Polynomial Approximations Describing Rate of Dyeing from a Finite Bath

Three polynomial approximations to Wilson's equation were derived by means of Hastings's method. One of them is an approximation to Crank's equation with 3–figure accuracy and it approximates to Wilson's epuation very closely for high values of fractional equilibrium exhaustion (E), E > 0. 95. Two other polynomials approximate to Wilson's equation very well in the ranges 0. 95 > EX). 76 and 0. 76 > E > 0. 30 respectively. The polynomials derived here only include up to second order terms, so that by using the equations which are obtained by solving the polynomials for diffusion coefficient (D), D can easily be calculated from experimental dye uptake data. By using the polynomial approximation, the changes in rate–of–dyeing of a non–ionic dye on a nylon 6 fibre by addition of a dispersing agent were calculated. Results of the experiment agreed well with the calculated.     

Risk hedging against the fuel price fluctuation in energy service business

Energy service business, or energy service company (ESCO), is expanding among industrial users as a means of energy saving. The ESCO business normally tends to become a long-term operation. During the operation, fluctuations of fuel and electricity costs significantly impact on the stability of the profit from ESCO business. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the risk of fuel and electricity cost fluctuations. Generally, a transaction called “financial derivative” is used as a measure of hedging against the fuel price fluctuation. In the case of ESCO business, it is necessary to manage the risk of both electricity and fuel price fluctuations because the variation in electricity price strongly affects the profit from ESCO as that in fuel price does.     

Memory‐based IMC tuning of PID controllers for nonlinear systems

This paper describes a new memory‐based proportional, integral, derivative (PID) controller design. These PID parameters are tuned by the IMC‐PID method, which is derived from the relationship between the internal model control (IMC) and PID control. The IMC‐PID has a user‐specified parameter that greatly influences the control performance. The authors have already proposed a system identification scheme based on the memory‐based approach. In this paper, a new controller design scheme is discussed, whose system parameters and the corresponding suitable user‐specified parameter are simultaneously computed. Finally, the behavior of the newly proposed control scheme is examined in a simulation example. © 2006 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A generation method of artificial fluctuation data of wind power output considering smoothing effect

To use realistic wind power fluctuation data is important in simulating frequency change of power systems. It is well known that the smoothing effect must be taken into account when generating the artificial wind power output. Therefore, this paper proposed a new method to generate fluctuation waveform considering smoothing effect based on random number to fulfill the correlation among multiple sites and autoregression model. The effectiveness of the proposed method was tested by using practical wind speed data measured in Tohoku district.     

Pollution control of actual flue gas using pulsed power at a thermal power plant

There are several important environmental problems in the world. One of them is acid rain caused by combustion flue gases from thermal power plants, factories, and automobiles. Different kinds of gas discharges, such as surface discharge, dc and ac corona discharge, silent discharge, and electron beam controlled discharge, have been studied for the removal of NO_x and SO₂ from flue gases. The recent development of repetitive pulsed power generators gives the pulsed steamer corona discharges a chance of success in the removal of NO_x and SO₂. In this paper, the experimental results of NO_x and SO₂ removal by a repetitive pulse power generator are described. The actual flue gas at a thermal power plant was used. It is shown that about 90% of the NO was removed at a flow rate of 0.8 liters/min and a repetition rate of 7 pps. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 134(4): 28–35, 2001     

Improvement in learning efficiency of multilayered neural networks based on dynamic systems

This paper proposes a new method which uses the dynamic systems for improving learning efficiency in multilayered neural networks. The shape of the error function is analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation, and the learning efficiency is improved on the basis of the shape analysis and the adaptive learning rate. The proposed method uses the adaptive learning rate which is determined from the gradient of the error function. The proposed method is applied to XOR and 5-bit parity check problems and the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are verified. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 129(4): 77–86, 1999     

Design of multi‐input multi‐output minimum‐phase state control system with decoupling and feedforward compensation

This paper discusses the design of decoupling control for a multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) linear system. A new configuration of the prepositional tandem matrix is presented as a decoupling compensator, and minimum‐phase state control is applied to the resulting decoupled system. In general, non‐minimum‐phase characteristics often accompany decoupled systems. Feedforward compensation makes the non‐minimum‐phase effect of each decoupled scalar system change to the delay time. A numerical example is given for the MIMO linear system, which conventionally results in non‐minimum‐phase systems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 176(2): 53–61, 2011; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21117     

The ac superposition method,a new hot‐line diagnostic method for 6‐kV XLPE power cables

Water trees are the most hazardous factor affecting the life of XLPE distribution cables and the major cause of insulation failure. It is well known that insulation failure causes stoppages in electrical service and requires extensive repair work. Up to now, deterioration of cable insulation has been diagnosed mainly by the dc leakage current method. However, application of this method for diagnostic measurements requires interruption of electrical service. Several types of hot‐line diagnostic methods (including the dc component current and dc superposition methods) were developed to detect water tree deterioration. However, these methods have some shortcomings, such as being subject to effects of stray currents and the accuracy of measurements not being sufficiently high. Therefore, we have attempted to develop a new hot‐line diagnostic method. We investigated whether the signals produced by superposition of voltages of various frequencies to the cover layer of energized cables were correlated with deterioration by the water treeing. As a result, we found that a deterioration signal of 1 Hz was observed when we superposed an ac voltage (commercial frequency × 2 +1 Hz) on the cover layer of cable where the water tree had occurred in the insulation. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(2): 49–58, 2000     

Power loss minimization considering short‐circuit capacity in distribution system with decentralized distributed generation

In the future, a large number of distributed generators are expected to be connected to the distribution system. However, with the connected capacity of distributed generation (DG) increasing, the problems of short‐circuit capacity (SCC) over the interrupting capacity of the circuit breaker (CB) and power loss increases due to reverse power flow from DG are inevitable. In this paper, a reconfiguration methodology based on an optimal algorithm is applied to the distribution system with DG to minimize power loss, taking into account the SCC. Moreover, in order to further reduce the loss, the daily load variation is also considered and the optimal model decided by calculations. Finally, to illustrate its application, the methodology is applied to a case study of a 33‐bus system with decentralized DG units. The results show that this method is obviously able to reduce power loss and make the network operate in the optimal mode with normal load variation, at the same time decreasing the SCC within the interrupting maximum of the faulty CB. Moreover, the whole voltage profile is also improved. © 2012 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Low‐Noise Fully Differential Amplifiers Using JFET‐CMOS Integration Technology for Smart Sensors

In this paper, CMOS‐based low‐noise amplifiers with JFET‐CMOS technology for high‐resolution sensor interface circuits are presented. A differential difference amplifier (DDA) configuration is employed to realize differential signal amplification with very high input impedance, which is required for the front‐end circuit in many sensor applications. Low‐noise JFET devices are used as input pair of the input differential stages or source‐grounded output load devices, which are dominant in the total noise floor of DDA circuits. A fully differential amplifier circuit with pure CMOS DDA and three types of JFET‐CMOS DDAs were fabricated and their noise performances were compared. The results show that the total noise floor of the JFET‐CMOS amplifier was much lower compared to that of the pure CMOS configuration. The noise‐reduction effect of JFET replacement depends on the circuit configuration. The noise reduction effect by JFET device was maximum of about − 18 dB at 2.5 Hz. JFET‐CMOS technology is very effective in improving the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of a sensor interface circuit with CMOS‐based sensing systems. © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.