The development of a sustainable powertrain requires improved thermal efficiency. Reducing frictional power losses through the use of ultra-low viscosity oil is one of the most effective and economical ways. To assess the potential for efficiency enhancement in a new generation of future engines using low-viscosity oils, a technical analysis was conducted based on numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. This study proposes a numerical method coupling the whole multi-dynamics model and lubrication model under mixed lubrication regimes. Then, load distribution was calculated numerically and verified experimentally. Finally, this paper compares the bearing load and frictional energy loss of the main bearings when using The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 15W40 and SAE 0W20 oil. The results indicate that the application of ultralow-viscosity lubricant can reduce the hydraulic friction loss up to 24%, but the asperity friction loss would increase due to the reduction in load ca... [more]

This paper presents an innovative approach to the extraction of an indicator for the monitoring of bearing degradation. This approach is based on the principles of the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and the Hilbert transform (HT). The proposed approach extracts the temporal components of oscillating vibration signals called intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). These components are classified locally from the highest frequencies to the lowest frequencies. By selecting the appropriate components, it is possible to construct a bank of self-adaptive and automatic filters. Combined with the HT, the EMD allows an estimate of the instantaneous frequency of each IMF. A health indicator called the Hilbert marginal spectrum density is then extracted in order to detect and diagnose the degradation of bearings. This approach was validated on two test benches with variable speeds and loads. The obtained results demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach for the monitoring of ball and roller be... [more]

Passive solar distillation is cheap and energy-efficient technology but its main disadvantage is low productivity. Thus, there are many attempts to improve solar stills’ productivity, and one of them is changing the mass of the water. This paper presents the results of validation of the thermal processes modeling in a solar still (SS). In order to validate the model, the experimental studies were conducted in a laboratory to ensure uniform climatic conditions. The studies were carried out for 10 kg, 15 kg, and 20 kg of water under three different solar irradiance conditions. The results show that 10 kg and 20 kg of water ensure the highest and the lowest daily productivity, respectively, independently of solar irradiance. When the water mass is 10 kg, the solar still’s productivity is 800 mL/m2/day, 3732 mL/m2/day, and 9392 mL/m2/day for low, medium, and high solar irradiance, respectively. Additionally, it is found that reducing the water mass from 20 kg to 10 kg can improve solar sti... [more]

This study analyzed the performance decline of wind turbine with age using the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) data and the short-term in situ LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) measurements taken at the Shinan wind farm located on the coast of Bigeumdo Island in the southwestern sea of South Korea. Existing methods have generally attempted to estimate performance aging through long-term trend analysis of a normalized capacity factor in which wind speed variability is calibrated. However, this study proposes a new method using SCADA data for wind farms whose total operation period is short (less than a decade). That is, the trend of power output deficit between predicted and actual power generation was analyzed in order to estimate performance aging, wherein a theoretically predicted level of power generation was calculated by substituting a free stream wind speed projecting to a wind turbine into its power curve. To calibrate a distorted wind speed measurement in a n... [more]

To incorporate exchanger dimensions as a design objective in plate and fin heat exchangers, a variable that must be taken into consideration is the geometry of the finned surfaces to be used. In this work, a methodology to find the surface geometry that will produce the required heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop to achieve the design targets was developed. The geometry of secondary surfaces can be specified by the fin density, which represents the number of fins per unit length. All other geometrical features, as well as the thermo-hydraulic performance, can be derived from this parameter. This work showed the way finned surfaces are engineered employing generalised thermo-hydraulic correlations as a part of a design methodology. It also showed that there was a volume space referred to as volume design region (VDR) where heat duty, pressure drop, and dimensions could simultaneously be met. Such a volume design region was problem- and surface-specific; therefore, its limits we... [more]

This paper proposes an algorithm for detection and identification of the location of short circuit faults in islanded AC microgrids (MGs) with meshed topology. Considering the low level of fault current and dependency of the current angle on the control strategies, the legacy overcurrent protection schemes are not effective in in islanded MGs. To overcome this issue, the proposed algorithm detects faults based on the rms voltages of the distributed energy resources (DERs) by means of support vector machine classifiers. Upon detection of a fault, the DER which is electrically closest to the fault injects three interharmonic currents. The faulty zone is identified by comparing the magnitude of the interharmonic currents flowing through each zone. Then, the second DER connected to the faulty zone injects distinctive interharmonic currents and the resulting interharmonic voltages are measured at the terminal of each of these DERs. Using the interharmonic voltages as its features, a multi-c... [more]

The article presents the application of the Fourier series to theoretical considerations on the method of maximum temperature control in thermodynamic cycles of internal combustion engines equipped with an additional independent kinematic system. The analysis assumes that the processes are zero-dimensional and the gases consumed in the engine cycles are perfect, simplifying the considerations for temperature control as a function of the two variables, pressure and volume, of which the volume as a geometric quantity can be completely controlled. In view of this fact, a predetermined temperature curve was assumed, ultimately reducing the considerations of specific volume changes, that is to say a kinematic system that could implement these changes. Moreover, in the analysis of volume changes, a cycle not used so far in the description of internal combustion engines was used. In the next step, the cycle was modified using the popular Vibe function, which was replaced in the theoretical cy... [more]

The wide use of different alternative fuels (AL) has led to challenges to the internal combustion (IC) engine tribology. To avoid any unpredicted damages to lubrication joints by using AL fuels, this study aims to accurately evaluate the influences of alternative fuels on the tribological behavior of IC engines. Recent achievements of the acoustic emission (AE) mechanism in sliding friction provide an opportunity to explain the tribological AE responses on engines. The asperity−asperity−collision (AAC) and fluid−asperity−shearing (FAS) mechanisms were applied to explain the AE responses from the piston ring and cylinder liner system. A new adaptive threshold−wavelet packets transform (WPT) method was developed to extract tribological AE features. Experimental tests were conducted by fueling three fuels: pure diesel (PD), biodiesel (BD), and Fischer−Tropsch (F−T) diesel. The FAS−AE indicators of biodiesel and F−T diesel show a tiny difference compared to the baseline diesel using two ty... [more]

For the stable supply of oil and gas resources, industry is pushing for various attempts and technology development to produce not only existing land fields but also deep-sea, where production is difficult. The development of flow assurance technology is necessary because hydrate is aggregated in the pipeline and prevent stable production. This study established a system that enables hydrate diagnosis in the gas pipeline from a flow assurance perspective. Learning data were generated using an OLGA simulator, and temperature, pressure, and hydrate volume at each time step were generated. Stacked auto-encoder (SAE) was used as the AI model after analyzing training loss. Hyper-parameter matching and structure optimization were carried out using the greedy layer-wise technique. Through time-series forecast, we determined that AI diagnostic model enables depiction of the growth of hydrate volume. In addition, the average R-square for the maximum hydrate volume was 97%, and that for the form... [more]

Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are increasingly adopted to mitigate the negative effects caused by the intermittent generation of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The majority of commercial BESSs implement the self-consumption, rule-based approach, which aims at storing the excess of PV production, and then reusing it when the power demand of the loads exceeds the PV power generation. Even though this approach proved to be a valid solution to increase the self-consumption of distributed generators, its ability to reduce the power flow uncertainties caused by PV systems is still debatable. To fill this gap, this study aims at answering this question by proposing a dedicated set of key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs are used to evaluate the performance of a 13.8 kWp/25.2 kWh Lithium-Ion BESS coupled with a 64 kWp PV system. The results of the study revealed that the impact of the storage system had almost negligible effects on the uncertainty of the net power flows, while sh... [more]

This paper presents a novel topology of dual airgap radial flux permanent magnet vernier machine (PMVM) in order to obtain a higher torque per magnet volume and similar average torque compared to a conventional PMVM machine. The proposed machine contains two stators and a sandwiched yokeless rotor. The yokeless rotor helps to reduce the magnet volume by providing an effective flux linkage in the stator windings. This effective flux linkage improved the average torque of the proposed machine. The competitiveness of the proposed vernier machine was validated using 2D finite element analysis under the same machine volume as that of conventional vernier machine. Moreover, cogging torque, torque ripples, torque density, losses, and efficiency performances also favored the proposed topology.

Wind energy development has been limited by concerns associated to the varying features in wind speed which tends to destabilize the power system. This study aims to clarify the variability of winds within a day in the Philippines, specifically the hourly changes of onshore horizontal winds at 100-m hub-heights. A whole one-year experiment using the Weather Research and Forecasting model shows that onshore wind speeds decrease during the transitional hours between land breeze and sea breeze. The decreases in wind speed are most significant over coastal regions with high sloping topography. The extreme decreases in wind speed during morning hours, due to the natural processes, are found to often occur at the same time as the extreme electricity undersupply caused by the morning increase in energy demand. This result warns that the power system stability in the Philippines may become more sensitive to the variability of wind as the share of wind energy generation increases in the future.... [more]

Recent EU legislation enforces the integration of European balancing markets, with harmonized products and international platforms for the procurement and activation of reserves; nonetheless, different power balancing strategies remain. The Netherlands and Belgium encourage market participants to support balancing the control block by publishing real-time information. This article refers to such concepts as smart balancing, and a market simulation tool was developed to assess the relevant market parameters for effective smart balancing. This shall contribute to the true integration of real-time balancing energy markets. The scope of the assessment of relevant market parameters was Germany, and the results showed that a pricing scheme had less impact on the results, as currently is understood by European TSOs and regulators. Moreover, the accuracy and frequency of real-time publication indicate the effectiveness of smart balancing and the associated reduction of the activation of balanc... [more]

Partial shading affects the energy harvested from photovoltaic (PV) modules, leading to a mismatch in PV systems and causing energy losses. For this purpose, differential power processing (DPP) converters are the emerging power electronic-based topologies used to address the mismatch issues. Normally, PV modules are connected in series and DPP converters are used to extract the power from these PV modules by only processing the fraction of power called mismatched power. In this work, a switched-capacitor-inductor (SCL)-based DPP converter is presented, which mitigates the non-ideal conditions in solar PV systems. A proposed SCL-based DPP technique utilizes a simple control strategy to extract the maximum power from the partially shaded PV modules by only processing a fraction of the power. Furthermore, an operational principle and loss analysis for the proposed converter is presented. The proposed topology is examined and compared with the traditional bypass diode technique through sim... [more]

Innovative toilets can save resources, but have higher embodied impacts associated with materials and electronic components. This article presents an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) of an innovative multifunctional toilet (WashOne) for two alternative configurations (with or without washlet), comparing its performance with those of conventional systems (toilet and bidet). Additionally, two scenario analyses were conducted: (i) user behavior (alternative washlet use patterns) and (ii) user location (Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Saudi Arabia). The results show that the WashOne with washlet has a better global environmental performance than the conventional system, even for low use. It also reveals that the use phase has the highest contribution to impacts due to electricity consumption. User location analysis further shows that Sweden has the lowest environmental impact, while Germany and the Netherlands have the highest potential for impact reduction when cha... [more]

During the development of oil and gas fields, the permeability of the reservoirs decreases due to a decrease in reservoir pressure and an increase in effective pressure, as a result of which significant reserves of oil and gas remain in the reservoir. To predict the rate of decrease in oil production rates during field development and to respond quickly, it is necessary to know the law of permeability decrease with an increase in effective pressure. Existing methods for describing the change in the permeability of rocks were analyzed in the paper. Numerical analysis of the results of core studies from previously published papers and the results of field well testing on the examples of the north Perm region oil fields showed that in both cases, regardless of the type of rock and the type of reservoir, the change in permeability can be described by the same equations (exponential and power-law). Obtained equations can be used to predict changes in the permeability of terrigenous reservoi... [more]

In this paper, the energy diagnostic of tractor performance consists in evaluating the energy (fuel consumption per hectare—dm3 ha−1) for a given agricultural operation and in combining it with working capacity, also called productivity (area productivity—ha h−1). One of the methods of solving this problem is the identification of the functioning process of the machine unit. A model of the process of the machine unit performance was developed, considering the operation of the rear linkage system of the implement with the force control adjustment system. In order to analyze the system, a mathematical model of the system function was built: tractor-implement-soil, defining the physical connections and interdependencies between the individual subsystems of the system. Based on this model, a simulation model was developed and implemented in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The Simulink package was used to test the performance of the machine set. The efficiency indicators according to the a... [more]

The particles, water and oil three-phase flow behaviors at the pore scale is significant to clarify the dynamic mechanism in the particle flooding process. In this work, a newly developed direct numerical simulation techniques, i.e., VOF-FDM-DEM method is employed to perform the simulation of several different particle flooding processes after water flooding, which are carried out with a porous structure obtained by CT scanning of a real rock. The study on the distribution of remaining oil and the displacement process of viscoelastic particles shows that the capillary barrier near the location with the abrupt change of pore radius is the main reason for the formation of remaining oil. There is a dynamic threshold in the process of producing remaining oil. Only when the displacement force exceeds this threshold, the remaining oil can be produced. The flow behavior of particle−oil−water under three different flooding modes, i.e., continuous injection, alternate injection and slug injecti... [more]

Analysis of the change of overall energy efficiency performance of an energy system is a fundamental work for the energy-saving policymaking. However, previous studies seldom focus on energy stages from useful energy to final service, while most attention are paid on stages from energy source to useful energy. In this paper, we develop a high-resolution the Societal Exergy Analysis and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (SEA-LMDI) method to analysis changes and driving factors of the aggregate exergy efficiency, in which the boundary of the SEA is extended to passive systems and final services, and a LMDI decomposition method is developed to quantify contributions of efficiency factors and structure factors of all six stages on the aggregate exergy efficiency. A case study of China during 2005−2015 reveals that: (a) the aggregate exergy efficiency from energy source to final service is only from 3.7% to 4.8% during 2005−2015, showing a huge theoretical potential of efficiency improvement.... [more]

Because of its weak cementation and abundant pores and cracks, it is difficult to obtain suitable samples of tectonic coal to test its mechanical properties. Therefore, the research and development of coalbed methane drilling and mining technology are restricted. In this study, tectonic coal samples are remodeled with different particle sizes to test the mechanical parameters and loading resistivity. The research results show that the particle size and gradation of tectonic coal significantly impact its uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus and affect changes in resistivity. As the converted particle size increases, the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus decrease first and then tend to remain unchanged. The strength of the single-particle gradation coal sample decreases from 0.867 to 0.433 MPa and the elastic modulus decreases from 59.28 to 41.63 MPa with increasing particle size. The change in resistivity of the coal sample increases with increasing particle... [more]

In this study, we implemented a depletion (D)-mode gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor (GaN HEMT, which has the advantage of having no body diode) in a class-E amplifier. Instead of applying a zero voltage switching control, which requires high frequency sampling at a high voltage (>600 V), we developed an innovative control method called the minimum power input control. The output of this minimum power input control can be presented in simple empirical equations allowing the optimal power transfer efficiency for 6.78 MHz resonant wireless power transfer (WPT). In order to reduce the switching loss, a gate drive design for the D-mode GaN HEMT, which is highly influential for the reliability of the resonant WPT, was also produced and described here for circuit designers.

This paper describes a methodology for implementing the state estimation and enhancing the accuracy in large-scale power systems that partially depend on variable renewable energy resources. To determine the actual states of electricity grids, including those of wind and solar power systems, the proposed state estimation method adopts a fast-decoupled weighted least square approach based on the architecture of application common database. Renewable energy modeling is considered on the basis of the point of data acquisition, the type of renewable energy, and the voltage level of the bus-connected renewable energy. Moreover, the proposed algorithm performs accurate bad data processing using inner and outer functions. The inner function is applied to the largest normalized residue method to process the bad data detection, identification and adjustment. While the outer function is analyzed whether the identified bad measurements exceed the condition of Kirchhoff’s current law. In addition,... [more]

Various problems often arise in high-rise buildings during the winter months due to the stack effect. In this study, the high-rise building of interest, located in South Korea, was experiencing constant loud noises in the winter due to the stack effect. Thus, we created a noise level reduction plan by creating a method for pressurizing the high-rise zones of the building according to outdoor conditions. To discover the appropriate pressurization operating modes, we applied a two-year commissioning process to the 50-story building of interest. The 1st- and 47th-floor elevator halls were identified to have the highest noise levels of all other floors. Prior to applying the reduction plan, the maximum noise level on the first floor with the HVAC system turned off was 85 dB(A) and with the HVAC system turned on it was 70 dB(A). Both values exceeded the criteria of 57 dB(A) for a lobby space of a commercial building. In the case of the 47th floor, the maximum noise level with the HVAC syste... [more]

Power-to-methane (P2M) technology is expected to have a great impact on the future of the global energy sector. Despite the growing amount of related research, its potential disruptive impact has not been assessed yet. This could significantly influence investment decisions regarding the implementation of the P2M technology. Based on a two-year-long empirical research, the paper focuses on exploring the P2M technology deployment potential in different commercial environments. Results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of disruptiveness. It is concluded that P2M has unique attributes because of renewable gas production, grid balancing, and combined long-term energy storage with decarbonization, which represent substantial innovation. Nevertheless, empirical data suggest that the largest P2M plants can be deployed at industrial facilities where CO2 can be sourced from flue gas. Therefore, a significant decrease of carbon capture technology related costs could enable the dis... [more]

A converter valve unit, which converts Alternating Current (AC) to Directing Current (DC) and DC to AC, is one of the key elements of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission. The insulation design of a converter valve unit should be considered for air clearance according to the DC superimposed overvoltage and the insulator that maintains the insulation performance and the corona shield to suppress DC corona discharge. There is no prescribed standard for the insulation design of a converter valve unit. Moreover, insulation performance under an applied DC voltage has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, it is necessary to study the insulation design method of the converter valve unit. In this paper, consideration of the insulation design method on a ±200 kV converter valve unit in an HVDC converter hall is performed. The finite element method (FEM) is used to simulate the 3D model. Additionally, the safety factor (SF) is applied in accordance with the dielectric test... [more]