The worldwide outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection has necessitated mandatory use of face masks, personal protective equipment and intake of a healthy diet for immunity boosting. As per WHO's recommendation, continuous use of masks has been proven effective in decreasing the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. The present study reports on the bacterial filtration efficacy (BFE) of a novel 4-ply functionalized non-woven face mask. We synthesized a polypropylene-based fabric with inner layers of melt-blown fine fibres coated with polylactic acid and immune-boosting herbal phytochemicals. Experimental studies on the synthesized face mask demonstrated a BFE of greater than 99% against
Staphylococcus aureus
(a bacterium species frequently found in mammalian respiratory tract). A thorough computational analysis using LibDock algorithm demonstrated an effective docking performance of herbal phytochemicals against harmful virus structures. More importantly, the face mask also showed sufficient and stable breathability as per regulatory standards. A breathing resistance of 30 Pa at an aerosol flow rate of 30 l h
−1
was reported under standard temperature and pressure conditions, indicating a high potential for real-world applications.
Performance enhancement of typically sluggish pneumatic brake actuators in Heavy Commercial Road Vehicles (HCRVs) is necessary for the efficacious operation of active safety systems. This study develops a robust Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller using the Kharitonov theorem for pneumatic brakes. To account for the inherent time delay present in pneumatic brakes, Padé approximation and state prediction methods were used. The efficacy of the brake controller when used for active safety system operation has been investigated by conducting Hardware-in-Loop (HiL) experiments. It was found that state prediction based design turned out to be a better choice for handling time delays in the brake actuator. This controller was then compared with a Sliding Mode Control (SMC) based brake controller and the performance of both controllers was comparable. Further, the state prediction based PID brake controller was found to be robust up to 100% variation in system time constant and 40% variation in time delay for different road and load conditions.
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