AC/off-grid photovoltaic powered open-source ball mill.

Maryam Mottaghi, Motakabbir Rahman, Apoorv Kulkarni, Joshua M Pearce

Open access · goldAbstract read

In one paragraph

Article in HardwareX, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

1citing papers in PubMed

1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

Open-source portable solar power supply for plasma generators.HardwareX · 2025
Article

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Maryam MottaghiDepartment of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Western University, London, Canada.

Motakabbir RahmanDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, London, Canada.

Apoorv KulkarniDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Canada.

Joshua M PearceDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Canada.

Western University · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Ball milling is used for comminution by rotating a drum to grind materials using balls with specific diameters. Ball milling advantages include the potential for high capacity, predicted fineness in a specific amount of time, reliability, safety, and simplicity, but has disadvantages of high weight, energy consumption and costs, which limit accessibility. To overcome these limitations this study applies the free and open source hardware approach coupled to distributed digital manufacturing to fabricate a ball mill with a simple, customizable design that can be used in a wide range of scientific applications and circumstances including those without access to reliable grid electricity. The highly-customizable design reduces the cost to <US$130 for an AC powered version and <US$315 for a switchable power that enables off-grid operation with a solar module and battery. Using a solar photovoltaic energy source not only improves the power reliability, but also makes it easier to move the ball mill for use in field environments. The open source ball mill is capable of reducing silicon particle sizes from the millimeter scale down to the nanometer scale.

Indexed as

3-D printingBall millGrindingMechanical grindingOpen hardwareOpen-source hardware

Identifiers

PMID37188059

DOI10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00423

PMCPMC10176261

OpenAlexW4366526266

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.