Performance improvement of microbial fuel cell through artificial intelligence

The current work introduces an enhancement in the performance of the microbial fuel cell through estimating the optimal set of controlling parameters. The maximization of both power density (PD) and the percentage of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal were considered as the enhancement in the cell's performance. Three main parameters in terms of performance as well as commercialization are the system's inputs; the Pt which takes the range of 0.1‐0.5 mg/cm², the degree of sulphonation in sulfonated‐poly‐ether‐ether‐ketone that changes in the range of 20‐80%, and the rate of aeration of cathode which varies between 10 and 150 mL/min. From the experimental dataset, two robust adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference system models based on the fuzzy logic technique have been constructed. The comparisons between the models' outputs and the experimental data showed well‐fitting in both training and testing datasets. The mean squared errors of the PD model, for testing and whole datasets, were found 2.575 and 0.909 while for the COD model it showed 19.242 and 6.791, respectively. Then, based on the two fuzzy models, a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm has been used to determine the best parameters that maximize both of the PD and the COD removal of the cell. The optimization process was utilized for single and multi‐object optimization processes. In the single optimization, the resulting maximums of the PD and the COD removal were found 62.844 (mW/m²) and 99.99 (%), respectively. Whereas, in the multi‐object optimization, the values of 61.787 (mW/m²) and 96.21 (%) were reached as the maximums for the PD and COD, respectively. This implies that, in both cases of optimization processes, the adopted methodology can efficiently enhance the microbial fuel cell performances than the previous work.     

No-chatter model-free sliding mode control for synchronization of chaotic fractional-order systems with application in image encryption

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Synchronization of different Chaotic dynamical systems is one of the main issues in engineering which has a lot of applications in applied sciences like secure...     

On the prediction of solubility of alkane in carbon dioxide using the LSSVM algorithm

The increasing global energy demand and declination of oil reservoir in recent years cause the researchers attention focus on the enhancement of oil recovery approaches. One of the extensive applicable methods for enhancement of oil recovery, which has great efficiency and environmental benefits, is carbon dioxide injection. The CO₂ injection has various effects on the reservoir fluid, which causes enhancement of recovery. One of these effects is extraction of lighter components of crude oil, which straightly depends on solubility of hydrocarbons in carbon dioxide. In order to better understand of this parameter, in this study, Least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) algorithm was developed as a novel predictive tool to estimate solubility of alkane in CO₂ as function of carbon number of alkane, carbon dioxide density, pressure, and temperature. The predicting model outputs were compared with the extracted experimental solubility from literature statistically and graphically. The comparison showed the great ability and high accuracy of developed model in prediction of solubility.     

Vibrational investigation of the spinning bi-dimensional functionally graded (2-FGM) micro plate subjected to thermal load in thermal environment

Microsystem Technologies - This article presented a numerical method for discovering the free vibration of a spinning bi-dimensional functionally graded materials (FGM) micro circular plate exposed...     

Structural and Gas Sensing Properties of Annealed ZnO Thin Film

Annealed ZnO thin film at 400 °C for two hours was deposited on a glass substrate by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The structural properties of the annealed ZnO thin film were studied by XRD, TEM and SEM. Gas sensing properties for different gases such as H₂ and LPG were investigated. Applying XRD the size of the nanocrystals is found to be 10.61 nm. SEM of the thin film consisted of many grains distributed uniformly throughout the surface. An annealed ZnO thin film sensor showed the typical n-type semiconducting behavior in the case of H₂ and LGP gases at low and high operating temperature range, respectively. When working at 50 and 140 °C the sensor exhibits very good dynamic response–recovery characteristics to H₂ and LGP, respectively. These results along with a simple fabrication process demonstrate that the annealed ZnO thin film at 400 °C for two hours is promising for developing low cost and high performance H₂ and LPG sensors. The low cost of the sensor element fabrication, high H₂ and LPG sensitivity, fast response and quick recovery make the entire fabrication process a front-runner and cost-effective for the production of annealed ZnO thin film H₂ and LPG sensors.     

油性微乳液的循环气升式反应器的流体力学和传质性能研究简

This study reports an experimental investigation on hydrodynamics and mass transfer characteristics in a 15.6x10-3 m3 external loop airlift reactor for oil-in-water micro-emulsions with oil to water volume ratio （φ） rang- ing from 3% to 7% （by volume）. For comparative purposes, experiments were also carried out with water. Increase in φ of micro-emulsion systems results in an increment in the gas holdup and a decrease in the volumetric gas-liquid oxygen transfer coefficient and liquid circulation velocity, attributed to the escalation in the viscosity of mi- cro-emulsions. The gas holdup and volumetric mass transfer coefficient for micro-emulsion systems are signifi- cantly higher than that of water system. Two correlations are developed to predict the gas holdup and oxygen trans- fer coefficient     

Closed‐Loop Transmit Diversity Techniques for Small Wireless Terminals and Their Performance Assessment in a Flat Fading Channel

Closed‐loop transmit diversity is considered an important technique for improving the link budget in the third generation and future wireless communication standards. This paper proposes several transmit diversity algorithms suitable for small wireless terminals and presents performance assessment in terms of average signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) and outage improvement, convergence, and complexity of operations. The algorithms presented herein are verified using data from measured indoor channels with variable antenna spacing and the results explained using measured radiation patterns for a two‐element array. It is shown that for a two‐element array, the best among the proposed techniques provides SNR improvement of about 3 dB in a tightly spaced array (inter‐element spacing of 0.1 wavelength at 2 GHz) typical of small wireless devices. Additionally, these techniques are shown to perform significantly better than a single antenna device in an indoor channel considering realistic values of latency and propagation errors.     

Sonochemical Synthesis of a Nanocrystalline Tin(IV) Complex based on a Bulky Anthracene Carboxylate Ligand: Spectroscopic and Photophysical Properties

In order systematically investigate the effect of ligand with a large conjugated π-system on the structure and optical properties of tin complex, anthracene-9-carboxylic acid (L¹) is selected as a primary ligand, and quinoline-2-carboxylic acid (L²) used as second ligand to incorporate with anthracene-9-carboxylic acid to construct a new tin(IV)-carboxylate coordination complex under thermal gradient condition. Prepared complex was fully characterized based on its ¹H and ¹³C NMR, IR and UV spectra and elemental analysis. The molecular structure of complex was determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The nanocrystalline complexes of the prepared complex were successfully obtained at 30, 50 and 60 °C by a facile sonochemical route. The new nanocrystalline complexes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The photoluminescence properties of the nanocrystalline complexes and crystalline bulk complex in the solid-state indicated that the size of the complex particles has a remarkable effect on the optical properties of it. Absorption and emission peaks of the nanocrystalline complexes blue shifted significantly in comparison with those of in the single-crystal form. Application of the prepared complex in fabrication of an organic light-emitting diode has been demonstrated. The current–voltage (I–V) characteristics and the electroluminescence (EL) properties of the complex have been investigated. The EL of the compound exhibits green emission at 552 nm.