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Papers by Fernando Gomes Almeida

The cities of Ljubljana, Gent, Zagreb, Brno and Porto joined together in the CIVITAS ELAN project... more The cities of Ljubljana, Gent, Zagreb, Brno and Porto joined together in the CIVITAS ELAN project ?Mobilising citizens for vital cities?. Within the City of Porto consortium, and with the purpose of reducing the gaseous pollutants emissions, Faculty of Engineering of Porto University has led the development of a lightweight bus bodywork to be demonstrated in public streets as a shuttle service during the implementation period of CIVITAS ELAN. The use of new composite materials in the design and development of pioneering technologies enables significant reductions in weight and, consequently, in energy consumption. It was decided to transform a Toyota Coaster minibus, reusing its entire mechanical base (frame) and designing a new bodywork with composite materials. This paper presents the industrial design solutions considered and chosen, related with structural concepts, structural models simulations, manufacture and assembly. The technology applied to build the main structure was th...

Pretende-se realcar a importância da capacidade de adaptacao dos conceitosformais propostos pelo ... more Pretende-se realcar a importância da capacidade de adaptacao dos conceitosformais propostos pelo Design, potenciando a competitividade das solucoesimpostas pelos condicionalismos tecnicos (caracteristicas dos materiais eprocessos de fabrico), no contexto de projectos de desenvolvimento deproduto. Esta caracteristica, implicita nos projectos onde o Design intervem,permite obter solucoes mais adequadas as necessidades dos utilizadores,quer do ponto de vista do produto acabado quer do ponto de vista doprocesso produtivo (melhor relacao custo-utilidade). No presente artigo saoapresentados diferentes conceitos de design para uma carrocaria emmaterial composito, do tipo sanduiche, de um autocarro que circulara emservico de shuttle, no Polo Universitario da Asprela (Porto), no âmbito doprojecto europeu CIVITAS.

As use of composite materials increases, the search for suitable automated processes gains releva... more As use of composite materials increases, the search for suitable automated processes gains relevance to guarantee production quality by ensuring uniformity of the process, minimizing the amount of generated scrap and reducing time and energy consumption. Limitations on production by traditional means such as hand lay-up, vacuum bagging and in-autoclave methods, tend not to be as efficient when the size and shape complexity of the part being produced increases, motivating the search for alternative processes such as the Automated Tape Laying (ATL). This work aims to describe the process of modelling and simulating a composite ATL with in situ consolidation by characterizing the machine elements, using the finite differences method in conjunction with energy balances, in order to create a digital twin of the process for further control design. The modelling approach implemented is able to follow the process dynamics when changes to the heating element are imposed as well as to predict...

Actuators

Pneumatic linear peristaltic actuators can offer some potential advantages when compared with con... more Pneumatic linear peristaltic actuators can offer some potential advantages when compared with conventional ones. Low cost, virtually unlimited stroke and easy implementation of curved motion profiles are among those benefits. On the downside, these actuators suffer high mechanical stress, which leads to short endurance and increased leakage between chambers during the actuator lifetime. This paper contributes to this field by experimentally characterizing the life behavior of a prototype of a linear pneumatic peristaltic actuator where force—instead of displacement—between rollers is imposed. It is shown that the use of an imposed force configuration has a significant impact in the actuator life time. In fact, the proposed actuator configuration has an average endurance of up to 250% higher than the one previously presented in the literature. This result was obtained while maintaining almost zero leakage between chambers, despite the hose wear throughout the service life. Finally, t...

Information

Pneumatic linear peristaltic actuators present several potential advantages over conventional one... more Pneumatic linear peristaltic actuators present several potential advantages over conventional ones such as low cost, virtually unlimited stroke, and an easy implementation of curved motion profiles. However, the body of this type of actuators also suffers from high mechanical stress, leading to a decrease in the hose wall thickness, which leads to increased leakages between chambers. One way to potentially minimize this problem is to impose the force instead of the displacement between rollers. This paper describes the model and experimental characteristics of a new prototype of a linear pneumatic peristaltic actuator where either the force or the displacement between rollers can be imposed. Namely, experimental friction characteristics and the leakage between chambers are determined in the configuration where the force between rollers is imposed. Lastly, a third-order linear model is experimentally identified. Therefore, this study establishes the basis for future research focused ...

The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

2016 Eleventh International Conference on Ecological Vehicles and Renewable Energies (EVER), 2016

Journal of clinical monitoring and computing, Jan 13, 2016

The assessment of the adequacy of general anesthesia for surgery, namely the nociception/anti-noc... more The assessment of the adequacy of general anesthesia for surgery, namely the nociception/anti-nociception balance, has received wide attention from the scientific community. Monitoring systems based on the frontal EEG/EMG, or autonomic state reactions (e.g. heart rate and blood pressure) have been developed aiming to objectively assess this balance. In this study a new multivariate indicator of patients' steady-state during anesthesia (STAN) is proposed, based on wavelet analysis of signals linked to noxious activation. A clinical protocol was designed to analyze precise noxious stimuli (laryngoscopy/intubation, tetanic, and incision), under three different analgesic doses; patients were randomized to receive either remifentanil 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0 ng/ml. ECG, PPG, BP, BIS, EMG and [Formula: see text] were continuously recorded. ECG, PPG and BP were processed to extract beat-to-beat information, and [Formula: see text] curve used to estimate the respiration rate. A combined steady-s...

International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology