Solar desalination in conjunction with controlled environmental agriculture in Arid zones

There are many factors which favor the juxtaposition of a solar still to a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) greenhouse. A modular, easy on-site construction, low-cost solar still was designed and tested. Its annual average daily productivity and efficiency values were 2.35 l/m² and 30%, respectively. The feasibility of using the CEA greenhouse's hot brackish water reservoir as the still feedstock for enhanced nocturnal production was tested and found to enhance productivity significantly. A total lifecycle cost analysis of the solar still has shown it to be less economical by a factor of 1.25, relative to a small reverse osmosis unit for the CEA farm size considered, in the case of brackish water, whereas, in the case of sea water desalination, the solar still may be more economical.     

Effect of water on monetite synthesis in the solid state

Synthesis of calcium hydrogen phosphate CaHPO₄ can be carried out with a milling apparatus into which solid calcium dihydrogen phosphate Ca(H₂PO₄)₂.H₂O and tricalcium phosphate Ca₃(PO₄)₂.1/6H₂O mixtures are introduced. The effect of water vapor pressure P_H2O on this reaction has been investigated. At a given temperature (60°C) the curves of degree of conversion as a function of milling time depend on P_H2O. Formation of brushite CaHPO₄.2H₂O during the course of reaction can be noted for a particular range of water vapor pressure.If some amounts of brushite are added to the initial mixture, the kinetics of the reaction developed under water vapor are increased. Experiments on the evolution of products after a milling treatment give evidence of the important dependence of the reaction rate on water vapor pressure.     

铜-R22分离式热管传热特性的试验研究

采用铜管模拟分离式热管蒸发段,以R22为工质,在热流密度1～5 kW/m2、蒸发温度30～60℃和蒸发段倾角10°～90°范围内,研究了这种分离式热管的传热特性.分析了热管的启动特性以及热流密度、蒸发段倾角和充液率对其传热特性的影响.结果发现:以R22为工质的分离式热管具有良好的启动性,蒸发段合理的充液率为80%～100%,在试验参数范围内,热流密度、蒸发段倾角和充液率对热管的传热性能没有明显影响.     

多壁碳纳米管催化剂合成环氧化端羟基聚丁二烯

采用超声法将甲基三辛基氯化铵(A336)接枝在羟基多壁碳纳米管(MWCNT)表面,制备了A336/MWCNT催化剂。用傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)和热重分析仪(TGA)表征了其结构。研究了其催化端羟基聚丁二烯(HTPB)合成环氧化端羟基聚丁二烯(EHTPB)的反应性能。结果表明,A336成功通过氨基与羰基的配位作用接枝在MWCNT表面,A336/MWCNT催化活性好、稳定性高、区域选择性强。催化反应4h时,HTPB环化度达25%,催化剂循环利用三次,HTPB环化度无明显下降,HTPB中反式1,4—CC的反应选择性较A336催化剂提高14.4%。     

Developing a Simplified Analytical Thermal Model of Multi-chip Power Module

The study of the thermal behavior of power modules has become a necessity regarding the known rapid development in modern power electronics, and the prediction of temperature variation has generally been performed using transient thermal equivalent circuits. In this paper we have developed a simplified analytical thermal model of a power hybrid module. This analytical method is used to evaluate the thermal parameters of a device. The model takes into account the thermal mutual influence between the different module chips based on the analytical method. The thermal interaction between components is dependent on the boundary condition, the dissipated power value in the different components and the number of operating chips constituting the module. This effect is modelled as a source energy and a thermal resistance simply computed tanks to reasonably low measurement applied on the module. The derived thermal models offer an excellent trade-off between accuracy, efficiency and CPU-cost.     

Solution processable PEDOT:PSS based hybrid electrodes for organic field effect transistors

We report high performance solution processed conductive inks used as contact electrodes for printed organic field effect transistors (OFETs). Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) electrodes show highly improved very low sheet resistance of 65.8 ± 6.5 Ω/square (Ω/□) by addition of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and post treatment with methanol (MeOH) solvent. Sheet resistance was further improved to 33.8 ± 8.6 Ω/□ by blending silver nanowire (AgNW) with DMSO doped PEDOT:PSS. Printed OFETs with state of the art diketopyrrolopyrrole-thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DPPT-TT) semiconducting polymer were demonstrated with various solution processable conductive inks, including bare, MeOH treated PEDOT:PSS, single wall carbon nanotubes, and hybrid PEDOT:PSS-AgNW, as the source and drain (S/D) electrode by spray printing using a metal shadow mask. The highest field effect mobility, 0.49 ± 0.03 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ for DPPT-TT OFETs, was obtained using blended AgNW with DMSO doped PEDOT:PSS S/D electrode.     

Ku band damage characteristics of GaAs pHEMT induced by a front-door coupling microwave pulse

A study on the damage effect of a GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (pHEMT) low-noise amplifier (LNA) induced by a Ku-band microwave is presented in this paper based on an experiment and simulation study. The experimental results suggest that the burn-out in the first stage is responsible for the LNA damage. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to observe the damage situation and compare the element composition before and after the high power microwave (HPM) injection. It is found that the gate metal is melted as a result of heat generation. The location beneath the gate near the source side is badly burned and splashes out. A detail simulation is performed by establishing a two-dimensional electric-thermal model considering several physical models and thermal parameters using the simulator Sentaurus-TCAD. The results show that the burn-out location is consistent with the experiment findings. Meanwhile, a temperature elevation occurs in both the positive and negative half cycles. Moreover, the damage to pHEMT shows the working voltage dependence, and the burn-out time increases with the increase in drain voltage.     

Ultraviolet photoresponse of ZnO nanostructured AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

We present the first active visible blind ultraviolet (UV) photodetector based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructured AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs). The ZnO nanorods (NRs) are selectively grown on the gate area by using hydrothermal method. It is shown that ZnO nanorod (NR)-gated UV detectors exhibit much superior performance in terms of response speed and recovery time to those of seed-layer-gated detectors. It is also found that the best response speed (~10 and~190 ms) and responsivity (~1.1×10⁵ A/W) were observed from detectors of the shortest gate length of 2 µm among our NR-gated devices of three different gate dimensions, and this responsivity is about one order higher than the best performance of ZnO NR-based UV detectors reported to date.     

Pressure-assisted self-assembly technique for fabricating composite membranes consisting of highly ordered selective laminate layers of amphiphilic graphene oxide

We prepare highly ordered flexible layers of graphene oxide (GO) on modified polyacrylonitrile substrates by the pressure-assisted self-assembly technique. This composite membrane shows excellent performance during the pervaporation separation of a 70 wt.% isopropyl alcohol (IPA)/water mixture: 99.5 wt% water in permeate and 2047 g m⁻² h⁻¹ permeation flux. Despite the specific GO deposition increase from 4.3 to 43.3 × 10⁻⁵ g cm⁻² (ninefold layer thickness growth), its effect on the permeation flux is not significant, as manifested by only a little decrease in the flux. At 70 °C feed temperature, the permeate water concentration remains 99.5 wt% and the permeation flux reaches 4137 g m⁻² h⁻¹. The high selectivity may be due to the dense GO film consisting of highly ordered and packed laminates, allowing water but inhibiting IPA molecules to pass through. GO is demonstrated to be amphiphilic: water molecules adsorb first at the hydrophilic edge (hydroxides) and then rapidly diffuse through the hydrophobic core (mainly carbon), forming a water passage channel that promotes high permeation flux. When water molecules permeate through the GO layers, they accumulate and form a monolayer structure that pushes the successive layers away from each other, leading to widening of the d-spacing.