Novel energy-saving window coating based on F doped TiO2 nanocrystals with enhanced NIR shielding performance

To reduce the energy consumption of cooling in the hot summer days, searching for novel NIR shielding materials for buildings is of great value. In this report, monodispersed F doped TiO₂ nanocrystals with an average size of 8.6 nm were synthesized as novel solar shielding materials for energy-saving windows. All the products adopted an anatase TiO₂ structure. After doping of F ions, the morphology of TiO₂ was transformed from an irregular shape to a pseudospherical shape. The Raman shift and XPS depth analysis confirmed the successful doping of F⁻ ions into the lattice oxygen sites in the TiO₂ structure. The introduction of F⁻ ions generated free electrons and bulk Ti³⁺ in TiO₂ crystals, which activated a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption in the NIR region. Correspondingly, the NIR shielding performance of the TiO₂ films improved with increasing F doping amounts. The NIR shielding value of the films increased from 1.3% to 43.2% when the molar ratio of F to Ti increased from 0 to 0.3. The reason can be attributed to the enhanced NIR absorption induced by the increased electron concentration after doping of fluorine ions. The F–TiO₂ films showed superior visible transmittance (90.1–96.7%). Moreover, the F–TiO₂ films lowered the indoor temperature of the heat box by 5.3 °C in the thermal tests. Overall, the prepared F–TiO₂ nanocrystals show a great potential to be used for energy-saving windows.     

An adaptive sliding mode observer based near-optimal OER tracking control approach for PEMFC under dynamic operation condition

Tracking control of oxygen excess ratio (OER) is crucial for dynamic performance and operating efficiency of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). OER tracking errors and overshoots under dynamic load limit the PEMFC output power performance, and also could lead oxygen starvation which seriously affect the life of PEMFC. To solve this problem, an adaptive sliding mode observer based near-optimal OER tracking control approach is proposed in this paper. According to real time load demand, a dynamic OER optimization strategy is designed to obtain an optimal OER. A nonlinear system model based near-optimal controller is designed to minimize the OER tracking error under variable operation condition of PEMFC. An adaptive sliding mode observer is utilized to estimate the uncertain parameters of the PEMFC air supply system and update parameters in near-optimal controller. The proposed control approach is implemented in OER tracking experiments based on air supply system of a 5 kW PEMFC test platform. The experiment results are analyzed and demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control approach under load changes, external disturbances and parameter uncertainties of PEFMC system.     

Shared human–robot path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle

This paper considers the shared path following control of an unmanned ground vehicle by a single person. A passive measure of human intent is used to blend the human and machine inputs in a mixed initiative approach. The blending law is combined with saturated super-twisting sliding mode speed and heading controllers, so that exogenous disturbances can be counteracted via equivalent control. It is proven that when the proposed blending law is used, the combined control signals from both the human and automatic controller respect the actuator magnitude constraints of the machine. To demonstrate the approach, shared control experiments are performed using an unmanned ground vehicle, which follows a lawn mower pattern shaped path.     

The operation types and operation window for high-purity hydrogen production for the sorption enhanced steam methane reforming in a fixed-bed reactor

The operation types and operation window for high-purity H₂ production for the sorption enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) with Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst and CaO sorbent in a fixed-bed reactor are investigated by an experimentally verified 2D numerical method. Four chemical reactions including steam reforming, water gas shift, global steam reforming, and CO₂ sorption are considered. The operation window is defined as the H₂ and CO molar fractions at outlet satisfying both y_H2,out ≥ 90% and y_CO,out ≤ y_CO,allow (= 1%, 2% or 3%) in dry base. Under the conditions of y_H2,out and y_CO,allow, there are six operation types, of which 2 types are within the operation window and 4 types are not within the operation window as the temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and steam to methane (S/C) molar ratio vary. For a common case of S/C = 3, the operation windows for y_CO,allow = 3% at WHSV = 8.5 h^?1 and 42.5 h^?1 are located at 570–670 °C and 640–690 °C respectively, based on the parameters in this work. The operation window of temperature is wider with decreasing WHSV, and it becomes wider remarkably as the S/C ratio increases. The lowest temperature inside the operation window is 550 °C. The effects of the temperature, WHSV and S/C ratio on the operating types, y_H2,out and y_CO,out are also presented and discussed in details.     

Greatly improved NIR shielding performance of CuS nanocrystals by gallium doping for energy efficient window

In this work, gallium doped copper sulfide (Ga-doped CuS) nanocrystals were prepared using a solvothermal method. The effects of Ga doping on the crystal structures, chemical composition, morphology, optical properties and thermal performance of copper sulfide (CuS) were investigated. The Ga-doped CuS nanocrystals had a hexagonal structure comparable to that of pure CuS. The Cu⁺/Cu²⁺ ratio first decreased and then increased with increasing Ga³⁺ doping. Both CuS and Ga-doped CuS exhibited nanoplate and nanorod morphologies. The visible transmittance of the Ga-doped CuS films was in the range of 61–77.1%. Importantly, the near-infrared (NIR) shielding performance of the films can be tuned by adjusting the concentration of the Ga dopant. The NIR shielding value of the optimal Ga-doped CuS film was 72.4%, which was approximately 1.5 times as high as that of the pure CuS film. This can be ascribed to the enhanced plasmonic NIR absorption that resulted from an increase in the hole concentration after doping with Ga³⁺ ions. In the thermal performance test, the Ga-doped CuS film lowered the interior temperature of the heat box by 9.1 °C. Therefore, the integration of good visible transmittance and high NIR shielding performance make the Ga-doped CuS nanocrystals a promising candidate for energy-efficient window coatings.     

Influence of geosynthetic reinforcement on the stability of an embankment with rigid columns embedded in an inclined underlying stratum

Incompressible dipping substrata are commonly encountered in engineering practice. Compared to horizontal underlying strata, the inclined underlying stratum increase the risk of collapse of embankments reinforced with columns because it weakens the restraint of the column base. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of geosynthetics on improving the embankment stability when the underlying stratum is inclined. The influence of geosynthetic tensile stiffness on the ultimate surcharge and failure mechanism is studied. A deep-seated failure with column tilting occurs when the geosynthetic tensile stiffness is low, whereas a lateral sliding occurs when the geosynthetic tensile stiffness is high. To illustrate the contribution of geosynthetics, the distribution of the lateral pressures acting on the columns is analyzed.     

基于多基表示的滑动窗口椭圆曲线多标量乘算法

标量乘运算从整体上决定了椭圆曲线密码体制的快速实现效率，在一些椭圆曲线公钥密码体制中需要计算多标量乘。多基数链的标量表示长度更短、非零比特数目更少，较好地适用于椭圆曲线标量乘的快速计算。为了提高椭圆曲线密码的效率，在已有的二进制域和素域的标量乘算法的基础上，结合滑动窗口技术、多基算法，提出新的更高效的多标量乘算法。实验结果表明，新算法与传统Shamir算法和交错NAF算法相比，其所需的运算量更少，能有效地提高椭圆曲线多标量乘算法的效率，使多标量乘的运算更高效。相比于其他算法，新算法的计算效率比已有的多标量乘算法提高了约7.9%~20.6%。     

油水混合对径向滑动轴承润滑性能的影响

基于流体动压润滑基础理论,利用数值计算方法,在MATLAB软件中建立径向滑动轴承油水混合动压润滑的数学模型,对比分析润滑油中不同含水量对径向滑动轴承润滑性能的影响。结果表明:润滑油中混入少量的水对滑动轴承液膜的厚度和压力产生了一定的影响,最小液膜厚度随含水量的增加而减小,最大液膜压力随含水量的增加而增加;润滑油中混入少量水使得液膜合力和摩擦力变大,将不利于轴承的动压润滑,从而导致轴承润滑性能变差,并且加大轴承的摩擦磨损,降低径向滑动轴承的使用寿命。     

界面滑移对圆柱形凹坑织构滑动轴承摩擦力的影响

为研究不同的滑移情况对圆柱形凹坑织构滑动轴承摩擦力的影响,建立含有圆柱形凹坑织构的滑动轴承在不同界面滑移状态下的摩擦力计算模型,探究影响织构化滑动轴承摩擦力的参数,并借助ANSYS分析不同滑移情况下界面滑移对圆柱形凹坑织构滑动轴承摩擦力的影响规律。结果表明:织构化滑动轴承的摩擦力主要是由轴颈线速度、油膜滑移比、轴承的进出油口压力、织构处油膜压力、织构深度、油膜厚度和承载力决定;不同滑移情况下织构模型的摩擦力均小于无织构模型;且在上下表面均滑移时,圆柱形凹坑织构在出口位置时表现出最优的承载和减摩效果;适当地增加圆柱形凹坑织构的深度可以改善模型的摩擦性能,但是过深的凹坑织构并不能发挥出其性能。     

Optimal interval type-2 fuzzy fractional order super twisting algorithm: A second order sliding mode controller for fully-actuated and under-actuated nonlinear systems

In this paper, a novel interval type-2 fuzzy fractional order super twisting algorithm (IT2FFOSTA) which is essentially a second order sliding mode controller is presented. The proposed IT2FFOSTA enhances fractional order super twisting algorithm (FOSTA) by taking advantage of an interval type-2 fuzzy fractional order sliding surface (IT2FFOSS) for some classes of fully-actuated and under-actuated nonlinear systems in presence of uncertainty. The FOSTA significantly reduces the amount of chattering and the IT2FFOSS results in decreasing the tracking error, control effort, and chattering level. In order to control under-actuated systems, a hierarchical sliding surface is employed. The multi-tracker optimization algorithm is utilized to adjust the controller’s parameters; this leads to an optimal performance for the IT2FFOSTA. To examine the performance of the IT2FFOSTA, some simulation and experimental tests on three examples of different classes of fully-actuated and under-actuated systems, including ball and plate, inverted pendulum, and ball and beam systems are carried out. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the IT2FFOSTA in reducing the amount of chattering, tracking error, and control effort compared to those of the other control methods.