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In the closed environments such as manned space station, it is necessary to remove contaminant gas to keep a suitable environment. Removal of gaseous contaminants generated from crew, animals, and plants is important function to keep the environment below the allowable level in the Closed Ecology Experiment Facilities (abbreviated as CEEF). CEEF consist of three modules for habitat, animal and plant, the supporting facilities for each module and a plant cultivation facility. CEEF are scheduled to be constructed from 1994 in Aomori Prefecture, northern part of Japan. For designing Trace Contaminant Control Assembly (TCCA) for CEEF, the following six (6) trace contaminants have been selected as major contaminant gas in CEEF; Ammonia (NH3) Methane (CH4) Ethylene (C2H4) Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Ethylene is well-known as an aggressive contaminant to plant growth and maturity.

This paper describes the predicted results of acoustic transmission loss (T.L.) for a motorcycle muffler. First, the T.L. of a prototype muffler with one expansion chamber was obtained by measuring sound levels at the inlet and outlet ports of the muffler by speaker test. T.L. was then calculated by using a three-dimensional Finite-Element Method (FEM) for acoustic fields in the muffler. There was good coincidence between the calculated T.L. and experimentally observed data. Second, T.L. of the prototype muffler while attached to a motorcycle engine was measured. On this step, however, a similarly calculated T.L. using FEM to consider the effect of exhaust gas temperature in the muffler showed differences from the measured one. It was estimated that muffler body vibration sounds may affect the result. A dynamic analysis of the structure was carried out using FEM to obtain the eigen modes of the muffler body.

Several elements affect the structure of eutectic silicon in hypoeutectic aluminum alloys [1, 2, 3, 4]. Among them, calcium has been investigated to a lesser extent compared to the typically used sodium and strontium. In order to enhance the thermal fatigue strength of a small engine, the morphology of eutectic silicon in hypoeutectic aluminum-silicon alloys is controlled by the addition of calcium. In addition, the castability and mechanical properties are investigated. Hence, samples containing different amounts of calcium are prepared at different cooling rates during solidification. The results revealed that, with the increase in the calcium amount and the cooling rate, eutectic silicon exhibits a fine morphology in cross-sectional images. Particularly, with the addition of at least 62 mass ppm of calcium in a specific range of cooling rates, refined eutectic silicon is obtained.

In this study, characteristics of the development and auto-ignition/combustion of hydrogen jets were investigated in a constant-volume vessel. The authors focused on the effects of the jet developing process and thermodynamic states of the ambient gas on auto-ignition delays of hydrogen jets. The results show that the ambient gas temperature and nozzle-hole diameter are significantly effective parameters. By contrast, it is clarified that the ambient gas oxygen concentration has a weak effect on the auto-ignition/combustion of hydrogen jets. Consequently, it is supposed that the mixture formation process is capable of improving the auto-ignition/combustion of hydrogen jets.