Comparative analysis of storage modules under different dispatch strategies for an optimum decentralized hybrid energy solution: a case study of a remote Indian village

India has a large poor population in spite of having a steady economic growth. Supply of centralized grid power to remote villages of India is not feasible due to adverse topography and poor economic condition of the villagers. To supply the reliable power at a minimum cost including penalty due to carbon dioxide emission, a suitable decentralized energy combination using locally available resources may be a better sustainable solution. The economy of such a hybrid energy supply system significantly depends on storage devices and dispatch strategies. Therefore, selection of appropriate storage devices and dispatch strategy need to be optimized based on available local resources. In this study, the comparative analysis of techno-economic factors for five different storage devices (lead acid battery, lithium-ion battery, vanadium redox battery, zinc bromide battery and pumped hydro energy storage) are studied under two different dispatch strategies, i.e., Load Following and Cycle Charging. The estimated cost of energy and net present cost of the recommended optimum combined energy system are in the range of US$0.197/kWh–US$0.453/kWh and US$3,62,384–US$5,76,369, respectively. The cost of energy, net present cost and carbon dioxide emission for the selected energy generators combination with the zinc bromide battery is 48.964–56.512%, 24.149–32.147% and 43.419–55.865% lower than other storage-based energy systems, respectively. The abovementioned economic and environmental factors are lower by 34.113, 10.489 and 31.094%, respectively, under Load Following dispatch strategy with respect to the Cycle Charging dispatch strategy for the optimum energy combination with zinc bromide battery.

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Channel Models for Inter-body Communication in Ultra Wideband-Based Body Area Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - Body area networks (BANs) are evolving tremendously over the years and with the progress in the area of internet of things, the BANs are more important than ever....     

Shock/expansion fan interaction with real gas effects for Earth and Mars atmospheric conditions

Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the real gas effects on shock/expansion fan interaction. Initial perfect gas simulations at low enthalpy capture the flow structures efficiently and outcomes are found to have excellent agreement with the analytical calculations. Furthermore, the simulations with the real gas solver for different enthalpies showed that the variation in enthalpy significantly changes the flow structures. It is observed that an increase in enthalpy leads to a decrease and increase in the postshock and postexpansion fan Mach numbers, respectively. Another important observation is the decrement in the peak pressure ratio with an increment in the enthalpy. These effects are noted to be more pronounced for Mars's environment due to the higher dependency of specific heat on temperature.     

Delay-discretization-based sliding mode $$H_{\infty }$$ load frequency control scheme considering actuator saturation of wind-integrated power system

This paper investigates the combined effect of actuator saturation and time-delay on load frequency control (LFC) of a wind-integrated power system (WIPS). Actuator saturation is represented in two different approaches such as polytopic and sector bounding. Delay-discretization-based sliding mode \(H_{\infty }\) control approach is proposed to design a novel LFC scheme. The proposed control scheme requires present as well as delayed states information as input to the controller. This requirement of control scheme is fulfilled by adopting a finite known delay. This finite known delay used in controller design is discretized into delay intervals. Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is defined for each delay interval, and \(H_{\infty }\) stabilization criteria for the closed loop WIPS are derived in linear matrix inequality framework using Wirtinger-based inequality. The proposed control scheme is tested by considering a numerical example of two-area WIPS.

     

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Microsystem Technologies -     

Carbon nanotubes‐filled thermoplastic polyurethane–urea and carboxylated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber blend nanocomposites

This article reports the preparation and characterization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)‐filled thermoplastic polyurethane–urea (TPUU) and carboxylated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (XNBR) blend nanocomposites. The dispersion of the MWCNTs was carried out using a laboratory two roll mill. Three different loadings, that is, 1, 3, and 5 wt % of the MWCNTs were used. The electron microscopy image analysis proves that the MWCNTs are evenly dispersed along the shear flow direction. Through incorporation of the nanotubes in the blend, the tensile modulus was increased from 9.90 ± 0.5 to 45.30 ± 0.3 MPa, and the tensile strength at break was increased from 25.4 ± 2.5 to 33.0 ± 1.5 MPa. The wide angle X‐ray scattering result showed that the TPUU:XNBR blends were arranged in layered structures. These structures are formed through chemical reactions of ? NH group from urethane and urea with the carboxylic group on XNBR. Furthermore, even at a very low loading, the high degree of nanotubes dispersion results in a significant increase in the electrical percolation threshold. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40341.     

Gas holdup in tapered bubble column using pseudoplastic non-Newtonian liquids

Experimental studies on the gas holdup in two tapered bubble columns using non-Newtonian pseudoplastic liquid have been reported. The effects of different variables such as gas flow rate, liquid viscosity, bed height, and orifice diameter of sieve plate on gas holdup have been investigated. An empirical correlation has been developed for the prediction of the gas holdup as a function of various measurable parameters of the system. The correlation is statistically acceptable.     

Synthesis and thermal behavior of Cu/Y2W3O12 composite

Cu metal matrix composite with Y₂W₃O₁₂ as a thermal expansion compensator was fabricated by high energy ball milling followed by compaction and sintering, and its thermal properties were explored for the potential applications as heat sinks in electronic industries, high precision optics, and space structures. The volume fraction of reinforcement was varied from 40% to 70% in order to tailor the composite for the simultaneous accomplishment of low thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity. The synthesis technique was optimized by varying the parameters like milling time from 1 to 20 h and sintering temperature from 600 to 1000 °C in order to achieve densified composites. The relative density of the composites is found to be around 90% for the 10 h milled powders followed by compaction at a pressure of 700 MPa and sintering at a temperature of 1000 °C. The thermal expansion of the composites exhibits linear behavior in the temperature range 200 to 800 °C and the low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is found to be for Cu–70%Y₂W₃O₁₂ composite whose value, 4.32±0.75×10⁻⁶/°C, matches with that of Si substrate. The thermal conductivities are found to increase with a decrease in the volume fraction of the reinforcement and decrease with an increase in the temperature for all the samples. The experimentally determined CTE and thermal conductivity values are found to be comparable to those predicted by the thermal expansion based Kerner and Turner model and the thermal conductivity based Maxwell model, respectively.     

Mechanical and tribological properties of silicon carbide coating on Inconel alloy from liquid pre-ceramic precursor

Liquid polycarbosilane (LPCS) derived hard coatings of silicon carbide (SiC) were deposited on Inconel alloy at three different moderately high temperatures by chemical vapour deposition. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffractometry and Field emission scanning electron microscopy. Liquid PCS yielded a mixture of α-SiC and β-SiC during decomposition having uniform round-shaped particles of dimension around 200–300 nm without extensive cracking and few discrete shaped particles were also found to form at higher temperature (i.e. 1100 °C and 1200 °C) deposited films. The coated samples showed substantial increment in hardness and fracture toughness as compared to the uncoated sample. The fracture toughness (K_IC) values of the deposited films were in the range of 6.7–10.7 MPa(m)^1/2. The tribological properties and hardness of the films were also found to vary with deposition temperature. The scratch tracks of the films revealed that brittle failures occurred in all SiC coated substrates.