A thermoelectric generator comprising selenium-doped bismuth telluride on flexible carbon cloth with n-type thermoelectric properties

Carbon cloth was used as a flexible substrate for bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃) particles to provide flexibility and improve the overall thermoelectric performance. Bi₂Te₃ on carbon cloth (Bi₂Te₃/CC) was synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction with various reaction times. After over 12 h, the Bi₂Te₃ particles showed a clear hexagonal shape and were evenly adhered to the carbon cloth. Selenium (Se) atoms were doped into the Bi₂Te₃ structure to improve its thermoelectric performance. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing Se-dopant content until 40% Se was added. Moreover, the maximum power factor was 1300 μW/mK² at 473 K for the 30% Se-doped sample. The carbon cloth substrate maintained its electrical resistivity and flexibility after 2000 bending cycles. A flexible thermoelectric generator (TEG) fabricated using the five pairs of 30% Se-doped sample showed an open-circuit voltage of 17.4 mV and maximum power output of 850 nW at temperature difference ΔT = 30 K. This work offers a promising approach for providing flexibility and improving the thermoelectric performance of inorganic thermoelectric materials for wearable device applications using flexible carbon cloth substrate for low temperature range application.     

Economic competitiveness of compact steam methane reforming technology for on-site hydrogen supply: A Foshan case study

On-site hydrogen production through steam-methane reforming (SMR) from city gas or natural gas is believed to be a cost-effective way for hydrogen-based infrastructure due to high cost of hydrogen transportation. In recent years, there have been a lot of on-site hydrogen fueling stations under design or construction in China. This study introduces current developments and technology prospects of skid-mounted SMR hydrogen generator. Also, technical solutions and economic analysis are discussed based on China's first on-site hydrogen fueling station project in Foshan. The cost of hydrogen product from skid-mounted SMR hydrogen generator is about 23 CNY/kg with 3.24 CNY/Nm³ natural gas. If hydrogen price is 60 CNY/kg, IRR of on-site hydrogen fueling station project reaches to 10.8%. While natural gas price fall to 2.3 CNY/Nm³, the hydrogen cost can be reduced to 18 CNY/kg, and IRR can be raised to 13.1%. The conclusion is that skid-mounted SMR technology has matured and is developing towards more compact and intelligent design, and will be a promising way for hydrogen fueling infrastructures in near future.     

A Voltage Control Method for a Distributed Line Feeder by means of Multiagent Approach

This paper proposes a method for the coordinated control of power factor by means of a multiagent approach. The proposed multiagent system consists of two types of agent: single feeder agent (F_AG) and bus agent (B_AG). In the proposed system, an F_AG plays as an important role, which decides the power factors of all distributed generators by executing the load flow calculations repeatedly. The voltage control strategies are implemented as the class definition of Java into the system. In order to verify the performance of the proposed method, it has been applied to a typical distribution model system. The simulation results show that the system is able to control very violent fluctuation of the demands and the photovoltaic (PV) generations.     

Designed damping controller for SSSC to improve stability of a hybrid offshore wind farms considering time delay

This paper presents the stability improvement results of hybrid doubly fed induction generator (DFIG)-based and permanent magnet generator (PMG)-based offshore wind farms (OWFs) using a static synchronous series compensator (SSSC). An adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) controller of the proposed SSSC is designed to render adequate damping characteristics to the studied system. A frequency-domain approach based on a linearized system model using eigenvalue technique analysis is performed. A time-domain scheme based on a nonlinear system model subject to a three-phase short circuit fault at infinite bus with variations in the signal transmission delays has also been investigated to compare the damping of the studied system in cases of with and without controller. The simulation results with MATLAB/SIMULINK toolbox have been presented. It can be concluded from the simulation results that the proposed SSSC joined with the designed ANFIS damping controller can offer adequate damping performance to the studied hybrid DFIG-based and PMG-based OWFs under severe disturbance.     

Multi-discharge EDM coring of single crystal SiC ingot by electrostatic induction feeding method

A new technique of EDM coring of single crystal silicon carbide (SiC) ingot was proposed in this paper. Currently single crystal SiC devices are still of high cost due to the high cost of bulk crystal SiC material and the difficulty in the fabrication process of SiC. In the manufacturing process of SiC ingot/wafer, localized cracks or defects occasionally occur due to thermal or mechanical causes resulted from fabrication processes which may waste the whole piece of material. To save the part of ingot without defects and maximize the material utilization, the authors proposed EDM coring method to cut out a no defect ingot from a larger diameter ingot which has localized defects. A special experimental setup was developed for EDM coring of SiC ingot in this study and its feasibility and machining performance were investigated. Meanwhile, in order to improve the machining rate, a novel multi-discharge EDM coring method by electrostatic induction feeding was established, which can realize multiple discharges in single pulse duration. Experimental results make it clear that EDM coring of SiC ingot can be carried out stably using the developed experimental setup. Taking advantage of the newly developed multi-discharge EDM method, both the machining speed and surface integrity can be improved.     

Design and Fabrication of Concentration‐Gradient Generators with Two and Three Inlets in Microfluidic Chips

A simple and low‐cost method for designing and fabricating concentration‐gradient generators with two and three inlets is proposed which can generate different concentration gradients at varying flow velocities. The microchannel structure was designed in S‐shape and left‐right symmetry. The concentration‐gradient generator was simulated based on the finite element method. The microchannels were processed on a computer numerical control (CNC) engraving and milling machine on poly(methylmethacrylate) substrate, and then two concentration‐gradient generators were fabricated by hot bonding technology. The results of experiment and simulation were compared to prove the feasibility of the method. Flow velocity was an important factor for generating different concentration gradients. The concentration‐gradient profiles of the generators with two and three inlets present approximately linear and quadratic curves.     

Survey on Passivity Based Control of Induction Machine

Induction machines (IM) constitute a theoretically interesting and practically important class of nonlinear systems. They are frequently used as wind generators for their power/cost ratio. They are described by a fifth‐order nonlinear differential equation with two inputs and only three state variables available for measurement. The control task is further complicated by the fact that IM are subject to unknown (load) disturbances and the parameters can be of great uncertainty. One is then faced with the challenging problem of controlling a highly nonlinear system, with unknown time‐varying parameters, where the regulated output, besides being unmeasurable, is perturbed by an unknown additive signal. Passivity‐based control (PBC) is a well‐established structure‐preserving design methodology which has shown to be very powerful to design robust controllers for physical systems described by Euler‐Lagrange equations of motion. PBCs provide a natural procedure to "shape" the potential energy yielding controllers with a clear physical interpretation in terms of interconnection of the system with its environment and are robust vis á vis to unmodeled dissipative effects. One recent approach of PBC is the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity‐Based Control (IDA‐PBC) which is a very useful technique to control nonlinear systems assigning a desired (Port‐Controlled Hamiltonian) structure to the closed‐loop. The aim of this paper is to give a survey on different PBC of IM. The originality of this work is that the author proves that the well known field oriented control of IM is a particular case of the IDA‐PBC with disturbance.     

防振条约束失效对蒸汽发生器传热管面内流弹失稳的影响研究

根据防振条布置以及面内支承连续失效个数，将防振条面内约束失效分析划分为多种工况，分析了不同工况下面内约束失效对传热管面内模态的影响，采用各位置阻尼在振型函数上进行加权平均的方法计算了各阶模态的阻尼比，进而研究了防振条面内不同约束对传热管面内流弹失稳的影响。分析结果表明，随着面内支承连续失效位置的增多，弯管段面内首阶模态频率不断降低，出现在弯管段的振型越加明显；弯管段面内首阶模态不一定是最大流弹失稳比值出现的模态，最大流弹失稳比值出现模态的振型几乎都出现在弯管段；随着面内支承连续失效位置的增多，面内流弹失稳比值不断增大，当连续3个及以上防振条面内约束失效时，将出现流弹失稳现象。     

单相硼化物的制备及摩擦磨损性能研究

为了深入研究渗硼层中硼化物的性能，采用真空感应熔炼法制备单相硼化物材料。观察分析制备的硼化物微观组织，测试其力学性能。采用MMU-5G型销-盘式摩擦磨损试验机，在干摩擦条件下，研究了不同载荷下单相硼化物的摩擦学性能，观察其磨损表面形貌特征，探讨其磨损方式。结果表明：制备的硼化物为单一相，试样纯度高，试样的平均显微硬度为HV2065，平均断裂韧性值为1.68 MPa·m1/2；硼化物的断口处没有宏观的塑性变形，断口齐平光亮，表现为脆性断裂特征；干摩擦条件下随着载荷从10 N增加到30 N，硼化物的摩擦因数先降低后增加，20 N载荷时达到最小值，而其磨损量随着载荷的增加不断上升；随着载荷从10 N增加到30 N，磨损表面的粗糙度先逐渐上升后急剧上升； 10~20 N载荷下，硼化物的磨损以磨粒磨损为主，而25~30 N载荷下，硼化物的主要磨损方式从磨粒磨损转变为脆性破损。     

基于VXI总线的超宽带线性调频信号源的设计

主要介绍了VXI总线C尺寸超宽带线性调频信号源的设计方法，重点描述了利用现场可编程逻辑器件FPAG和DSP设计VXI总线接口电路，以及数字波形存储直读技术在线性调频信号源中的应用。