Comprehensive exergetic and economic comparison of PWR and hybrid fossil fuel-PWR power plants

A typical 1000 MW Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant and two similar hybrid 1000 MW PWR plants operate with natural gas and coal fired fossil fuel superheater-economizers (Hybrid PWR-Fossil fuel plants) are compared exergetically and economically. Comparison is performed based on energetic and economic features of three systems. In order to compare system at their optimum operating point, three workable base case systems including the conventional PWR, and gas and coal fired hybrid PWR-Fossil fuel power plants considered and optimized in exergetic and exergoeconomic optimization scenarios, separately. The thermodynamic modeling of three systems is performed based on energy and exergy analyses, while an economic model is developed according to the exergoeconomic analysis and Total Revenue Requirement (TRR) method. The objective functions based on exergetic and exergoeconomic analyses are developed. The exergetic and exergoeconomic optimizations are performed using the Genetic Algorithm (GA). Energetic and economic features of exergetic and exergoeconomic optimized conventional PWR and gas and coal fired Hybrid PWR-Fossil fuel power plants are compared and discussed comprehensively.     

Enhancement of Free Convection Heat Transfer from a Vertical Array of Isothermal Cylinders by Flow Diverters

Free convection heat transfer from a vertical array of five horizontal isothermal cylinders separated by flow diverters is investigated experimentally through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Flow diverters with widths of 1, 2, and 3 cylinder-diameter are placed midway between the cylinders with a 45-degree inclination angle. The cylinders vertical center to center spacing is kept constant to three-cylinder diameter. The experiments are carried out for various Rayleigh numbers based on the cylinder diameter in the range of 10³ to 2.5× 10³ and for different flow diverter width. It is observed that the flow diverters enhance the heat transfer of the array from 10% to 27%, depending on their width. By increasing the width of the diverters and the Rayleigh number, enhancement of the heat transfer from the array increases.     

Minimum variance beamforming applied to ultrasound imaging with a partially shaded aperture

Shadowing of an imaging aperture occurs when ultrasound beams are partially obstructed by an acoustically hard tissue, e.g., bone tissue. This effect leads to reduced resolution and, in some cases, geometrical distortion. In this paper, we initially introduce a binary apodization model to simulate effects of the shadowing on the point scatterers located close to a bone structure. Further, in a simulation study and an in vitro experiment, the minimum variance (MV) beamforming method is employed to image scatterers partly located in the shadow of bone. We show that the MV beamformer can result in a distorted image when the imaging aperture is highly obstructed by the bone structure. This distortion can be seen as an apparent lateral shift of the point spread function and a decrease in the sensitivity. Based on the signal power across the aperture, we adaptively determine the shadowed elements and discard their corresponding data from the covariance matrix to improve the MV beamformer performance. This modified MV beamformer can retain the resolution and compensate for the apparent lateral shifting and signal attenuation for the shadowed point scatterers.     

An experimental investigation on the effect of Al2O3-H2O nanofluid on the efficiency of flat-plate solar collectors

In the present work the effect of Al₂O₃-water nanofluid, as working fluid, on the efficiency of a flat-plate solar collector was investigated experimentally. The weight fraction of nanoparticles was 0.2% and 0.4% and the particles dimension was 15 nm. Experiments were performed with and without Triton X-100 as surfactant. The mass flow rate of nanofluid varied from 1 to 3 Lit/min. The ASHRAE standard was used to calculate the efficiency. The results show that, in comparison with water as absorption medium using the nanofluids as working fluid increase the efficiency. For 0.2 wt% the increased efficiency was 28.3%. From the results it can be concluded that the surfactant causes an enhancement in heat transfer.     

The use of mixer torque rheometry to study the effect of formulation variables on the properties of wet granulations

Mixer torque rheometry was used to investigate the rheological behavior of wet granulations with different concentrations of drug, binder, and water. An experimental design was employed to systematically study the effects of the three formulation variables on the torque profiles of the wet masses over time. Under comparable conditions, increasing binder and water concentrations tended to produce higher wet mass consistencies. Friability of the dried granules was measured as an indication of the strength of the granules. A reduced quadratic model in terms of each of the three variables was found to satisfactorily predict granule friability. Granule friability decreased with increases in the binder level and increased slightly with increasing drug concentration. An inverse relationship was seen between granule friability and the amount of water added to the formulation, especially at lower drug concentrations. Mixer torque rheometry is a useful method for studying the properties of wet granulations when minimal amounts of drug are available for the development of a wet granulated formulation.     

High sensitive photonic crystal ring resonator structure applicable for optical integrated circuits

Quality factor and refractive sensitivity are significant parameters in designing optical devices such as filters, demultiplexers, switches and sensors. In this paper, we proposed a novel structure for photonic crystal ring resonator with octagon-shaped core. The transmission efficiency of the proposed ring resonator at \(\lambda =1551\,\hbox {nm}\) is about 99.6 % with bandwidth and quality factor values equal to 0.3 nm and 5170. The proposed structure is very sensitive upon the variation of refractive index of total structure and core part of the resonator, such that the refractive index sensitivity to the refractive index of total structure and the resonant ring core is \(\Delta \lambda /\Delta \lambda =3.1\,\hbox {nm}\,/\,0.01\) and \(\Delta \lambda /\Delta \hbox {n}=2.9\,\hbox {nm}\,/\,0.01\), respectively.     

A new proposal for eight-channel optical demultiplexer based on photonic crystal resonant cavities

In this paper, we used the novel defective resonant cavities to design an eight-channel photonic crystal demultiplexer. We showed that by choosing appropriate values for the width of the resonant cavity, the desired wavelengths can be separated. The proposed platform has a square lattice of dielectric rods immersed in air. The value of transmission efficiency for channels was obtained in 94\(-\)99 % range. In addition, the maximum value of crosstalk and average quality factor for channels were calculated –11.2 dB and 2200, respectively.     

Security of supply and regulation of energy networks

In recent years, the security of energy supplies has re-emerged as a central issue in the energy policy arena in the UK and elsewhere. This re-emergence takes place against a backdrop of increased liberalisation of the energy markets, so that security of supply needs to be revisited within this context. Security of supply is multifaceted, but is often discussed in terms of physical availability of energy sources and their commodity price risk. This paper discusses the relationship between security of supply and network regulation—that is, how the energy networks, and appropriate regulation of them, can contribute to security of supply in liberalised energy sectors. Energy networks are predominantly natural monopolies and as a result are generally subject to regulatory oversight. We discuss a range of issues and trends that pose challenges and opportunities to network regulation and which call for new and innovative measures. The paper identifies a number of areas where network regulation can play a significant role in increasing the security of supply of future energy systems.     

Effects of carbon‐coated titanium dioxide nanoparticles as a photostabilizer on the photodegradation of rigid poly(vinyl chloride)

In this study, nanocomposites of rigid poly(vinyl chloride) (UPVC) using the synthesized carbon‐coated titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles and commercial powder of titanium dioxide (with rutile structure) were prepared by melt blending. The presence of carbon‐coated TiO₂ nanoparticles with rutile structure in UPVC matrix led to an improvement in photo stability of UPVC nanocomposites in comparison with commercial UPVC. The photocatalytic degradation behavior of nanocomposites was investigated by measuring their structural changes, surface tension, and mechanical and morphological properties before and after UV exposure for 700 h. It was found that mechanical and physical properties of UPVC nanocomposites are not considerably reduced after UV exposure in the presence of carbon‐coated TiO₂ nanoparticles even in small percentage of nanoparticles in comparison with the presence of commercial TiO₂ particles. Therefore, it can be concluded that UPVC/TiO₂ nanocomposite with low content of carbon‐coated TiO₂ nanoparticles(0.25 wt %) illustrated high stability under light exposure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40228.