Design, Fabrication and Construction of Cupola Furnace for Metallurgical Industries

A 350 kilogram per hour capacity Cupola Furnace was designed and fabricated from locally available materials for the production of cast iron using pig iron, oily or contaminated steel scraps, foundry returns and fluxes. The main fuel used is metallurgical coke. After analyzing the design parameters, the metallic shells were fabricated in four segments for easy lining: the stack zone, preheating zone, combustion zone and the hearth. Mild steel sheet of 4 mm thickness was procured, marked out as per the design drawing, sliced, rolled into cylindrical shapes and welded together at each seam. The internal configuration was lined first with asbestos paper measuring 4 mm thick using water-glass to enable it adhere to the internal shell of the segments, thereafter, a less dense insulating refractory material was used and finally fireclay refractory bricks were used for lining as they interface directly with the molten metal. The various segments were then assembled and erected with the blower connected to the combustion zone. The research work also contains the materials and components bill.

Dependence of Energy of Carbon Nanotubes on Tube Diameter: Orbital Free Simulations

A full-electron orbital free modeling method, developed in the framework of the density functional theory, was used for calculation of the binding energy. Nanotubes of limited lengths with the armchair ends were investigated. The tube diameter (D) was varied from 0.68 nm up to 1.50 nm; numbers of included atoms were changed from 80 up to 320. The binding energy minimum was found at D ≈ 1 nm in accordance with experimental data.

Segmentation and pattern analyses for three meals of postprandial plasma glucose values and associated carbs/sugar amounts using GH-Method: math-physical medicine (No. 326)

The author describes the results of segmentation and pattern analyses of postprandial plasma glucose levels (PPG) and carbs/sugar intake amount (carbs), which are associated with his three daily meals. In this paper, there are three consistent ranges of low, medium, and high for PPG values and carbs/sugar amounts that are used for each meal but with different units. One of the final objectives for this analysis is to calculate the most reasonable and effective conversion ratio between measured PPG in mg/dL and carbs/sugar intake amount in grams, by discovering how much PPG amount would be generated from 1 gram of carbs/sugar intake. This investigation utilized the PPG data and carbs/sugar amount collected during a period of 2+ years from 5/5/2018 to 9/6/2020 with a breakdown of 855 days, including 2,565 meals, 33,345 glucose data, and 33,345 carbs/sugar data. By using the segmentation analysis of his 33,345 PPG data and 2,565 carbs/sugar data, the author has conducted a pattern recognition and segmentation analysis from his PPG profiles with its associated carbs/sugar intake of his food and meals in the past 855 days. Since 12/8/2015, he ceased taking any diabetes medications. In other words, his diabetes control is 100% dependent on his lifestyle management program with no chemical intervention from any medications. Subsequently, he has maintained a stringent exercise program after each meal; therefore, the development of his simplified PPG prediction model, excluding the exercise factor, can be expressed solely with carbs/sugar intake amount.

Microfabrication of 3D Free-Forms with Textured Surface Morphology in Monocrystalline Silicon using Grayscale Technology

Grayscale lithography involving a controlled polymerization of the photoresist, by a gradual modification of the exposure intensity is combined with reactive ion etching process having an etching selectivity of 1:1 (i.e. for the used photoresist and monocrystalline silicon wafer), in order to microfabricate 3D free-forms with complex geometry having a textured surface into monocrystalline silicon wafer. The microfabrication of complex 3D free-forms is exemplified by a geometry of convex micro-lens having concentric rings on its surface representing the surface texture and a concave depression at its tip. The 3D geometry is exposed in positive AZ4562 photoresist having a thickness of 3.8 µm by grayscale lithography using direct writing laser. The exposed 3D geometry in the photoresist is successfully transferred into monocrystalline silicon wafer using the optimized reactive ion etching process with a selectivity of 1:1 and an anisotropic factor close to 1 in SF6+CHF3 etching environment. The results show that the complex geometry exposed in the photoresist was successfully transferred into the silicon substrate with a pattern transferability with < 0.2 µm deviation between the convex micro-lens diameter in the exposed photoresist and the transferred geometry into silicon wafer. Therefore, the results show the efficacy of the proposed technique even for the pattern transferring of 3D microstructures having a textured surface using the proposed grayscale technology.

Influence of Kaolin and Silica on some Refractory Properties of Pingell, Zircon Sand

100kg of zircon sand raw material was obtained from Pingell, Toro Local Area of Bauchi State while silica and kaolin were used as the additive materials in different proportions. The materials as received were wet and in large chunks, and was sun dried prior to crushing with Jaw crusher and sieved with the sieve of size 100 µ to obtain fine powder particles. Samples of various compositions were prepared from the powder particles of Zircon sand (X); Zircon sand and silica (Y); zircon sand, silica and kaolin (Z) and mixed together based on the experiment’s program with a predetermined amount of water in the mixer. Refractory brick test specimens were prepared by standard methods from samples A, B and C and subjected to refractory test such as apparent porosity, bulk density, cold crushing strength, linear shrinkage, thermal shock and refractoriness in order to evaluate the effects of adding silica and gypsum to Pingell zircon sand and investigate its suitability as raw material for refractory brick production and furnace linings. From the result obtained, the average porosity of X, Y and Z is 13.5, 18.3 and 21.6 % respectively while the respective bulk density are 3.2, 2.0 and 1.8 g/cm3. The values of the cold crushing strength for samples X, Y and Z are respectively 25.5, 23.4 and 18.8 MN/m2 but the firing shrinkage is 4.5, 5, and 6.5 %. Thermal shock resistance of 26, 20 and 22 cycles were obtained respectively for X, Y and Z. Refractoriness of 1600, 1580 and 1610 0C were obtained respectively for samples X, Y and Z. The porosity, firing shrinkage and refractoriness increased with increase in the addition of silica and kaolin to zircon sand whereas the bulk density, thermal shock resistance and cold crushing strength of zircon sand decreased with the addition of silica and kaolin but the addition of silica reduced the refractoriness of the zircon sand. The addition of silica and kaolin in the appropriate proportions improved the refractory properties of the zircon sand and hence will find applications in the production of refractory bricks and furnace lining.

Distributed Focusing of Laser Radiation and Applications Possibility

A new type of focusing is reported. For the first time, the lenses necessary to obtain the distributed focusing are described. The approximate calculation shows that this type of focusing can be useful in surgery, industry and information technology. There is only one type of distributed focusing at this moment, that is Bessel beam. In this type of beams, energy flux, excurrenting out of axicon, is distributed by a line segment. Power distribution by the line segment can be changed by varying the intensity profile of the incoming beam. Another way is presented in the paper. There are two types of laser scalpels (contact and non-contact ones), but this type of focusing can be used as a base for creating new types of laser scalpels with fundamentally new characteristics. Also this focusing can be applied to creation of more efficient laser cutters.

Comparison of effective health ages between the sophisticated model for researchers and simplified model for patients using GH-Method: math-physical medicine (No. 323)

This is the fourth article the author has written regarding the subject of effective health age (“Health Age”) related to the medical branch of geriatrics. Originally, he used his metabolism indexes data which were collected and processed via a sophisticated software for researchers. Later, he developed a simplified APP on the iPhone for other patients. This specific article discusses the differences of health input data and output results based on metabolism indexes and estimated health ages between these two different software versions. A comparison study between the difference of estimated health ages by using two different computer software versions was completed. The finding indicates that the complex metabolism model of his chronic software version would gain an extra 1.4% of accuracy on estimating his health age when compared to the simplified APP version. The author is not a fortune teller who uses a crystal ball to predict his or other people’s future life expectancy. Rather, he is a scientist who applies solid and sophisticated scientific techniques, such as math-physical medicine with biomedical evidence, to develop a simple arithmetical formula which can serve as a useful tool for the general population to maintain their health and achieve their desired longevity.

Analysis of Coupled Dynamic and Voltage Models of Piezoelectric Cantilever Energy Harvester using Differential Transformation Method

In this work, differential transformation method with after treatment technique is applied to develop analytical models for the prediction of the behavior and output voltage of cantilever piezoelectric energy harvesters. The analytical results are in a good agreement with the experimental results in literature. The first mode of vibration has the lowest resonant frequency, and typically provides the most deflection and therefore electrical energy. The output voltage increases with the length of the beam but increase in the thickness of the beam decreases the output voltage. The results depict that the shape of the cantilever energy harvester plays an important role in improving the harvester’s efficiency. It is established that under the same loading, material and geometrical conditions, triangular cantilever beams are more efficient than rectangular ones. From the results, it is also established that that among all the cantilever beams with uniform thickness, the triangular cantilever, can lead to highest resonance frequency. Therefore, in order to obtain more wideband piezoelectric energy harvester, the geometrical and material designs of piezoelectric resonant cantilevers must be properly analyzed.

Biomedical research methodology based on GH-Method: math-physical medicine (No. 310)

This paper discusses the author’s biomedical research work based on the GH-Method: math-physical medicine (MPM) approach over the past decade. This is significantly different from the traditional medical research using biochemical approach and simple statistical methods. He uses his own type 2 diabetes (T2D) metabolic conditions as a case study including several application examples as illustrations and explanations of the MPM methodology. The MPM methodology will be described, then followed by 10 application examples to show how he applied his knowledge and disciplines in mathematics, physics, engineering modeling, computer science tools, and psychology during his 10-years of biomedical research, especially in the domain of lifestyle, metabolism, chronic diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and renal complications. The following list highlights the math-physical concepts, theories, principles, or equations used in the 10 application examples: 1. Topology, finite element method 2. Time-domain analysis, correlation and regression model, pattern recognition, segmentation analysis 3. Signal processing, trial and error method, regression analysis 4. Artificial intelligence (AI) auto-correction, quantum mechanics, safety margin of engineering design 5. Optical physics, AI, perturbation theory of quantum mechanics 6. Wave theory, Fourier transform, frequency-domain analysis 7. Structural engineering modeling, solid mechanics (both elastic and plastic), fluids dynamics, energy theory 8. Pattern recognition, behavior psychology 9. Spatial analysis, time-series analysis 10. Big data analytics, AI, software engineering Using MPM, a non-traditional medical research methodology, provides many quantitative proofs with a high degree of accuracy (higher precision) compared to other disease research results. Medicine is based on biology and chemistry, while biology, chemistry, and engineering are based on physics, and physics is based on mathematics. Logically, mathematics is the mother of all sciences. When we explore our application problems down to the foundation level, we can discover more facts and deeper truths. This is the logical essence of “math-physical medicine.” Using this MPM model, the accuracy of medical evaluations, along with the precision of predictive models can be greatly improved, with dramatic benefits to the patients.

Actuator for Nano Engineering Research and Development

We obtained the parameters of the actuator for nano engineering research and development. The structural diagram and the parameters of the actuator at the piezoelectric or magnetostrictive effect for nano engineering are determined.