In the traditional performance assessment method, different modes of data are classified mainly by expert knowledge. Thus, human interference is highly probable. The traditional method is also incapable of distinguishing transition data from steady-state data, which reduces the accuracy of the monitor model. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a method of multimode operating performance visualization and nonoptimal cause identification. First, multimode data identification is realized by subtractive clustering algorithm (SCA), which can reduce human influence and eliminate transition data. Then, the multi-space principal component analysis (MsPCA) is used to characterize the independent characteristics of different datasets, which enhances the robustness of the model with respect to the performance of independent variables. Furthermore, a self-organizing map (SOM) is used to train these characteristics and map them into a two-dimensional plane, by which the visualization of th... [more]

Objectives: The current study aimed to measure the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of 25 wild Palestinian edible plants, which were subjected to extraction by polar and non-polar solvents. Correlations between free radical scavenging activity and antibacterial activity of the extracts were assessed for both polar and non-polar fractions. Materials: Twenty-five wild edible plant species that are frequently consumed by people in Palestine (mainly in a rural area) were examined. Among them, 10 plant species were among those with the highest mean cultural importance values, according to an ethnobotanical survey that was conducted in the West Bank, Palestine, a few years ago. Method: The protocol of the DPPH assay for testing free-radical scavenging was utilized for determining EC50 values, while microdilution tests were conducted to determine the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the extracts for the microorganism Staphylococcus mutans. Results and Discussion: Eight extracts... [more]

Aimed at the coordination control problem of each unit caused by microgrid participation in the spot market and considering the randomness of wind and solar output and the uncertainty of spot market prices, a day-ahead real-time two-stage optimal scheduling model for microgrid was established by using the chance-constrained programming theory. On this basis, an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm based on stochastic simulation technology was used to solve the problem and the effect of demand side management and confidence level on scheduling results is discussed. The example results verified the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed model, which can provide a theoretical basis in terms of reasonably coordinating the output of each unit in the microgrid in the spot market.

Based on the comprehensive utilization of energy storage, photovoltaic power generation, and intelligent charging piles, photovoltaic (PV)-storage charging stations can provide green energy for electric vehicles (EVs), which can significantly improve the green level of the transportation industry. However, there are many challenges in the PV-storage charging station planning process, making it theoretically and practically significant to study approaches to planning. This paper promotes a bi-level optimization planning approach for PV-storage charging stations. First, taking PV-storage charging stations and EV users as the upper- and lower-level problems, respectively, during the planning process, a bi-level optimization model for PV-storage charging stations considering user utility is established for capacity allocation and user behavior-based electricity pricing. Second, the model is converted into a single-level mixed-integer linear programming model using the piecewise linear util... [more]

Batch-type hot rolling planning highly affects electricity costs in a steel plant, but previous research models seldom considered time-of-use (TOU) electricity pricing. Based on an analysis of the hot-rolling process and TOU electricity pricing, a batch-processing plan optimization model for hot rolling was established, using an objective function with the goal of minimizing the total penalty incurred by the differences in width, thickness, and hardness among adjacent slabs, as well as the electricity cost of the rolling process. A method was provided to solve the model through improved genetic algorithm. An analysis of the batch processing of the hot rolling of 240 slabs of different sizes at a steel plant proved the effectiveness of the proposed model. Compared to the man−machine interaction model and the model in which TOU electricity pricing was not considered, the batch-processing model that included TOU electricity pricing produced significantly better results with respect to bot... [more]

Wind speed forecasting helps to increase the efficacy of wind farms and prompts the comparative superiority of wind energy in the global electricity system. Many wind speed forecasting theories have been widely applied to forecast wind speed, which is nonlinear, and unstable. Current forecasting strategies can be applied to various wind speed time series. However, some models neglect the prerequisite of data preprocessing and the objective of simultaneously optimizing accuracy and stability, which results in poor forecast. In this research, we developed a combined wind speed forecasting strategy that includes several components: data pretreatment, optimization, forecasting, and assessment. The developed system remedies some deficiencies in traditional single models and markedly enhances wind speed forecasting performance. To evaluate the performance of this combined strategy, 10-min wind speed sequences gathered from large wind farms in Shandong province in China were adopted as a case... [more]

Identifying abnormal process operation with spatial-temporal data remains an important and challenging work in many practical situations. Although spatial-temporal data identification has been extensively studied in some domains, such as public health, geological condition, and environment pollution, the challenge associated with designing accurate and convenient recognition schemes is very rarely addressed in modern manufacturing processes. This paper proposes a general recognition framework for identifying abnormal process with spatial-temporal data by employing a convolutional neural network (CNN) model. Firstly, motivated by the pasting case study, the spatial-temporal data are transformed into process images for capturing spatial and temporal interrelationship. Then, the CNN recognition model is presented for identifying different types of these process images, leading to the identification of abnormal process with spatial-temporal data. The specific architecture parameters of CNN... [more]

A framework is introduced for the systematic development of preparative chromatographic processes. It is intended for the optimal design of conventional and advanced concepts that exploit strategies, such as recycling, side streams, bypasses, using single or multiple columns, and combinations thereof. The Python-based platform simplifies the implementation of new processes and design problems by decoupling design tasks into individual modules for modelling, simulation, assertion of cyclic stationarity, product fractionation, and optimization. Interfaces to external libraries provide flexibility regarding the choice of column model, solver, and optimizer. The current implementation, named CADET-Process, uses the software CADET for solving the model equations. The structure of the framework is discussed and its application for optimal design of existing and identification of new chromatographic operating concepts is demonstrated by case studies.

Anti-solvent crystallization is frequently applied in pharmaceutical processes for the separation and purification of intermediate compounds and active ingredients. The selection of optimal solvent types is important to improve the economic performance and sustainability of the process, but is challenged by the discrete nature and large number of possible solvent combinations and the inherent relations between solvent selection and optimal process design. A computational framework is presented for the simultaneous solvent selection and optimization for a continuous process involving crystallization and distillation for recycling of the anti-solvent. The method is based on the perturbed-chain statistical associated fluid theory (PC-SAFT) equation of state to predict relevant thermodynamic properties of mixtures within the process. Alternative process configurations were represented by a superstructure. Due to the high nonlinearity of the thermodynamic models and rigorous models for dist... [more]

The demand on biologics has been constantly rising over the past decades and has become crucial in modern medicine. Promising approaches to cope with widespread diseases like cancer and diabetes are gene therapy, plasmid DNA, virus-like particles, and exosomes. Due to progress that has been made in upstream processing (USP), difficulties arise in downstream processing and demand for innovative solutions. This work focuses on the integration of precipitation using a quality by design (QbD) approach for process development. Selective precipitation is achieved with PEG 4000 resulting in an HCP depletion of ≥80% respectively to IgG. Dissolution was executed with a sodium phosphate buffer (pH = 5/50 mM) reaching an IgG recovery of ≥95%. However, the central challenge in process development is still an optimal process design, which is transferable for a broad molecular variety of new products. This is where rigorous modeling becomes vital in order to generate digital twins to support early-s... [more]

Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) are a cutting-edge excavating equipment, but are barely applied in underground coal mines. For TBM excavation projects involving the Zhangji coal mine, the surrounding rock properties, stress field, cross section geometry, as well as the excavation-induced stress path of TBM-excavated coal mine roadways are different from those of traditional tunnels or roadways. Consequently, traditional roadway supporting technologies and experiences cannot be relied on for this project. In order to research an appropriate supporting pattern for a TBM-excavated coal mine roadway, first of all, the constitutive model of roadway surrounding rocks was derived, and a rock failure criterion was proposed based on rock mechanical tests. Secondly, a three-dimension finite element model was established and computer simulations under three different supporting patterns were conducted. Stress redistribution, roadway convergence, and excavation damage zone ranges of surrounding rock... [more]

Two of the methods for converting biomass to fuel are hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and anaerobic digestion (AD). This study is aimed at designing and analyzing two scenarios for bioenergy production from undervalued biomass (sawdust). In one of the scenarios (direct combustion or DC), raw biomass is burned in a combustor to provide the heat that is required by the Rankine cycle to generate electricity. In the other scenario (HTC-AD), the raw biomass first undergoes HTC treatment. While the solid product (hydrochar) is used to produce power by a Rankine cycle, the liquid by-product undergoes an AD process. This results in fuel gas production and it can be used in a Brayton cycle to generate more power. Energy and mass balance analysis of both scenarios were developed for each unit process by using Engineering Equation Solver (EES). The required data were obtained experimentally or from the literature. The performances of the proposed systems were evaluated, and a sensitivity analysi... [more]

This paper presents a multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) method for optimal sizing of the standalone photovoltaic (SAPV) systems. Loss of load probability (LLP) analysis is considered to determine the technical evaluation of the system. Life cycle cost (LCC) and levelized cost of energy (LCE) are treated as the economic criteria. The two variants of the proposed PSO method, referred to as adaptive weights PSO ( A W P S O c f ) and sigmoid function PSO ( S F P S O c f ) , are implemented using MATLAB software to the optimize the number of PV modules in (series and parallel) and number of the storage battery. The case study of the proposed SAPV system is executed using the hourly meteorological data and typical load demand for one year in a rural area in Malaysia. The performance outcomes of the proposed A W / S F P S O c f methods give various configurations at desired levels of LLP values and the corresponding minimum cost. The perform... [more]

The power-to-ammonia process requires flexible operation due to intermittent renewable energy supply. In this work, we analyse three-bed autothermal reactor systems for design and off-design performance for power-to-ammonia application. The five reactor systems differ in terms of inter-stage cooling methods, i.e., direct cooling by quenching (2Q), combination of indirect and direct cooling (HQ and QH) and indirect cooling (2H) with variations. At optimum nominal operation conditions, the inter-stage indirect cooling (2H) reactor systems result in the highest NH3 production. For off-design performance analysis, NH3 production is minimised or maximised by varying one of the following process variables at a time: inert gas, feed flow rate or H2-to-N2 ratio. For each variation, the effect on H2 intake, recycle stream load and recycle-to-feed ratio is also analysed. Among the three process variables, the H2-to-N2 ratio provided ca. 70% lower NH3 production and 70% lower H2 intake than at no... [more]

Cellular materials with very highly regulated micro-architectures are promising applicant materials for orthopedic medical uses while requiring implants or substituting for bone due to their ability to promote increased cell proliferation and osseointegration. This study focuses on the design of an acetabular cup (AC) cellular implant which was built using a vintiles cellular structure with an internal porosity of 56−87.9% and internal pore dimensions in the range of 600−1200 μm. The AC implant was then optimized for improving mechanical performance to reduce stress shielding by adjusting the porosity to produce stiffness (elastic modulus) to match with the bone, and allowing for bone cell ingrowth. The optimized and non-optimized AC cellular implant was fabricated using the SLM additive manufacturing process. Simulation (finite element analysis, FEA) was carried out and all cellular implants are finally tested under static loading conditions. The result showed that on the finite eleme... [more]

There is no denial that renewable energy is considered to be the most cost-competitive source of clean power in many parts of the world. Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 aims at achieving the best by using different sources of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, and others. The use of solar energy in particular for power generation will decrease the dependency on oil, and thus, decrease the greenhouse gasses. Solar panels efficiency tends to decrease with the accumulation of dust on their surface. Thus, a cleaning process requires assigning and employing labor, which increases the cost of running as well as high cost of machinery. The current study focuses on assessing and designing a simple auto self-cleaning system in order to improve the efficiency of the solar panel. The results showed that for the Al-Khobar region, Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the efficiency of the solar panels after cleaning was increased from 6% to an average of 12% at nominal temperature... [more]

The ability to predict and control the outcome of the sheet metal forming process demands holistic knowledge of the product/process parameter influences and their contribution in shaping the output product quality. Recent improvements in the ability to harvest in-line production data and the increased capability to understand complex process behaviour through computer simulations open up the possibility for new approaches to monitor and control production process performance and output product quality. This research presents an overview of the common process monitoring and control approaches while highlighting their limitations in handling the dynamics of the sheet metal forming process. The current paper envisions the need for a collaborative monitoring and control system for enhancing production process performance. Such a system must incorporate comprehensive knowledge regarding process behaviour and parameter influences in addition to the current-system-state derived using in-line... [more]

Modern large-scale manipulators with hydraulic actuation like mobile concrete pump manipulators are increasingly used in industrial, construction, and other fields. Due to the large span of these manipulators, the static deformation accumulation to the endpoint has seriously affected the precise control of the endpoint. In this paper, we propose a static deformation-compensation method based on inclination sensor feedback for large-scale manipulators to reduce the deviation of the endpoint. Compared with the finite element method, this method does not need to consider many boundary conditions that are uncertain for flexible manipulators in most situations. It has appropriate accuracy and is universal for large-scale manipulators of different sizes and working under different loads. Based on a 24m-3R mobile concrete pump manipulator, the parametric simulation is carried out. The reliability of the static deformation-compensation method is verified, and the error is analyzed. The validit... [more]

The autonomous shuttle and stacker crane (AC/SC) warehousing system, as a new automated deep-lane unit load storage/retrieval system, has been becoming more popular, especially for batch order fulfilment because of its high flexibility, low operational cost and improved storage capacity. This system consists of a shuttle sub-system that controls motion along the x-axis and a stacker crane sub-system that controls motion along the y-axis and z-axis. The combination of shuttles and a stacker crane performs storage and retrieval tasks. Modelling the parallel motion is an important design tool that can be used to calculate the optimal number of shuttles for a given configuration of the warehousing system. In this study, shuttle movements from one lane to another are inserted into the stock-keeping unit (SKU) task queue, and convert such that they are consistent with the retrieval tasks. The tasks are then grouped according to their starting lane, and converted to an assembly-line parallel... [more]

In this work, the essential oils (EOs) from Eriocephalus africanus leaf, Vitex agnus-castus leaf and fruit, Cymbopogon citratus leaf, and Rosmarinus officinalis leaf were used as antifungal agents against isolated Aspergillus flavus, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and Penicillium chrysogenum from an ancient Egyptian child’s mummy. The isolated fungi were used to colonize the samples of linen fibers. The best oil was used as a novel natural product for the cleaner production of model linen fibers similar to those used in ancient Egyptian mummification. Standard and original linen fibers were compared with the infected Linen samples using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The FTIR revealed the changes in the molecular structure of the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin of the infected linen fibers. The cellulose crystallinity indices decreased to 64.61%, 52.69%, and 54.63% in the linen inoculated with A. flavus, C. cladosporioides, and P. chrysogenu... [more]

Human cancer and pathogenic microbes cause a significant number of deaths every year. Modulating current sources of natural products that control such diseases becomes essential. Natural algae, such as Ascophyllum nodosum and Ecklonia maxima, can modulate the metabolic processes as well the bioactivities of Ruta graveolens L. The R. graveolens plants were subjected to nine soil drenches of A. nodosum (7 mL L−1), E. maxima (7 mL L−1), or both extracts. Morphological performance, gas exchange parameters, and essential oils (EOs) composition (GC-MS) were studied and the bioactivity was assessed against several cancer cells and pathogenic bacteria or fungi. Treatment with A. nodosum + E. maxima seaweed extracts (SWE) led to the highest morphological performance and gas exchange parameters. The highest antiproliferative, apoptotic, and caspase-3/7 activities of EO were against HeLa in SWE mixture treated plants. The best EO antimicrobial activities were obtained against Staphylococcus aureu... [more]

The rising global warming concerns and explosive degradation of the environment requires the mainstream utilization of alternative fuels, such as hydroxy gas (HHO) which presents itself as a viable substitute for extracting the benefits of hydrogen. Therefore, an experimental study of the performance and emission characteristics of alternative fuels in contrast to conventional gasoline was undertaken. For experimentation, a spark ignition engine was run on a multitude of fuels comprising of gasoline, Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and hybrid blend of HHO with LPG. The engine was operated at 60% open throttle with engine speed ranging from 1600 rpm to 3400 rpm. Simultaneously, the corresponding performance parameters including brake specific fuel consumption, brake power and brake thermal efficiency were investigated. Emission levels of CO, CO2, HC and NOx were quantified in the specified speed range. To check the suitability of the acquired experimental data, it was subjected to a Weibu... [more]

The postharvest physiology of cut flowers is largely dependent on vase life, which is the maximum number of days before flower senescence. The use of tree bark extracts (major forest plant residues), as an eco-friendly and natural antioxidant preservative in holding solutions, is a novel tool for extending flower longevity. The morphological, physiological, biochemical, and genetic responses of Gladiolus grandiflorus cut spikes to Magnolia acuminata and Taxus cuspidata bark extracts as additives in holding solutions were investigated. G. grandiflorus subjected to bark extracts as well as catechin and protocatechuic acid (main phenols) displayed significant increased longevity (up to 18 days), an increased number of open florets, and increased floret fresh weight. Increases in the relative water content, leaf chlorophyll, carotenoids, soluble sugars, and protein content were observed in addition to a reduction in microbial growth in the cut spikes. Gas exchange parameters were higher in... [more]

By mimicking the biological evolution process, genetic algorithm (GA) methodology has the advantages of creating and updating new elite parameters for optimization processes, especially in controller design technique. In this paper, a GA improvement that can speed up convergence and save operation time by neglecting chromosome decoding step is proposed to find the optimized fuzzy-proportional-integral-derivative (fuzzy-PID) control parameters. Due to minimizing tracking error of the controller design criterion, the fitness function integral of square error (ISE) was employed to utilize the advantages of the modified GA. The proposed method was then applied to a novel autonomous hovercraft motion model to display the superiority to the standard GA.

To study the appropriate numerical simulation methods for venturi injectors, including the investigation of the hydraulic performance, mixing process, and the flowing law of the two internal fluids, simulations and experiments were conducted in this study. In the simulations part, the cavitation model based on the standard k−ε turbulence and mixture models was added, after convergence of the calculations. The results revealed that the cavitation model has good agreement with the experiment. However, huge deviations occurred between the experimental results and the ones from the calculation when not considering the cavitation model after cavitation. Thus, it is inferred that the cavitation model can exactly predict the hydraulic performance of a venturi injector. In addition, the cavitation is a crucial factor affecting the hydraulic performance of a venturi injector. The cavitation can ensure the stability of the fertilizer absorption of the venturi injector and can realize the precise... [more]