calibration of the dosing apparatus.

O presente trabalho envolve um estudo teórico e experimental do escoamento bifásico externo a banco de tubos. Inicialmente, apresenta-se uma ampla revisão da literatura sobre padrões de escoamento, fração de vazio e perda de pressão, durante escoamentos monofásicos e bifásicos externos a banco de tubos. Nesta análise são também descritos os métodos de previsão destes parâmetros. Verificam-se diferenças significativas entre as estimativas proporcionadas por eles, fato que indica a inexistência de métodos generalizados. Posteriormente é apresentada uma descrição detalhada da bancada experimental projetada e construída durante o doutoramento. O aparato completo compõe-se da seção de testes, circuito de água, sistema de compressão e condicionamento de ar, e seções de injeção dos fluxos e condicionamento do escoamento. A seção de testes consiste em um banco de tubos distribuídos segundo configuração triangular normal, com os tubos apresentando diâmetro externo de 19,1 mm, comprimento de 381 mm, e espaçamento transversal de 24 mm. Os experimentos foram realizados para escoamento vertical ascendente de misturas água-ar e velocidades superficiais da fase líquida e gás de 0,020 a 1,500 m/s e de 0,10 a 10,00 m/s, respectivamente. Neste estudo foram desenvolvidas técnicas inéditas para determinação experimental da fração de vazio superficial no interior do banco de tubos baseadas em sistemas óptico e de sensoriamento capacitivo. Os padrões de escoamento foram identificados subjetivamente através de visualização de imagens e vídeos do escoamento, e objetivamente com o auxílio do método de agrupamento de dados k-means utilizando parâmetros baseados no sinal de perda de pressão e do sensoriamento capacitivo. Identificou-se subjetivamente os padrões de escoamento bolhas, bolhas dispersas, bolhas grandes, agitante, intermitente e anular. Constatou-se equivalência entre os padrões de escoamento identificados através dos métodos objetivo e subjetivo. Resultados experimentais para fração de vazio foram obtidos através de técnicas óptica e capacitiva. Constatou-se que o traçador rodamina B utilizado no método óptico altera as condições do escoamento, ainda que em concentrações reduzidas. A partir dos resultados obtidos com o sensoriamento capacitivo estimou-se a fração de vazio para o padrão bolhas. Resultados para a parcela friccional da perda de pressão também foram levantados. Constata-se o incremento da fração de vazio e da parcela friccional da perda de pressão com as velocidades superficiais das fases líquida e gás. Os resultados para fração de vazio foram comparados com métodos de previsão da literatura, e de maneira geral os métodos preveem as tendências dos resultados experimentais apenas para vazões de líquido reduzidas. Analogamente, os resultados para perda de pressão foram comparados com estimativas segundo métodos da literatura, concluindo que os métodos não preveem satisfatoriamente os resultados obtidos. Desta forma, foram propostos novos métodos de previsão para padrões de escoamento, fração de vazio e parcela friccional da perda de pressão, desenvolvidos a partir de análises dos mecanismos dominantes do escoamento, e adotando parâmetros adimensionais para correlacionar os dados. Os métodos propostos preveem satisfatoriamente os resultados experimentais deste estudo e da literatura para escoamentos bifásicos água-ar. / The present thesis concerns a theoretical and experimental study of external two-phase flows across tube bundles. Initially, a comprehensive literature review covering flow patterns, void fraction and pressure drop for single and two-phase flows across tubes bundle is presented. The review also describes predictive methods for these parameters. A comparison of these methods reveals reasonable disagreement among their predictions, indicating the absence of generalized methods. Subsequently, the apparatus and instrumentation designed and built to obtain the experimental data are described. The experimental apparatus comprises the test section, a water loop, air compression and conditioning systems, and sets for fluid flow injections and conditioning. The test section is a normal triangular tube bundle, with 19.1 mm OD tubes, 381 mm long and transversal pitch of 24 mm. The experiments were performed for air-water upward vertical flow, for superficial liquid and gas velocities ranging from 0.020 to 1.500 m/s and 0.10 to 10.00 m/s, respectively. Innovative techniques to evaluate the void fraction within the bundle were developed based on capacitive and optical methods. The flow patterns were identified subjectively and objectively by k-means clustering method, using as clustering parameters the pressure drop and the capacitive signals. Bubbles, dispersed bubbles, large bubbles, churn, intermittent and annular flow patterns were identified subjectively. The data groups identified by the objective method are representative of the flow patterns. Void fraction measurements were obtained for bubbly flow using both techniques (optical and capacitive). The void fraction data based on the optical method had its experimental range limited due to changes in the flow characteristics caused by the addition of the fluorescent dye Rhodamine B. The experimental results indicate that the void fraction increases with increasing the superficial velocities of both phases. In general, the void fraction predictive methods available in the literature capture the trends of the experimental results only for reduced liquid flow rates. According to the experimental results, the frictional pressure drop increases asymptotically with increasing the flow rates of both phases. None of the predictive methods from literature evaluated in the present study predicted satisfactorily the experimental results. Methods for prediction of flow patterns, void fraction and frictional pressure drop parcel were also developed in the present study. These methods provided reasonable predictions of the experimental results obtained in the present study, and also from the literature for air and water flows across tube bundles.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2017-02-10T12:57:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliano Noetzold_.pdf: 2795595 bytes, checksum: 2e54e66a30fc38e8ed8568de6278b69e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-10T12:57:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliano Noetzold_.pdf: 2795595 bytes, checksum: 2e54e66a30fc38e8ed8568de6278b69e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-14 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / UNISINOS - Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos / Ar condicionado automotivo para máquinas agrícolas e fora de estrada, como tratores e colheitadeiras, apresenta algumas características particulares quando comparado com outros sistemas de ar condicionado para veículos. Velocidade do ar e temperatura para uma ampla faixa de condições ambientais, operação sob condições climáticas altamente transitórias e extremas, alta capacidade de resfriamento para atender elevadas cargas térmicas e proporcionar uma rápida diminuição da temperatura do ambiente do operador são características deste tipo de aplicação. O ciclo de trabalho do compressor para este tipo de veículo está diretamente relacionado com a rotação do motor. Neste trabalho foram realizados experimentos para comparar o desempenho de um ar condicionado automotivo típico para veículos off-road com capacidade nominal de 6,7 kW, desenvolvido para operar originalmente com R-134a, comparando sua performance na substituição direta pelo R-1234yf. O sistema consiste basicamente de um compressor de deslocamento fixo, uma válvula de expansão termostática, um condensador de micro-multi canais e um evaporador tubo aleta. O sistema foi instalado em uma bancada experimental e os principais parâmetros do sistema avaliados em diferentes cargas de refrigerante para uma velocidade fixa do compressor de 3500 rpm, com objetivo de verificar a carga ótima de cada refrigerante. Os parâmetros de ciclo, como capacidade do evaporador, COP, potência de compressão, taxa de compressão, sub-resfriamento no condensador, superaquecimento no evaporador, queda de pressão nos trocadores de calor e linha de sucção, as temperaturas de saída do evaporador no lado ar e taxa de fluxo de massa são comparados. A carga de refrigerante ideal para R-1234yf foi encontrada com 50 g a mais do que com R-134a. Os resultados experimentais com o sistema funcionando com a carga de refrigerante ideal, indicam que para várias condições de temperaturas de entrada do ar no evaporador, umidade relativa de 43% e temperatura de entrada do ar no condensador em 35 ºC, o sistema funcionando com o R-1234yf tem valores de capacidade do evaporador e COP menores. O R-1234yf também apresenta um maior grau de sub-resfriamento, maior superaquecimento e maior queda de pressão no evaporador e na linha de sucção do que o R-134a. A relação de compressão e a potência consumida pelo compressor para R-1234yf é mais favorável. / Automotive air conditioning for off-road agricultural machinery, like tractors and combine harvesters, presents some particular characteristics when compared with others AC systems for vehicles. Higher air velocity and temperatures over a wide range of conditions, operation under transient climatic conditions, high cooling capacity to meet high thermal loads and rapid cool down capacity on the operator environment. In addition, the compressor duty cycle is related to the engine speed for this type of vehicle and the system work in an environment subject to severe vibration. In this work, experiments were carried out to compare the performance of a typical AC for off-road vehicles of 6.7 kW nominal capacity using R-134a and with its drop-in substitute, R-1234yf. The system consists of a fixed displacement compressor, a block type thermostatic expansion valve, a multiport micro channel condenser and a tube fin evaporator. This system was installed in an experimental setup and the main parameters of operation were measured at different refrigerants charges, for a fixed compressor velocity of 3500 rpm to find the optimal refrigerant charge of each one. The cycle parameters like evaporator capacity, COP, compressor power, compression ratio, evaporator superheating, condenser sub-cooling, refrigerant pressure drop in the heat exchangers, outlet airside temperatures from evaporator and mass flow rate are compared. The optimal refrigerant charge for R-1234yf was found to be 50 g larger than with R-134a. The experimental results with the system working with the optimal refrigerant charge indicate that for different evaporator inlet air conditions, relative humidity of 43% and condenser air inlet temperature of 35 ºC, the system running with the R-1234yf presented lower evaporator capacity, COP. The same refrigerant also shows a higher degree of sub-cooling, superheat and pressure drop in evaporator and suction line. The compressor ratio and the compressor power consumption for R-1234yf were more favorable

Context: There has been recent speculation that the intrinsic muscles of the foot may play a larger role in lower extremity control and injury than previously believed. Multiple studies have shown that certain intrinsic muscles increase in size and strength after transitioning to minimalist shoe running, theoretically decreasing injury risk. There are currently no studies that examine the effect that training barefoot has in other athletic populations. Objective: Our purpose was to compare the intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscle size and strength in gymnasts (who predominantly train barefoot) and cheerleaders (who predominantly train shod). Another purpose was to measure time to stability for both groups shod and unshod. Design: Observational study. Setting: Human Performance Laboratory. Participants: 16 collegiate gymnasts (height = 159.3 ± 4.9cm, weight = 56.7 ± 4.3kg) and 16 collegiate cheerleaders (height = 161.9 ± 5.4cm, weight = 58.7 ± 7.1kg) volunteered for this study. Main Outcome Measure(s): The muscle size of 6 intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the foot were measured using ultrasound, toe flexor strength, as assessed using a custom-made dynamometer, and time to stability following a drop landing, as assessed using ground reaction force data collected with force plates. Results: There were no significant group differences in great toe flexor strength (p = 0.274), lateral toe flexor strength (p = 0.824), or any of the time to stability conditions (p = 0.086 – 0.90). Only one muscle, fibularis longus, was significantly bigger in gymnasts than cheerleaders (p = 0.017) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the barefoot training of gymnasts may not have as large of an impact on the foot musculature and strength as running barefoot or in minimalist shoes has on these factors.