SCREW JACK

A screw jack is a portable device consisting

of a screw mechanism used to raise or
lower the load. The principle on which the
screw jack works is similar to that of an
inclined plane. There are mainly two types
of jacks-hydraulic and mechanical. A
hydraulic jack consists of a cylinder and
piston mechanism. The movement of the
piston rod is used to raise or lower the
load. Mechanical jacks can be either hand
operated or power driven.

Jacks are used frequently in raising cars so that a tire can be changed.
A screw jack is commonly used with cars but is also used in many other
ways, including industrial machinery and even airplanes. They can be
short, tall, fat, or thin depending on the
amount of pressure they will be under and the
space that they need to fit into. The jack is
made out of various types of metal, but the
screw itself is generally made out of lead.

While screw jacks are designed purposely for

raising and lowering loads, they are not ideal
for side loads, although some can withstand
side loads depending on the diameter and size
of the lifting screw. Shock loads should also be
avoided or minimized.
A large amount of heat is generated in the screw jack and long lifts can
cause serious overheating. To retain the efficiency of the screw jack,
it must be used under ambient temperatures, otherwise lubricants
must be applied. There are oil lubricants intended to enhance the
equipment‟s capabilities. Apart from proper maintenance, to
optimize the capability and usefulness of a screw jack it is imperative
to employ it according to its design and manufacturer’s instruction.
Ensure that you follow the speed, load capacity, temperature
recommendation and other relevant factors for application

The Screw
The screw has a thread designed to withstand an enormous amount
of pressure. This is due to the fact that it is generally holding up heavy
objects for an extended amount of time. Once up, they normally self
lock so that they won't fall if the operator lets go, and they hold up
well to the wear of repeated use. If they are made with a ball nut, they
will last longer because there is less friction created with this type of
jack. However, they will not self lock. This can be dangerous and
handled carefully.

Operation
The jack can be raised and lowered with a metal bar that is inserted
into the jack. The operator turns the bar with his hands in a clockwise
direction. This turns the screw inside the jack and makes it go up. The
screw lifts the small metal cylinder and platform that are above it. As
the jack goes up, whatever is placed above it will raise as well, once
the jack makes contact. The bar is turned until the jack is raised to the
level needed. To lower the jack the bar is turned in the opposite
direction.
Although a jack is a simple and widely used device, the use of any
lifting device is subject to certain hazards. In screw-jack applications,
the hazards are dropping, tipping or slipping of machines or their parts
during the operation. These hazards may result in serious accidents.
The main reasons of such accidents are as follows:
(i) The load is improperly secured on the jack
(ii) The screw-jack is over loaded.
(iii) The centre of gravity of the load is off centre with respect to the
axis of the jack
(iv) The screw-jack is not placed on hard and level surface.
(v) The screw-jack is used for a purpose, for which it is not designed.
Proper size, strength and stability are the essential requirements for
the design of the screw-jack from safety considerations.

Construction of Screw Jack

Screw jack consists of a screw and a nut. The nut is fixed in a cast iron
frame and remains stationary. The rotation of the nut inside the frame
is prevented by pressing a set screw against it. The screw is rotated in
the nut by means of a handle, which passes through a hole in the head
of the screw. The head carries a platform, which supports the load and
remains stationary while the screw is being rotated. A washer is fixed
to the other end of the screw inside the frame, which prevents the
screw to be completely turned out of the nut.
Parts
 Frame.
 Screw.
 Nut.
 Cup.
 Thrust Bearing.
 Washer.

Features
All jacks have safety features to protect the user from accidental
injury. Wide bases help to stabilize a jack and prevent tilting or sinking
into soft soil. Most car jacks also come equipped with their own handle
or cranking mechanism, but alternately many of these also will accept
the flat end of a tire tool to jack up a vehicle. When in the extended
position, jacks will have a stop point that prevents the user from
overextending the jack beyond its rated capabilities. When in the
contracted position, jacks that are provided by the manufacturer will
have a storage area specially formed or designed for the jack to rest in
when not in use.

Benefits
Equipping motorists with car jacks has provided many benefits to
those who are on the road. Most importantly, jacks have equipped
drivers with the ability to change a tire in an emergency without
having to call for assistance, which can save service fees and potential
towing fees as well. Car jacks also provide the home auto enthusiast
with a tool to use in maintenance of their own vehicle with the simpler
tasks such as changing brake pads, oil and belts. When used
appropriately with safety in mind, car jacks are an essential resource
for anyone owning or operating a motorized vehicle.
 SOLAR POWERED SCREW JACK

Solar Panel
Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called
semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently the most commonly
used. Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is
absorbed within the semiconductor material. This means that the
energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. The
energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely. PV cells
also all have one or more electric fields that act to force electrons
freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of
electrons is a current, and by placing metal contacts on the top and
bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off to use externally.
If photovoltaic cells are connected together, you have a solar
panel. You have likely seen solar panels on rooftops of homes or
businesses, but they can also exist as large arrays on open fields and
can even be found powering satellites out in space. Photovoltaic cells
use thin layers of a semi-conducting material called silicon. Silicon is
an element, and you can find it on the periodic table along with all of
the other elements. It is also what makes up sand.

Battery
The larger the battery, the more energy it can store. We selected
a 12 V deep cycle battery that can withstand the numerous charge and
recharge cycles. The most commonly used deep cycle batteries are
Nickel-Cadmium and lead-acid batteries. Nickel-Cadmium batteries
can be discharged more without harm but are more expensive than
the Lead-acid batteries.
DC Worm Gear Motor
These simple motors have some great characteristics, which
make them suitable for a wide range of applications. They are
generally low speed but capable of extremely high torque. Worm
drives offer a brake feature (by the nature of their design) which
means when there is no power applied to the worm drive, the load
cannot turn the motor.
The best worm gear drives have high efficiency between 60-80%.

Gearing arrangement
The gearing arrangement which we will be using in our project is
Gear and Pinion arrangement connecting the shaft of the motor with
the screw jack.
The Pinion will be driven by the motor shaft which will be
meshed with the Gear. The gear will drive the spindle of the screw
jack.

 In this project, we have a solar plate which is fixed on

a body frame. The Solar plate charges the battery by
the means of solar energy and then the battery gives
power supply to the dc worm gear motor. Dc worm
gear motor drives the gear and pinion arrangement
which then drives the screw jack system.
 MARKET SURVEY
For Screw Jack

The current market scenario for Lifting Jacks is that scissor jacks
were easily available because of its wide usage. The Solar powered
jack on which we are working requires a screw jack. But the available
screw jacks were of very high lifting capacity and their cost was
comparatively higher.

Screw Jacks available in the market:-

Lifting Capacity Price

(in Tons) (in ₹)
5 1,450

10 2,100

15 4,500

25 8,000

35 15,000
 Screw Jacks Available on E-commerce sites

 Capacity:- 5 ton

 Price:- 1,100/-

URL:-

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/mechanical-jack-
13965091848.html

These were three more screw jacks available from a different seller
on Indiamart.

 Capacity:- 10-25 tons.

 Price:- 2,500-6,000.

Although these screw jacks were

cheaper than the ones available
in the local market but the seller
needed more time to deliver the
jack in accordance to our
requirement.
 DESIGN CALCULATIONS OF SCREW JACK

NOMENCLATURE
p - Pitch of screw thread (mm)
d - Nominal diameter of screw (mm)
dc - Core diameter of screw (mm)
dm - Mean diameter of screw
α - Helix angle of screw (degree)
W - Load (kg)
μ - Coefficient of friction
P - Effort (N)
θ - Friction angle (degree)
T - Torque (N.m)
Fc - Direct compressive stress (N/mm2)
Ft - Torsional shear stress (N/mm2)
Fs - Principal shear stress (N/mm2)
n - Number of threads in engagement with the nut.
1. Design calculations to check the safety of LEAD SCREW
Maximum Load to be lifted = 5 Ton
= 50 x 103 N
= 50KN
For a 5-ton capacity screw jack, the nominal (major) diameter of the
screw spindle is 30mm.
The pitch of the screw jack used was measured to be 12mm.
The core diameter (dc) = 26mm
The mean diameter (dm) = 28mm
The material of the lead screw is stainless steel (304). The yield stress
for the stainless steel is 205 N/mm2.
The compressive stresses induced in lead screw due to load of 50KN
is given by
Fc = (W)/(/4 dc2)
= (50 x 103 x 4)/ ( x 262)
= 94.22 N/mm2.
Safety factor = 205/94.22
=2.17.
Hence, lead screw will bear 50KN easily.
The helix angle of screw = tanα =P/dm = 12/ (x28) =0.13.
Therefore, α = 7.71°
Assuming coefficient of friction between screw and nut,
μ = tanθ = 0.20.
θ = tan-1(0.20) = 11.31°
α < θ, hence it is a self-locking screw.
The turning moment required to rotate screw under design load is
given by
T = W (dm/2) tan (α+θ)
= (50x103) (28/2) tan (7.71°+11.31°) =241.30KN.mm
The shear stress due to torque,
Ft = 16T/ (πdc3)
= (16x241.30x103)/π(26)3
= 69.95N/mm2
Direct stress is given by
Fs = ½√ (Fc2 + 4Ft2)
= 1/2((94.22)2 + 4(69.95)2)1/2
= 168.60N/mm2
The lead screw material has 412N/mm2 shear strength.
Safety factor = 412/168.60 = 2.44.

2. Design calculations to check the safety of nut

The material of the nut used is stainless steel. The yield stress in
tension is 515 N/mm2.
n = Number of threads in contact with the screwed spindle = 1
H = height of nut = n x p
t = thickness of screw = p/2 = 12/2 = 6mm
H=nxp
= 1x12 = 12mm.
The outer diameter of the nut, D1 = 50mm
The inner diameter of the nut, D0 =30mm
The tensile stresses induced in the nut is given by
Ft = 4W/(D12-D02) = (4x50x103)/π (502- 30²)
=39.80 N/mm² which is less than 515 N/mm².
Safety factor=515/39.80 = 12.93.

3. Design calculations to check the buckling of screw

The maximum length of the screw above the nut when lifting the
load is 100mm.
Radius of gyration (K) = ¼ dс = ¼ x 26 = 6.5mm
Area = ( dc2
= ((26)2 =530.66mm2
L/K=slenderness ratio=100/6.5=15.38.
Slenderness ratio is less than 30, therefore there is no effect of
buckling and such components are designed on the basis of
compressive stress.
 SPUR GEAR
Spur gears are the most common type of gears. They have straight
teeth, and are mounted on parallel shafts. Sometimes, many spur
gears are used at once to create very large gear reductions.
This is because the spur gear can be loud. Each time a gear tooth
engages a tooth on the other gear, the teeth collide, and this impact
makes a noise. It also increases the stress on the gear teeth.
Spur gears or straight-cut gears are the simplest type of gear. They
consist of a cylinder or disk with teeth projecting radially. Though the
teeth are not straight-sided (but usually of special form to achieve a
constant drive ratio, mainly involute but less commonly cycloidal), the
edge of each tooth is straight and aligned parallel to the axis of
rotation. These gears mesh correctly only if fitted to parallel shafts.
The tooth loads create no axial thrust. Spur gears are excellent at
moderate speeds but tend to be noisy at high speeds.

No. of teeth on gear (ZA) =

No. of teeth on pinion (ZB) =
Gearing Ratio = (ZA/ZB) =
 DC WORM GEAR MOTOR
Worm Drive
A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear
in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm gear (which is similar in
appearance to a spur gear). The two elements are also called the
worm screw and worm wheel. Like other gear arrangements, a worm
drive can reduce rotational speed or transmit higher torque. A worm
is an example of a screw.

The worm gear drive arrangement is a combination of a worm (screw)

and a worm gear (wheel) which is used to reduce the rotational speed
and to increase the torque. The worm is always the driving gear and
the wheel is driven gear. The reverse arrangement would not work.
This type of gear arrangement is generally used to transmit torque in
perpendicular direction. For example: in 3-D spacial arrangement (x-y
plane on the screen and z-axis protruding towards you) if the worm
rotates along x-axis then the gear will rotate along z-axis.

This gear system works on simple screw mechanism which converts

rotational motion into linear and torque to a linear force. If you fix the
ends of the screw and put your finger on a single thread and rotate
the screw then you can notice that your finger will move in linear
direction along the axis of the screw.

This type of gear arrangement is used where there is a huge difference

in rotational speeds between the two connecting shafts. It is generally
used in heavy machineries in the industries like mechanical presses,
rolling mills, conveying engineering, mining industry machines, on
rudders, and worm drive saws. These are also used in escalator drive
system due to their compact size and non-reversibility of gear.

Worm gears are best speed reduction system and output torque
enhancer's. With this basic property, the gearbox size will be compact
and noise level is minimum. In this drive, the output axis will be at
normal to the input axis. For high-speed reduction, select single start
worm. As the number of starts increases, the reduction also
decreases. The lead as well as the angle of helix increases as the
number of starts increases. However, self-locking property loses.
Worm drives the worm gear. If the helix angle is less than 6 degree
then the system will attain self-locking property.

Following are the advantages of worm drive:-

1. Higher transmission ratio with less number of gears.
2. Comparatively less weight.
3. Compact arrangement, less requirement of space.
4. Noiseless operation
5. Self-locking and non-reversible.
The operation of worm gear motors can be broken down into two
stages. Essentially, an electric motor provides the power to rotate the
worm or screw gear. As the worm gear turns, it also turns the main
gear, allowing for motion and torque to be produced.

The first part of worm gear motors is the worm gear itself. This
consists of a shaft with threading that spirals itself on the shaft. This
worm gear is set into the splines of another gear. The rotational speed
of the worm gear would in turn rotate the gear it is attached to. The
second part of the motor, as the name suggests, is the motor. The
motor is attached to the worm gear, turning it at different speeds
depending upon the amount of torque produced by the main gear.

Features:
1. The motor is Gear DC motor with micro-turbine worm, you can
change the wiring-connection to change motor rotation.
2. Turbo worm geared motor with self-lock, that is, in the case of
motor without electric, the output axis is fixed, self-lock.
3. These simple motors have some great characteristics, which
make them suitable for a wide range of applications.
4. They are generally low speed but capable of extremely high
torque. Worm drives offer a brake feature (by the nature of their
design) which means when there is no power applied to the
worm drive, the load cannot turn the motor. They offer a right
angle (or even left angle) gearbox for practical mounting in tight
spaces.
5. The only real downfall these have is low efficiencies. Even the
best worm gear drives only have an efficiency between 60-80%.
 8

Figure 1:- DC Worm Gear Motor

WORM GEAR MOTORS vs. STANDARD MOTORS

There are a number of reasons why worm gear motors work better
than a standard gear motor. These are as follows:-
Reduction Ratio: - With worm gear motors, the reduction ratio is quite
huge. This means that a small turn of the worm gear can turn the main
gear quite a distance. This can allow the user to either decrease speed
and at the same time increase torque. The reduction ratio produced
by worm gear motors is comparable to several stages of reduction in
regular gears.
Reverse Power: - The strength of the worm gear motors lies is in its
limitation in reversing power. Thus, the gear always moves in just one
direction. This simplifies the whole set up without need for a backstop.
In a standard gear set up, reversing the power would require a
backstop, requiring more components in the machine.
 LEAD ACID BATTERY
Definition: The battery, which uses sponge lead and lead peroxide for
the conversion of the chemical energy into electrical power, such type
of battery, is called a lead acid battery. The lead acid battery is most
commonly used in the power stations and substations because it has
higher cell voltage and lower cost.

Construction of Lead Acid Battery

The various parts of the lead acid battery are shown below. The
container and the plates are the main part of the lead acid battery.
The container stores chemical energy, which is converted into
electrical energy by the help of the plates.
1. Container – The container of the lead acid battery is made of glass,
lead lined wood, ebonite, the hard rubber of bituminous compound,
ceramic materials or moulded plastics and are seated at the top to
avoid the discharge of electrolyte. At the bottom of the container,
there are four ribs, on two of them rest the positive plate and the
others support the negative plates.
The prism serves as the support for the plates and at the same time
protect them from a short-circuit. The material of which the battery
containers are made should be resistant to sulphuric acid, should not
deform or porous, or contain impurities which damage the electrolyte.
2. Plate – The plate of the lead-acid cell is of diverse design and they
all consist some form of a grid, which is made up of lead and the active
material. The grid is essential for conducting the electric current and
for distributing the current equally on the active material. If the
current is not uniformly distributed, then the active material will
loosen and fall out.
The grids are made up of an alloy of lead and antimony. These are
usually made with the transverse rib that crosses the places at a right
angle or diagonally. The grid for the positive and negative plates are
of the same design, but the grids for the negative plates are made
lighter because they are not as essential for the uniform conduction
of the current.
3. Active Material – The material in a cell, which takes active
participation in a chemical reaction (absorption or evolution of
electrical energy) during charging or discharging, is called the active
material of the cell. The active elements of the lead acid are
Lead peroxide (PbO2) – It forms the positive active material. The PbO2
are dark chocolate broom in colour.
Sponge lead – Its form the negative active material. It is grey in colour.
Dilute Sulphuric Acid (H2SO4) – It is used as an electrolyte. It contains
31% of sulphuric acid.
The lead peroxide and sponge lead, which form the negative and
positive active materials have the little mechanical strength and
therefore can be used alone.
4. Separators – The separators are thin sheets of non-conducting
material made up of chemically treated Leadwood, porous rubbers, or
mats of glass fibre and are placed between the positive and negative
to insulate them from each other. Separators are grooved vertically
on one side and are smooth on the other side.
5. Battery Terminals – A battery has two terminals the positive and
the negative. The positive terminal with a diameter of 17.5 mm at the
top is slightly larger than the negative terminal, which is 16 mm in
diameter.

Working Principle of Lead Acid Battery

When the sulphuric acid dissolves, its molecules break up into positive
hydrogen ions (2H+) and sulphate negative ions (SO4—) and move
freely. If the two electrodes are immersed in solutions and connected
to DC supply then the hydrogen ions being positively charged and
moved towards the electrodes and connected to the negative
terminal of the supply. The SO4— ions being negatively charged
moved towards the electrodes connected to the positive terminal of
the supply main (i.e., anode).
Each hydrogen ion takes one electron from the cathode, and each
sulphates ions takes the two negative ions from the anodes and react
with water and form sulphuric and hydrogen acid.
The oxygen, which produced from the above equation react with lead
oxide and form lead peroxide (PbO2.) Thus, during charging the lead
cathode remain as lead, but lead anode gets converted into lead
peroxide, chocolate in colour.
If the DC source of supply is disconnected and if the voltmeter
connects between the electrodes, it will show the potential difference
between them. If wire connects the electrodes, then current will flow
from the positive plate to the negative plate through external circuit
i.e. the cell is capable of supplying electrical energy.

Chemical Action during Discharging

When the cell is full discharge, then the anode is of lead peroxide
(PbO2) and a cathode is of metallic sponge lead (Pb). When the
electrodes are connected through a resistance, the cell discharge and
electrons flow in a direction opposite to that during charging.
The hydrogen ions move to the anode and reaching the anodes
receive one electron from the anode and become hydrogen atom. The
hydrogen atom comes in contacts with a PbO2, so it attacks and forms
lead sulphate (PbSO4), whitish in colour and water according to the
chemical equation.

The each sulphate ion (SO4—) moves towards the cathode and
reaching there gives up two electrons becomes radical SO4, attack the
metallic lead cathode and form lead sulphate whitish in colour
according to the chemical equation.
Chemical Action during Recharging
For recharging, the anode and cathode are connected to the positive
and the negative terminal of the DC supply mains. The molecules of
the sulphuric acid break up into ions of 2H+ and SO4—. The hydrogen
ions being positively charged moved towards the cathodes, receive
two electrons from there, and form a hydrogen atom. The hydrogen
atom reacts with lead sulphate cathode forming lead and sulphuric
acid according to the chemical equation.

SO4— ion moves to the anode, gives up its two additional electrons
becomes radical SO4, react with the lead sulphate anode and form
leads peroxide and lead sulphuric acid according to the chemical
equation.

The charging and discharging are represented by a single reversible

equation given below.

The equation should read downward for discharge and upward for
recharge.
 SOLAR CELL
Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called
semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently the most commonly
used. When light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed
within the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the
absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. The energy knocks
electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely. PV cells also all have one
or more electric fields that act to force electrons freed by light
absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a
current, and by placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the
PV cell, we can draw that current off to use externally. For example,
the current can power a calculator. This current, together with the
cell's voltage (which is a result of its built-in electric field or fields),
defines the power (or wattage) that the solar cell can produce.

When Light Hits the Cell

When light, in the form of photons, hits our solar cell, its energy frees
electron-hole pairs.
Each photon with enough energy will normally free exactly one
electron, and result in a free hole as well. If this happens close enough
to the electric field, or if free electron and free hole happen to wander
into its range of influence, the field will send the electron to the N side
and the hole to the P side. This causes further disruption of electrical
neutrality, and if we provide an external current path, electrons will
flow through the path to their original side (the P side) to unite with
holes that the electric field sent there, doing work for us along the
way. The electron flow provides the current, and the cell's electric field
causes a voltage. With both current and voltage, we have power,
which is the product of the two.
Energy Loss

Since the light that hits our cell has photons of a wide range of
energies, it turns out that some of them will not have enough energy
to form an electron-hole pair. They will simply pass through the cell as
if it were transparent. Still other photons have too much energy. Only
a certain amount of energy, measured in electron volts (eV) and
defined by our cell material (about 1.1 eV for crystalline silicon), is
required to knock an electron loose. We call this the band gap energy
of a material. If a photon has more energy than the required amount,
then the extra energy is lost (unless a photon has twice the required
energy, and can create more than one electron-hole pair, but this
effect is not significant). These two effects alone account for the loss
of around 70 percent of the radiation energy incident on our cell.
We have other losses as well. Our electrons have to flow from one side
of the cell to the other through an external circuit. We can cover the
bottom with a metal, allowing for good conduction, but if we
completely cover the top, then photons cannot get through the
opaque conductor and we lose all of our current. To minimize these
losses, a metallic contact grid that shortens the distance that electrons
have to travel while covering only a small part of the cell surface
covers our cell.
Finishing the Cell

There are a few more steps left before we can really use our cell.
Silicon happens to be a very shiny material, which means that it is very
reflective. Photons that are reflected cannot be used by the cell. For
that reason, an antireflective coating is applied to the top of the cell
to reduce reflection losses to less than 5 percent.
The final step is the glass cover plate that protects the cell from the
elements. PV modules are made by connecting several cells (usually
36) in series and parallel to achieve useful levels of voltage and
current, and putting them in a sturdy frame complete with a glass
cover and positive and negative terminals on the back.
Solar Panel sizing

The main function of the Solar Panel is to provide energy to battery as

well as to run the motor.
Sizing of the Solar Panel will depend on the specifications of the DC
worm gear motor, which we are using in our project.
The specifications of the DC worm gear motor are as follows:-
Rated Voltage (V) = 12V
Rated Current (I) = 1A
Power (P) = V*I
= 12W
Considering the 75%-85% efficiency factor of the Solar Panel, we have
selected a Solar Panel with following specifications:-
Maximum Power = 15W
Voltage at maximum power = 16.9V
Current at maximum power = 0.89A
Double Pole Double Switch (DPDT) Switch

A Double Pole Double Throw (DPDT) switch is a switch that has 2

inputs and 4 outputs; each input has 2 corresponding outputs that it
can connect to.

Each of the terminals of a double pole double switch can either be in

one of two positions. This makes the double pole double throw switch
a very versatile switch. With two inputs, it can connect to four
different outputs. It can reroute a circuit into two different modes of
operation.
A Double Pole Double Throw Switch is actually two single pole double
throw (SPDT) switches.

DPDT Switch
Double Pole Double Throw Switch (DPDT) Circuit

Below is an example of a circuit, which utilizes a double pole double

throw switch.

You can see above how a double pole double throw switch can allow
a circuit to be in one of two modes. When the DPDT switch is switched
one way (flipped upward in the diagram), the lamp and buzzer are
both on, while the LED and speaker are off. When the DPDT switch is
switched the other way (flipped downward), the LED and the speaker
are both on, while the lamp and buzzer are off.
This shows the dynamic 2-mode capacity that DPDT switches allow,
allowing control of four different devices (with two operational
modes).