Recent Patents on Mechanical Engineering - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2010

Separation of erosive and corrosive components from process fluid streams in industrial processes is essential to protect equipment and environment. Failure of any components of the separation device could damage the equipment, processes or environment. The financial losses due to unscheduled shut downs caused by such failures could be enormous. These losses could be avoided if reliable separation devices are developed. Significant research efforts have been invested across the world to develop more robust and reliable separation systems. This paper reviews some of the latest novel developments including patents in the gas cleaning area with particular emphasis on gas-solid separation technologies.

Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) are two significantly different disciplines, and hence they require different shape models representations. As a result, models generated by CAD systems often need to be submitted to shape transformations for Finite Element Analysis (FEA). In this paper, a new approach is proposed to ease integration between CAD and CAE also outlining some patents. It is based on new shape representation called 'mixed shape representation' that supports simultaneously a B-Rep (manifold and non-manifold) and a polyhedral representation to create a robust link between the CAD and CAE environments. Both representations are maintained through the same topology description called the High Level Topology (HLT), which represents a common requirement for simulation model preparation. An innovative approach to FE model preparation based on the mixed representation is presented in this paper. Thus a set of necessary tools is associated to the mixed shape representation, which contributes to reduce, as much as possible, the time of a model preparation process.

This paper describes the design and manufacture of a pair of novel and patented grips for experimental study of cracked specimens made of industrial materials and subjected to the mixed-mode I, II and III fracture loading the details of which have not been made public prior to the patent date of 13 Feb 2009. The innovation patent number: 2008101040 entitled, “Mixed mode I/II/III fracture grip interface” and was granted in Australia. The mixed-mode fracture studies are vital for integrity assessment of components used in various industries including aerospace, automobile, railway, power plants, refineries, military industries, etc. Commercially the grips may be attractive to companies manufacturing mechanical testing equipment such as INSTRON and National Instruments and Tektronix. At UNSW, the grips are currently being applied to measure the critical crack-tip opening displacements at fracture (a measure of the fracture toughness) of PMMA and aluminium 7075-T6 alloy under various loading conditions. To demonstrate the application of the grips, the paper describes typical results concerning mixed-mode I, II and loading.

This work presents a recently-patented mechanical buffer design to reduce bolt carrier bounce in the M4 and M16 rifles. The buffer includes a main outer spring to store the energy in a rearward-traveling bolt carrier and a nested spring coupled to a mass to counter the rebound or “bounce” resulting in the impact of a forward-traveling bolt carrier. A dynamic model of the mechanical buffer is included to demonstrate bolt bounce and the mechanical buffer concept.

Aluminum alloy has an extensive range of industrial applications due to its consistent mechanical properties and structural integrity. Aluminum alloy 6063 was given various heat treatment on the solution treatment, artificial aging & natural aging. The study, also outlining recent patents, has been conducted on the mechanical properties upon age-hardening treatment to the mentioned alloy. The mechanical properties, namely tensile properties were investigated according to standard procedures. Different heat treatment processes have been applied to reduce the cost of heat treatment of aluminum alloy by optimizing the solution heat treatment process. Two different annealing processes showed that the aluminum alloy did not significantly strengthen. The highest mechanical properties have been achieved by considering the artificial ageing heat treatment process.

Pressure differential flow meters and especially orifice plate flow meters continue to dominate industrial flow measurement despite the flood of ingenious and spohisticiated new instruments in the past three decades. This dominance is partly dependent on the essential simplicity of these devices and partly on the confidence that their performance can be predicted without the need for extensive calibration. The invention, Slotted Orifice Plate Flow meters, patented by Hall et al. is discussed in this paper. This new design helps minimize the difficulties caused by upstream flow disturbances and multi-phase fluids, thus making the orifice meter an even more desirable flow metering device.

The main disadvantage of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) systems is their variability and dependence on environmental conditions. This problem can be overcome by storing energy in the form of hydrogen either for long or short term. One of the most promising types of such systems is the solar hydrogen energy system (SoHyS) where essentially the electricity produced by the PVs is stored in the form of hydrogen by using a variety of storage methods and means. The hydrogen can be then reconverted to electricity on demand by using a fuel cell. In this work a brief description of SoHyS and their characteristics is presented along with recent patents on some of the main system components such as the electrolyser and the storage techniques and devices. The future trends of research in this area would be on more efficient electrolysers and more advanced and lightweight storage media in order to increase the overall effectiveness of the system.

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. These recent patents are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by different analytical methods, designs, manufacturing and analysis of automobiles, aircrafts, manufacturing plants, industrial instruments, machines, heating and cooling systems and processes involved and related to mechanical engineering.