Recent Patents on Engineering - Volume 11, Issue 2, 2017

Background: With the deep investigation on hydrodynamics of bubbly flows, the influence of bubble coalescence and break-up phenomena on hydrodynamics has been paid more attention in the academic circle. In order to well understand and to promote the further investigation on the bubble coalescence and break-up phenomena, some related model and mechanisms are reviewed in this paper. Objective: Comprehending mechanisms of bubble coalescence and break-up under different circumstances and establishing an appropriate model are the foundation of study. A variety of bubble coalescence and break-up models and the corresponding mechanisms are reviewed and analyzed in this paper. Methods: According to the present references, this paper has reviewed and analyzed Eulerian-Eulerian single average quantities model, Eulerian-Eulerian multiple size group model and Eulerian-Lagrangian multiple size group model as well as their balance equations and mechanisms in detail. Results: After analyzing these various models and mechanisms, merits and drawbacks for different models are presented in this paper. Besides, in order to be convenient to perform further studies on bubble coalescence and break-up phenomena so as to establish a more perfect model, patents proposed by our research group related to catching and controlling bubble coalescence phenomena are also included in this paper so that the related researchers can get some hints from them. Conclusion: It can be seen from the present review that the model and mechanism on the bubble coalescence and break-up phenomena are different for different researchers, and each model has its own limitation and the given mechanisms are rough. Therefore, it is necessary to have a more thorough study on bubble coalescence and break-up phenomena with the help of the proposed patents.

Background: Needle insertion is one of the most popular procedures in minimally invasive surgery (intervention). In order to improve the precision and automatization of the intervention, robot assisted surgery system has been extensively studied. Needle insertion mechanisms are one of the essential parts in the robot assisted surgery system. Objective: By analyzing the existed needle insertion mechanisms, we can conclude the common considerations and characteristics in structural design of the needle insertion mechanism. Method: The recent typical needle insertion mechanisms are divided into two sorts (rigid needle insertion mechanisms and flexible needle insertion mechanisms) according to the types of interventional needles, and are analyzed with advantages and disadvantages, respectively. Results: The common considerations and characteristics of the structural design were concluded based on the analysis of different needle insertion mechanisms, which is beneficial for the structural design of the needle insertion mechanisms. Conclusion: In this paper, several recent patents of representative needle insertion mechanism have been summarized and analyzed, and both the advantages and the main problems have been pointed. Based on these, the development prospects of the needle insertion mechanism were explored for the robot assisted surgery.

Background: Malocclusion is a common oral disease. Wearing the lingual or labial straight archwire appliance is an effective treatment method. For the traditional appliance, the bracket is a non self-ligating structure. Orthodontic archwire is fixed by the ligature, so the ligation and removal operation is time-consuming. And the end of the ligation wire may be easy to scratch the oral cavity and the aggregation bacteria. With the continuous development of orthodontic technique, the self-ligating bracket is the development direction for future clinical orthodontic treatment, and has become an advanced research hotspot. Objective: To provide an overview of recent passive self-ligating brackets, and introduce their respective characteristics and development. Method: The recent typical brackets are divided into passive self-ligating bracket, active self-ligating bracket and interactive self-ligating bracket. This paper reviews various representative patents related to passive self-ligating bracket. The structural characteristics and applications of the typical passive selfligating bracket are introduced. Results: The differences of different types of passive self-ligating bracket are compared and analyzed, and the structural characteristics are concluded. The main problems in its development are analyzed, the development trend is foreseen, and the current and future research of the patents on passive self-ligating bracket is discussed. The passive self-ligating bracket, because of its small friction, gentle orthodontic force, discomfort reduction, chair time reduction and excellent oral hygiene maintenance, is recognized and applied by more and more orthodontic doctors. Conclusion: The passive self-ligating bracket has important practical significance. And further improvements are needed in the aspects of structure, cost, use and reliability, bracket base failure of the passive self-ligating bracket, and detachment of locking system from bracket's main structure. More patents on the passive self-ligating bracket should be invented.

Background: The proposed research work aims not only to advance the understanding on the effect of Environmentally Assisted Cracking (EAC) on the fracture resistance of the material, but preventing catastrophic failure due to EAC as well. Methods: The deterministic approach focuses on the understanding of the mechanics and mechanisms of the fracture failure for EAC on a material level. The design of the crack stopper on the expected spots of EAC is proposed and evaluated. Based on the submitted patent technology, an automatic lifting device against uneven settlement of deep sea infrastructure is presented, using different reactions of two enclosed and connected cylinders. Results: The device could lift the settled structure for seconds, while surrounding earth could flow into the lifted space due to hydrostatic pressure, resultantly the recovery of settlement and reduced stress around crack tip automatically without using external electronic power and devices. Conclusion: Therefore, it is expected that improved corrections for EAC, enhance safety maintenance with accelerated decreasing life-cycle costs.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) has become a serious threat to the health of men in the world. Combining the advantages of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate is a hot research topic in recent years and image registration is an important step in image fusion. Objective: To survey recent patents and academic papers relating to registration methods which use preoperative MR images and intra-operative TRUS images of prostate as sources of data to be registered and provide a reference for those searching for literature on a specific application. Method: In this paper, we review the current status of registration methods for MRI-TRUS imageguided interventions of prostate mainly in the aspects of feature space, geometrical transformation, optimization strategy, image dimensionality, public availability and evaluation methodology. Results: The registration methods used in prostate intervention with the guidance of MRI-TRUS image in the last 15 years are classified and analysed according to their respective characteristics. The current and future development in regard to the issues of this field is discussed and explored. Conclusion: MR and US image registration method used in prostate intervention is mainly towards the direction of 3D registration and the registration based on 3D surface has become the mainstream. The local features-based registration, such as the MIND method is a direction of future development. The deformation of prostate is a challenge to the registration of MRI-TRUS images. The simulated annealing algorithm, levenberg-marquardt (LM) algorithm, expectation maximisation (EM) algorithm and iterative closest point (ICP)-like algorithm are often used as the optimization strategy in MRI and TRUS registration. TRE and DSC based on anatomic landmarks are the main methods of evaluation.

Background: An optimum design of road facilities, such as cantilever columns for traffic lights, with the development of an integration of pole with foundation of street lights on highways is proposed for solving current significant challenges of air pollution. Method: Patents have been submitted to compose the artificial tree system, which will provide automatically water to road during four seasons without using electric power at all. The proposed structural system is composed of integrated artificial tree structure having reserved rainwater in the optimally designed foundation. Energy harvesting devices are designed to exclude any electronic power via adopting clockwork accumulating deformation energy in circular spring using weight of vehicles and walkers. Preliminary evaluations of design optimization for foundation make it possible to reduce not only the duration of construction but the cost of construction as well. Results: An example design foundation under a 12m superstructure is optimized as 30% by decreasing embedded depth of foundation, while increasing the depth of embedded connection parts. Resultantly, the necessary depth of foundation is deceased, which could be an incentive, providing an economic solution. However, the optimum depths and dimensions of integrated structures are sensitively dependent on earth properties and dimensions of foundation. Conclusion: The proposed artificial tree system would provide automatically reserved water for reducing micro-dust near roadsides without any external power, which cannot be expected in natural trees. Optimum design of superstructures and full scale experiments are planned to embody the proposed patents.

Background: The determination and implementation of most appropriate communication technology for the various communication networks in the smart grid network infrastructure are of prime importance as described in recent patents. The communication technologies used are dependent on the different applications of the wireless sensor networks (WSN) discriminated with respect to reliability, latency, data payloads and sampling rates deployed in the smart grids. Traditionally, the network infrastructure constitutes of three main layers, e.g. wide area networks (WAN) intra-connected by wires and optical fibers, neighborhood area networks (NAN) and home area networks (HAN) founded on the IEEE 802.11 protocol (Wi-Fi) as implemented in Model II. Methods: This paper attempts to implement the neighborhood area network (NAN) and home area networks (HAN) by using IEEE 802.15.4 protocol as Model I, to prolong the network lifetime and to reduce the average end to end delay. Results: The performance is evaluated by thoroughly analyzing the average end-to-end delay with respect to the packet interval, throughput, energy consumption, packet reception rate and network lifetime with respect to the packet size. The simulations are performed on QualNet 6.1 simulator. The results illustrate that the use of ZigBee significantly increases the network lifetime alongwith the reduction in average end to end delay making it suitable for real-time data monitoring for longer duration. Conclusion: The objective of this work is to determine the influence of IEEE 802.15.4 on the performance of WSNs in electric grids and to draw the attention of researchers in this area. The main objective to determine an appropriate communication model for the HANs and NANs in the smart grid has been successfully achieved. It is concluded that for the non-delay critical and real time monitoring IEEE 802.15.4 is most suitable having lower delay and longer network network lifetime.

Background: Recent patents suggests that the use for architectural applications of stainless steel as structural members has increased in recent years due to its desirable characteristics such as high ductility, attractive appearance, fire resistance and corrosion resistance. However, relatively high initial cost of stainless steels compared with carbon steels is an obstacle to use widely in building construction field. The material cost of stainless steel tends to be determined by the alloy content, particularly nickel. Therefore, ferritic stainless steels with little or no nickel can provide many benefits similar to the more conventional grades (austenitic and duplex). Since the current design rules for stainless steel bolted connection follow those of carbon steel with partly limited modification, they can't properly utilize the advantage of stainless steel material properties. Method: This paper describes experimental and numerical investigation on behavior of ferritic stainless steel single shear bolted connections. Numerical models have been developed and validated against test results. Objective: The validated models were subsequently used to perform extensive parametric studies to investigate curling effect on ultimate strength of bolted connection. Results: The analysis results were compared with the strengths calculated by the current design equations. It is shown that the current design rules don't exactly predict ultimate strength of curled specimens. Conclusion: Therefore, design strength equation considering curling effect was proposed through statistical analysis and estimated by comparison with analysis results.