Design and fabrication of thermoelectric waste heat reutilization system—possible industrial application

The current article discussed the detail design and development of an experimental test rig to derive usable energy by utilizing the waste heat energy through a heat exchanger made of Bi₂Te₃ material. The accuracy including the efficiency of the fabricated device is demonstrated further by verifying the associated parameter through a simulation model (commercial finite element package, ANSYS 15.0). To imitate the waste hot air from the industry is achieved via a heat gun and fed to the test rig for the generation of thermoelectric power. The simulation model accuracy has been demonstrated by juxtaposing the associated experimental data and computational readings. Subsequently, the feasibility and optimum range of design parameters are established by comparing the experimental and the simulation data (triggered temperature difference, voltage output, and heat flux) generated at the interface of the thermoelectric power generators. In addition, the coefficient of determination (R²) value has been evaluated statistically and verified with the current experimental results for the demonstration of the relevancy. The statistical study shows the existence of the correlation between the current experimental and the simulation model. Also, the experimental result indicates the possible implementation of the newly developed system for the recovery from the waste heat either the automobile exhaust or any other kind of dissipated heat from the industries.     

How platinum oxide affects the degradation analysis of PEM fuel cell cathodes

In this work, proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathodes are degraded with accelerated-stress-tests.These PtCo containing cathodes are analyzed at begin-of-life and end-of-test with a dedicated diagnostic procedure. For every individual load point, the oxygen transport resistance and voltage losses due to the formation of platinum oxides were obtained in addition to commonly measured electrochemical surface area, high frequency resistance, as well as cathode ionomer resistance. These data were used to break down the voltage losses into six different contributors. With this break down, performance gains and performance losses were determined at end-of-test. At low current densities, it was found that voltage losses due to degradation are dominated by the loss of specific activity and catalyst surface area - in line with the state-of-the-art knowledge. But by quantifying the losses from platinum oxide formation explicitly, we show that end-of-test an unassigned voltage loss is not only present at highest current densities, but already at low current density. More precisely, the unassigned voltage loss shows a linear increase with decreasing half cell voltage and is independent from the chosen accelerated stress test. As this unassigned loss depends on half cell voltage, it might arise from ionomer adsorption.     

A voltage support control strategy based on three-port flexible multi-state switch in distribution networks

Voltage sags in power system may lead to serious problems such as the off-grid of distributed generation and electrical equipment failures. As a novel type of power electronic equipment, a flexible multi-state switch (FMSS) is capable to support the voltage during the grid faults. In this paper, a voltage control strategy to support the voltage in a distribution network is proposed by introducing three-port FMSS. The positive–negative-sequence compensation (PNSC) scheme is adopted to control the active and reactive current. This control scheme eliminates active power oscillations at the port of voltage sags and reduces coupling oscillations of other ports. Based on the characteristics of the voltage support under PNSC scheme, two voltage support strategies are proposed. A proportional-integral controller is introduced to provide the reactive power references, which eliminates the errors when estimating the grid voltage and impedance. A current limiting scheme is adopted to keep the port current in a safe range by adjusting the active and reactive power references. The voltage support strategies in two different voltage sags are simulated, and results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.     

Exploring the role of the spacers and acceptors on the triphenylamine-based dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Six triphenylamine-based dyes were explored for their application in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Dyes 1–3 and dyes 4–6 possess cyanoacrylic acid (C-acceptor) and rhodanine-3-acetic acid (R-acceptor), respectively. Stilbene (in dyes 2 and 5) and bis(styryl)benzene (in dyes 3 and 6) were used as π-spacers. There is no π-spacer in the dye 1 and 4. To elucidate the role of π-spacers, optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of the dyes were studied. Among C-acceptor dyes, dye 2 exhibits the highest light-to-electricity conversion efficiency of 4.45%, followed by dye 3 (4.16%). Similarly, among R-acceptor dyes, dye 5 is the best. These results indicate that stilbene is a better π-spacer over bis(styryl)benzene. Although bis(styryl)benzene could extend the light absorption range (in dye-adsorbed TiO₂ film), its tendency to promote intermolecular π-π stacking is possibly the reason for its poor performance in DSSCs. Furthermore, the conjugation break in the R-acceptor moiety attached to the TiO₂ surface limits the electron injection of R-acceptor dyes poorer than C-acceptor dyes. Density functional theory calculations were performed for the dye-(TiO₂)₈ cluster, assuming a bidentate chelation of a carboxylic acid group with Ti⁴⁺ of TiO₂ anatase. The natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis indicated relatively more electron-accepting ability of cyanoacrylic acid over rhodanine-3-acetic acid.     

Direct model-based predictive control scheme without cost function for voltage source inverters with reduced common-mode voltage

This paper presents a direct model-based predictive control scheme for voltage source inverters (VSIs) with reduced common-mode voltages (CMVs). The developed method directly finds optimal vectors without using repetitive calculation of a cost function. To adjust output currents with the CMVs in the range of –V_dc/6 to +V_dc/6, the developed method uses voltage vectors, as finite control resources, excluding zero voltage vectors which produce the CMVs in the VSI within ±V_dc/2. In a model-based predictive control (MPC), not using zero voltage vectors increases the output current ripples and the current errors. To alleviate these problems, the developed method uses two non-zero voltage vectors in one sampling step. In addition, the voltage vectors scheduled to be used are directly selected at every sampling step once the developed method calculates the future reference voltage vector, saving the efforts of repeatedly calculating the cost function. And the two non-zero voltage vectors are optimally allocated to make the output current approach the reference current as close as possible. Thus, low CMV, rapid current-following capability and sufficient output current ripple performance are attained by the developed method. The results of a simulation and an experiment verify the effectiveness of the developed method.     

Solution-Processed Organic Solar Cells with High Open-Circuit Voltage of 1.3 V and Low Non-Radiative Voltage Loss of 0.16 V

Compared with inorganic or perovskite solar cells, the relatively large non-radiative recombination voltage losses (ΔV_non-rad) in organic solar cells (OSCs) limit the improvement of the open-circuit voltage (V_oc). Herein, OSCs are fabricated by adopting two pairs of D–π–A polymers (PBT1-C/PBT1-C-2Cl and PBDB-T/PBDB-T-2Cl) as electron donors and a wide-bandgap molecule BTA3 as the electron acceptor. In these blends, a charge-transfer state energy (E_CT) as high as 1.70–1.76 eV is achieved, leading to small energetic differences between the singlet excited states and charge-transfer states (ΔE_CT ≈ 0.1 eV). In addition, after introducing chlorine atoms into the π-bridge or the side chain of benzodithiophene (BDT) unit, electroluminescence external quantum efficiencies as high as 1.9 × 10⁻³ and 1.0 × 10⁻³ are realized in OSCs based on PBTI-C-2Cl and PBDB-T-2Cl, respectively. Their corresponding ΔV_non-rad are 0.16 and 0.17 V, which are lower than those of OSCs based on the analog polymers without a chlorine atom (0.21 and 0.24 V for PBT1-C and PBDB-T, respectively), resulting in high V_oc of 1.3 V. The ΔV_non-rad of 0.16 V and V_oc of 1.3 V achieved in PBT1-C-2Cl:BTA3 OSCs are thought to represent the best values for solution-processed OSCs reported in the literature so far.     

歧口凹陷西南缘沙河街组一段下亚段古环境特征与沉积模式

沙河街组一段下亚段是歧口凹陷重要的页岩油发育层系，为进一步了解该段细粒沉积岩沉积环境、旋回特征和沉积模式，利用地震、测井、录井和系统取心分析资料对目的层位展开综合研究。研究区细粒沉积岩包括长英质页岩、碳酸盐质页岩（白云岩、灰质页岩、白云质页岩）、黏土质页岩和混合质页岩4种类型，混合质页岩、长英质页岩和碳酸盐质页岩占优势；总体为还原-强还原沉积环境，水体盐度较高，主要受陆源碎屑沉积和生物化学沉积作用控制；宽缓湖湾与歧口主凹之间形成高盐度带，受准同生期蒸发浓缩作用，滨-浅湖带高密度富Mg²⁺超咸水在重力作用下，沿着湖底向湖盆内部流动，早期形成的方解石发生白云石化，形成准同生白云岩；岩性组合受旋回控制作用明显，短期反-正旋回转换面之下位置发育一层稳定白云岩或白云质页岩，碳酸盐岩（甜点段）发育于长期旋回内的下降期半旋回，上升期长期旋回主要发育黏土质混合页岩和黏土质页岩（隔板层），进一步可以总结出强陆源碎屑供给区细粒沉积模式和弱陆源碎屑供给区细粒沉积模式。     

超级电容器用solvent-in-salt型电解液的研究进展

Solvent-in-salt (SIS)型电解液作为一类新型超浓缩电解液，主要由水或者有机溶剂和易溶盐组成，具有溶液溶剂化程度小、自由溶剂分子少、电化学窗口宽、电化学稳定性高等特点，在超级电容器中显示了独特的优势并展现了良好的应用前景。本文重点综述了SIS型电解液的原理和优势，梳理了近年来SIS作为超级电容器电解液的研究进展，总结了其存在的问题，同时展望了SIS型电解液未来的发展方向。     

计及损耗的双馈感应风力发电机高电压穿越控制策略

利用换向原理分析其电磁暂态特性，在此基础上，对DFIG输出无功功率与其铜损耗的解析关系进行了理论分析，推导出了使铜损耗最低的DFIG输出无功功率最优参考值。同时，转子的瞬时功率补偿分量减小了DC总线电压的波动，从而减少了转换器的功率损耗。由此，提出了考虑DFIG铜损和转换器损耗的DFIG高电压穿越控制策略。仿真结果表明，该控制策略可以在保证DFIG高电压穿越能力的同时降低DFIG铜损耗与换流器损耗，并具有较好的暂态特性。     

New titanium (III) phosphite structure and its application as anode for lithium ion batteries

A new titanium (III) phosphite Ti₂(HPO₃)₃, has been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The solid-state structure of this material was solved using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The anionic inorganic skeleton has a three-dimensional structure, which is built up by TiO₆ octahedral units linked together via bridging HPO₃ pseudo pyramids, giving rise to tunnels along the three crystallographic axes. This new compound displays a high thermal stability limit of 625 °C. IR and Raman spectroscopies show the vibrational modes of the (HPO₃)²⁻oxoanions. Electrochemical activity of this phase toward reversible insertion of Li ion was studied for the first time by galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements, an insertion host for reversible accommodation of Li⁺ was observed.