Design of a Cost‐Reduced Flexible Plant for Supercritical Fluid‐Assisted Applications

A novel batch plant for supercritical CO₂ applications is proposed which is not equipped with expensive components, such as high‐pressure pumps, making it particularly suitable for bench‐scale use. For the first time, the use of a hanging scale is suggested to weigh the amount of CO₂ required for the experiment and the use of the thermodynamics to reach the working conditions. The rig is able to cover different applications, e.g., aerogel drying, impregnation, and extraction, showing high flexibility. An approximate cost analysis has been performed considering as a reference a 150‐mL vessel. It has been calculated that both the setup and running costs are considerably lower than the common batch and semicontinuous rigs.     

CMC jackets for metallic pipes – A novel approach to prevent the creep deformation of thermo-mechanically loaded metals

Steel materials suffer extensive creep by the application at temperatures of about 700?°C and pressures about 350?bar in a power plant environment. The presented concept overwraps a steel pipe with a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) jacket in order to support the steel pipe and provide high temperature strength. Finite Element simulations show the influence of the wall thickness of CMC jacket and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) on circumferential stresses within the hybrid metal ceramic pipe. Suitable fiber and matrix materials were studied, composites fabricated and mechanical properties determined. Finally, a prototype was designed in order to confirm the feasibility of the concept. The lifetime of a pure steel pipe was increased by more than four-fold by the additional CMC jacket.     

Using electroencephalogram to continuously discriminate feelings of personal thermal comfort between uncomfortably hot and comfortable environments

Thermal comfort is an important factor for the design of buildings. Although it has been well recognized that many physiological parameters are linked to the state of thermal comfort or discomfort of humans, how to use physiological signal to judge the state of thermal comfort has not been well studied. In this paper, the feasibility of continuously determining feelings of personal thermal comfort was discussed by using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in private space. In the study, 22 subjects were exposed to thermally comfortable and uncomfortably hot environments, and their EEG signals were recorded. Spectral power features of the EEG signals were extracted, and an ensemble learning method using linear discriminant analysis or support vector machine as a sub-classifier was used to build the discriminant model. The results show that an average discriminate accuracy of 87.9% can be obtained within a detection window of 60 seconds. This study indicates that it is feasible to distinguish whether a person feels comfortable or too hot in their private space by multi-channel EEG signals without interruption and suggests possibility for further applications in neuroergonomics.     

A comprehensive review of renewable energy resources for electricity generation in Australia

Recently, renewable energy resources and their impacts have sparked a heated debate to resolve the Australian energy crisis. There are many projects launched throughout the country to improve network security and reliability. This paper aims to review the current status of different renewable energy resources along with their impacts on society and the environment. Besides, it provides for the first time the statistics of the documents published in the field of renewable energy in Australia. The statistics include information such as the rate of papers published, possible journals for finding relative paper, types of documents published, top authors, and the most prevalent keywords in the field of renewable energy in Australia. It will focus on solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower technologies and will investigate the social and environmental impacts of these technologies.     

A simple and effective design strategy to increase power conversion efficiency of linear charge pumps

This paper introduces a simple design strategy to increase the power efficiency of linear charge pumps. The technique exploits a voltage amplitude of the clock signal lower than the supply voltage to reduce the power conversion losses. The nominal output voltage is maintained unaltered by increasing the number of stages.     

Social licence: power imbalances and levels of consciousness – two case studies

ABSTRACT

Social licence to operate (SLO) is a term that is finding increasing acceptance in a number of industries. Like all new terms, its precise meaning and implications are still being investigated. Using data from previous studies, this paper offers an analysis of the SLO of two case studies with each study being viewed separately through the grid of a distinct theoretical framework. Case study 1 looks at the development of differential social licence negotiated in the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, as a result of an impact and benefit agreement negotiated between Tahera Diamond Corp. and the Kitikmeot Inuit Organisation in 2004. The study demonstrates that general acceptance of resource development can be uneven and reflect an unequal distribution of decision-making power. In case study 2, stakeholders of a failed mineral development project were queried across time about the specifics of the proposed mine development and were queried about resource development across different levels of consciousness. Perhaps, SLO is variable across different levels of consciousness. The paper concludes with observations about the variable nature of SLO acceptance across populations and across levels of consciousness within individuals. Perhaps, the concept of SLO is, in fact, complex, difficult to define and measure and, at this point, of limited utility as a measure of resource development acceptance.     

The potential of energy flexibility of space heating and cooling in Portugal

This study assesses the potential of energy flexibility of space heating and cooling for a typical household under different geographical conditions in Portugal. The proposed approach modifies the demand through the optimization of the thermostat settings using a genetic algorithm to reduce either operational costs or interaction with the grid. The results show that the used energy flexibility indicator expresses the available potential and that flexibility depends on several factors, namely: i) thermal inertia of the archetypical household; ii) the time of use electricity tariffs; iii) users’ comfort boundaries; and iv) the geographical location of the houses.     

复杂岩基地质海上风电高桩承台基础关键技术研究及应用

本文针对福建海域复杂的地质特点,以岩基海床高桩承台基础为研究对象,对基础的承台选型、承台结构设计进行分析,结合基础的载荷计算、结构的内力建模、基础的实际监测数据,研究表明高桩中承台嵌岩基础满足设计规范要求。同时,以嵌岩基础施工为例,从桩基施工、承台施工2方面详细阐述了基础施工工艺,实践表明,采用打桩架固定式沉桩、整体式嵌岩平台、装配式预制钢套箱工艺可显著提高施工效率,满足工程建设要求。该高桩承台基础设计和施工方案可为东南沿海类似工程提供参考。     

基于功频下垂控制的光伏并网发电系统惯量阻尼机理研究

针对光伏以低惯量、弱阻尼的特征大规模接入电网，给电网稳定性带来不利影响的问题，基于功频下垂控制的光伏并网发电系统，借鉴经典电气转矩分析法，从物理机制层面上分析影响系统惯量、阻尼以及同步能力的作用规律。研究结果表明对于控制参数的影响规律而言，惯量特性主要受功率环的比例系数Kp影响，且随Kp的增大而增强；阻尼特性受频率下垂系数Dp影响比较明显，且随Dp的增大而减弱；同步特性只受功率环的比例积分系数Ki影响，且随Ki的增大而增强。通过仿真验证了理论分析的正确性。     

"人机环管"在煤矿供电安全管理中的应用

制定供电过程中消除安全隐患的针对性措施,可以为矿井安全生产提供必要保障。为探究煤矿供电管理中安全隐患的具体分析方法,首先介绍“人机环管”管理体系的建立过程和核心内容,接着以“人机环管”的管理方法分析了供电管理中的普遍问题。在分析供电管理中的具体问题时,分别得出了“人”“机”“环”“管”4方面的具体措施。分析认为,“人机环管”方法可以有效查找出存在的安全隐患,进而保证煤矿供电系统的安全可靠。