Analysis of heat transfer and entropy generation for a low-Peclet-number microtube flow using a second-order slip model: an extended-Graetz problem

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The classical Graetz problem, which is the problem of the hydrodynamically developed, thermally developing laminar flow of an incompressible fluid inside a tube neglecting axial conduction and viscous dissipation, is one of the fundamental problems of internal-flow studies. This study is an extension of the Graetz problem to include the rarefaction effect, viscous dissipation term and axial conduction with a constant wall temperature thermal boundary condition. The energy equation is solved to determine the temperature field analytically using general eigenfunction expansion with a fully developed velocity profile. To analyze the low-Peclet-number nature of the flow, the flow domain is extended from −∞ to +∞. To model the rarefaction effect, a second-order slip model is implemented. The temperature distribution, local Nusselt number, and local entropy generation are determined in terms of confluent hypergeometric functions. This kind of theoretical study is important for a fundamental understanding of the convective heat transfer characteristics of flows at the microscale and for the optimum design of thermal systems, which includes convective heat transfer at the microscale, especially operating at low Reynolds number

Microchannel heat transfer with slip flow and wall effects

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Analysis is presented for conjugate heat transfer in a parallel-plate microchannel. Axial conduction in the fluid and in the adjacent wall is included. The fluid is a constant property gas with a slip-flow velocity distribution. The microchannel is heated by a small region on the channel wall. The analytic solution is given in the form of integrals by the method of Green's functions. Quadrature is used to obtain numerical results for the temperature and heat transfer coefficient on the heated region for various Peclet number, Knudsen number, and wall materials. A region downstream of the heater is also explored. These results have application in the optimal design of small-scale heat transfer devices for biomedical applications, electronic cooling, and advanced fuel cells

Design and fabrication of a microfluidic device for synthesis of chitosan nanoparticles

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Chitosan nanoparticles have a biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic structure, and are commonly used for drug delivery systems. In this study, design, modeling, and fabrication methodology of a microfluidic device for the synthesis of chitosan nanoparticles is presented. In the modeling, 2D flow and concentration field is computed using COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation environment to predict the performance of the device. The microfluidic chip is fabricated out of PDMS. The fabrication of the mold for the microfluidic device is performed using high-precision micromachining. Some preliminary proof-of-concept experiments were performed. It was observed that compared to conventional batch-type methods, the proposed microfluidic device can perform the synthesis much faster and in a much automated and convenient manner. Copyright © 2013 by ASME

Warpage characterization of microchannels fabricated by injection molding

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Mass-production of microfluidic devices is important for biomedical applications in which disposable devices are widely used. Injection molding is a well-known process for the production of devices on a mass scale at low-cost. In this study, the injection molding process is adapted for the fabrication of a microfluidic device with a single microchannel. To increase the product quality, high-precision mechanical machining is utilized for the manufacturing of the mold of the microfluidic device. A conventional injection molding machine is implemented in the process. Injection molding was performed at different mold temperatures. The warpage of the injected pieces was characterized by measuring the part deformation. The effect of the mold temperature on the quality of the final device was assessed in terms of the part deformation and bonding quality. From the experimental results, oneto-one correspondence between the warpage and the bonding quality of the molded pieces was observed. It was found that as the warpage of the pieces decreases, the bonding quality increases. A maximum point for the breaking pressure of the bonding and the minimum point for the warpage were found at the same mold temperature. This mold temperature was named as the optimum temperature for the designed microfluidic device. It was observed that the produced microfluidic devices at the mold temperature of 45 !C were able to withstand pressures up to 74 ba

Moving Object Detection in Wavelet Compressed Video

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In many surveillance systems the video is stored in wavelet compressed form.In this paper, an algorithm for moving object and region detection in video which is compressed using a wavelet transform (WT) is developed.The algorithm estimates the WT of the background scene from the WTs of the past image frames of the video.The WT of the current image is compared with the WT of the background and the moving objects are determined from the difference.The algorithm does not perform inverse WT to obtain the actual pixels of the current image nor the estimated background. This leads to a computationally efficient method and a system compared to the existing motion estimation methods. (C) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V

Wavelet based flickering flame detector using differential PIR sensors

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A Pyro-electric Infrared (PIR) sensor based flame detection system is proposed using a Markovian decision algorithm. A differential PIR sensor is only sensitive to sudden temperature variations within its viewing range and it produces a time-varying signal. The wavelet transform of the PIR sensor signal is used for feature extraction from sensor signal and wavelet parameters are fed to a set of Markov models corresponding to the flame flicker process of an uncontrolled fire, ordinary activity of human beings and other objects. The final decision is reached based on the model yielding the highest probability among others. Comparative results show that the system can be used for fire detection in large rooms. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Entropy-Functional-Based Online Adaptive Decision Fusion Framework with Application to Wildfire Detection in Video

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In this paper, an entropy-functional-based online adaptive decision fusion (EADF) framework is developed for image analysis and computer vision applications. In this framework, it is assumed that the compound algorithm consists of several subalgorithms, each of which yields its own decision as a real number centered around zero, representing the confidence level of that particular subalgorithm. Decision values are linearly combined with weights that are updated online according to an active fusion method based on performing entropic projections onto convex sets describing subalgorithms. It is assumed that there is an oracle, who is usually a human operator, providing feedback to the decision fusion method. A video-based wildfire detection system was developed to evaluate the performance of the decision fusion algorithm. In this case, image data arrive sequentially, and the oracle is the security guard of the forest lookout tower, verifying the decision of the combined algorithm. The simulation results are presented