The demands on decreased environmental impact from vehicles are resulting in a strong push for decreased engine oil and fuel consumption.

Recent engine tests have shown a promising reduction in oil consumption when using cylinder liners with a smoother finish than the current plateau honing.

One approach to produce smoother liner surfaces is to replace SiC ceramic honing stones with diamond tools. However, even though the diamond honing process results in higher productivity, improved quality control is needed to monitor the degree of cold worked material - “blechmantel” (German), and the resulting risk of increased wear and scuffing.

A number of petrol and diesel engine cylinder liners have been mapped to be able to verify the quality and consequences, in terms of wear and function, of the honing process. A new mapping method, combining SEM images and quantitative image analysis with traditional 2D profilometry has been developed and tested in this study. The surface mapping method developed was employed before and after the test to study effect of running-in wear on the surface, features characterized with the SEM- and the 2D profilometer.

The results show that combining SEM- and profilometric methods gives a good picture of the effects of varying the cylinder liner pressure and roughness. The core roughness decreases more for diesel liners than for petrol liners.. A probable cause is that the more severe diesel high pressure run-in conditions are able to effectively “truncate” the plateaux and remove residing plastically deformed un-cut honing residues while the less severe petrol liner conditions do not manage to remove the blechmantel and irregularities to an important extent.

The demands on decreased environmental impact from vehicles are resulting in a strong push for decreased engine oil and fuel consumption. Engine oil and fuel consumption are to a great extent controlled by the topography of the cylinder liner surface.

Recent engine tests have shown a promising reduction in oil consumption when using cylinder liners with a smoother finish than the current plateau honing.

One approach to produce smoother liner surfaces is to replace SiC ceramic honing stones with diamond tools. However, event though the diamond honing process results in higher productivity, improved demands of quality control is needed to monitor the degree of cold worked material - “blechmantel” (German), and the resulting risk of increased wear and scuffing.

A number of petrol and diesel engine cylinder liners have been mapped to be able to verify the quality and consequences, in terms of wear and function, of the honing process. A new mapping method, combining SEM images and quantitative image analysis with traditional 2D profilometry has been developed and tested in this study. The liners where tested in a reciprocating rig of 8 mm stroke and with a frequency of 10 Hz, simulating the top-dead center conditions in a running engine.

The tests where carried out in high- and low pressure conditions with smooth respectively rough liner roughnesses against PVD coated piston rings. The developed surface mapping method was employed before and after the test to study effect of running-in wear on the surface, features characterized with the SEM- and the 2D profilometer.

The results show that combining SEM- and profilometric methods gives a good picture of the effects of varying the cylinder liner pressure and roughness. The core roughness decrease more for diesel liners than for petrol liners. In average (rough and smooth liners) the diesel core roughness decrease 265% while the petrol liners average on a 60% decrease. Blechmantel- and Irregularities ratio show a high sensitivity to varying conditions and decrease 1180% to 100% for the diesel liners while the parameters increase between 106% to 18% for all the petrol liners. A probable cause is the more severe diesel high pressure run-in conditions are able to effectively “truncate” the plateaux and remove residing plastically deformed un-cut honing residues while the less severe petrol liner conditions not manage to remove the blechmantel and irregularities in an important extent.

The development of engine components in the automotive industry is governed by several constraints such as environmental legislation and customer expectations. About a half of the frictional losses in an internal combustion engine come from the interactions between the piston assembly and cylinder liner surface. The tribological considerations in the contact between the piston ring and cylinder liner have attracted much attention over the past few decades. Many non-conventional cylinder liner finishes have been, and are being, developed with the aim to reduce friction losses and oil consumption, but the effects of the surface finish on piston ring pack performance is not well understood. One way of reducing friction in the cylinder system is to reduce the tangential load from the piston ring pack, focusing on the oil control ring. However, the side-effect of this is a disappointingly increased oil consumption. In this study a number of different cylinder liner surface specifications were developed and implemented in test engines with the aim of maintaining the level for oil consumption when decreasing the tangential load for the piston ring pack. To improve our understanding of the result, the same surfaces were evaluated in elastic and elasto-plastic rough contact and hydrodynamic flow simulation models. It is shown that oil consumption is strongly related to surface texture on the cylinder liners and at lower speeds (900–1200 rpm), a 'rougher surface' with a high core (e.g. Sk) and valley roughness (e.g. Svk) results in higher oil consumption. At the medium speed range (1200–3600 rpm), oil consumption continues to dominate for the 'rough' surfaces but with a visible influence of a lower oil consumption for a decreased roughness within the 'rough' surface group. 'Smooth' surfaces with a 'smooth' core (Sk), irrespective of the valley component (Svk), show similar oil consumption. For engine speeds above 3600 rpms, an increase in plateau roughness results in higher oil consumption. Throughout the study, standard roughness parameters were computed to compare with the results from engine testing and simulation. Future work will be directed to continuous optimization between oil consumption and friction. Improving the understanding of the functional cylinder system surfaces' ability to form oil films in the cylinder system opens up opportunities, not only in reducing the tangential load of piston ring packs but also in optimizing oil viscosity in order to reduce friction.

The roughness of stratified surfaces such as cylinder liners, produced by plateau honing, is functionally important in their tribology but is notoriously difficult to characterise. An issue in manufacturing quality control related to their tribological function is the comparative ability of various roughness characterisation systems. In this paper the Rk family of parameters is compared with the Rq family as regards stability and discrimination. When coefficients of variation of the two parameter families are compared as a measure of stability, CVs of individual parameters vary between 8% and 20% but do not seem to indicate a clear advantage to either family. When the correlation of parameters within and between the two groups is computed as a measure of relative discriminative ability, many parameters are found to be highly correlated, to the point where values of Rpk and Rpq are effectively indistinguishable. The relative robustness of the parameters is also established by simulation of surface or measurement artefacts: outlying peaks and valleys, high-frequency noise, changes in stylus or skid radius, changes in high-pass filter and in assessment length. Outlying peaks cause a large increase in Rpk, while outlying valleys have little effect. The Rq parameters are more sensitive to high-frequency noise than the Rk parameters. Increasing the stylus radius reduced the valley parameters, while adding a 25 mm radius skid increased Rk and Rpq by as much as 15%. Increasing the short-wavelength cut-off from 2.5 m to 8 m reduced most parameters, particularly the peak parameters, while replacing the robust Gaussian filter used throughout by a valley-suppression filter had little effect. Finally reducing the assessment length from 17 mm to 4 mm decreased the values of many parameters by up to 11%. Increasing plateau honing time decreased plateau roughness, while increasing pressure during coarse honing increased valley roughness, but these changes could not be correlated with roughness parameters. This suggests that the optimum parameter set has not yet been found. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This thesis has been made on behalf of, and in cooperation with Getinge Sterilization. The purpose of this project has been to develop a solution that makes trolleys of the SMART-trolley series more maneuverable when users are now experiencing them as difficult to maneuver. The handle and the trolleys wheel configuration were identified as the main factors influencing the trolleys maneuverability. Efforts were therefore set up to develop a new handle and a new wheel configuration that solves the maneuvering problem. Along with Getinge a specification of requirements and requests for the new solution was made.

Initially principle solutions as simple sketches, on possible solutions solving the problem were developed. This was made without taking into account of anyrequirements or requests. Principle solutions are then evaluated against the requirements where the solutions who do not meet the requirements were screened away.

Handle solutions that made it from the evaluation were presented to Getinge, who selected one of the solutions to develop a prototype from. Therefore, no further evaluations of the handle solutions were made. The selected handle solution underwent primary design process and further develops to best meet requirementsand to be manufacturable in a bending machine. A prototype of the final solution was manufactured.

Principle solutions for wheel configurations underwent further evaluation, this time against the requests. Wheel configuration solutions that made it from the last evaluation, test prototypes were made and a user test was carried out to obtain a final solution. The result of this thesis is a trolley with an extra wheel pair and a new smaller handle to satisfy the projects purpose.

The paper analyses changes in user activities and behaviour across different types of actors following the introduction of 3D printers. 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has been claimed to disrupt manufacturing, allowing firms to move from prototyping to full-scale end-part production and replacement part production in a one-step process. 3D printing has many different uses, for example, the manufacturing of toys, shoes, lamps and fashion accessories, and by implication many different types of users and buyers. There are few empirical studies on the types of uses and users of 3D, hampering our understanding in what ways the 3D printers may change the behaviour of users, and whether 3D printers affect the likelihood and the nature of entrepreneurship or business model innovation. To investigate this, a model was created based on the 3DP literature. The model is applied on a distributor customer database and four interview-based illustrative case studies. The empirical findings show that the use of 3DP a) lowers the knowledge and resource barriers for experimentation and entrepreneurial entry, b) increases product and concept prototyping in product development, c) provides a potential for business model innovation by expanding the boundaries of the firm upstream and downstream, and d) becomes a ticket for entrepreneurial entry. Based on our results, the paper suggests that the potential of 3D printers alter user innovative activities is high but most of the potential is latent.

The shooting sport is one of the most widespread sports in the world and it is

being practice in most countries. Based on their own experiences, in competition -

and hobby shooting, the client M4Solutions found a demand and need for a

shooting target that is manufactured in Sweden.

The purpose of the project has been to develop, with the help of Marcus Walldén,

two shooting targets from idea to finished product. These two shooting targets,

Plate Rack Target and Dueling Tree, would each be equipped with a mechanical

resetting system but will in the future have the ability to be provided with an

electronic resetting system.

The project from the client was divided into two theses. One of these two, written

by Marcus Walldén, focused on the tripod parts and the overall design work for

both Plate Rack Target and Dueling Tree. The thesis that is presented in this

report have focused on resetting systems, the design of protective plates and other

peripherals for both shooting targets.

This work has primarily been in CAD environment where design, construction

and development has been given free rein. Calculations, test shootings and choice

of materials has been made in order to reach the best possible solutions. The thesis

resulted in two complete 3D models and two full-scale prototypes of steel.

When characterizing surfaces and searching for correlations to functional properties, such as friction, finding the right scale of roughness for evaluation can improve correlations. However, in traditional roughness parameter analysis, a wide range of scales, or all scales of topography in the surface roughness measurements are evaluated together. In this study a multi-scale method using a series of band-pass filters is employed for finding scales of topography with strong correlations to friction.

In die and mould manufacturing, the method used for quality control of finished surfaces is usually visual and tactile inspection of the finish, which is not easily quantifiable. In the present study, an evaluation of the connection between surface finish appearance and measured surface roughness was carried out using scale-sensitive fractal analysis to find functional correlations and to determine suitable cut-off limits for functional data filtration. A selection of ball-nose end-mills in combination with two different tool steels (hardness 39 and 47 HRC) were used to manufacture surfaces that were inspected and measured. It was found that the method developed in the present study for evaluating functional correlations and designing filters worked well. It was also found that there is a correlation between the surface roughness parameter Sq and the surface finish appearance and that this correlation is stronger in certain wavelengths on the surface.

This work investigates correlations between the surface topography of milled steel dies and friction with steel sheet. Several die surfaces were prepared by milling. Friction was measured in bending under tension testing. Linear regression coefficients (R²) between the friction and texture characterization parameters were tested. None of the height, spacing, material volume, void or segmentation parameters showed good correlations. Developed area, rms surface gradient, relative area and complexity showed strong correlations (R² > 0.7). For area-scale fractal complexity the correlation increases markedly at scales below 200 μm², with a maximum R² of 0.9 at 50 μm².

Comparisons between different measuring strategies were made on three types of smooth tool steel surfaces. Three replica materials were tested to study possibilities within replication techniques. An optical interferometer as well as a mechanical stylus was used to evaluate the surfaces. The results showed that the tested replica materials generated good representations of both the form and the surface roughness (Sq > 300 nm). The evaluated surfaces were quite homogeneous, thus, few measurements are needed to get representative results. However, it was found that caution must be taken regarding manually polished surfaces which can be less homogenous and therefore require more measurements to get representative results.

Machine hammer peening (MHP) is a new method for finishing of surfaces. With this method, the workpiece surface is hammered with a spherical carbide tool. The main objective of the study was to evaluate whether the MHP method could become a plausible substitute for manual polishing in pressing die manufacturing where nodular cast iron is a common workpiece material. To do this, sample nodular cast iron surfaces were hammered and evaluated. Changes to the surfaces were evaluated using surface roughness measurements, hardness measurements and optical images. First of all, the workpiece surface was smoothened. Secondly, the surface hardness was increased significantly. Thirdly, the nodules on the workpiece surface were affected. They appeared to be smaller and not as visible. This effect would likely create a die surface less prone to galling since the cavities would not be filled with sheet metal to the same extent in a forming operation. In addition, with MHP, the amount of polishing needed to manufacture a die surface can be reduced because of the smoothening effect.

This study was an evaluation of measuring strategies using a handheld 2D profiler for quality control of finish milled tool steel with regard to surface roughness. A selection of ball nose end mills in combination with two different tool steels (hardness 39 and 47 HRC) were used to manufacture the surfaces that were to be measured. It was found that using an appropriate measuring strategy it is possible to measure the roughness of these relatively smooth surfaces (0.1<1µm) with satisfactory accuracy using a handheld profiler. However, it was also found that, in contrast to what is common practice, Ra is not a suitable parameter to use for evaluation. Instead, using Rz or Rp is suggested. To be able to control quality, the machining process (selection of cutting tool, cutting data, workpiece material etc) as well as limits for the evaluated parameters first have to be established.

In die and mould manufacturing, the method used for quality control of finished surfaces is usually visual and tactile inspection of the finish, which is not easily quantifiable. In this study, an evaluation of the connection between surface finish appearance and measured surface roughness was carried out using scale-sensitive fractal analysis to find functional correlations and to determine suitable cut-off limits for functional data filtration. A selection of ball nose end mills in combination with two different tool steels (hardness 39 and 47 HRC) were used to manufacture surfaces that were measured. It was found that the method employed in this study for evaluating functional correlations and designing filters worked well. It was also found that there is a correlation between the surface roughness parameter Sq and the surface finish appearance and that this correlation is stronger in certain wavelengths on the surface.

Anisotropy of functional surfaces can in many practical cases significantly influence the surface function. Tribological contacts in sheet forming and engine applications are good examples. This article introduces and exemplifies a method for visualization of anisotropy. In a single graph, surface texture properties related to the anisotropy as a function of scale are plotted. The anisotropy graph can be used to explain anisotropy properties of a studied surface such as texture direction and texture strength at different scales of observation. Examples of milled steel surfaces and a textured steel sheet surface are presented to support the proposed methodology. Different aspects of the studied surfaces could clearly be seen at different scales. Future steps to improve filtering techniques and an introduction of length-scale analysis are discussed.

The way a product or material is experienced by its user could be different depending on the scenario. It is also well known that different materials and surfaces are used for different purposes. When optimizing materials and surface roughness for a certain something with the intention to improve a product, it is important to obtain not only the physical requirements, but also the user experience and expectations. Laws and requirements of the materials and the surface function, but also the conservative way of thinking about materials and colours characterize the design of medical equipment. The purpose of this paper is to link the technical- and customer requirements of current materials and surface textures in medical environments. By focusing on parts of the theory of Kansei Engineering, improvements of the companys' products are possible. The idea is to find correlations between desired experience or «feeling» for a product, -customer requirements, functional requirements, and product geometrical properties -design parameters, to be implemented on new improved products. To be able to find new materials with the same (or better) technical requirements but a higher level of user stimulation, the current material (stainless steel) and its surface (brushed textures) was used as a reference. The usage of focus groups of experts at the manufacturer lead to a selection of twelve possible new materials for investigation in the project. In collaboration with the topical company for this project, three new materials that fulfil the requirements -easy to clean and anti-bacterial came to be in focus for further investigation in regard to a new design of a washer-disinfector for medical equipment using the Kansei based Clean ability approach CAA. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

The paper describes a concept for securing the geometry in flexible production based on robot assisted framing. This uses the robot(s) as an active device during change-over between product variants and it is assumed that product variants can be produced in any mixed order. The case under study is cabs for trucks which in traditional production require large and heavy equipment which is above the payload of any robot. The idea within this study is to use carbon fibre composites in the fixtures in order to reduce the weight and through this make it possible to use the robots in assisting the framing process. The current work involves a generalization of the principle both considering the design of the fixtures with respect to issues such as materials properties and design principles, and design of the production system.

I den här rapporten går vi igenom processen som vi har använt oss av för att ta fram en konceptmodell för ett nytt magasin åt InLead då de planerar att expandera sitt sortiment för att nå en bredare kundkrets. För tillfället har InLead ett magasin för kutsar och det magasinet vi har fått i projekt att ta fram är ett stångmagasin.

I samarbete med vår handledare på InLead har vi gått igenom vad de vill ha i form av  funktioner och utseénde. Under projektet använde vi det arbetssätt som är baserat på Freddy Olssons metod, princip och primärkonstruktion (1995), som vi använt oss av i tidigare kurser. Under projektets gång så var vi även på besök i InLeads lokal där vi fick se deras nuvarande magasin samt roboten som de kommer använda sig av för att få en bättre inblick i vad projektet ska bli i sitt slutliga stadie. Vi har lagt ner mycket tid på att få fram de resultat som gav den enklaste lösningen för montering och programmering av roboten. Vi kommer att sätta upp ett poängsystem som baseras på våra krav och önskemmål, där väger vi våra produktförslag och väljer det som passar bäst, vi kommer även göra en POME-Matris.

Produkten är uppritad i catia v5 där vi baserade våra idéer på .STEP filer försedda av företaget. Vi använde oss primärt av Part Design och Assembly design då de arbetsbänkarna som används passade vårt projekt bäst. Vi har även använt oss av Catia Photo Studio, Keyshot för att ta fram renderade bilder och animationer av det slutliga resultatet.

A method for measuring the position of at least one surface in a metallurgical process which includes the steps of providing a metallurgical melt, the metallurgical melt including at least a metal portion and a slag layer, providing a signal generator for generating signals at a plurality of frequencies over a frequency band, and providing an antenna for receiving the signals generated by the signal generator and for transmitting circularly polarized radio waves at the plurality of frequencies over the frequency band. The invention further includes the steps of disposing the antenna adjacent the metallurgical melt, transmitting the circularly polarized radio waves from the antenna toward the metallurgical melt, the circularly polarized radio waves being transmitted by the antenna at the plurality of frequencies over the frequency band, receiving reflected images of the transmitted radio waves through the antenna, the received reflected images of the transmitted radio waves having a substantially opposite circular polarization from the transmitted circularly polarized radio waves, determining a phase displacement between the transmitted radio waves and the received reflected images of the transmitted radio waves, transforming the determined phase displacement from a frequency to a time plane, and determining from the time plane transform a position of at least one surface of at least one of the metal portion and the slag layer.

A measuring technique and method are provided to simultaneously determine the molecular density of several molecular species and the temperature within a closed process room in a melting or combustion process. In such processes in the industry, e.g. in metallurgic process industry, it is important to determine the temperature and the contents within the gas or flame without physically connect to or disturb the process. This has shown to raise large problems especially at high temperatures. The radio signal over a frequency band is measured on the outside of the process room through a window in the mantel covering as a function of frequency and registered on a computer as a radio spectrum. The system is calibrated by using a known signal transmitted through the process room. The spectral lines are identified by their frequency from a database. The temperature is determined from several lines of the same molecular specie and the molecular densities are determined from the intensities of the lines. The method is suitable to determine vibrational and rotational excitation of molecular species in the radio wavelength range of 30 micrometers to 500 meters. The densities of molecular species and the temperature can be imaged in three dimensions inside the process room or exhaust channel if interferometers are used for simultaneous two dimensional imaging from several azimuth directions.

Method and apparatus for analysing a substance in a container, the method comprising the steps of: disposing antenna means (3) at a predetermined geometrical distance (L) from a container portion (13); transmitting a signal from said antenna means through a surface portion (12) of the substance towards said container portion; receiving a first reflected signal in said antenna means from said container portion; determining a geometrical distance (L 1 ) from the surface portion to the container portion; varying the frequency of the transmitted signal to determine a first phase displacement between the transmitted signal and the first reflected signal; determining an optical distance from the surface portion to the container portion based on the first phase displacement; and determining the index of refraction (n 1 ) of said substance based on the optical and geometrical from the surface portion to the container portion.

A measuring technique and method are provided to simultaneously determine the molecular density of several molecular species and the temperature within a closed process room in a melting or combustion process. In such processes in the industry, e.g. in metallurgic process industry, it is important to determine the temperature and the contents within the gas or flame without physically connect to or disturb the process. This has shown to raise large problems especially at high temperatures. The radio signal over a frequency band is measured on the outside of the process room through a window in the mantel covering as a function of frequency and registered on a computer as a radio spectrum. The system is calibrated by using a known signal transmitted through the process room. The spectral lines are identified by their frequency from a database. The temperature is determined from several lines of the same molecular specie and the molecular densities are determined from the intensities of the lines. The method is suitable to determine vibrational and rotational excitation of molecular species in the radio wavelength range of 30.mu.m to 500 m. The densities of molecular species and the temperature can be imaged in three dimensions inside the process room or exhaust channel if interferometers are used for simultaneous two dimensional imaging from several azimuth directions.

A measuring technique and method are provided to simultaneously determine the molecular density of several molecular species and the temperature within a closed process room in a melting or combustion process. In such processes in the industry, e.g. in metallurgic process industry, it is important to determine the temperature and the contents within the gas or flame without physically connect to or disturb the process. This has shown to raise large problems especially at high temperatures. The radio signal over a frequency band is measured on the outside of the process room through a window in the mantel covering as a function of frequency and registered on a computer as a radio spectrum. The system is calibrated by using a known signal transmitted through the process room. The spectral lines are identified by their frequency from a database. The temperature is determined from several lines of the same molecular specie and the molecular densities are determined from the intensities of the lines. The method is suitable to determine vibrational and rotational excitation of molecular species in the radio wavelength range of 500 m et 30 m. The densities of molecular species and the temperature can be imaged in three dimensions inside the process room or exhaust channel if interferometers are used for simultaneous two dimensional imaging from several azimuth directions.

This paper presents observations of audio noise in frequency range 20e20 000 Hz from wind turbines. The observations were performed around the theoretically calculated 40 dBA noise perimeter around the wind turbine farm at Oxhult, Sweden. This paper describes a newly designed and constructed a field qualified data acquisition system to measure spectra and total noise level of sound from wind turbines. The system has been calibrated at SP Borås. It is shown that it has a flat frequency response and is linear with amplitude and time.

The total noise level (as integrated 20e20 000 Hz) is shown to be below 35 dBA (below the reference background noise at 36 dBA) at a 10 m altitude wind speed of 4e5 m/s. The measurements were made along the theoretical 40 dBA border at 8 m/s.

It is concluded that the theoretical 40 dBA border seems reasonable calculated if the manufacturer specifications are used to extrapolate the sound level to correspond to 8 m/s at 10 m. Our data indicate that a simple sound propagation model is sufficient since the sound level is more affected by the nearby environment than the large scale forest structure. Also, the large scale forestry structure is bound to change with time and the error bars of measurements on total sound level are about 1 dBA, which is larger than any fine tuning with a more sophisticated model. More care should be taken to model the reflections from walls and other obstacles close to the microphones.

The distribution of the spectral noise level around the turbine farm suggests that the noise originates from individual wind turbines closest to the measurement location rather than from the wind turbine farm as a whole. The spectra show narrow band spectral line features which do not contribute signifi-cantly to the total noise at this level. The narrow band features are only detectable at very long inte-gration time and at 1 Hz spectral resolution. The spectral features are typical to originate from mechanical noise.

The spectral acquisition method described in this paper can be used as a field qualified system for sound measurements in forest areas. The high spectral resolution is a viable remote diagnostic method for mechanical faults in the turbine machinery. Future work will concentrate on these two areas.

This paper discusses imaging with complex data from micro-wave, mm-wave, and optical interferometers. An overview of methods to extract physical parameters as images from interferometer data is made and two- and three-dimensional images of gas flows, quasi-stellar objects, steel melts, and fiber material such as wood are presented.

This paper presents topographic measurements of metal surface with Point Diffraction Interferometer (PDI) technique. Interferogram of a surface is created and recorded with different phase offsets. These are then combined to create a phase offset map of the surface. We demonstrate the use with the presentation of our first surface topographic map

This is a pilot study to investigate icing on wings of wind power turbines. In this report we present and discuss various ways and means to either heat water droplets or melt ice when formed on the wings of wind turbines. The situation is different from icing on wings of airplanes in that (1) the wings of wind turbines spend all of their time in the atmosphere where the risk of icing is highest and (2) the speed of wing to air varies over the wing where it is constant for an airplane. The form of the wind turbine wings also varies from tip to centre, to compensate for the varying relative air speed.

We have concentrated on icing conditions at temperatures -10°C – 0°C and droplet sizes of 1-10 μm. Icing occurs also at much lower temperatures, but this will probably be because of direct freezing of water vapour to ice. This is presently outside the scope of our pilot project report.

We conclude that

• The form of the wing, especially on the contact area may be crucial to the icing problem.
• Also the nano-metric structure of the wing surface can probably be designed so that the water droplets have a minimized contact area to the wing.

Our pilot investigation also suggests the following:

• Microwaves are much too inefficient to heat water or melt ice. Direct microwave devices should therefore not be developed. Indirect heating with microwaves is possible.
• Millimeter waves are sufficiently efficient, but the generation is most probably too inefficient to be of any practical use.
• Infrared waves are very efficient to heat water and melt ice and should be investigated.
• Heat conduction is also efficient and should be pursued. Using microwaves to heat the wing surface which then conduct heat to the water/ice is a very efficient and robust method.

Our pre-study suggests that the solution to avoid icing or de-ice wings of wind turbines most probably is not one single technology. The form and surface structure of the wings play important role for icing conditions. Both variables have to be modified depending on the latitude and atmospheric climate. The surface structure also has to be designed to vary over the wing, both along and across to be optimized for the mean conditions at the site. In addition, heating of the impact area, or at least the possibility to heat this, may be important to avoid loss of energy output due to ice.

Further research is required. We strongly suggest investigating the water droplet flow over the wing as function of the cross section form, and the contact with the wing surface as function of the surface structure (e.g. Lotus effect).

The present report is the result of a pre-study project. We will now continue with a deeper project which will concentrate on the form and surface structure suggestions which results from our analysis and flow simulations.

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and system using transmission of an electromagnetic signal in order to determine the positions of reflection points by detecting the signals reflected at the reflection points in space. ; SOLUTION: The present invention provides a method, antenna, and system for defining the positions of the reflection points using microwave. The electromagnetic signal is generated at a determined frequency, and is transmitted by an antenna unit. The antenna unit comprises a transmitting antenna, and many receiving antennas that are separated at a known interval in the direction perpendicular to the main visual axis and are designed to receive a part of the reflected wave of the transmitted wave. A phase comparing means is connected to the transmitting antenna and receiving antennas, and a control unit connected to the phase comparing means can calculate an angle to the reflection points and calculate the distances to the reflection points. ; COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

A method, an antenna, and a system for determining positions for reflection points using microwaves. An electromagnetic wave signal is generated at a defined frequency, and transmitted by an antenna unit the antenna unit includes a transmitter antenna and a plurality of receiver antennas, separated by a known spacing perpendicular to a main line of sight and devised to receive reflected portions of the transmitted wave. Phase comparator means are connected to the transmitter antenna and the receiver antennas, and a control unit connected to the phase comparator means is operable to calculate an angle to a reflection point from detected phase difference between at least two receiver antennas and the spacing between said at least two receiver antennas, and to calculate a distance to the reflection point from detected phase difference between the transmitter antenna and a receiver antenna dependent on the frequency.

There is an increasing requirement from manufacturing industries for improved technologies to measure surface topography. New instruments have to be accurate; robust to be used on the industry floor; non-invasive; automatic; and sufficiently fast to be used in real time as well as to simultaneously measure over a large area. The industrial applications are plenty:

• On-line quality control of machined parts,
• Direct feed back to the manufacturing process,
• Analysis and selection of surface texture/structure.

This paper presents new developments in interferometer techniques for new robust area-based topographic instruments.

The manufacturing and finishing (honing) of cylinder liners for the automotive industry is a constant challenge in order to reduce friction losses and oil consumption. A better knowledge of surfaces generated during plateau honing is then required for optimization of the process. Despite a well-known and controlled honing process, variations in surface roughness appear at both global (due to honing tool wear) and local (TDC, middle stroke, BDC) scales and need to be mapped and analysed. The following paper proposes to map the global and local variations in roughness by using a confocal 3D measuring equipment able to measure and scan any area of a cylinder liner. Six motor blocks (five liners each) are evaluated with twenty topography measurements per liner. In total, six hundred 3D measurements of size 1×1 mm are performed and roughness parameters are computed. The results show that some parameters do correlate with the honing tool wear specific to each cylinder. Experimental models could be built. Furthermore surface roughness varies significantly over the axial length of the liners due to waviness deviations combined with a lack of flexibility of the honing tool in axial direction. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.