Practical method for generation expansion planning based on dynamic programming

This paper presents an efficient method which provides the optimal generation mix and the optimal generation construction process. The approximation method in which the dynamic programming technique and gradient method are combined is applied to determine the optimal generation mix with hydropower generation technologies. The successive approximations dynamic programming (SADP) technique, which is very suitable for high-dimensional multistage decision process problems, is used for obtaining the optimal generation construction process. The effectiveness and feasibility of the developed technique are demonstrated on a practical power system model which has five types of generation technologies including a hydropower generation technology.     

Analysis of lightning surge propagation in wind farm

Wind power generation is expected to become more important in future distribution systems. Although several prospective reports such as IEC 61400‐24 and NREL SR‐500‐31115 indicate an insulation scheme and grounding design for lighting protection, there still seems to be too few investigations on the problems. This paper therefore discusses lightning surge analysis using a wind farm model with 2 or 10 ideal wind turbines. Changing parameters such as grounding resistance and lightning strike points, several cases were studied. As a result of the analysis using digital simulator ARENE, it is clear that the surge tends to propagate toward the end of a distribution line in a wind farm and there is the possibility of insulation accidents at the other wind turbines when lightning attacks a wind turbine. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 162(2): 30– 38, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20364     

Young’s modulus of crystalline C60 nanotubes studied by in situ transmission electron microscopy

Bending tests of crystalline nanotubes composed of fullerene C₆₀ molecules are performed inside a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. We fixed one side of a C₆₀ nanotube with a body-centered tetragonal structure with typical inner and outer diameters, i.e., 180 nm and 510 nm, respectively, and then applied concentrated forces on the other side using piezomanipulation of a silicon nanotip. The bending process was observed in situ by transmission electron microscopy with simultaneous measurements of the forces by an optical deflection method. It was found that the Young’s modulus of the nanotube was estimated to be 62–107 GPa, which was 1.1–3.3 times larger than that of C₆₀ nanowhiskers. The result concerning the increase in the Young’s modulus of the C₆₀ nanotube provided an experimental evidence for the structural model composed of an inner core and a surface shell for C₆₀ nanowhiskers.     

Basic concept and decentralized autonomous control of super‐distributed energy systems

New small‐scale dispersed generation systems, such as fuel cells and micro gas turbines, have made remarkable advances lately and they will be applied practically in the near future. Although a large number of researches on the introduction of small‐scale dispersed generation systems have been carried out, only a small number of small‐scale dispersed generation systems are considered in these researches. Therefore, little is known about problems to be solved when a large number of small‐scale dispersed generation systems are introduced into electric power systems. This paper deals with a super‐distributed energy system that consists of a great number of dispersed generation systems such as fuel cells, micro gas turbines, and so on. The behavior of a customer with a dispersed generation system is simulated as the Ising model in statistical mechanics. The necessity of a distribution network in super‐distributed energy systems is discussed based on the Ising model. The feasibility of decentralized autonomous control using vicinity information is also investigated on the basis of stability analysis of the Hopfield neural network model. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 151(1): 43–55, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10368     

Flexible generation mix under multi objectives and uncertainties

Criteria for evaluating flexibility of a generation mix are presented, and an efficient computational algorithm for determining a flexible generation mix considering uncertainties in the power system expansion planning is developed. The flexible generation mix problem is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem and solved by the dynamic programming technique in which type of generation plant is selected as a stage and generation capacity is selected as a state. The proposed method can treat easily not only the uncertainties but also many constraints of generation planning such as integer solutions of generation capacities, reliability constraints, and so on. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method are demonstrated on a typical power system model     

Interactive curvilinear reformatting in native space

Curvilinear reformatting of 3D magnetic resonance imaging data has been recognized by the medical community as a helpful noninvasive tool for displaying the cerebral anatomy. It consists of automatically creating, with respect to a reference surface, a series of equidistant curvilinear slices at progressively deeper cuts. In comparison with planar slices, it allows more precise localization of lesions and identification of subtle structural abnormalities. However, current curvilinear reformatting tools either rely on the time-consuming manual delineation of guiding curves on 2D slices, or require costly automatic brain segmentation procedures. In addition, they extract the skin and skull, impeding a precise topographic correlation between the location of the brain lesion and skin surface. This impairs planning of craniotomy for neurosurgery, and of the appropriate implantation of electrodes for intracranial electroencephalography in presurgical evaluation. In this work, we present a novel approach based on direct manipulation of the visualized volume data. By using a 3D painting metaphor, the reference surface can be defined incrementally, according to the principle that the user interacts with what she/he sees. As a response, an animation of the reformatting process is displayed. The focus of this paper is a new volume tagging algorithm behind user interactions. It works at an interactive frame rate on current graphics hardware.     

Electrochromic properties of alkylviologen-cyclodextrin systems

Electrochromic properties of methyl, ethyl, n-hexyl and n-heptyl viologens, and -, -, -cyclodextrin systems were studied using cyclic voltammetry and absorption spectroscopy. Colourations of red-violet ( _max = 530 or 560 nm), blue ( _max = 600nm) and light purple ( _max = 560 and 600 nm) could be obtained by changing the length of the alkyl chain of viologens or the radius of cyclodextrin. The intermolecular interaction between viologen radicals is weakened when the radicals form inclusion complexes so the blue colour inherent in the monomer of viologen radical appears. The red-violet colour is ascribed to the dimer of the reduced viologen. With the addition of -cyclodextrin, viologens were found to be included as dimer. The light purple colour is ascribed to the mixed colour of the monomer and the dimer. Furthermore, since the ratio of monomer and dimer depends upon the concentration of cyclodextrin, any colour between the red-violet of the dimer and the blue of the monomer can be obtained by adjusting the concentration of cyclodextrin. The redox reaction of an inclusion complex was found to depend upon the length of the alkyl viologen and the size of the cavity in cyclodextrin.     

Research on machine recognition of handprinted characters

Machine recognition of handprinted Chinese characters has recently become very active in Japan. Both from the practical and the academic point of view, very encouraging results are reported. The work is described systematically and analyzed in terms of so-called feature matching, which is likely to be the mainstream of the research and development of machine recognition of handprinted Chinese characters. A database, ETL8 (881 Kanji, 71 hirakana, and 160 variations for each category), is explained, on which many experiments were performed. Recognition rates reported using this database can be compared, and so somewhat qualitative evaluation of these methods is described. Based on the comparative study, the merits and demerits of both feature and structural matching are discussed and some future directions are mentioned.