Optimal control of three-level PWM inverters

An harmonic loss-minimized optimal PWM strategy for three-level inverters is investigated. The different PWM methods for low-, middle-, and high-speed regions are presented. It is shown that, for three-level inverters, the optimized strategy in all speed regions differs from the optimal PWM strategy of two-level inverters. The developed optimal control ensures a minimum of harmonic losses for a predetermined number of commutations of three-level PWM inverters and for a given value of the fundamental harmonic voltage     

A low-cost and portable local area network for interconnecting PC'susing electric power lines

The development and implication of medium-access-control (MAC) and logical-link-control (LLC) protocols for a low-cost power-line local area network (LAN) is described. A hub polling scheme is developed for use in the MAC sublayer. For the LLC sublayer, a modified version of the IEEE 802.2 standard has been adopted. Some measurements and a performance evaluation of throughput and delay are presented and discussed. Using prototype 14400-b/s power-line modems, it is found that the design and implementation of the protocols on the Sun workstation provides a reasonable throughput and response time     

Modelling of heat and mass transfer processes during core melt discharge from a reactor pressure vessel

The objective of this paper is to study the heat and mass trasnfer processes related to core melt discharge from a reactor vessel in a light water reactor severe accident. The phenomenology modelled includes the convection in, and heat transfer from, the melt pool in contact with the vessel lower head wall, the fluid dynamics and heat transfer of the melt flow in the growing discharge hole and multi-dimensional heat conduction in the ablating lower head wall. A research programme is underway at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH) to (1) identify the dominant heat and mass transfer processes determining the characteristics of the lower head ablation process: (2) develop and validate efficient analytical/computational models for these processes; (3) apply models to assess the character of the melt discharge process in a reactor-scale situation; (4) determine the sensitivity of the melt discharge to structural differences and variations in the in-vessel melt progression scenarios. The paper also presents a comparison with recent results of vessel hole ablation experiments conducted at KTH with a melt simulant.     

99mTc pertechnetate scintigraphy and premedication for the search for ectopic gastric mucosa in Meckel's diverticulum

BACKGROUND: Meckel's diverticulum (MD) is the most common anomaly of the large intestinal tract (1-3%) and is more frequent in children (62% < 2 years) and in males (66%). It often involves ectopic gastric mucosa which manifests through gastrointestinal bleeding in 50% of cases. 99m-Technetium scintigraphy (99mTcO4) is one of the procedures available for the non-invasive diagnosis of ectopic gastric mucosa. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients (11 females, 17 males), including 16 children and 12 adults, aged 8 months-80 years old, were included in the study. The patients were admitted to hospital for hematochezia and melena (22) associated with abdominal pain (5): 3 patients repeatedly presented occult blood in their stools. Two patients only suffered from abdominal cramps and one only anemia. Patients were studied using plain abdominal radiographs and ultrasound; 10 underwent gastroscopy and colonoscopy; radiological contrast studies were performed in 5 patients. All tests were inconclusive. All the patients were premedicated with oral cimetidine (20 mg/kg in pediatric patients and 300 mg q.i.d. for adults, 48 hours before the test) or with ranitidine i.v. (1 mg/kg, max 50 mg, in 20 minutes, one hour before the test); barium meals and colonoscopy were deferred for 2-3 days after examination. An intravenous injection of 37-180 Mbq of 99mTcO4 was given followed by a dynamic study of the abdomen in anterior projection. Images were acquired for one hour or until the visualisation of abnormal foci of intake: in this case, lateral and oblique images were acquired for a better localisation of the suspicious area. Some patients were administered furosemide i.v. (0.75 mg/kg). All underwent a follow-up period of 12 months. RESULTS: Pertechnetate scintigraphy was positive in 10 cases and the presence of ectopic gastric mucosa was confirmed by surgery. The study was negative in 18 cases: 3 of them were discharged with a diagnosis of Salmonella infection, polyp of the small bowel or ulcer of the large bowel respectively; the other 15 patients did not show symptoms of onset during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm the high diagnostic accuracy of pertechnetate scintigraphy to detect ectopic gastric mucosa if associated with H2-receptor-blocking agent premedication.     

A W-band monolithic downconverter

The design, fabrication, and evaluation of a fully integrated W-band monolithic downconverter based on InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT technology are presented. The monolithic downconverter consists of a two-stage low-noise amplifier and a single-balanced mixer. The single-balanced mixer has been designed using the HEMT gate Schottky diodes inherent to the process. Measured results of the complete downconverter show conversion gain of 5.5 dB and a double-sideband noise figure of 6.7 dB at 94 GHz. Also presented is the downconverter performance characterized over the -35°C to +65°C temperature range. The downconverter design was a first pass success and has a high circuit yield     

Generalized hybrid-combined methods for the singularity problems of homogeneous elliptic equations

Combinations of the Ritz–Galerkin and finite element methods are applied to solving singularity problems of homogeneous, elliptic equations. The Ritz-Galerkin method is used in the subdomains where there exist singular points; and the finite element method is still used in the rest of the solution domains. More general coupling techniques than those of Reference 6 along the common boundary of subdomains are discussed. Numerical experiments using these kinds of coupling techniques are provided for the first time. It is interesting that the calculated results of Motz's problem have shown the simplified hybrid strategy in Reference 6 to be optimal for both error bounds and stability of numerical solutions, among all general coupling techniques.     

Performance analysis of the aluminum casting furnace

The casting furnace plays a central role in the production of aluminum. Its design and operation are complex and involve some 450 parameters. There is a need for a model to predict and analyze its performance. We propose a simplified model in which each main component of the furnace is treated as a 1-D heat conduction medium. Based on the equations of conservation of mass, energy, and chemical species, complemented by the equations of conduction and the Hottel’s formulation of radiative heat transfer, this dynamic model can simulate any sequence of operations such as loading, heating, stirring, skimming … that constitutes a batch, and can take into account other operational details such as the opening of doors. It is validated on a real furnace, then used to predict furnace performance in other modes of operation, and also to determine an optimal fuel flow that minimizes a chosen cost function.     

A new kind of combinations between the Ritz-Galerkin and finite element methods for singularity problems

The coupling techniques of simplified hybrid plus penalty functions are first presented for matching the Ritz-Galerkin method and thek(k>-1)-order Lagrange finite element methods to solve complicated problems of elliptic equations, homogeneous or nonhomogeneous, in particular with singularities or unbounded domains. Optimal convergence rates of numerical solutions have been proved in the Sobolev norms. Moreover, the theoretical results obtained in this paper have been verified by numerical experiments for the singular Motz problem.     

Prediction of Sun Transit Outages in an Operational Communication Satellite System

The method and the computer program used to generate sun transit predictions are described. The program is universal in that (i) the satellite can be at any longitude, (ii) the earth station can be located anywhere on earth, and (iii) the prediction is for any given year. The predictions allow earth station users to accurately predict the effect of sun transits on their operations well in advance.     

On the Accuracy of the Shimbo Approach to Intermodulation and Crosstalk Calculations

To simplify the mathematics involved and to facilitate derivations of intermodulation and crosstalk formulas, the Shimbo approach uses a double Fourier transformation and represents the characteristics of a memoryless nonlinear device by a Bessel function series. Such an approach seems to be a very brave approximation as the approximated characteristics vary wildly with respect to the number of Bessel function termsLand with the amount of actual characteristic data used(A_{F}). However, it is shown here that the approach works well for the case involving two carriers with equal constant amplitudes, provided that one choosesLand AFproperly.