Nonlinear Adaptive Backstepping Controller Design for Three-Phase Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems

A cascaded control structure is proposed in this paper for injecting active and reactive power in a three-phase grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) system by considering external disturbances. In the proposed cascaded control structure, there are two control loops—the outer loop voltage controller is used to ensure a continuous balance in power flow between the PV arrays and electrical power grid whereas the inner loop current controller controls the output current of the inverter. Moreover, the DC-DC boost converter is controlled to achieve a constant voltage at the input of the inverter. In order to obtain the power balance and extract maximum power, an incremental conductance (IC) based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method is used in this paper. The current controller is designed using a nonlinear adaptive backstepping technique to regulate the active and reactive components of the grid current. The regulation of these currents towards desired values which in turn control the active and reactive power delivered into the grid. The overall stability analysis of the system is performed based on the formulation of control Lyapunov functions (CLFs). Finally, the performance of the designed controller is tested on three-phase grid-connected PV systems with single as well as multiple PV units under different environmental conditions and compared with an existing sliding mode controller. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive backstepping control scheme and demonstrate the superior performance over the sliding mode controller.     

Tuning the particle size and charge density of the crosslinked polystyrene particles

We report the synthesis of charged spherical colloidal particles of poly [styrene‐(co‐2‐propene sulfonic acid)] crosslinked with divinylbenzene by emulsion polymerization. The effects of concentration of both the emulsifier and initiator on the polymerization, particle size, and charge density are studied. The particle size is found to be dependent on both the emulsifier and initiator concentration and their power dependencies are different. Below critical micelle concentration (CMC), the particle size varies significantly within a small range of emulsifier concentration. In contrast, particle size decrease is not very pronounced at the heterogeneous (micellar) particle nucleation regime where the emulsifier concentration is well above of the CMC. The power dependencies of the number of particles on surfactant concentration are explained in the light of conversion–time profile of the polymerization. The surface charge density of the colloidal particles also varies with both the emulsifier and initiator concentration. Both the particle size and charge density show an inverse relation with the molecular weight of the polymer. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

WATER VAPOR ADSORPTION-DESORPTION CHARACTERISTICS OF A MIXED ADSORBENT

Air conditioning systems that are incorporating desiccant based dehumidifiers are finding increased applications over traditional vapor compression refrigeration systems due to their efficient handling of latent heat loads. Generally, silica gel, molecular sieves, or activated alumina coaled on a rotating honeycomb type desiccant matrix is used as a dehumidifier in these systems. However, shapes of the isotherm for water vapor adsorption on these materials are not favorable for optimal performance of desiccant cooling systems. Theoretical studies have shown that a material having a type I isotherm for water vapor, whose shape lies between that on molecular sieve 13X and silica gel would lower installation and operating costs of desiccant based air-conditioning systems.

An adsorbent was prepared by mixing a silica gel, molecular sieve 13X, and a hydrophobic molecular sieve. The mixed adsorbent was mixed with a binder and was further coated on both sides of a 0.0014“ thick aluminum foil. Both plain and corrugated foils were used in preparing a desiccant matrix. A plain sheet was inserted in between two corrugated sheets and then they were rolled into a cylinder. The shape of water adsorption isotherm and equilibrium water adsorption capacity were obtained for this desiccant matrix. The shape of the water isotherm in the temperature range of 288-308 K was found to be more favorable than that on silica gel or molecular sieve 13X. However, the total water adsorption capacity of the new mixed adsorbent was significantly lower than these materials. The water adsorption data on the mixed adsorbent could be correlated according to Polyani's potential theory     

An overview on marine anti-allergic active substances for alleviating food-induced allergy

Abstract

Food provides energy and various nutrients and is the most important substance for the survival of living beings. However, for allergic people, certain foods cause strong reactions, and sometimes even cause shock or death. Food allergy has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major global food safety issue which affect the quality of life of nearly 5% of adults and 8% of children, and the incidence continues to rise but there is no effective cure. Drug alleviation methods for food allergies often have shortcomings such as side effects, poor safety, and high cost. At present, domestic and foreign scientists have turned to research and develop various new, safe and efficient natural sources of hypoallergenic or anti-allergic drugs or foods. There are many kinds of anti-allergic substances obtained from the plants and animals have been reported. Besides, probiotics and bifidobacteria also have certain anti-allergic effects. Of all the sources of anti-allergic substances, the ocean is rich in effective active substances due to its remarkable biodiversity and extremely complex living environment, and plays a huge role in the field of anti-food allergy. In this paper, the anti-food allergic bioactive substances isolated from marine organisms encompassing marine microbial, plant, animal sources and their mechanism were reviewed and the possible targets of anti-allergic substances exerting effects are illustrated by drawing. In addition, the development prospects of marine anti-allergic market are discussed and forecasted, which can provide reference for future research on anti-allergic substances.     

Enhancing the mechanical properties of 3D printed polylactic acid using nanocellulose

We report here a systematic investigation of the mechanical properties of polylactic acid (PLA) processed by fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing vs PLA processed by compression molding. Our results show that the tensile strength and modulus of FFF-PLA is 49% and 41% lower, respectively, than compression molded samples of PLA. We also demonstrate here an approach to augment the mechanical properties of 3D printed PLA using nanocellulose. Incorporation of a small quantity (1 wt%) of cellulose nanofibers (CNF) was found to enhance the tensile strength and modulus of 3D printed PLA by 84% and 63%, respectively. X-ray microtomography was used to probe the morphology of 3D printed PLA and PLA/CNF composites. 3D printed PLA/CNF composites had significantly lesser voids as compared to neat 3D printed PLA. Differential scanning calorimetry study revealed that CNF can accelerate the nucleation and crystallization of 3D printed PLA leading to enhanced crystallinity. The thermal stability of 3D printed PLA/CNF composites was not compromised by the addition of CNF. The enhanced mechanical properties of 3D printed PLA/CNF composites can be ascribed to higher crystallinity and lesser defects.     

D-Optimal Designing and Optimization of Long Acting Microsphere-Based Injectable Formulation of Aripiprazole

This work was aimed to design and optimize a long acting microsphere-based injectable formulation of aripiprazole by using D-optimal experimental design methodology. Microspheres were prepared by solvent evaporation method using PLGA and cholesterol as release rate retardant materials. The microspheres were characterized for their encapsulation efficiency, particle size, surface morphology, residual solvent content, and drug release behavior. Contour plots were plotted to study the encapsulation and release behaviour of the drug from the microspheres. Desirability technique was used for the optimization of microsphere formulation composition. By using an optimum blend of drug and cholesterol in the microsphere formulation it was possible to attain a consistent drug release for a period of 14 days. The results have confirmed that the D-optimal experimental design technique can be successfully employed for designing the long acting microsphere dosage form.     

Pitfalls of using a single criterion for selecting experimental designs

For surrogate construction, a good experimental design (ED) is essential to simultaneously reduce the effect of noise and bias errors. However, most EDs cater to a single criterion and may lead to small gains in that criterion at the expense of large deteriorations in other criteria. We use multiple criteria to assess the performance of different popular EDs. We demonstrate that these EDs offer different trade‐offs, and that use of a single criterion is indeed risky. In addition, we show that popular EDs, such as Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) and D‐optimal designs, often leave large regions of the design space unsampled even for moderate dimensions. We discuss a few possible strategies to combine multiple criteria and illustrate them with examples. We show that complementary criteria (e.g. bias handling criterion for variance‐based designs and vice versa) can be combined to improve the performance of EDs. We demonstrate improvements in the trade‐offs between noise and bias error by combining a model‐based criterion, like the D‐optimality criterion, and a geometry‐based criterion, like LHS. Next, we demonstrate that selecting an ED from three candidate EDs using a suitable error‐based criterion helped eliminate potentially poor designs. Finally, we show benefits from combining the multiple criteria‐based strategies, that is, generation of multiple EDs using the D‐optimality and LHS criteria, and selecting one design using a pointwise bias error criterion. The encouraging results from the examples indicate that it may be worthwhile studying these strategies more rigorously and in more detail. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Surface modification of sintered magnesium oxide (MgO) with chromium oxide (Cr2O3) by pulsed laser irradiation in air and liquids

Surface modification of ceramic materials by laser irradiation is widely used as a non-contact, fast and thermally activated process to generate micro and nanostructures. The effects of liquids while surface modification by laser irradiation of ceramic materials under liquid environment are least explored so far. This study reports the effects of pulsed laser irradiation in air and liquids on the microstructure and morphologies of ceramic materials. Chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃) was mixed in different concentrations (3, 5 and 7% in weight) into magnesium oxide (MgO) matrix and was sintered at 1650 °C. The structure and morphology of the sintered ceramic pellets were characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Presence of the spinel magnesium chromium oxide (MgCr₂O₄) was identified in these samples. For surface modification of these samples, laser irradiation is carried out in air and liquids (methanol, isopropyl alcohol and acetone) using 2 ns pulsed lasers (532 nm) of different pulse repetition rates and energies. The microstructure and morphologies of the samples after irradiation was analyzed and their crystalline structure and composition were maintained after laser irradiation. It was observed that the surface morphologies of the ceramic pellets were modified by laser irradiation as a combined effect of the medium (air/liquids), energy fluence and the concentration of the Cr₂O₃ in MgO. Our results show that pulsed laser irradiation especially in liquids is an effective technique for modifying surface morphology of ceramic materials.     

Synthesis and Biological Studies of Dodecameric Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides Containing Tetrahydrofuran Amino Acids

We report here a concise route to synthesize various stereoisomers of tetrahydrofuran amino acids (TAAs) and the synthesis of TAA-containing linear cationic dodecapeptides. Some of these linear peptides show slightly better antimicrobial activities than their tetra- and octameric congeners, but no activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for which octapeptides exhibited by far the best results; this implies that antibacterial activity is dependent on the length of these linear peptides. All the dodecapeptides described here were found to be toxic in nature against Vero cells. The study helps to delineate the optimal length of this series of linear peptides and select potential leads in the development of novel cationic peptide-based antibiotics.