Technologies

Shape memory alloys (SMA) have attracted increasing interest in recent years as materials suitable for solid state refrigeration. One of the most attractive methods is mechanical deformation to induce the phase transformation and to generate and absorb heat through the elastocaloric effect.

The technology has been developed over the past 25 years, implementing new innovative components during time. The methodology provides a set of 2D acoustic images in different frequency intervals, for revealing the structural damage (detachments, delaminations, structural weakening) in multi-layer structures and artworks (mural paintings, frescoes, ceramic panels, panel paintings). Recently, interesting results have been obtained in studies of the water related deterioration effects on antique masonry structures.

The invention consists in a special regulation method of the horizontal axes of operating and rubbing wheels of a centerless grinding machine coupled with an opportune blade profile, allowing a continuous regulation of blade rest angle (angle between tangent to blade profile at the contact point with the work piece and the horizon, denoted by γ) and workpiece height (denoted by hw), without requiring blade substitution and/or manual regulations.