Contents of Journal of Mechanical Engineering 56, 3 (2005) 


YUSAF, T., AL-ZUHAIR, S., AL-ATABI, M.: Performance of diesel 
engine using an emulsion of biodiesel-conventional diesel fuel             137

KAPUCU, S., BAYSEC, S.: Determination of the geometric parameters 
of a robot manipulator by visual data                                      143

MURIN, J., KUTIS, V., MASNY, M.: Link element with variation 
of thermal conduction for thermal analysis                                 162

ALAOUI, M. A. H., SANBI, M., RAHMOUNE, M., EL BERMI, L., 
BENGOULAM, E.: Active control of adapted laminated curved beam 
structures with bonded piezoelectric sensors and actuators                 177

Abstracts



Performance of diesel engine using an emulsion of biodiesel-conventional diesel fuel

TALAL YUSAF, SULAIMAN AL-ZUHAIR, MUSHTAK AL-ATABI

The use of biodiesels, from palm oil (PO), as additive to conventional diesel fuel (CDF) was investigated. In this work, the effects of adding the biodiesel on fuel consumption rate and the concentration of CO in effluent gaseous emission were quantified. The tests were done on a four-stroke diesel engine operating in speed range of 1000 to 2000 rpm with a load range of 0.0 to 5.0 kW. It was found that by using CDF-biodiesel emulsion (vol. 50 %/50 %) a considerable reduction in fuel consumption and CO concentration was achieved when compared to pure CDF. The saving in the rate fuel consumption was in the range of 0.17 to 0.55 g.sec-1 and percentage reduction of CO concentration in effluent gas was in the range of 11.3 to 32.5 % for the tested engine speeds and loads. The findings of this study strengthen the suggestion of using biodiesel as an additive to CDF.

Determination of the geometric parameters of a robot manipulator by visual data

SADETTIN KAPUCU, SEDAT BAYSEC

Development of high speed computers and high resolution video cameras has given rise to the application of vision systems to industrial robots. The main task of a vision system has been to search for the object to be manipulated and once found, determine its location and angular orientation, to replace the expensive work holding devices. Such a vision system can also be used to determine the geometric parameters of the working manipulator. This paper describes how to gather information concerning the topology of the manipulator, ranges of joint mobility, link lengths and offsets by incrementing the position commands to a certain mobility and observe the resulting motion by recording the position of a beacon located at the tip of the manipulator by a vision system. The work is a part of a manipulator independent general purpose robot control software which systematically actuates the manipulator mobilities one at a time while the others are kept fixed and obtains the geometric parameters used in the forward and inverse position equations generated according to the Denavit-Hartenberg representation.

Link element with variation of thermal conduction for thermal analysis

JUSTIN MURIN, VLADIMIR KUTIS, MICHAL MASNY

The new link element with variation of cross-section and thermal conductivity for thermal analysis is established in proposed contribution. The thermal conductance matrix of this link element contains a transfer constant, which depends on the above-mentioned variations. The accuracy and effectiveness of the new link element have been discussed and obtained results compared with analytical and numerical (Ansys) ones.

Active control of adapted laminated curved beam structures with bonded piezoelectric sensors and actuators

MOULAY AHMED HAMDI ALAOUI, MUSTAPHA SANBI, MILOUD RAHMOUNE, LAHCEN EL BERMI, EL MAHJOUB BENGOULAM

The present study deals with the dynamics of a smart piezolaminated composite curved beam. The structure consists of piezoelectric layers or patches bonded on the surface of the beam. The analysis considers the linear piezoelectric constitutive relations and the first-order shear deformation theory. The influence of the actuators is evaluated. Their size and location along the beam are taken into account. The coupled equations of motion of a curved piezolaminated composite beam simply supported are solved to obtain the natural frequencies and mode shapes. The main original results on the parameters governing the modal amplitudes, and application of this study to antifouling process which evaluates the effectiveness of actively controlled piezopolymers for antifouling process, are presented.