The pollution flashover on high voltage insulators

The pollution flashover, observed on insulators used in high voltage transmission, is one of the most important problems for power transmission. It is a very complex problem due to several factors such as the modeling difficulties of complex shapes of the insulators, different pollution density at different regions, non-homogeneous pollution distribution on the insulator surface and unknown effect of humidity on the pollution. In the literature, some static and dynamic models were developed by making some assumptions and omissions to predict the flashover voltages of polluted insulators. In this study, historical development of insulator modeling was investigated and a dynamic arc model was proposed. For this purpose, scaled shape of a concerned insulator was firstly partitioned into triangular elements, then finite element method (FEM) was implemented and finally potential distribution on the insulator surface, variation of pollution resistance and flashover voltage were determined. The computed flashover voltage values of the selected string insulator have been compared to results from other research.     

Predicting power production from a photovoltaic panel through artificial neural networks using atmospheric indicators

Neural Computing and Applications - In this study, an artificial neural network was modeled in order to predict the power generated by a monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic panel. This...     

Effects of different water percentages in non-surfactant water-in-diesel emulsion fuel on the performance and exhaust emissions of a small-scale industrial burner

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - In a previous study, a device that combined two existing mixing methods to produce water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (W/D) without surfactant had been...     

The effects of using different type of inlet vents on the thermal characteristics of the automobile cabin and the human body during cooling period

A three-dimensional (3-D) transient numerical analysis was performed inside an automobile cabin during cooling period. A three-dimensional vehicle cabin including glazing surfaces was modelled by using the real dimensions of a car. A virtual manikin with real dimensions and physiological shape was added to the model of the vehicle cabin, and it was assumed that the manikin surfaces were subjected to constant temperature. The virtual manikin was divided into 17 parts in standing posture to evaluate the local heat transfer characteristics of the human body during transient cooling period. We considered three different cases that the cooling capacity of the automobile cabin was same for all cases. Three-dimensional fluid flow, temperature distribution and heat transfer characteristics inside the automobile cabin were calculated with different type of inlet vents. Comparisons of the numerical results were presented and discussed.     

Insights from surgeons’ eye-movement data in a virtual simulation surgical training environment: effect of experience level and hand conditions

Today, with the advancements in the eye-tracking technology, it has become possible to follow surgeons’ eye movements while performing surgical tasks. Despite the availability of studies providing a better understanding of surgeons’ eye movements, research in the particular field of endoneurosurgery is very limited. Analysing surgeons’ eye-movement data can provide general insights into how to improve surgical education programmes. In this study, four simulation-based task-oriented endoscopic surgery training scenarios were developed and implemented by 23 surgical residents using three different hand conditions; dominant, non-dominant, and both. The participants’ recorded eye data comprised fixation number, fixation duration, saccade number, saccade duration, pursuit number, pursuit duration, and pupil size. This study has two main contributions: First, it reports on the eye-movement behaviours of surgical residents, demonstrating that novice residents tended to make more fixations and saccades than intermediate residents. They also had a higher fixation duration and followed the objects more frequently compared to the intermediates. Furthermore, hand conditions significantly affected the eye movements of the participants. Based on these results, it can be concluded that eye-movement data can be used to assess the skill levels of surgical residents and would be an important measure to better guide trainees in surgical education programmes. The second contribution of this study is the eye-movement event classifications of 10 different algorithms. Although the algorithms mostly provided similar results, there were a few conflicted values for some classifications, which offers a clue as to how researchers can utilise these algorithms with low sampling frequency eye trackers.     

Partial purification and kinetic studies of exocellular proteinase from Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. erinacei

The dermatophyte Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. erinacei isolated from a patient with tinea cruris was cultured in peptone-glucose broth from which an exocellular proteinase was obtained. The enzyme was partly purified by Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. Its molecular weight was determined to be 33,000 on sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimal pH was 8.5, the optimal temperature 35 degrees C. The proteolytic activity was specifically increased against casein and inhibited by phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride. The enzyme was identified as alkaline serine proteinase.     

Electrical properties of ZnO/Au/ZnS/Au films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Polycrystalline ZnS semiconducting films have been prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique in the form of planar and sandwich configurations using amorphous and ZnO coated glass substrates. Deposition of ZnS films by the spray pyrolysis has been studied extensively by several investigators and the process parameters have been optimized to obtain films with good characteristics. However we report for the first time the preparation of ZnS films sandwiched between top and bottom electrodes on the transparent conducting ZnO films that have been produced by the spray pyrolysis technique. The produced ZnS films have been crystallized in a wurtzite structure. The electrical properties of the samples having planar and sandwich structures have been measured in dark at room temperature by applying the voltage values between 0.01 and 100 V.     

Modelling airflow,heat transfer and moisture transport around a standing human body by computational fluid dynamics

In this study a combined computational model of a room with virtual thermal manikin with real dimensions and physiological shape was used to determine heat and mass transfer between human body and environment. Three dimensional fluid flow, temperature and moisture distribution, heat transfer (sensible and latent) between human body and ambient, radiation and convection heat transfer rates on human body surfaces, local and average convection coefficients and skin temperatures were calculated. The radiative heat transfer coefficient predicted for the whole-body was 4.6 W m^− 2 K^− 1, closely matching the generally accepted whole-body value of 4.7 W m^− 2 K^− 1. Similarly, the whole-body natural convection coefficient for the manikin fell within the mid-range of previously published values at 3.8 W m^− 2 K^− 1. Results of calculations were in agreement with available experimental and theoretical data in literature.     

Numerical analysis of air flow, heat transfer, moisture transport and thermal comfort in a room heated by two-panel radiators

A three-dimensional steady-state numerical analysis was performed in a room heated by two-panel radiators. A virtual sitting manikin with real dimensions and physiological shape was added to the model of the room, and it was assumed that the manikin surfaces were subjected to constant temperature. Two different heat transfer coefficients for the outer wall and for the window were considered. Heat interactions between the human body surfaces and the room environment, the air flow, the temperature, the humidity, and the local heat transfer characteristics of the manikin and the room surfaces were computed numerically under different environmental conditions. Comparisons of the results are presented and discussed. The results show that energy consumption can be significantly reduced while increasing the thermal comfort by using better-insulated outer wall materials and windows.     

Effect of Compaction Pressure on Structural and Superconducting Properties of Bi-2223 Superconductors

In this work, effects of compaction pressure on the structural and superconducting properties of BSCCO ceramic superconductors were investigated. The study was carried out on two systems which were, System I: Bi_1.7Pb_0.3Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O _y and System II: Bi_1.6Pb_0.3Ag_0.1Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O _y , respectively. Ceramic powders were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction method and sintered at 850°C after compaction at five different pressures in the 150–750 MPa range. Critical temperatures of samples were determined by resistivity-temperature determinations made by four-point probe method in liquid nitrogen conditions. XRD analysis was conducted by powder X-ray diffraction method. Morphology of the grains present in the samples were determined by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs at 2 K× and 2.5 K× magnifications for System I and System II, respectively. Sintered densities of the superconducting ceramics were measured by Archimedes water displacement method and unit cell parameters were additionally obtained from XRD data. T _c values for System I was determined to be in the 109–115 K with sample D having the highest T _c of 115 K while T _c varied in the 104–109 K range and sample B had the highest T _c value of 109 K for System II. The transition width, which is a sign of the purity of the samples, was determined to be narrow for both systems. The data obtained from X-ray diffraction measurements have shown that 2223 high-T _c phase was dominant in both systems. The determination of the optimum pellet compaction pressure for BSCCO ceramic superconductors was the main purpose of this work. The results of this work indicated that compaction at around 450 MPa improves the superconducting and structural properties of the BSCCO ceramic superconductors.