Performance and emission study of preheated Jatropha oil on medium capacity diesel engine

Diesel engines have proved its utility in transport, agriculture and power sector. Environmental norms and scared fossil fuel have attracted the attention to switch the energy demand to alternative energy source. Oil derived from Jatropha curcas plant has been considered as a sustainable substitute to diesel fuel. However, use of straight vegetable oil has encountered problem due to its high viscosity. The aim of present work is to reduce the viscosity of oil by heating from exhaust gases before fed to the engine, the study of effects of FIT (fuel inlet temperature) on engine performance and emissions using a dual fuel engine test rig with an appropriately designed shell and tube heat exchanger (with exhaust bypass arrangement). Heat exchanger was operated in such a way that it could give desired FIT. Results show that BTE (brake thermal efficiency) of engine was lower and BSEC (brake specific energy consumption) was higher when the engine was fueled with Jatropha oil as compared to diesel fuel. Increase in fuel inlet temperature resulted in increase of BTE and reduction in BSEC. Emissions of NO_x from Jatropha oil during the experimental range were lower than diesel fuel and it increases with increase in FIT. CO (carbon monoxide), HC (hydrocarbon), CO₂ (carbon dioxide) emissions from Jatropha oil were found higher than diesel fuel. However, with increase in FIT, a downward trend was observed. Thus, by using heat exchanger preheated Jatropha oil can be a good substitute fuel for diesel engine in the near future. Optimal fuel inlet temperature was found to be 80 °C considering the BTE, BSEC and gaseous emissions.     

Greenly synthesized porous carbon nanoparticle (bio-waste-based)-doped nematic liquid crystal composite with optimized electric and electro-optical properties for devices

The present investigation on the impact of porous carbon nanoparticles (PCNPs) on a room temperature nematic liquid crystalline compound (TP-188-01) reports extensive electro-optical analysis of composite followed by dielectric and luminescence study as well. The pure nematic compound has been doped with 0.1%, 0.25%, and 0.5% of PCNPs (spherical), which have been synthesized by green synthesis technique without use of any activating agents. Low-frequency dielectric analysis (50 Hz to 1 kHz) has been done to confirm ion generation with increase in PCNS concentration. The dielectric data also indicate preferential orientation of molecules from homogeneous to homeotropic alignment, which can be used in performance optimization of electro-optical devices. The analysis of dielectric data also illustrates the application of PCNS-doped systems in circuits operating at high voltages. Diffusion coefficient, mobility, and DC conductivity have been further examined to support the above observations. A significant decrease (of about 47%) in the response time of porous carbon nanoparticle liquid crystal (NP-LC) composites has also been observed. The photoluminescence spectrum of NP-LC composites as a function of carbon nanosphere (CNS) concentration has shown Quenching (following the Stern–Volmer quenching mechanism) in the luminescence intensity with increasing CNS concentration. The highly improved response time and quenching in the luminescence intensity further make the PCNS-doped LC composites as ideal materials to be used in devices, encouraging LC-aided green nanotechnology.     

A Promising Modified SILAR Sequence for the Synthesis of Photoelectrochemically Active Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) Thin Films

A promising modified SILAR sequence approach has been employed for the synthesis of photoelectrochemically active Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) thin films. To study the influence of sulfurization temperatures on the CZTS thin films, the CZTS precursor thin films were annealed at temperatures of 520, 540, 560, and 580 °C for 1 h in an H₂S (5 %)+Ar (95 %) atmosphere. These films were characterized for their structural, morphological, and optical properties using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and UV-vis spectrophotometer techniques. The film sulfurized at an optimized temperature of 580 °C shows the formation of a prominent CZTS phase with a dense microstructure and optical band gap energy of 1.38 eV. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) device fabricated using optimized CZTS thin films sulfurized at 580 °C exhibits an open circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.38 V and a short circuit current density (J_sc) of 6.49 mA cm⁻², with a power conversion efficiency (η) of 0.96 %.     

Detection of latent fingerprints using luminescent Gd0.95Eu0.05PO4 nanorods

Lanthanide ions doped luminescent materials are widely studied for latent fingerprint detection. However, most of these materials are synthesized at very high temperatures and use UV C light for visualization, which is harmful to eye, skin, etc. Herein, the Gd_0.95Eu_0.05PO₄ nanorods synthesized by a simple co-precipitation method at 185 °C were reported for latent fingerprint visualization under 395 nm light. The Gd_0.95Eu_0.05PO₄ nanomaterial has monoclinic crystal structure and shows rod-shaped morphology. Further, these Gd_0.95Eu_0.05PO₄ nanorods exhibit excellent photoluminescence properties and strong fuchsia emission under UV light. These nanorods have been employed for developing latent fingerprints on various porous and non-porous substrates by the powder dusting technique, which exhibits clear and well defined details with high contrast, selectivity and sensitivity under 395 nm UV light. Latent fingerprints developed after 72 h of their deposition also show clear contrast with these nanorods. Therefore, the Gd_0.95Eu_0.05PO₄ nanorods can be used for latent fingerprint visualization applications.     

Cleaning of high sulfur Indian coal by oil agglomeration and leaching

The present paper reports an attempt for cleaning of high sulfur Indian coal with two consecutive steps of oil agglomeration at ambient temperature followed by leaching at various conditions. The physico-chemical characterizations of the raw and treated coal samples were carried out by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), FESEM, Thermogravimetric analysis and Differential Thermal Analysis (TGA-DTA), and petrographic techniques to assess the product quality. The petrographic and FTIR spectral analyses reveal reduction in different forms of sulfur contents in coals by the use of oil agglomeration and leaching. Scanning electron microscope morphology of the treated coal samples are attributed to the occurrence of the cavitations in the coal structure.     

Modelling the complex modulus strain relationship of asphalt binders

The authors present the results and analysis of amplitude sweep tests done on 10 different asphalt binders using dynamic shear rheometer. The test was done from 30 to 70°C using a spindle geometry of 25 mm diameter with 1 mm gap setting. Matching function concept coupled with a three stage optimization procedure has been used to propose a new model for evaluating the complex modulus of bitumen at any given temperature and strain level. The model has been validated and is found to be fairly accurate for different types of binders.     

Modified Synchronous Vector Control Design of Multilevel Inverters for AC Grid Applications

This article presents a modified synchronous vector control design of a five-level cascaded H-Bridge inverter for integration of distributed generation (DG) resources to the power grid. The presented control strategy explores the limitations in the conventional synchronous vector control algorithm of grid-connected converter (GCC). The dynamic reference point (DRP) approach is considered to improve the performance of GCC. Compared with conventional control algorithm, DRP based control algorithm exhibits several specific advantages, such as increased reliability of the grid-interfaced converter, more active and reactive power injection capacity of the converter, and reduced cost of the converter. The objectives of control technique of the DG interface system are also employed to enhance the standard of the power grid. The optimized space vector pulse-width modulation (OSVPWM) control technique is used for grid integration. The simulation and experimental results are presented in order to validate the proposed functionalities of the grid-interfaced DG system. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is validated with better utilization of DG system, faster dynamics with reduced total harmonic distortion, better power factor, compensated load reactive power, and fault withstanding capability.     

Cascaded Multi-level Inverter Topology Developed from a Modified H-bridge

In this paper, a single-phase cascaded multi-level inverter topology is proposed. It is basically developed from a modified H-bridge module. This topology reduces the switch count, the gate drive requirement, and voltage stress. The significant advantages of the proposed inverter are modular structure, simpler control, and lower number of switches. The Nearest Level Control algorithm is employed to generate the gating signals for the power switches. To verify the performance of the proposed structure, simulation results are carried out by MATLAB (The MathWorks, Natick, Massachusetts, USA)/SIMULINK. Experimental results are presented to validate the simulation results.     

A Comparative Performance Evaluation of Extended AANF with Different Parameter Estimation Techniques for Renewable Energy Integration

This paper presents real time performance evaluation of three phase extension of an amplitude adaptive notch filter (AANF) for online estimation of frequency, amplitude, and sequence components of the input grid voltage signal. The performance of an extended AANF is compared with conventional synchronous reference frame-phase lock loop (SRF-PLL), enhanced phase lock loop (EPLL), and existing adaptive notch filter (ANF). Comparative analysis has been carried out based on their ability in extracting frequency and amplitude of input grid voltage signal under balanced and unbalanced voltage sag/swell, frequency shift and distorted grid condition. Three phase AANF method provides high degree of accuracy than SRF-PLL, EPLL, and ANF in extracting appropriate signal information for unbalanced and harmonically distorted grid condition. The important feature of this method is its amplitude adaptability, which improves its speed of response and accuracy when grid signal is of variable amplitude. OPAL-RT’s (OP4500) real time controller with an in-built Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA processor is used for real time implementation. Experimental results validate fast and accurate performance of an extended AANF in extracting frequency, amplitude, and sequence components of the utility grid voltage signal, which can be further used for performance improvement of grid connected renewable energy systems, custom power devices, and flexible ac transmission systems (FACTS) devices.