Abstract"lthough biomass is underrepresented in current methods for power generation, it has great potential to help meet the growing need for clean energy. This chapter details the modification of a gasoline-powered two-stroke genset for operation on syngas from a woodchip-powered gasifier. Generator and engine modifications along with a flexible air/fuel control system are described. Results from genset operation indicate a sustainable power output of W with a biomass consumption rate of approximately kg/hour. Optimum power production was achieved at an air/fuel ratio close to . "fter several hours of operation the engine was disassembled and inspected, revealing significant deposits on the piston and crank case parts, indicating that the engine would require weekly maintenance under such operating conditions.

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A laser light scanning device consisting of an electronically driven mechanically resonant torsional spring-mirror system was developed for display applications. The original design suffers fatigue failure due to the repeated rotation of the torsional spring. The torsional spring design is investigated and analyzed to attain the lowest possible stress level while maintaining a constant resonant frequency. The finite element analysis model of the torsional spring was created and the stress was minimized by changing the geometrical parameters of the spring. Spring geometric optimization resulted in a maximum stress of 0.632 GPa, that is 12% reduction in stress from the original design, which should give an extended life span of 1 month for the intended application.

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Vibratory systems that are used in linear optical scanners are significantly influenced by the properties of the surrounding fluid. Although, the dominant energy loss in scanner vibrations is caused by viscous effects, especially in nonmicroelectromechanical system (MEMS) scanners, the relative importance of viscous damping model is not well studied. In this study, a piece-wise method for calculating the damping ratio with logarithmic decrement to produce a numerical model which is able to predict the free response of a linear optical scanner is developed. The damping ratio function used in the model was derived by comparing and minimizing the deviation between the amplitude predicted by numerical model and the experimental data. The efficiency of this approach was tested on the basis of a torsional spring scanner. The results show significant improvement whereby the proposed model predicted the free response with a deviation of only 8% while the general exponential damping model produced a deviation of 20%.

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