Influence of the target power on the microstructure and electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films deposited at room temperature

The columnar structure and its formation process have a significant effect on the electrical properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin film in-situ deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering method. The influences of RF power on the formation of the columnar structure and its regular pattern were systematically investigated. The RF power varied from 120 W to 240 W. The best quality AZO sample with the sheet resistance of 6.07 Ω/sq and average transmittance of 83.2% was obtained at 210 W (for 30 min). The analysis of crosses section images indicated that the columnar structure appeared earlier at higher RF power. The thickness at which the columnar structure began to appear didn't fluctuate at a fixed value. Furthermore, high RF power relatively contributed to reduce the thickness. The Drude's model was used for examining the correlation between optical and electrical behaviors, and the theoretical results of electrical properties were well matched with the experimental data. According to the XRD results and XPS analysis, the appearance of Al₂O₃ may exert a significant influence on the deterioration in electrical properties of the sample deposited at 240 W.     

Solution processed,vertically aligned,AZO nanocolumn array for chemiresistive sensor application with UV-enhanced sensitivity

In this work, a wide and highly sensitive chemiresistive sensor has been developed based on the AZO nanocolumn array film. This is meant for the room detection of H₂O₂ under UV illumination. A cost-effective one step multi-layers growth process was adopted for the synthesis of the AZO nanocolumn array. The experimental studies were done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission and electron microscopy (TEM).Then X-ray diffraction confirmed that the AZO column array was closely packed, connected, vertically aligned, and polycrystalline, with a high surface area. This structure ensures better electrical conduction over random and separated nanostructures. The hall-effect measurement indicates that the AZO film was n-type, with high conductivity (3.60 × 10³ Ωcm), high carrier density (11.3 × 10²⁰cm⁻³) and with acceptable mobility (0.95 cm²/Vs). The x-ray photoemission spectroscopy suggests that the AZO film consists of a large amount of adsorbed oxygen-related species at the sheath layer of the thin-film, which is vital for sensors. By the UV light activation, sensors based on the AZO nanocolumn array exhibited enhanced H₂O₂ detection properties at room temperature. At a concentration from 15 μM to 30 mM, H₂O₂ sensitivity evaluated by relative response was remarkably increased from 15% to 36%. The operation under ambient conditions and wide range sensing shows that this chemiresistive AZO sensor is adequate for biomedical and environmental applications.     

基于最近邻与神经网络融合模型的软测量建模方法

软测量建模能够有效地解决生产过程中在线分析仪表测量滞后大、价格昂贵、维护保养复杂等问题。目前，基于数据驱动的神经网络是软测量建模的主要工具之一。而在建模数据的采集过程中，主导变量的采集相对辅助变量要困难得多，由此产生了大量缺失标签的数据。但传统的软测量建模方法却忽视了这些无标签数据，只利用少量的有标签数据建模，从而影响了模型的预测精度。为了解决标签缺失的问题，采用最近邻算法对无标签数据进行伪标记，同时设计了由卷积操作与门限循环单元神经网络（GRU）结合的网络结构来进一步利用无标签数据，提取不同时刻数据中的动态特征，提高神经网络的预测精度。最后将该方法应用于丙烯精馏塔塔顶丙烷浓度的预测，实验结果表明该模型能有效处理非线性动态系统的标签缺失问题，具有更高的预测精度。     

Highly sensitive C2H2 gas sensor based on Ag modified ZnO nanorods

The sliver (Ag) modified zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were successfully obtained with a simplified and environmentally friendly solvothermal method. Materials characterization indicated that the metallic Ag was located on the outside of ZnO nanorods after annealing. In comparison with ZnO nanorods, Ag modified ZnO (Ag–ZnO) nanorods exhibited a considerably enhanced response to C₂H₂. The response of the 3 at% Ag–ZnO based sensor operating at 175 °C is 539 (R_a/R_g), which is the highest value among all the sensors in detecting 100 ppm C₂H₂. The Ag–ZnO based sensors exhibited fast response speed, lower operation temperature and higher selectivity.     

采煤机截割机构截齿受力监控系统

针对采煤机截割机构截割作业过程中作用在截齿上的截割阻力和冲击较大,导致截齿磨损严重、使用寿命短、经济性差的问题,以应变传感器为基础提出了一种新型的截齿受力监控系统,对截割作业过程中截齿的受力进行实时监控。应用结果表明,该监控系统能够精确对截齿受力进行监控,并对截齿的磨损状态和失效状态进行有效判断,及时对其进行调整维护,可以提升截齿截割过程中的截割效率,增加截齿的使用寿命。     

DynMAC: A resistant MAC protocol to coexistence in wireless sensor networks

The growth of mobile and ubiquitous computing has increased the demand for wireless communications, which in turn raises interference levels and spectrum pollution, causing problems of network coexistence. The coexistence assurance between these devices and wireless sensor networks is a big challenge. This paper proposes a new medium access protocol, DynMAC (Dynamic MAC), which uses mechanisms of dynamic channel reconfiguration, recovery from lost links and reconfiguration of transmission parameters based on the properties of the cognitive radios, to deal with this problem. Simulations and experiments using a real WSN testbed, were performed to validate our protocol. Results show that the proposed mechanisms solve the WSN configuration problems, in noisy and interference environments, and enable the coexistence with different networks and devices operating in the same frequency spectrum, while maintaining application requirements in critical deployment scenarios.     

Hierarchical multi-reservoir optimization modeling for real-world complexity with application to the Three Gorges system

High dimensionality in real-world multi-reservoir systems greatly hinders the application and popularity of evolutionary algorithms, especially for systems with heterogeneous units. An efficient hierarchical optimization framework is presented for search space reduction, determining the best water distributions, not only between cascade reservoirs, but also among different types of hydropower units. The framework is applied to the Three Gorges Project (TGP) system and the results demonstrate that the difficulties of multi-reservoir optimization caused by high dimensionality can be effectively solved by the proposed hierarchical method. For the day studied, power output could be increased by 6.79 GWh using an optimal decision with the same amount of water actually used; while the same amount of power could be generated with 2.59 × 10⁷ m³ less water compared to the historical policy. The methodology proposed is general in that it can be used for other reservoir systems and other types of heterogeneous unit generators.     

Fraud detection in registered electricity time series

This paper analyses time series without the seasonal component of consumers’ power consumption at low voltage in order to detect fraud and illogical consumption by customers. Statistical process control is used, where the process represents the process of using electricity. XMR charts are used to indicate major changes (decrease) in registered customers’ consumption. Verification of this method was tested on time series of a set of customers who were caught stealing during a time series. It shows that symptoms of non-random factors in time series of customers are revealed in a high percentage, which indirectly confirms the method’s ability to successfully detect electricity fraud.     

Performance evaluation of noise reduction method during on-line monitoring of MV switchgear for PD measurements by non-intrusive sensors

Partial Discharge (PD) measurement is a globally accepted method for insulation diagnosis of electrical assets. The consequences of insulation breakdown are well known. The trend is to move from conventional offline testing to online monitoring for insulation life prediction, which results in the inclusion of high frequency noise in the captured signals. Therefore de-noising is of paramount importance in online monitoring to obtain useful information from the signal.In this research, a 20 kV switchgear panel has been subjected to PD faults in the laboratory and measurements have been carried out by using different non-intrusive sensors including a novel sensor, the D-dot sensor and recorded by a high frequency oscilloscope. The measured results show the effective applicability of sensors for switchgear. The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) has been used to de-noise PD signals in this paper. Time domain and frequency domain comparison of original and de-noised PD signals reveals the significance of this technique for online monitoring of Medium Voltage (MV) switchgear. Finally, an adaptive online de-noising concept, based on automatic de-noising is also proposed in this paper.     

Generalization of the thermal model of infrared radiation sensors

In many theories and applications, generalized models can give a good head start for further research where the implementation of new elements and/or boundary conditions could become quite complex. In this paper the development of a compact thermal model of an infrared sensor will be presented. This thermal model includes not only the thermal resistances and capacitances of the sensor structure itself but the radiative and convective thermal resistances to the ambience and between the sensor plate and the heat source (thermal transfer impedance) which is important when the heat source and the sensor are in close proximity. Limitations and the applicability of the proposed model are also discussed. We also aim to present how the proposed model can be used for other IR sensor structures as well.