Taking aim and the LaTex/Word war!

Defining the hypothesis

SEM-image of Moloch horridus (image credit)

After weeks of research, I am now trying to focus on the exact hypothesis I wish to prove for this thesis so the following is a repeat of past posts but trys to focus things. I wish to show that inspiration found in nature (biomimicry, biomimetics or bio-inspired design) can be used to improve on a current technology. In this case the inspiration is stemming from a selection of lizards and toads who have evolved integuments (skin and scales) which allow them to harvest water passively in arid conditions where sources of hydration are limited. This survival strategy implements capillary action forces in the lizard's integument which provides the mechanism for transporting water passively across the lizard's skin and hydrates the animal by absorption and in some cases actually directs the fluid to the lizard's mouth.

It is believed that a similar geometry to that of the lizard's integument can be applied to the problem of overheating in micro electronics such as microprocessors which need to be cooled to safe operating temperatures of approximately 80 °C. Heat pipes are being developed for this task and a critical element within these systems is the wick - a porous micro structure which, through capillary force action, directs working fluid from the condenser section to the evaporator passively. The wick section must ensure that enough fluid is available at the evaporator so that the fluid can be heated to a vapour (taking in heat from the CPU) and then travel away from the heat source. The vapour then reaches the condenser again cools to a fluid, releasing it's latent heat. This cooled fluid then travels thought the wick to the evaporator and the cycle continues. By implementing a lizard inspired wick design, I hope to show that heat transfer can be improved and that the heat pipe system can work more effectively than current designs. From research, the following reasons indicate that pursuing this concept could be worthwhile:

• Heat transfer within a heat pipe is dependent on the wick structure which can increase surface area such that the working fluid and wick interact optimally in order to transfer heat. The lizard's integument shows a characteristic arrangement which could improve on current wick designs and improve heat transfer from the hot source to the working fluid.
• The one directional flow of working fluid in some cooling concepts (e.g. micro channels and liquid cooling plates) can limit heat transfer. The hexagonally packed polygonal micro structures found in the lizard's integument allows two directional fluid flow. This means that there is less likelihood for channel blockage as fluid can traverse across different flow paths.

This thesis will be an example of a bottom up design where we start with an interesting concept in nature and apply it to an application. It will be necessary to show a systematic design approach including how the inspiration was found and why this certain application was chosen. As I grapple with the complexities of heat pipe systems, I will attempt to relate this concept to others and with some luck, provide an improvement in their design.       

LaTex versus Word: a war at DTU!

Latex versus Word (image credit)

Speaking to fellow MSc students, I have come to realise that there are many using LaTex to create their thesis report. Although our discussions have never turned to violence, their passion for LaTex reminds me of old school Mac vs Windows debates. I have always used Word for reports and only heard about LaTex in my third semester here at DTU. For the following reasons, I will not be using LaTex for this report:

1. The time needed to figure out LaTex will probably take at least 24 hours for what I want to do. Even with Word's problems regarding formatting, jumping images, referencing etc., I think that I will spend less than 24 hours fixing up the paper before hand in.
2. It does not seem to be a requirement for this project although I have heard of some supervisors insisting on using LaTex.
3. I don't like the look of LaTex documents.

So I will persevere with Word and grow a tougher integument as 'LaTex-heads' lecture me on how amazing the programme is. ;)