Recent Patents on Engineering - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016

Background: A recently developed process entitled Supercritical Antisolvent Fractionation (SAF) was recently described for the fractionation of plant extract solutions using supercritical fluids to give two or more fractions containing bioactive compounds with widely differing polarities. An updated overview of SAF of natural products is presented in this article. Objective: The goal of this work is to show some perspectives about the use of supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) applied to the fractionation of plant extract compounds, such as phenolic compounds, lipids, and carotenoids; among other components, those extracted from seeds, leaves, stems, roots and other parts of the plants are described. The main features and mechanisms of antisolvent techniques that contribute to the understanding of the fundamentals of the supercritical antisolvent fractionation (SAF) process are also described. Method: The influence of various operating parameters, such as, CO2 temperature and pressure, CO2 flow rate, among others, during SAF process on the purification efficiency and particle morphology and the main differences about the patented SAF processes are reviewed. Results: The various experimental works intend to optimize their processes through adaptations or modifications of equipments that constitute the SAF unit, as the study of process parameters. Conclusion: SAF process is a technique to produce particles with high yield and purity of bioactive compounds. On the other hand, patents developed using this type of process are very scarce, less attention being given be given to the potential of this technique to purify plant extracts with a very complex content of bioactive compounds.

Background: With the increasingly serious energy and environmental crises and shortages of conventional energy such as coal and oil, humans have been focusing on new energy sources, especially the abundant wave energy resource. Previous researchers have made great contributions to the design of wave energy converters and have also applied for many patents. However, advanced comprehensive wave energy evaluation and application systems are still scarce, which results in the primitive state of wave energy evaluation. Methods: The goal of this work is to overview the status and prospects of the evaluation of global wave energy to find an effective method to evaluate wave energy resources. This study divides the wave energy evaluation into 4 historical periods according to the data source. The future focus for wave energy resource evaluation is also presented in this study. Results: The wave energy evaluation includes 4 periods: the observational wave data period, the satellite-derived wave data period, the hindcast (simulation wave data from a wave model) wave data period and the reanalysis wave data period. In future research, the focus of wave energy evaluation should include the swell energy, the climatic characteristics of the wave energy resource, the characteristics of marine environments, the mid-to-long-term prediction of wave energy, the short-term forecasting of wave energy, and the evaluation of resources at a particular site. Conclusion: A scientific evaluation framework and application system (software) is urgently needed to provide a basis for decisions for the development of wave power generation, desalination and other developments of wave energy and to promote the sustainable development of human society.

Background: Cogeneration systems using biomass materials as woodships, agricultural and municipal solid waste, are well known and used in different places of the world. Today Brazilian sugarcane bagasse is an important energy source to these industries, most of them are self-sufficient in energy consumption and some generate energy surplus that is sold to the grid. There is a tendency forenlarging the electricity production at these industries and it is expected that in short to mid-term electricity produced from bagasse could become a product as important as ethanol or sugar. Methods: This study provides an overview of scientific papers and patents regarding the current situation of biomass cogeneration in Brazil and future prospects, focusing on the use of advanced cogeneration systems with integrated gasification combined andsupercritical steam cycles. Results: The results showed that much can still be done to improve the energetic efficiency at this sector. The current situation shows that although many companies are self-sufficient in terms of electricity just a few are able to sell electricity to the grid. There are many opportunities to better use the sugarcane bagasse and other biomass residues for energy production, from minor changes as improvements at the burning system to advanced power generation solutions. The minor changes can be accomplished with lower investment costs but with significant results for energy generation. Conclusion: The use of advanced power generation solutions as biomass gasification and supercritical steam cycles, proved to be highly efficient in energy production, generating a great electricity surplus.

Background: This paper presents a three-dimensional antenna array for electronic high-resolution beam spatial scanning. System and Design Structure: The system consists of five identical elements, arranged in a cross shape (3+3), where each element is formed by a Vivaldi planar antenna equipped with a Ultra Wide Band (UWB) pulse generator (PG), connected to a programmable delay circuit (PDC). The Vivaldi antennas were designed with copper and a Roger (RO3203) substrate, while the PG and PDC were designed using the 0.18μm CMOS Standard process. The project was designed in an integrated simulation environment (electric + electromagnetic), combining LTSpice 4, MicroWind 3.5 and CST MW Studio 2011 design tools. Monte Carlo simulations showed fully consistent results with those of theoretical models. The main lobe has a gain of 13dB, 28º × 27º angular width, a beam steering between 31º and -24º for , and between 29º and -29º for the angles at 6.2GHz of center frequency.

Background: The most recent seismic events occurred in Italy have highlighted some of the drawbacks of precast concrete industrial buildings and especially those related to the connecting systems traditionally employed to fasten the cladding panels to the internal framing. In fact, in many cases, the out-of-plane collapse of the external walls has been observed due to the problems related to the poor behaviour exhibited under cyclic loads by the connectors used to join the panels to the perimeter beams. Objective: In light of these outcomes, in this work, the possibility to improve the traditional structural details of industrial buildings by proposing the adoption of a dual system composed by the internal pendular columns and the external walls is examined. Method: It is provided to substitute the joints classically adopted at the top of the walls with a connection able to work as a slider with vertical axis and to insert at the bottom of the walls two or more hysteretic dampers recently patented at the Italian Patent Office after revision of the European Patent Office (EPO). With this approach, with respect to the classical design philosophy, due to the participation of the cladding panels, the structure is stiffened, obtaining an improved due to the additional source of energy dissipation represented by the dampers located at the base of the walls. Results and Conclusion: The effectiveness of the suggested approach is verified by evaluating the results of pushover analysis carried out on a building designed following the proposed approach.

Background: Warranty shares similarities with insurance in many aspects. Research on insurance data analysis has attracted much more attention than on warranty data analysis. Objective: This paper aims to provide a general comparison between warranty and insurance in terms of their coverages, policies and data collection. Method: The paper reviews existing approaches to insurance data analysis with regard to modelling of claim frequency, modelling of claim size and policy pricing. Some recent patents relating to statistical models are also discussed. Results: The paper concludes with suggestions for improving warranty data analysis. Conclusion: Copulas are becoming more widely used in insurance data analysis than in warranty data analysis. The paper suggests some aspects in which copulas can be utilised in improving warranty data analysis.

Background: The fabrication of non-conductive hard and brittle materials like glass or some ceramics is always difficult. The electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) process is a good selection for the fabrication of non-conductive hard and brittle materials. Objective: In order to achieve the high efficiency machining of non-conductive hard and brittle materials, a micro electrochemical discharge machining tool is established in this paper and various relevant patents have been discussed. Method: Firstly, the control and force feedback system is constructed. Secondly, the enhancement of the electrolyte refreshment and the mass transfer in the narrow machining gap using the rotating tool electrode is investigated. Finally, many experiments are carried out including ECDM drilling and milling. Results: Arrary of micro holes with about 168μm entrance, 155μm exit and 6% taper ratio and a micro groove are fabricated successfully on Pyrex glass. The feed rate of the drilling process is about 2μm/s and the milling process is 4μm/s. It shows that the machine tool system can meet the requirements of micro electrochemical discharge machining process and improve the machining efficiency greatly.