Fabrication and electroosmotic flow measurements in micro- and nanofluidic channels

An easy method for fabricating micro- and nanofluidic channels, entirely made of a thermally grown silicon dioxide is presented. The nanochannels are up to 1-mm long and have widths and heights down to 200 nm, whereas the microfluidic channels are 20-μm wide and 4.8-μm high. The nanochannels are created at the interface of two silicon wafers. Their fabrication is based on the expansion of growing silicon dioxide and the corresponding reduction in channel cross-section. The embedded silicon dioxide channels were released and are partially freestanding. The transparent and hydrophilic silicon dioxide channel system could be spontaneously filled with aqueous, fluorescent solution. The electrical resistances of the micro- and nanofluidic channel segments were calculated and the found values were confirmed by current measurements. Electrical field strengths up to 600 V/cm were reached within the nanochannels when applying a potential of only 10 V. Electroosmotic flow (EOF) measurements through micro- and nanofluidic channel systems resulted in electroosmotic mobilities in the same order of those encountered in regular, fused silica capillaries.     

HTGR reactor physics and fuel cycle studies

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) appears as a good candidate for the next generation of nuclear power plants. In the “HTR-N” project of the European Union Fifth Framework Program, analyses have been performed on a number of conceptual HTGR designs, derived from reference pebble-bed and hexagonal block-type HTGR types. It is shown that several HTGR concepts are quite promising as systems for the incineration of plutonium and possibly minor actinides.These studies were mainly concerned with the investigation and intercomparison of the plutonium and actinide burning capabilities of a number of HTGR concepts and associated fuel cycles, with emphasis on the use of civil plutonium from spent LWR uranium fuel (first generation Pu) and from spent LWR MOX fuel (second generation Pu). Besides, the “HTR-N” project also included activities concerning the validation of computational tools and the qualification of models. Indeed, it is essential that validated analytical tools are available in the European nuclear community to perform conceptual design studies, industrial calculations (reload calculations and the associated core follow), safety analyses for licensing, etc., for new fuel cycles aiming at plutonium and minor actinide (MA) incineration/transmutation without multi-reprocessing of the discharged fuel.These validation and qualification activities have been centred round the two HTGR systems currently in operation, viz. the HTR-10 and the HTTR. The re-calculation of the HTTR first criticality with a Monte Carlo neutron transport code now yields acceptable correspondence with experimental data. Also calculations by 3D diffusion theory codes yield acceptable results. Special attention, however, has to be given to the modelling of neutron streaming effects. For the HTR-10 the analyses focused on first criticality, temperature coefficients and control rod worth. Also in these studies a good correspondence between calculation and experiment is observed for the 3D diffusion theory codes.     

The excitation power density effect on the Si nanocrystals photoluminescence

In the present work we have studied the photoluminescence (PL) behavior from Si nanocrystals (NCs) as a function of the excitation power density and annealing time. The NCs were produced in a SiO₂ matrix by Si implantations from room temperature (RT) up to 700 °C, followed by post-annealing in N₂ atmosphere at high temperature. With this aim we have changed the excitation power density (from 2 × 10⁻³ W/cm² up to 15 W/cm²) and the annealing time (from 10 min up to 15 h). The strong PL signal, which at 15 W/cm² is composed by a single-peak structure (650–1000 nm) centered at around 780 nm, expands up to 1200 nm showing a two-peak structure when measured at 20 × 10⁻³ W/cm². The peak structure located at the short wavelength side is kept at 780 nm, while the second peak, starting at around 900 nm, redshifts and increases its intensity with the implantation temperature and annealing time. The effect of the annealing time on the PL spectra behavior measured at low excitation power agrees by the first time with the Si NC growth according to quantum confinement effects.     

混合二极管箝位多电平变换器的拓扑结构研究

二极管箝位多电平变换器在控制功率的双向流动方面有优势．因而在中压变频调速领域和交流柔性供电系统中有着良好的应用前景。将经典二极管箝位多电平变换器中的每个箝位二极管中性点，用1个两电平逆变器桥臂和电容并联单元代替，得到了所谓的混合二极管箝位多电平变换器，在相同电平数的条件下，所使用的箝位二极管的数目有所减少，适用于对波形质量要求较高的中压功率变换场合。分析了电路的工作机理，采用电力电子专用仿真软件PSIM6和特定谐波消除脉宽调制控制策略，对所提的混合二极管箝位多电平变换器进行了仿真研究．仿真结果证明了所提拓扑的有效性。     

隔爆型设备的新型材料--为安全避免火焰传播,采用多孔材料

用于危险场所的电气设备和保护系统按指令94／9／EC要求，必须设计为防爆型。按防爆要求，设备或保护系统，无论是在正常运行时或故障状态下，不能成为点燃源。在防爆技术发展的进程中，研究出了各种各样的保护方式，这些保护方式在欧洲协调标准中都有相应的规定。在一些保护方式中，如浇封型“m”，充砂型“q”，正压型“p”和油浸型“o”，采用适当的设计方法(保护措施)可以阻止可能产生点燃源的电气装置的部件与爆炸性环境接触；在增安型“e”和本安型“i”中，     

一种适用于模块并联的同步整流驱动电路

该文提出一种适用于模块并联工作的高效率的同步整流驱动电路。采用这种驱动电路，同步整流的波形和驱动损耗可以做到和自驱动一样的效果，同时又解决了多个模块并联时会产生短路的问题。此外，采用这种驱动电路还可以调节驱动电压幅度的高低。文中从时域和频域两个角度对此电路进行了详细的原理分析。采用所推荐驱动电路的36～75V输入，1．8V／60A输出，四分之一砖标准的模块电源效率高达90％以上。最后，仿真结果验证了该电路调节同步整流驱动电压幅度的功能。     

多环电网方向保护整定计算中形成有向简单回路的新方法

在高压或超高压电网的距离保护和零序保护的整定计算过程中，首先要确定全网的最小断点集(MBPS)，然后在断点集的保护安装处打开断点，使得全网变为辐射网络。其中，多环复杂电网中有向简单回路的确定是求解最小断点集的关键，也是其必要步骤之一。为了最大限度地减少多环复杂电网中有向简单回路的计算复杂性，该文提出了一种保护依赖度和主／后备保护依赖集的新概念：将所有有向简单回路的形成过程归结为环网中所有保护依赖度大小的比较和保护依赖集的不完全深度优先搜寻过程。通过比较保护依赖度的大小来确定每次方向回路搜索的起始点，并通过对保护依赖集的深度优先搜索来确定所有有向简单回路。该方法能统一处理环网中的‘T’形接线、辐射线路等保护的配合问题。算例表明该方法简单有效，显著地降低了计算的复杂性，可方便地应用于高压或超高压电网的距离保护和零序保护的整定计算。     

From LDPE to XLPE: investigating the change of electrical properties. Part I. space charge, conduction and lifetime

This paper discusses the results of space charge, conduction current and electrical lifetime measurements performed on widely-used materials for electrical insulation, that is, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Space charge accumulation profiles were compared in LDPE, low density polyethylene plus antioxidant (LDPE+AO) and XLPE, with consideration of thermal treatment effects in LDPE and XLPE. Significant variation (decrease) of accumulated space charge and apparent mobility, as well as slight decrease of conduction current, can be seen going from LDPE to LDPE+AO and XLPE, which may be associated with formation of deeper trap levels (or an increase of their density). On the contrary, electrical life under AC voltage does not show significant differences from LDPE to XLPE. This latter result underlines that life under high AC electrical stress is mostly determined by defects (weak points) rather than material characteristics associated with charge injection and transport.     

A multilevel relaxation algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping

This paper addresses the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) by a mobile robot. An incremental SLAM algorithm is introduced that is derived from multigrid methods used for solving partial differential equations. The approach improves on the performance of previous relaxation methods for robot mapping, because it optimizes the map at multiple levels of resolution. The resulting algorithm has an update time that is linear in the number of estimated features for typical indoor environments, even when closing very large loops, and offers advantages in handling nonlinearities compared with other SLAM algorithms. Experimental comparisons with alternative algorithms using two well-known data sets and mapping results on a real robot are also presented.     

Path-following control of mobile robots in presence of uncertainties

This paper presents, in detail, the implementation of a new control strategy, Kalman-based active observer controller (AOB), for the path following of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) subject to nonholonomic constraints. This control strategy presents some particularities as being used in discrete mode, and being robust against uncertainties and disturbances such as the ones due to the use of the input-output feedback-linearization method in discrete mode, while it was developed to be used in continuous mode. The performance of the proposed control algorithm is verified via computer simulation, and is compared with other control strategies, such as pole placement controller (PPC) and PPC with a Kalman filter observer (CKF).