An adaptive driving beam (ADB) for vehicle headlights has been developed using a microelectromechanical systems optical scanner. A piezoelectric scanner is constructed using thin-film lead-zirconate-titanate oxide (PbZrTiO 3 , PZT) on a bonded silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer, respectively, processed by ion-milling and deep reactive ion etching. The PZT layer is laminated in metal films on the SOI layer to form a piezoelectric unimorph actuator, which are then arranged as a pair of twisting suspensions to drive the scanner at resonance. The same piezoelectric actuators are also arranged into another form of meandering suspensions to generate a large deflection angle. By the combination of these two mechanisms, two-dimensional optical scanner is constructed in a single chip. The scanner is used to draw a Lissajous pattern of a blue laser light on a phosphor material to create a structured light source that is projected forward for illumination. The lighting patterns and positions are electronically controlled and reconfigured depending upon the location of leading/oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, road signs, and the cruising speed of the vehicle. The paper discusses on the design of the piezoelectrically driven optical scanner along with the optomechanical performances. We also report on the road-test result of the developed on-vehicle ADB module. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

We report enzymatic phosphorylation and additive‐free ligation of DNAs containing unnatural C‐nucleotide residues through the action of T4 polynucleotide kinase and T4 DNA ligase. The artificial units are each made up of an alkynyl deoxyribose component and one of the unnatural nucleobases D*, T*, G*, and C*, corresponding—from a viewpoint of hydrogen‐bonding patterns—to natural A, T, G, and C, respectively. Phosphorylation progressed quantitatively at the 5′‐end in the cases of all of the artificial units in the chimeric DNAs. Ligation also smoothly progressed at the 5′‐end in the cases of the D* and G* nucleotide residues, but only negligibly in those of their T* and C* counterparts. Chemical redesign of the last two units successfully improved the ligation efficiency, so that enzymatic ligation worked well for all of the artificial units in every 3′‐natural⋅5′‐artificial, 3′‐artificial⋅5′‐natural, and 3′‐artificial⋅5′‐artificial terminal combination at the nicks.

Grasping and conveying an object, by utilizing the frictional force generated by contact is performed in various processes in the manufacturing line for an industrial product. The deterioration of the surface quality due to these contacts is a problem. As a solution to this problem, a noncontact transport of steel plates, using electromagnetic force, has been proposed. However, in these systems, electromagnets are installed vertically. In this method, if the steel plate is thin and does not have sufficient flexural rigidity, it is difficult to add a suspension force for levitation over the entire steel plate. In order to solve this problem, we proposed an edge supported electromagnetic levitation system for flexible steel plates using electromagnets installed horizontally. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system we constructed a prototype of an edge-supported type magnetic levitation system, which applied electromagnetic force only from the horizontal direction of the steel plate. Consequently, we carried out levitation experiment and discussed characteristics of horizontal positioning and levitation suspension.

No abstract

The grasping and conveying of an object by utilizing the frictional force generated by contact are performed during various steps in the process of manufacturing industrial products. Deterioration of the surface quality due to these contacts is a problem. A noncontact way to transport steel plates using electromagnetic force has been proposed as a solution to these problems. In such applications to date, electromagnets are installed in the vertical direction. However, if the steel plate is thin and lacks sufficient flexural rigidity, it is difficult to exert enough suspension force to levitate the entire steel plate. To solve this problem, we propose an edge-supported electromagnetic levitation system suitable for flexible steel plates using electromagnets installed in the horizontal direction. In this paper, we report on levitation experiments to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system and discuss characteristics of the horizontal positioning of electromagnets and levitation suspension.