ALBERT

Description: © The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Annual Review of Marine Science 9 (2017): 173-203, doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060733.

Description: The events that followed the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, included the loss of power and overheating at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants, which led to extensive releases of radioactive gases, volatiles, and liquids, particularly to the coastal ocean. The fate of these radionuclides depends in large part on their oceanic geochemistry, physical processes, and biological uptake. Whereas radioactivity on land can be resampled and its distribution mapped, releases to the marine environment are harder to characterize owing to variability in ocean currents and the general challenges of sampling at sea. Five years later, it is appropriate to review what happened in terms of the sources, transport, and fate of these radionuclides in the ocean. In addition to the oceanic behavior of these contaminants, this review considers the potential health effects and societal impacts.

Description: K.B. was supported in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Deerbrook Charitable Trust. P.M. was supported in part by the Generalitat de Catalunya through MERS (grant 2014 SGR 1356), the European Commission 7th Framework COMET-FRAME project (grant agreement 604974), and the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (project CTM2011-15152-E). S.C. was supported in part by the French program Investissement d'Avenir run by the National Research Agency (AMORAD project, grant ANR-11-RSNR-0002). D.O. was supported in part by the Center for Environmental Radioactivity (NFR Centers of Excellence grant 223268/F50). J.N.S. was supported in part by the Marine Environmental Observation, Prediction, and Response Network.

Description: Coeval changes in atmospheric CO2 and 14C contents during the last deglaciation are often attributed to ocean circulation changes that released carbon stored in the deep ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Work is being done to generate records that allow for the identification of the exact mechanisms leading to the accumulation and release of carbon from the oceanic reservoir, but these mechanisms are still the subject of debate. Here we present foraminifera 14C data from five cores in a transect across the Chilean continental margin between ~540 and ~3,100 m depth spanning the last 20,000 years. Our data reveal that during the LGM, waters at ~2,000 m were 50% to 80% more depleted in Δ14C than waters at ~1,500 m when compared to modern values, consistent with the hypothesis of a glacial deep ocean carbon reservoir that was isolated from the atmosphere. During the deglaciation, our intermediate water records reveal homogenization in the Δ14C values between ~800 and ~1,500 m from ~16.5–14.5 ka cal BP to ~14–12 ka cal BP, which we interpret as deeper penetration of Antarctic Intermediate Water. While many questions still remain, this process could aid the ventilation of the deep ocean at the beginning of the deglaciation, contributing to the observed ~40 ppm rise in atmospheric pCO2.

Description: The Arctic Ocean is known to be contaminated by various persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Fram Strait, the only deepwater passage to the Arctic Ocean (from the Atlantic Ocean), represents an unquantified gateway for POPs fluxes into and out of the Arctic. Polyethylene passive samplers were deployed in vertical profiles in the Fram Strait and in air and surface water in the Canadian Archipelago to determine the concentrations, profiles, and mass fluxes of dissolved polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides. In the Fram Strait, higher concentrations of ΣPCBs (1.3–3.6 pg/L) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (ΣDDTs, 5.2–9.1 pg/L) were observed in the deepwater masses (below 1,000 m), similar to nutrient-like vertical profiles. There was net southward transport of hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorocyclohexanes (ΣHCHs) of 0.70 and 14 Mg/year but a net northward transport of ΣPCBs at 0.16 Mg/year through the Fram Strait.

Description: A deformed exponential family is a generalization of exponential families. Since the useful classes of power law tailed distributions are described by the deformed exponential families, they are important objects in the theory of complex systems. Though the deformed exponential families are defined by deformed exponential functions, these functions do not satisfy the law of exponents in general. The deformed algebras have been introduced based on the deformed exponential functions. In this paper, after summarizing such deformed algebraic structures, it is clarified how deformed algebras work on deformed exponential families. In fact, deformed algebras cause generalization of expectations. The three kinds of expectations for random variables are introduced in this paper, and it is discussed why these generalized expectations are natural from the viewpoint of information geometry. In addition, deformed algebras cause generalization of independences. Whereas it is difficult to check the well-definedness of deformed independence in general, the κ-independence is always well-defined on κ-exponential families. This is one of advantages of κ-exponential families in complex systems. Consequently, we can well generalize the maximum likelihood method for the κ-exponential family from the viewpoint of information geometry.

Description: We consider the problem of learning a Bayesian network structure given n examples and the prior probability based on maximizing the posterior probability. We propose an algorithm that runs in O(n log n) time and that addresses continuous variables and discrete variables without assuming any class of distribution. We prove that the decision is strongly consistent, i.e., correct with probability one as n ! 1. To date, consistency has only been obtained for discrete variables for this class of problem, and many authors have attempted to prove consistency when continuous variables are present. Furthermore, we prove that the “log n” term that appears in the penalty term of the description length can be replaced by 2(1+ε) log log n to obtain strong consistency, where ε > 0 is arbitrary, which implies that the Hannan–Quinn proposition holds.

Description: Background: In 2012, a pilot health policy of contractual service relations between general practitioners and patients was implemented in China. Due to the decline in body and cognitive function, as well as the lack of family care and narrow social support networks, the demand of health services among the elderly is much higher than that among the general population. This study aims to probe into the empty nesters’ willingness-to-pay for general practitioners using a contractual service policy, investigating empty nesters’ payment levels for the service, and analyze the main factors affecting the willingness of empty-nesters’ general practitioners using contractual service supply cost. Methods: This cross-sectional study adopted a multistage stratified sampling method to survey 865, city empty nesters (six communities in three districts of one city) aged 60–85 years. A condition value method was used to infer the distribution of the willingness-to-pay; Cox’s proportional hazards regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of willingness-to-pay. Results: More than seventy percent (76.6%) of the empty nesters in this city were willing to pay general practitioners using contract service in Chongqing. The level of willingness-to-pay for the surveyed empty nesters was 34.1 yuan per year. The median value was 22.1 yuan per year, which was below the Chongqing urban and rural cooperative medical insurance individual funding level (60 yuan per year) in 2013. Cox’s proportional hazards regression model analysis showed that the higher the education level was, the worse the self-reported health status would be, accompanied by higher family per capita income, higher satisfaction of community health service, and higher willingness-to-pay empty nesters using a contract service. Women had a higher willingness-to-pay than men. Conclusions: The willingness-to-pay for general practitioners by contractual service is high among city empty nesters in Chongqing, thus, individual financing is feasible. However, people are willing to pay less than half of the current personal financing of cooperative medical insurance of urban and rural residents. Education level, family per capita income, and self-reported health status are the main factors affecting the cost sharing intention for general practitioners using contract service supply. According to the existing situation of different empty nesters, it is important to perfect the design of general practitioners using a contractual service policy system, according to differentiated personal financing levels.

Description: The boil-off gas (BOG) compressor is widely used for recycling the excessive boil-off gas of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and the extra-low suction temperature brings about great challenges to design of the BOG compressor. In this paper, a test system was built to examine the effects of low suction temperature on the compressor performance, in which the lowest temperature reached -178?C by means of a plate-fin heat exchanger with liquefied nitrogen. The test results showed that, as the suction temperature decreased from 20?C to -150?C, the volumetric efficiency of the compressor dropped by 37.0%, and the power consumption decreased by 10.0%. The preheat of the gas by the pipe through the suction flange to suction valve was larger than 20?C as the suction temperature was -150?C, and this value increased with the decreased suction temperature. The pressure loss through the suction valve at lower suction temperature was larger than that at ambient temperature while the volume flow r...

Description: In order to meet the various operating loads of an air-conditioning system, an inverter compressor with a wide operational range is necessary. One of the ways to achieve a wide operation range is to drive a small capacity compressor at high speed. Moreover, it is possible to maximize the efficiency in part-load operation condition close to actual operating conditions and to reduce the cost by compact design of a small capacity compressor. In addition, the shortage of maximum capacity, due to the small rated capacity, is covered through high speed operation. However, in general, if the compressor operates at high speed, problems occurs such as reduced efficiency due to friction, increased noise, increased amount of oil discharge and decreased durability of the main components. In order to solve these problems the following have been investigated: optimized dimension parameters of the compression chamber, enhanced shaft design and the structure for the reduction of oil discharge an...

Description: The Universal Modeling method is in constant use from mid - 1990 th . Below is presented the newest 6 th version of the Method. The flow path configuration of 3D impellers is presented in details. It is possible to optimize meridian configuration including hub/shroud curvatures, axial length, leading edge position, etc. The new model of vaned diffuser includes flow non-uniformity coefficient based on CFD calculations. The loss model was built from the results of 37 experiments with compressors stages of different flow rates and loading factors. One common set of empirical coefficients in the loss model guarantees the efficiency definition within an accuracy of 0.86% at the design point and 1.22% along the performance curve. The model verification was made. Four multistage compressors performances with vane and vaneless diffusers were calculated. As the model verification was made, four multistage compressors performances with vane and vaneless diffusers were ca...

Description: CO 2 reduction and fossil fuel saving represent two of the cornerstones of the environmental commitments of all the countries of the world. The first engagement is of a medium to long term type, and unequivocally calls for a new energetic era. The second delays in time the fossil fuel technologies to favour an energetic transition. In order to sustain the two efforts, new immaterial markets have been established in almost all the countries of the world, whose exchanges (purchases and sales) concern CO 2 emissions and equivalent fossil fuels that have not been emitted or burned. This paper goes deep inside two aspects not yet exploited: specific CO 2 emissions and equivalent fossil fuel burned, as a function of compressed air produced. Reference is made to the current compressor technology, carefully analysing CAGI's (Compressed Air Gas Institute) data and integrating it with the PNUEROP (European Association of manufacturers of compressors, vacuum pu...

Description: The goal of this work is numerical experiments for five different types of the centrifugal compressor's inlet chambers with the help of CFD-methods and comparison of the computational results with the results of the real experiment which was held in the Nevskiy Lenin Plant in Saint-Petersburg. In the context of one of the chambers the influence of deflectors on its characteristics was investigated. The objects of investigation are 5 inlet chambers of different types which differ from each other by deflectors? existence and by its number. The comparative analyze of the results of numerical and real experiments was held by means of comparison of relative velocity and static pressure coefficient distribution on hub and shroud region, and also by means of loss coefficient values change for all five chambers. As a result of the numerical calculation the quantitative and qualitative departure of CFD- calculations results and real experiment were found out. The investi...

Description: A hermetic reciprocating compressor is the most energy consuming component of the refrigerators. Therefore performance improvement studies of the compressor play an important role to reduce overall energy consumption of the refrigerators. Design of bearings is one of the major study areas influencing reciprocating compressor performance. In this study crank pin and piston pin bearings in hermetic compressor applications are investigated and optimized. The effect of operating conditions, bearing offset between crank pin and piston pin, bearing clearance and bearing location along the shaft on the friction loss were investigated and optimal bearing designs were developed. Efficiency measurements of the compressor showed that the improved crank pin and piston pin bearing designs provide up to 3.8% increase in the COP as a result of reduction in mechanical loss that is significantly influenced by the length of the bearings, bearing location along the shaft and operating c...

Description: Compressors are the key equipment in the petrochemical and natural gas industry system. The performance and reliability of them are very important for the process system. The application status of petrochemical & natural gas compressors in China is presented in this paper. The present status of design and operating technologies of compressors in China are mentioned in this paper. The turbo, reciprocating and twin screw compressors are discussed. The market demands for different structure compressors in process gas industries are analysed. This paper also introduces the research and developments for high performance compressors in China. The recent research results on efficiency improvement methods, stability improvement, online monitor and fault diagnosis will also be presented in details.

Description: The cyclone separator has attracted increasing attention due to its small size, rapid construction and high separation efficiency. This study investigated its gas-liquid two-phase flow and separation characteristics experimentally and numerically. A numerical model of two- phase flow in the cyclone separator was proposed using the Euler-Lagrange method. The distribution of pressure, tangential and axial velocity in the gas-phase flow field was obtained, and the oil droplet movement was traced. Separation efficiency was also studied experimentally, and the diameter distributions of oil droplets at the inlet and the outlet of the separator were measured by a Malvern laser particle size analyser to verify the simulation model. Based on high-speed photography technology, the oil film distribution and flow pattern on the wall of the cyclone separator were visualised. The variation of oil-gas two-phase flow in the cyclone separator was compared under various inlet flow rates. Based on ...

Description: This paper is a continuing work from the same authors on the same topic by analogizing the transient shock tube process to the gas pulsation phenomena [1, 2]. It has been demonstrated in the previous theoretical investigation that gas pulsations can be generated either by a sudden velocity change (?U) say from a piston or lobe movement, or by the sudden opening of a pressure difference (?p 4 i) such as during the discharge phase of a rotary PD (Positive Displacement) compressor (screw, scroll or Roots) under UC (Under-Compression) or OC (Over-Compression) conditions. It is further reasoned that the more dominant pulsation source should be from the Ap 41 induced source, but without backing from experiments. This paper is aimed at validating the theoretical predictions through experimental investigation conducted on a Roots blower, a special 100% UC case. This further clarification is important not only to prove the theory, but would pave the way for potent...

Description: Different capacity control methods are used for adjusting suction flow of reciprocating compressors to meet process need. Compared with recycle or bypass and suction throttling, three capacity control methods of speed control, clearance pockets and suction valve unloading are preferred due to their energy-saving at operating condition of partial load. The paper reviewed state of the art of the current capacity control technologies and their principles. A comprehensive mathematical model was developed to predict thermodynamic and dynamic performance of reciprocating compressors equipped with the capacity control systems of four above-mentioned methods. Comparison of shaft work and mechanical efficiency were conducted for different capacity control methods at the same condition. In addition, their influence on p-v diagram and valve motion were also studied, which is important for reliability and life of the reciprocating compressors. These results were helpful for selection of the ...

Description: The application of diaphragm compressors is severely limited by the low reliability and short life of diaphragms. The cavity profile has considerable influence on a diaphragm's stress level and therefore on its fatigue life. This experimental and theoretical analysis of the traditional cavity profile (as defined by a single-parameter generatrix) indicated that the short life of diaphragms may be caused by the superposition of peak radial stress and additional stress due to the discharge holes in the central region that occur when the diaphragm clings to the cavity surface. Therefore, two new kinds of cavity profiles are proposed to decrease the diaphragm's radial and total stress. The new cavity profiles based on different generatrices were designed in an attempt to reduce the peak radial stress in the central region. These cavities were manufactured to experimentally validate the designs. Experiments were carried out under various design conditions to investigate the radial stre...

Description: All papers published in this volume of IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing.

Description: Steam is a widely used energy source. In many situations steam is generated at high pressures and then reduced in pressure through control valves before reaching point of use. An opportunity was identified to convert some of the energy at the point of pressure reduction into electricity. To take advantage of a market identified for small scale systems, a microturbine generator was designed based on a small high speed turbo machine. This machine was packaged with the necessary control valves and systems to allow connection of the machine to the grid. Traditional machines vary the speed of the generator to match the grid frequency. This was not possible due to the high speed of this machine. The characteristics of the rotating unit had to be understood to allow a control that allowed export of energy at the right frequency to the grid under the widest possible range of steam conditions. A further goal of the control system was to maximise the efficiency of generation under all cond...

Description: When grinding helical components, errors occur at the beginning and end of the contact path between the component and grinding wheel. This is due to the forces on the component changing as the grinding wheel comes into and out-of full contact with the component. In addition, shaft bending may add depth changes which vary along the length. This may result in an interrupted contact line and increased noise from the rotors. Using on-board scanning, software has been developed to calculate a compensated grinding path, which includes the adjustments of head angle, work rotation and infeed. This grinding path compensates not only lead errors, but also reduces the profile errors as well. The program has been tested in rotor production and the results are shown.

Description: The on-off cycling operating condition of compressors is very common in low capacity refrigeration systems, being characterized by alternate periods in which the compressor is either operating (on) or idle (off). Thermal interactions between the compressor components affect its performance during the operating period and establish the initial condition for the compressor start up from idle condition. This paper presents a numerical model to predict the temperature field of hermetic reciprocating compressors under on-off cycling conditions. The model adopts a lumped formulation for control volumes formed in the fluid solution domain and the finite volume method to solve heat conduction in the solid components. Some required heat transfer coefficients were experimentally adjusted. Predictions for temperature were compared to measurements and good agreement was observed, especially for the thermal transient during the period in which the compressor is off.

Description: The trapezoidal profile is always used as part of tooth profile in the screw vacuum pump. However, interferential phenomenon occurs when using trapezoidal tooth profile. The arc is added to the trapezoidal profile to obtain the self-conjugate curve. The geometric characters of new profiles are compared with the old ones from view point of area of leakage triangle, length of contacting line, area utility coefficient, and etc. The rotor with the selfconjugate curve has characteristics of the small axial leakage area. Radial leakage from the carryover was within the same volume and would not influence the mass flow rate of the vacuum pump. High ultimate vacuum can be reached by utilizing this profile.

Description: Empirical compressor maps are a simple and reliable approach for heating and cooling system designers to estimate compressor refrigerant mass flow rate and power consumption quickly. These maps were used for a long time since most compressor manufacturers build the maps with extensive test matrices, leading to good accuracy. However, the situation changes when engineers extrapolate the maps to investigate the compressor's performance under extreme operating conditions such as for cold climate heat pump applications or under conditions with system faults. Engineers are not confident on the exact uncertainty of the extrapolation, and often claim that the inaccuracy of their studies is a result of high extrapolation uncertainty. This paper presents a method to estimate the extrapolation uncertainty due to the structure of the test matrix that trains the manufacturer maps and helps the investigators to understand if the extrapolation is the main cause of their inaccuracy. To verify t...

Description: Particulate flows are a serious problem in air ventilation systems, leading to erosion of rotor blades and aerodynamic performance degradation. This paper presents the numerical results of sand particle trajectories and erosion patterns in an axial ventilator and the subsequent blade deterioration. The flow field was solved separately by using the code CFX- TASCflow. The Lagrangian approach for the solid particles tracking implemented in our inhouse code considers particle and eddy interaction, particle size distribution, particle rebounds and near walls effects. The assessment of erosion wear is based on the impact frequency and local values of erosion rate. Particle trajectories and erosion simulation revealed distinctive zones of impacts with high rates of erosion mainly on the blade pressure side, whereas the suction side is eroded around the leading edge.

Description: A lot of effort has been expended on understanding the influences of an injected auxiliary liquid on a twin screw expander's performance. Sealed clearances improve performance on the one hand, but involve considerable frictional losses on the other hand. This paper contributes to an evaluation of these opposing effects with regard to the efficiency of screw expanders. First, thermodynamic analyses using the multi-chamber model-based simulation tool KaSim , developed at the Chair of Fluidics, are presented for a test screw expander in order to show the maximum potential of clearance sealing. This analysis involves thermodynamic simulations for sealed and unsealed clearances and leads to an order of priorities for different clearance types. Second, hydraulic losses within front and housing clearances are calculated, applying an analytical model of incompressible one-phase clearance flow. Subsequently dry and wet screw expanders are evaluated while both clearance sealing and f...

Description: In this paper the design evolution from rolling piston compressor (RP) to revolving vane compressor (RV) and finally to cross-vane expander-compressor unit (CVEC) is presented and discussed. The details in the design philosophy which initiated this evolution will be presented and discussed. It is estimated that more than 90% of the room air-conditioners uses RP in its compressor. This is because of its advantages: it has the few parts, it is simple geometrically and it is reliable. However, it is with no weaknesses. RP's weaknesses lie in three parts: too many rubbing surfaces with high relative rubbing velocity with each other which give rise to high frictional losses; components (eccentric and roller) are not rotating at their centres and resulted in unnecessary inherent vibration; vane tip is constantly rubbing against the roller making it a weakest part in design. To overcome RP's weaknesses, RV is introduced. As compared to RP, RV has fewer rubb...

Description: Centrifugal compressors are complex energy equipment. Automotive control and protection system should meet the requirements: of operation reliability and durability. In turbocompressors there are at least two dangerous areas: surge and rotating stall. Antisurge protecting systems usually use parametric or feature methods. As a rule industrial system are parametric. The main disadvantages of anti-surge parametric systems are difficulties in mass flow measurements in natural gas pipeline compressor. The principal idea of feature method is based on the experimental fact: as a rule just before the onset of surge rotating or precursor stall established in compressor. In this case the problem consists in detecting of unsteady pressure or velocity fluctuations characteristic signals. Wavelet analysis is the best method for detecting onset of rotating stall in spite of high level of spurious signals (rotating wakes, turbulence, etc.). This method is compatible with state of the art DSP s...

Description: This paper investigates torsional vibration and pulsating noise in a dry screw compressor. The compressor is designed at Gardner Denver (GD) and is oil free and use for mounting on highway trucks. They are driven using a Power Take-Off (PTO) transmission and gear box on a truck. Torque peak fluctuation and noise measurements are done and their sources are investigated and reported in this work. To accurately predict the torsional response (frequency and relative angular deflection and torque amplitude), the Holzer method is used. It is shown that the first torsional frequency is manifested as sidebands in the gear train meshing frequencies and this can lead to noise that is the result of amplitude modulation. Sensitivity analysis of the drive train identifies the weakest link in the drive train that limits the first torsional frequency to a low value. Finally, the significance of higher mode shapes on inter-lobe clearance distribution of the rotors is investigated.

Description: A volumetric Roots type blower with spur three or two lobes rotors has a high performance at a small unit size and is used mainly at the pressure ratio in the range of 1,4 - 1,6. A significant limitation of this parameter is due to the nature of the compressor working process, in particular a rapid, almost instantaneous increase in the pressure in the working chamber because of back flow. This leads to a decrease in performance and efficiency, and increase of the compressor noise level. One of the ways to overcome this drawback is the use of bypassing of part of compressed and cooled gas at injection through the ejector into the working chamber that is simultaneously disconnected from both discharge and suction. Due to this, the pressure increase process becomes more gradual as related to the rotor angle of rotation, and additional suction of portions of gas from the suction line by ejection effect becomes possible, which increases the efficiency and performance of the compressor...

Description: The oil circulation rate (OCR) of the rolling piston rotary compressor is a significant factor which affects the performance of refrigeration system. The increase of oil discharge causes decreasing of the heat transfer efficiency in the heat exchanger, pressure drop and lack of oil in lubricate part in compressor. In this study, the internal flow of compressor was visualized to figure out the oil droplet flow characteristics. The experiments and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted in various frequency of compressor to observe the effect of operation frequency on oil droplet flow characteristics for reducing OCR. In situ, measurement of oil droplet diameter and velocity were conducted by using high speed image visualization and Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The flow paths were dominated by copper wire parts driving the motor which was inserted in compressor. In order to verify the reliability of CFD simulation, the tendency of oil flow characteristics...

Description: Enhancing stall and surge margin has a great importance for the development of turbo compressors. The application of casing treatment is an effective measure to expand the stall margin and stable operation range. Numerical investigations were conducted to predict the performance of a low flow rate centrifugal compressor with circumferential groove casing treatment in vane diffuser. Numerical cases with different radial location, radial width and axial depth of a circumferential single groove and different numbers of circumferential grooves were carried out to compare the results. The CFD analyses results show that the centrifugal compressor with circumferential grooves in diffuser can extend stable range by about 9% while the efficiency over the whole operating range decreases by 0.2 to 1.7%. The evaluation based on stall margin improvement showed the optimal position for the groove to be located was indicated to exist near the leading edge of the diffuser, and a combination of p...

Description: In this article a modern and economic method for the strength calculation of the piston rod unit and its components under different operating conditions will be presented. Herefore the commercial FEA - Software will be linked with the company-owned calculation tools. The parametric user input will be followed by an automatic Pre- and Postprocessing. Afterwards the strength calculation is processed on all critical points of the piston rod connection, assisted by an extra module, based on general standards and special codes for reciprocating compressors. In this process most arrangements of the piston rod unit as well as the special geometries of the single-components (piston, piston rod and piston nut) can be considered easily. In this article the modeling of the notches, especially on the piston rod, piston as well as the piston nut will be covered in detail.

Description: Gas superheating in the suction system may significantly reduce the volumetric and isentropic efficiencies of small reciprocating compressors adopted for household refrigeration. This paper reports a thermal modelling approach developed to predict superheating in an oil- free linear compressor. A simulation code based on the finite volume method was adopted to solve heat conduction in the solid components and gas flow inside the compressor shell. In order to reduce the computational cost, the compression cycle inside the cylinder was modelled with a transient lumped formulation, but in a coupled manner with the remainder of the solution domain. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results of temperature showed discrepancies in some solid components and in the gas path along the discharge system. However, the model was able to predict suction gas superheating in good agreement with measurements. A sensitivity analysis of the temperature distribution with respect to two d...

Description: The aim of this paper is to carry out a group of numerical experiments over the fluid flow through a valve reed, using the CFD&HT code TermoFluids, an unstructured and parallel object-oriented CFD code for accurate and reliable solving of industrial flows. Turbulent flow and its solution is a very complex problem due to there is a non-lineal interaction between viscous and inertial effects further complicated by their rotational nature, together with the three-dimensionality inherent in these types of flow and the non-steady state solutions. In this work, different meshes, geometrical conditions and LES turbulence models (WALE, VMS, QR and SIGMA) are tested and results compared. On the other hand, the fluid flow boundary conditions are obtained by means of the numerical simulation model of hermetic reciprocating compressors tool, NEST-compressor code. The numerical results presented are based on a specific geometry, where the valve gap opening percentage is 11% of hole diamet...

Description: Energy efficiency has been a key issue for screw machines for many years. This article describes a new analytical procedure for determining rolling bearing friction and the use of the procedure for designing compressor bearing supports. Further analytical options for a calculative assessment of the overall efficiency of bearing support alternatives are presented in the design phase based on parameter analyses performed by the BearinX ? calculation software, which includes the new friction calculation by means of a mechanical, tribological model.

Description: Volumetric expanders are suitable for more and more applications in the field of micro- and small-scale power system as waster heat recovery or solar energy. This paper present an experimental study carried out on a swatch-plate piston expander. The expander was integrated into an ORC test-bench using R245fa. The performances are evaluated in term of isentropic efficiency and filling factor. The maximum efficiency and power reached are respectively 53% and 2 kW. Inside cylinder pressure measurements allow to compute mechanical efficiency and drown P-V diagram. A semi-empirical simulation model is then proposed, calibrated and used to analyse the different sources of losses.

Description: Basic propositions of calculation procedures for oil free scroll compressors characteristics are presented. It is shown that mathematical modelling of working process in a scroll compressor makes it possible to take into account such factors influencing the working process as heat and mass exchange, mechanical interaction in working chambers, leakage through slots, etc. The basic mathematical model may be supplemented by taking into account external heat exchange, elastic deformation of scrolls, inlet and outlet losses, etc. To evaluate the influence of procedure on scroll compressor characteristics calculations accuracy different calculations were carried out. Internal adiabatic efficiency was chosen as a comparative parameter which evaluates the perfection of internal thermodynamic and gas-dynamic compressor processes. Calculated characteristics are compared with experimental values obtained for the compressor pilot sample.

Description: This paper describes a simulation model for small reciprocating compressors with emphasis on the electrical motor modelling. Heat transfer is solved through algebraic equations derived from lumped thermal energy balances applied to the compressor components. Thermal conductances between the motor components are characterized via a thermal network model. The single-phase induction motor is modelled via an equivalent circuit, allowing predictions for the motor performance and distributed losses. The predicted temperature distribution is used to evaluate the stator and rotor windings resistances. The thermal and electric models are solved in a coupled manner with a model for the compression cycle. Predictions of temperature distribution, motor efficiency, as well as isentropic and volumetric efficiencies, are compared with experimental data at different operating conditions. The model is then applied to analyse the motor temperature as a function of input voltage and stator wire dia...

Description: A two stage oil free screw compressor package was recently delivered to a major blue chip oil and gas giant for use on one of their oil platforms located in the North Atlantic. During initial design it became clear that the amount of instrumentation required on the package would be substantial. As a result of this an elegant solution was required that would move non-critical inputs and outs (IO) from the control panel to the package itself. This paper first describes the problems caused by the substantial amount of instrumentation required on the package. This description includes how the instrumentation is classed as critical and non-critical and what signals must still be sent over a hard wire and why. As the final location of the package is in an extremely hazardous environment, a highly corrosive marine environment, and the compressor itself is compressing highly combustible hydrocarbon gas, the protection methods employed by the instruments to prevent explosion is then...

Description: The 9th International Conference on Compressors and their Systems will be held in London from 5th ? 9th September 2015, and as its Chairman, it is my pleasure to welcome you. This series of conferences started in 1999 organised by the Fluid Machinery Group of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) but since 2009 it has been managed by City University London in conjunction with the IMechE and the Institute of Refrigeration, both of which have been very proactive in promoting it. The Organising committee is grateful for their support and continued encouragement. This year, after rigorous reviewing, we have accepted over 80 technical papers for publication, the highest number in the conference history. On behalf of the organising committee I would like to thank the reviewers for their hard work and assistance. In addition to the main technical sessions, this year we have introduced a third day, specifically for Industry, to consider technology, b...

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Description: An investigation was carried out to find the most optimum configuration, particularly the torque matching characteristics, of an integrated Revolving Vane compressor- expander. To carry out the study, a mathematical model of the integrated compressor-expander was developed. An open cycle air refrigeration system was adopted. The controlled parameter was the angle shift between the compressor and the expander. The observed parameters were the peak torque requirement and the bearing load. The results show that when properly matched, the peak torque can be reduced by more than 65% while the bearing loads can be reduced by up to 25%, depending on operating conditions. Unfortunately, the optimum angle shifts for peak torque do not always coincide with those for bearing load. When the pressure and inertial components of the torques are comparable or when the inertial component is dominant, the optimum angle shifts for peak torque and bearing load are around 180? and 330?, respectively....

Description: An extremely compact, therefore space saving unitary structure of short axial length is produced by radial integration of a revolving piston rotary compressor and an impeller of a centrifugal fan. The unitary structure employs single motor to run as the compressor so the airflow fan and eliminates duality of motors, related power supply and control elements. Novel revolving piston rotary compressor which provides possibility for such integration comprises the following: a suction gas delivery system which provides cooling of the motor and supplies refrigerant into the suction chamber under higher pressure (supercharged); a modified discharge system and lubricating oil supply system. Axial passages formed in the stationary crankshaft are used to supply discharge gas to a condenser, to return vaporized cooling agent from the evaporator to the suction cavity of the compressor, to pass a lubricant and to accommodate wiring supplying power to the unitary structure driver -external rot...

Description: Oil injected screw compressors have essentially superseded all other types of compressors in modern helium refrigeration systems due to their large displacement capacity, reliability, minimal vibration, and capability of handling helium's high heat of compression. At the present state of compressor system designs for helium refrigeration systems, typically two-thirds of the lost input power is due to the compression system. It is important to understand the isothermal and volumetric efficiencies of these machines to help properly design the compression system to match the refrigeration process. It is also important to identify those primary compressor skid exergetic loss mechanisms which may be reduced, thereby offering the possibility of significantly reducing the input power to helium refrigeration processes which are extremely energy intensive. This paper summarizes the results collected during the commissioning of the new compressor system for Jefferson Lab's (JLab's) 12 GeV ...

Description: Gas dynamic design of the pipe line compressor 32 MW was made for PAO SMPO (Sumy, Ukraine). The technical specification requires compressor efficiency of 90%. The customer offered favorable scheme - single-stage design with console impeller and axial inlet. The authors used the standard optimization methodology of 2D impellers. The original methodology of internal scroll profiling was used to minimize efficiency losses. Radically improved 5th version of the Universal modeling method computer programs was used for precise calculation of expected performances. The customer fulfilled model tests in a 1:2 scale. Tests confirmed the calculated parameters at the design point (maximum efficiency of 90%) and in the whole range of flow rates. As far as the authors know none of compressors have achieved such efficiency. The principles and methods of gas-dynamic design are presented below. The data of the 32 MW compressor presented by the customer in their report at the 16 th Inte...

Description: Selecting the correct compressor lubricant is crucial to the duration of the compressor and the refrigerant systems? useful life. However, developing an optimized lubricant for a refrigeration system requires a multitude of screenings and tests. The compatibility and stability of the lubricant with the refrigerant and compressor components needs to be examined at various accelerated conditions. The lubricant and refrigerant working viscosity must be determined at various refrigerant concentrations, temperatures and pressures as the diluted refrigerant in the lubricant has a significant effect on the viscosity. The correct lubricant formulation needs to be investigated for optimal performance. A compressor lubricant can provide many benefits to a refrigeration system such as bearing durability, sealing, and increased efficiency. Sometimes it is necessary to formulate the lubricant in order to optimize system performance. Specifically, this study investigated anti-wear properties o...

Description: This work is motivated by the necessity to reduce the effects of the flow circumferential distortion in the flow passage of the aircraft gas turbine engine (GTE). In previous research, the authors have proposed the approaches to decrease of the flow circumferential distortion arising from the mid-support racks of GTE compressor and having a negative impact on the blade rows, located upstream. In particular, the idea of introducing the circumferentially non-uniform blade pitch and profile stagger angle of guide vanes located in front of the support was contributed in order to redistribute the flow and decrease the dynamic stresses in the rotor wheel of the same stage. During the research presented in this paper, another principal of reduction of the flow circumferential distortion was chosen. Firstly, the variants of upgrading the existing support racks were found. Secondly, the new design of support was offered. Both the first and the second version of the support design variatio...

Description: Efficiency of reciprocating compressor is strongly dependent on several parameters. The most important are valve behaviour and heat transfer. Valves affect the flow through the suction and discharge line. Heat flow from the walls to working fluid increases the work of the cycle. Understanding of these phenomena inside the compressor is a necessary step in the development process. Commercial CFD tools offer wide range of opportunities how to simulate the flow inside the reciprocating compressor nowadays, however they are too demanding in terms of computational time and mesh creation. Several approaches using various correlation equation exist to describe the heat transfer inside the cylinder, however none of them was validated by measurements due to the complicated settings. The goal of this paper is to show a comparison between these correlations using in-house code based on energy balance through the cycle.

Description: The use of more smaller industrial NH3 screw compressors operating in parallel seems to offer the optimum way when it comes to fulfilling maximum part load efficiency, increased redundancy and other highly requested features in the industrial refrigeration industry today. Parallel operation in an optimum way can be selected to secure continuous operation and can in most applications be configured to ensure lower overall operating economy. New compressors are developed to meet requirements for flexibility in operation and are controlled in an intelligent way. The intelligent control system keeps focus on all external demands, but yet striving to offer always the lowest possible absorbed power, including in future scenarios with connection to smart grid.

Description: Today, Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants are being evaluated, optimized and applied. Higher-pressure refrigerants, refrigerant blends, and new chemical families of refrigerants are candidates. Compressor designs and system components are being evaluated to deliver the desired capacity, efficiency and reliable performance for intended applications. Once the Refrigerant family is chosen based on Environmental and Heat transfer properties, System Chemistry between the Refrigerant and Lubricant families are scrutinized for optimum miscibility and solubility. These directly affect the Phase separation between the 2 liquid phases and reduction of viscosity. Over the entire Operating Envelope, the ?oil return? and ?viscosity reduction? problems are assessed. Compatibility aspects between chemicals (Refrigerants, Lubricants) and materials of construction (metallic, polymeric, elastomeric) are verified to avoid failures in use. System Components, compressor bearings, expansi...

Description: Shell Global Solutions uses an in-house developed system for remote condition monitoring of centrifugal compressors. It requires field process data collected during operation to calculate and assess the machine's performance. Performance is assessed by comparing live results of polytropic head and efficiency versus design compressor curves provided by the Manufacturer. Typically, these design curves are given for specific suction conditions. The further these conditions on site deviate from those prescribed at design, the less accurate the health assessment of the compressor becomes. To address this specified problem, a compressor map prediction tool is proposed. The original performance curves of polytropic head against volumetric flow for varying rotational speeds are used as an input to define a range of Mach numbers within which the non-dimensional invariant performance curve of head and volume flow coefficient is generated. The new performance curves of polytropic head vs. f...

Description: The vibrational state of the screw compressor is largely dependent on the gearing of the rotors and on the possibility of angular backlash in the gears. The presence of the latter leads to a transmission error and is caused by the need for the downward bias of the actual profile in relation to the theoretical. The loss of contact between rotors and, as a consequence, the current value of the quantity, characterizing the transmission error, is affected by a large number of different factors. In particular, a major influence on the amount of possible movement in the gearing will be exerted by thermal deformations of the rotor and the housing parts in the working mode of the machine. The present work is devoted to the analysis of the thermal state in the operation of the screw oil-flooded compressor and its impact on the transmission error and the possibility of losing contact between them during the operating cycle.

Description: Low specific speed compressors have been historically based on positive displacement machines. Attempts to bring advantages of turbomachinery such as oil free, low parts counts, low cost of manufacture, and reliability to low flow rate applications have not been sparse, but the principle difficulty has always been that the conventional turbomachine design operates at ultra-high speed to deliver low volume flow rates. This is synonymous with low efficiency due to higher losses (windage, surface finish, and tip clearances). The innovative TurboClaw? design is a low specific speed turbomachinery with forward swept impeller geometry. It owes its high efficiency and operational stability to careful design of its nearly tangential forward swept blading and diffuser geometry.

Description: Industrial centrifugal compressor stage is a complicated object for gas dynamic design when the goal is to achieve maximum efficiency. The Authors analyzed results of CFD performance modeling (NUMECA Fine Turbo calculations). Performance prediction in a whole was modest or poor in all known cases. Maximum efficiency prediction was quite satisfactory to the contrary. Flow structure in stator elements was in a good agreement with known data. The intermediate type stage ?3D impeller + vaneless diffuser+ return channel? was designed with principles well proven for stages with 2D impellers. CFD calculations of vaneless diffuser candidates demonstrated flow separation in VLD with constant width. The candidate with symmetrically tampered inlet part b 3 / b 2 = 0,73 appeared to be the best. Flow separation takes place in the crossover with standard configuration. The alternative variant was developed and numerically tested. The obtained experience ...

Description: Lightweighting in the transportation industry is today recognized as one of the most important strategies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce anthropogenic climate-changing, environment-damaging, and human death-causing emissions. However, the structural applications of lightweight alloys are often limited by some inherent deficiencies such as low stiffness, high wear rate and inferior strength. These properties could be effectively enhanced by the addition of stronger and stiffer reinforcements, especially nano-sized particles, into metal matrix to form composites. In most cases three common strengthening mechanisms (load-bearing effect, mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansion, and Orowan strengthening) have been considered to predict the yield strength of metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs). This study was aimed at developing a unified model by taking into account the matrix grain size and porosity (which is unavoidable in the materials processing such as casting and powder metallurgy) in the prediction of the yield strength of MMNCs. The Zener pinning effect of grain boundaries by the nano-sized particles has also been integrated. The model was validated using the experimental data of magnesium- and titanium-based nanocomposites containing different types of nano-sized particles (namely, Al2O3, Y2O3, and carbon nanotubes). The predicted results were observed to be in good agreement with the experimental data reported in the literature.

Description: In order to achieve process intensification for adsorption chillers and heat pumps, a new composite material was developed based on sintered aluminum fibers from a melt-extraction process and a dense layer of silico-aluminophosphate (SAPO-34) on the fiber surfaces. The SAPO-34 layer was obtained through a partial support transformation (PST) process. Preparation of a composite sample is described and its characteristic pore size distribution and heat conductivity are presented. Water adsorption data obtained under conditions of a large pressure jump are given. In the next step, preparation of the composite was scaled up to larger samples which were fixed on a small adsorption heat exchanger. Adsorption measurements on this heat exchanger element that confirm the achieved process intensification are presented. The specific cooling power for the adsorption step per volume of composite is found to exceed 500 kW/m3 under specified conditions.

Description: An ultrasonic technique, invariant to temperature changes, for a density measurement of different liquids under in situ extreme conditions is presented. The influence of geometry and material parameters of the measurement system (transducer, waveguide, matching layer) on measurement accuracy and reliability is analyzed theoretically along with experimental results. The proposed method is based on measurement of the amplitude of the ultrasonic wave, reflected from the interface of the solid/liquid medium under investigation. In order to enhance sensitivity, the use of a quarter wavelength acoustic matching layer is proposed. Therefore, the sensitivity of the measurement system increases significantly. Density measurements quite often must be performed in extreme conditions at high temperature (up to 220 °C) and high pressure. In this case, metal waveguides between piezoelectric transducer and the measured liquid are used in order to protect the conventional transducer from the influence of high temperature and to avoid depolarization. The presented ultrasonic density measurement technique is suitable for density measurement in different materials, including liquids and polymer melts in extreme conditions. A new calibration algorithm was proposed. The metrological evaluation of the measurement method was performed. The expanded measurement uncertainty Uρ = 7.4 × 10−3 g/cm3 (1%).

Description: The relationship between soil fauna and different fertilizer management practices is of growing concern. The aim of this research was to investigate the response of soil fauna to fertilization regimes, to explore the relationships among the community of soil animals, soil moisture and crop yields. The application of organic fertilizers (i.e., sheep manure or crop residues) increased crop yields and promoted the number of individuals and species of soil fauna owing to the exogenous organic matter that fertilizers provided for the survival and development of soil fauna. Furthermore, the treatments that applied sheep manure (i.e., sheep manure only or nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sheep manure plus) were significantly beneficial for increasing crop yields and diversity of soil fauna compared to treatments with crop residues returned (i.e., crop residues returned only or nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and crop residues returned to the field) (p 〈 0.05) due to the response of soil fauna to diverse exogenous nutrients and the effect of soil fertility. Therefore, the finding that soil fauna abundance is significantly positively correlated with soil moisture and crop yield may mean the effects of fertilizer applications on soil animals were partly masked by the soil moisture and crop yield.

Description: In this paper, a mechanistic steady-state model of a single-screw expander is described with emphasis on the geometric description. Insights into the calculation of the main parameters and the definition of the groove profile are provided. Additionally, the adopted chamber model is discussed. The model has been implemented by means of the open-source software PDSim (Positive Displacement SIMulation), written in the Python language, and the solution algorithm is described. The single-screw expander model is validated with a set of steady-state measurement points collected from a 11 kWe organic Rankine cycle test-rig with SES36 and R245fa as working fluid. The overall performance and behavior of the expander are also further analyzed.

Description: Screw-type volumetric expanders have been demonstrated to be a suitable technology for organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems because of higher overall effectiveness and good part-load behaviour over other positive displacement machines. An 11 kWe single-screw expander (SSE) adapted from an air compressor has been tested in an ORC test-rig operating with R245fa as working fluid. A total of 60 steady-steady points have been obtained at four different rotational speeds of the expander in the range between 2000 rpm and 3300 rpm. The maximum electrical power output and overall isentropic effectiveness measured were 7.3 kW and 51.9%, respectively. In this paper, a comparison between two low-order models is proposed in terms of accuracy of the predictions, the robustness of the model and the computational time. The first model is the Pacejka equation-based model and the second is a semi-empirical model derived from a well-known scroll expander model and modified to include the geometric a...

Description: A CFD model enabling accurate and computationally affordable simulation of unsteady flow in screw compressors has been developed. This paper focuses on computational aspects, including real-gas CFD using hybrid structured/unstructured moving grids, and specifics of grid generation for moving rotors and their communication with the discharge plenum.

Description: Urban areas are one of the most important components of human society. Their extents have been continuously growing during the last few decades. Accurate and timely measurements of the extents of urban areas can help in analyzing population densities and urban sprawls and in studying environmental issues related to urbanization. Urban extents detected from remotely sensed data are usually a by-product of land use classification results, and their interpretation requires a full understanding of land cover types. In this study, for the first time, we mapped urban extents in the continental United States using a novel one-class classification method, i.e., positive and unlabeled learning (PUL), with multi-temporal Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data for the year 2010. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) night stable light data were used to calibrate the urban extents obtained from the one-class classification scheme. Our results demonstrated the effectiveness of the use of the PUL algorithm in mapping large-scale urban areas from coarse remote-sensing images, for the first time. The total accuracy of mapped urban areas was 92.9% and the kappa coefficient was 0.85. The use of DMSP-OLS night stable light data can significantly reduce false detection rates from bare land and cropland far from cities. Compared with traditional supervised classification methods, the one-class classification scheme can greatly reduce the effort involved in collecting training datasets, without losing predictive accuracy.

Description: The knowledge about impacts of changes in precipitation regimes on terrestrial ecosystems is fundamental to improve our understanding of global environment change, particularly in the context that heavy precipitation is expected to increase according to the 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment. Based on observed climate data and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), here we analyzed the spatio-temporal changes in grassland NDVI, covering 1.64 × 106 km2, in northern China and their linkages to changes in precipitation and temperature during the period 1982–2011. We found that mean growing season (April–October) grass NDVI is more sensitive to heavy precipitation than to moderate or light precipitation in both relatively arid areas (RAA) and relatively humid areas (RHA), whereas the sensitivities of grass NDVI to temperature are comparable to total precipitation in RHA. Heavy precipitation showed the strongest impacts in more than half of northern China (56%), whereas impacts of light precipitation on grass NDVI were stronger in some areas (21%), mainly distributed in northwestern China, a typical arid and semi-arid area. Our findings suggest that responses of grasslands are divergent with respect to changes in precipitation intensities.

Description: One of the major factors affecting the performance prediction of twin screw compressors by use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the accuracy with which the leakage gaps are captured by the discretization methods. The accuracy of mapping leakage flows can be improved by increasing the number of grid points on the profile. However, this method faces limitations when it comes to the complex deforming domains of a twin screw compressor because the computational time increases tremendously. In order to address this problem, an analytical grid distribution procedure is formulated that can independently refine the region of high importance for leakage flows in the interlobe space. This paper describes the procedure of analytical grid generation with the refined mesh in the interlobe area and presents a test case to show the influence of the mesh refinement in that area on the performance prediction. It is shown that by using this method, the flow domains in the vicinity of the i...

Description: A simulation model to predict the performance of a prototype CO 2 compressor is presented. This prototype compressor employs the Sanderson-Rocker Arm Motion (S-RAM) mechanism, which converts the rotary motion of the shaft into a linear reciprocating motion of the cylinders. The piston stroke can be variable by changing the incline angle between the connecting rod and compressor main shaft centerline. The compressor model is mainly composed of two main sub-models simulating the kinematics of the drive mechanism and the compression process. A valve sub-model is included in the compression process model.

Description: With the increasing use of twin screw expanders in waste heat recovery applications, the performance prediction of these machines plays an important role. This paper presents a mathematical model for calculating the performance of a twin screw expander. From the mass and energy conservation laws, differential equations are derived which are then solved together with the appropriate Equation of State in the instantaneous control volumes. Different flow processes that occur inside the screw expander such as filling (accompanied by a substantial pressure loss) and leakage flows through the clearances are accounted for in the model. The mathematical model employs all geometrical parameters such as chamber volume, suction and leakage areas. With R245fa as working fluid, the Aungier Redlich-Kwong Equation of State has been used in order to include real gas effects. To calculate the mass flow rates through the leakage paths formed inside the screw expander, flow coefficients are conside...

Description: The study presents the results of multi-objective optimization for a high flow centrifugal compressor stage with impeller pressure ratio ?=1.3 and conditional flow rate coefficient ?=0.108. The compressor stage includes an impeller with 3D backswept blades, a vane diffuser and an axial inlet. The goal of optimization is to increase polytropic efficiency and polytropic head ratio of the basic design. The CFD method is used to estimate compressor efficiency at rated duty. CAE optimization is applied based on the parametric optimization of impeller shroud contour and number of blades of the impeller and diffuser versus the original design. Parameterization of geometrics is also used to the width-ratio of vane diffuser in the range of b 3 /D 2 = 0.08-0.097. The study considers 52 cases of the optimization of impeller shroud contour and the number of blades in the search for the improved design. The optimization procedure uses the automatic generated computation grid...

Description: The design of the suction system of compressors is of fundamental importance for efficiency and reliability. This paper reports a method developed to optimize the suction system of a reciprocating compressor, by using the genetic algorithm NSGA-II. The isentropic and volumetric efficiencies are used as objective functions, while the bending fatigue stress is used as a constraint to meet valve reliability. A simulation model of the compression cycle was coupled to the optimization procedure, with correlations for flow and force effective areas in terms of geometric parameters of the suction valve. Valve dynamics was numerically solved via the finite element method. The proposed optimization procedure was applied to a reciprocating compressor adopted for household refrigeration, identifying suction system geometries more efficient than the original design.

Description: Heat pumps have become increasingly important as a technology to reduce primary energy consumption and greenhouse effect gas emission. They are presently used mainly on residential air-conditioning and domestic hot water and are expected to spread to industrial heating processes. In 2011, Kobe Steel, Ltd. developed and commercialized two heat pump- based steam supply systems; the high efficiency steam supply system with a steam temperature of 120?C (SGH120) and the system which enables a steam temperature of 165?C (sGh165). For promoting the spread of these industrial heat pumps and enhancing the reliability of them, we investigate experimentally steam generation rate, energy efficiency and controlled performance of the SGH165 under various operating conditions on the assumption of actual different industrial processes, and evaluate technical possibilities for better performance.

Description: It has previously been shown that the use of two-phase screw expanders in power generation cycles can achieve an increase in the utilisation of available energy from a low temperature heat source when compared with more conventional single-phase turbines. However, screw expander efficiencies are more sensitive to expansion volume ratio than turbines, and this increases as the expander inlet vapour dryness fraction decreases. For singlestage screw machines with low inlet dryness, this can lead to under expansion of the working fluid and low isentropic efficiency for the expansion process. The performance of the cycle can potentially be improved by using a two-stage expander, consisting of a low pressure machine and a smaller high pressure machine connected in series. By expanding the working fluid over two stages, the built-in volume ratios of the two machines can be selected to provide a better match with the overall expansion process, thereby increasing efficiency for particular...

Description: Positive-displacement compressors and, among them, sliding-vane rotary machines are widely used in the compressed air sector. As in many other industrial fields, the efficient utilization of energy has become a major goal also in this sector. The aim of the present activity is the experimental investigation on the influence of two vanes materials (cast iron and aluminium with anodized surface) and of four commercial lubricants (characterized by different formulations and additives concentrations) on the performance of a mid-capacity sliding-vane rotary compressor in a number of operating pressures. The performance is identified by both the volume flow rate and the absorbed mechanical power, evaluated according to the international standard ISO 5167 and ISO 1217. The campaign indicates that the considered lubricants do not affect appreciably the volumetric flow rate. On the other hand, the specific lubricants determine a variation of about 1% of the mechanical power for both mater...

Description: The Lontra Blade Compressor ? is a patented double acting, internally compressing, positive displacement rotary compressor of innovative design. The Blade Compressor is in production for waste-water treatment, and will soon be launched for a range of applications at higher pressure ratios. In order to aid the design and development process, a thermodynamic and gas dynamic simulation program has been written in house. The software has been successfully used to optimise geometries and running conditions of current designs, and is also being used to evaluate future designs for different applications and markets. The simulation code has three main elements. A positive displacement chamber model, a leakage model and a gas dynamic model to simulate gas flow through ports and to track pressure waves in the inlet and outlet pipes. All three of these models are interlinked in order to track mass and energy flows within the system. A correlation study has been c...

Description: Study on the extraction of fault feature and the diagnostic technique of reciprocating compressor is one of the hot research topics in the field of reciprocating machinery fault diagnosis at present. A large number of feature extraction and classification methods have been widely applied in the related research, but the practical fault alarm and the accuracy of diagnosis have not been effectively improved. Developing feature extraction and classification methods to meet the requirements of typical fault alarm and automatic diagnosis in practical engineering is urgent task. The typical mechanical faults of reciprocating compressor are presented in the paper, and the existing data of online monitoring system is used to extract fault feature parameters within 15 types in total; the inner sensitive connection between faults and the feature parameters has been made clear by using the distance evaluation technique, also sensitive characteristic parameters of different faults have been ...

Description: The worldwide Sensor Web comprises observation data from diverse sources. Each data provider may process and assess datasets differently before making them available online. This information is often invisible to end users. Therefore, publishing observation data with quality descriptions is vital as it helps users to assess the suitability of data for their applications. It is also important to capture contextual information concerning data quality such as provenance to trace back incorrect data to its origins. In the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)’s Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) framework, there is no sufficiently and practically applicable approach how these aspects can be systematically represented and made accessible. This paper presents Q-SOS—an extension of the OGC’s Sensor Observation Service (SOS) that supports retrieval of observation data together with quality descriptions. These descriptions are represented in an observation data model covering various aspects of data quality assessment. The service and the data model have been developed based on open standards and open source tools, and are productively being used to share observation data from the TERENO observatory infrastructure. We discuss the advantages of deploying the presented solutions from data provider and consumer viewpoints. Enhancements applied to the related open-source developments are also introduced.

Description: In recent years, IoT (Internet of Things) technologies have seen great advances, particularly, the IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy Networks (RPL), which provides a powerful and flexible routing framework that can be applied in a variety of application scenarios. In this context, as an important role of IoT, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can utilize RPL to design efficient routing protocols for a specific application to increase the ubiquity of networks with resource-constrained WSN nodes that are low-cost and easy to deploy. In this article, our work starts with the description of Agricultural Low-power and Lossy Networks (A-LLNs) complying with the LLN framework, and to clarify the requirements of this application-oriented routing solution. After a brief review of existing optimization techniques for RPL, our contribution is dedicated to a Scalable Context-Aware Objective Function (SCAOF) that can adapt RPL to the environmental monitoring of A-LLNs, through combining energy-aware, reliability-aware, robustness-aware and resource-aware contexts according to the composite routing metrics approach. The correct behavior of this enhanced RPL version (RPAL) was verified by performance evaluations on both simulation and field tests. The obtained experimental results confirm that SCAOF can deliver the desired advantages on network lifetime extension, and high reliability and efficiency in different simulation scenarios and hardware testbeds.

Description: The aim of this randomized clinical trial was to evaluate whether a recently described multi-sensor approach called BIONOTE® is accurate enough to verify the efficacy of treatment of patients with halitosis. A treatment with Lactobacillus brevis (CD2)–containing lozenges, compared with placebo was tested. The BIONOTE® was compared with traditional techniques used to detect halitosis: OralChroma™ and two calibrated odor judges enrolled for the organoleptic assessments. Twenty patients (10 treated and 10 placebo), suffering from active phase halitosis were included in the study. Treatment consisted of Lactobacillus brevis (CD2)—containing lozenges or placebo, 4 tablets/day for 14 days. t0 was before the beginning of the study; t1 was day 7 and t2 was day 14. The effectiveness of treatment was assessed through: (1) Rosenberg score; (2) Winkel tongue coating index (WTCI) anterior and posterior; (2) OralChroma™; (3) the new developed multi-sensor approach, called BIONOTE® (test technique). Only the WTCI anterior revealed statistically significant changes between t0 and t2 data (p = 0.014) in the treated group. Except for the WTCI anterior, all diagnostic methods revealed the lack of effectiveness for halitosis of a 14-days treatment with Lactobacillus brevis (CD2)–containing lozenges. The BIONOTE® multisensor system seems accurate in addition to OralChroma™ to assess the initial condition of halitosis and its mitigation during treatment.

Description: We examine a distributed detection problem in a wireless sensor network, where sensor nodes collaborate to detect a Gaussian signal with an unknown change of power, i.e., a scale parameter. Due to power/bandwidth constraints, we consider the case where each sensor quantizes its observation into a binary digit. The binary data are then transmitted through error-prone wireless links to a fusion center, where a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detector is employed to perform a global decision. We study the design of a binary quantizer based on an asymptotic analysis of the GLRT. Interestingly, the quantization threshold of the quantizer is independent of the unknown scale parameter. Numerical results are included to illustrate the performance of the proposed quantizer and GLRT in binary symmetric channels (BSCs).

Description: This paper presents a multipurpose and low cost sensor for the simultaneous monitoring of temperature and ullage of wine in barrels in two of the most important stages of winemaking, that being fermentation and maturation. The distributed sensor subsystem is imbedded within the bung of the barrel and runs on battery for a period of at least 12 months and costs around $27 AUD for all parts. In addition, software was designed which allows for the remote transmission and easy visual interpretation of the data for the winemaker. Early warning signals can be sent when the temperature or ullage deviates from a winemakers expectations so remedial action can be taken, such as when topping is required or the movement of the barrels to a cooler cellar location. Such knowledge of a wine’s properties or storage conditions allows for a more precise control of the final wine quality.

Description: A fast and effective wound healing process would substantially decrease medical costs, wound care supplies, and hospitalization significantly improving the patients’ quality of life. The search for effective therapeutic approaches seems to be imperative in order to avoid the aggravation of chronic wounds. In spite of all the efforts that have been made during the recent years towards the development of artificial wound dressings, none of the currently available options combine all the requirements necessary for quick and optimal cutaneous regeneration. Therefore, technological advances in the area of temporary and permanent smart dressings for wound care are required. The development of nanoscience and nanotechnology can improve the materials and designs used in topical wound care in order to efficiently release antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and regenerative compounds speeding up the endogenous healing process. Nanostructured dressings can overcome the limitations of the current coverings and, separately, natural origin components can also overcome the drawbacks of current antibiotics and antiseptics (mainly cytotoxicity, antibiotic resistance, and allergies). The combination of natural origin components with demonstrated antibiotic, regenerative, or anti-inflammatory properties together with nanostructured materials is a promising approach to fulfil all the requirements needed for the next generation of bioactive wound dressings. Microbially compromised wounds have been treated with different essential oils, honey, cationic peptides, aloe vera, plant extracts, and other natural origin occurring antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and regenerative components but the available evidence is limited and insufficient to be able to draw reliable conclusions and to extrapolate those findings to the clinical practice. The evidence and some promising preliminary results indicate that future comparative studies are justified but instead of talking about the beneficial or inert effects of those natural origin occurring materials, the scientific community leads towards the identification of the main active components involved and their mechanism of action during the corresponding healing, antimicrobial, or regenerative processes and in carrying out systematic and comparative controlled tests. Once those natural origin components have been identified and their efficacy validated through solid clinical trials, their combination within nanostructured dressings can open up new avenues in the fabrication of bioactive dressings with outstanding characteristics for wound care. The motivation of this work is to analyze the state of the art in the use of different essential oils, honey, cationic peptides, aloe vera, plant extracts, and other natural origin occurring materials as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and regenerative components with the aim of clarifying their potential clinical use in bioactive dressings. We conclude that, for those natural occurring materials, more clinical trials are needed to reach a sufficient level of evidence as therapeutic agents for wound healing management.

Description: The European Parliament recently called for urgent measures to halve food waste in the EU, where consumers are responsible for a major part of total waste along the food supply chain. Due to a lack of data on national food waste statistics, uncertainty in (consumer) waste quantities (and the resulting associated quantities of natural resources) is very high, but has never been previously assessed in studies for the EU. Here we quantify: (1) EU consumer food waste, and (2) associated natural resources required for its production, in term of water and nitrogen, as well as estimating the uncertainty of these values. Total EU consumer food waste averages 123 (min 55?max 190) kg/capita annually (kg/cap/yr), i.e. 16% (min 7?max 24%) of all food reaching consumers. Almost 80%, i.e. 97 (min 45?max 153) kg/cap/yr is avoidable food waste, which is edible food not consumed. We have calculated the water and nitrogen (N) resources associated with avoidable food waste. The associated blue wate...

Description: Multiple stable states are established in coastal tidal wetlands (marshes, mangroves, deltas, seagrasses) by ecological, hydrological, and geomorphological feedbacks. Catastrophic shifts between states can be induced by gradual environmental change or by disturbance events. These feedbacks and outcomes are key to the sustainability and resilience of vegetated coastlines, especially as modulated by human activity, sea level rise, and climate change. Whereas multiple stable state theory has been invoked to model salt marsh responses to sediment supply and sea level change, there has been comparatively little empirical verification of the theory for salt marshes or other coastal wetlands. Especially lacking is long-term evidence documenting if or how stable states are established and maintained at ecosystem scales. Laboratory and field-plot studies are informative, but of necessarily limited spatial and temporal scope. For the purposes of long-term, coastal-scale monitoring, remote sensing is the best viable option. This review summarizes the above topics and highlights the emerging promise and challenges of using remote sensing-based analyses to validate coastal wetland dynamic state theories. This significant opportunity is further framed by a proposed list of scientific advances needed to more thoroughly develop the field.

Description: As internet technologies make their way into developing areas, so too does the possibility of education and training being delivered to the people living in those previously unserved areas. The growing catalogue of free, high quality courseware, when combined with the newly acquired means of delivery, creates the potential for millions of people in the developing world to acquire a good education. Yet a good education obviously requires more than simply delivering information; students must also receive high quality feedback on their assessments. They must be told how their performance compares with the ideal, and be shown how to close the gap between the two. However, delivering high quality feedback is labor-intensive, and therefore expensive, and has long been recognized as a problematic issue by educators. This paper outlines a case study that uses a Learning Management System (LMS) to efficiently deliver detailed feedback that is informed by the principles of best practice. We make the case that the efficiencies of this method allow for large-scale courses with thousands of enrolments that are accessible to developing and developed areas alike. We explore the question; is computer-mediated feedback delivery efficient and effective and might it be applied to large-scale courses at low-cost?

Description: This paper provides an overview of the main manufacturing technologies of displays, focusing on those with low and ultra-low levels of power consumption, which make them suitable for current societal needs. Considering the typified value obtained from the manufacturer’s specifications, four technologies—Liquid Crystal Displays, electronic paper, Organic Light-Emitting Display and Electroluminescent Displays—were selected in a first iteration. For each of them, several features, including size and brightness, were assessed in order to ascertain possible proportional relationships with the rate of consumption. To normalize the comparison between different display types, relative units such as the surface power density and the display frontal intensity efficiency were proposed. Organic light-emitting display had the best results in terms of power density for small display sizes. For larger sizes, it performs less satisfactorily than Liquid Crystal Displays in terms of energy efficiency.

Description: Model selection is an integral, yet contentious, component of epidemiologic research. Unfortunately, there remains no consensus on how to identify a single, best model among multiple candidate models. Researchers may be prone to selecting the model that best supports their a priori, preferred result; a phenomenon referred to as “wish bias”. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), based on background causal and substantive knowledge, are a useful tool for specifying a subset of adjustment variables to obtain a causal effect estimate. In many cases, however, a DAG will support multiple, sufficient or minimally-sufficient adjustment sets. Even though all of these may theoretically produce unbiased effect estimates they may, in practice, yield somewhat distinct values, and the need to select between these models once again makes the research enterprise vulnerable to wish bias. In this work, we suggest combining adjustment sets with model averaging techniques to obtain causal estimates based on multiple, theoretically-unbiased models. We use three techniques for averaging the results among multiple candidate models: information criteria weighting, inverse variance weighting, and bootstrapping. We illustrate these approaches with an example from the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition (PIN) study. We show that each averaging technique returns similar, model averaged causal estimates. An a priori strategy of model averaging provides a means of integrating uncertainty in selection among candidate, causal models, while also avoiding the temptation to report the most attractive estimate from a suite of equally valid alternatives.

Description: The widespread, intentional and increasingly frequent chemical emplacement in the troposphere has gone unidentified and unremarked in the scientific literature for years. The author presents evidence that toxic coal combustion fly ash is the most likely aerosolized particulate sprayed by tanker-jets for geoengineering, weather-modification and climate-modification purposes and describes some of the multifold consequences on public health. Two methods are employed: (1) Comparison of 8 elements analyzed in rainwater, leached from aerosolized particulates, with corresponding elements leached into water from coal fly ash in published laboratory experiments, and (2) Comparison of 14 elements analyzed in dust collected outdoors on a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter with corresponding elements analyzed in un-leached coal fly ash material. The results show: (1) the assemblage of elements in rainwater and in the corresponding experimental leachate are essentially identical. At a 99% confidence interval, they have identical means (T-test) and identical variances (F-test); and (2) the assemblage of elements in the HEPA dust and in the corresponding average un-leached coal fly ash are likewise essentially identical. The consequences on public health are profound, including exposure to a variety of toxic heavy metals, radioactive elements, and neurologically-implicated chemically mobile aluminum released by body moisture in situ after inhalation or through transdermal induction.

Description: The impacts of climate change on human health have been documented globally and in the United States. Numerous studies project greater morbidity and mortality as a result of extreme weather events and other climate-sensitive hazards. Public health impacts on the U.S. Gulf Coast may be severe as the region is expected to experience increases in extreme temperatures, sea level rise, and possibly fewer but more intense hurricanes. Through myriad pathways, climate change is likely to make the Gulf Coast less hospitable and more dangerous for its residents, and may prompt substantial migration from and into the region. Public health impacts may be further exacerbated by the concentration of people and infrastructure, as well as the region’s coastal geography. Vulnerable populations, including the very young, elderly, and socioeconomically disadvantaged may face particularly high threats to their health and well-being. This paper provides an overview of potential public health impacts of climate variability and change on the Gulf Coast, with a focus on the region’s unique vulnerabilities, and outlines recommendations for improving the region’s ability to minimize the impacts of climate-sensitive hazards. Public health adaptation aimed at improving individual, public health system, and infrastructure resilience is urgently needed to meet the challenges climate change may pose to the Gulf Coast in the coming decades.

Description: This study forecasts the liquidity gap in China’s pension scheme for urban workers in the context of an ageing population and the possible effects of recent governmental policies by constructing a basic pension model, including “old people”, “middle people” and “new people” and a simulation method. We find, firstly, that China’s liquidity gap of pension will reach its peak of approximately 13.11 trillion yuan in 2038. Subsequently, this gap will gradually decrease with growth in the mortality rate. Secondly, reasonable intervals for the replacement and contribution rates should be set at [0.417, 0.604] and [0.189, 0.262], respectively, to sustain China’s pension system. Thirdly, compared to increasing fiscal subsidies, an income doubling plan, raising the contribution rate, lowering the replacement rate and delaying the retirement age can significantly reduce the liquidity gap, although the policy costs are relatively high. A policy permitting families to have two children will increase the rate of reduction of the liquidity gap, but it cannot effectively narrow the gap at the peak moment.

Description: More and more hybrid electric vehicles are driven since they offer such advantages as energy savings and better active safety performance. Hybrid vehicles have two or more power driving systems and frequently switch working condition, so controlling stability is very important. In this work, a two-stage Kalman algorithm method is used to fuse data in hybrid vehicle stability testing. First, the RT3102 navigation system and Dewetron system are introduced. Second, a modeling of data fusion is proposed based on the Kalman filter. Then, this modeling is simulated and tested on a sample vehicle, using Carsim and Simulink software to test the results. The results showed the merits of this modeling.

Description: The aim of this study was to investigate how atmospheric air pollutants and meteorological conditions affected atmospheric visibility in the largest Polish agglomeration. The correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and generalized regression models (GRMs) were used to accomplish this objective. The meteorological parameters (temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and insolation) and concentrations of the air pollutants (PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3) were recorded in 2004–2013. The data came from the Ursynów-SGGW, MzWarszUrsynów and Okęcie monitoring stations, located in the south of Warsaw (Poland). It was shown that the PM10 concentration was the most important parameter affecting the visibility in Warsaw. The concentration, and indirectly the visibility, was mainly affected by the pollutant emission from the flat/building heating (combustion of various fuels). It changed intensively during the research period. There were also periods in which this emission type did not have a great influence on the pollutant concentrations (mainly PM10) and visibility. In such seasons, the research revealed the influence of the traffic emission and secondary aerosol formation processes on the visibility.

Description: Aquatic vegetation serves many important ecological and socioeconomic functions in lake ecosystems. The presence of floating algae poses difficulties for accurately estimating the distribution of aquatic vegetation in eutrophic lakes. We present an approach to map the distribution of aquatic vegetation in Lake Taihu (a large, shallow eutrophic lake in China) and reduce the influence of floating algae on aquatic vegetation mapping. Our approach involved a frequency analysis over a 2003–2013 time series of the floating algal index (FAI) based on moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Three phenological periods were defined based on the vegetation presence frequency (VPF) and the growth of algae and aquatic vegetation: December and January composed the period of wintering aquatic vegetation; February and March composed the period of prolonged coexistence of algal blooms and wintering aquatic vegetation; and June to October was the peak period of the coexistence of algal blooms and aquatic vegetation. By comparing and analyzing the satellite-derived aquatic vegetation distribution and 244 in situ measurements made in 2013, we established a FAI threshold of −0.025 and VPF thresholds of 0.55, 0.45 and 0.85 for the three phenological periods. We validated the accuracy of our approach by comparing the results between the satellite-derived maps and the in situ results obtained from 2008–2012. The overall classification accuracy was 87%, 81%, 77%, 88% and 73% in the five years from 2008–2012, respectively. We then applied the approach to the MODIS images from 2003–2013 and obtained the total area of the aquatic vegetation, which varied from 265.94 km2 in 2007 to 503.38 km2 in 2008, with an average area of 359.62 ± 69.20 km2 over the 11 years. Our findings suggest that (1) the proposed approach can be used to map the distribution of aquatic vegetation in eutrophic algae-rich waters and (2) dramatic changes occurred in the distribution of aquatic vegetation in Lake Taihu during the 11-year study.

Description: Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (DCS) is a well-established optical technique that has been used for non-invasive measurement of blood flow in tissues. Instrumentation for DCS includes a correlation device that computes the temporal intensity autocorrelation of a coherent laser source after it has undergone diffuse scattering through a turbid medium. Typically, the signal acquisition and its autocorrelation are performed by a correlation board. These boards have dedicated hardware to acquire and compute intensity autocorrelations of rapidly varying input signal and usually are quite expensive. Here we show that a Raspberry Pi minicomputer can acquire and store a rapidly varying time-signal with high fidelity. We show that this signal collected by a Raspberry Pi device can be processed numerically to yield intensity autocorrelations well suited for DCS applications. DCS measurements made using the Raspberry Pi device were compared to those acquired using a commercial hardware autocorrelation board to investigate the stability, performance, and accuracy of the data acquired in controlled experiments. This paper represents a first step toward lowering the instrumentation cost of a DCS system and may offer the potential to make DCS become more widely used in biomedical applications.

Description: Wind tunnels are a key experimental tool for the analysis of airflow parameters in many fields of application. Despite their great potential impact on agricultural research, few contributions have dealt with the development of automatic control systems for wind tunnels in the field of greenhouse technology. The objective of this paper is to present an automatic control system that provides precision and speed of measurement, as well as efficient data processing in low-speed wind tunnel experiments for greenhouse engineering applications. The system is based on an algorithm that identifies the system model and calculates the optimum PI controller. The validation of the system was performed on a cellulose evaporative cooling pad and on insect-proof screens to assess its response to perturbations. The control system provided an accuracy of 〈0.06 m·s‾1 for airflow speed and 〈0.50 Pa for pressure drop, thus permitting the reproducibility and standardization of the tests. The proposed control system also incorporates a fully-integrated software unit that manages the tests in terms of airflow speed and pressure drop set points.

Description: A new application of utilizing ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to sense wind turbine blade deflections is introduced in this paper for wind energy cost reduction. The lower UWB band of 3.1–5.3 GHz is applied. On each blade, there will be one UWB blade deflection sensing system, which consists of two UWB antennas at the blade root and one UWB antenna at the blade tip. The detailed topology and challenges of this deflection sensing system are addressed. Due to the complexity of the problem, this paper will first realize the on-blade UWB radio link in the simplest case, where the tip antenna is situated outside (and on the surface of) a blade tip. To investigate this case, full-blade time-domain measurements are designed and conducted under different deflections. The detailed measurement setups and results are provided. If the root and tip antenna locations are properly selected, the first pulse is always of sufficient quality for accurate estimations under different deflections. The measured results reveal that the blade tip-root distance and blade deflection can be accurately estimated in the complicated and lossy wireless channels around a wind turbine blade. Some future research topics on this application are listed finally.

Description: A method for measuring shaft diameters is presented using structured light vision measurement. After calibrating a model of the structured light measurement, a virtual plane is established perpendicular to the measured shaft axis and the image of the light stripe on the shaft is projected to the virtual plane. On the virtual plane, the center of the measured shaft is determined by fitting the projected image under the geometrical constraints of the light stripe, and the shaft diameter is measured by the determined center and the projected image. Experiments evaluated the measuring accuracy of the method and the effects of some factors on the measurement are analyzed.

Description: Understanding the relationship between land use and surface water quality is necessary for effective water management. We estimated the impacts of catchment-wide land use on water quality during the dry and rainy seasons in the Dongjiang River basin, using remote sensing, geographic information systems and multivariate statistical techniques. The results showed that the 83 sites can be divided into three groups representing different land use types: forest, agriculture and urban. Water quality parameters exhibited significant variations between the urban-dominated and forest-dominated sites. The proportion of forested land was positively associated with dissolved oxygen concentration but negatively associated with water temperature, electrical conductivity, permanganate index, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and chlorophyll-a. The proportion of urban land was strongly positively associated with total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen concentrations. Forested and urban land use had stronger impacts on water quality in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, agricultural land use did not have a significant impact on water quality. Our study indicates that urban land use was the key factor affecting water quality change, and limiting point-source waste discharge in urban areas during the dry season would be critical for improving water quality in the study area.

Description: The morphological properties of kaolin flocs were investigated in a Couette-flow experiment at the steady state under seven shear flow conditions (shear rates of 5.36, 9.17, 14, 24, 31, 41 and 53 s−1). These properties include a one-dimensional (1-D) fractal dimension (D1), a two-dimensional (2-D) fractal dimension (D2), a perimeter-based fractal dimension (Dpf) and an aspect ratio (AR). They were calculated based on the projected area (A), equivalent size, perimeter (P) and length (L) of the major axis of the floc determined through sample observation and an image analysis system. The parameter D2, which characterizes the relationship between the projected area and the length of the major axis using a power function, , increased from 1.73 ± 0.03, 1.72 ± 0.03, and 1.75 ± 0.04 in the low shear rate group (G = 5.36, 9.17, and 14 s−1) to 1.92 ± 0.03, 1.82 ± 0.02, 1.85 ± 0.02, and 1.81 ± 0.02 in the high shear rate group (24, 31, 41 and 53 s−1), respectively. The parameter D1 characterizes the relationship between the perimeter and length of the major axis by the function  and decreased from 1.52 ± 0.02, 1.48 ± 0.02, 1.55 ± 0.02, and 1.63 ± 0.02 in the low shear group (5.36, 9.17, 14 and 24 s−1) to 1.45 ± 0.02, 1.39 ± 0.02, and 1.39 ± 0.02 in the high shear group (31, 41 and 53 s−1), respectively. The results indicate that with increasing shear rates, the flocs become less elongated and that their boundary lines become tighter and more regular, caused by more breakages and possible restructurings of the flocs. The parameter Dpf, which is related to the perimeter and the projected area through the function , decreased as the shear rate increased almost linearly. The parameter AR, which is the ratio of the length of the major axis and equivalent diameter, decreased from 1.56, 1.59, 1.53 and 1.51 in the low shear rate group to 1.43, 1.47 and 1.48 in the high shear rate group. These changes in Dpf and AR show that the flocs become less convoluted and more symmetrical and that their boundaries become smoother and more regular in the high shear rate group than in the low shear rate group due to breakage and possible restructuring processes. To assess the effects of electrolyte and sediment concentration, 0.1 mol/L calcium chloride (CaCl2) and initial sediment concentration from 7.87 × 10−5 to 1.57 × 10−5 were used in this preliminary study. The addition of electrolyte and increasing sediment concentration could produce more symmetrical flocs with less convoluted and simpler boundaries. In addition, some new information on the temporal variation of the median size of the flocs during the flocculation process is presented.

Description: Accurate state of charge (SoC) estimation of batteries plays an important role in promoting the commercialization of electric vehicles. The main work to be done in accurately determining battery SoC can be summarized in three parts. (1) In view of the model-based SoC estimation flow diagram, the n-order resistance-capacitance (RC) battery model is proposed and expected to accurately simulate the battery’s major time-variable, nonlinear characteristics. Then, the mathematical equations for model parameter identification and SoC estimation of this model are constructed. (2) The Akaike information criterion is used to determine an optimal tradeoff between battery model complexity and prediction precision for the n-order RC battery model. Results from a comparative analysis show that the first-order RC battery model is thought to be the best based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC) values. (3) The real-time joint estimator for the model parameter and SoC is constructed, and the application based on two battery types indicates that the proposed SoC estimator is a closed-loop identification system where the model parameter identification and SoC estimation are corrected mutually, adaptively and simultaneously according to the observer values. The maximum SoC estimation error is less than 1% for both battery types, even against the inaccurate initial SoC.

Description: This is the second part of a study conducted to model the aerothermodynamic impact of suction parameters and gas properties on a multi-stage centrifugal compressor’s performance. A new iterative method has been developed in the first part to derive the equivalent performance at various operating conditions. This approach has been validated to predict the compressor map at different suction pressures and temperatures using the design characteristics as reference values. A further case is included in this paper in order to emphasize the validity of the developed approach to obtain the performance characteristics at various gas compositions. The provided example shows that the performance parameters at different gas mixtures can be predicted to within ±1.34%. Furthermore, the conducted optimization in this paper reveals that the proposed method can be applied for the compressor design evaluation corresponding to the expected variation in suction conditions. Moreover, the examined case study demonstrates the effect of gas properties’ variation on the operating point and aerodynamic stability of the entire compression system. In order to achieve that, a simple approach has been established to assess the contribution of gas properties’ variation to the inefficient and unstable compressor performance based on the available operational data.

Description: The in-wheel electric vehicle is expected to be a popular next-generation vehicle because an in-wheel system can simplify the powertrain and improve driving performance. In addition, it also has an advantage in that it maximizes driving efficiency through independent torque control considering the motor efficiency. However, there is an instability problem if only the driving torque is controlled in consideration of only the motor efficiency. In this paper, integrated torque distribution strategies are proposed to overcome these problems. The control algorithm consists of various strategies for optimizing driving efficiency, satisfying driver demands, and considering tire slip and vehicle cornering. Fuzzy logic is used to determine the appropriate timing of intervention for each distribution strategy. A performance simulator for in-wheel electric vehicles was developed by using MATLAB/Simulink and CarSim to validate the control strategies. From simulation results under complex driving conditions, the proposed algorithm was verified to improve both the driving stability and fuel economy of the in-wheel vehicle.