According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 4118 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) electricity was generated at large-scale generation facilities in 2019. About 63% of this was from fossil fuels, e.g., coa...According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 4118 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) electricity was generated at large-scale generation facilities in 2019. About 63% of this was from fossil fuels, e.g., coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases. Environmental exposure to particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, arsenic, radioactive fly ash, and other pollutants are extremely detrimental to the human cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. Such exposure increases the risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, respiratory infections, and other illnesses. In light of the challenges associated with renewables providing large quantities of base load power, as well as other factors, the benefits offered by nuclear power should be reexamined by policy makers to move the country towards a more ecological and ethical method of electric power production. This paper offers a concise analysis of many of the salient issues, comparing electricity generation from coal plants and light water nuclear reactors.展开更多
To this day, only two types of solar power plants have been proposed and built: high temperature thermal solar one and photovoltaic one. It is here proposed a new type of solar thermal plant using glass-top flat surfa...To this day, only two types of solar power plants have been proposed and built: high temperature thermal solar one and photovoltaic one. It is here proposed a new type of solar thermal plant using glass-top flat surface solar collectors, so working at low temperature (i.e., below 100°C). This power plant is aimed at warm countries, i.e., the ones mainly located between -40° and 40° latitude, having available space along their coast. This land based plant, to install on the seashore, is technologically similar to the one used for OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion). This plant, apart from supplying electricity with a much better thermodynamic efficiency than OTEC plants, has the main advantage of providing desalinated water for drinking and irrigation. This plant is designed to generate electricity (and desalinated water) night and day and all year round, by means of hot water storage, with just a variation of the power delivered depending on the season.展开更多
A new electrical power generation device based on high-frequency dynamic piezoelectric shear deformation under friction is developed.During the operation of a moving plate compressed and sliding on the top of a piezoe...A new electrical power generation device based on high-frequency dynamic piezoelectric shear deformation under friction is developed.During the operation of a moving plate compressed and sliding on the top of a piezoelectric patch with constant velocity,dynamic shear deformation of the elastic piezoelectric patch is excited by periodic friction force and status(sliding and stick)variation.The dynamic piezoelectric shear strain can then generate continuous electrical power for energy absorbing and harvesting applications.The design of the piezoelectric couple device is first provided,and its mechanism,dynamic response and electric power generation under friction are described by a detailed iteration model.By comparing with previous experimental results,the accuracy of the proposed model is proven.Through numerical studies,the influences of the equivalent mass of the system,the velocity of the sliding object,the static friction coefficient and its lower limit,as well as the friction force delay rate on the power generation are obtained and discussed.The numerical results show that with the proposed design,up to 50-Watt maximum electrical power could be generated by a piezoelectric patch with a dimension of 20×2×6 cm under continuous friction with the moving plate at the velocity of 15 m/s.The possible bi-linear elastic stiffness variation of the system is also introduced,and the threshold of bi-linear elastic deformation,where the system stiffness changes,can be optimized for obtaining the highest power generation.展开更多
文摘According to the US Energy Information Administration, about 4118 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) electricity was generated at large-scale generation facilities in 2019. About 63% of this was from fossil fuels, e.g., coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases. Environmental exposure to particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, arsenic, radioactive fly ash, and other pollutants are extremely detrimental to the human cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. Such exposure increases the risk of lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, respiratory infections, and other illnesses. In light of the challenges associated with renewables providing large quantities of base load power, as well as other factors, the benefits offered by nuclear power should be reexamined by policy makers to move the country towards a more ecological and ethical method of electric power production. This paper offers a concise analysis of many of the salient issues, comparing electricity generation from coal plants and light water nuclear reactors.
文摘To this day, only two types of solar power plants have been proposed and built: high temperature thermal solar one and photovoltaic one. It is here proposed a new type of solar thermal plant using glass-top flat surface solar collectors, so working at low temperature (i.e., below 100°C). This power plant is aimed at warm countries, i.e., the ones mainly located between -40° and 40° latitude, having available space along their coast. This land based plant, to install on the seashore, is technologically similar to the one used for OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion). This plant, apart from supplying electricity with a much better thermodynamic efficiency than OTEC plants, has the main advantage of providing desalinated water for drinking and irrigation. This plant is designed to generate electricity (and desalinated water) night and day and all year round, by means of hot water storage, with just a variation of the power delivered depending on the season.
文摘A new electrical power generation device based on high-frequency dynamic piezoelectric shear deformation under friction is developed.During the operation of a moving plate compressed and sliding on the top of a piezoelectric patch with constant velocity,dynamic shear deformation of the elastic piezoelectric patch is excited by periodic friction force and status(sliding and stick)variation.The dynamic piezoelectric shear strain can then generate continuous electrical power for energy absorbing and harvesting applications.The design of the piezoelectric couple device is first provided,and its mechanism,dynamic response and electric power generation under friction are described by a detailed iteration model.By comparing with previous experimental results,the accuracy of the proposed model is proven.Through numerical studies,the influences of the equivalent mass of the system,the velocity of the sliding object,the static friction coefficient and its lower limit,as well as the friction force delay rate on the power generation are obtained and discussed.The numerical results show that with the proposed design,up to 50-Watt maximum electrical power could be generated by a piezoelectric patch with a dimension of 20×2×6 cm under continuous friction with the moving plate at the velocity of 15 m/s.The possible bi-linear elastic stiffness variation of the system is also introduced,and the threshold of bi-linear elastic deformation,where the system stiffness changes,can be optimized for obtaining the highest power generation.
