In this work, an idea of a wideband, precision, power electronics programmable voltage source (PVS) is presented. One of the basic elements of the converter, the control section, contains a continuous-time sigma-delta modulator (SDM) with a pair of interconnected complementary comparators, which represents a new approach. In this case, the SDM uses comparators with a dynamic hysteresis loop (DHC) that includes an AC circuit rather than an R-R network. Dynamic hysteresis is a very effective way of eliminating parasitic oscillation during the signal transition at the input of the comparator; it also affects the frequency characteristics and, especially, the phase properties of the comparator, and this phenomenon is exploited in the proposed converter. The main disadvantage of all pulse-modulated converters is the presence of a ripple component in the output voltage (current), which reduces the quality of the output signal and may cause high-frequency disturbances. A basic feature of PVS... [more]

Forecasting wind speed has become one of the most attractive topics to researchers in the field of renewable energy due to its use in generating clean energy, and the capacity for integrating it into the electric grid. There are several methods and models for time series forecasting at the present time. Advancements in deep learning methods characterize the possibility of establishing a more developed multistep prediction model than shallow neural networks (SNNs). However, the accuracy and adequacy of long-term wind speed prediction is not yet well resolved. This study aims to find the most effective predictive model for time series, with less errors and higher accuracy in the predictions, using artificial neural networks (ANNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and long short-term memory (LSTM), which is a special type of RNN model, compared to the common autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA). The results are measured by the root mean square error (RMSE) method. The compar... [more]

The promising power-to-gas (P2G) technology makes it possible for wind farms to absorb carbon and trade in multiple energy markets. Considering the remoteness of wind farms equipped with P2G systems and the isolation of different energy markets, the scheduling process may suffer from inefficient coordination and unstable information. An automated scheduling approach is thus proposed. Firstly, an automated scheduling framework enabled by smart contract is established for reliable coordination between wind farms and multiple energy markets. Considering the limited logic complexity and insufficient calculation of smart contracts, an off-chain procedure as a workaround is proposed to avoid complex on-chain solutions. Next, a non-linear model of the P2G system is developed to enhance the accuracy of scheduling results. The scheduling strategy takes into account not only the revenues from multiple energy trades, but also the penalties for violating contract items in smart contracts. Then, th... [more]

The solid waste of Rapana thomasiana seashells both from domestic activities and natural waste on seashore can be used to obtain viable products for medical applications. However, conventional technologies applied for sintering the materials require massive energy consumption due to the resistance heating. Microwave heating represents an advanced technology for sintering, but the stability of the process, in terms of thermal runaway and microwave plasma arc discharge, jeopardizes the quality of the sintered products. This paper aims to present the results of research focused on viable heating technology and the mechanical properties of the final products. A comparative analysis, in terms of energy efficiency vs. mechanical properties, has been performed for three different heating technologies: direct microwave heating, hybrid microwave heating and resistance heating. The results obtained concluded that the hybrid microwave heating led to final products from Rapana thomasiana solid was... [more]

The analysis of waveforms related to transient events is an important task in power system maintenance. Currently, electric power systems are monitored by several event recorders called phasor measurement units (PMUs) which generate a large amount of data. The number of records is so high that it makes human analysis infeasible. An alternative way of solving this problem is to group events in similar classes so that it is no longer necessary to analyze all the events, but only the most representative of each class. Several automatic clustering algorithms have been proposed in the literature. Most of these algorithms use validation indexes to rank the partitioning quality and, consequently, find the optimal number of clusters. However, this issue remains open, as each index has its own performance highly dependent on the data spatial distribution. The main contribution of this paper is the development of a methodology that optimizes the results of any clustering algorithm, regardless of... [more]

A standard model, one of the lattice Boltzmann models for incompressible flow, is broadly applied in mesoscopic fluid with obvious compressible error. To eliminate the compressible effect and the limits in 2D problems, three different models (He-Luo model, Guo’s model, and Zhang’s model) have been proposed and tested by some benchmark questions. However, the numerical accuracy of models adopted in complex geometry and the effect of structural complexity are rarely studied. In this paper, a 2D dimensionless steady flow model is proposed and constructed by fractal geometry with different structural complexity. Poiseuille flow is first simulated to verify the code and shows good agreements with the theoretical solution, supporting further the comparative study on four models to investigate the effect of structural complexity and grid resolution, with reference results obtained by the finite element method (FEM). The work confirms the latter proposed models and effectively reduces compress... [more]

A range of energy sources are used by households across the globe, including electricity, gas, solar, and wood. While there is a large body of international research aimed at understanding household energy use in general, very few studies have focused on the specific topic of residential firewood consumption. In Australia, empirical research to investigate and quantify residential firewood consumption is scarce and outdated, despite the importance of such research for better understanding overall household energy costs and carbon emissions. Unlike other power sources, such as electricity, gas and solar, firewood consumption is not systematically monitored or measured in an objective way, thereby making it difficult to obtain accurate data on the amount of firewood consumed in the residential sector. To address this data gap, the current study used survey data from a sample of 4844 households (including 1168 firewood users) to explore what socio-demographic, dwelling-related and behavio... [more]

In this study, the heat exchange characteristics of water−LiBr solutions used as working fluid in a plate heat exchanger (PHE) were experimentally investigated at various concentrations. To analyze the heat transfer characteristics under LiBr/water conditions, a brazing type plate heat exchanger was installed, and the LiBr concentration on the high-temperature side was controlled at 56%, 58%, 60% and 60%. The results showed that the average heat transfer rate under water/water conditions was higher than that under LiBr/water conditions and the average heat transfer rate decreased as the LiBr concentration on the hot side increased. In addition, under both water/water and LiBr/water conditions, the average heat transfer rate and overall heat transfer coefficient increased as the mass flow rate of the working fluid on the hot side increased. When LiBr was used, the Reynolds number (Re) of LiBr on the hot side was more than nine times lower than that of water at the same mass flow rate ow... [more]

The doubly fed induction generator is widely used in wind power applications. For stand-alone operation of this machine, the control of the stator flux with fixed voltage and frequency has been proposed. This paper extends the stator flux control of the doubly fed induction machine by droop mechanisms, which vary the setpoint of flux magnitude and frequency depending on active and reactive power. This gives the doubly fed induction generator system unknown grid supporting and grid forming performance. The validation of the proposed control scheme has been conducted on a 10kVA testbed system. The closed-loop behavior of the system has been proven to enable grid-tied and islanded operation with the same control structure. The system response to load changes and islanding events show no disruptive transients in both conditions.

The rapid development of innovations in the industry 4.0 era led to new or evolved companies. At the same time, the accepted concept of carbon-free development requires building a new philosophy for the company’s management. The paper aims to analyse the key attributes of teal organisations (as a new type of a company) from the energy sector (as a core sector for carbon-free transformation). The paper summarises the core features of teal organisations and their attributes. In the paper, three hypotheses are tested: innovations and technologies are the most used attributes among teal organisations from the energy sector; organisational and corporate culture are the least used attributes among teal organisations from the energy sector; in the energy sector, the companies that have the attributes of teal organisations primarily work in countries with a high level of innovation and information technologies (as a core indicator of Industry 4.0) and economic development. For testing the hypo... [more]

Fault-tolerant control (FTC) solutions are increasingly being used in modern drive systems with AC motors. Such systems provide a higher degree of security and solutions that allow the on-line detection and localization of failures, as well as the switching of the control mode to a mode that allows us to continue the operation or safely stop the drive system. As the current sensors (CSs) are necessary to ensure precise control of the AC motors, in the event of their failure, one of two strategies can be used—hardware or software redundancy. The first strategy requires the use of additional measuring sensors. For this reason, the algorithmic solution, based on the Luenberger Observer (LO), has been proposed in this article as one of the software redundancy methods. In contrast to methods presented in the literature, the proposed solution allows one not only to compensate the stator current in a phase with a faulty CS, but also to adjust the correction of current estimation based on a me... [more]

The present study investigates the thermo-hydraulic characteristics of a microchannel sink with novel trefoil Shaped ribs. The motivation for this form of rib shape is taken from the design of lung alveoli that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. This study has been conducted numerically by using a code from the commercially available Fluent software. The trefoil shaped ribs were mounted on the centerline of different walls of the microchannel in three different configurations. These consisted of base wall trefoil ribs (MC-BWTR), sidewall trefoil ribs (MC-SWTR), all wall trefoil ribs (MC-AWTR) and smooth channel (MC-SC) having no ribs on its wall. The streamline distance between the ribs was kept constant at 0.4 mm, and the results were compared by using pressure drop (∆p), Nusselt number (Nu), thermal resistance (Rth) and thermal enhancement factor (η). The results indicated that the addition of trefoil ribs to any wall improved heat transfer characteristics at the expense of an incre... [more]

This paper proposed the transformer characteristic analysis method for the wireless power transfer (WPT) device and linear motor (LM) integration system that can be applied to industrial cleanroom transfer systems. A cable is required to supply the power in conventional systems. In comparison, the proposed system utilizes a WPT device that can simplify power transfers and make a better space utilization. The shape of the wireless power transmission system is proposed along with the discussion of the 2D FEA analysis method about the inductance analyzing method, which are important parameters in magnetic coupling. In addition, ferrite iron loss was calculated based on the analysis results, and applied to the entire modeling circuit to verify the validity of the measured and analyzed values. Finally, the proposed analysis method for the transformer coupling characteristics of the wireless power transfer combined with the transfer system is verified by experiments and simulations.

Renewable Energy Sources provide a viable solution to the problem of ever-increasing climate change. For this reason, several countries focus on electricity production using alternative sources. In this paper, the optimal positioning of the installation of wave energy converters is examined taking into account geospatial and technical limitations. Geospatial constraints depend on Land Use classes and seagrass of the coastal areas, while technical limitations include meteorological conditions and the morphology of the seabed. Suitable installation areas are selected after the exclusion of points that do not meet the aforementioned restrictions. We implemented a Deep Neural Network that operates based on heterogeneous data fusion, in this case satellite images and time series of meteorological data. This fact implies the definition of a two-branches architecture. The branch that is trained with image data provides for the localization of dynamic geospatial classes in the potential instal... [more]

We examine the predictive value of gold-to-silver and gold-to-platinum price ratios, as proxies for global risks affecting the realized variance (RV) of oil-price movements, using monthly data over the longest available periods of 1915:01−2021:03 and 1968:01−2021:03, respectively. Using the two ratios, we find statistically significant evidence of in-sample predictability for increases in RV for both ratios. This finding also translates into statistically significant out-of-sample forecasting gains derived from these two ratios for RV. Given the importance of real-time forecasts of the volatility of oil-price movements, our results have important implications for investors and policymakers.

Expansive soils go through significant volume changes due to seasonal moisture variations resulting in ground movements. The ground movement related problems are likely to worsen in the future due to climate change. It is important to understand and incorporate likely future changes in design to ensure the resilience of structures built on such soils. However, there has been a limited amount of work quantifying the effect of climate change on expansive soils movement and related behaviour of structures. The Thornthwaite Moisture Index (TMI) is one of the commonly used climate classifiers in quantifying the effect of atmospheric boundary on soil behaviour. Using the long-term weather data and predicted future changes under different emission scenarios, a series of TMI maps are developed for South Australia. Potential changes in ground movement are then estimated for a selected area using a simplified methodology where the effect of future climate is captured through changes in TMI. Resu... [more]

Renewable energy sources and their part in the global energy mix are beneficial to energy diversification and environment protection. However, raw biomass is characterized by low heating value, hydrophilic properties, various mechanical durability, and the logistic challenges related to transportation and storage. One frequently used process of combined biomass valorization is torrefaction and pelletization, which increase the heating value, homogeneity, and hydrophobicity of the fuel. However, industrial clients need fuel characterized by favorable grindability, whereas, the individual clients (householders) need fuel with high mechanical durability. Due to the different expectations of final customers regarding biomass fuel properties, it is necessary to investigate the influence of the torrefaction on the mechanical durability of the pellets. In this paper, five various types of pellets and their torreficates (obtained at a temperature of 200 and 300 °C) were examined. Then the mech... [more]

The propagation of hybrid power systems (solar−diesel−battery) has led to the development of new energy management system (EMS) strategies for the effective management of all power generation technologies related to hybrid microgrids. This paper proposes two novel EMS strategies for isolated hybrid microgrids, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses using simulations. The proposed strategies are different from the EMS strategies reported thus far in the literature because the former enable the real-time operation of the hybrid microgrid, which always guarantees the correct operation of a microgrid. The priority EMS strategy works by assigning a priority order, while the optimal EMS strategy is based on an optimization criterion, which is set as the minimum marginal cost in this case. The results have been obtained using MATLAB/Simulink to verify and compare the effectiveness of the proposed strategies, through a dynamic microgrid model to simulate the conditions of a real-time oper... [more]

This paper presents an experimentally verified approach to deriving switching arc energy limitations for low-voltage (LV) circuit breakers (CBs). Air-insulated contactors equipped with additional vacuum-insulated (VI) arcing contacts were tested for AC and DC current interruption efficiency, respectively. In the study, the contact arrangements of reed relay VI contact switches of low current breaking capacity combined with air-insulated contactors were examined. Tests were performed on selected LV CBs inductively loaded for LV power network rated voltages. A comparative analysis of the arc energy resulting from various arc time durations recorded during the switching-off operation was performed. Using a variety of either basic CB air-insulated contact systems or combined contact systems, a practical assessment of the proposed idea for enhancing the arc quenching efficiency was undertaken. As a result of the implementation of the proposed idea, the arc burning duration time was indicate... [more]

A detailed analysis and validation of the DC-DC boost converter based on the three-state switching cell (3SSC) type-A are presented in this paper. The study of this topology is justified by the small amount of research that employs 3SSC-A and the advantages inherent to 3SSC-based converters, such as the division of current stresses between the semiconductors, the distribution of thermal losses, and the high-density power. Therefore, a complete static analysis of the converter is described, as well as the study of all voltage and current stresses in the semiconductors, the development of a loss model in all components, and a comparison with other step-up structures. Additionally, the small-signal model validation is accomplished by comparing the theoretical frequency response and the simulated AC sweep analysis. Finally, implementing a simple controller structure, the converter is experimentally validated through a 600 W prototype, where its overall efficiency is examined for various lo... [more]

There has been increasing interest in reducing carbon footprints globally in recent years. Hence increasing share of green energy and energy efficiency are promoted by governments. Therefore, optimizing energy consumption is becoming more critical for people, companies, industries, and the environment. Predicting energy consumption more precisely means that future energy management planning can be more effective. To date, most research papers have focused on predicting residential building energy consumption; however, a large portion of the energy is consumed by industrial machines. Prediction of energy consumption of large industrial machines in real time is challenging due to concept drift, in which prediction performance deteriorates over time. In this research, a novel data-driven method multi-regime approach (MRA) was developed to better predict the energy consumption for industrial machines. Whereas most papers have focused on finding an excellent prediction model that contradict... [more]

To improve the performance of a high-pressure refueling liquid oxy-kerosene engine, the influence of drag-reducing additive on the heat transfer characteristics in the supercritical flow of kerosene in a microchannel for regenerative cooling is explored. The finite-volume CFD numerical simulation method is applied using the RNG k-ε turbulence model and enhanced wall function. The current work faithfully represents the effect of the drag-reducing additive in kerosene through numerical calculations by combining a 10-component model for the physical properties of the kerosene and the Carreau non-Newtonian fluid constitutive model from rheological measurements. Results suggest that the 10-component kerosene surrogate can describe the supercritical physical properties of kerosene. The inlet temperature, inlet velocity, and the heat flux on the channel wall are driving factors for the supercritical kerosene flow and heat transfer characteristics. The pressure influence on the heat transfer i... [more]

The article presents selected problems related to an analysis of damage to wind turbine planetary gear. It is the most vital element installed in wind turbines, affecting the operational costs (prolonged downtime), and costs of repairs and servicing including delivery of required components. The authors have analyzed the wear/failure of planetary gear. The process initiating fatigue wear, different from similar devices in other industries, can be easily observed in wind turbine gear. This establishes a specific direction of research into the causes, and early detection of ‘gas spots’ on gear teeth as they seem to trigger fatigue wear.

In this article, we aim to identify the determinants that profoundly impact renewable energy sources development in Poland. To this end, the authors have conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of Poland’s renewable energy sector. In this paper, we demonstrate an original approach considering the different development levels of the given sector across provinces (voivodeships). It uses panel data from the Local Data Bank of the Statistics Poland on electricity production from renewable energy sources in individual voivodeships in Poland from 2005 through 2019. The study confronts the results of previous studies and sheds light on the situation in Poland—specifically, upon the changes that have happened over the ten years (2010−2019). The qualitative analysis shows a negative correlation between energy consumption and the share of renewable energy sources in total energy production. Evidence shows that favorable changes are underway in the energy production structure: RES share i... [more]

The self-preservation property of CH4 hydrates is beneficial for the transportation and storage of natural gas in the form of gas hydrates. Few studies have been conducted on the effects of chemicals (kinetic and thermodynamic promoters) on the self-preservation properties of CH4 hydrates, and most of the available literature is limited to pure water. The novelty of this work is that we have studied and compared the kinetics of CH4 hydrate formation in the presence of amino acids (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) when the temperature dropped below 0 °C. Furthermore, we also investigated the self-preservation of CH4 hydrate in the presence of amino acids. The main results are: (1) At T < 0 ℃, the formation kinetics and the total gas uptake improved in the presence of histidine (hydrophilic) at concentrations greater than 3000 ppm, but no significant change was observed for methionine (hydrophobic), confirming the improvement in the formation kinetics (for hydrophilic amino acids) due to... [more]