Kazumasa Kobayashi

The application of electro-rheological fluids to coaxial twin rotary cylinders and a shock absorber

As an application of the ERF to a practical device, coaxial twin rotary cylinders, in which the rotation of an inner driving cylinder is transmitted to an outer rotary cylinder through the medium of an ERF, was designed, and the revolution rates of both cylinders were examined. As another application, a simple shock absorber having coaxial cylindrical electrodes without the bypass was designed and the falling time of an inner moving rod was measured. The quantitative relationship between the applied electric field and the revolution rate and the falling time was obtained experimentally.

Relationship between electromotive force and batch culture process of an iron-oxidizing bacterium

Abstract The electromotive force (EMF) occurring during batch culture of an iron-oxidizing bacterium was measured, and the relationship between the time evolution of the EMF, substrate concentration and bacterial density was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The aim was to examine whether the monitoring and control of the culture process by measurement of the EMP and the utilization of electrical energy were possible. The measured and theoretical maximum EMF values were 288 mV and 322 mV respectively. The EMF calculated using the Nernst equation, based on the Monod equation of bacterial growth and the theoretical time course of the consumption of limiting substrate (FeSO 4 ), was in good agreement with the measured values.