Operation of superconducting fault current limiter using vacuum interrupter driven by electromagnetic repulsion force for commutating switch

Using conventional high‐temperature superconducting wire, a model superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is made and tested. Solenoid coil using Bi2223 silver sheath wire is so made that inductance is as small as possible and a vacuum interrupter is connected in series to it. A conventional reactor coil is connected in parallel. When the fault current flows in this equipment, superconducting wire is quenched and current is transferred into the parallel coil because of voltage drop of superconducting wire. This large current in parallel coil actuates magnetic repulsion mechanism of vacuum interrupter. Due to opening of vacuum interrupter, the current in superconducting wire is broken. By using this equipment, current flow time in superconducting wire can be easily minimized. On the other hand, the fault current is also easily limited by large reactance of parallel coil. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 164(1): 52–61, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20315     

Formation and Characterization of Ce3ZrO8 Prepared by the Hydrazine Method

A compound denoted as (Ce_0.75Zr_0.25)O₂ (Ce, ZrO₈) is formed near room temperature from cerium and zirconium nitrates using hydrazine monohydrate. It has a cubic unit cell with a = 0.5342 nm. Characterization of powders heated to various temperatures at 10°C/min demonstrates that the specific surface area does not decrease below 20 mVg until >1000°C.     

Rutile-type TiO2 thin film for high-k gate insulator

We investigated rutile-type titanium dioxide (TiO₂) films for possible use as a high-k gate insulator. The TiO₂ thin films were directly deposited on Si substrates using a RF magnetron sputtering method with a sintered oxide target. A single phase of rutile-type TiO₂ whose dielectric constant of approximately 75 was obtained when the film was deposited in an inert gas atmosphere and annealed at 800 °C in an oxidizing gas atmosphere. The oxygen ions were deficient in the as-deposited film, and consequently, a sufficient oxygen supply was needed to crystallize the film to a single phase of rutile during the post-annealing. However, the interfacial SiO₂ layer between the TiO₂ and the Si substrate simultaneously grew thicker than 2 nm. As the interfacial SiO₂ grew, the leakage current was decreased and the equivalent oxide thickness was increased, in the Au/rutile-type TiO₂/Si capacitor. Therefore, we concluded that the growth of the interfacial SiO₂ layer thicker than 2 nm is inevitable to form the single phase of rutile-type TiO₂ and to decrease the leakage.     

ATMPKs: a gene family of plant MAP kinases in Arabidopsis thaliana

We previously reported two cDNAs for MAP kinases (cATMPK1 and cATMPK2) from a dicot plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. We describe here the cloning and characterization of five additional cDNAs encoding novel MAP kinases in Arabidopsis, cATMPK3, cATMPK4, cATMPK5, cATMPK6, and cATMPK7. The amino acid residues corresponding to the sites of phosphorylation (Thr-Glu-Tyr) that are involved in the activation of animal MAP kinases are conserved in all the seven putative ATMPK proteins. Genes for MAP kinases in Arabidopsis constitute a family that contains more than seven members. Sequence analysis suggests that there are at least three subfamilies in the family of Arabidopsis genes for MAP kinases.     

Infrared sensing properties of positive temperature coefficient thermistors with large temperature coefficients of resistivity

Infrared (IR) detecting elements were prepared using positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistors with large temperature coefficients of resistivity (α). Their compositions were denoted as Ba_1−x Sr _x Nb_0.003Ti_0.997O₃ + 1 mol % TiO₂ + 0.07 mol %MnO (x=0, 0.2), and their temperature coefficients of resistivity were 78 and 50% K⁻¹, respectively. Their IR sensing properties were measured under the self-regulating heating conditions, and were compared with those of a detector with small α (18 % K⁻¹). It was shown that large α was effective for controlling the element temperature by self-regulating heating and for improving sensitivity. The responsivity,R _v of the element withx=0.2 was 980 VW⁻¹, and was as large as those of pyroelectric detectors. Expressions which normalize the sensitivity and the thermal time constant were derived. From these expressions, criteria for improving some IR sensing properties were obtained.     

Gelation mechanism of agarose and κ-carrageenan solutions estimated in terms of concentration fluctuation

The gelation mechanism of agarose and κ-carrageenan aqueous solutions was investigated by using polarized light scattering and X-ray diffraction techniques in terms of the liquid-liquid phase separation. When an incident beam of He-Ne gas laser was directed to the gel prepared by quenching the agarose solution, the logarithm of scattered intensity increased linearly in the initial stage and tended to deviate from this linear relationship in the latter stage. If the linear increase in the initial stage could be analyzed within the framework of the linear theory of spinodal decomposition proposed by Cahn, the phase diagram indicated that the gelation is attributed to the phase separation due to the concentration fluctuation of solution. Furthermore, in the later stage showing the deviation of the linear relationship, light scattering under Hv polarization condition showed a X-type pattern indicating the existence of optically anisotropic rods, the optical axes being parallel or perpendicular with respect to the rod axis. In spite of the existence of the rods, no crystallites were confirmed by the corresponding X-ray diffraction and DSC measurements. For κ-carrageenan solutions, the logarithm of scattered intensity against time showed a constant value. This indicated that the gelation of κ-carrageenan solutions is independent of liquid-liquid phase separation but is due to the rapid formation of cross-linking points. Accordingly it turns out that the small difference of chemical structure between agarose and κ-carrageenan causes quite different gelation mechanism.     

66/77-kV C-GIS using composite insulation in SF6 gas

A second-generation model of cubicletype gas-insulated switchgear (C-GIS) with composite insulation incorporating SF₆ gas has been developed. The design does not require a gas process in field assembly; it has high reliability and its installation is more rapid; and a further reduction in size is achieved. The design principles are described in detail.