An Experimental and Numerical Thermal Flow Analysis in a Solar Air Collector with Different Delta Wing Height Ratios

This study conducts both numerical and empirical assessments of thermal transfer and fluid flow characteristics in a Solar Air Collector(SAC)using a Delta Wing Vortex Generator(DWVG),and the effects of different height ratios(Rh=0.6,0.8,1,1.2 and 1.4)in delta wing vortex generators,which were not considered in the earlier studies,are investigated.Energy and exergy analyses are performed to gain maximum efficiency.The Reynolds number based on the outlet velocity and hydraulic diameter falls between 4400 and 22000,corresponding to the volume flow rate of 5.21–26.07 m^(3)/h.It is observed that the delta wing vortex generators with a higher height ratio yield maximum heat transfer enhancement and overall enhancement ratio.The empirical and numerical findings demonstrate that the exergy and thermal efficiencies decline in a specific range.TheNusselt number,pressure drop,energy,and exergy efficiencies enhance with rising Reynolds number,although the friction coefficient diminishes.The maximum heat transfer enhancement is 57%.According to the evaluation of exergy efficiency,the greatest efficiency of 31.2%is obtained at Rh=1.4 and Reynolds number 22000.

Load Management Scheme Using Air Conditioning Electric Power Consumption and Photovoltaic Power System Generation

In the last few decades, in the world and also in the European Union, considerable resources had been invested in the rapid development of renewable energy sources and distributed generation in general. At the same time, power consumption is continuously increasing, and consumers are becoming more complex, which ultimately requires new investments in the distribution network. Concept of smart grids is generally accepted as a possible solution. Smart grid is a concept with many elements, where monitoring and control of every element in the chain of production, transmission, distribution and final consumption enable much more efficient delivery and use of electricity. One of the elements of smart grid efficiency is the ability of real-time demand-supply balancing. This balancing is carried out by monitoring of consumption and redistribution of electricity among individual end users, according to their needs. The aim of this paper is creating algorithm for real-time load management using power measurements. Algorithm for real-time load management at the ETFOS （Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Osijek）, Croatia is created based on measurements of photovoltaic power plant production, the power consumption of air conditioning system and the faculty building total electricity consumption. Expected result of real-time re-dispatching of air conditioners consumption, depending on the level of electricity production in photovoltaic power plant is decreasing peak demand of the faculty.

Research and Demonstration of Direct Air-Cooling System for 600-MW Fossil-Fired Power Plants

Given the distribution feature of resources such as coal and water, the requirements for the development of Chinese power industry, and the fact of monopoly by foreign companies, it is very necessary and significant to independently research and develop air-cooling technologies. Through experimental research, simulative calculation, process and equipment development, field tests and a demonstration project, the design and operation technologies for air-cooling system are grasped and relevant key equipment is developed. The results of the demonstration project show that the technical indicators for the air-cooling system have met or exceeded the design requirements. Part of the research results have been incorporated into the relevant national design standards. The technologies developed have been applied to more than 23 sets of thermal power units of or above 600 MW in China.

Low-Power Operational Amplifier for Real-Time Signal Processing System of Micro Air Vehicle

A low-power complementary metal oxide semiconductor（CMOS） operational amplifier （op-amp） for real-time signal processing of micro air vehicle （MAV） is designed in this paper.Traditional folded cascode architecture with positive channel metal oxide semiconductor（PMOS） differential input transistors and sub-threshold technology are applied under the low supply voltage.Simulation results show that this amplifier has significantly low power,while maintaining almost the same gain,bandwidth and other key performances.The power required is only 0.12 mW,which is applicable to low-power and low-voltage real-time signal acquisition and processing system.

磁共振AIR-魔毯线圈在胸椎结核扫描中的应用价值

目的探讨联合应用AIR-魔毯线圈磁共振成像(MRI)对胸椎结核扫描图像信噪比(signal to noise ratio,SNR)、对比噪声比(contrast to noise ratio,CNR)和脂肪抑制成像效果的价值。方法选取我院80例经手术病理证实为胸椎结核患者,按1:1随机分为两组,应用常规线圈(脊柱相控阵线圈,头颈联合线圈)、常规线圈联合AIR魔毯线圈对两组患者分别进行扫描。扫描序列包括胸椎矢状位T_(2)WI,T_(1)WI,T_(2)FLEX,进一步测量、比较SNR,CNR及脂肪抑制效果,分析MRI多序列诊断胸腰椎结核的准确率、特异度和灵敏度。结果常规线圈联合AIR-魔毯线圈扫描组,胸椎矢状位图像的SNR、CNR及压脂效果优于常规线圈组。结论联合应用AIR-魔毯线圈的图像SNR、CNR得到提高,脂肪抑制效果稳定良好。

Effects of total pressures and equivalence ratios on kerosene/air rotating detonation engines using a paralleling CE/SE method

In this paper,the kerosene/air rotating detonation engines(RDE)are numerically investigated,and the emphasis is laid on the effects of total pressures and equivalence ratios on the operation characteristics of RDE including the initiation,instabilities,and propulsive performance.A hybrid MPI t OpenMP parallel computing model is applied and it is proved to be able to obtain a more effective parallel performance on high performance computing(HPC)systems.A series of cases with the total pressure of 1 MPa,1.5 MPa,2 MPa,and the equivalence ratio of 0.9,1,1.4 are simulated.On one hand,the total pressure shows a significant impact on the instabilities of rotating detonation waves.The instability phenomenon is observed in cases with low total pressure(1 MPa)and weakened with the increase of the total pressure.The total pressure has a small impact on the detonation wave velocity and the specific impulse.On the other hand,the equivalence ratio shows a negligible influence on the instabilities,while it affects the ignition process and accounts for the detonation velocity deficit.It is more difficult to initiate rotating detonation waves directly in the lean fuel operation condition.Little difference was observed in the thrust with different equivalence ratios of 0.9,1,and 1.4.The highest specific impulse was obtained in the lean fuel cases,which is around 2700 s.The findings could provide insights into the understanding of the operation characteristics of kerosene/air RDE.

Liquid penetration of freeze-drying and air-drying wood of plantation Chinese fir

A comparative study was conducted on liquid penetration of the freeze-drying and air-drying sapwood and heartwood lumber of plantation Chinese fir （Cunninghamia lanceolata）. The maximum amount of dyeing solution uptake by the capillary rise method was used to evaluate the liquid penetration properties of the treated wood. The pit aspiration ratio was determined by semithin section method. Changes in wood microstructure were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that compared with air drying, the freeze drying had a significant effect on liquid penetration of sapwood and heartwood of Chinese fir. The liquid penetration of sapwood is significantly higher than that of the heartwood for both drying treatments. Low pit aspiration ratio and cracks of pits membrane of some bordered pits are the main reasons for increasing liquid penetration after freeze drying treatment.

Near-Zero Air Pollutant Emission Technologies and Applications for Clean Coal-Fired Power

Coal is the dominant energy source in China,and coal-fired power accounts for about half of coal consumption.However,air pollutant emissions from coal-fired power plants cause severe ecological and environmental problems.This paper focuses on near-zero emission technologies and applications for clean coal-fired power.The long-term operation states of near-zero emission units were evaluated,and synergistic and special mercury(Hg)control technologies were researched.The results show that the principle technical route of near-zero emission,which was applied to 101 of China’s coal-fired units,has good adaptability to coal properties.The emission concentrations of particulate matter(PM),SO2,and NOx were below the emission limits of gas-fired power plants and the compliance rates of the hourly average emission concentrations reaching near-zero emission in long-term operation exceeded 99%.With the application of near-zero emission technologies,the generating costs increased by about 0.01 CNY∙(kW∙h)-1.However,the total emissions of air pollutants decreased by about 90%,resulting in effective improvement of the ambient air quality.Furthermore,while the Hg emission concentrations of the near-zero emission units ranged from 0.51 to 2.89μg∙m^-3,after the modified fly ash(MFA)special Hg removal system was applied,Hg emission concentration reached as low as 0.29μg∙m^-3.The operating cost of this system was only 10%-15%of the cost of mainstream Hg removal technology using activated carbon injection.Based on experimental studies carried out in a 50000 m^3∙h^-1 coal-fired flue gas pollutant control pilot platform,the interaction relationships of multi-pollutant removal were obtained and solutions were developed for emissions reaching different limits.A combined demonstration application for clean coal-fired power,with the new“1123”eco-friendly emission limits of 1,10,20 mg∙m^-3,and 3μg∙m^-3,respectively,for PM,SO2,NOx,and Hg from near-zero emission coal-fired power were put forward and realized,providing engineering and technical support for the national enhanced pollution emission standards.

A power plant for integrated waste energy recovery from liquid air energy storage and liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas(LNG)is regarded as one of the cleanest fossil fuel and has experienced significant developments in recent years.The liquefaction process of natural gas is energy-intensive,while the regasification of LNG gives out a huge amount of waste energy since plenty of high grade cold energy(-160℃)from LNG is released to sea water directly in most cases,and also sometimes LNG is burned for regasification.On the other hand,liquid air energy storage(LAES)is an emerging energy storage technology for applications such as peak load shifting of power grids,which generates 30%-40%of compression heat(-200℃).Such heat could lead to energy waste if not recovered and used.The recovery of the compression heat is technically feasible but requires additional capital investment,which may not always be economically attractive.Therefore,we propose a power plant for recovering the waste cryogenic energy from LNG regasification and compression heat from the LAES.The challenge for such a power plant is the wide working temperature range between the low-temperature exergy source(-160℃)and heat source(-200℃).Nitrogen and argon are proposed as the working fluids to address the challenge.Thermodynamic analyses are carried out and the results show that the power plant could achieve a thermal efficiency of 27%and 19%and an exergy efficiency of 40%and 28%for nitrogen and argon,respectively.Here,with the nitrogen as working fluid undergoes a complete Brayton Cycle,while the argon based power plant goes through a combined Brayton and Rankine Cycle.Besides,the economic analysis shows that the payback period of this proposed system is only 2.2 years,utilizing the excess heat from a 5 MW/40 MWh LAES system.The findings suggest that the waste energy based power plant could be co-located with the LNG terminal and LAES plant,providing additional power output and reducing energy waste.

A Novel Peak-to-Average Power Ratio Reduction Scheme via Tone Reservation in OFDM Systems

In this paper, a novel signal-to-clipping noise ratio and least squares approximation tone reservation scheme(SCR-LSA TR) is proposed to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems. During the SCR procedure, only the element with the maximal amplitude is picked for processing, which not only decreases the algorithm complexity, but also helps to overcome the BER deterioration. With the LSA method, the amplitude of the peak-cancelling signals can approximate to that of the original clipping noise as much as possible. Through the combination of the optimization factor in the LSA method, the classic SCR method can achieve better PAPR reduction with faster convergence. Simulation results show that the proposed SCR-LSA TR scheme has less in-band distortion and smaller out-of-band spectral radiation. The BER of the proposed scheme shows a better performance especially under the 16-QAM over the additive white Gaussian noise channel.

Development and experimental validation of a one-dimensional dynamic hygrothermal modeling based on air humidity ratio

A modified one-dimensional transient hygrothermal model for multilayer wall was proposed using air humidity ratio and temperature as the driving potentials.The solution for the governing equations was obtained numerically by implementing the finite-difference scheme.To evaluate the accuracy of the model,a test system was built up to measure relative humidity and temperature within a porous wall and compare with the prediction of the model.The prediction results have good agreement with the experimental results.For the interface close to indoor side,the maximum deviation of temperature between calculated and test data is 1.87 K,and the average deviation is 0.95 K;the maximum deviation of relative humidity is 11.4%,and the average deviation is 5.7%.For the interface close to outdoor side,the maximum deviation of temperature between prediction and measurement is 1.78 K,and the average deviation is 1.1 K;the maximum deviation of relative humidity is 9.9%,and the average deviation is 4.2%.

REDUCING THE PEAK-TO-AVERAGE POWER RATIO OF OFDM SYSTEM WITH LOW COMPLEXITY

This paper proposes a companding scheme, where small signals are enlarged and large signals are reduced, to reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio(PAPR). Computer simulation results show that the proposed technique has two advantages at least when compared with the conventional methods such as partial transmit sequence, selective mapping and the previous companding. First, it gets better PAPR performances with a lower complexity. Second, the scheme achieves greater performances gain with hardly any damnification of OFDM signals in some degree.

The Influence of Blocking Mass Parameters on the Vibration Isolation Performance of a Power Cabin

Rigid blocking masses are located in the typical base structure of a power cabin based on the impedance mismatch principle.By combining the acoustic-structural coupling method and statistical energy analysis,the full-band vibration and sound radiation reduction effect of vibration isolation masses located in a base structure was researched.The influence of the blocking mass’ cross-section size and shape parameters and the layout location of the base isolation performance was discussed.Furthermore,the effectiveness of rigid vibration isolation design of the base structure was validated.The results show that the medium and high frequency vibration and sound radiation of a power cabin are effectively reduced by a blocking mass.Concerning weight increment and section requirement,suitably increasing the blocking mass size and section height and reducing section width can result in an efficiency-cost ratio.

The Effect of Mass Ratio and Air Damper Characteristics on the Resonant Response of an Air Damped Dynamic Vibration Absorber

In this paper, it is shown that, a road vehicle 2DOF air damped quartercar suspension system can conveniently be transformed into a 2DOF air damped vibrating system representing an air damped dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) with an appropriate change in the ratio μ of the main mass and the absorber mass i.e. when mass ratio μ >> 1. Also the effect of variation of the mass ratio, air damping ratio and air spring rate ratio, on the motion transmissibility at the resonant frequency of the main mass of the DVA has been dis- cussed. It is shown that, as the air damping ratio in the absorber system increases, there is a substantial decrease in the motion transmissibility of the main mass system where the air damper has been modeled as a Maxwell type. Optimal value of the air damping ratio for the minimum motion transmissibility of the main mass of the system has been determined. An experimental setup has been designed and developed with a control system to vary air pressure in the damper in the absorber system. The motion transmissibility characteristics of the main mass system have been obtained, and the optimal value of the air damping ratio has been determined for minimum motion transmissibility of the main mass of the

Evaluation of axial length/total corneal refractive power ratio as a potential marker for ocular diagnosis of Marfan’s syndrome in children

AIM:To investigate whether the axial length(AL)/total corneal refractive power(TCRP)ratio is a sensitive and simple factor that can be used for the early diagnosis of Marfan’s syndrome(MFS)in children.METHODS:The relationship between the AL/TCRP ratio and the diagnosis of MFS for 192 eyes in 97 children were evaluate.The biological characteristics,including age,sex,AL,and TCRP,were collected from medical records.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis was performed to investigate whether the AL/TCRP ratio effectively distinguishes MFS from other subjects.The Youden index was used to re-divide the whole population into two groups according to an AL/TCRP ratio of 0.59.RESULTS:Of 96 subjects(mean age 7.46±3.28 y)evaluated,56(110 eyes)had a definite diagnosis of MFS in childhood based on the revised Ghent criteria,41(82 eyes)with diagnosis of congenital ectopia lentis(EL)were included as a control group.AL was negatively correlated with TCRP,with a linear regression coefficient of-0.36(R2=0.08).A significant correlation was found between age and the AL/TCRP ratio(P=0.023).ROC curve analysis showed that the AL/TCRP ratio distinguished MFS from the other patients at a threshold of 0.59.MFS patients were present in 24/58(41.38%)patients with an AL/TCRP ratio of≤0.59 and in 34/39(87.18%)patients with an AL/TCRP ratio of>0.59.CONCLUSION:An AL/TCRP ratio of>0.59 is significantly associated with the risk of MFS.The AL/TCRP ratio should be measured as a promising marker for the prognosis of children MFS.Changes in the AL/TCRP ratio should be monitored over time.

Air flow control based on optimal oxygen excess ratio in fuel cells for vehicles

Air flow control is one of the most important control methods for maintaining the stability and reliability of a fuel cell system, which can avoid oxygen starvation or oxygen saturation. The oxygen excess ratio （OER） is often used to indicate the air flow condition. Based on a fuel cell system model for vehicles, OER performance was analyzed for different stack currents and temperatures in this paper, and the results show that the optimal OER was affected weakly by the stack temperature. In order to ensure the system working in optimal OER, a control scheme that includes an optimal OER regulator and a fuzzy control was proposed. According to the stack current, a reference value of air flow rate was obtained with the optimal OER regulator and then the air compressor motor voltage was controlled with the fuzzy controller to adjust the air flow rate provided by the air compressor. Simulation results show that the control method has good dynamic and static characteristics.

Transient Air-Fuel Ratio Control in a CNG Engine Using Fuzzy Neural Networks

The fuzzy neural networks has been used as means of precisely controlling the air-fuel ratio of a lean-burn compressed natural gas (CNG) engine. A control algorithm, without based on engine model, has been (utilized) to construct a feedforward/feedback control scheme to regulate the air-fuel ratio. Using fuzzy neural networks, a fuzzy neural hybrid controller is obtained based on PI controller. The new controller, which can adjust parameters online, has been tested in transient air-fuel ratio control of a CNG engine.

Investigation on wind energy-compressed air power system

Wind energy is a pollution free and renewable resource widely distributed over China. Aimed at protecting the environment and enlarging application of wind energy, a new approach to application of wind energy by using compressed air power to some extent instead of electricity put forward. This includes: explaining the working principles and charac-teristics of the wind energy-compressed air power system; discussing the compatibility of wind energy and compressor capacity; presenting the theoretical model and computational simulation of the system. The obtained compressor capacity vs wind power relationship in certain wind velocity range can be helpful in the designing of the wind power-compressed air system. Results of investigations on the application of high-pressure compressed air for pressure reduction led to conclusion that pressure reduction with expander is better than the throttle regulator in energy saving.

Effects of Free-air CO2 Enrichment on Root Characteristics and C:N Ratio of Rice at the Heading Stage

A hydroponics experiment was conducted to investigate the rice root growth in FACE （free-air carbon dioxide enrichment）. The root biomass, root volume, ratio of root/shoot, number of adventitious roots and root diameter significantly increased under FACE conditions, while the CO2 enrichment decreased the N concentration in rice roots without any change in the C content, leading to an increase in root C：N ratio. Moreover, the elevated CO2 resulted in a remarkable decrease of root activity, expressed as per unit root dry weight, which might be responsible for decreased N concentration in roots.

Adaptive Air-Fuel Ratio Control with MLP Network

This paper presents an application of adaptive neural network model-based predictive control (MPC) to the air-fuel ratio of an engine simulation. A multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network is trained using two on-line training algorithms: a back propagation algorithm and a recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm. It is used to model parameter uncertainties in the nonlinear dynamics of internal combustion (IC) engines. Based on the adaptive model, an MPC strategy for controlling air-fuel ratio is realized, and its control performance compared with that of a traditional PI controller. A reduced Hessian method, a newly developed sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method for solving nonlinear programming (NLP) problems, is implemented to speed up nonlinear optimization in the MPC. Keywords Air-fuel ratio control - IC engine - adaptive neural networks - nonlinear programming - model predictive control Shi-Wei Wang PhD student, Liverpool John Moores University; MSc in Control Systems, University of Sheffield, 2003; BEng in Automatic Technology, Jilin University, 2000; Current research interests automotive engine control, model predictive control, sliding mode control, neural networks.Ding-Li Yu obtained B.Eng from Harbin Civil Engineering College, Harbin, China in 1981, M.Sc from Jilin University of Technology, Changchun, China in 1986 and PhD from Coventry University, U.K. in 1995, all in control engineering. He is currently a Reader in Process Control at Liverpool John Moores University, U.K. His current research interests are in process control, engine control, fault detection and adaptive neural nets. He is a member of SAFEPROCESS TC in IFAC and an associate editor of the IJMIC and the IJISS.