The effect of biomass feeding location on rice husk gasification for hydrogen production

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of biomass feeding location on rice husk gasification for hydrogen production. By comparing the results between top-feed and bottom-feed of the feedstock of the fluidized bed biomass gasification at the reaction temperature between 600～1000 °C and ER = 0.2, 0.27, and 0.33 without steam, the optimum low heating value was increase by 2.35 kJ/g-rice husk by the top-feed to gasifier. Although the yield of hydrogen was decreased by 42% for the rice husk gasification by the top-feed operation, the yield of CO, CO2, and CH4 were highly increased, which enhancing the heating value of the effluent gas. The study results suggested the potential route of the biomass gasification at the different feeding location.     

Modelling and simulation of two-bed PSA process for separating H_2 from methane steam reforming

Methane steam reforming is the main hydrogen production method in the industry. The product of methane steam reforming contains H_2, CH_4, CO and CO_2 and is then purified by pressure swing adsorption(PSA) technology. In this study, a layered two-bed PSA process was designed theoretically to purify H_2 from methane steam reforming off gas. The effects of adsorption pressure, adsorption time and purgeto-feed ratio(P/F ratio) on process performance were investigated to design a PSA process with more than99.95% purity and 80% recovery. Since the feed composition of the PSA process changes with the upstream process, the effect of the feed composition on the process performance was discussed as well.The result showed that the increase of CH_4 concentration, which was the weakest adsorbate, would have a negative impact on product purity.     

基于可变临界孔隙度Nur模型的页岩气层横波速度预测

准确的横波测井速度是影响地震叠前属性分析及反演质量的重要参数，在缺乏偶极横波测井情况下需要用Krief、Pride等数学模型预测横波，近年来临界孔隙度模型在计算骨架的弹性模量中应用效果较好。在前人研究的临界孔隙度模型的基础上，发展出了可变临界孔隙度的Nur模型，并将遗传算法应用于可变临界孔隙度的计算，最终估算得到了页岩气层的横波速度。实例应用表明，遗传算法可以计算得到沿井眼不同深度的临界孔隙度，而且预测得到的横波与偶极横波测井（DSI）一致性好，证明该方法应用于页岩气的横波估算中是可行的。     

Digital hysteresis sliding mode control for interleaved DC–DC converters

This paper presents a digital constant frequency sliding mode control (SMC) law for interleaved DC–DC converters. Constant switching frequency and interleaving are achieved by dynamically adjusting the hysteresis of the control signals generating comparators. The interleaving method neither imposes constraints on the number of required phases to obtain a specific output voltage nor uses quasi-SMC. Hence, the control scheme achieves high flexibility, robustness, and performance. Furthermore, a sliding mode observer (SMO) for reconstructing the inductor currents is proposed. Experimental results for a two-phase buck converter are reported. The control concept accomplishes an improved dynamic performance in comparison with quasi-SMC.     

矿用防爆吸污车液压及气动系统的设计与优化

在介绍矿用防爆吸污车的用途和结构组成的基础上，详细介绍了气动系统中吸污和排污的工作原理以及液压系统中制动回路、转向回路和吸污控制回路的工作原理。针对该车在实际使用过程中存在的点刹过于灵敏，制动冲击力较大的问题，提出了采用双弹簧控制双回路液压制动阀的阀芯动作进而实现变斜率输出特性的结构。实践表明，经过优化后的液压及气动系统都能很好地满足煤矿井下对矿用防爆吸污车的使用要求，同时也可为类似车辆的设计提供参考。     

The cannibalization effect of wind and solar in the California wholesale electricity market

Increasing penetration of zero marginal cost variable renewable technologies cause the decline of wholesale electricity prices due to the merit-order effect. This causes a “cannibalization effect” through which increasing renewable technologies’ penetration undermines their own value. We calculate solar and wind daily unit revenues (generation weighted electricity prices) and value factors (unit revenues divided by average electricity prices) from hourly data of the day-ahead California wholesale electricity market (CAISO) for the period January 2013 to June 2017. We then perform a time series econometric analysis to test the absolute (unit revenues) and relative (value factors) cannibalization effect of solar and wind technologies, as well as the cross-cannibalization effects between technologies. We find both absolute and relative cannibalization effect for both solar and wind, but while wind penetration reduces the value factor of solar, solar penetration increases wind value factor, at least at high penetration and low consumption levels. We explore non-linearities and also find that the cannibalization effect is stronger at low consumption and high wind/solar penetration levels. This entails that wind and (mainly) solar competitiveness could be jeopardized unless additional mitigation measures such as storage, demand management or intercontinental interconnections are taken.     

Numerical Investigation on Granular Flow from a Wedge‐Shaped Feed Hopper Using the Discrete Element Method

The discharge process of granular material from a wedge‐shaped feed hopper was numerically simulated using a 3D discrete element method. The effects of particle size, feed pipe, side and rear wedge angle on the discharge performance were investigated in terms of flow pattern, discharge rate, and stability. The results show that with larger particle size the granular flow pattern gradually transforms from mass flow to edge flow where the flow rate decreases and the discharging integrity and stability become worse. The presence of the feed pipe reduces the discharge rate and stability. The increase of the feed pipe diameter will diminish the discharge rate and enhance the discharge stability. Both the side and the rear wedge angle have a certain effect on the discharge performance. The effects of feed pipe, side and rear wedge angle on the discharge stability become more significant with larger particle size.     

Event-triggered variable horizon Supervisory Predictive control of hybrid power plants

The supervision of a hybrid power plant, including solar panels, a gas microturbine and a storage unit operating under varying solar power profiles is considered. The Economic Supervisory Predictive controller assigns the power references to the controlled subsystems of the hybrid cell using a financial criterion. A prediction of the renewable sources power is embedded into the supervisor. Results deteriorate when the solar power is unsteady, owing to the inaccuracy of the predictions for a long-range horizon of 10 s. The receding horizon is switched between an upper and a lower value according to the amplitude of the solar power trend. Theoretical results show the relevance of horizon switching, according to a tradeoff between performance and prediction accuracy. Experimental results, obtained in a Hardware In the Loop (HIL) framework, show the relevance of the variable horizon approach. Power amplifiers allow us to simulate virtual components, such as a gas microturbine, and to blend their powers with that of real devices (storage unit, real solar panels). In this case, fuel savings, reaching 15%, obtained under unsteady operating conditions lead to a better overall performance of the hybrid cell. The overall savings obtained in the experiments amount to 12%.     

Friction compensation controller for load varying machine tool feed drive

The load applied to a machine tool feed drive changes during the machining process as material is removed. This load change alters the Coulomb friction of the feed drive. Because Coulomb friction accounts for a large part of the total friction the friction compensation control accuracy of the feed drives is limited if this nonlinear change in the applied load is not considered. This paper presents a new friction compensation method that estimates the machine tool load in real time and considers its effect on friction characteristics. A friction observer based on a Kalman filter with load estimation is proposed for friction compensation control considering the applied load change. A specially designed feed drive testbed that enables the applied load to be modified easily was constructed for experimental verification. Control performance and friction estimation accuracy are demonstrated experimentally using the testbed.