Uneven air distribution in chamber dryers is a common and serious technological challenge. A study using CFD (Computer Fluid Dynamics) simulation, supported by measurements in a heat pump chamber dryer, confirmed irregular airflows. Performing simulations with modified settings and additional chamber modifications enabled the airflows to be visualized and optimized. It was shown that a modification of the chamber where a rotating disc had been used had a positive effect on the uniform distribution of air flows in the drying chamber. The modification significantly improves the energy balance of the beef drying process. Optimization of the process resulted in obtaining a high quality final product-beef jerky. This investigation proves that appropriate drying process control and introduced modifications enable high product quality and a safe level of water activity without the preservatives supplementation.

With the integration of Intermitted Renewables Energy (I-RE) electricity production, capacity is shifting from central to decentral. So, the question is if it is also necessary to adjust the current load balancing system from a central to more decentral system. Therefore, an assessment is made on the overall effectiveness and costs of decentralized load balancing, using Flexible Renewable Energy (F-RE) in the shape of biogas, Demand Side Management (DSM), Power Curtailment (PC), and electricity Storage (ST) compared to increased grid capacity (GC). As a case, an average municipality in The Netherlands is supplied by 100% I-RE (wind and solar energy), which is dynamically modeled in the PowerPlan model using multiple scenarios including several combinations of balancing technologies. Results are expressed in yearly production mix, self-consumption, grid strain, Net Load Demand Signal, and added cost. Results indicate that in an optimized scenario, self-consumption of the municipality re... [more]

In thermal power plants, the internal combustion engines are constantly subjected to stresses, requiring a continuous monitoring system in order to check their operating conditions. However, most of the time, these monitoring systems only indicate if the monitored parameters are in nonconformity close to the occurrence of a catastrophic failure—they do not allow a predictive analysis of the operating conditions of the machine. In this paper, a statistical model, based on the statistical control process and Nelson Rules, is proposed to analyze the operational conditions of the machine based on the supervisory system data. The statistical model is validated through comparisons with entries of the plant logbook. It is demonstrated that the results obtained with the proposed statistical model match perfectly with the entries of the logbook, showing our model to be a promising tool for making decisions concerning maintenance in the plant.

Nanocomposite electrodes receive much attention because of their excellent energy storage nature. Electrodes for supercapacitors have come a major source of interest. In this pursuit, the current work elucidates binder-free coral reefs resembling ZnO/CoS2 nanoarchitectures synthesized on the surface of Ni foams employing the cost-effective hydrothermal route. The Zno/CoS2 nanocomposite demonstrated excellent battery-type behavior, which can be employed for supercapcitor application. Various analyses were carried out in the current study, such as X-ray diffraction and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, which allowed defining the crystalline nature and morphology of surface with ZnO/CoS2 nanoarchitectures. Electrochemical measures such as cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge discharge, and potentiostatic impedance spectroscopy confirmed the battery-type behavior of the material. The synthesized precursors of binder-free ZnO/CoS2 nanostructures depicted an excellent specifi... [more]

Infrasound, i.e., low-frequency noise in the frequency range of 10−200 Hz, produced by rotating wind turbine blades has become a matter of concern because it is harmful to human health. Today, with the rapid increase of wind turbine size, this kind of noise is more worrying than ever. Although much effort has been made to design quiet wind turbine blades, today there is still a lack of effective techniques to reduce infrasound emissions from existing blades. To fill this gap in technology, a biomimetic technique that can be readily applied to reduce infrasound emissions of existing wind turbine blades is studied in this paper using both numerical simulation and experimental testing approaches. The numerical study of the technique is based on the analysis of the sound field distribution near the blade, which is derived by performing both aerodynamic and acoustic simulations of the blade. The experimental study of the technique is based on laboratory tests of two scale models of the blad... [more]

In the Industry 4.0 era, the Digital Twin has become one of the most promising enabling technologies supporting material flow. Although the literature on the Digital Twin is becoming relatively well explored, including a certain number of review papers, the context of the Digital Twins application in internal transport systems has not been investigated so far. This paper thoroughly reviews the research on the Digital Twins applied in internal transport systems concerning major research trends within this research area and identification of future research directions. It provides clarification of various definitions related to the Digital Twin concept, including misconceptions such as a digital shadow, a digital model, and a digital mirror. Additionally, the relationships between terms such as material handling, material flow, and intralogistics in the context of internal transport systems coupled with the Digital Twin are explained. This paper’s contribution to the current state of the... [more]

Advancements in wind turbine condition monitoring systems over the last decade have made it possible to optimise operational performance and reduce costs associated with component failure and other unplanned maintenance activities. While much research focuses on providing more automated and accurate fault diagnostics and prognostics in relation to predictive maintenance, efforts to quantify the impact of such strategies have to date been comparatively limited. Through time-based simulation of wind farm operation, this paper quantifies the cost benefits associated with predictive and condition-based maintenance strategies, taking into consideration both direct O&M costs and lost production. Predictive and condition-based strategies have been modelled by adjusting known component failure and repair rates associated with a more reactive approach to maintenance. Results indicate that up to 8% of direct O&M costs can be saved through early intervention along with up to 11% reduction in lost... [more]

This study uses natural fibre, which is moisture absorbent, as an innovative and economical filler for insulating oil. Rice husk (RH) is a natural fibre known to have water-absorbing properties and used as a supplementary cementitious material. This research utilises the water-absorbing properties of RH to improve the physicochemical and dielectric properties of insulating oil. RH was refined into a fine powder at a diameter of less than 63 µm. Palm oil (PO) was synthesised with RH at concentrations of 0 g/L, 0.01 g/L, and 0.1 g/L. The moisture-absorbent properties of RH were analysed by using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The particle size and distribution of RH in PO were also obtained using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a Zeta particle analyser. The breakdown voltage (BDV) strength of PO with RH was measured according to IEC 60156, and the dielectric frequency response was investigated in the range of 102−105 Hz. RH is proven to absorb moisture from PO,... [more]

Fuel cell-powered Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) represent a growing area of research as fuel cells can increase their endurance. Fuel cells consume hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity. Typically, the fuel cell generates as much heat as electrical energy, and heat management becomes a crucial parameter when designing AUVs. For underwater applications, there is a need to store both gases and several types of storage units with different characteristics exist which have impacts on the energy density and heat behavior. This study aims at including the heat properties of the storage units in the design process of fuel cell-powered AUVs. A heat balance over the energy system of an AUV is calculated for each combination of hydrogen and oxygen storage units. In addition, a multi-criteria decision-making analysis is conducted, considering the calculated total heat, the specific energy, the energy density and the volumetric mass of each combination of storage units as criteria, e... [more]

Since the industrial revolution, the world’s economy has mainly relied on the consumption of fossil fuels. The burning of coal releases vast amounts of toxic COx greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere that bear an undesirable environmental impact. The ongoing offshore oil exploration activities; the infrastructure for oil extraction, production, and transportation; and the inevitable oil spills cause severe damage to the environment and huge loss of sea life, flora, and fauna. Recent awareness of the environmental issues and the worldwide climate change spurred public interest in clean and environmentally friendly “green” energy generation. Solar energy is an abundant and inexhaustible resource that can meet much of the worlds’ energy needs and, thus, has been in the focus of scientific attention for many years. Yet, converting solar energy into usable electric power is a formidable engineering and economical challenge. The recent environmental awareness triggered governments and privat... [more]

Communication between the primary and secondary sides is pivotal to the wireless power transfer (WPT) system. The system control commands and feedback information need simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). In this paper, a FSK-based SWIPT system with full-duplex communication via a shared channel is provided. Considering the complexity of the coupling relationship in this kind of full-duplex SWIPT system, this paper proposes an analysis method based on the transmission channel, studies the crosstalk between the power channel and the information channel, and between the forward and reverse transfer of information. A design method of full-duplex communication SWIPT system based on shared coupling channels is provided. A 60 W SWIPT prototype with a full-duplex communication rate of 20 kbps is built to verify the proposed method.

Experimental studies of the effect of X-rays on the process of electrolytic deposition of composite coatings are reviewed in this paper. Particular emphasis will be on the applications of X-rays for both the modification of a structure and the mechanical characteristics of galvanic coatings. In particular, this research investigates the Co/SiO2 coatings deposited from aqueous solutions under the effect of X-rays. The results of extensive investigations into the dispersing ability of electrolytes with SiO2 nanoparticles and a mass rate of composite coatings Co/SiO2 indicates that the method of electroplating under the effect of X-rays during the process results in the intensification of diffusion in the electrolyte volume and creates dense, uniform coatings. This research demonstrates that exposure of an electrolytic cell to X-rays during the electroplating process of Co/SiO2 results in an orienting effect on the formation of crystal grains and allows for the creation of dense, morpholo... [more]

In this paper, an integrated model that coupled CONTAM and WUFI was developed to assess the indoor air quality (IAQ), moisture, and thermal comfort performance. The coupling method of CONTAM and WUFI is described based on the exchange of airflow rate control variables as infiltration, natural and mechanical ventilation parameters between heat and moisture flow balance equations in WUFI and contaminant flow balances equations in CONTAM. To evaluate the predictions of the integrated model compared to single models of CONTAM and WUFI, four scenarios were used. These scenarios are airtight-fan off, airtight-fan on, leaky-fan off, and leaky-fan on, and were defined for a three-story house subjected to three different climate conditions of Montreal, Vancouver, and Miami. The measures of the simulated indoor CO2, PM2.5, and VOCs obtained by CONTAM; the simulated indoor relative humidity (RH), predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD), and predicted mean vote (PMV) obtained by WUFI; and those... [more]

Hydrothermal liquefaction is one of the common thermochemical conversion methods adapted to convert high-water content biomass feedstocks to biofuels and many other valuable industrial chemicals. The hydrothermal process is broadly classified into carbonization, liquefaction, and gasification with hydrothermal liquefaction conducted in the intermediate temperature range of 250−374 °C and pressure of 4−25 MPa. Due to the ease of adaptability, there has been considerable research into the process on using various types of biomass feedstocks. Over the years, various solvents and co-solvents have been used as mediums of conversion, to promote easy decomposition of the lignocellulosic components in biomass. The product separation process, to obtain the final products, typically involves multiple extraction and evaporation steps, which greatly depend on the type of extractive solvents and process parameters. In general, the main aim of the hydrothermal process is to produce a primary product... [more]

In view of the deliberations on new Euro 7 emission standards to be introduced by 2025, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are already hard at work to further minimise the pollutant emissions of their vehicles. A particular challenge in this context will be compliance with new particulate number (PN) limits. It is expected that these will be tightened significantly, especially by including particulates down to 10 nm. This will lead to a substantially increased effort in the calibration of gasoline particulate filter (GPF) control systems. Therefore, it is of great interest to implement advanced methods that enable shortened and at the same time more accurate GPF calibration techniques. In this context, this study presents an innovative GPF calibration procedure that can enable a uniquely efficient development process. In doing so, some calibration work packages involving GPF soot loading and regeneration are transferred to a modern burner test bench. This approach can minimise the... [more]

Silicon carbide devices have become increasingly popular in electric vehicles, predominantly due to their fast-switching speeds, which allow for the construction of smaller power converters. Temperature sensitive electrical parameters (TSEPs) can be used to determine the junction temperature, just like silicon-based power switches. This paper presents a new technique to estimate the junction temperature of a single-chip silicon carbide (SiC) metal−oxide−semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). During off-state operation, high-frequency chirp signals below the resonance frequency of the gate-source impedance are injected into the gate of a discrete SiC device. The gate-source voltage frequency response is captured and then processed using the fast Fourier transform. The data is then accumulated and displayed over the chirp frequency spectrum. Results show a linear relationship between the processed gate-source voltage and the junction temperature. The effectiveness of the propose... [more]

For long distance electric power transport, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable systems are a commonly used solution. Space charges accumulate in the HVDC cable insulations due to the applied voltage and the nonlinear electric conductivity of the insulation material. The resulting electric field depends on the material parameters of the surrounding soil environment that may differ locally and have an influence on the temperature distribution in the cable and the environment. To use the radial symmetry of the cable geometry, typical electric field simulations neglect the influence of the surrounding soil, due to different dimensions of the cable and the environment and the resulting high computational effort. Here, the environment and its effect on the resulting electric field is considered and the assumption of a possible radial symmetric temperature within the insulation is analyzed. To reduce the computation time, weakly coupled simulations are performed to compute the temperatu... [more]

Plants, and microorganisms associated with them, offer an effective tool for removing pollutants, such as heavy metals, from the soil environment. The aim of this study was to determine changes caused by Ni2+, Co2+, and Cd2+ in the genetic diversity of soil-populating bacteria and the effect these heavy metals on the heating value of elongated coach grass (Elymus elongatus L.) and maize (Zea mays L.). Microorganisms support plants in removing heavy metals from soil. These plants can then be used for energetic purposes. The study aim was accomplished by determining counts of microorganisms and their resistance (RS) to Ni2+, Co2+, Cd2+, their colony development index (CD), ecophysiological diversity index (EP), and diversity established with the next generation sequencing (NGS) method. Further analyses aimed to establish test plants resistance to pollution with heavy metals and their heating value. Organotrophic bacteria turned out to be the most resistant to Co2+, whereas actinobacteria... [more]

Distributed generators providing auxiliary service are an important means of guaranteeing the safe and economic operation of a distribution system. In this paper, considering an energy storage system (ESS), switchable capacitor reactor (SCR), step voltage regulator (SVR), and a static VAR compensator (SVC), a two-stage multi-period hybrid integer second-order cone programming (SOCP) robust model with partial DGs providing auxiliary service is developed. If the conic relaxation is not exact, a sequential SOCP is formulated using convex−concave procedure (CCP) and cuts, which can be quickly solved. Moreover, the exact solution of the original problem can be recovered. Furthermore, in view of the shortcomings of the large computer storage capacity and slow computational rate for the column and constraint generation (CCG) method, a method direct iteratively solving the master and sub-problem is proposed. Increases to variables and constraints to solve the master problem are not needed. For... [more]

Economic complexity makes it possible to assess the development of the countries, the relations of innovation, and the differentiation of products. The article considers the links between the hypotheses of the Kuznets environmental curve and economic complexity using panel data for the group of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) from 1990 to 2015. As an econometric strategy, this study considered the panel fully modified least squares (FMOLS), panel dynamic least squares (DOLS), fixed effects (FE), and Panel Quantile Regression. The empirical results showed that economic complexity, income per capita, renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions are integrated with the first difference when applying the unit root test. The arguments of Pedroni and Kao cointegration tests were also used. According to these results, the variables used in this research are cointegrated in the long run. The results validated the arguments of the EKC hypothesis, i.e., the inc... [more]

Slurry flows commonly appear in the transport of minerals from a mine to the processing site or from the deep ocean to the surface level. The process of heat transfer in solid−liquid flow is especially important for the long pipeline distance. The paper is focused on the numerical modelling and simulation of heat transfer in a fine dispersive slurry, which exhibits yield stress and damping of turbulence. The Bingham rheological model and the apparent viscosity concept were applied. The physical model was formulated and then the mathematical model, which constitutes conservative equations based on the time average approach for mass, momentum, and internal energy. The slurry flow in a pipeline is turbulent and fully developed hydrodynamically and thermally. The closure problem was solved by taking into account the Boussinesque hypothesis and a suitable turbulence model, which includes the influence of the yield shear stress on the wall damping function. The objective of the paper is to d... [more]

The computation of self and mutual inductances of coils is a classic problem of electrical engineering. The accurate modeling of coupled coils has received renewed interest with the spread of wireless power transfer systems. This problem has been quite well addressed for coplanar or perfectly coaxial coils but it is known that the misalignment conditions easily lead to a sharp decrease in the efficiency. Hence, it is crucial to take misalignment into account in order to properly design the overall wireless power transfer system. This work presents a study to compute analytically the mutual inductance of non-coaxial pancake coils with parallel axes. The accuracy of the proposed methodology is tested by comparison with the numerical results obtained using the tool Fast-Henry. Then, a wireless power transfer system, comprising a full bridge inverter is considered, showing the impact of the misalignment on the coupling between two pancake coils and, thus, between the source and the load.

Classic forecasting methods of natural gas consumption extrapolate trends from the past to subsequent periods of time. The paper presents a different approach that uses analogues to create long-term forecasts of the annual natural gas consumption. The energy intensity (energy consumption per dollar of Gross Domestic Product—GDP) and gas share in energy mix in some countries, usually more developed, are the starting point for forecasts of other countries in the later period. The novelty of the approach arises in the use of cluster analysis to create similar groups of countries and periods based on two indicators: energy intensity of GDP and share of natural gas consumption in the energy mix, and then the use of fuzzy decision trees for classifying countries in different years into clusters based on several other economic indicators. The final long-term forecasts are obtained with the use of fuzzy decision trees by combining the forecasts for different fuzzy sets made by the method of re... [more]

This article presents an innovative induction motor state observer designed to reconstruct magnetic fluxes and the angular speed of an induction motor for speed sensorless control system applications such as field-oriented control (FOC). This observer is an intermediate solution between the proportional observer and the classical proportional-integral (PI) observer with respect to which the order of the integrating unit is reduced. Additional modifications of the observer’s structure have been implemented to ensure stability and to improve its functional properties. As a result, two versions of the observer structure were produced and experimentally tested using a sensorless FOC control system. Both structures resulted in correct control system operation for a wide range of angular speeds, including low speed ranges.

The negative impact of agricultural production on the environment is manifested, above all, in the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). The goals of this study were to estimate methane and nitrous oxide emissions at the level of individual farms and indicate differences in emissions depending on the type of production, and to investigate dependencies between greenhouse gas emissions and economic indicators. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions were estimated at three types of farms in Poland, based on FADN data: field crops, milk, and mixed. Data were from 2004−2018. Statistical analysis confirmed the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and economic performance. On milk farms, the value of methane and nitrous oxide emissions increased with increased net value added and farm income. Milk farms reached the highest land productivity and the highest level of income per 1 ha of farmland. On field crops farms, the relationship between net value added and farm income and methane and n... [more]