Hybrid intelligence approach for multi-load level reactive power planning using VAR compensator in power transmission network

This paper formulates and solves a techno-economic planning problem of reactive power (VAR) in power transmission systems under loadings. The objective of the proposed research work is to minimize the combination of installation cost of reactive power sources, power losses and operational cost while satisfying technical constraints. Initially, the positions for the placement of reactive power sources are determined technically. Different cost components such as VAR generation cost, line charging cost etc. are then added in the total operating cost in a most economical way. Finally, the optimal parameter setting subjected to reactive power planning (RPP) is obtained by taking advantages of hybrid soft computing techniques. For the justification of the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed approach the entire work is simulated on two inter-regional transmission networks. To validate the robustness and ease of the soft computing techniques in RPP the responses of benchmark functions and statistical proof are provided simultaneously.     

AlON: A brief history of its emergence and evolution

In the early 1970s in Japan, the United States and France it was found that additions of nitrogen into aluminum oxide resulted in new spinel-like phases. At about the same time there was much increased interest in oxynitrides, stimulated by Professor K. Jack in the UK and Y. Oyama in Japan. Following these activities a major research program in this area was initiated at the Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1974. These efforts resulted in the first complete Al₂O₃–AlN phase equilibrium diagram and a process to reactively sinter to nearly full density, translucent aluminum oxynitride spinel ceramic, which was named AlON. Subsequently, the Raytheon Company further developed AlON into a highly transparent material (ALON?) with many applications including transparent armor and EM domes and windows, among others—the technology was recently transferred to the Surmet Corporation. This paper will review the early history, phase equilibrium, crystal chemistry, and properties of this material, along with more recent work in our laboratory on transient liquid phase sintering and new data on lattice parameter measurements. In addition, recent results of collaborative work on AlON's dynamic mechanical properties using plate impact, Kolsky bar and edge-on impact (EoI) experimental techniques, including preliminary modeling at the microstructural scale of AlON in the EoI test, will be presented.     

Process intensification in lactic acid production: A review of membrane based processes

Lactic acid the most widely occurring hydroxy-carboxylic acid has traditionally been used as food preservative and acidulent. So long, it has been produced through either chemical synthesis route or fermentation route the latter being the dominating one. Despite its tremendous potential for large scale production and use in a wide variety of applications, cost-effective production of high purity lactic acid has remained a challenge for decades, mainly due to high downstream processing cost. In the recent years, possibility of integration of highly selective membranes with the conventional fermentors has opened a golden opportunity for full commercial exploitation of the tremendous application potential of this wonder chemical. This paper discusses recent developments of such membrane-based processes representing process intensification in production of monomer grade lactic acid while suggesting a very promising production scheme.     

A beam-forming network for a circular switched-beam phased arrayantenna

This paper reports on the design and development of a dividing/phasing network for a compact switched-beam array antenna for land-vehicle mobile satellite communications. The device is formed by a switched radial divider/combiner and 1-bit phase shifters and generates a sufficient number of beams for the proper satellite tracking     

Effect of Cooling Rate and Chemical Composition on Microstructure and Properties of Naturally Cooled Vanadium-Microalloyed Steels

Samples from two V-microalloyed steels (0.05 wt pct V) having different C and N levels, namely high-C low-N steel, HCLN (0.22 wt pct C, 0.007 wt pct N) and low-C high-N steel, LCHN (0.06 wt pct C, 0.013 wt pct N) were naturally cooled from 1373 K (1100 °C) to room temperature over a range of cooling rates (0.07 to 3.33 K/s). Samples from a plain C-Mn steel (0.06 wt pct C, 0.007 wt pct N) were also subjected to the same heat treatment for comparison. The effect of cooling rate and steel composition on microstructures, precipitates, and tensile properties has been investigated. Due to the presence of large fraction of harder constituents, like pearlite and bainite, HCLN steel showed higher strength and lower ductility than LCHN steel. LCHN steel, on the other hand, showed good combination of strength and ductility due to its predominantly ferrite matrix with precipitation strengthening. The V-precipitate size was more refined and the precipitate density was higher in HCLN steel than that in LCHN steel. This observation confirms the importance of C content in V-microalloyed steel in terms of precipitation strengthening. An intermediate cooling rate (~1.4 K/s) has been found to be the optimum choice in order to maximize the precipitation strengthening in V-containing steels.     

Risk-efficient sequential estimation of multivariate random coefficient autoregressive process

A vector-valued autoregressive time series model is considered. The autoregressive coefficients of the model are random with possible dependencies among them. Estimation of the large number of parameters in such models becomes costly with an increase in dimension. A sequential procedure is proposed that promises a significant gain in the sample size thus reduction in the cost of implementation. The procedure is also risk efficient in the sense that as the cost of sampling becomes negligible the asymptotic predictive risk of the proposed procedure reaches the oracle predictive risk corresponding to the best fixed sample size procedure that assumes the values of the nuisance parameters to be known. Extensive simulation results are presented to illustrate the properties of the proposed procedure in a finite sample.     

Fuel properties and emission characteristics of biodiesel produced from unused algae grown in India

The high price of different biodiesels and the need for many of their raw ingredients as food materials are the main constraints to be overcome when seeking the best potential alternative fuels to petro-diesel. Apart from that, some properties like high density, viscosity and acid value along with low cloud and pour points preclude their use in compression ignition(CI) engines as these properties can cause serious damage to the parts of the engine and reduce engine life. In this experiment, biodiesel was produced from the oil of unused algae by a two-step ‘acid esterification followed by transesterification' procedure. Taguchi's method was applied to design the experiment, and a L25 orthogonal array was prepared to optimize the biodiesel production procedure. The optimized conditions for transesterification were: methanol to oil molar ratio of 6:1, catalyst(KOH) concentration of 2.5 wt%, reaction time of 90 min and reaction temperature of 50 ℃,achieving a biodiesel production of 89.7% with free fatty acid content of 0.25%. It was found that the CI engine emitted less CO, CO_2 and hydrocarbon and higher NO_x using algal biodiesel than that using petro-diesel. All properties of the algal biodiesel were within the limit of ASTM standards.     

Production of biodiesel from unused algal biomass in Punjab, India

Biodiesel from inedible sources has become prominent in last few decades. But it is economically incompatible with petroleum diesel. At the same time, both petro-diesel and biodiesels are concerned with environmental pollution, global warming, etc. Algae, on the other hand, utilize CO2 for their growth and can minimize some sort of pollution level and results in carbon credit for a country. In Punjab, India, algae are seen to grow in many water bodies. But all those are taken away and dumped in vats. Some of this huge biomass was used for production of biodiesel in this work. Extraction of oil from algae was conducted by using Soxtherm(solvent extraction). An amount of 9 wt% of algal oil was extracted by comparatively costly hexane, whereas 8% extraction was done by cheaper acetone. In the transesterification reaction, molar ratio(methanol: oil) of 6:1, catalyst(KOH) concentration of 3 wt%, reaction temperature of 60 °C, 60 min reaction time and a settling time of 2.5 h were found to be optimum conditions to get maximum ester with minimum free fatty acid content and viscosity. A statistical analysis for the transesterification procedure also showed a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 6:1 and catalyst concentration of 3 wt% to be the optimum. Characterization of biodiesel was done and compared with ASTM/BIS standards. Most important properties of biodiesel ester like viscosity(3.12 c St or 3.12 mm2/s), cloud and pour point(-1 and-6 °C, respectively), flash and fire point(153 and 158 °C), carbon residue content(0.03%), acid number(0.36 mg of KOH/gm) were within the range of concerned standards.     

Sulfonic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica catalyst with different morphology for biodiesel production

Sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous silica based solid acid catalysts with different morphology were designed and fabricated. The synthesized materials were characterized by various physicochemical and spectroscopic techniques like scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, thermogravimetric analysis and n-butylamine acidity. The shape of catalysts particles plays an important role in its activity. The sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous silica catalysts of spherical shape and the cube shape were assessed for catalytic activity in biodiesel production. The catalytic biodiesel production reaction over the catalysts were studied by esterification of free fatty acid, oleic acid with methanol. The effect of various reaction parameters such as catalyst concentration, acid/alcohol molar ratio, catalyst amount, reaction temperature and reaction time on catalytic activity were investigated to optimize the conditions for maximum conversion. It was sulfonated cubic shape mesoporous silica which exhibited better activity as compared to the spherical shape silica catalysts. Additionally, the catalyst was regenerated and reused up to three cycles without any significant loss in activity. The present catalysts exhibit superior performance in biodiesel production and it can be used for the several biodiesel feedstock’s that are rich in free fatty acids.     

Controlled oxidative synthesis of Bi nanoparticles and emission centers in bismuth glass nanocomposites for photonic application

Here we demonstrate an oxidative process to control metallic bismuth (Bi⁰) nanoparticles (NPs) creation in bismuth glass nanocomposites by using K₂S₂O₈ as oxidant and enhanced transparency of bismuth glasses. Formation of Bi⁰ NPs has been monitored by their distinct surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 460 nm in the UV-visible absorption spectra. It is further confirmed by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images which disclose the formation of spherical Bi⁰ NPs whereas the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern reveals their crystalline rhombohedral phase. These glasses are found to exhibit visible and near infrared (NIR) luminescence bands at 630 and 843 nm respectively on excitation at 460 nm of the SPR band. It is realized that the luminescence center of bismuth species is an uncertain issue, however, it is reasonable to consider that the emission band at 630 nm is due to the combination of ²D_5/2 → ⁴S_3/2 of Bi⁰ and ²P_3/2 (1) → ²P_1/2 of Bi²⁺ transitions, and that of NIR emission band at 843 nm is attributed to the ²D_3/2 → ⁴S_3/2 of Bi⁰ transition.