Obstacle Detection in Infrared Navigation for Blind People and Mobile Robots.

The paper is a continuation of the authors' work intended for infrared navigation for blind people and mobile robots. This concerns the detection of obstacles in the person's or mobile robot's trajectory, in particular, the detection of corners. The temperature distribution of a building's internal wall near a corner has been investigated. Due to geometry, more heat will be transferred by conduction so that inside the building, the temperature on the wall will be decreasing towards a corner. The problem will be investigated theoretically and numerically, and the results are confirmed by experimental measurements. The purpose of this research is to help blind people by equipping them with a small infrared camera that warns them when they are approaching a corner inside a building. The same aim is addressed to mobile robots.

Analysis of resistance to bending of metal electroconductive layers deposited on textile composite substrates in PVD process.

In the article a description of the behaviour of metallic layers created in the process of physical vacuum deposition on a composite textile substrates during their cyclical bending process is presented. Either the results of experimental research or the theoretical considerations of changes in the structure resistance as a function of the number of fatigue cycles are presented. It was confirmed mathematically that at the beginning of the bending process, in the case of a small number of bends, single cracks appear on the surface of the layer. After exceeding a certain number of bends, the nature of defects on the surface of the layer changes and the dominating mechanism of changes is the widening and elongation of already existing cracks. It has been confirmed mathematically that changes in resistance in these cases depend respectively on the number of bending cycles and next on quadratic value of number of cycles. A correspondence between the mathematical description and experimental results was obtained.

Charge-Discharge Characteristics of Textile Energy Storage Devices Having Different PEDOT:PSS Ratios and Conductive Yarns Configuration.

Conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS, sandwiched between two conductive yarns, has been proven to have capacitive behavior in our textile energy storage devices. Full understanding of its underlying mechanism is still intriguing. The effect of the PEDOT to PSS ratio and the configuration of the electrode yarns are the focus of this study. Three commercial PEDOT:PSS yarns, Clevios P-VP-AI-4083, Ossila AI 4083, and Orgacon ICP 1050, as well as stainless steel and silver-coated polybenzoxazole (Ag/PBO) yarns, in various combinations, were used as solid electrolytes and electrodes, respectively. Analyses with NMR, ICP-OES, TGA, and resistivity measurement were employed to characterize the PEDOT:PSS. The device charge-discharge performance was measured by the Arduino microcontroller. Clevios and Ossila were found to have identical characteristics with a similar ratio, that is, 1:5.26, hence a higher resistivity of 1000 Ω.cm, while Orgacon had a lower PEDOT to PSS ratio, that is, 1:4.65, with a lower resistivity of 0.25⁻1 Ω.cm. The thermal stability of PEDOT:PSS up to 250 °C was proven. Devices with PEDOT:PSS having lower conductivity, such as Clevios P-VP-AI-4083 or Ossila AI 4083, showed capacitive behavior. For a better charge-discharge profile, it is also suggested that the PEDOT to electrode resistance should be low. These results led to a conclusion that a larger ratio of PEDOT to PSS, having higher resistivity, is more desirable, but further research is needed.

Seebeck Coefficient of Thermocouples from Nickel-Coated Carbon Fibers: Theory and Experiment.

Thermocouples made of etched and non-etched nickel-coated carbon yarn (NiCCY) were investigated. Theoretic Seebeck coefficients were compared to experimental results from measurements of generated electric voltage by these thermocouples. The etching process for making thermocouples was performed by immersion of NiCCY in the solution containing a mixture of hydrochloric acid (HCl) (37% of concentration), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in three different concentrations-3%, 6%, and 10%. Thirty minutes of etching to remove Ni from NiCCY was followed by washing and drying. Next, the ability to generate electrical voltage by the thermocouples (being a junction of the etched and the non-etched NiCCY) was measured in different ranges of temperatures, both a cold junction (291.15⁻293.15 K) and a hot junction (293.15⁻325.15 K). A formula predicting the Seebeck coefficient of this thermocouple was elaborated, taking into consideration resistance values of the tested samples. It was proven that there is a good agreement between the theoretical and experimental data, especially for the yarns etched with 6% and 10% peroxide (both were mixed with HCl). The electrical resistance of non-fully etched nickel remaining on the carbon fiber surface ( R 1 ) can have a significant effect on the thermocouples' characteristics.

Electrochemical Impedance Analysis of a PEDOT:PSS-Based Textile Energy Storage Device.

A textile-based energy storage device with electroactive PEDOT:PSS (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(4-styrenesulfonate)) polymer functioning as a solid-state polyelectrolyte has been developed. The device was fabricated on textile fabric with two plies of stainless-steel electroconductive yarn as the electrodes. In this study, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance analysis were used to investigate ionic and electronic activities in the bulk of PEDOT:PSS and at its interfaces with stainless steel yarn electrodes. The complex behavior of ionic and electronic origins was observed in the interfacial region between the conductive polymer and the electrodes. The migration and diffusion of the ions involved were confirmed by the presence of the Warburg element with a phase shift of 45° (n = 0.5). Two different equivalent circuit models were found by simulating the model with the experimental results: (QR)(QR)(QR) for uncharged and (QR)(QR)(Q(RW)) for charged samples. The analyses also showed that the further the distance between electrodes, the lower the capacitance of the cell. The distribution of polymer on the cell surface also played important role to change the capacitance of the device. The results of this work may lead to a better understanding of the mechanism and how to improve the performance of the device.

Thermal drift compensation method for microbolometer thermal cameras.

We propose a new method of compensation for drifts in thermal cameras using a filter in place of a shutter. The latter method requires periodically closing the camera, thus causing the images to appear frozen frequently. Our technique of replacing the shutter with a filter eliminates this frozen image problem. In this paper we discuss the principles of the new method and present the obtained results.