Prediction of the daily performance of solar collectors

This paper presents the application of an online identification neural technique to the prediction of the in-situ daily performance of solar collectors. First, it is shown that the use of the Laplace transform helps to find the order of an approximated model; the input of the studied system being the solar radiation. Then it is shown that a Neural Network Output Error (NNOE) model can be accurate using the right size of the regression vector; the learning database consisting of the data obtained during a half day. Finally, it is shown that a Multiple Inputs Single Output (MISO) NNOE model can be accurate; the inputs being the solar radiation and the thermal heat loss conductance that varies with the wind velocity. In any case the differential between the actual value of the daily energy and the value computed by a neural model (SISO—Single Input Single Output) or MISO) is less than 0.5%.     

New encapsulation development for fine pitch IC devices

The continuous reduction of chip size driven by the market demand has a significant impact on circuit design and assembly process of IC packages. Shrinking chip size and increasing I/O counts require finer bond pad pitch and bond pad size for circuitry layout. As a result, serious wire deflection during transfer molding process could make adjacent wires short, and this issue becomes more critical as a smaller wire diameter has to be applied for the finer pitch wire bonded IC devices.This paper presents a new encapsulation process development for 50 μm fine pitch plastic ball grid array package. Since reduced wire diameter decreases the bending strength of bonded wires significantly, wire deflection during molding process becomes quite serious and critical. Experiments on conventional transfer molding were conducted to evaluate wire span threshold with 23.0 μm diameter gold wire. The results show that the wire span threshold is about 4.1 mm, which is much shorter than the wire span threshold of over 5.0 mm for wire with 25.4 μm diameter. Finite element analysis shows there is a significant difference in the wire deflection between 23.0 μm gold wire and 25.4 μm gold wire diameter under the same action of mold flow. A novel encapsulation method is introduced using non-sweep solution. The wire span could be extended to over 5.0 mm with wire sweep less than 1%. Reliability tests conducted showed that all the units passed 1000 temperature cycles (−55 to 125 °C) with JEDEC moisture sensitivity level 2a (60 °C/60% relative humidity for 120 h) and 3 times reflow (peak temperature at 220–225 °C). It is believed that this solution could efficiently overcome the risk of wire short issues and improve the yield of ultra fine pitch wire bonds in high-volume production.     

CuAlO2 powder dispersed in composite gel electrolyte for application in quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cells

The use of delafossite CuAlO₂ (CAO) powder as an additive in composite gel electrolyte (CGE) of the quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is first reported. In order to achieve an improvement of power conversion and long-term performance of the quasi-solid state DSSC, different contents of CAO powder containing in CGE, a mixture of polyethylene glycol (PEG), iodide/tri-iodide (I⁻/I₃⁻) liquid electrolyte (LE) and 4-tertbutylpyridine (4-tBP), were used in the present study. The photocurrent density–voltage characteristic (J–V curve) and photovoltaic performance parameters of the cells, such as the short-circuit current density (J_sc), open-circuit voltage (V_oc), power conversion efficiency (η) and fill factor (FF) were investigated. The CGE containing the dispersed CAO powder exhibited high ionic conductivity due to the charge diffusion through free channels. The power conversion efficiency of the quasi-solid state DSSC was significantly improved by adding CAO powder to the CGE. The optimum CAO powder content in the CGE was 0.05 wt%. In this research, the power conversion efficiency was 1.71 times of the LE and 2.85 times of the CGE with no CAO powder adding. The quasi-solid state DSSC based on the addition of CAO powder to CGE had long-term stability better than the normal DSSC based on the LE.     

工艺参数对磁控溅射WO_3薄膜电致变色性能的影响

本文采用磁控溅射法制备了用于电致变色器件的WO_3薄膜,用X射线衍射仪(XRD)、场发射扫描电镜(FE-SEM)、紫外-可见分光光度计(UV-Vis)对其物相组成、微观形貌以及电致变色性能进行了表征。结果表明:在溅射压强为2 Pa、氩氧比为60:20时所制备的WO_3薄膜厚度适中,且有利于离子的嵌入/脱出,而以此薄膜制备的电致变色器件光调制范围最大,褪色时间最短,着色效率达82.9 cm~2/C。     

基于自适应模糊滑模控制的机器人轨迹跟踪算法

针对控制参数的不确定性以及存在未知外部扰动情况下移动机器人的轨迹跟踪问题,提出一种基于光滑非线性饱和函数的自适应模糊滑模轨迹跟踪控制算法。通过建立不确定非线性移动机器人运动控制模型,利用自适应模糊逻辑系统构建自适应模糊滑模控制器。为了增强轨迹跟踪控制算法对随机不确定外部扰动适应能力的同时削弱滑模控制算法中的输入抖振现象,利用有界输入有界输出(BIBO)稳定的方法,通过带有自适应调节算法的模糊系统对滑模控制律中非线性函数项进行自适应逼近,并设计了模糊系统中可调参数的自适应控制律,保证了控制系统的稳定与收敛。实验结果表明,所设计的控制器对系统参数不确定性和外界扰动均具有较强的轨迹跟踪性能和鲁棒性。与传统的滑模控制算法相比,该算法不仅能有效减小输入抖振而且轨迹跟踪控制精度提高了18.89%。     

Actively Q-switched fiber lasers: Switching dynamics and nonlinear processes

The Q-switching characteristics of actively Q-switched fiber lasers, especially the inconsistency of experimental observations with traditional Q-switching theory, are reviewed first in this paper. Based on a few typical high-power Q-switched rare-earth-doped fiber lasers, the switching dynamics in the linear and ring fiber cavities is then systematically illustrated under different fiber, pumping and switching conditions by using the traveling wave method, which leads to a new understanding of Q-switched fiber lasers. In particular, the switching-induced perturbation and its influence on the Q-switched outputs are emphasized, and some experimental demonstrations are shown for the purpose of comparison. Nonlinearity is an important concern in these lasers due to the high-power optical pulses confined in small fiber cores. In the second part of this paper, some nonlinear effects, such as self-phase modulation (SPM), four-wave mixing (FWM), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), in Q-switched fiber lasers are discussed. In particular, their temporal and spectral influences on the Q-switched outputs are analyzed experimentally and theoretically. These theoretical analyses and experimental demonstrations provide a complete picture of the switching dynamics and optical nonlinear processes in Q-switched fiber lasers, and are hence important for laser optimization and control.     

Temperature-dependent ambipolar electrical characteristics of pentacene-based thin-film transistors: The impact of opposite-sign charge carriers

The temperature-dependent electrical and charge transport characteristics of pentacene-based ambipolar thin-film transistors (TFTs) were investigated at temperatures ranging from 77 K to 300 K. At room temperature (RT), the pentacene-based TFTs exhibit balanced and high charge mobility with electron (μ_e) and hole (μ_h) mobilities, both at about 1.6 cm²/V s. However, at lower temperatures, higher switch-on voltage of n-channel operations, almost absent n-channel characteristics, and strong temperature dependence of μ_e indicated that electrons were more difficult to release from opposite-signed carriers than that of holes. We observed that μ_e and μ_h both followed an Arrhenius-type temperature dependence and exhibited two regimes with a transition temperature at approximately 210–230 K. At high temperatures, data were explained by a model in which charge transport was limited by a dual-carrier release and recombination process, which is an electric field-assisted thermal-activated procedure. At T < 210 K, the observed activation energy is in agreement with unipolar pentacene-based TFTs, suggesting a common multiple trapping and release process-dominated mechanism. Different temperature-induced characteristics between n- and p-channel operations are outlined, thereby providing important insights into the complexity of observing efficient electron transport in comparison with the hole of ambipolar TFTs.     

Effect of lithium and silver diffusion in single-stack and tandem OLED devices

A study of metal (Li, Ag) diffusion has been carried out in an archetypal OLED device based on N,N′-di(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine|tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum|4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (NPB|Alq₃|Bphen). Using single-stack and two-stack tandem OLED structures with variations of layer thicknesses and metal layer placements, we have found that Ag vapor-deposited on Alq₃ layer can diffuse or penetrate deep into Alq₃, up to ∼2,000 Å, causing luminescence quenching. This diffusion can be substantially prevented by a thin layer of Li or Bphen deposited on Alq₃ prior to the deposition of Ag. In contrast, Li diffusion in either Alq₃ or Bphen is limited to about 50–100 Å. Li appears to be able to diffuse into Bphen irrespective of the order of Li and Bphen depositions.