The deformation range, forces and frequency of the Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys (MSMAs) render them suitable for applications in electro-mechanical transducers, used to control pneumatic valves. A fast-operating electro-mechanical transducers can be designed, whose driving elements should not execute any motion, as they do in valves available to date, and which should get deformed instead. Util...

A submicroscale flow sensor has been developed that consists of a suspended hot film and carbon nanotube (CNT) fins. Flow measurement experiments, together with a theoretical model, revealed the advantages of the use of CNT fins. The suspended metal film reduces heat loss and the CNT fins enhance the heat transfer to the fluid flow. Herein, the working principle of the CNT fins is presented in ...

Electro-magnetic forces provide a potentially power full means in designing dynamic experiments with active control of the loading conditions. This article deals with the development of computational models to simulate the thermo-mechanical response of electro-magnetically loaded metallic structures. The model assumes linear electromagnetic constitutive equations and time-independent electric i...

The electro-mechanical (E/M) impedance method for structural health monitoring, damage detection and failure prevention is a new technology utilizing the emitter-detector properties of active material sensors and the structural drive point mechanical impedance. In previous work, the authors showed that changes in the drive point mechanical impedance of a structure or machinery can be sensed in ...

Ventilator associated pneumonia currently in vogue seems to have some pitfalls as far as the nomenclature is concerned and thus it imparts an erroneous impression to the reader. As the driving force is in fact the ventilator, the phraseology should preferably be changed to ventilator induced pneumonia to convey the in depth meaning of the term thus evading the terminology currently in practice....

The polymer polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) has unique piezoelectric properties favorable for Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) applications. In the present research, we conducted nanometer-length scale characterization of this material using several high-resolution techniques. Specifically, we used an atomic force microscope (AFM) to study the ...

The newly proposed in-plane resonant nano-electro-mechanical (IP R-NEM) sensor, that includes a doubly clamped suspended beam and two side electrodes, achieved a mass sensitivity of less than zepto g/Hz based on analytical and numerical analyses. The high frequency characterization and numerical/analytical studies of the fabricated sensor show that the high vacuum measurement environment will e...

INTRODUCTION Qconv SUGAR is a simulation package for 3D MEMS devices that utilizes nodal analysis techniques [1]. It has been shown that nodal analysis is significantly faster than other simulation techniques and can be just as accurate. The latest version of SUGAR (v2.0) includes various models for 2D and 3D beams, electrical beams, and gap closing actuators [2]. In addition, SUGAR is easily e...