Study on CaCO3-coated ZnO nanoparticles based dye sensitized solar cell

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated using ZnO and CaCO₃-coated ZnO nanoparticles. The effect of CaCO₃ coating on the performance of DSSC has been investigated. CaCO₃-coated ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction patterns of synthesized nanoparticles reveal that the ZnO and CaCO₃-coated ZnO nanoparticles have respectively wurtzite and rhomb-centred structure and both having hexagonal phase. Transmission electron microscopy study reveal that ZnO and CaCO₃-coated ZnO nanoparticles possess spherical symmetry and have average particle size respectively 6.2 and 6.7 nm. In case of CaCO₃/ZnO nanoparticles, the quenching in photoluminescence emission intensity has been attributed to the decrease in recombination rate of photo-generated electron–hole pairs. UV–Vis absorption spectra, confirms that the electrodes fabricated from the CaCO₃-coated ZnO nanoparticles have higher absorbance that shows their higher dye adsorbing power. The use of CaCO₃ coating has been found to enhance the efficiency of DSSC by over 100 %.     

Kinetics of N2O formation/destruction from coal combustion at low temperatures

Emission of nitrous oxide (N₂O) from coal combustion at low temperatures has recently become a subject of intense research and debate, because of its increasing concentrations in the atmosphere and its known ability to deplete the Ozone layer and also to contribute to the Greenhouse effect. In the present study, the nonlinear, first‐order differential equations, which describe the time behaviour of chemical systems, are solved using the analytical form of the first derivative of the species concentration, in order to calculate the time‐dependent composition of various chemical species that evolve from the coal combustion. These studies are made under the low‐temperature combustion conditions to determine the factors influencing the N₂O formation/destruction and a comparison with experimental findings has been done. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of the error propagation theory in estimates of static formation temperatures in geothermal and petroleum boreholes

We used the error propagation theory to calculate uncertainties in static formation temperature estimates in geothermal and petroleum wells from three widely used methods (line-source or Horner method; spherical and radial heat flow method; and cylindrical heat source method). Although these methods commonly use an ordinary least-squares linear regression model considered in this study, we also evaluated two variants of a weighted least-squares linear regression model for the actual relationship between the bottom-hole temperature and the corresponding time functions. Equations based on the error propagation theory were derived for estimating uncertainties in the time function of each analytical method. These uncertainties in conjunction with those on bottom-hole temperatures were used to estimate individual weighting factors required for applying the two variants of the weighted least-squares regression model. Standard deviations and 95% confidence limits of intercept were calculated for both types of linear regressions. Applications showed that static formation temperatures computed with the spherical and radial heat flow method were generally greater (at the 95% confidence level) than those from the other two methods under study. When typical measurement errors of 0.25 h in time and 5 °C in bottom-hole temperature were assumed for the weighted least-squares model, the uncertainties in the estimated static formation temperatures were greater than those for the ordinary least-squares model. However, if these errors were smaller (about 1% in time and 0.5% in temperature measurements), the weighted least-squares linear regression model would generally provide smaller uncertainties for the estimated temperatures than the ordinary least-squares linear regression model. Therefore, the weighted model would be statistically correct and more appropriate for such applications. We also suggest that at least 30 precise and accurate BHT and time measurements along with the respective errors should be obtained for a reliable application of the proposed regression procedure.     

Laminar Momentum and Heat Transfer in a Channel with a Built‐In Tapered Trapezoidal Bluff Body

Effects of wall confinements on the laminar flow and heat transfer around a heated tapered trapezoidal bluff body are investigated numerically in the confined domain (Reynolds number, Re = 1 to 40; blockage ratio = 0.125 to 0.5; and Prandtl number, Pr = 0.71). The onset of flow separation is found between Re = 4 and 5 for the blockage ratio of 0.125 and between Re = 5 and 6 for the blockage ratios of 0.25 and 0.5. If compared with a long circular obstacle on the basis of equal projected area, the total drag coefficient of the trapezoidal cylinder is found to be larger than the circular one, but an opposite trend is observed for the heat transfer. The augmentation in heat transfer for trapezoidal and circular cylinders is found to be approximately 46, 72, 74, and 65 percent for Re = 1, 5, 10, and 40, respectively for the blockage ratio of 0.25. The maximum enhancement in heat transfer for a tapered trapezoidal bluff body with respect to a square bluff body is found to be approximately 104 percent and 101 percent for blockage ratios of 0.25 and 0.5, respectively. Finally, simple correlations of wake length, drag, and average cylinder Nusselt number are established.     

Microcomputer based digital differential relaying for generator protection: Real time test results

The paper presents the development of a digital differential relaying scheme around a 16-bit microprocessor for generator winding protection. It uses a simple filter algorithm which is based on cross-correlation with a heptagonal wave for the extraction of fundamental frequency components of differential and sum currents. Application of this filter and use of the real parts alone, instead of both the real and imaginary parts, of the fundamental frequency components for the relaying reduces the computation requirement drastically, thus enabling implementation of a complete three-phase differential relay on a single microprocessor without requiring a coprocessor or multiplier. The relay has been tested in real time on simulated generator currents representing internal-, external- and no-fault conditions separately. The test results agree well with the results of off-line evaluation reported earlier and point to a successful implementation of the differential relaying algorithm on a microprocessor in real time.     

Trapped Coupled Dielectric Overlay Guide Configuration at Millimeter Wave Frequencies

Trapped coupled dielectric overlay guide has several interesting characteristics useful for millimeter wave applications. Dispersion characteristics and wave impedance for even and odd modes are computed by using Effective Dielectric Constant (EDC) method. Dispersion curves realized for Trapped coupled overlay guide for various dielectric materials and dimensional parameters as a function of frequency. Conductor and dielectric loss in the above configuration have also been studied. Polystyrene (µ_r = 2.56) and Stycast (µ_r = 3.4) have been used as dielectric materials.