Design tool | EPFL Graph Search

Design tools are objects, media, or computer programs, which can be used to design. They may influence the process of production, expression and perception of design ideas and therefore need to be applied skillfully. Objects New ideas can come by way of experimenting with tools and methods. Some designers explore ideas using pencil and paper. Others use many different mark-making tools and resources from computers to sculpture as a means of inspiring creativity. Traditionally, objects like pencil, compass, ruler, drawing triangle have been considered design tools and have been used to characterize design and designers. One reason for the success of traditional design tools such as pencil and paper is that these tools can be used without any special knowledge and their usage facilitates a continuous flow of thoughts. Media The appropriate development and presentation tools can substantially change how an audience perceives a project. The media used for design ca

Multi-configuration evaluation of a megajoule-scale high-temperature latent thermal test-bed

Maurizio Barbato, Selmar Rudolf Binder, Sophia Haussener, Nithin Mallya, Alberto Ortona, Clemens Gregor Suter

Thermal energy storage via latent heat provides an energy dense solution and, during discharge, a hot stream at a well-defined temperature. Utilizing metal phase change materials (PCMs) and high-temperature operation might enable fast (dis)charging and application in previously unexplored areas (e.g. high-temperature processing industry). But detailed characterization and design guidelines of high-temperature metal latent heat storage systems with tailored characteristics are missing. Here, we introduce a combined experimental-numerical characterization and design tool for high-temperature heat storage units. We apply it to a megajoule-scale test-bed operated with steel encapsulated Al68.5Cu26.5Si5 (weight%) (melting temperature 791 K) as the PCM and air as heat transfer fluid (HTF) for charging and discharging. Thermocouples positioned at multiple locations throughout the storage unit are used to characterize the performance and heterogeneity. For the inaugural experimental campaign, three encapsulated tubes with a total of 1.83 kg PCM were vertically arranged in one of the modular stacks and several multi-hour charging/discharging cycles were performed with the HTF heated up to 30 - 70 K above and below the PCM melting point at a flow rate of 1500 lmin(-1). Specifically designed open-cell cellular Si-SiC lattices were wrapped around the PCM tubes to enhance the heat transfer. The experimental results showed a near-isothermal (+/- 10 K) exit temperature discharge maintained for 0.39 2.67 h. Temperature variations throughout the test-bed indicated that test-bed design is important to ensure homogeneous usage of the PCM and controlled phase change. A quasi-1D lumped parameter multi-mode heat transfer model was developed to quantify the thermal stratification within the PCM, heat losses, and phase change characteristics in the thermal storage, and provided explanation and quantification for the experimentally observed heterogeneities. The model was used to extrapolate the heat storage characteristics to larger scales: a 16.84 MJ and 50.51 MJ latent heat storage with the modular stacks filled with 25.7 kg (42 encapsulated tubes) and 77 kg (126 encapsulated tubes) of the PCM, respectively. The coupled experimental- numerical approach allowed for model validation, explanation of experimental variation, and to provide general design guidelines for practically relevant latent high-temperature (metal) thermal energy storage.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2022

Modeling, Design, and Development of Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Finite Element Method

Gunjan Agarwal, William Curtin, Juan Manuel Florez Marin, Philip Arthur Moseley, Jamie Paik, Harshal Arun Sonar

This work presents a comprehensive open-source simulation and design tool for Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) using finite element method, compatible and extensible to a diverse range of soft materials and design parameters. Thorough characterization of the hyperelastic and viscoelastic behavior is illustrated using a sample soft material (Ecoflex 00_30), and an appropriate material constitutive law. SPA performance (displacement and blocked-force) are simulated for two types of SPA and validated with experimental testing. Real-world case studies are presented in which SPA designs are iteratively optimized through simulation to meet specified performance criteria and geometric constraints.

Wiley-Blackwell2015

Design Tools for Small Implantable antennas

Zvonimir Sipus, Anja Skrivervik Favre, Ismael Vico Triviño

Implantable applications have been increasing in number in an exponential manner since the turn of the millennium. This is largely due to the increasing availability of ultra low power consumption electronics, enabling the emergence of healthcare services using implantable or swallowable sensors. Other fields of applications exist, e.g. in the domains of military, security or sports. A large number of antennas for these implantable or swallowable capsules have been designed, and can be found in the literature. They are however always presented for a specific capsule and application, and are thus very difficult to compare in terms of antenna characteristics. In this paper, we show results obtained for simple canonical implantable radiation sources, obtained using a specifically developed numerical tool presented earlier. These canonical results will allow us to obtain some simple but useful figures of merit that enable an easy assessment of the quality of the radiation characteristic of a specific antenna design in a specific capsule

The European Association on Antennas and Propagation (EurAAP)2018

Multi-configuration evaluation of a megajoule-scale high-temperature latent thermal test-bed

Maurizio Barbato, Selmar Rudolf Binder, Sophia Haussener, Nithin Mallya, Alberto Ortona, Clemens Gregor Suter

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2022