Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit portent sur la conception, simulation et réalisation des nouvelles structures des commutateurs hyperfréquences basées sur l’intégration des couches minces des matériaux innovants fonctionnels tels que les matériaux à changement de phase (PCM) et les matériaux à transition de phase (PTM). Le principe de fonctionnement de ces composants repose sur le changement de résistivité présenter par ces matériaux. Nous avons exploité le changement de résistivité réversible du GeTe de la famille des matériaux à changement de phase (PCM) entre les deux états : amorphe à forte résistivité et cristallin à faible résistivité, pour réaliser une nouvelle structure d’un simple commutateur SPST. Ensuite, nous avons intégré ce commutateur dans une nouvelle structure de la matrice de commutation DPDT (Double Port Double Throw) à base de PCM pour l’application dans la charge utile du satellite. Nous avons utilisé la transition isolant-métal présenté par le dioxyde de vanadium (VO2) de la famille des matériaux à transition de phase, pour réaliser une nouvelle structure de commutateur simple à deux terminaux sur une très large bande de fréquence (100 MHz–220 GHz). / The work presented in this manuscript focuses on the design, simulation and realization of new microwave switches structures based on the integration of thin layers of innovative functional materials such as phase change materials (PCM) and phase transition materials. (PTM). The operating principle of these components is based on the change of resistivity present by these materials. We exploited the reversible resistivity change of GeTe of phase change materials family between the two states: amorphous with high resistivity and crystalline with low resistivity to realize a new structure of SPST switch. Then, we have integrated this switch structure on a new structure of DPDT (Double Port Double Throw) switch matrix based on phase change materials for application in satellite payload. We have used the insulatingmetal transition presented by the vanadium dioxide (VO2) of phase transition materials family to realize a new two terminals simple switch structure on a very wide frequency band (100 MHz–220 GHz).

The Science behind amorphous Chalcogenide materials opened up new technologies in the arena of Phase Change Memories. The Ovonic universal phase change memory is called universal because it can replace flash memory, DRAM and SRAM. These are not only basic computer memory devices but also are becoming the driving force for the ongoing revolutionary growth of cell phones and other mobile devices, which are in desperate need of memory providing higher density, faster speed and lower power consumption. In this thesis, compositional dependence of various properties of different chalcogenide glasses are investigated, to explore the possibility of their application in Phase Change Memories. Efforts are also made to understand the effect of rigidity and extended rigidity transition on the composition dependence of properties investigated. This thesis comprises of 9 chapters; a brief summary is given below. Chapter 1 deals with fundamental aspects of amorphous semiconductors with a particular reference to chalcogenide glasses. The advantages and applications of chalcogenide glasses are also described. Chapter 2 outlines preparation and characterization of the glasses investigated. The sample preparation and various experimental setup used in the present thesis work like Raman Scattering, Nanoindentation, Alternating Differential Scanning Calorimetry (ADSC), Photo-thermal Deflection Spectroscopy (PDS), Electrical Switching are summarized here. Chapter 3 deals with Micro-Raman studies in Ge15Te85-x Inx Glasses. Micro-Raman studies reveal that as-quenched Ge15Te85-xInx samples exhibit two prominent peaks, at 123 and 155 cm-1. In thermally annealed samples, the peaks at 120 cm-1 and 140 cm-1, which are due to crystalline Te, emerge as the strongest peaks. The Raman spectra of polished samples are similar to those of annealed samples, with strong peaks at 123 cm-1 and 141 cm-1. The spectra of lightly polished samples outside the thermally reversing window resemble those of thermally annealed samples; however, the spectra of glasses with compositions in the thermally reversing window resemble those of as-quenched samples. This observation confirms the earlier idea that compositions in the thermally reversing window are non-ageing and are more stable. Chapter 4 explains nanoindentation studies undertaken on Ge15Te85-xInx glasse (1 ≤ x ≤ 11). Nanoindentation studies on Ge15Te85-xInx glasses indicate that the hardness and elastic modulus of these glasses increase with indium concentration. While a pronounced plateau is seen in the elastic modulus in the composition range 3 ≤ x ≤ 7, the hardness exhibits a change in slope at compositions x = 3 and x = 7. Also, the density exhibits a broad maximum in this composition range. The observed changes in the mechanical properties and density are clearly associated with the thermally reversing window in Ge15Te85-xInx glasses in the composition range 3 ≤ x ≤ 7. In addition, a local minimum is seen in density and hardness around x = 9, the chemical threshold of the system. Chapter 5 deals with crystallization kinetics of Ge15Te85-xInx glasses. The crystallization kinetics of Ge15Te85Inx glasses have been studied by non-isothermal method. The composition dependence of Tg and Tc at different heating rates, is investigated. The activation energy of crystallization is calculated using the Kissinger’s plot. It is found that the composition dependence of the glass transition temperature, Tg and the crystallization temperature, Tc, the activation energy of crystallization, Ec, and the stability factor, (ΔT= Tc-Tg) exhibit specific signatures of intermediate phase in the composition rang 3 ≤ x ≤ 7 and Chemical Threshold at x = 9. Chapter 6 explains Alternating Differential Scanning Calorimetric and XRD studies on silver doped Ge15Te80In5 glasses. X-ray diffraction studies on quaternary Ge15Te80-xIn5Agx glasses (2 ≤ x ≤ 24) reveal the presence of Te, GeTe, Ag8GeTe6, AgTe, In2Te3 and In4Te3. Thermal studies on quaternary Ge15Te80-xIn5Agx glasses exhibit signatures of Intermediate Phase (IP) in the variation of Tg, ∆HNR and ∆Cp with Ag addition in the composition range 8 ≤ x ≤ 16. The composition x = 16 has been identified to be the Chemical Threshold (CT) based on the saturation of flexible Ag-Te bonds. Micro-Raman, molar volume, thermal diffusivity studies on Ge15Te80-xIn5Agx glasses reveal a clear evidence of intermediate phase in the composition range 8 ≤ x ≤ 16 as depicted in the ADSC studies. Chapter 7 deals with Micro-Raman studies on as-quenched Ge15Te80-xIn5Agx glasses reveal the presence of tetrahedral structural units. Further, the Raman peak positions are found to shift with silver addition. In addition, specific signatures of the Intermediate Phase (IP) are observed in the composition dependence of Raman frequencies and corresponding intensities of different modes in the composition range, 8 ≤ x ≤ 16. In thermally annealed samples, the observed Raman peaks can be attributed to crystalline tellurium and silver lattice vibrational modes; significant increase in intensity is observed at 93 and 141cm-1 with silver addition in annealed samples, suggesting an increase in silver lattice vibrational modes. Also, the compositional dependence of density, molar volume and thermal diffusivity confirms the presence of the intermediate phase. Chapter 8 contains the current-voltage characteristics and electrical switching behavior of Ge15Te80-xIn5Agx glasses. The glasses are found to exhibit memory type switching for 3mA current in the voltage range 70 -120 V, for a sample thickness 0.3 mm. But when the current is lowered to 1mA the samples exhibit threshold switching. The compositional studies indicate the presence of an intermediate phase in the composition range 8 ≤ x ≤ 16. SET-RESET studies have been carried out using a triangular pulse of 6 mA amplitude for SET and 21 mA amplitude for RESET for a sample thickness 0.3 mm. Raman studies on SET and RESET indicates SET state resemble annealed samples and RESET state resemble as-quenched samples. It is interesting to note that the samples in the intermediate phase, especially compositions at x =10, 12, 14 withstand more set-reset cycles. This indicates compositions in the intermediate phase are suitable for PCM devices. Chapter 9 summarizes the significant results obtained and explains the scope of this thesis.

This master thesis deals with problematic of the heat convection in phase change materials (PCM) and PCM with nanoparticles. The derivation of stationary and non-stationary equations for 1D, 2D and 3D heat convection are described in detail. The finite element volume method is used for solution to these equations, of which principle is described carefully. The aim of this thesis is model development for 2D solution to temperature distribution at heat convection in PCM and influence assessment of nanoparticle implementation into material on given temperature distribution. Software MATLAB was used for model development, solution and plotting graphs.

No description available.

One of prospective procedures of absorbing thermal energy and releasing it during the required time is the application of phase change materials known as PCMs in building envelopes. High thermal energy storage (TES) materials has been a technology that effects the energy efficiency of a building by contributing in using onsite resources and reducing cooling or heating loads. Currently, many TES systems are emerging and contributing in building assemblies, however using an appropriate type of TES in a specific building and climate requires an in-depth knowledge of their properties. This research aims to provide a thorough review of a broad range of thermal energy storage technologies including their potential application in buildings. Subsequently, a comparative study and simulation between a basecase and an optimized model by PCM is thoroughly considered to understand the effect of high thermal storage building's shell on energy efficiency and indoor thermal comfort. Specifically this study proposes that the incorporation of PCM into glazing system as a high thermal capacity system will improve windows thermal performance and thermal capacity to varying climatic conditions. The generated results by eQUEST energy modeling software demonstrates approximately 25% reduction in cooling loads during the summer and 10% reduction in heating loads during the winter for optimized office building by PCM in hot arid climate of Arizona. Besides, using PCM in glazing system will reduce heat gain through the windows by conduction phenomenon. The hourly results indicates the effect of PCM as a thermal energy storage system in building envelopes for building's energy efficiency and thermal regulation. However, several problems need to be tackled before LHTES can reliably and practically be applied. We conclude with some suggestions for future work.

Thesis (MEng) -- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Solar energy is a time dependent, high-temperature radiant energy resource. The utility of a solar thermal energy system increases if the hot temperature source is available when it is needed most. This is realized by the thermal storage of the solar energy. Thermal storage gives greater versatility to a solar energy system by decoupling the heat source from the heat sink. A large quantity of energy may be stored during the melting process in a phase change material (PCM) within a small temperature range. This molten PCM can then deliver its absorbed heat at a constant temperature in a heating application. In this study a phase change storage system (PCS) is developed and proposed for a solar water heating application. This PCS system stores more heat per unit mass than would be possible with water across the same temperature range. The heat transfer rate in and out of many PCMs is slow because of the low thermal conductivity of the PCM. However, heat transfer enhancers (HTE), such as heat pipes and fins may be added to enhance heat absorption and heat removal rates. Heat pipes have the inherent capability to transfer heat at high rates across large distances, even where the temperature difference is small. In this thesis a description is given of a PCS system consisting of paraffin wax as the PCM and which uses rectangular heat pipes in conjunction with aluminium fins to enhance heat transfer. The storage design is modular and each module has the characteristic that enhanced heat transfer in and out of the PCM is possible when the module is heated or cooled. It also has the capability to quickly absorb or alternatively to supply heat at a nearly constant temperature during the phase change of the module. A rectangular module was designed and built. The module was then analysed under controlled heat absorption and heat removal cycles. The heat up experiment involved an electrical kettle as the hot temperature source. The heat sink was a mains water heat exchanger. The experimental results were compared to those of a transient numerical model, which calculates theoretically how the module will perform thermally under the given test conditions. The numerical model of the experimental set-up was validated when it was found that the numerical model results resemble the experimental results. The numerical model was then adapted to simulate a novel solar water heater (SWH) with an additional PCS container. The improvement over previous designs is that the additional storage container can be heated to a higher temperature than the allowable geyser temperature. The system also heats up and cools down at a faster rate than would be possible without the HTEs. From the numerical simulation the size and performance of such a system is determined. This numerical analysis indicated that a phase change storage system in a SWH application will increase the hot water delivered by a given solar collector and geyser by increasing the storage capacity and by heating up the geyser overnight for early morning hot water use. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Son energie is ‘n tyd afhanklike, hoë temperatuur radiasie energiebron. Die bruikbaarheid van ‘n sontermiese energie sisteem verhoog indien die hoë temperatuur bron beskikbaar is wanneer dit die meeste benodig word. Dit kan verwesenlik word deur die sonenergie termies te stoor. Termiese storing bied groter veelsydigheid aan ‘n sontermiese stelsel deur effektief die hittebron te ontkoppel van die hitte sink. ‘n Groot hoeveelheid energie kan, gedurende die smeltingsproses in ‘n faseveranderingsmateriaal binne ‘n nou temperatuurband gestoor word. Hierdie gesmelte materiaal kan weer op sy beurt in die waterverhittingstoepassing, die geabsorbeerde hitte teen ‘n konstante temperatuur oordra. In hierdie studie word ‘n sonwaterverwarmer stelsel wat aangepas is deur ‘n addisionele latente hittestoor daaraan te heg, voorgestel. Hierdie faseverandering hittestoor kan meer hitte stoor as wat water in dieselfde temperatuur band sou kon. Die hitteoordrag tempo na en van baie van die faseveranderingsmateriale (FVM) is egter as gevolg van die lae termiese geleidingskoëfisient, stadig. Hierdie eienskap kan gelukkig verbeter word deur hittepype en hitteoordrag verhogings materiaal soos vinne by te voeg. Hittepype het die inherente eienskap om hitte teen ‘n hoë tempo oor groot afstande, oor te dra, selfs oor ‘n klein temperatuurverskil. In hierdie tesis word ‘n ondersoek rakende ‘n faseverandering storingsisteem wat bestaan uit paraffien was as die FVM en reghoekige hittepype wat te same met met aluminium finne gebruik word om die hitteoordragtempo te verhoog, beskryf. Die stoorontwerp is modulêr en elke module het die kenmerk van hoë hitteoordrag na en van die FVM. Die module het verder ook die eienskap om vining hitte te absorbeer of hitte af te gee. Dit gebeur teen ‘n konstante temperatuur gedurende die faseverandering van die FVM. Presies so ‘n reghoekige module is ontwerp en gebou en onder beheerde hitte absorbering- en hitte verwyderingsiklusse analiseer. Tydens die verhittings eksperiment is ‘n elektriese ketel van gebruik gemaak wat gedien het as die hoë temperatuur bron. Die hitte sink was ‘n hitteruiler wat kraanwater van ‘n konstante hoogte tenk ontvang het. Die resultate van die volledige toets is met die resultate van tydafhanklike numeriese model vergelyk. Hierdie numeriese model bereken teoreties wat die module se storing verrigting onder gegewe toets omstandighede sal wees. Die numeriese model se resultate het goed vergelyk met die resultate van die eksperimente. Die numeriese model van die module is toe aangepas om ‘n sonwaterverwarmer met addisionele stoortenk wat fase verandering materiaal gebruik, te simuleer. Hierdie ontwerp is anders as vorige ontwerpe in die sin dat hoër temperature as wat die warmwatertoestel kan hanteer, in die faseverandering storingstenk, bereik kan word. Die sisteem kan ook as gevolg van die hitteoordrag verhoging materiaal, vinniger verhit of afkoel en teen ‘n vinniger tempo. Die simulasie van die sonwaterverwarmer met FVM word gebruik om die grootte en verrigting van die sisteem te bepaal. Hierdie numeriese model toon aan dat wanneer ‘n addisionele faseverandering storingstelsel in ‘n sonwaterverwarmer toepassing gebruik word, die warm water wat die verbruiker uit die sisteem kan verkry, kan verhoog. Die rede hiervoor is dat meer hitte gestoor kan word, wat beskikbaar gemaak word aan die warm water tenk.

With the emergence of multi-standard and cognitive radios, the need for reconfigurable RF circuits increased. Such circuits require wide-band quadrature voltage controlled oscillators (QVCOs) to provide the local oscillator (LO) signal for up and down conversion. Wide-band QVCOs performance has lagged behind their narrowband VCO counterparts and numerous circuit techniques have been introduced to bridge the gap. This dissertation presents techniques that have been used to implement wide-band reconfigurable QVCOs with focus on dual-resonance based circuits. System and circuit analysis are performed to understand the tuning-range, phase noise, and power tradeoffs and to consider quadrature phase errors. An 8.8-15.0 GHz actively coupled QVCO and a 13.8-20GHz passively coupled QVCO are presented. Both oscillators employ dual-resonance to achieve extended tuning ranges. Impulse sensitivity functions were used to study the impact of different passive and active device noises on the overall phase noise performance of the dual-resonance oscillator and the actively and passively coupled quadrature oscillators. The quadrature phase error due to the different architecture parameters were investigated for the actively and passively coupled quadrature oscillators. The advantages of using switched capacitor tuning as a major part of passive tuning are identified, and the advantage of employing switches with large bandwidths, such as those associated with phase change materials, is mathematically quantified. Furthermore, a novel method for accurate off chip phase error measurement using discrete components and phase shifters that does not require calibration is introduced.

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been developed as a powerful numerical approach to simulate the complex fluid flow and heat transfer phenomena during the past two decades. As a mesoscale method based on the kinetic theory, LBM has several advantages compared with traditional numerical methods such as physical representation of microscopic interactions, dealing with complex geometries and highly parallel nature. Lattice Boltzmann method has been applied to solve various fluid behaviors and heat transfer process like conjugate heat transfer, magnetic and electric field, diffusion and mixing process, chemical reactions, multiphase flow, phase change process, non-isothermal flow in porous medium, microfluidics, fluid-structure interactions in biological system and so on. In addition, as a non-body-conformal grid method, the immersed boundary method (IBM) could be applied to handle the complex or moving geometries in the domain. The immersed boundary method could be coupled with lattice Boltzmann method to study the heat transfer and fluid flow problems. Heat transfer and fluid flow are solved on Euler nodes by LBM while the complex solid geometries are captured by Lagrangian nodes using immersed boundary method. Parallel computing has been a popular topic for many decades to accelerate the computational speed in engineering and scientific fields. Today, almost all the laptop and desktop have central processing units (CPUs) with multiple cores which could be used for parallel computing. However, the cost of CPUs with hundreds of cores is still high which limits its capability of high performance computing on personal computer. Graphic processing units (GPU) is originally used for the computer video cards have been emerged as the most powerful high-performance workstation in recent years. Unlike the CPUs, the cost of GPU with thousands of cores is cheap. For example, the GPU (GeForce GTX TITAN) which is used in the current work has 2688 cores and the price is only 1,000 US dollars. The release of NVIDIA's CUDA architecture which includes both hardware and programming environment in 2007 makes GPU computing attractive. Due to its highly parallel nature, lattice Boltzmann method is successfully ported into GPU with a performance benefit during the recent years. In the current work, LBM CUDA code is developed for different fluid flow and heat transfer problems. In this dissertation, lattice Boltzmann method and immersed boundary method are used to study natural convection in an enclosure with an array of conduting obstacles, double-diffusive convection in a vertical cavity with Soret and Dufour effects, PCM melting process in a latent heat thermal energy storage system with internal fins, mixed convection in a lid-driven cavity with a sinusoidal cylinder, and AC electrothermal pumping in microfluidic systems on a CUDA computational platform. It is demonstrated that LBM is an efficient method to simulate complex heat transfer problems using GPU on CUDA.

Cette étude concerne la physique des écoulements convectifs résultant d’une instabilité d’évaporation de fluides binaires. Ce problème a de nombreuses applications, l’enrobage par centrifugation, le dépôt de films, les caloducs, etc, pour lesquels le changement de phase et la convection jouent un rôle prépondérant dans la conception et la qualité des procédés. Le système physique étudié est un mélange liquide sous sa propre vapeur, confiné par deux plaques conductrices de chaleur et des bords latéraux isolants. Les plaques sont utilisées pour appliquer un gradient thermique. Aucun gradient de concentration n’est imposé au système. Ces gradients sont induits par les différentes vitesses d’évaporation des composés. Dans ce système, il est important de comprendre comment la dynamique des fluides et les transferts de masse et de chaleur entrent en compétition pour la formation de structures. Le principal objectif de ce travail est d’identifier les conditions pour que le système évolue d’un état conductif vers un état de convection lorsque le gradient vertical de température dépasse une certaine valeur critique.Dans le système, la convection s’installe par trois mécanismes distincts : évaporation, gradients de densité et gradients de tension interfaciale. Trois forces convectives s’opposent aux effets de diffusion qui tendent à garder le système en état conductif. Le seuil d’apparition de la convection dépend de quelques variables, comme les dimensions du contenant, les propriétés thermophysiques des phases liquide et vapeur, la fraction massique, et les caractéristiques de perturbations. L’effet de chacune de ces variables sur le seuil est étudié en présence ou non de gravité.Pour représenter la physique, un modèle mathématique non linéaire complet est développé, basé sur les conservations de quantité de mouvement, d’énergie et de masse dans chaque phase avec les conditions aux limites appropriées. Le fluide binaire est composé de deux alcools légers comme l’éthanol et le sec-butanol. Dans les équations du modèle, la masse volumique ainsi que la tension interfaciale sont fonctions à le fois de la température et de la concentration. Pour la recherche du seuil de transition, les équations sont linéarisées autour d’un état de base connu. Dans notre cas, il s’agit de l’état conductif. Le système d’équations linéaires résultant est résolu par une méthode de collocation spectrale Chebyshev.Nous obtenons quatre résultats principaux. Premièrement, dans un système multi-composants sans gravitation, une instabilité n’apparaît que lorsque le système est chauffé du côté de la phase vapeur contrairement à un système mono-composant. Cela implique que, si on souhaite éviter les instabilités, il vaut mieux un apport de chaleur par la phase liquide en cas de processus d’évaporation en couches minces ou en micro-gravité.Deuxièmement, en présence de gravité, un système multi-composants peut devenir instable quelle que soit la direction du chauffage. Si la convection thermique est négligeable, alors nous montrons que le chauffage par la phase vapeur est la configuration la plus instable. Sinon, les deux modes de chauffage sont à même de produire une instabilité. Ce résultat implique que le gradient thermique appliqué doit être inférieur à une valeur seuil pour éviter les instabilités quelle que soit la direction du chauffage.Troisièmement, lorsque l’instabilité apparaît en absence de gravité, des structures n’apparaitront pas dans le cas de fluide pur mais apparaitront dans le cas d’un fluide multi-composants. De même, des structures apparaitront en présence de gravité en fonction du facteur d’aspect du confinement. Les facteurs d’aspect peuvent être choisis pour éviter des structures multi-cellulaires même en cas d’apparition d’instabilités durant l’évaporation.Enfin, des structures oscillantes ne sont pas prédites de façon générale malgré les effets opposés des convections solutale et thermique dans le problème d’évaporation. / This study focuses on understanding the physics of the convective flow resulting from evaporative instability in binary mixtures. This problem has wide applications in spin coating, film deposition, heat pipes, etc. where phase change and convection play a very important role in the design process and also final quality of the product. The physical system of interest consists of a liquid mixture underlying its own vapor sandwiched between two conducting plates with insulated sidewalls in a closed container. The conducting plates are used to apply a vertical temperature gradient while there is no applied concentration gradient in the system. Concentration gradients are induced by the different evaporation rate of the components. In this system it is important to understand how the fluid dynamics and the heat and mass transfer interact competitively to form patterns. The main goal of this work is to identify the conditions for the system going from the conductive no-flow state to a convection state when the applied vertical temperature gradient exceeds a certain value called the critical value.In the system convection arises due to three distinct phenomena; evaporation, density gradients, and interfacial tension gradients. These convective forces are opposed by the diffusion effects that try to keep the system in the conductive no-flow state. The onset point depends upon several variables such as the dimensions of the container, thermo-physical properties of both liquid and vapor phases, mass fraction, and the characteristic of the disturbance given to the system. The effects of each of these variables on the onset point are investigated both in the presence and in the absence of gravity. To represent the physics a complete non-linear mathematical model is developed including momentum, energy, and mass balances in both phases with appropriate boundary conditions. The binary mixture is assumed to be made up of two low weight alcohols such as ethanol and sec-butanol. In the modeling equations the density and the interfacial tension are taken to be function of both temperature and concentration. To identify the onset point the non-linear equations are linearized around a known base state. In this case the base state is the conductive no-flow state. The resulting set of linear equations is solved using a spectral Chebyshev collocation method. Four major results arise from this work. First, in a multi-component system in the absence of gravity, an instability arises only when the system is heated from the vapor side as opposed to evaporation in a single-component. The implication is that evaporative processes in thin layers or in micro-gravity are best conducted with heat from the liquid side if instabilities are to be avoided.Second, in the presence of gravity, a multi-component system may become unstable no matter the direction of heating. If thermal buoyancy is negligible then it is shown in this study that heating from the vapor side is the unstable arrangement. Otherwise either heating style can produce an instability. This result means that the applied temperature difference must be kept below a threshold in order to avoid flow instabilities no matter the heating direction.Third, whenever instability occurs in the absence of gravity, patterns will not result in the case of a pure component but may result in the case of multi-components. Likewise, patterns will result when gravity is taken into account provided the aspect ratio of the container lies in a suitable range. As a result, aspect ratios can be chosen to avoid multi-cellular patterns even if convective flow instabilities arise during evaporation.Lastly, oscillations are not ordinarily predicted despite opposing effects of solutaland thermal convection in the evaporation problem.

A preparação de vetores sintéticos para terapia gênica envolve a encapsulação de DNA em pequenos volumes em altas concentrações e nessas condições sabe-se que as moléculas de DNA podem ser organizar formando estruturas líquido-cristalinas. Essas moléculas, uma vez incorporadas a célula devem difundir e vários trabalhos experimentais têm mostrado que essa difusão é limitada pelo tamanho dos fragmentos de DNA. É nesse contexto que soluções de DNA in vitro constituem um sistema modelo para o estudo de processos dinâmicos de difusão na fase isotrópica e na fase anisotrópica. Neste trabalho investigamos a difusão de fragmentos de DNA de 150 pares de base dispersos em água com concentrações variando no intervalo de 80 a 350 mg/ml, que se situam no domínio da fase isotrópica e da fase colestérica, passando uma região intermedi ária de coexistência de fases. Nessas soluções foi acrescentado sal, em concentração suciente para blindar as interações eletrostáticas repulsivas, de maneira que os fragmentos de DNA podem ser tratados como cilindros rígidos e não interagentes. A técnica de FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleach) foi empregada para determinação do coeciente de difusão dos fragmentos de DNA que foram marcados com uma prova uorescente, que se intercala entre os nucleotídios por meio de uma ligação covalente. As imagens de FRAP foram analisadas segundo dois métodos diferentes para ajuste do perl de intensidade de luz na mancha de bleach, que pode ser dado por uma função gaussiana, no caso de um processo de difusão isotrópico, ou uma por uma função de Bessel modicada no caso de um processo de difusão anisotrópico. Na fase isotrópica a função gaussiana é a que melhor descreve o perl de intensidade de luz da mancha de bleach e o valor obtido para o coeciente de difusão dos fragmentos de DNA está em torno de 20 m2=s, que é um valor compatível com os valores encontrados na literatura para soluções de DNA com fragmentos de mesma dimensão na fase isotrópica. Na fase colestérica, a análise das imagens de FRAP mostrou que o perl de intensidade de luz é mais bem ajustado por uma função de Bessel modi- cada, permitindo a determinação dos coecientes, D1 e D2, que correspondem aos coecientes de difusão paralelo e perpendicular à direção de orientação molecular local, respectivamente. Nessa mesofase, os valores obtidos para o coeciente de difusão estão entre 101m2=s e 102m2=s, com uma anisotropia, D1=D2 = 12. Esses resultados são compatíveis com os obtidos para soluções de vírus fd na fase nemática. Também foram feitas medidas para amostras com composição que se situam na região intermediária entre a fase isotrópica e a fase colestérica e que podem apresentar duas ou até três fases em coexistência. A análise das imagens permitiu a identicação de processos de difus ão anisotrópico e isotrópicos, em uma mesma amostra, comprovando a coexistência de fases que não são identicadas apenas pela observação da textura em microscopia de luz polarizada. / Preparation of synthetic vectors for gene therapy applications implies encapsulation of DNA in small cavities in high concentrations and in these conditions DNA molecules self-organize forming liquid crystalline structures. Once incorporated to the cell, DNA must diuse in cytoplasm and many experimental work have demonstrated that such diusion is limited by the fragments size. In this context, DNA solutions can be regarded as a promising model system for investigating isotropic and anisotropic diusion. In this work we have investigated diusion of DNA fragments, (150 base pairs), dissolved in water, for concentrations varying from 80 mg/ml to 350 mg/ml, ranging the domains of isotropic and cholesteric phases, with an intermediary region of phase coexistence. Salt was added to the solution, in concentration high enough to screen repulsive electrostatic interactions allowing us to regard DNA fragments as non interacting rigid rods. FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleach) technique was used to determine diusion coecients of DNA fragments marked with a uorescent probe, which binds covalently to the nucleotides. Analysis of FRAP images are performed following two possible ttings to the intensity prole in bleach zone, which can be a Gaussian function, for isotropic diusion, either a Bessel modied function if the diusion process is anisotropic. In the isotropic phase the Gaussian function was found to be more appropriate to describe the intensity prole in the bleach spot zone, resulting in a diusion coecient around 20 m2=s, which is compatible with values reported in literature for DNA solutions of fragments of the same dimension in the isotropic phase. Image analysis in the cholesteric phase has shown that light intensity prole of the bleach spot is best tted with a Bessel modied function, allowing us to determine two diusion coecients, D1 and D2, corresponding to the diusion coecients parallel and perpendicular to the local molecular orientation, respectively. In such mesophase the obtained values for the diusion coecients are around 101m2=s and 102m2=s, with an anisotropy; D1=D2 = 12. Such results are compatible with results obtained in the nematic phase of virus fd solutions. Solutions with concentrations lying in the intermediary zone presenting two or even three phase in coexistence were also investigated. By applying the two tting proles to the bleach spot it was possible to identify zones in the sample corresponding to isotropic diusion process and other zones presenting anisotropic diffusion process. This conrms the coexistence of isotropic and anisotropic phases, which cannot be identied only by optical polarized microscopy.