Effect of power interchange operation of multiple household gas engine cogeneration systems on energy-saving

The effect of power interchange operation of multiple household gas engine cogeneration systems (H-GCGS) on the energy-saving is investigated using an optimization approach based on the mixed-integer linear programming. In this power interchange operation, electricity generated by H-GCGS is shared among households in a housing complex without transmitting to a commercial electric power system so that the operating time of these systems may increase. This paper numerically analyzes optimal operational strategies for 20 households and three types of household energy supply configurations: the power interchange operation of the H-GCGSs (IC), stand-alone operation of each H-GCGSs (SA), and conventional energy supply system without the H-GCGSs. A numerical result clarifies the effectiveness of the power interchange operation from the energy-saving viewpoint and a dominant parameter for evaluating the energy-saving effect.     

Analysis of power flow in a power converter

Power converters have been widely used in many industrial applications. On the ac side of such converters, the current is distorted because of nonlinearity of the power devices even when the source voltage is sinusoidal. This implies that the power converter is regarded as a harmonic-current source. The harmonic current is one of the most important factors in the analysis of converters. This paper analyzes power flow of a power converter that behaves synchronously with the line frequency. Power-flow analysis in a three-phase diode converter with a resistance on the ac side is presented. The analysis is compared with conventional analysis with the assumption that the ratio of the resistance on the ac side to that on the dc side is very small. The proposed power flow concept enables electrical engineers and students to discuss rationally the power flow of a converter. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(1): 70–76, 1997     

A single‐phase buck‐boost PFC converter with output‐voltage,ripple‐reducing operation

This paper describes a new single‐phase buck‐boost power‐factor‐correction (PFC) converter with output‐voltage, ripple reducing operation. The converter consists of a conventional buck‐boost PFC converter and an additional switch to obtain a freewheeling mode of the dc inductor current, and is operated by two modulators. The first modulator controls the buck‐boost switch to obtain PFC. The other modulator controls the square value of the instantaneous dc inductor current to perform the output‐voltage‐ripple‐reducing operation. In the two modulations, the time integral value of the input and output currents in each modulation period are controlled directly and indirectly, respectively. Thus, modulation errors or undesirable distortions of the input current and output voltage ripple are eliminated even if the dc inductor current produces large ripple in a low‐frequency range. The theories and combination techniques for the two modulators, implementation, and experimental results are described. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 126(2): 56–70, 1999     

In situ FTIR microscope study on crystallization of crystalline/crystalline polymer blends of bacterial copolyesters

This study describes in situ observation of crystallization in a spherulite of blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [PHBV] and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxypropionate) [PHBP] by FTIR microscopy. In order to trace the crystallization processes of blend components separately, PHBV was deuterated. The C-D and CO stretching bands in the IR spectra, respectively, show the crystallization behavior of PHBV and the whole blend. D-PHBV containing 6 and 8% HV [D-PHBV6 and D-PHBV8] are blended with PHBP containing 11% HP [PHBP11]. The crystallization rates of D-PHBV6, D-PHBV8 and PHBP11 decrease in this order. In case of the blend of D-PHBV8 and PHBP11 the crystalline peaks of C-D and CO bands grows simultaneously during crystallization, and the growth rates are rather close to that of D-PHBV8. The results indicate that D-PHBV8, which is the component that shows higher crystallization rate in the pure state, leads the cocrystallization of the blend. For D-PHBV6/PHBP11, on the other hand, the crystalline peak of C-D band grows faster than that of CO band, indicating that the crystallization of D-PHBV6 proceeds before the crystallization of PHBP11. During the crystallization of D-PHBV6, PHBP11 molecules get away from the growing front of the spherulite, i.e. the phase segregation precedes the crystallization. These results demonstrate that FTIR microscopy is a powerful tool to trace the formation of different crystalline phases, such as cocrystallization and phase segregation.     

Fuel cells and energy networks of electricity,heat, and hydrogen: A demonstration in hydrogen-fueled apartments

A demonstration was performed to evaluate our proposal of a residential energy system based on fuel cells and energy networks of electricity, hot water, and hydrogen. The demonstration was conducted from April 2007 to March 2009 in a small apartment building constructed for experimental purposes in Osaka City. Three small proton exchange membrane fuel cells were installed, and the electricity and hot water from the fuel cells were shared among 6 units via an internal electricity grid and hot water pipe. A hydrogen production facility, a small storage device, and a hydrogen pipe were installed to supply hydrogen to the fuel cells. Six families went about their normal daily lives using this system. The energy flow from hydrogen production to consumption was demonstrated. The results of fuel cell operation, energy supply, and energy demand, as well as an analysis of primary energy saving and CO₂ emission mitigation are presented.     

A new single‐phase high‐power‐factor converter with buck and buck–boost hybrid operation

In recent years, a wide variety of high‐power‐factor converter schemes have been proposed to solve the harmonic problem. The schemes are based on conventional boost, buck, or buck–boost topology, and their performance, such as output voltage control range in the boost and buck topology or efficiency in the buck–boost topology, is limited. To solve this, the authors propose a single‐phase high‐power‐factor converter with a new topology obtained from a combination of buck and buck–boost topology. The power stage performs the buck and buck–boost operations by a compact single‐stage converter circuit while the simple controller/modulator appropriately controls the alternation of the buck and buck–boost operation and maintains a high‐quality input current during both the buck and buck–boost operations. The proposed scheme results in a high‐performance rectifier with no limitation of output voltage control range and a high efficiency. In this paper, the principle and operation of the proposed converter scheme are described in detail and the theory is confirmed through experimental results obtained from 2‐kW prototype converter. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 131(3): 91–100, 2000     

A high-power-factor PWM rectifier without voltage sensors

Pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control techniques for rectifiers are widely used to improve the source current waveform and the input power factor. Recently, methods to reduce the number of detectors have been studied to simplify the system configuration and control of such rectifiers. It is known that a voltage detector on the ac side can be omitted, though a voltage detector on the dc side is needed for adjustment of the dc output of a PWM rectifier. In this paper, a method for controlling a single-phase rectifier without any voltage sensor is proposed. The ac-side voltage can be estimated from the input-reactor voltage when the ac side of the bridge is short-circuited. The reactor voltage is easily obtained by multiplying the inductance of the reactor by the derivative of the source current measured. The dc side voltage can be estimated by calculating the difference between the source voltage at the beginning of every switching period and the reactor voltage sampled and held in the previous bridge conduction mode. This paper describes the control scheme, its implementation, and the performance characteristics of the rectifier. The usefulness of the rectifier is confirmed by experiment. This method is applicable to various types of PWM rectifiers. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(4): 90–96, 1997     

Fundamental evaluation of direct-cooling technology for in-wheel drive system

We are developing a small and lightweight direct-drive system toward the realization of in-wheel electric vehicles (EVs). To increase the power density of the motor, we developed a direct-cooling motor that immersed the core, coils, and magnets in cooling oil and improved cooling efficiency. Moreover, we performed measurements of frictional loss, measurement of pressure drop, and a continuous heat-run test on the test bench. The results demonstrated that direct cooling is effective and continuous operation can be achieved. Additionally, it was found that the coil temperature can be controlled by the flow rate of the cooling oil. In this paper, we report on the concept of direct cooling and the measurement results.