Extracting free energy has long been a goal of science but is mostly considered impossible to achieve. Natural processes having independent movement, such as rivers and wind, are often used but provide varied effectiveness. However, coordinated instability within a statically pressurized ambience can be used to extract a significant percentage of the ambient potential energy. This method creates two pathways between two adjacent points, one being a chaotic or Coriolis swirling path and the other being a direct path, thereby creating a pressure difference between the two adjacent points, which can be harvested to reduce the kinetic energy input required to perform the process. While some refer to the proposed benefits as “perpetual motion,” it is necessary to understand that 55 to 80% of the required kinetic energy would still be mechanically generated; therefore, they could be better referred to as “coordinated chaos” or a “Coriolis energy extractor” to save energy [1]. This paper studies direct returns—extracting energy directly from a static (not dynamic) ambient energy. While such returns might not be substantial in normal activities, in deepwater or underground applications (e.g., oil or gas wells), they can be significant, often equating to a 20–45% reduction in fuel use or pollutant generation. In operations that use 20,000 horsepower, this could represent a savings of 4,000 horsepower or 10,000,000 Btu/hr with no associated financial costs.

Animal skeletal muscle exhibits very interesting behavior at near-stall forces (when the muscle is loaded so strongly that it can barely contract). Near this physical limit, the actinmyosin cross bridges do more work than their energy releasing molecules, Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP) suggest they can. It has been shown that the advantageous utilization of thermal agitation is a likely source for this increased capacity. Here, we propose a spatially two-dimensional mechanical model to illustrate how thermal agitation can be harvested for useful mechanical work in molecular machinery without rate functions or empirically-inspired spatial potential functions. Additionally, the model accommodates variable lattice spacing, and it paves the way for a full three dimensional model of cross-bridge interactions where myosin II may be azimuthally misaligned with actin binding sites. With potential energy sources based entirely on realizable components, this model lends itself to the design of artificial, molecular-scale motors.

The growing world-wide energy demand and environmental considerations have attracted immense attention in building energy efficiency. Climate zone plays a major role in the process of decision making for energy efficiency projects. In the present paper, an office building located in Melbourne, FL is considered. The building is built in 1961 and the goal is to identify and prioritize the potential energy saving opportunities and retrofit the existing building into a Net-Zero Energy Building (NZEB). An energy assessment is performed and a baseline model is developed using eQUEST to simulate the energy performance of the building. Several possible energy efficiency improvement scenarios are considered and assessed through simulation including improving insulation on the walls and roof, replacing HVAC units and upgrade their control strategies, use of high efficiency lighting, and more. Selected energy efficiency improvement recommendations are implemented on the building model to achieve the lowest energy consumption. It is considered that photovoltaic (PV) panels will be used to supply the energy demand of the building. Simulations are also performed to determine the number of required PV panels and associated cost of the system is estimated. The results from this paper can help with the decision making regarding retrofit projects for NZEB in humid subtropical climate.

In the present work, the deformation behavior in metallic film subjected to ultra-short laser heating is investigated. Static thermo-elastic behavior is predicted for 100 nm thin film of either single layer or multiple layers. The temperature distribution is estimated from dual-phase lag non-Fourier heat conduction model. The maximum temperature after single pulse is achieved 730 K. The temperature profile for this pulse laser is used to compute elastic stress and distortion field following the minimization of potential energy of the system. In the present work, the simulation has been proposed by developing 3D finite element based coupled thermo-elastic model using dual phase lag effect. The experimental basis of transient temperature distribution in ultra-short pulse laser is extremely difficult or nearly impossible, the model results have been validated with literature reported thermal results. Since the temperature distribution due to pulse laser source varies with time, the stress analysis is performed in incremental mode. Hence, a sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical model is developed that is synchronized between thermal and mechanical analysis in each time steps of transient problem. The maximum equivalent stress is achieved 0.3 GPa. Numerical results show that the predicted thermal stress may exceeds the tensile strength of the material and may lead to crack or damage the thin film.

Atomistic simulations play an important role in the material analysis and design by being rooted in the accurate first principles methods that free from empirical parameters and phenomenological models. However, successful applications of MD simulations largely depend on the availability of efficient and accurate force field potentials used for describing the interatomic interactions. As a powerful tool revolutionizing many areas in science and technology, machine learning techniques have gained growing attentions in the field of material science and engineering due to their potentials to accelerate the material discovery through their applications in surrogate model assisted material design. Despite tremendous advantages of employing machine learning techniques for the development of force field potentials as compared to conventional approaches, the uncertainty involved in the machine learning interpolated atomic potential energy surface has not drew much attention although it is an important issue. In this paper, the uncertainty quantification study is performed for the machine learning interpolated atomic potentials, and applied to the titanium dioxide (TiO2), an industrially relevant and well-studies material. The study results indicated that quantifying uncertainties is an indispensable task that must be performed along with the atomistic simulation process for a successful application of the machine learning based force field potentials.

A method is applied here to extract the amplitude-dependent modal damping coefficients and frequencies of nonlinearly coupled oscillators with a nonlinear force in which a negative linear stiffness is incorporated. The proposed method can be directly applied into the equations of motion of the original system where the solution is not required to be obtained a priori. The exact nonlinear frequency content in the nonlinear coupling element is employed to obtain an equivalent amplitude-dependent stiffness element using a scaling parameter that preserves the exact frequency content in the original nonlinear element. Therefore, at each amplitude in the nonlinear coupling force, the modal damping coefficients and frequencies are calculated from the eigensolution of the instantaneous amplitude-dependent equivalent system. It is found that the modal damping content is strongly affected by the nonlinear frequency content where the modal damping coefficients become amplitude-dependent quantities. The obtained amplitude-dependent damping coefficients are plotted with respect to the potential energy of the nonlinear coupling force. The method is also applicable with larger degree-of-freedom nonlinear dynamical systems in which negative and non-negative linear stiffness components are incorporated in the nonlinear coupling forces. The amplitude-dependent modal damping matrices of the amplitude-dependent equivalent systems are found to be satisfying all matrix similarity conditions with the linear modal damping matrix of the original system.

Whole-body vibrations (WBV) have been used for enhancing muscle strength and bone density of human bodies, training athletes and dancers, and helping people with disabling conditions and rehabilitations. On the other hand, WBV-induced occupational diseases have been reported. Researchers in automotive, farm equipment, and heavy machinery have put forward a few models for studying harmful vibrations on human bodies. This paper will review the effects of frequencies and magnitudes of WBV on a human body. Discussion of effects of frequencies and magnitudes on a human body will provide a preliminary boundary line between good and bad whole-body vibrations. Two multibody dynamics models and associated application cases will be proposed to show how the models may be used to represent whole-body vibrations under both good and bad vibrations. Three basic vibration elements associated with whole-body vibrations of the human body are handled as follows: (1) ligaments are modeled as spring elements; (2) muscles and tendons are modeled as damping elements; (3) bones are modeled as rigid bodies with masses/inertias and connected by idealized massless joints. In such a biomechanical vibration system, the spring elements (ligaments) help hold the human body skeleton structure in a stable condition, pass spring forces and potential energy to rigid bodies (bones) for bone vibrational motions. The damping elements (muscles and tendons) play roles of a damper and absorb energy input from the whole-body vibration resource. Based on the proposed multibody dynamics models, Kane’s method is then used to develop equations of motion. The equations will be further used for development of simulation algorithms to understand frequencies and magnitudes of both good and bad whole-body vibrations. The models may be utilized to understand why frequencies and magnitudes of whole-body vibrations will provide benefits to human health under one situation but cause occupational diseases under another scenario.

An improved mesh stiffness approach is presented for optimization of vibration and noise performance of the planetary gear trains in a full power split hybrid transmission, in which mesh stiffness time-variability and biaxial gear stiffness couplings in gear pairs are taken into account. For improving accuracy of the mesh stiffness in double teeth-meshing region for spur gear pairs, a simplified solution to the loading gear deformations counting for time-varying mesh stiffness of the helical gear pairs is proposed, based on the integral potential energy method and FEM simulation. By the new biaxial coupling model, effects of gear body and tooth coupled stiffnesses on gear pair vibro-acoustic responses are also investigated and approved to be considerable. Numerical examples with optimal analyses of the specified planetary gear trains for the full hybrid transmission are provided. Numerical solutions of eigen frequencies and vibration modes for the gear pairs with a variety of time-varying mesh stiffnesses are constructed by the biaxial coupling model and Fourier Series. The dynamic parameters optimization of the compound planetary gear train is then conducted. The optimized planetary gear system is applied in the full hybrid transmission and bench tests for its vibro-acoustic performance are also undertaken. Computational predictions and experimental results are shown to be in fairly good agreement.

Water flow rate sensors in residential homes have the capacity to revolutionize energy conservation by providing real time, user specific water usage data to the Internet of Things. Water heaters typically heat water to a constant set-temperature throughout the day. This constant heating contributes to about 18% of total home energy usage, making water heaters an especially effective target for potential energy savings. By harnessing the knowledge of hot water usage and flow rate, machine learning processes can determine an optimized water heating schedule for individual users. However, current methods to determine water flow rate involve either a complicated installation process or use of expensive equipment. The work in this paper proposes an economical, non-invasive package to both detect hot water usage and measure the flow rate, by utilizing three temperature sensors. Processing of the data quantitatively correlates temperature change of the incoming/outgoing water pipes to the water flow rate through the pipes. To accomplish this, the principle of energy conservation was applied using transient temperature measurements taken from the outer surface of both the cold inlet and hot outlet pipes. In the process of formulating energy conservation equations, there exist unknowns which will be determined by different self-testing algorithms. Developing transient and steady state equations for the inlet and outlet pipes allowed for calculations of the flow rate through a water heater to be performed. Specified conservation equations applied to both cold inlet and hot outlet pipes will enhance the accuracy and reliability of the proposed method. For verification, experimental setup was built to verify our model by comparing actual usage and flow rate measurements from a household water heater with the calculated usage and flow rate from the temperature change rate.

In this work, molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study the brittle fracture behaviour of vitreous silica in mixed mode loading at room temperature. An implementation of the BKS potential with the coulombic term was used along with Lennard-Jones modification to model initial cristobalite. Ewald summation was used to obtain long-range coulombic contribution to the total potential energy of the system. A recipe (Huff et. al., Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 253, 133–142, 1999) was used to obtain the vitreous silica using a combination of different molecular dynamics runs which were done initially as NVT ensemble and at the end as NPT ensemble. Uniaxial tensile tests for uncracked specimen was carried out to validate the microscopic and macroscopic properties with that in the literature. Further, slit center cracks of different orientations were introduced in the vitreous silica and subjected to mixed mode loading by moving the boundaries slowly. Studies of mechanical behaviour were made to derive the variation of fracture stress and stiffness with the mode-mixity in amorphous solids.

The demand for wind energy as a renewable source is rising substantially. A growing interest exists in utilizing potential energy conversion applications in areas with less powerful and less consistent wind conditions. In these areas, vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) possess several advantages over the conventional horizontal-axis type. Savonius turbines are drag-based rotors which operate due to a pressure difference between the advancing and retreating blades. These turbines are simpler in design, less expensive to install, independent of wind direction, and more efficient at low wind speeds. In the present study, rotors were designed with semi-circle blades consisting of a helical shape with twist angle of 90 degrees. Helical designs spread the torque applied to the rotor over a complete revolution with the purpose of increasing efficiency. Three models were analyzed with different number of blades including 2, 3, and 4 blade models. Models for testing were designed using the CAD software SolidWorks. The blades were then 3D printed with PLA plastic. A consistent swept area was maintained for each model, and only blade number was varied. Subsonic, open-type wind tunnel testing was used for measuring RPM and reactional torque over a range of wind speeds. For the numerical approach, ANSYS Fluent simulations were used for analyzing aerodynamic performance by utilizing moving reference frame and sliding mesh model techniques. Due to the helical twist, the cross-section of the blades varied in the Y-direction. Because of this, a 3-dimensional and transient method was used for accurately solving torque and power coefficients. It has been found that the highest average power coefficient observed in the study is achieved by the Helical2 model (2-bladed helical design VAWT model), both numerically and experimentally.

Boom lifts are useful throughout a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, maintenance service, real estate management, and construction. Boom lifts are designed to allow operator mobility at high elevations and are often used as a substitute for traditional ladders, man-baskets on lift trucks and scaffolding. Although boom lifts are very practical and efficient in allowing personnel to work at high elevations and in areas with limited access, several known hazards exist with boom lifts such as falls, machine tipping, crushes, collapse of machine and electrocution. Although boom lift operator manuals and safety literature discuss the aforementioned hazards, they do not or incompletely discuss the hazard of suddenly released stored energy when stored energy is rapidly converted from potential energy to kinetic energy through the boom to the operator platform. One example of rapid conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy involves the boom lift driven over a sudden drop off such as a curb. A relatively low drop off can be amplified substantially by the lever arm of the boom, and as a result, the operator platform and operator(s) within, rapidly accelerate. A second example is when the operator platform is snagged on an external structure and continued hydraulic movement builds up potential energy within the boom. The buildup of potential energy can suddenly and unexpectedly release if the platform springs free from entanglement with the structure. Such release results in the boom, the platform, and the operator(s) rapidly accelerating. During the rapid acceleration experienced in both examples, operators can potentially be and have historically been violently thrown against the railing of the platform, ejected from the platform, and/or crushed by any nearby overhead obstacles. The purpose of this paper is to address, analytically quantify, and propose engineering solutions to guard against the sudden conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy on boom lifts. This hazard is currently not discussed or incompletely discussed in boom lift operator manuals and safety literature. Analytical techniques are used to quantify the rapid acceleration experienced by operator platforms and operators upon the sudden conversion of potential to kinetic energy in various scenarios. Further, the principles of safety engineering are utilized to determine methods to eliminate or reduce the frequency and severity of injuries associated with the sudden conversion of potential to kinetic energy on boom lifts. This engineering and safety engineering analysis demonstrates that the sudden conversion of energy on boom lifts can rapidly accelerate the operator platform and operator(s) within. Further, there are technologically feasible designs that protect operators against the sudden conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy on boom lifts. Such improved, safer designs are more effective at eliminating or reducing the frequency and severity of injuries than simply warning against the hazards.

This paper presents a 4-rigidbody segment model to describe a generic flexible blade of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT). The element is made up of four rigid bodies in a chain structure fashion. The bodies of each element are connected by two universal joints at two ends, and one cylindrical joint in the middle. So each element possesses six degrees of freedom, including four degrees of freedom for bending, one degree of freedom for axial stretching, and one degree of freedom for torsion. A spring is applied for each degree of freedom to describe the stiffness of the component. Through potential energy equivalence between a Timoshenko beam and these springs, the stiffness of each spring is calculated. A blade can then be simplified to several such elements connecting together. With the 4-rigidbody segment model, blades of a HAWT are built up. Their equations of motion are then derived through Kane’s equations. The commercial computational multibody dynamic analysis software Autolev is applied for motion and vibration simulation of blades under given initial conditions. Simulation results indicate that the 4-rigidbody segment model is appropriate to analyze dynamic loads, modal, and vibration of HAWT blades for fixed and moving references at high computational efficiency and low simulation costs. The method can also be served as a good solution to simulate dynamical behaviors of wind turbines and avoid their fatigue failures in time domain.

This study investigates bonding and shear flow phenomena for nanoscale BGA (Ball Grid Array) solder joint in electronic package pads with or without intermetallic compounds (IMC). Three types of solder joints have been studied, such as Sn100%, Sn44%-Cu56% and Sn92.5%-Ag3.5%-Cu4%. The IMC layer composes of Cu 6 Sn 5 and Cu 3 Sn materials. The above materials are arranged according to the single crystal structure. The molecular dynamics method and the embedded atom potential are used to understand the internal micro structure, interface layer and the bonding strength differences for welded joints. The total energy of the simulated system includes the molecular potential energy, kinetic energy and electromagnetic coupling moments. An aging process at 453K for solder joint without IMC layer has been conducted to understand the aging effect.

In this paper, based on molecular dynamics simulation method, the authors construct a graphene flake sliding on a suspended graphene layer which is anchored on a bed of springs. This graphene-spring system provides an ideal model to replace the multilayer graphene under the top layer. We firstly mimic different layers of suspended graphene through changing the stiffness of spring bed; then the contributions of Van der Waals force of the tip and elastic deformation of the top layer supported by spring bed to friction force are analyzed; finally, an energy dissipation mechanism based on the amount of corrugation potential energy and sample deformation elastic energy is proposed. It is demonstrated that the effects of energy barrier and surface compliance are directly related to the observed friction force. It is helpful to achieve a theoretical basis for the design of graphene-based nano electromechanical systems (NEMS) devices.

There are reports in the literature that the lives of 4 billion people are at risk either now or in the foreseeable future, and including even 130 million US citizens, mostly in the western states of California and surroundings and in Texas and Florida as being subject to water scarcity primarily due to depletion of aquifers and ground water and losses due to evaporation. 1, 2, 3 At the same time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is strong evidence that global sea level is now rising at an increased rate and will continue to rise during this century. 4 Climate scientists at the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research published a study in the journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 5 that found that the economic costs of sea level rise increase more quickly than sea levels themselves. Although fresh water is scarce, obviously the oceans are virtually an infinite source of water. Rather than trying to implement difficult fresh water usage restrictions, the best solution to the sea level rise and fresh water scarcity would be to cheaply and efficiently convert sea water to fresh water and to pump the rising sea water level inland to compensate for the underground aquifer depletion. The main problem with desalination has always been, and continues to be, the high energy consumption and operating cost. Similarly, efforts in the past to transport fresh water from northern latitudes have faced the difficulty of high energy costs for pumping water over long distances. Solute ion linear alignment propulsion was presented in ASME ES2010-90396 6 . Solute ion linear alignment is a process in which potential energy of the electrostatic fields of like charged solute ions is converted to kinetic energy. The current paper presents factors showing that solute ion linear alignment as a power generation method by flash distillation 7 , and which normally releases no carbon emissions, could in fact be the only way feasible to cheaply and efficiently convert sea water to fresh water and pump the rising sea water level inland to compensate for the underground aquifer depletion. Since solute ion linear alignment is based on the principle of capacitive deionization (CDI), anomalies concerning CDI are discussed. For example, for opposite electrodes separated by 1 mm and subject to a differential voltage of 1.5 volts, the resulting charge densities on opposite electrodes of over 10 Farads/gram and material densities, e.g., carbon nanofoam, of 0.5 grams/cm 2 , the resulting force between the positively charged ions on one electrode and the negatively charged ions on the other electrode is calculated to be in the range of 10 15 Newtons based on Coulomb’s Law. The stability of charge densities in the range of 10 Coulombs/cm 3 is also discussed in view of the potential energy and resulting forces of such charge densities with consideration of possible differences in dielectric properties in solids versus liquids for like-charged conditions. An analysis of the power requirements for the CDI charge absorption and regeneration cycle is compared to the potential energy available from linear alignment to show that the linear alignment process is expected to be a net energy gain process in the same category as combustion, which involves electron transfer, nuclear fission, which is the electrostatic repulsion of the protons in the nucleus, and nuclear fusion, which is caused by attraction of the nuclear force.

For existing commercial buildings, structural retrofits and energy efficiency actions play an important role in providing potential energy and cost saving options to the building owner or operator. Depending on the type of modification made to the building or its operations, the environmental impacts associated with the building may also be reduced. The aim of this research is to compare three simple energy efficiency changes for a modeled commercial office building and quantify their relative impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Both direct emissions from on-site combustion and indirect emissions through electricity purchases are compared. Hourly emission factors for electricity purchases are used for calculations of CO 2 emissions. These emissions factors are unique to the electrical grid in the region where electricity is purchased, and they vary both diurnally and seasonally. In this paper, the selected energy-saving retrofits and energy efficiency actions are: adjusting lighting intensity, adding insulation, and changing the allowable range of temperatures in the buildings HVAC control scheme. Large and small office building prototype models are simulated using the U.S. Department of Energy’s open source building energy modeling software, EnergyPlus. Finally, the relative environmental impacts based on the type of energy modification and the size of the office building is presented in terms of CO 2 emissions.

The production of micro-components in high quantities by means of cutting plays a central role in the area of metal forming. Generally, these components are manufactured with mechanical high speed presses with modified drive kinematics which provide stroke rates of up to 4,000 strokes per minute (spm) and punching forces of up to 2,000 kN. Depending on the application, this may result in a significant oversizing both in terms of maximum cutting force and size of the punching machine. This leads to higher production costs due to increased space and energy consumption which could be improved by a better adaptability of the machine to the process. To fulfill both requirements, a prototype of an electromagnetically driven punch machine with highly efficient resonance drive and miniaturization potential is proposed in this paper. Electromagnetic actuators induce oscillations of a mass-spring system at its resonance frequency by storing potential energy in the system’s springs. An advantage of the resonance propulsion is that only magnets with low nominal force are needed, since only small forces are necessary during the swing-up. The resulting oscillation frequency can be adjusted for the given task by using a modular concept with exchangeable springs. After discussing the concept and essentials, the requirements and constraints are pointed out. Subsequently, a model of the system is created and an energy based bang-bang control concept is implemented utilizing model based filter techniques. Based on the simulation results a test rig was built and obtained measurements were compared to the simulation data. The test rig provides stroke rates up to 2,000 spm and cutting forces up to 20 kN. A prototype, which will be able to achieve higher stroke rates and cutting forces will be part of future work.

The industrial sector is the largest consumer of produced electric energy worldwide. Electric motor systems account for about 70 percent of the total industrial electricity demand and possess a great cost and energy saving potential. The paper provides an overview of global and regional efforts to create awareness for potential cost drivers in the industry. Various software and excel-based tools for a preliminary estimation of the energy consumption of electric motor systems are available in the market, but a holistic approach is missing. Therefore a framework and a systematic process for the estimation of potential energy savings in motor systems running on alternating current are illustrated in this paper. Moreover a new software tool is discussed, that allows a holistic view on all motor systems within a company without cost-intensive measurements or the use of external consultants.

This paper is aimed at providing a better understanding of the potential energy absorption benefits of components fabricated using fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing. Using FDM, it is possible to print three-dimensional (3-D) objects created through the use of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing software coupled with computer codes that enable the layer-by-layer deposition of material to form the 3-D component. Also known as direct digital manufacturing or 3-D printing, AM offers the benefit of being able to rotate printing orientation during processing to manipulate the design build and ultimately control mechanical and structural properties when subjected to dynamic loads. In this work, tensile test specimens were first fabricated to characterize the general mechanical behavior of the of 3D-printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material to assess its potential strain rate dependency. The mechanical evaluation under the quasi-static load was also necessary to determine the properties necessary to characterize the dynamic evolution of ABS in compression at various strain rates. ABS specimens were subsequently subjected to high strain rate deformation through the use of the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. During compression a new phenomenon described as a multistage collapse in which the samples undergo multiple stages of contraction and expansion was observed as the impact load was applied.