The Empirical Assessment of Vibration in HVAC Systems

Background and purpose: Vibration caused by ventilation systems in buildings is one of the harmful physical factors that can cause harm to residents. Therefore, measuring and controlling vibration is important. Materials and Methods: In the first step of the study, the vibration accelerometer was placed on the base of a fan where the vibrations were sent toward the duct wall. A vibration assessment of the building was conducted in the other steps to compare with guidelines. In the next step, isolation method was used to control vibration. By placing the isolator on the duct wall, the accelerometer was located on the body of the duct wall and the value of vibration was measured in a millimeter per second. All stages of the experiment were performed in the Faculty of Health of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2018. Results: The maximum vibration velocity reduction in the building was related to the frequency of 68 Hz, which reached 33 mm/s after isolation. In addition, the fan vibration at 485 Hz was equal to 2.1 m /s, which decreased to 2 mm /s after isolation. Conclusion: Comparison of vibration after fan isolation with standard showed that this method has been effective in reducing the fan vibration resulting in the vibration to reach below the standard.

Evaluation of Testing Uncertainties for the Impact Resistance of Machine Guards

Machine guards provide protection against ejection of parts during operation, such as chips or workpiece fragments. They are considered safe if the impact resistance is at least as high as the resulting projectile energy in the worst case of damage. To protect the machine operator, the impact resistance of machine guards is determined according to ISO standards. The bisection method can be used to determine the impact resistance through impact tests. However, this method is inaccurate for a small number of impact tests and does not provide an indication of uncertainties in the determination. Moreover, the result of testing is validated in different ways depending from the standard utilized for testing.Relevant uncertainties affecting impact testing and a new probabilistic approach for assessing the impact resistance using the Recht & Ipson equation are presented. With multiple impact tests at different initial velocities a Recht & Ipson best-fit curve and a confidence interval for a ballistic limit can be obtained, which is used to determine the impact resistance by defining a velocity reduction coefficient. This method can be applied to any machine guard made of ductile material. This paper validates the Recht & Ipson method by performing impact tests with a standardized 2.5 kg projectile on polycarbonate sheets of different thicknesses. Determination of the ballistic limit showed good agreement with experimental results. With the ballistic limits, the velocity reduction coefficients have been found to determine the impact resistances. Therefore, an alternative method for standardized tests to determine the impact resistance was found.

Load Coefficients and Dimensions of Raschel Knitted Netting Materials in Fish Farms

New types of fish farms are often larger and structurally more complex than conventional fish farming structures, and associated challenges concerning safety and costs increase correspondingly. Thus, increased precision in structural design is required, with estimation of hydrodynamic loads on nets as an important topic. Today, both load coefficients for nets and measured netting dimensions are given with relatively high uncertainties. New knowledge for netting materials with high solidities as well as scaled netting commonly applied in model tests are included in the presented study. Results from towing tests and the development of a new mathematical expression for local drag coefficients (for netting twines) indicate that drag coefficients are not only dependent on solidity and Reynolds number, but may also be affected by the velocity reduction and the local velocity at the twines.

Center-point steering analysis of tracked omni-vehicles based on skid conditions

Existing center-point steering models of a tracked omni-vehicle seldom consider the skid of the track (roller) grounding section, which is inconsistent with the actual steering process. In this study, for the three typical layout types, rectangular, hybrid, and centripetal, the steady center-point steering motion of a tracked omni-vehicle under skid conditions is analyzed and a correction model is investigated. The numerical solution of the absolute lateral offset of the steering pole is obtained, and the influences of various structural parameters on the numerical solution are discussed. The steering angular velocity reduction coefficient is calculated, and the angular velocity of vehicles is corrected. The simulation of center-point steering motion is carried out on eight virtual prototypes, and the center-point steering motion experiment is carried out on three physical prototypes. The results show that the established correction model is more in line with the steering reality of the tracked omni-vehicle, and it can play a role in correcting the center-point steering angular velocity.

Multi-layer controller with state-constraint: Vehicle lateral stability control based on fuzzy logic

This paper deals with a new state-constrained control (SCC) system of vehicle, which includes a multi-layer controller, in order to ensure the vehicle’s lateral stability and steering performance under complex environment. In this system, a new constraint control strategy with input and state constraints is applied to calculate the steady-state yaw moment. It ensures the vehicle lateral stability by tracking the desired yaw rate value and limiting the allowable range of the side slip. Through the linkage of the three-layer controller, the tire load is optimized and achieve minimal vehicle velocity reduction. The seven-degree-of-freedom (7-DOF) simulation model was established and simulated in MATLAB to evaluate the effect of the proposed controller. Through the analysis of the simulation results, compared with the traditional ESC and integrated control, it not only solves the problem of obvious velocity reduction, but also solves the problem of high cost and high hardware requirements in integrated control. The simulation results show that designed control system has better performance of path tracking and driving state, which is closer to the desired value. Through hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) practical experiments in two typical driving conditions, the effectiveness of the above proposed control system is further verified, which can improve the lateral stability and maneuverability of the vehicle.