Optimal Placement of Phasor Measurement Units with Linear and Non-linear Models

Abstract—This article presents a non-linear programming-based model for the optimal placement of phasor measurement units. The optimal phasor measurement units placement is formulated to minimize the number of phasor measurement units required for full system observability and to maximize the measurement redundancy at all buses in a power system. A sequential quadratic programming algorithm is used for the solution of the proposed model. The existence of power flow and injection measurements, the limited phasor measurement units channel capacity, the lack of communication facilities in substations, and the single phasor measurement units loss are also incorporated into the initial proposed formulation. The non-linear programming model is applied to IEEE 14- and 118-bus test systems in MATLAB. The accuracy and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by comparing the simulation results to those obtained by a binary integer programming model also implemented in MATLAB. The comparative study shows that the proposed non-linear programming model yields the same number of phasor measurement units as the binary integer programming model. A remarkable advantage of the non-linear programming against binary integer linear programming is its capability to give more than one optimal solution, each one having the same minimum number of phasor measurement units (same minimum objective value), but at different locations.     

内部缺陷对高压直流电缆电场分布影响的有限元分析

高压直流电缆实际运行过程中可能会有缺陷出现,使得电缆内部电场分布发生畸变,加速绝缘材料的老化。运用有限元分析的方法,对直流电缆电场分布进行了二维和三维建模和仿真分析,研究了不同电缆绝缘层温差、缺陷位置及尺寸情况下电缆中单个球形缺陷对周围绝缘材料的影响,得到了较为通用的直流电缆缺陷对电场畸变的计算公式。研究发现三维仿真更加适合对缺陷进行研究,稳态下缺陷对电场的加强决定于材料的电导率,且缺陷对绝缘材料的影响是局部的.     

Moving ion fronts in mixed ionic‐electronic conducting polymer films

The aim of this paper is to analyze moving front dynamics of ions and holes in a planar, mixed ionic‐electronic conducting polymer film. As cations invade the film, holes evacuate; thus, an ionic current is converted to an electronic signal. Recent experiments show that the location of the advancing ion front increases as the square‐root of time, a scaling typically associated with diffusive transport, which is surprising given the large driving voltages utilized. Ionic and electronic transport is modeled via the drift‐diffusion equations. A similarity transformation reduces the governing partial differential equations to ordinary differential equations that are solved numerically. The similarity transformation elucidates the origin of the square‐root‐of‐time front scaling. The similarity solution is then compared to the numerical solution of the full drift‐diffusion equations, finding excellent agreement. When compared with experimental data, our model captures the front location; however, qualitative differences between the ion profiles are observed. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1447–1454, 2015     

Stress relaxation behavior of starch powder‐epoxy resin composites

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the quasi‐static and the viscoelastic behavior of epoxy resin reinforced with starch powder. An increase in the elastic modulus on the order of 42% was achieved; a behavior that was predicted by the modulus prediction model (MPM). Next, the composite was subjected to flexural relaxation experiments, in order to determine the relaxation modulus, at different filler‐weight fractions and flexural deflections imposed. The viscoelastic models of the standard linear solid, the power law model and the residual property model (RPM) were applied in order to simulate/predict the stress relaxation curves. Predicted values derived from the application of the above models were compared to each‐other as well as to respective experimental findings. From the above comparison it was proved the superiority of the RPM model in predicting both the linear and the nonlinear viscoelastic response of the materials investigated. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41697.     

The production of carbon nanotube reinforced poly(vinyl) butyral nanofibers by the Forcespinning® method

Poly(vinyl) butyral (PVB) nanofibers (NFs) and carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced PVB NF composites were developed by using the Forcespinning® technology. PVB was dissolved in a mixture of ethanol and methanol (7:3 wt/wt) at various concentrations, and the solutions were spun at rotational speeds varying between 3,000 and 9,000 rpm. The CNT/PVB solutions were prepared using the same solvent ratio with varying the concentration of CNTs. The results show that the diameter of the PVB fibers increased with increasing rotational speed; however the standard deviation of the fiber diameter distribution decreased. The morphology and thermal properties of the developed fiber systems were studied by DSC, TGA, Raman, and FTIR. The effect of CNT on the mechanical properties of the developed fibers was investigated by carrying out tensile tests at different strain rates. Raman and FTIR analyses indicate a noncovalent π–π stacking interactions and hydrogen bonding between CNT and the PVB NFs. Adding CNT to the PVB NF matrix resulted in improved tensile strength by 150%. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:81–87, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The simultaneous addition of styrene maleic anhydride copolymer and multiwall carbon nanotubes during melt‐mixing on the morphology of binary blends of polyamide6 and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer

The effect of simultaneous addition of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and a reactive compatibilizer (styrene maleic anhydride copolymer, SMA) during melt‐mixing on the phase morphology of 80/20 (wt/wt) PA6/ABS blend has been investigated. Morphological analysis through scanning and transmission electron microscopic analysis revealed finer morphology of the blends in presence of SMA + MWNTs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis indicated the formation of imide bonds during melt‐mixing. Non‐isothermal crystallization studies exhibited the presence of a majority faction of MWNTs in the PA6 phase of 80/20 (wt/wt) PA6/ABS blend in presence of SMA + MWNTs. Rheological analysis, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis have demonstrated the compatibilization action of simultaneous addition of a reactive compatibilizer (SMA copolymer) and MWNTs in PA6/ABS blends. An attempt has been made to investigate the role of simultaneous addition of SMA copolymer and MWNTs on the morphology of 80/20 (wt/wt) PA6/ABS blend through various characterization techniques. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:457–465, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Development of the Fray-Farthing-Chen Cambridge Process: Towards the Sustainable Production of Titanium and Its Alloys

The Kroll process has been employed for titanium extraction since the 1950s. It is a labour and energy intensive multi-step semi-batch process. The post-extraction processes for making the raw titanium into alloys and products are also excessive, including multiple remelting steps. Invented in the late 1990s, the Fray-Farthing-Chen (FFC) Cambridge process extracts titanium from solid oxides at lower energy consumption via electrochemical reduction in molten salts. Its ability to produce alloys and powders, while retaining the cathode shape also promises energy and material efficient manufacturing. Focusing on titanium and its alloys, this article reviews the recent development of the FFC-Cambridge process in two aspects, (1) resource and process sustainability and (2) advanced post-extraction processing.