Conventional Installation Research Articles

Study on the Effect of Multi-Gap Arrester Truncation on the Overvoltage of Lightning Intrusion Wave

Lightning protection near the fan is the key point of lightning protection in wind farm, which affects the safe and effective delivery of wind power resources. At present, the three-phase multi-gap arrester installed on a base tower behind the collector can cooperate with the zinc oxide arrester to reduce the system failure caused by the arrester failure. However, the chopped wave generated by the multi-gap arrester when it acts is transmitted to the fan box transformer along the line, which may threaten the insulation of the transformer winding. Based on the above problems, this paper builds a simulation model on ATP to analyze the impact of wave clipping of multi-gap arrester on the insulation of fan transformer windings, considers the conventional installation mode and the limit installation mode of multi-gap arrester, and calculates that the wave clipping overvoltage generated by multi-gap arrester after being struck by lightning in two cases is the impact on the insulation of fan transformer. Through the simulation analysis, it is found that the higher the amplitude of the lightning current, the larger the amplitude of the overvoltage generated by the truncated wave, the steeper the wave head, and the greater the threat to the insulation of the fan box. The damage degree of round lightning is less than that of counter lightning. When a multi-gap arrester is installed in a collector tower, the 100[Formula: see text]kA lightning current may destroy the insulation of the fan box transformer winding and require additional protective measures. It is recommended that the multi-gap arrester be installed from the next pole tower of the collector tower in the wind farm.

Experimental Development and Field Validation of Rock Anchors for Sustainable Onshore Foundations

The development of an innovative rock anchor prototype manufactured using high strength steel sheets produced locally in Sweden is the core of the PROWIND concept. Steel sheets provide a design freedom to easily manufacture complex geometries, which can be advantageous to enhance the shear force transmission in the bond-length segment of the anchor. The underlying challenge of this concept has been to design a solution which meets the design requirements of today and future technological advancements, all while keeping conventional installation practices in mind. The project followed a 4-step development process: (1) concept analysis and modelling, (2) small-scale prototypes testing and (3) large scale lab-validation and lastly (4) field validation. The performance of the developed rock anchor prototype and grouting material was experimentally quantified on both small and large-scale test specimens and also validated in full scale in the field concerning installation process, proof-loading and maintaining the prestress over time. The PROWIND anchors with the end feature with ribbed design have 4-5 times higher load bearing capacity. The experience from the anchor installation proved that the developed grout and anchors are faster and easier to install. The field test in two different geological conditions has proven that the news design is reducing the required anchorage length to just 1 meter. The restressing of anchors is fully possible with the proposed lock-off solution with a nut. All of those contribute to lower costs of installations and possibly longer service-life.

Development of a new mixed 5-level inverter for 3 kW household photovoltaic applications

Multilevel inverters are well used in high power electronic applications (about 10 kW) because of their ability to generate a very good quality of waveforms, reducing switching frequency, and their low voltage stress across the power devices. However, inverter architecture must be modified in order to take into account the different photovoltaic (PV) problems in conventional installation. This paper presents a comparative study of 5-level Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) and a new mixed 5-level inverter. The theoretical study is validated using simulation with the LTspice environment. The output voltage and total harmonic distortion are particularly compared. An experimental 5-level inverter was realized in order to validate analytical results.

Technical and economical study of a Stand-alone Wind Energy System for Remote Rural Area Electrification in Algeria

The present work is the investigation of a specific SWES. This system is designed to provide enough power for domestic use that satisfies a single household’s demand and allows a certain level of autonomy. The whole work is based on simulation. Models are elaborated to simulate the power source (wind turbine), a storage battery, the electrical load and the relevant meteorological conditions, in addition to other items that are needed to represent the SWES satisfactorily. MATLAB/SIMULINK software is used for the whole system simulation. Focus is put onto the power source and battery. The load situated in various climatic zones of Algeria is represented as a power demand that needs be satisfied. Finally, the economic analysis has resulted in the calculation of the installed total cost, kWh cost, and the actualized total cost for the wind energy source. The simulation results indicate that the coverage provided by the wind/battery system depends on the wind turbine nominal power. It depends also from the local wind speed distribution As far as the economic results are concerned, it appears that the cost of the energy produced by the wind/battery system is very high (1.3-4$/kWh) compared to those corresponding to conventional installations (0.4$/kWh). This, however, is not to be considered as a negative determinant factor since the local authorities plan to manufacture renewable energy equipment locally and, by doing so, cancel the effects of subsidizing the local fossil fuels on the imported machines costs, which will in turn be favorably reflected on renewable energy costs.

Preparation of wells using an electrohydraulic drill and modeling of heat transfer processes in heat transfer elements of a heat pump

The article discusses the use of innovative electrohydraulic technology in the preparation of vertical ground heat exchangers to create heat supply using heat pumps. The discharge energy in the operating range varied E=900÷2600 J. The most economical mode of operation of the electrohydraulic installation is carried out with the following parameters: discharge voltage 30÷51 kV, capacitor bank capacity 2 µF and interelectrode distance 8÷15 mm. It is determined that the optimal energy of destruction of natural materials depends on their thickness. Based on the research, the limits of the electrophysical parameters of the approach were established, at which the concentrated destruction of hard rocks – the main stones ‒ begins. The effective amount of energy for the destruction of stones with a thickness of 53 mm is 900 J. For stones with a thickness of 78 mm, there should be 2600 J. If to increase the energy of the discharges to 1837 J, the process of complete destruction of the stones is underway. Using an electro hydraulic drill, we have prepared vertical wells up to 25 m deep. In the future, we have installed special temperature sensors along the length of the pipes, inside the well. Using a software product (Temp Keeper), data from temperature sensors are received in real time. This program allows to visually monitor temperature changes occurring at a local point. Temperature and time dependences are also obtained at coolant velocities of 0.2÷0.4 m/s. A significant decrease in the temperature in the well and at the outlet was observed at a coolant velocity of 0.35 m/s for one hour. The study conducted on the basis of the data obtained enables to achieve higher optimal drilling performance compared to conventional installations

Optimalisasi Daya Output Pada Photovoltaic Penggunakan Sistem Tracking dan Fuzzy Logic Controller

Photovoltaic is one of the environmentally friendly power plants. One of the problems using photovoltaic is the low efficiency level. Therefore, a method is needed to optimize photovoltaic performance. The use of fuzzy logic control for dual axis tracking system is used in this study to optimize photovoltaic performance. The dual axis tracking system functions to keep the photovoltaic always perpendicular to the direction of the sun's arrival so that it has more optimal output power. The input of the tracking system comes from the LDR sensor which is installed on each side of the Photovoltaic. This sensor is combined with RTC to anticipate weather changes (cloudy). LDR and RTC sensor data as input for fuzzy logic controller. Based on the results of the research, the output power of the Photovoltaic tracking system is 9.363 Watts or 46.82% of the Photovoltaic specifications. Meanwhile, static photovoltaic with conventional installation has a power of 7.247 Watt or 36.23% of the specification. So that Photovoltaic with fuzzy logic control for dual axis tracking system is 29.20% more optimal.

Optimal Design of Bifacial Floating Photovoltaic System With Different Installation Azimuths

Considering the increasing interest in the realization of carbon-neutral and RE100 systems, and the expansion of the supply of renewable energy through large-scale floating photovoltaic systems (FPVs), this study designed large-scale bifacial FPVs for maximum power density. Moreover, the estimated power generation was compared and analyzed according to the installation methods of the conventional monofacial PV module facing south (Mono-S), bifacial PV module facing south (Bi-S), and bifacial PV module facing east and west (Bi-EW). Using the proposed design method, the power generation per unit area for FPVs was 17.87% to 36.08% higher than that of the conventional installation method. In addition, this method can contribute to gird stability by decreasing the peak power around noon and increasing power generation during low irradiation and can be applicable to marine photovoltaics(MPVs).

Variant analysis of financial and energy efficiency of the heat recovery system and domestic hot water preparation for a single-family building: The case of Poland

Significant amounts of waste heat are deposited in wastewater, which can be used e.g. for heating domestic water. The aim of the paper was to analyze the efficiency of energy recovery from gray water using a new horizontal heat exchanger in the form of a linear drainage equipped with a wavy middle wall. The experimental research consisted of the analysis of efficiency of the device prototype, and then the calculation of energy savings for the preparation of domestic hot water for 81 test cases. Installations cooperating with an electric and gas water heater were analyzed. A Life Cycle Cost analysis was carried out for the financial effectiveness of a conventional installation and an installation equipped with a heat exchanger for a family of 3. Research have shown that the new heat exchanger reduces energy consumption for hot water preparation by an average of 22–31%. It was established that when using an electric water heater, the investment costs pay back in the period of 4–9 years, and in the case of a gas heater, at least 12 years. The sensitivity analysis showed that an increase in energy prices can significantly shorten the payback period, to 6 years for a gas heater and 2 years for an electric heater. Research has shown that the new heat exchanger can significantly reduce the amount of energy needed to prepare domestic hot water. The research results can be useful for researchers, designers and potential users of heat recovery systems.

Improved Analytical Analysis of Novel Integrated Variable Reluctance Resolver for Compact Machine Topology

Variable reluctance resolvers (VRRs) have been widely used for rotor position detection in harsh working conditions. However, conventional installation of VRRs inevitably occupies the axial space of machine systems, and may weaken the reliability of rotor position detection encountering shock and vibration. In this article, a novel VRR structure with inner stator is investigated, which is radially integrated inside a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) to construct compact machine topology. The hybrid machine topology is first discussed, and detailed electromagnetic design is carried out. Improved analytical analysis on air gap flux density distribution and inductance evaluation of the integrated VRR is derived based on modified winding function approach, and testified by finite element analysis. A prototype is manufactured from an existing 2.2 kW PMSM, and experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of proposed machine topology.

Accessing the thermal performance of Earth–air heat exchangers surrounded by galvanized structures

Earth–air heat exchangers (EAHE) help heat or cool a building by coupling the ventilation system to buried ducts. Recent efforts have been trying to increase EAHE performance by improving the thermal properties of the region around the pipes; however, they usually miss connecting its size and shape with efficiency (θ) and thermal potentials. This paper studies EAHE with ducts surrounded by galvanized structures. We consider different layouts, using circular blocks and rectangular ones with at most four fins. Since the arrangements have high thermal conductivity, they increase θ to almost 95%. Besides, they allow reducing installation size by nearly half, keeping θ above 70%. However, we also show the drawbacks of this method. Among the results, we see that using only one fin is sufficient to increase the EAHE thermal potential (Pt) by 33% relative to a conventional installation, but using them carelessly can reduce the soil thermal potential (Ps). We show that circular shapes increase θ, but they have a poor effect on Ps as their sizes increase. Finally, varying the size of a rectangular structure with no fins, we obtained the best result, i.e., θ close to 95%, Ps and Pt increased by 25% and 60.5%, respectively.

Effect of fender system on the dynamic response of onsite installation of floating offshore wind turbines

This paper discusses a new installation method for floating offshore wind with installation procedure, essential variables, and fender system effects on the dynamic responses. The conventional installation method involves mating wind turbines and substructures in calm and protected waters and towing the assembled units to an operating site. Due to geographical, time, and economic disadvantages, this method may be challenging to meet the rapidly surging demand for floating wind power worldwide. The new onsite installation method was introduced as an alternative, using a catamaran to install fully assembled wind turbines at the operation site. The proposed concept can be employed to install and maintain fixed and floating offshore wind turbines in any location. While the conventional installation method consists of a series of installation processes, the proposed installation steps can be performed in parallel, suggesting more flexible operation planning. Fenders and wires were applied as a mechanical coupling system to enable onsite installation in harsh offshore environments. The fender system with pretensions on wires showed reduction effects on the relative horizontal displacement, relative vertical displacement, and relative alignment by approximately 78%, 64%, and 32%, respectively. Therefore, the fender system application can significantly increase the practicality of the onsite installation method.

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Heat Flow at Window-to-Wall Interface

External walls have a great influence on the thermal and humidity conditions in buildings as well as on the possibility of reducing energy consumption. While the structural and material aspects of walls and windows are well known, obtaining a tight connection to reduce thermal bridges between the window and walls still poses a significant problem. Therefore, a new window installation system proposed by the authors, eliminating linear and point thermal bridges at the window-to-wall interface, opens a pathway for lowering energy consumption in buildings and increasing thermal comfort and thermal efficiency. To prove the effectiveness of this system, numerical and experimental analyses of heat flow through an outer wall with a window were carried out. The numerical analyses were performed using the TRISCO software package. It was shown that the proposed solution eliminated the occurrence of linear thermal bridges at the window-to-wall interface (a linear heat transmittance coefficient Ψ ≈ 0.007, which meets the requirements of the passive house, was obtained). Thus, heat losses were reduced by nearly eight times compared to conventional installation systems. Numerical calculations were experimentally verified.

Comparative analysis on embodied energy and CO2 emissions for stand-alone crystalline silicon photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems for tropical climatic regions of India

According to Mc Granahan, urban transition in India is on the rise and is expected to cross 500 million by 2050 (McGranahan, Balk & Anderson, 2007). Alternate technical solutions to satisfy future energy demand for urban lifestyles must lead to sustainable societies. Currently, stand-alone Solar Photovoltaic system installations have tremendous demand in the domestic sector due to their low maintenance and reliable power output. Nevertheless, the performance of these stand-alone systems is limited by heating of modules, dust accumulation and other operating parameters. Photovoltaic Thermal domestic systems could offer solutions to tackle real-time power generation issues. The literature reported that the utility of PVT thermal energy for domestic hot water generation was possible. Hence, this study showcases Energy payback time calculation for PVT systems compared to conventional installations for single and multi-crystalline silicon (sC-Si and mC-Si) PV modules. In this article, CO2 emission mitigation calculations for a 335 Wp PVT module with a twenty-five-year lifetime operating at different solar conditions in the range of 800–1200 W/m2 and 6–8 Sun hours was performed. Open field and rooftop installation with a respective balance of system requirements were considered for the analysis. The minimum and maximum EPBT for single and multi-crystalline silicon PVT systems were 6.53 and 9.07 years, respectively, considering a five-year tubular battery replacement. Results show that single-multi crystalline rooftop PVT installations better performance in terms of CO2 mitigations are 18.09–17.26 tonnes and Carbon Credit Earned 261.54–267.08 $ per year per module at solar radiation of 1200 W/m2.

Enhanced Seismic Protection System for an Emergency Diesel Generator Unit

Nuclear power plants are required to maintain operation after an earthquake, leading to a safe shutdown if necessary. In the case of a loss of offsite power, the onsite emergency diesel generator is critical to ensure procedural operations of the nuclear power plant. As a means to reduce the overall seismic risk, a three-dimensional seismic protection system is proposed to enhance the seismic performance of the emergency diesel generator. The proposed seismic isolation system decouples the horizontal and vertical components of shaking and considers available hardware to achieve an effective isolation solution over the range of excitation frequencies considered. Numerical analysis of the proposed system demonstrates a reduction in seismic demands on the emergency diesel generator and provides a higher safety margin than conventional base installation procedures. Umbilical lines that cross the isolation plane are considered and impose additional constraints on the displacement capacity of the isolation system. However, increasing the displacement capacity of these components can significantly increase the safety margin against failure. The seismic protection system can be customized depending on the seismic hazard and application to different seismic regions.

Financial and Social Factors Influencing the Use of Unconventional Water Systems in Single-Family Houses in Eight European Countries

A modern model of water management should take into account, first of all, its responsible consumption of both tap water and water from unconventional sources. With this in mind, a study was conducted to determine the financial efficiency of rainwater harvesting systems (RWHSs) and greywater recycling systems (GWRSs) in residential buildings located in eight European countries. At the first stage, volumetric reliability was determined for different tank capacities for actual precipitation data. An economic analysis was carried out for six variants in which rainwater and greywater were used in various combinations for toilet flushing, washing, and garden watering. The implementation of alternative water systems was found to be financially unprofitable in four cities: Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, and Stockholm. For these cities, the variant with the lowest life cycle cost (LCC) level was always Variant 0, with conventional installations. The opposite situation was observed in the other four locations (Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, and Prague), where Variant 0 was not found to be financially profitable for any of the calculation cases analyzed. Additionally, a survey was conducted to determine the effect of social aspects, which is often the greatest barrier to the implementation of new or unknown technologies. In most of the countries surveyed, rainwater is more acceptable to society as an alternative water source than greywater. For hygiene reasons, the use of these two systems for washing clothes was of greatest concern.

Installation design of a large tubular caisson in the spatially varying seabed

The installation of large steel tubular caissons, used as protection for underwater production systems, is still a challenge. To evaluate the reliability of installation, soil spatial variability is accounted for in this study through two-dimensional random field establishments and Monte Carlo simulation. As vertical random parameters are identified by field CPT data, the effect of the horizontal scale of fluctuation (δh) is explored, which becomes significant due to the extremely large diameter of the caisson. Probability distributions of self-weight penetration, inclination angle, and the ultimate soil resistance with various δh are derived from conventional installation analyses with spatially varying soil domains. It shows that increasing δh reduces the likelihood of over-tilt, yet raises the possibility of vibratory drivability refusal (failure probability). The effect of stiffeners during caisson installation is also studied, including an increase in penetration resistance and failure probability. This analysis sheds light on the impact of the soil correlation distance as well as caisson stiffeners and is useful to the reliable installation design of the large tubular caisson, particularly in layered soil.

A low-cost open-source automated shot peen forming system

The aerospace industry relies on shot peen forming to form sheet metal parts and correct distortion in machined parts. The shot peen forming community is developing simulation and planning methods to meet the industrial need for automation. Researchers need to invest in expensive industrial robots contained in large blasting cabinets to perform the experimental validations of their proposed methods. To bypass this need for expensive industrial-grade equipment, this work presents a low-cost shot peen forming system that enables researchers to validate their methods experimentally on small samples. Conventional installations can cost a few 100,000 USD while the proposed prototype only costs 400 USD to produce. Such a prototype can operate on a tabletop with conventional electrical installations. The use of small samples for validation further reduces the cost of experiments and allows for faster development.

Design of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) with Fuzzy Control for Pico Hydro

Pico hydro system, a combination of hydro turbine governor, electronic load controller, and generator are outlined as one of the recommended approaches for off-grid power supply option for rural areas communities. In a conventional installation of a hydro system, an electronic load controller with proportional–integral–derivative (PID) is the best alternative to provide power balancing between power generation and load-consuming demand. However, there is always a peak in power demand during the day, but the energy consumption is low at night. This situation caused much energy to be dumped and wasted and a lack of energy management regarding the plant's power stability. Therefore, this research aimed to design fuzzy logic control (FLC) for an energy system that could meet the critical load requirement before being simulated using MATLAB SIMULINK to evaluate the effective utilization of the excess energy. Using Mamdani's methods with 25 membership rules to implement a fuzzy logic-based control system could potentially perform efficient power flow control between scenarios such as discharging, battery backup, and load supply. The result showed that this approach is a better alternative and more efficient system stabilization and energy supply by implementing fuzzy control in surplus power generation from the pico hydro system from 2 sec to 3 sec.

Cellulose-derived flexible carbonized paper for high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding

In this study, we describe the fabrication of flexible carbonized paper (f-CP) from toilet paper samples using a sandwich-type installation technique in a thermal chemical vapor deposition system. During the reaction, the substrate was heated up to 1000 °C at a rate of ~20 °C/min and naturally cooled down to room temperature in an Ar gas environment without temperature holding. The f-CP sample thus obtained contained continuous carbon fibers similar to the native toilet paper sample while carbonized paper (CP) fabricated using the conventional installation technique contained discontinuous carbon fibers. Compared to CP, f-CP exhibited higher electrical conductivity, mechanical flexibility, and shielding effectiveness (SE) against electromagnetic radiation. Even after bending the f-CP sample several hundred times, its SE decreased only slightly. Multi-layered f-CP (mf-CP; 3 mm thickness and 0.053 g/cm3 density) fabricated by stacking f-CP samples showed a remarkably high SE of 58 dB in the operating frequency range of 8.2–12.4 GHz. Therefore, f-CP and mf-CP, which exhibit excellent electromagnetic shielding characteristics, may potentially be used in electronic devices.

Multifaceted Analyses of Four Different Prototype Lightweight Photovoltaic Modules of Novel Structure

Dynamic growth of photovoltaic capacity in Poland encourages many entities to invest in photovoltaic systems. However, in the case of buildings with low roof-bearing capacity it can be problematic or even impossible to mount conventional PV modules due to their relatively high weight. Hence, the use of lightweight PV modules is a potential solution. In this paper four different prototype silicon lightweight modules of novel structure manufactured by the Xdisc S.A have been investigated in terms of their electrical and thermal features. The measurements showed that all prototypes have efficiency exceeding 19.5% and power in range of 214 to 242 Wp at standard test conditions. Their area density is about 3.5 kg/m2 which is typical for lightweight modules. In turn, the Power-to-Weight Ratio exceeds 40 W/kg threshold and in one case reaches almost 58 W/kg. Thanks to the measurements, the prototypes could be modelled in PVsyst (PVsyst SA, Satigny, Switzerland). The performed simulations of an example PV system revealed that installations based on prototypes have comparable performance to a conventional installation. Nevertheless, at current prices they are less profitable than the standard system and it shows the need for future cost reductions in the manufacturing process. The proposed materials selection may be the starting point for search of inexpensive substitutes of these materials which still conserve modules high performance. A system based on the prototypes can still prove advantageous when simplicity and promptness outweigh higher initial costs.