The utilization of vibration and wave, which was developed during the latter half of the 20th century, is one of the most valueable technology applications and has been rapidly developing recently 1&8211;10. Because the technique is closely associated with industry and agriculture, it can create huge social and economical benefits and provide excellent services for society. Thus, due to its necessity in industry and daily life, extensive research has been devoted to vibration utillization engineering. In this paper, vibration utilization is classified into linear or non-linear vibrations, waves, and electric-magnetic oscillations. Their phenomena, patterns, and applications in nature and society are introduced. Some research results about vibration utilization engineering are described.

To improve friction and wear performance and service life of the disc-brake pair material of a drilling rig, a new type of asbestos-free frictional material with better performance for disc-brake blocks is developed, and its wear mechanism is investigated by friction and wear experiments. Topography and elementary components of the brake block’s wear surface are analyzed by employing SEM and EDAX patterns, revealing its tribological behaviour and wear mechanism. When the frictional temperature is lower, the surface film of the brake block is thinner, dense, smooth with plasticity, and divided into the mixture area, Fe-abundant area, carbon-abundant area and spalling area. The mixture area consists of various constituents of frictional pairs without ploughing and rolling trace. The Fe-abundant area mainly consists of iron and other constituents. The carbon-abundant area is the zone where graphite and organic fibre are comparatively gathered, while the spalling area is the zone where the surface film is spalled and its surface is rough and uneven, with a loose and denuded state. During the period of high frictional temperature, the frictional surface is also divided into the mixture area, Fe-abundant area and spalling area. In this case, the mixture area consists of abrasive dust from friction pairs, and the surface film is distributed with crumby hard granules, exiguous oxide, carbide granules and sheared slender fibre. The Fe-abundant area is mostly an oxide layer of iron with a flaky distribution. Fracture and spalling traces as well as an overlapping structure of multilayer surface films can be easily found on the surface film. The components of the spalling area are basically the same as that of the matrix. At the beginning of wear, the hard peaks from the friction surface of the disc-brake plough on the surface of the brake block. With increasing frictional temperature, the friction surface begins to soften and expand, and oxidized wear occurs at the same time. During the high-temperature wear period, severely influenced by friction heat, obvious softening and plastic flow can be found on the friction surface of the brake block, its anti-shearing ability is weakened, and adhesive wear is intensified. Thermal decomposition of cohesive material in the brake block is simultaneously strengthened, so that constituents shed due to loss of adhesion. Organic fibre is in a flowing state and obviously generates drawing, shearing, carbonization and oxidization. In addition, thermal cracking, thermal oxidization, carbonization and cyclization of organic substances on the surface of brake block can make the friction surface produce pores or cracks, thus fatigue wear occurs.

To reconstruct the shape of the scatterer in elastic media, the authors deduce the Born approximation solution of the two-dimensional scattering problem, which includes the shape factor that embodies all information about the shape of the scatterer. Accordingly, the change in the shape of the scatterer only necessitates the number of the corresponding new shape factors. For a parallelogram void in a long Al rod, its shape factor can be obtained. In view of the definition of a characteristic function, the shape factor has a corresponding integral representation. Obviously, the shape factor can be considered as a Fourier transform of the characteristic function, which is reconstructed from the inverse Fourier transform. The integral equation is considered as the basic equation to reconstruct the shape of the scatterer. The identification of the geometrical character of a flaw is then given by the two dimensional inverse Born approximation in a low-frequency range. For the parallelogram void, a theoretical calculating identification is performed. At the same time, the numerical results are obtained by the finite element method.

Supplier selection and inventory control are critical decision processes in single-item multiple-supplier systems. An integer linear programming model is proposed to help managers determine the reorder level, choose the best suppliers, and place the optimum order quantities so that the total average inventory cost is minimum, and constraints of supplier ability, quality, and demand are considered. An algorithm combining the branch-bound algorithm and enumeration algorithm is developed to solve the problems. Application of the proposed model in an automobile industry shows that it is effective.

This research focuses on the characteristics of how a ball-screw changes its temperature corresponding to the periodic change of the end-most heat source. Based on the theory of heat transfer, this paper supplies a numerical solution to the non-homogeneous equation of heat transfer through the group explicit (GE) finite difference approach. The temperature distribution for the ball-screw at different times and directions is shown. By simulating and modeling the temperature field and thermal deformation of the ball-screw under periodically varying heat sources, this paper describes the thermal dynamic characteristics of the ball-screw under such conditions. By testing the thermal dynamic characteristics of the ball-screw, the numerical solution is validated.

A new mini-spectrophotometer is developed by adopting micro-silicon-slit and micro-silicon-fixer, which are based on micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Both the micro-silicon-slit and the micro-silicon-fixer have their own features, such as small volume and high precision, which are laid out and analyzed later. Meantime, through the analysis of the sample cell’s optical characteristics that have some impacts on the linearity of the spectrophotometer, a relationship equation, which is about the impact of the refractive index of the sample cell and the tested medium on the variety of the transmitted light intensity and the absorbency, is put forward. When the water and the air are taken as the referenced medium, the experiments demonstrate that the difference of the refractive index of the references does not influence the correlation coefficient r and the slope of the absorbency-concentration curve. The final results show that the new mini-spectrophotometer with micro-silicon-slit and micro-silicon-fixer is worked out, its correlation coefficient r > 0.999, and its refractive index resolving power is better than 0.01.

A two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) steering model of multi-axle vehicle was established. The steering center position, the relationship between the steering angle and the vehicle velocity, and the minimum turn radius were deduced on the basis of the proportional control with a zero sideslip angle. Results indicate that the system stability is decided by the vehicle barycenter position and the lateral stiffness of a tire. Under this control, the steady value of the lateral acceleration is obviously diminished and the yaw angular velocity changes little under any vehicle velocity. The system rapidly responds, the vehicle smoothly steers, and its handling stability is prominently improved.

This paper employs a shallow water model and the finite element method to approximate periodical flows of a micropump to a two-dimensional thickness-averaged flow. A liquid-solid coupled system equation of the micropump is presented. Through the mode analysis of the liquid-solid coupled system, the first-order natural frequency, diaphragm vibration shape and amplitude-frequency relationship are obtained. The vibration response of the diaphragm is calculated when an external electric field is applied. Based on the thickness-averaged flow equation, the periodical flow of the micropump is studied using the finite volume method to investigate the flow behavior and flow rate-frequency characteristics. Numerical results indicate that an optimal working frequency can be obtained, at which the flow rate of the micropump achieves the maximum when the external electric voltage is fixed.

Based on the problem of distinguishing the similarity of links in the regenerative innovation design of a kinematic chain, a new approach using the standard power matrix of the adjacent matrix is presented in this paper. The implementation of the approach is illustrated with an example. This method solves the technically baffling problem in mechanism type synthesis and reduced redundant design scheme, and raises the reliability and the efficiency of the regenerative innovation design of the kinematic chain.

To overcome the shortcomings of current technologies for meso-scale manufacturing such as MEMS and ultra precision machining, this paper focuses on the investigations on the meso milling process with a miniaturized machine tool. First, the related technologies for the process mechanism studies are investigated based on the analysis of the characteristics of the meso milling process. An overview of the key issues is presented and research approaches are also proposed. Then, a meso-scale milling machine tool system is developed. The subsystems and their specifications are described in detail. Finally, some tests are conducted to evaluate the performance of the system. These tests consist of precision measurement of the positioning subsystem, the test for machining precision evaluation, and the experiments for machining mechanical parts with complex features. Through test analysis, the meso milling process with a miniaturized machine tool is proved to be feasible and applicable for meso manufacturing.

Based on the inchworm movement, a miniature endoscope inspection robot system with a flexible structure is designed. The system is actuated by a pneumatic rubber actuator with three degrees of freedom, and it holds its position by air chambers. The actuating mechanics characteristics of the robot are analyzed. An electro-pneumatic pressure system is designed to control the motion of the robot. Results of the calculation and experiments are consistent, and the robot system can move smoothly in a soft tube.

An impact drive rotary precision actuator with end-loaded piezoelectric cantilever bimorphs is proposed. According to finite element analysis and experiments of the dynamic characteristics of end-loaded piezoelectric cantilever bimorphs, a specific fixed-frequency and adjustable-amplitude is confirmed to control the actuator. The results show that an actuator excited by fixed-frequency and the adjustable-amplitude ramp voltage waveform works with a large travel range (180°), high resolution (1 ?rad), speed (0.2 rad/min) and heavy-load ability (0.02 Nm). With advantages of high-precision positioning ability, simple structure and only one percent the cost of traditional impact drive mechanisms, the actuator is expected to be widely used in precision industries.

Although the traditional information classification coding system in manufacturing enterprises (MEs) emphasizes the construction of code standards, it lacks the management of the code creation, code data transmission and so on. According to the demands of enterprise application integration (EAI) in manufacturing enterprises, an enterprise application integration oriented information classification code system (EAIO-ICCS) is proposed. EAIO-ICCS expands the connotation of the information classification code system and assures the identity of the codes in manufacturing enterprises with unified management of codes at the view of its lifecycle.

To enhance the performance of a hydrodynamic torque converter and thoroughly understand the trait of inside flow, a numerical simulation method of internal 3D flow for the three-element centrifugal hydrodynamic torque converter was systematically researched and expatiated in this paper. First, the internal flow field of each impeller was calculated. The curves that illustrate the relationships between the pressure differences of the inlet and outlet versus flux were drawn. Second, the concurrent working point of each impeller was approximately estimated. Finally, a calculation was performed considering the influence on each impeller. The flow field of a working point was solved by multiple calculations and the actual working condition was gradually determined. The pressure and velocity distributions of the flow field were proposed. The performance parameters of the hydrodynamic torque converter were predicted. The calculation method, and the proposed pressure and velocity distribution of the flow field, have practical significance for the design and improvement of a hydrodynamic torque converter.

For reconfigurable robots, the automatic generation of inverse kinematics is a key problem, because such robots may assume various configurations. In this paper, the screw and product-of-exponentials (POE) formula are used to model the kinematics of reconfigurable robots. The POE formula can be converted to canonical subproblems through decomposition and adjoint transformation. Three classes and 28 types of subproblems containing geometric or algebraic solutions are identified and solved, which can be reused in different configurations. A generalized, decomposable, and reusable approach for close-form inverse kinematics of reconfigurable robots is developed based on POE and subproblems. The effectiveness of this method is shown in an example.

According to the design features of a hydro pneumatic spring, the necessity of a separate damping valve is proposed. Based on a 1/4 vehicle linear suspension model, the optimum damping coefficient is worked out and the parameters of the damping valve are determined with the equivalent linearization method. A practical structure of the damping valve is proposed having a small size, high flowrate when the valve opens, and the ability of enduring high back pressure. Based on bench tests, the damping valve has been found to properly work and be suitable. The design method and damping valve structure are useful guides for hydro pneumatic suspension, especially for the design of heavy-duty vehicles.

Based on the principle of alternative operation of two bending vibration modes in an annular stator, this paper presents a standing-wave stepping ultrasonic motor characterized by no accumulative errors driven by an open-loop control circuitry. The driving forces are generated from the motions of projections on the stator in two modes. The positioning of the motor is achieved by the cooperation between the stator projections and rotor teeth, and the number of the rotors determines the stepping angle of the motor. Two-phase sinusoidal signals corresponding to the two modal frequencies drive the motor bi-direction stepping rotation via a switch unit. The prototype runs steadily without miss-step on trial. The single-step angle displacement of the motor is 2.5°.

Enabling quality managers to utilize and manage quality data efficiently under modern quality management circumstances is a primary issue for improving enterprise quality management. A concept of quality metadata is proposed in this paper, which can help quality managers gain a deeper understanding of various features of quality data and establish a more stable foundation for further use and management of such data. The procedure of establishing quality metadata standards is emphasized in the paper, and the content structure and description scheme are given. Finally, a summary is made and future work is prospected.

This paper presents the design process of a controller for bandwidth-limited active hydro-pneumatic suspension employed by an off-road vehicle based on co-simulation technology. First, a detailed multi-body dynamic model of the vehicle is established by using the ADAMS/View software package, which is followed by validation using a vehicle field test. Second, a combined PID and fuzzy controller is designed for the bandwidth-limited active suspension system and then programmed by means of S-functions in Matlab/Simulink, to which a data exchange interface with ADAMS/View is also defined. Third, the proposed control algorithm is implemented on the multi-body dynamic vehicle model to enable the co-simulation to run repeatedly until a more practical controller is achieved. In the end, the proposed active suspension system is compared with a conventional passive system. Simulation results show that the proposed active suspension system considerably improves both the ride and handling performance of the vehicle and therefore increases the maximum traveling speeds even on rough roads.