A numerical study of dynamic behaviors of a unitized regenerative fuel cell during gas purging

The gas purging states affect electricity output and energy storage capacity of unitized regenerative fuel cells. In this study, a model of unitized regenerative fuel cell is established. Cell voltages and operating temperatures influences on the dynamic distribution of thermal fluid during purging process and the discharge of residual liquid water in electrolytic cell mode are investigated. The motivation of the present study is better understanding the gas purging characteristics and its effect on reaction behaviors of unitized regenerative fuel cells. Simulation results reveal a significant influence of purging gas temperature on the water flooding and a great effect of operating voltage on the water diffusion. The operating temperature of electrolytic cell model almost has little effect on purging results at different cell temperature and the same purging gas temperature. When the purging gas temperature is changed, higher temperatures of cell and purging gas facilitate liquid water discharging out from the cell regions. In cell water flooding situation, when having large liquid content, the purging gas has little effects on the water expelling process.     

In-fibre LP11–LP21 mode conversion using force-induced long-period fibre gratings with polarization controllers

ABSTRACT

Mode conversion between higher-order modes is attained in a step-index four mode fibre using an in-line polarization controller followed by a force-induced long period fibre grating. By adjusting the field orientation of the LP₁₁ mode to the antisymmetric fibre grating, the LP₁₁ mode is converted to the LP₂₁ mode with a spatially periodic force of 50 N along the fibre length of 50?mm. The mode conversion is evaluated by observing the far-field and near-field patterns of the fibre output and by comparing the transmitted optical power with and without the additional two-mode fibre. The phase-matching grating period is required of the accuracy of roughly ±5?μm and the radiation loss during the mode conversion is as low as 0.01?dB.     

Common Mode Voltage Reduction Using 3D-SVPWM for 3-level CI-NPC Inverter with Hybrid Energy System

This paper elucidates Common Mode Voltage (CMV) reduction in transformerless 3-phase 3-level Coupled Inductor Neutral Point (CI-NPC) Clamped Inverter with Hybrid Energy System. The three dimensional Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (3D-SVPWM) with Nearest State Vector (NSV) is implemented to reduce the CMV by proper selection of medium, large and small vectors in 3D cubic space region. This NSV scheme in addition to CMV reduction, reduces the capacitor voltage balancing issues and minimizes switching losses. The proposed control provides full utilization of dc link voltage with reduced harmonics. This 3-level CI-NPC inverter is energized by hybrid energy source which includes photovoltaic system and wind energy system. The results obtained for the proposed scheme through simulation and experimental setup is compared with the conventional 2D-SVPWM and 3D-SVPWM scheme. From the compared results it is evident that the proposed scheme reduces CMV to a larger extent than 2D and 3D-SVPWM control. The simulation and experimental results are verified using matlab-simulink and FPGA-Spartan-6 controller respectively.     

Clean hydrogen production in a full biological microbial electrolysis cell

The recent interest in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) technology has led the research platform to develop full biological MECs (bioanode-biocathode, FB-MEC). This study focused on biohydrogen production from a biologically catalyzed MEC. A bioanode and a biocathode were initially enriched in a half biological MFC (bioanode-abiocathode, HB-MFC) and a half biological MEC (abioanode-biocathode, HB-MEC), respectively. The FB-MEC was established by transferring the biocathode of the HB-MEC and the bioanode of the HB-MFC to a two-chamber MEC. The FB-MEC was operated under batch (FB-MEC-B) and recirculation batch (FB-MEC-RB) modes of operation in the anodic chamber. The FB-MEC-B reached a maximum current density of 1.5 A/m² and the FB-MEC-RB reached a maximum current density of 2.5 A/m² at a similar applied voltage while the abiotic control system showed the maximum of 0.2 A/m². Hydrogen production rate decreased in the FB-MEC compared to that of the HB-MEC. However, the cathodic hydrogen recovery increased from 42% obtained in the HB-MEC to 56% in the FB-MEC-B and 65% in the FB-MEC-RB, suggesting the efficient oxidation and reduction rates in the FB-MEC compared to the HB-MEC. The onset potential for hydrogen evolution reaction detected by linear sweep voltammetry analysis were −0.780 and −0.860 V vs Ag/AgCl for the FB-MEC-RB and the FB-MEC-B (−1.26 for the abiotic control MEC), respectively. Moreover, the results suggested that the FB-MEC worked more efficiently when the biocathode and the bioanode were enriched initially in half biological systems before transferring to the FB-MEC compared to that of the simultaneously enriched in one system.     

Prediction of mode I fracture toughness of rock using linear multiple regression and gene expression programming

Prediction of mode I fracture toughness (K_IC) of rock is of significant importance in rock engineering analyses. In this study, linear multiple regression (LMR) and gene expression programming (GEP) methods were used to provide a reliable relationship to determine mode I fracture toughness of rock. The presented model was developed based on 60 datasets taken from the previous literature. To predict fracture parameters, three mechanical parameters of rock mass including uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), and elastic modulus (E) have been selected as the input parameters. A cluster of data was collected and divided into two random groups of training and testing datasets. Then, different statistical linear and artificial intelligence based nonlinear analyses were conducted on the training data to provide a reliable prediction model of K_IC. These two predictive methods were then evaluated based on the testing data. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed models for predicting the mode I fracture toughness of rock, various statistical indices including coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE) were utilized herein. In the case of testing datasets, the values of R², RMSE, and MAE for the GEP model were 0.87, 0.188, and 0.156, respectively, while they were 0.74, 0.473, and 0.223, respectively, for the LMR model. The results indicated that the selected GEP model delivered superior performance with a higher R² value and lower errors.     

Ecological Planting Imperative: Functional Systems,Not Stylized Ecologies

The ability of landscape architectural projects to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will depend upon designed ecological systems. These systems will be built with plants. Despite the recognition of ecology as an essential driver of landscapes, the professionals of landscape architecture too often lack the knowledge and practical skills to create robust vegetative systems. New approaches and tools are required. This article outlines principles and methods for designing biodiverse plant systems for urban sites. Planting methods that increase species richness, functional diversity, and spatial complexity are emphasized as a way of developing more resilient plantings. Selecting species with similar evolutionary adaptions to stress, disturbance, and competition—as well as creating multi-layered compositions of diverse plant morphologies—allows designers to create compatible, long-lived plant mixes. To balance the increased visual complexity of diverse plant mixes, the article explores design techniques to make plantings more appealing to the public. The strategies explored here are based on the projects, experience, and research of Phyto Studio, a Washington, D.C. based studio. The methods build on work described in the author’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World, an exploration of how to create designed plant communities.     

Method for Detecting Multi-modal Vibration Characteristics of Landmines

The acoustic vibration characteristics of landmines are investigated by means of modal analysis. According to the mechanical structure of landmines, a certain number of points are marked on the landmine shell to analyze its multi-modal vibration characteristics, based on laser self-mixing interferometer and taking 69 plastic landmine as an example, the vibration detection experiment system is built to show the results of analytical method of multi-modal testing. The first and second order natural frequencies of the bricks are 38 HZ and 106 HZ, 112HZ and 232HZ for plastic landmines, and 74HZ and 290HZ for metal landmines. The first and second order natural frequencies of the bricks are far smaller than those of plastic landmines and metal landmines. This indicates that landmines show multi-modal vibration characteristics under external excitation, which are significantly different from those of bricks. The findings can be used for further research on acoustic landmines detection technology.     

大冶铁矿硬岩排土场复垦的几点作法

国内大型金属露天矿山，多为硬岩边坡、硬岩排土场，尾矿库占地面积也大。大冶铁矿在硬岩排土场条件下进行复垦种植做出了先例，取得了一定的成功经验，对于治理环境收到了初步成效。     

机械故障诊断技术及其应用

机械一旦发生故障，轻则停工，影响生产的正常进行，重则造成人身伤亡和财产损失的灾难。因此，为了防患于未然，对机械故障诊断技术进行研究并使其付诸应用，有着重要的现实意义。本文论述了机械故障诊断技术的一般理论、研究方法、应用实例以及它的发展动向。     

矿山企业可持续发展的思考

矿山企业有其固有的经营特点和发展规律，就如何借鉴国外的经验教训，探索我国矿山企业可持续发展的道路提出了自己的观点。