Power Extraction Performance of a Semi-activated Flapping Foil in Gusty Flow

A numerical investigation on the power extraction performance of a semi-activated flapping foil in gusty flow is conducted by using the commercial software FLUENT. The foil is forced to pitch around the axis at one-third chord and heave in the vertical direction due to the period lift force. Different from previous work with uniform flow, an unsteady flow with cosinusoidal velocity profile is considered in this work. At a Reynolds number of 1100, the influences of the mechanical parameters （spring constant and damping coefficient）, the amplitude and frequency of the pitching motion, the amplitude of the gust fluctuation and the phase difference between the pitching motion and the gusty flow on the power extraction performance are systematically investigated. Compared with the case of uniform flow, the capability energy harvesting of the system is enhanced by the introduction of the gusty flow. For a given pitching amplitude and frequency, the power extraction efficiency increases with the gust fluctuation amplitude. Moreover, with an optimal phase difference between pitch and gust （φ = 180°）, the efficiency can be further enhanced due to the generation of high lift force.

Modeling and analysis of power extraction circuits for passive UHF RFID applications

Modeling and analysis of far field power extraction circuits for passive UHF RF identification （RFID） applications are presented. A mathematical model is derived to predict the complex nonlinear performance of UHF voltage multiplier using Schottky diodes. To reduce the complexity of the proposed model, a simple linear approximation for Schottky diode is introduced. Measurement results show considerable agreement with the values calculated by the proposed model. With the derived model, optimization on stage number for voltage multiplier to achieve maximum power conversion efficiency is discussed. Furthermore, according to the Bode-Fano criterion and the proposed model, a limitation on maximum power up range for passive UHF RFID power extraction circuits is also studied.

Sensored and sensorless scalar-control strategy of a wind-driven BDFRG for maximum wind-power extraction

This paper presents a scalar volt per hertz(V/f)control technique for maximum power tracking of a grid-connected wind-driven brushless doubly fed reluctance generator(BDFRG).The proposed generator has two stator windings namely;power winding,directly connected to the grid and control winding,connected to the grid through a bi-directional converter.In order to enhance the performance of the proposed scalar-control strategy,a soft starting method is suggested to avoid the over-current of the bi-directional converter.Moreover,the capability of generator speed estimation for sensorless control is also studied.The capability of the proposed scalar-control technique is validated using a sample of simulation results.In addition,the presented simulation results ensure the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy for maximum wind-power extraction under windspeed variations.Furthermore,the results show that the estimated generator speed is in a good accordance with the actual generator speed which supports sensorless control capability.

Effect of cooperative injection and suction jet on power extraction characteristics of a semi-active flapping airfoil

A novel cooperative injection and suction jet was employed in this work to improve the power extraction characteristics of a semi-active flapping airfoil(S-AFA).The combined Taguchi method and numerical simulations was used to optimize the characteristic parameters of the cooperative injection and suction jet that affect the power extraction characteristics of the S-AFA.Under the Reynolds number of 6×10^(4)and the pitching axis location at the center of the ellipse airfoil,the effects of jet position,jet width,jet coefficient as well as phase difference between the cooperative injection and suction jet and the active pitching motion on the power extraction characteristics of the S-AFA are systematically examined.It is concluded that the power extraction characteristics of the S-AFA can be enhanced by employing cooperative injection and suction jet.Compared to the S-AFA without jet,the maximum efficiency is increased 11.06%for the S-AFA with optimized cooperative injection and suction jet.The flow structure behavior analysis shows that the vortex strength,the low pressure range in the suction surface of the airfoil as well as the pressure value in the pressure surface of the airfoil are increased due to the cooperative injection and suction jet,and it is why the power extraction characteristics of S-AFA can be improved.

Numerical Simulation of Enhanced Oil-Water Separation in a Three-Stage Double-Stirring Extraction Tank

Numerical simulation of enhanced fluid flow characteristics in a three-stage double-stirring extraction tank was conducted with the coupling of an Eulerian multiphase flow model and a Morsi-Alexander interphase drag force model. Results show that the addition of a stirring device into the settler can efficiently reduce the volume fraction of out-of-phase impurity in the outlet, and accelerate the settling separation of oil-water mixture. Such addition can also effectively break down the oil-water-wrapped liquid droplets coming from the mixer, inhibit reflux from the outlet, and improve the oil-water separation. The addition of a stirring device induces ignorable power consumption compared with that by the mixer, and can thus facilitate the commercialized promotion of this novel equipment.

Hydrodynamic Performance of An Integrated System of Breakwater and A Multi-Chamber OWC Wave Energy Converter

A multi-chamber oscillating water column wave energy converter(OWC-WEC)integrated to a breakwater is investigated.The hydrodynamic characteristics of the device are analyzed using an analytical model based on the linear potential flow theory.A pneumatic model is employed to investigate the relationship between the air mass flux in the chamber and the turbine characteristics.The effects of chamber width,wall draft and wall thickness on the hydrodynamic performance of a dual-chamber OWC-WEC are investigated.The results demonstrate that the device,with a smaller front wall draft and a wider rear chamber exhibits a broader effective frequency bandwidth.The device with a chamber-width-ratio of 1:3 performs better in terms of power absorption.Additionally,results from the analysis of a triplechamber OWC-WEC demonstrate that reducing the front chamber width and increasing the rearward chamber width can improve the total performance of the device.Increasing the number of chambers from 1 to 2 or 3 can widen the effective frequency bandwidth.

A Novel Aquila Optimizer Based PV Array Reconfiguration Scheme to Generate Maximum Energy under Partial Shading Condition

This paper develops a real-time PV arrays maximum power harvesting scheme under partial shading condition(PSC)by reconfiguring PV arrays using Aquila optimizer(AO).AO is based on the natural behaviors of Aquila in capturing prey,which can choose the best hunting mechanism ingeniously and quickly by balancing the local exploitation and global exploration via four hunting methods of Aquila:choosing the searching area through high soar with the vertical stoop,exploring in different searching spaces through contour flight with quick glide attack,exploiting in convergence searching space through low flight with slow attack,and swooping through walk and grabbing prey.In general,PV arrays reconfiguration is a problem of discrete optimization,thus a series of discrete operations are adopted in AO to enhance its optimization performance.Simulation results based on 10 cases under PSCs show that the mismatched power loss obtained by AO is the smallest compared with genetic algorithm,particle swarm optimization,ant colony algorithm,grasshopper optimization algorithm,and butterfly optimization algorithm,which reduced by 4.34%against butterfly optimization algorithm.

Designing method of acceleration and deceleration control schedule for variable cycle engine

Studies show that different geometries of a Variable Cycle Engine(VCE)can be adjusted during the transient stage of the engine operation to improve the engine performance.However,this improvement increases the complexity of the acceleration and deceleration control schedule.In order to resolve this problem,the Transient-state Reverse Method(TRM)is established in the present study based on the Steady-state Reverse Method(SRM)and the Virtual Power Extraction Method(VPEM).The state factors in the component-based engine performance models are replaced by variable geometry parameters to establish the TRM for a double bypass VCE.Obtained results are compared with the conventional component-based model from different aspects,including the accuracy and the convergence rate.The TRM is then employed to optimize the control schedule of a VCE.Obtained results show that the accuracy and the convergence rate of the proposed method are consistent with that of the conventional model.On the other hand,it is found that the new-model-optimized control schedules reduce the acceleration and deceleration time by 45%and 54%,respectively.Meanwhile,the surge margin of compressors,fuel–air ratio and the turbine inlet temperature maintained are within the acceptable criteria.It is concluded that the proposed TRM is a powerful method to design the acceleration and deceleration control schedule of the VCE.

Optimal PV array reconfiguration under partial shading condition through dynamic leader based collective intelligence

This paper applies the innovative idea of DLCI to PV array reconfiguration under various PSCs to capture the maxi-mum output power of a PV generation system.DLCI is a hybrid algorithm that integrates multiple meta-heuristic algo-rithms.Through the competition and cooperation of the search mechanisms of different metaheuristic algorithms,the local exploration and global development of the algorithm can be effectively improved to avoid power mismatch of the PV system caused by the algorithm falling into a local optimum.A series of discrete operations are performed on DLCI to solve the discrete optimization problem of PV array reconfiguration.Two structures(DLCI-I and DLCI-II)are designed to verify the effect of increasing the number of sub-optimizers on the optimized performance of DLCI by simulation based on 10 cases of PSCs.The simulation shows that the increase of the number of sub-optimizers only gives a relatively small improvement on the DLCI optimization performance.DLCI has a significant effect on the reduction in the number of power peaks caused by PSC.The PV array-based reconstruction system of DLCI-II is reduced by 4.05%,1.88%,1.68%,0.99%and 3.39%,when compared to the secondary optimization algorithms.

A NOVEL DESIGN OF COMPOSITE WATER TURBINE USING CFD

This paper presents computational investigation of a novel design of composite material axial water turbine using Computational Fluid Dynamics（CFD）.Based on three-dimensional numerical flow analysis,the flow characteristics through the water turbine with nozzle,wheel and diffuser are predicted.The extract power and torque of a composite water turbine at different rotating speeds were calculated and analyzed for a specific flow speed.The simulation results show that using nozzle and diffuser can increase the pressure drop across the turbine and extract more power from available water energy.These results provide a fundamental understanding of the composite water turbine,and this design and analysis method is used in the design process.