Comparative studies on Ar and He closed-cycle MHD power plants combined with fossil fuel

Comparative studies on Ar and He closed-cycle MHD power plants combined with fossil fuel are performed. The sizes of a regenerative heat exchanger and a boiler are expected to be smaller for He than for Ar. The pressure loss of a working gas in a regenerative heat exchanger is reduced for He. The purification subsystem for He is expected to be more compact and economical than that for Ar; but a larger compressor is required for He than for Ar.     

Design optimization of tall tubular lead/acid cells based on an analysis of the reaction distribution

In order to estimate the discharge performance of tall lead/acid cells (with tubular positives), changes in current and potential distributions with discharge progress were calculated with a computer on the basis of plate resistance and the current—potential—time relationship between small facing parts of positive and negative plates. The taller the cell, the larger the voltage drop along the plates. Thus, the discharge time became shorter despite a large amount of available active mass remaining in the bottom part of the plates.Various current-collector designs were evaluated, e.g., one with varying resistance at each height; a side conductor placed along the plates and connected to them at the top, centre and bottom, etc. Results revealed an optimum collector design with which the maximum discharge capacity could be obtained. Furthermore, it was shown that the side conductor markedly improved the discharge performance because the active mass near the connecting parts was appreciably used.     

Discharge behaviour of electrodeposited PbO2 and Pb electrodes

The discharge behaviour of electrodeposited lead dioxide and lead electrodes was investigated under various conditions; the surfaces of the discharged electrodes were observed with a scanning electron microscope. Both the positive and negative electrodes were passivated by a covering of deposited lead sulphate crystals. The amount of lead sulphate required for passivation depended on the size of the crystals.     

Multiobjective dynamic load-dispatching method for optimal operation of power systems

A new practical method is proposed which gives a quasi-optimal solution of the dynamic load-dispatching problem formulated by a multiconstraint multiobjective optimization problem. Here, the multiple constraints are rate reserve constraints and power flow ones, and the multiple objectives are fuel cost and CO₂ emission. The proposed method is an integration of the following three techniques: (1) “Group Dispatch Scheme,” which is developed by the authors, is used to satisfy a violated constraint easily. This scheme consists of three steps. The first step is to classify all generators into two groups. One is the group which should be more loaded to satisfy the violated constraint, and the other is the should-be less loaded group. The second step is to add some load to the former group, and to subtract the same load from the latter. The third step is to dispatch each group load to each groups generators, respectively; (2) the dynamic load-dispatching algorithm is used which provides, in practical time, quasi-optimal generation trajectories; (3) the conventional weighting parametric method is used to obtain a Pareto optimal solution of multiobjective problems. The effectiveness of the method is clarified by a computer simulation on the actual power system of Kansai Electric Power Company.     

Co-crosslinking blend of incompatible polymers VI: Poly(vinyl chloride) toughened with polyethylene via a co-crosslinking technique

A binary blend which consists of two incompatible polymers such as poly(vinyl chloride) and polyethylene has been performed through a partial co-crosslinking reaction with peroxide to give a co-crosslinked blend with a uniform dispersion of small polyethylene particles and with an improved mechanical property. The results are obtained through the formation of a co-crosslinked product which acts as a potential solid phase dispersant as well as a well-bonded reinforcing interlayer on polyethylene particles uniformly dispersed in poly(vinyl chloride) matrix. The resulting blends (PVC/PE=10/90 wt) give carbon spherules of 0.5 to 1m diameter through pressure-carbonization at 650° C for 1 h.     

The degradation of polystyrene during extrusion

An investigation was made of the magnitude and mechanism of shear degradation of a narrow distribution, high molecular weight (M_w = 670,000) polystyrene. An Instron rheometer was used to perform the extrusion at temperatures from 164° to 250°C. The change in molecular weight distribution was studied by gel permeation chromatography. The maximum shear stress employed was 5.83 kg/cm². It was found that degradation could be induced at high stress at temperatures of 50°C lower than degradation of polystyrene would occur exclusively due to thermal forces. An activation energy for the degradation, calculated at constant shear rate, was +20.2 kcal/mole. The direction and magnitude of this value are consistent with degradation induced through a mechanical reduced activation for thermal degradation.     

Effect of Composition and Size of Crystallite on Crystal Phase in Lead Barium Titanate

Lead titanate, barium titanate, and lead barium titanate powders (>99.9% pure), the particle size of which varied from 0.03 to 0.15 μm depending on the calcination temperature and the composition, was prepared from barium lead titanyl oxalate, which was previously prepared by reacting high-purity ammonium titanyl oxalate with barium and lead acetate. The critical crystallite size of BaTiO₃ powder from the cubic to the tetragonal phase is around 1 μm. Pb_0.3Ba_0.7TiO₃ powder with an average size of 0.057 μm showed the tetragonal phase.     

Stabilization of poly(vinyl chloride). I. Change in color of poly(vinyl chloride) compounded with some metal soaps

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) with one or more metal salts added was colored by the action of heat to investigate the stabilization mechanism. The coloration and the color difference of heated PVC compound films varied according to the metal salt added. The decoloration of the colored compound films was advanced markedly in THF, DMF, acetone, and ammonia. On the other hand, the heated achromatic PVC film containing Cd/Ba soaps underwent an opposite change, from colorless to yellow orange, in the above materials. This means that the coloration of heated compound films may result from the formation of some complex (for example, π complex of the polyene with the metal chloride). Furthermore, the colored film with cadmium stearate was decolored by roll mixing with the colored film containing barium stearate. These results indicate that the stabilization with metal soaps may be founded on a physical phenomenon such aa an effect of complementary color.     

Generation of multifrequency laser emission quasi equally spaced throughout the entire visible region

A circularly polarized, monochromatic laser beam is focused into a Raman cell, which contains hydrogen to generate rotational stimulated Raman emission. After linear polarization, this two-color (separated by 587 cm(-1)) laser beam is focused several times into a second Raman cell that is filled with hydrogen to generate a multifrequency laser emission. Many rotational and vibrational lines are generated efficiently by this multipass effect. Eighteen colors that are quasi equally spaced with a rather flat intensity distribution are generated throughout the entire visible region. The present multifrequency laser emission may be advantageously used for illumination in a higher-grade display, such as a laser light show.     

Chemical doping and improved flux pinning in Hg-based superconductors

Chemical doping of a small amount (0.020.3) of rhenium (Re) ion into HgBa₂Ca_n–1Cu_nO_y(n=14) has been studied. The flux pinning strength in these Hg-based superconductors is significantly enhanced compared to the undoped parent materials. Neutron diffraction analysis of representative samples (n=3) revealed that Re partially substitutes the Hg-site with octahedrally fully coordinated oxygen atoms, giving rise to the stabilization of Hg(Re)O layer and reduction of this blocking layer thickness. Associated with the expected hybridization of Re-5d and O-2p orbitals and possible metallization of the Hg(Re)O layer, the improved flux pinning behavior is considered to be caused by the decrease of the electromagnetic anisotropy and the enhanced interlayer superconducting coupling strength.