Method and Apparatus for Concentrating Vapors for Analysis
The addition of a thermally-desorbed, small-volume, solid-sorbent preconcentrator prior to real-time chemical sensor measurement of organic vapors can improve sensitivity and the initiation of the heating defines when analytes are delivered to the analytical system. Systems using preconcentrator can provide detection levels that are 10-1000 times lower than systems using direct sampling and analysis. During operation, a small volume of solid sorbent material collects chemicals from a large gas sample (e.g., at a given flow rate for a fixed period of time) and then releases the chemical(s) into a small gas volume during thermal desorption. This results in a concentrated chemical pulse that generates a rapid peak in the detector response. The signal before and after this peak is used as the baseline. Thus the process provides preconcentration, sample injection, and signal modulation functions. This signal modulation overcomes difficulties with baseline drift and sensor re-zeroing, and facilitates automated feature extraction, i.e., determining the magnitude of the response from the temporal data stream. These features are particularly useful for continuous unattended monitoring applications.
Method and Apparatus for Concentrating Vapors for Analysis
The addition of a thermally-desorbed, small-volume, solid-sorbent preconcentrator prior to real-time chemical sensor measurement of organic vapors can improve sensitivity and the initiation of the heating defines when analytes are delivered to the analytical system. Systems using preconcentrator can provide detection levels that are 10-1000 times lower than systems using direct sampling and analysis. During operation, a small volume of solid sorbent material collects chemicals from a large gas sample (e.g., at a given flow rate for a fixed period of time) and then releases the chemical(s) into a small gas volume during thermal desorption. This results in a concentrated chemical pulse that generates a rapid peak in the detector response. The signal before and after this peak is used as the baseline. Thus the process provides preconcentration, sample injection, and signal modulation functions. This signal modulation overcomes difficulties with baseline drift and sensor re-zeroing, and facilitates automated feature extraction, i.e., determining the magnitude of the response from the temporal data stream. These features are particularly useful for continuous unattended monitoring applications.
E4D (FERM3D) version 1.0
Electrical resistivity tomography ERT is a method of imaging the electrical conductivity of the subsurface. Electrical conductivity is a useful metric for understanding the subsurface because it is governed by geomechanical and geochemical properties that drive subsurface systems. ERT works by injecting current into the subsurface across a pair of electrodes, and measuring the corresponding electrical potential response across another pair of electrodes. Many such measurements are strategically taken across an array of electrodes to produce an ERT data set. These data are then processed through a computationally demanding process known as inversion to produce an image of the subsurface conductivity structure that gave rise to the measurements. Data can be inverted to provide 2D images, 3D images, or in the case of time-lapse 3D imaging, 4D images. Modern ERT data collection hardware can provide massive amounts of data in short periods of time. Owing to the computional demands of inverting ERT data to produce subsurface images, it is typically impossible to extract all of the resolution provided by these systems without the use of distributed memory parallel computing resources. FERM3D is the first (and to date only) fully parallel ERT inversion software available, and was developed specifically to address the computational demands of high resolution 3D and 4D subsurface imaging. All major computational efforts are fully parallelized in terms of both cpu effort and memory distribution, providing excellent scalability. Several new parallel algorithms were developed to address parallelization issues custom to the ERT/IPT inversion problem. The code utilizes highly flexible unstructured tetrahedral meshes, enabling advance imaging options such as the inclusion of known subsurface structures and advanced customized inversion constraints. In addition, F3D provides automonous 4D imaging capability. This capability was recently used to image a subsurface ammendment injection in 3D and in real-time, demonstrating the first real-time ERT imaging application in 2D or 3D.
Production of bio-based materials using photobioreactors with binary cultures
Solar energy is renewable, whereas all other fuels including those of fossil and nuclear origins are limited in amount and are exhaustible. One efficient method of capturing solar energy is through the use of the photosynthetic process to produce biomass (a renewable raw material resource for the production of food, fuel and chemicals) through appropriate conversions. There is currently great interest in using microalgae for the production of biofuels, mainly due to the fact that microalgae can produce biofuels at a much higher productivity than conventional plants and that they can be cultivated in aquatic environments, including seawater, and not compete for land resources with conventional agriculture. There are a number of limitations that hamper the current cultivation techniques used for algal biomass production; most important are high costs associated with increasing the mass transfer and by-product (O2) removal. The invention described here provides a cost-efficient way to eliminate problems associated with CO2 delivery and O2 removal. It is based on utilizing a consortium of microorganisms that produces large quantities of high-value biomass and/or valued metabolic byproducts by utilizing sun light, atmospheric CO2 and organic matter. As a proof of principle, we have used a binary culture of a photoautotrophic cyanobacterium and a heterotrophic bacterium and cultivated it in a non-aerated photobioreactor with only minimal addition of organic C. During this process, the binary culture produced higher amounts of microalgal biomass without air sparging (to remove O2 produced during photosynthesis) or additional CO2 injections. Utilization of binary cultures of phototrophic organisms opens new perspectives for designing efficient and cost effective production processes and means of directing carbon and nutrients from CO2 and waste towards algal production of biofuels: lipids, hydrocarbons.
Earth Scientist, Hailong Wang, PhD
Ion focusing device
Sensitive measurements in mass spectrometer (MS) relies on the efficient ion utilization and minimizing losses at the different components of the MS. As ion trajectories depend on multiple factors such as confinement fields, gas dynamics, and physical alignment of various MS ion optics it is crucial to develop MS ion optics that transfer ions efficiently. This is specially the case where the geometries of the ion optics at the interface are different such that the electric field do not match causing to ion losses. Here, we disclose a novel device to efficiently transfer and guide ions into entrance of a planar ion guide or ion optics element. The new device has a planar geometry and consists of two surfaces held at an angle to each other. Importantly the electric field generated in this new device is synchronized and smoothly matches the electric field at downstream ion optics element. The result is ions transmit through the interface with no loss. On each surface of the new device the electrodes are arranged into a converging shape to guide ions from any position at the entrance into the end of the device. Such device also relief the engineering constraints on precise alignment of ion optics at the interface which greatly reduce the cost of building such platforms. Such device can be also used as injection mechanism to e.g. time of flight mass spectrometer pulsar region as the geometry of the ion beam exiting this new device can perfectly match the
FRICTION STIRRING INTERLOCKING OF DISSIMILAR MATERIALS
A new solid-phase technique called Friction Stir Interlocking (FSI) will be developed for joining lightweight metals to composites, composites, thermoset plastics, or other non-metallic materials. FSI will enable joining of magnesium (Mg) and aluminum (Al) to non-metals and would fill a critical technology gap identified by VTO for multi-materials joining. In FSI, mechanical interlocks (i.e. fasteners) can be created with a variety of patterns and cross sections as illustrated in the adjacent figure. As a friction stir process, numerous interlocks can be created quickly and uniformly, in a single pass, offering reduced cost and improved process efficiency compared to conventional metal-to-non-metal fasteners. Technical Approach:Two approaches for joining Mg and Al to non-metals are described as follows. The first approach is illustrated in the adjacent schematic. Here, pins that match the material of the metal sheet are inserted up through holes cut in the metal and non-metal sheets ending flush with the top of the metal sheet. A specially designed FSW tool then traverses the joint and welds the pins to the metal sheet to complete the joint. The large hydrostatic pressure in the plasticizing metal during welding will fill any small tolerance gaps, between the pin OD and CF hole ID. A thermally activated adhesive film, such as 3MTM 583 for example, can be applied between the metal-non-metal interface prior to welding to improve joint strength. The film will also serve as a barrier to galvanic corrosion by sealing against electrolyte imbibition into the joint interfaces. The joint could certainly be made without the added step of an adhesive film if desired. The short process time (a few seconds) and low process temperature (as low as 250 degrees C for Mg) make the FSI approach attractive for joining Mg and Al to CF without substantially degrading the CF material properties. Key tasks to be completed on this project are 1) tooling design, 2) process development, 3) property characterization and 4) modeling and simulation. The second approach is illustrated in the schematics below and involves embedding metal inserts within the non-metal and subsequently friction stir welding Mg or Al sheet to the metal insert. In friction stir scribe welding of metals to composites, the stirring action and high input act to disrupt the fiber and weaken the matrix. Furthermore process speeds are extremely slow. If metal inserts can be inserted during the fabrication process of the composite, mechanical interlocks can be created without degrading material properties. Metal plates can then be welded to the embedded inserts. This offers improved joint strength and dramatically improved process speeds. A similar FSW welds to inserts may lead to a cost competitive, production viable solution for metal to carbon fiber joining Below are schematics of cross sections of various interlock configurations. For this concept it is appropriate for bar inserts that run the entire course of the weld. Alternatively inserts can be smaller inserts to accommodate spot or stitch welds. The primary invention in the second approach is to embed an insert in the composite during manufacture of the composite blank to create an interlocked metal surface on the composite such that an FSW metal to metal weld can be made joining a metal part to the embedded insert. The primary invention is the process of embedding an insert during fabrication of the composite blank (examples: injection molding, compression molding, winding, layups etc. for the purpose of effectuation a composite to metal joint by FSW (or FSW variant) of a metal part to a metal insert embedded in the composite.