Power engineering industry interaction at Clemson University

The authors present a successful model of industry/university cooperation in establishing a strong power system curriculum in both the graduate and undergraduate level. Numerous long-term and short-term research projects have been developed to satisfy the university mission and to tackle challenging problems facing the power industry. A unique structure for the Clemson University Electric Power Research Association (CUEPRA) has been established to promote electric power system research and to meet the need for a working communication link between the power industry and the academic community. The power industries involvements in the power program at Clemson University and the strategic improvements that have been accomplished in research and education are outlined     

The pleural thickening approximation from thoracic CT scans

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The involvement of medical imaging in medical procedures plays an important role in the diagnosis and planning of a therapeutic treatment. Computerized...     

Testing the performance of three-phase induction watthour meters inthe presence of harmonic distortion

Computer-based testing of a three-phase induction watthour meter in the presence of harmonic distortion is reported. Two three-phase harmonic generators produce the distorted current and voltage waveforms. Each waveform consists of prespecified harmonic magnitude and phase. Therefore, balanced or unbalanced conditions can be simulated in the testing. A fiber optic sensor is designed to convert the rotation of the disk of the meter into digital signals to be stored in an IBM PC/AT. A data acquisition system transfers the samples of current and voltage waveforms to compute the power and energy for comparison. Presented are: the computer-based harmonic generator facilities for testing, the testing procedure, and the impact of the different harmonics magnitude and phase angle on the meter's registration error     

Tracer Studies in Laboratory Beach Simulating Tidal Influences

Bioremediation of oil spills on tidally influenced beaches commonly involves the addition of a nutrient solution to the contaminated region of the beach at low tide to stimulate the growth of indigenous oil-degrading bacteria. Maximizing the residence time of nutrients in the beach and subsequently their contact time with microorganisms is a main goal for successful bioremediation. Therefore, understanding the effects of the tide on water flow and solute transport in a beach is an essential task for designing a nutrient application strategy. We investigated these effects by conducting a tracer study in a laboratory beach simulating nutrient application on natural beaches. The study consisted of applying, at low tide, a conservative tracer solution onto the beach surface near the high-tide line and monitoring its movement in the beach subsurface. The tidal motion caused the applied plume to move downward and seaward. The downward movement occurred during rising tides, while the seaward movement occurred mainly during falling tides. The results indicate that nutrients should be applied at the high-tide line during low tides. Guidelines for scaling up the results to natural beaches are provided along with an example.     

Harmonic filter design using actual recorded data

This work presents a study of a harmonic filter design that minimizes harmonic distortion caused by harmonic sources such as drives. Several types of shunt harmonic filters are presented. The analysis includes the basic principles, the application of the Z-bus method and the economic aspects affecting the harmonic filter design. Offline steady state simulation programs, namely, V-HARM and HARMFLO, are used to model loads, to study variation of the harmonics, and to evaluate the effect of harmonic filters at various buses in the system. Several existing utility systems are used as test cases to check the performance of the filter. The major objectives in this study are (i) to improve the power factor, (ii) to reduce current and voltage distortion to standard limits, and (iii) to reduce resonance problems at other buses, if any. The transient analysis of harmonic filters using the Electromagnetic Transients Program (EMTP), which is essential to determine proper ratings of the filter components, is also reported     

Effect of harmonic distortion in reactive power measurement

The authors present the effect of harmonics on reactive power measurements and offer a new method for calculating active, reactive apparent, and residual power in nonsinusoidal conditions. The method considers common and uncommon harmonic components of voltage and current waveforms. It properly defines all power components at different harmonic frequencies, such as rotating real power, quadrature power, and the residual power (distortion). Each component is calculated correctly at different frequencies to define its physical meaning. A computer algorithm is developed to calculate all the power components for any distorted voltage and current waveforms     

Effect of BTEX on Degradation of MTBE and TBA by Mixed Bacterial Consortium

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) contamination in groundwater often coexists with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) near the source of the plume. Tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) is a prevalent intermediate of MTBE degradation. Therefore, there is a significant potential for interference of MTBE and TBA degradation by the presence of BTEX whether treatment is in situ or ex situ. In this study, the effect of BTEX on the degradation of MTBE and TBA was examined using a mixed bacterial culture enriched on MTBE and BTEX. In batch studies, the presence of BTEX did not have a significant effect on MTBE degradation, but did have a slight effect on TBA degradation. Under continuous flow conditions, all compounds degraded simultaneously. Normalizing rates to the MTBE loading to the reactor indicates that BTEX may assist in the development of the biomass for TBA and overall MTBE degradation. Using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, several diverse organisms were identified, two of which showed very high similarity with PM1, a known MTBE degrader.