Impact assessment of electric vehicle charging/discharging strategies on the operation management of grid accessible and remote microgrids

This article deals with impact analysis of different electric vehicle (EV) charging/discharging strategies (CDS) on the operation and pollutant treatment cost of both grid accessible and remote microgrid (MG) modes. In this regard, EV demand is developed under four different scenarios, namely, uncoordinated charging model (UCM), load leveling model (LLM), maximum renewable model (MRM), and charging discharging model (CDM). A comprehensive study is performed to see the effect of these different EV charging/discharging behaviors in optimizing MG's operation. A 2m scheme of Hong's point estimate method (PEM) is applied to examine the effect of uncertainties linked with the forecasted errors in load demand, solar energy, wind energy, and grid price respectively on MG operation problem. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the effect of variations in battery parameters on economics of remote MG. The study results indicate that controlled charging of EVs can substantially improve operation of MG.     

Removal of Cd(II) ions by oxidized coconut coir

Biosorption potential of oxidized coconut coir (OCC) for removal of Cd(II) from aqueous medium at batch and column level was studied. Lignin and cellulose groups of coir were modified to acidic groups. Optimum biosorption was observed at pH 6. Isotherm data revealed that Langmuir gives best fit for experimental results with maximum adsorption capacity of 12.35 mg/g compared to unmodified coconut coir (5.29 mg/g). The column experiments were conducted as a function of flow rate, bed height, and influent Cd(II) concentration. Biosorption has best performance at 10 mg/L inlet concentration, 5 ml/min flow rate and 7 cm bed height.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanoceramic for Orthopedic Applications

Nano-sized bioceramic hydroxyapatite (HAp) reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNT) is synthesized using the sol–gel technique with phosphoric acid and calcium nitrate tetrahydrate as a phosphorous and calcium precursor, respectively. The ‘as synthesized’ nanocomposite powder is characterized for phase and structural analysis using X-ray diffractometry, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The morphological analysis of HAp/CNT nanocomposite is done using field emission scanning electron microscopy. The tribological properties including wear rate and coefficient of friction are done by coating HAp and HAp/CNT nanocomposite on implant material (SS 316L) using spin coating technique. The wear is reduced by 24.57% for HAp-coated SS316L and 29.6% for HAp-5% CNT-coated SS316 substrate. The addition of CNT in HAp matrix leads to lowering of the coefficient of friction.     

A novel modular fretting wear test rig

A novel modular experimental apparatus was designed and developed to measure and visualize fretting wear and friction for Hertzian circular and elliptical contacts and flat on flat contacts. The experimental apparatus utilizes a magnetostrictive actuator to reciprocate a flat, ball, or cylinder between two fixed specimens. Two stationary flat or cylindrical specimens mounted on a rotary table clamp the reciprocating specimen from the top and bottom to generate the fretting contact. The two stationary test specimens installed on the rotary table perpendicular to the moving specimen form a crossed cylinder geometry which creates a well-defined circular contact. An elliptical contact with different aspect ratios can be obtained by varying the angle between the fixed and the moving specimens. Dead weights placed on top of the upper stationary specimen provide the normal load. A force sensor located in line between the actuator output shaft and the specimen is used to measure friction. The test rig's modular design allows it to be configured for Hertzian circular (ball-on-flat, crossed cylinder), elliptical (crossed cylinder), and conformal (flat-on-flat) contacts. In the ball on flat configuration a steel flat or sapphire window is used in contact with the reciprocating ball. When the sapphire window is used a microscope and high speed camera is employed for in situ visualization and recording of the contact.     

Design of an Efficient Gas Distribution System for a Fluidized Bed Dryer

Fluid bed dryers are commonly used to process granular solids. The design of the gas distributor has a significant impact on the performance of heat and mass transfer with or without chemical reactions in fluidized beds because it affects the quality of the fluidization obtained. In this work, an extensive study was carried out to design an optimal gas distribution system for a fluidized bed dryer. The air distribution chamber, also called a plenum chamber or gas chamber, was modified to obtain uniform air distribution across the bed cross section. Percentage maldistribution of the flow is considered as the basic evaluation parameter to quantify uniformity of the fluidizing gas distribution. Effects of various relevant design parameters such as the ratio of the orifice diameter to plate thickness (d_o/t), percentage free area, superficial gas velocity, etc., were examined experimentally and via modeling. The gas chamber was redesigned by inserting different types of packings in the chamber. In addition, the effect of height-to-diameter ratio (H/D) of the chamber on flow distribution was studied. Chambers of different H/D ratios and different air inlet nozzle diameters at various positions were examined to evaluate their effect on flow uniformity across the distributor. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of pertinent parameters on flow uniformity, which has a direct bearing on the quality of fluidization and hence heat and mass transfer rates obtained.     

QMRPRNS: Design of QoS multicast routing protocol using reliable node selection scheme for MANETs

A mobile Ad-Hoc networks (MANETs) is a continuously self-configuring, infrastructure-less network of wireless mobile devices. In which multicast is one of the efficient way of communication. Currently, several research have been conducted to design multicast routing protocols for wireless mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). Multicasting is a technique that allow to send the same message to a group of destinations simultaneously. However, it faces several challenges against its implementation in ad-hoc network due to its dynamic nature, lack of bandwidth, short battery lifetime of the mobile devices. The multicast routing protocol MAODV have several constraints as mentioned above. Hence to address these constraints a reliable neighbour nodes selection scheme has been integrated over MAODV. This paper attempt a Quality of Service (QoS) based multicast routing protocol using reliable neighbour nodes selection scheme (QMRPRNS) for same. The simulation has been conducted to compare the performance of the proposed scheme against some existing multicast routing protocols which shows significant improvement over EMAODV and MAODV.     

Angular dose variations from 320 kV rod pinch diode flash X-ray experiments on the modified Kali-1000 Pulsed Power System

This paper highlights the angular distribution of radiation dose emitted from a rod-pinch diode. The typical RP diode employed used a small diameter (1–2 mm) anode rod extended through a cathode aperture (5–8 mm). The diode chamber is maintained at 2 × 10^–5 Torr vacuum by a rotary backed diffusion pump. Experiments performed on a modified Kali-1000 Pulsed Power System (300 kV, 30 kA, 100 ns) were aimed at optimizing the source by maximizing the figure of merit (dose at 1 m in rad/spot diameter² in mm²) with minimizing of the diode impedance. The typical electron beam parameters used in the experiments are 240–320 kV, 6.5–27.5 kA, 100 ns, with a few hundreds of kA/cm² current density. The radiation emitted from a rod-pinch diode is measured using thermoluminescence dosimeters at an angular interval of 15° on either side of the rod in horizontal and vertical plane with different aspects ratio ranging from 2.5 to 10.0. Experimentally found that the radiation dose produced from the rod pinch diode configuration is maximum in the axial direction and decreases with angular variation on either side of the axis in horizontal and vertical planes, which indicates the directivity of the source. Maximum radiation dose at 1 m distance on the axial line is ranging from 42 to 307 mR.