Coherent energy projection of modulated signals from a sparse array

In this article, coherent energy projection is generalized to modulated signals, enabling the precise delivery of energy to a specific target area. The system and mathematical model are established to characterize the far‐field energy interference from a randomized sparse transmitting array. By using the method of transmitting delay pre‐compensation and spatial coherent combination, the coherent energy of the modulated signals increases significantly after demodulation at the receiving end. The coherent energy scape is presented to describe the spatial distribution of projected energy in the target area, rather than the commonly used performance metric of front‐end energy analysis. Then the simulations set out to examine the spatial grating lobes and potential for expanding the focal spot using multi‐foci accumulation. We also employ the particle swarm optimization to find the optimum distribution of foci to match the focal spot with the desired target area and energy level. Analysis and numerical results are provided to demonstrate the correctness of the theoretical results and effectiveness of the proposed coherent energy projection method.     

Reaction environment self-modification on low-coordination Ni2+ octahedra atomic interface for superior electrocatalytic overall water splitting

Large scale synthesis of high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalyst based on cost-effective and earth-abundant transition metal for overall water splitting in the alkaline environment is indispensable for renewable energy conversion. In this regard, meticulous design of active sites and probing their catalytic mechanism on both cathode and anode with different reaction environment at molecular-scale are vitally necessary. Herein, a coordination environment inheriting strategy is presented for designing low-coordination Ni²⁺ octahedra (L-Ni-8) atomic interface at a high concentration (4.6 at.%). Advanced spectroscopic techniques and theoretical calculations reveal that the self-matching electron delocalization and localization state at L-Ni-8 atomic interface enable an ideal reaction environment at both cathode and anode. To improve the efficiency of using the self-modification reaction environment at L-Ni-8, all of the structural features, including high atom economy, mass transfer, and electron transfer, are integrated together from atomic-scale to macro-scale. At high current density of 500 mA/cm², the samples synthesized at gram-scale can deliver low hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) overpotentials of 262 and 348 mV, respectively.

     

Equilibrium consumption and portfolio decisions with stochastic discount rate and time-varying utility functions

OR Spectrum - This paper studies a multi-period investment–consumption optimization problem with a stochastic discount rate and a time-varying utility function, which are governed by a...     

Catalytic oxidative desulfurization of gasoline using phosphotungstic acid supported on MWW zeolite

Catalysts for the desulfurization of gasoline samples were synthesized via the immobilization of well-dispersed phosphotungstic acid (HPW) on Mobil composition of matter-twenty-two (MWW) zeolite. Characterization results indicated that these catalysts possess a mesoporous structure with the retention of the Keggin structure of immobilized HPW. Relevant reaction parameters influencing sulfur removal were systematically investigated, including HPW loading, catalyst dosage, temperature, initial S-concentration, molar ratio of oxidant to sulfide (O/S), volume ratio of MeCN to model oil (Ext./oil), and sulfide species. The 40 wt-% HPW/MWW catalyst exhibited the highest catalytic activity with 99.6% dibenzothiophene sulfur removal from prepared samples. The 40 wt-% HPW/MWW catalyst was recycled four times and could be easily regenerated. Finally, as an exploratory study, straight-run-gasoline and fluid catalytic cracking gasoline were employed to accurately evaluate the desulfurization performance of 40 wt-% HPW/MWW. Our research provides new insights into the development and application of catalysts for desulfurization of gasoline.     

A spectrally selective surface structure for combined photothermic conversion and radiative sky cooling

The sun and outer space are the ultimate heat and cold sources for the earth, respectively. They have significant potential for renewable energy harvesting. In this paper, a spectrally selective surface structure that has a planar polydimethylsiloxane layer covering a solar absorber is conceptually proposed and optically designed for the combination of photothermic conversion (PT) and nighttime radiative sky cooling (RC). An optical simulation is conducted whose result shows that the designed surface structure (i.e., PT-RC surface structure) has a strong solar absorption coefficient of 0.92 and simultaneously emits as a mid-infrared spectral-selective emitter with an average emissivity of 0.84 within the atmospheric window. A thermal analysis prediction reveals that the designed PT-RC surface structure can be heated to 79.1°C higher than the ambient temperature in the daytime and passively cooled below the ambient temperature of approximately 10°C in the nighttime, indicating that the designed PT-RC surface structure has the potential for integrated PT conversion and nighttime RC utilization.     

Finite Element Study on the Influence of Structural Parameters on the Ballistic Performance of 3D Networked Fabrics

Networked fabrics are a type of three-dimensional multilayer fabrics having predetermined interconnections between layers by combining yarns from two adjacent sublayers into one. This paper reports the research on the influence of structural parameters on the ballistic performance of networked fabrics using finite element analysis in parallel with experiment. The widths of separate and combined sections are found to affect the energy absorption (EA) of regular networked fabrics against high-velocity impact. Separate sections of networked fabrics generally outperform combined sections. The optimal width of the separate section is around 9.5 cm for both dense and loose networked fabrics when impacted at the separate section. The optimal width of combined section decreases from 2.38 cm to 1.15 cm with the decrease of weave density in this area. For the studied structural parameters, highest EAs of dense and loose networked fabrics are around 13.3% and 17.1% higher than those of their counterpart layups of dense and loose plain-woven fabrics, respectively. These findings suggest networked fabrics could be engineered to improve the ballistic performance of flexible fabrics.     

Data envelopment analysis based on team reasoning

Existing approaches to data envelopment analysis focus mainly on the derivation of the efficiency of the individual decision‐making unit (DMU) or on the calculation of the weights of multiple inputs or outputs, but pay little attention to the team interest of all the DMUs. Motivated by the idea of team reasoning, in which the benefit of the team is of higher importance than that of each individual, this paper considers all the DMUs as a team and introduces the team indexes including the overall efficiencies, variance, boundaries of all the DMUs, and relationships between DMUs. Several models are first developed to estimate values of the team indexes based on which decision makers can provide their preferences regarding them. Then, models are established to obtain the interval efficiencies of individual DMUs under the condition that the team indexes are satisfied. Several examples are given to illustrate the proposed approaches and verify their applicability.     

Joining of dense Si3N4 ceramics with tape cast Lu-Al-Si-O-N interlayer

Lu-Al-Si-O-N tapes with different thickness were used to join gas pressure sintered Si₃N₄ ceramics. The microstructure of the joints and the influences of the joint thickness and joining temperature on the bonding strength of the as-joined Si₃N₄ ceramics have been investigated. The highest bonding strength about ~ 300 MPa of the joined specimens was achieved by using 450 µm interlayer at 1450 °C. The existence of Si₃N₄ nanowires was beneficial for the improvement of the bonding strength by interweaving the oxynitride glass matrix in the joint region.     

考虑流固耦合的Spar型浮式风力机涡激运动特性研究

对弹性支撑单圆柱在均匀流作用下的涡激运动特性进行数值模拟,捕捉到"锁定区"、"拍"、"频率变换"等现象。柱体周围流场采用Fluent求解,将4阶Runge-Kutta方法代码写入用户自定义函数(UDF)求解运动微分方程,运用动网格技术更新流场,实现圆柱与流场的非线性耦合作用。发现随着折合速度的增大,涡激运动响应可分为锁定前支、锁定区、锁定后支3个阶段,在进入锁定区前(折合速度Ur=3)横向运动响应发生拍现象,当跨过锁定区后(折合速度Ur=10)发生频率变换现象。结果表明,横向涡激运动有较大范围的频率锁定现象,频率解锁前后圆柱涡激运动轨迹由"右8字"形变换为"左8字"形。