A robust hybrid fuzzy–simulated annealing–intelligent water drops approach for tuning a distribution static compensator nonlinear controller in a distribution system

This article presents a novel hybrid optimization approach for a nonlinear controller of a distribution static compensator (DSTATCOM). The DSTATCOM is connected to a distribution system with the distributed generation units. The nonlinear control is based on partial feedback linearization. Two proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers regulate the voltage and track the output in this control system. In the conventional scheme, the trial-and-error method is used to determine the PID controller coefficients. This article uses a combination of a fuzzy system, simulated annealing (SA) and intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithms to optimize the parameters of the controllers. The obtained results reveal that the response of the optimized controlled system is effectively improved by finding a high-quality solution. The results confirm that using the tuning method based on the fuzzy-SA-IWD can significantly decrease the settling and rising times, the maximum overshoot and the steady-state error of the voltage step response of the DSTATCOM. The proposed hybrid tuning method for the partial feedback linearizing (PFL) controller achieved better regulation of the direct current voltage for the capacitor within the DSTATCOM. Furthermore, in the event of a fault the proposed controller tuned by the fuzzy-SA-IWD method showed better performance than the conventional controller or the PFL controller without optimization by the fuzzy-SA-IWD method with regard to both fault duration and clearing times.     

Application of k-means clustering algorithm to improve effectiveness of the results recommended by journal recommender system

Scientometrics - This study investigates to evaluate feasibility of k-means clustering algorithm in order to improve effectiveness of the results recommended by RICEST Journal Finder System. More...     

Production of a biodiesel additive in a stirred basket reactor using immobilized lipase: Kinetic and mass transfer analysis

?A laboratory-scale stirred basket reactor (SBR) was constructed to study the synthesis of an n-butyl oleate ester using Novozym 435. An ester yield of approximately 98% was obtained after 6 h using an equimolar substrate ratio, 3.5 g of enzyme, a reaction temperature of 40 °C, and an impeller speed of 200 rpm. The kinetic data were modeled as a ping-pong bi-bi mechanism using a non-linear regression technique. Statistical analysis of the results showed that a model that incorporated the inhibitory effect of n-butanol yielded the best fit with the following parameters: V _max =24.8mmol L^?1 min^?1, K _{m, oleic acid} =190.8mM, K _{m, n-butanol} =544.7 mM, and K _{i, n-butanol} =158.3mM. Mass transfer effects on the enzyme kinetics were also studied, and the absence of internal and external diffusion limitations on the reaction in the SBR was confirmed by considering calculated values of the Thiele modulus and the Damkohler number. Novozym 435 exhibited satisfactory performance in repeated-batch experiments using SBR.