230 leaves : ill., diags., graphs, photos, tables ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1980

Thesis (M.Ost.)--Unitec New Zealand, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-107).

Thesis: Elec. E., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1978 / Bibliography: leaves 57-59. / by Mark Andrew Clements. / Elec. E. / Elec. E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Vibrating machinery like rock drills and compactors are becoming more prominent in modem industry. The vibrations of these machines can damage surrounding structures and foundations and be harmful to their operators. Hand arm vibration syndrome is one example of serious injuries suffered by operators of these machines. Due to the fact that these machines need to vibrate, vibration absorbers that minimise the vibrations of the machines cannot be used. In such cases vibration isolators are necessary to isolate the vibration between the vibrating machine and other bodies like the handle or foundations. A tuned vibration isolator is a type of isolator that is able to isolate a certain frequency very effectively. These isolators can retain low mass and high stiffness compared to traditional isolators and can obtain complete isolation at the isolation frequency if no damping is present. The liquid inertia vibration eliminator (LIVE) is such a tuned vibration isolator that makes use of hydraulic amplification, which result in a very compact design. A LIVE isolator was designed incorporating the variable stiffness spring and a variable damping mechanism. Equations for the damped natural and isolation frequency of the LIVE isolator were also derived. The reason for changing the stiffness was to be able to adjust the isolation frequency of the isolator to coincide with the excitation frequency that resulted in a more effective isolator. The variable stiffness spring consisted of two leaf springs mounted on top of each other and separated at the centre to stiffen the whole spring assembly. The leaf springs were separated by a wax actuator that was controlled with a closed loop displacement control system to form a smart actuator. A stiffness change of 2.7 times the original stiffness was obtained by separating the springs. The variable damping mechanism was to be able to control the amount of amplification of noise at the natural frequency. An experimental isolator was built and tested and resulted in a tunable vibration isolator. The isolation frequency of the isolator could be shifted from 22.8 Hz to 36.2 Hz and a transmissibility of 10% was achieved over that whole range. The variable damping mechanism increased the viscous damping ratio from 0.001 to 0.033. A control system was designed and implemented that tuned the isolator automatically to the excitation conditions. It incorporated an optimisation algorithm to determine the optimum settings and then kept the isolator at that setting until the excitation conditions change. The whole process was then repeated. A tunable vibration isolator was therefore successfully developed that can be used to isolate tonal vibrations very effectively. The isolation frequency and damping of the isolator can be changed while in operation and a transmissibility of 10% can be achieved at the isolation frequency. / Thesis (M Eng (Mechanical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering / unrestricted

<p>This project is about the development of a application to aid deafblind people with time understanding. The application is written in C# language and have multiple functions to alarm the user. The application can alarm deafblind persons through a combination of sounds, pictures and vibrations. This makes the application very flexible and can be used by many different groups like deaf, blind and older people. This application have been evaluated by staff from <em>Mo Gård </em>resurscenter.</p> / <p>Det här arbetet handlar om att utveckla ett hjälpmedel för personer som lider av dövblindhet med en kognitiv nedsättning. Målet med projektet är att utveckla en applikation som ska hjälpa dessa personer med sin tidsuppfattning. Applikationen är skrivet i programmeringsspråket C# och har flera olika funktioner som ska ge användaren en tydligare uppfattning om tiden. Applikationens fördel är att den kan kombinera information via olika kommunikationsvägarna; visuellt, auditivt och taktilt. Det gör att applikationen är mycket flexibelt och att många olika målgrupper till exempel döva, blinda och äldre kan använda sig utav applikationen. Applikationen har utvärderats av <em>Mo Gårds hemmets</em> personal och har resulterat i positiv kritik.</p>

Bei der Arbeit mit Vibrationsförderern ist die korrekte Beschreibung der Schwingungsbewegung die Grundlage für viele Auslegungs- und Entwicklungsaufgaben. Mit steigender Komplexität des Schwingungssystems treten vermehrt Wechselwirkungen und Synchronisationseffekte zwischen den Schwingungsmassen auf. Infolge dieser dynamischen Effekte ist die Berechnung der Schwingungsbewegung oft eine große Herausforderung. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Abbildung von Vibrationsförderern in Mehrkörpersystemen zur Simulation und Vorhersage des Bewegungsverhaltens. Durch die Abbildung verschiedener Antriebsformen und Verwendung eines parametrisierbaren Modellaufbaus besteht die Möglichkeit einer weitreichenden Simulation von Vibrationsförderern. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden in der Software SimulationX zur Simulation Modelle der üblichen Antriebsformen und Schwingungssysteme von Vibrationsförderern erstellt. Im Anschluss werden die Simulationsmodelle mit Messwerten eines selbst entwickelten Versuchsaufbaus und weiteren Förderern verglichen. Nachdem sich die realen Systeme in guter Art und Weise im Simulationsaufbau abbilden ließen, werden Anwendungsszenarien für den Einsatz der Simulation vorgestellt. Diese umfassen die Förderorganbewegung und Kippeinflüsse, Fördergeschwindigkeitsbetrachtungen, das Resonanzverhalten und die Untersuchung von Synchronisationseffekten. / When working with vibratory conveyors, the correct description of the vibratory motion is the basis for many design and development tasks. As the complexity of the vibration system increases, interactions and synchronisation effects between the vibrating masses occur more frequently. As a result of these dynamic effects, the calculation of the vibratory motion is often a major challenge. This thesis deals with the mapping of vibratory conveyors in multi-body systems for the simulation and prediction of the movement behaviour. By mapping different drive types and using a parameterizable model structure, it is possible to carry out a far-reaching simulation of vibratory conveyors. In this thesis, models of the usual drive forms and vibration systems of vibratory conveyors are created in the software for simulation SimulationX. The simulation models are then compared with measured values from a self-developed test setup and other conveyors. After the real systems could be modelled in a good way in the simulation setup, application scenarios for the use of the simulation are presented. These include the conveyor movement and tilting influences, conveyor speed considerations, resonance behaviour and the investigation of synchronisation effects.

This project is about the development of a application to aid deafblind people with time understanding. The application is written in C# language and have multiple functions to alarm the user. The application can alarm deafblind persons through a combination of sounds, pictures and vibrations. This makes the application very flexible and can be used by many different groups like deaf, blind and older people. This application have been evaluated by staff from Mo Gård resurscenter. / Det här arbetet handlar om att utveckla ett hjälpmedel för personer som lider av dövblindhet med en kognitiv nedsättning. Målet med projektet är att utveckla en applikation som ska hjälpa dessa personer med sin tidsuppfattning. Applikationen är skrivet i programmeringsspråket C# och har flera olika funktioner som ska ge användaren en tydligare uppfattning om tiden. Applikationens fördel är att den kan kombinera information via olika kommunikationsvägarna; visuellt, auditivt och taktilt. Det gör att applikationen är mycket flexibelt och att många olika målgrupper till exempel döva, blinda och äldre kan använda sig utav applikationen. Applikationen har utvärderats av Mo Gårds hemmets personal och har resulterat i positiv kritik.

Man’s desire to replicate/mimic the nature’s creation provided an impetus and inspiration to the rapid advancements and progress made in the sensors and actuators technology. A normal human being has five basic sensory organs, which helps and guides him in performing the routine tasks. This underlines the importance of basic sensory organs in a human life. In a similar fashion, sensors and actuators are of paramount importance for most of the science and engineering applications. The aim of the present thesis work is to explore the application of piezoelectric ZnO thin films deposited on a flexible substrate for the development of sensors and actuators. Detailed study was performed on the suitability of three different flexible substrates namely Phynox, Kapton and Mylar. However, Phynox alloy substrate was found to be a suitable substrate material for the above mentioned applications. Sputtering technique was chosen for the deposition of ZnO thin films on to Phynox substrate. The necessary process parameters were optimized to achieve good quality piezoelectric thin films. In the present work, sensors have been developed by utilizing the direct piezoelectric effect of ZnO thin films deposited on Phynox alloy substrate. These includes a flow sensor for gas flow rate measurement, impact sensor for non-destructive material discrimination study and a Thin Film Sensor Array (TFSA) for monitoring the impact events. On the other hand, using the converse piezoelectric effect of ZnO thin films, actuators have also been developed. These include a thin film micro actuator and a Thin Film Micro Vibrator (TFMV) for vibration testing of micro devices. The thesis is divided into following seven chapters. Chapter 1: This chapter gives a general introduction about sensors and actuators, piezoelectric thin films, flexible substrates, thin film deposition processes and characterization techniques. A brief literature survey of different applications of piezoelectric thin films deposited on various flexible substrates in device development is presented. Chapter 2: A novel flexible metal alloy (Phynox) and its properties along with its applications are discussed in this chapter. ZnO thin films were deposited on Phynox substrate by Rf reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The sputtering process parameters such as: Ar:O2 gas ratio, substrate temperature and RF power were optimized for the deposition of good quality piezoelectric ZnO thin films. The deposited ZnO thin films were characterized using XRD, SEM, AFM and d31 coefficient measurement techniques. Chapter 3: It reports on the comparative study of properties of piezoelectric ZnO thin films deposited on three different types of flexible substrates. The substrate materials employed were a metal alloy (Phynox), polyimide (Kapton), and polyester (Mylar). Piezoelectric ZnO thin films deposited on these flexible substrates were characterized by XRD, SEM, AFM and d31 coefficient measurement techniques. A vibration sensing test was also performed for the confirmation of good piezoelectric property. Compared to the polymer flexible substrates, the metal alloy flexible substrate (Phynox) was found to be more suitable for integrating ZnO thin film for sensing applications. Chapter 4: The development of a novel gas flow sensor for the flow rate measurement in the range of L min-1 is presented in this chapter. The sensing element is a Phynox alloy cantilever integrated with piezoelectric ZnO thin film. A detailed theoretical analysis of the experimental set–up showing the relationship between output voltage generated and force at a particular flow rate has been discussed. The flow sensor is calibrated using an in-house developed testing set-up. Chapter 5: This chapter is divided into two sections. Section 5.1 reports on the development of a novel packaged piezoelectric thin film impact sensor and its application in non-destructive material discrimination studies. Different materials (Iron, Glass, Wood and Plastic) were successfully discriminated by using the developed impact sensor. The output response of impact sensor showed good linearity and repeatability. The impact sensor is sensitive, reliable and cost-effective. Section 5.2 reports on the development of a Thin Film Senor Array (TFSA) for monitoring the location and magnitude of the impact force. The fabricated TFSA consists of evenly distributed ZnO thin film sensor array. Chapter 6: It consists of two sections. Section 6.1 reports on the fabrication of micro actuator using piezoelectric ZnO thin film integrated with flexible Phynox substrate. A suitable concave Perspex mounting was designed for the actuator element. The actuator element was excited at different frequencies for the supply voltages of 2V, 5V and 8V. The developed micro actuator has the potential to be used as a micro pump for pumping nano liters to micro liters of fluids. Section 6.2 reports the design and development of a portable ready to use Thin Film Micro Vibrator (TFMV). The TFMV is capable of providing the vibration amplitude in the range of nanometer to micrometer. A thin silicon diaphragm was used as a test specimen for its vibration testing studies using the developed TFMV. The TFMV is light-weight and have internal battery, hence no external power supply is required for its functioning. Chapter 7: The first section summarizes the salient features of the work presented in this thesis. In the second section the scope for carrying out the further work is given.