Simulation of a localized heating system for broiler brooding to improve energy performance

The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of an innovative localized solar‐assisted pen heating system for brooding using a 3D computational simulation model of the heated space. The warm air‐curtained pen ensures acceptable temperature, air velocity, relative humidity, and air quality that meet the ventilation and heat requirements for a typical pen of 100 chicks as recommended by the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers and American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. The supply flow characteristics and the simulated velocity and temperature field of the curtained region were determined such that they meet the ventilation requirements and comfort criteria. Results show that air supplied at 40°C is capable of delivering the desired microenvironment at bird level while the heat input to the unit is 685 W when outdoor temperature is ?5°C. The system's energy performance was then analyzed using a prototype of 16 pens. The energy consumption of the new heating scheme consumed one third of the energy required by conventional non‐localized system. Moreover, integrating the new design with a solar system utilizing parabolic concentrators provided 72% of the power load from solar energy during a winter flock operation and 100% during other seasons. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Radiation crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl pyrrolidone/acrylic acid hydrogels: swelling,crosslinking and dye adsorption study

Iranian Polymer Journal - Hydrogels were produced from mixtures of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and acrylic acid (AAc) using γ-radiation at doses of 3, 7, and...     

A Study on the FTIR Spectroscopy of Polylactide Doped with Nano-Aluminium Oxide and Nano-Cupric Oxide

Elucidation of the structure of naturally existing or synthesized substances is an important criterion in the study of materials to predict the application of the substance. In this study, polylactide was doped with nano-aluminium oxide and nano-cupric oxide with 1 and 3 mg of concentration variants. The interaction between the polymer matrix and the nanoparticles has been studied using Fourier transform infrared. Successful doping of the polymer has been observed. Attention has been drawn to check the intermolecular bonding in films having varying thicknesses, films prepared at higher sonication temperatures, and chemical homogeneity of the doped polymer films.     

Hybrid model of content extraction

We present a hybrid model for content extraction from HTML documents. The model operates on Document Object Model (DOM) tree of the corresponding HTML document. It evaluates each tree node and associated statistical features like link density and text distribution across the node to predict significance of the node towards overall content provided by the document. Once significance of the nodes is determined, the formatting characteristics like fonts, styles and the position of the nodes are evaluated to identify the nodes with similar formatting as compared to the significant nodes. The proposed hybrid model is derived from two different models, i.e., one is based on statistical features and other on formatting characteristics and achieved the best accuracy. We describe the validity of model with the help of experiments conducted on the standard data sets. The results revealed that the proposed model outperformed other existing content extraction models. We present a browser based implementation of the proposed model as proof of concept and compare the implementation strategy with various state of art implementations. We also discuss various applications of the proposed model with special emphasis on open source intelligence.     

An experimental investigation on the effects of exponential window and impact force level on harmonic reduction in impact-synchronous modal analysis

A novel method called Impact-synchronous modal analysis (ISMA) was proposed previously which allows modal testing to be performed during operation. This technique focuses on signal processing of the upstream data to provide cleaner Frequency response function (FRF) estimation prior to modal extraction. Two important parameters, i.e., windowing function and impact force level were identified and their effect on the effectiveness of this technique were experimentally investigated. When performing modal testing during running condition, the cyclic loads signals are dominant in the measured response for the entire time history. Exponential window is effectively in minimizing leakage and attenuating signals of non-synchronous running speed, its harmonics and noises to zero at the end of each time record window block. Besides, with the information of the calculated cyclic force, suitable amount of impact force to be applied on the system could be decided prior to performing ISMA. Maximum allowable impact force could be determined from nonlinearity test using coherence function. By applying higher impact forces than the cyclic loads along with an ideal decay rate in ISMA, harmonic reduction is significantly achieved in FRF estimation. Subsequently, the dynamic characteristics of the system are successfully extracted from a cleaner FRF and the results obtained are comparable with Experimental modal analysis (EMA).     

Chimie douce hydrogen production from Hg contaminated water,with desirable throughput,and simultaneous Hg-removal

Hydrogen's widespread use is fraught with many difficulties. The challenges currently are to do with safety concerns in gas storage and transportation, and low rate of production leading to non-viability of technologies at the point-of-use. Another global concern of immediate relevance involves heavy-metal ion pollution. Viable processes which can simultaneously remove and result in beneficiation of the contaminants are hitherto rarely reported. In this context we report a single-step, in situ co-reduction approach which has the dual advantage of (i) Hg contaminant removal, and (ii) room temperature hydrogen production. Hydrogen is produced via galvanic corrosion of in situ synthesized nanoaluminium amalgam. The production rate (720 mL/min for 0.5 g-Al salt) is far superior to what would be expected from the use of pure hydrides, and/or using bulk amalgams at room temperature. The method is simple, chimie douce (i.e soft chemical), hence potentially affordable, and capable of providing a means of beneficiating Hg contaminated water present in effluents from certain industries (for example, industries which uses chlor-alkali process). The in situ co-reduction approach helps in bypassing the usual rate limiting step which involves formation of an alumina passivation layer on hydrolytic material surface. Given the potential that exists in scale down and up, this approach offers a method to address the long standing challenge of point-of-use hydrogen availability.     

Experimental study of the natural organic matters effect on the power generation of reverse electrodialysis

In this paper, the effect of natural organic matters (NOMs), which are typically present in river and seawater, on the power generation of reverse electrodialysis was studied. Bovine serum albumin, humic acid, and sodium alginate were used as models of NOMs. A NOM model was added to concentrated salt water, diluted salt water, and/or both of them. Power density was used to measure the resulted power generation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope were used to characterize the presence of NOMs on the membrane surfaces. The effect of NOMs on the generated power density was clearly observed. This effect was influenced by the NOM's type, the NOMs concentration, and the compartment in which NOMs are added. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope data confirmed that NOMs are deposited on both anion and cation exchange membrane surfaces. While all NOMs added to concentrated salt water did not influence the generated power density, different power density behavior was resulted from the different NOMs added to diluted salt water, where NOMs could increase or decrease or remain the generated power density. Thus, besides NOM's type, the salt concentration is very critical to determine the effect of NOMs on the generated power density. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acoustic damping flexible polyurethane foams: Effect of isocyanate index and water content on the soundproofing

High-efficiency sound absorbing flexible polyurethane foams (FPUFs) are manufactured using nonpolar polyester resin, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, and other reagents by one-shot bulk polymerization. In this study, the impact of the isocyanate index (90, 100, and 110) and water content (2.5 and 5%) on the microphase separation and soundproofing behavior of FPUFs are examined using atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, optical microscope, and an impedance tube device. The results reveal that the increase of the isocyanate index and water content leads to the increase of the cell size, cell size distribution, open-cell content, cell wall roughness, and microphase separation. Also, maximum sound absorption coefficient (α) reaches to 0.98 and the average of α in the frequency range of 1500–4000 Hz increases from 0.7 to 0.87 by increasing the water content from 2.5 to 5% and isocyanate index from 90 to 110; therefore, acoustic damping performance enhances up to 26.24% due to the synergic effects of microphase separation on the viscose media formation, open-cell content, cell wall roughness, cell size, and cell size distribution. In conclusion, FPUFs with an optimal amount of microphase separation and drainage flow can be a promising candidate for sound insulating materials. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47363.     

Comparison among various energy management strategies for reducing hydrogen consumption in a hybrid fuel cell/supercapacitor/battery system

The aim of this study is to introduce a comprehensive comparison of various energy management strategies of fuel cell/supercapacitor/battery storage systems. These strategies are utilized to manage the energy demand response of hybrid systems, in an optimal way, under highly fluctuating load condition. Two novel strategies based on salp swarm algorithm (SSA) and mine-blast optimization are proposed. The outcomes of these strategies are compared with commonly used strategies like fuzzy logic control, classical proportional integral control, the state machine, equivalent fuel consumption minimization, maximization, external energy maximization, and equivalent consumption minimization. Hydrogen fuel economy and overall efficiency are used for the comparison of these different strategies. Results demonstrate that the proposed SSA management strategy performed best compared with all other used strategies in terms of hydrogen fuel economy and overall efficiency. The minimum consumed hydrogen and maximum efficiency are found 19.4 gm and 85.61%, respectively.