Economical Unit Research Articles

Conceptional design for a universal HVDC-HVAC vacuum-interrupter-based circuit breaker

Modern power systems high voltage transmission systems either HVDC or HVAC has mandated the presence of two types of circuit breakers (CB), HVAC-CB and HVDC-CB. That required two different production lines, higher costs and more complicated manufacturing process. A solution is proposed in this paper which is a concept design for a universal HVCB (UHVCB) that is applicable to both HVDC and HVAC system. Such a concept would allow a faster, easier production and more economical unit cost for CBs that would benefit the entire industry from manufacturers to utilities. The design of HVDC-CB was used as the foundation the proposed UHVCB such that L–C branches are used. The UHVCB was tested in both HVAC and HVDC transmission systems. The results showed the reliable performance of UHVCB in both systems. The recorded transient recovery voltage (TRV) was reduced from 750 to 430 kV when UHVCB was used instead of conventional HVCB. The testing included both technical and economic aspects. The performance of the UHVCB was tested by varying the parameters for L–C shunt branches in both systems. That included varying the value of L in range 0.3–1 mH and 10–30 µF for C. The most important conclusion from this paper that a UHVCB that is applicable in HVDC and HVAC systems is achievable and this paper is only an initial step in achieving this goal.

Treatment of oily wastewater by electrocoagulation: Simultaneous optimization of oil removal efficiency and specific energy consumption

Electrocoagulation (EC) is an effective process to treat oily wastewater. However, the optimal conditions required to design a continuous EC reactor are still unclear. In this study, an experimental and statistical investigation was performed on the factors affecting the design of a continuous EC reactor used for the removal of oily contaminants. By employing the response surface methodology (RSM), the oil removal efficiency and specific energy consumption (energy consumption per unit volume of treated wastewater) were modeled as a function of three factors, i.e. the current density (30–80 A/m2), the reactor residence time (10–30 min), and the ratio of the anode surface to the reactor volume (S/V ratio, 15–45 m2/m3). The statistical analysis of the experimental results unveiled the considerable impact of the effluent flow rate on the oil removal efficiency. Maximizing the oil removal efficiency and minimizing specific energy consumption were done simultaneously by combining them into an overall desirability function. The optimization results demonstrated that the energy required to treat a unit volume of the tested wastewater in an EC reactor is halved and the operating costs are reduced by 37 % at the cost of <2 % of the oil removal efficiency (from >99 % to 98 %) only by extending the residence time from about 16 to 28 min. The results of this research can pave the path to the development of an efficient and economical industrial EC unit used for the treatment of oily wastewater.

Insights on enhancing piezocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6@PDA homojunction from phase coexistence and electron transfer mediators

Piezocatalytic technology with controllable generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is emerging in wastewater treatment. This study employed the synergetic regulation of functional surface and phase interface modification to effectively accelerate redox reaction in piezocatalytic process. We anchored the conductive polydopamine (PDA) onto Bi2WO6 (BWO) using template method, in which a small amount of Bi precipitation to induce partial phase transition of BWO from tetragonal to orthorhombic (t/o) in virtue of simple calcination. ROS traceability studies have identified the synergistic relationship between charge separation and transfer. Polarization in two-phase coexistence is intimately modulated by the orthorhombic relative central cation displacement. The orthorhombic phase with large electric dipole moment significantly promotes the generation of piezoresistive effect of intrinsic tetragonal BWO and optimizes the charge distribution. PDA further overcomes the obstruction of carrier migration at the phases interface to accelerate the generation rate of free radicals. Consequently, the superior rhodamine B (RhB) piezocatalytic degradation rate of 0.10 and 0.32 min−1 were delivered by t/o-BWO and t/o-BWO@PDA, respectively. This work reveals a feasible polarization enhancement strategy for the phase coexistence, and flexibly introduces the in-situ synthesized economical polymer conductive unit into the piezocatalysts.

Analysis of Front Leg Kinematics of Cricket Bowler Using Wearable Sensors and Machine Learning

A fast bowler in the game of cricket is exposed to high-intensity actions and is more prone to lumbar stress fractures, ankle sprains, and knee, shoulder, and lower back injuries. There are different phases of bowling, from running to ball release, viz., run-up, predelivery stride (PDS), mid-bound (MB), front foot contact (FFC), ball release, and follow through. The front leg motion of the bowler plays a crucial role in delivering the ball efficiently. An improper landing after the jump causes most of the injuries as more strain is induced on the knee, ankle, and groin region. Loss of balance during the follow-through is the other most common reason for injury. A braced front leg at FFC helps the bowler transfer the momentum gained during the run-up into a fast-bowling action. For a refined understanding of the motion of the bowler and the causes of injuries, the identification of bowling phases is crucial. This article proposes the design of a miniature and economical wearable sensor unit using a Bosch BNO055 inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor that the players can comfortably wear during the game. A novel method for calculating knee flexion of bowlers at FFC using quaternion data gathered from sensors is presented. Two wearable units were placed on the bowler’s front leg to collect motion data. Supervised machine-learning algorithms have been evaluated for classifying bowling phases using statistical features extracted from the sensor data to assist coaches and players with data-driven and evidence-based bowlers’ training.

Pot-economical synthesis of cyclic depsipeptides using a hydrophobic anchor molecule toward the construction of an unnatural peptide library

Cyclic peptides and cyclic depsipeptides are important sources of novel lead compounds in drug discovery research. However, solid phase peptide synthesis strategies used for their synthesis has points to be improved such as reaction monitoring, confirmation of the product, scale-up, and the use of excess reagents. We are addressing these issues and here report a one-pot economical unit elongation method using a hydrophobic anchor molecule. We achieved the total synthesis of the 24-membered cyclic depsipeptide emodepside and PF1022s, which exhibit anthelmintic activity, using a hydrophobic anchor molecule method. Furthermore, we established a process for synthesizing bioactive compounds in one reaction vessel and achieved the one-pot total synthesis of emodepside. Since the final product can be obtained without taking out the intermediates of each step from the reaction vessel, this synthesis approach is likely applicable to parallel synthesis methods.

Design and Fabrication of Root Vegetable Washer

Abstract: Washing is the primary and an essential operation in the production and distribution of fresh root vegetables. Root vegetables like carrot, radish, ginger etc. needs to be pre-cleaned before transporting from field to market. At present there is no primary and an economical processing unit for small scale farmers. A stainless steel, portable pedal operated vegetable washer was developed. After harvesting the Root vegetables like potato, carrots, radish, etc. have to be cleaned off the soil, remove the clay particles and other microbial contaminants for a healthy and acceptable produce for the consumers. Normally the Farmers in India use the Traditional methods to clean the root vegetables which are found to be less effective in cleaning process and also it is a time consuming process which involves additional labour. Hence to avoid these problems our project could the best possible solution in order to solve the problem of small scale farmers

STUDY OF THE THERMAL AND ENERGY PERFORMANCE OF A TRANSLUCENT AEROGEL GLAZING SYSTEM

ABSTRACT Aerogel is an innovative superinsulating material with extremely low thermal conductivity. Currently the cost of aerogel insulation is much higher than the cost of conventional insulation materials, which hinders their widespread application in buildings. In this research, an economical translucent aerogel glazing unit consisting of two clear boundary glass panes and a composite aerogel interlayer was developed, and its thermal and energy performance was studied numerically and experimentally. The results demonstrate that a translucent aerogel glazing with a 8 mm thick composite aerogel interlayer can perform better than a high performance double pane glazing, a typical double pane glazing and the corresponding opal glazing for heating load reduction under a shaded condition, but can only notably outperform an opal glazing for improving building energy performance in heating dominated climate zones, and in the heating period. It also reveals that applying the translucent aerogel glazing is a viable energy efficiency measure mainly for shaded glazing areas, or the glazing areas requiring solar radiation control to prevent sunlight glare. The outcome of this research can give engineers and architects a whole picture about translucent aerogel glazing, especially about the appropriate means of incorporating them into a low energy building.

Fuzzy Logic Controlled Based Ant-Lion Optimization Hybridization for Economic Power Dispatch

The demand on the power system rising more rapidly is causing to increase the power system size and capacity. There is a need of interconnection of various generating stations to meet the increased load demand. Economical unit commitment is necessary for plant operation with the advancement in power system integration. The Economical Power Dispatch (EPD) is to find the most favourable combination of generating systems output powers which reduce the fuel cost by satisfying all system constraints. This research involves the fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has been hybridized with Ant-Lion Optimization (ALO) algorithm for EPD. By using this new hybrid technique, minimization of total operating cost by economically dispatch the power to meet the required load and also minimization of system total losses by optimum allocation of DG units were done. Fuel cost function and demand on system are modeled by fuzzy membership functions. The ALO is used to obtain the schedule the committed generating unit’s outputs so as to meet the required load demand. This proposed FLC based ALO technique executed with MATLAB software and applied on IEEE-30 system. Effectiveness of this projected algorithm is determined and evaluated with standalone techniques like conventional ALO, ALO-PSO algorithms.

A facile and economical configuration for continuous generation and separation of oil in water emulsions

The development of a facile, compact, and inexpensive system for continuous liquid-liquid emulsification and separation, is a major engineering challenge in different industries such as petroleum, cosmetics, and food production. Herein, we report a simple and scalable design strategy for continuous generation and separation of the oil in water emulsions. The inexpensive, abundantly available sand was utilized for the fabrication of porous beds connected to process piping for continuous emulsion generation and separation. A mechanistic understanding of the governing parameters such as sand wettability, pore size, retention time, and energy dissipation are discussed in detail. Building on this understanding, we are able to generate stable oil in water emulsions with either nanoparticles or surfactants and achieve their complete demulsification by tuning the sand wettability, pore size, and retention time. We show the industrial applicability of the designed system by generation and separation of extremely viscous heavy crude oil in water emulsion, which would be suitable for pipeline transportation. Our results show the new way for the development of a modular and economical process unit at the industrial scale for liquid-liquid emulsification and separation.

The Application of The Corporate Governance In Management of Islamic Banks

One of the most issues noticed by researchers and suggested from investors is Corporate Governance, addressing the need for company management control, dividing economical unit from its ownership and improving the performance of the board of managers, auditors, accounting system, internal control, and finally maintaining investors and stakeholders' rights. Using better managers in companies results in improvement of their performance. &#x0D; So the purpose of this paper comes to examine the determinants of the Islamic bank's product and services disclosure strengths and weaknesses of corporate governance. , and suggest ways in which can be improved, the results reported across perspective and levels of analyses through, global, regional, legal systems, regularity quality and bank size.&#x0D; The results indicate that the strongest theme of corporate governance for Islamic banks in the sample is Transparency and Disclosure, followed by Internal Controls and External Audit. At the other extreme, the weakest corporate governance theme is Risk Governance, followed by Shariah Governance and the Boards of Directors .

A novel copper-based 3D porous nanocomposite for electrochemical detection and inactivation of pathogenic bacteria

An economical and reliable theranostic unit is essential for the detection and treatment of bacterial infections. MRSA is one of the most prevalent superbugs in the world at present, hence requires urgent attention. Here, we present a novel copper-based 3-D porous nanocomposite modified with vancomycin (Van) for simultaneous detection and treatment of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The composite contains copper/copper oxide nanoparticles which are reduced by the hydroxyl groups of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). On addition of graphene oxide (GO), it achieves a porous structure due to π-π stacking and formation of hydrogen bonds between β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and reduced graphene oxide sheets. Conjugation of Van to the composite provides highly specific binding towards gram-positive bacteria. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used to carry out the electrochemical detection of MRSA and achieved a very low limit of detection (LOD) 5 CFU mL−1 along with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 1.93 μg mL−1. The low LOD and MIC values are due to the good electrochemical response of the composite and the synergetic antibacterial effect of vancomycin and copper/copper oxide nanoparticles, respectively. The current work provides a more effective and economic unit as electrode modifier simultaneous detection and powder for the elimination of pathogenic bacteria.

ENERGY SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH GENERATION SCHEDULING

In a modest electrical energy sector, an economical unit cost of electricity generation is inevitable. For tropical countries like Malaysia, apart from attractive energy cost, the environmental issues due to electricity sector also play a significant role because of its tropical nature. The energy cost and its related environmental concerns are of the momentous issues of the Malaysian Government. So as to resolve the concerned issues, this research presents a direct generation scheduling strategy to match demand against power generation, to augment opportunity for energy sustainability, and to offer an attractive unit electric energy cost. Besides, the same strategy aims at minimizing emissions due to thermal power plants through generation scheduling and incorporation of renewable energy systems.

LA EMPRESA FAMILIAR O EXPLOTACIÓN AGROPECUARIA: MECANISMOS QUE PERMITAN SU CONTINUIDAD A LA MUERTE DE SU TITULAR A LA LUZ DEL DERECHO SUCESORIO CHILENO

In Chile, by application of the principle of intangibility in the reserve portion, the causant in the heritance has certain drawbacks to dispose of his property by will, using in some cases other kind of legal institutions, outside the legal act, in order to planning his succession. This subject has relevance when the causant is the owner of a Family enterprise or a Farming Production unit. This work shows the different obsta- cles that the causant of the inheritance has for dispose of the economical unit in favor of a heir, in order to keep the continuity of it, which in many cases can lead to the division of such enterprise or unit. For this reason, certain mechanisms are proposed for an adequate protection and conservation of the Family enterprise or the Farming production unit at the decease of the cau- sant, but protecting properly the rights of the heirs in their reserved portion.

Design and Field Test of a Low-Cost Apple Harvest-Assist Unit

The U.S. apple industry is facing difficulties because apple production costs have been continuously increasing. Three factors contribute to this situation: close dependence on a large seasonal workforce, increasing labor costs, and decreasing availability of agricultural employees. Apple harvest is the most labor-intensive operation during the production season. An economical apple harvest-assist unit prototype targeting fresh market apples was designed and field tested, aimed at increasing harvest efficiency, reducing harvest-related injuries, and increasing the potential labor pool through decreased working strength requirements. This harvest-assist unit focused on apples in the top of the canopy, which typically require use of ladders for conventional harvest. The unit was field tested for two years, with the first year focusing on identifying the components that caused apple bruising, and the second year focusing on identifying the performance of this unit. After being identified as the major component causing apple bruising, the distributor (a rotating disk used to distribute apples evenly in the bin) was improved and then tested in the second-year experiment. Apple downgrade incidence was reduced to 0% using an optimized distributor rotation speed of 28 rpm. For the apples located in the upper portion of the trees, the harvest-assist unit increased apple harvest efficiency (apples picked per second) by 95% compared with the conventional apple harvest method using ladders.

Operating profit, productivity indexes and net earnings

The main purpose of this research is to recognize the relationship between operating profit, productivity indexes and net earnings on the basis of financial statements yearly published by the North Industrial Wood Firm. The type of this research method is applied for the purpose and it is a case study for the procedure, so choosing an economical unit named the North Industrial Wood Firm as a population evaluates and recognizes the relationships between independent variables and dependent variables. In this research, the dependent variables are operating profit and net earnings, also independent variables are capital and labor productivity indexes. In this research, for data analysis, descriptive statistics (the mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (correlation test) were used. Also, by using the survey of documents and degrees of the North Industrial Wood Firm in a period of 11 years (1995 to 2006), necessary information was put into special tables and then analyzed statistically. Findings of the research showed that there are meaningful relationship at the level of 5% between labor productivity indexes with operating profit and net earnings, and between capital productivity indexes with operating profit and net earnings. Key words: Operating profit, capital and labor productivity, net earnings, economical unit.

Unit Commitment With Volatile Node Injections by Using Interval Optimization

In response to the challenges brought by uncertain bus load and volatile wind power to power system security, this paper presents a novel unit commitment formulation based on interval number optimization to improve the security as well as economy of power system operation. By using full-scenario analysis, the worst-case impact of volatile node injection on unit commitment is acquired, so that the proposed model can always provide a secure and economical unit commitment result to the operators. Scenarios generation and reduction method based on interval linear programming theory are used to accelerate the solution procedure without loss of optimality. Benders decomposition is also implemented to reduce the complexity of this large-scale interval mixed integer linear programming, and prove the rationality and rigor of our proposed method. The numerical results indicate better secure and economical features of the proposed method comparing with the traditional one.

FPGA based failure monitoring system for machining processes

To be adapted in an easy and economical manner to several machining processes is a desired characteristic in any proposed tool condition monitoring system so as to detect or avoid failures in machine tools. Many modern rotating machines have a servodriver which may, without sensors, acquire a current signal which is directly related to the cutting forces and then be correlated to the cutting tool conditions. Most of the reported systems are designed to work only in one machining process; yet the novelty of this paper is the fact of presenting a hardware signal processing unit implemented in a single field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for acquisition, conditioning, and basic signal monitoring in several machining processes. The system has been proven in industrial processes as well as in laboratories with satisfactory results in both cases. This model is reconfigurable and scalable so that it may be adapted to diverse conditions as an economical stand-alone unit since it does not require either computers nor microprocessors.

Autonomous reverse osmosis units driven by RE sources experiences and lessons learned

Desalination matching with renewable energy sources (RES) offers a promising future prospect for covering the fundamental needs of water and power supply in remote regions, where the connection to the public electrical grid is not economical affordable or is not feasible. One important application is the use of hybrid systems, wind turbines and photovoltaics, to drive seawater or brackish water reverse osmosis desalination units. This paper presents CRES autonomous hybrid (wind, solar energy) reverse osmosis system (RO) for seawater desalination and the experience gained after many years of operation. The system has been installed at CRES wind-park at Lavrio, location close to Athens. Measurements that have been taken as well as lessons learned from the “new” hybrid RO system are presented. Proposals for a more economical and effective unit are also presented. Also, a brief overview and comparison with similar systems installed around the world will be presented within this paper. Final, the main purpose of this paper is to prove that the matching of the two technologies is a feasible alternative and also to convince people that considering important parameters (design, RES selection, material selection) could be a promising solution.

Westphalia: a Paradigm? A Dialogue between Law, Art and Philosophy of Science

On 23rdJune 2007, after three years of uncertainty, European Union leaders agreed on relaunching the old idea of aMagna Chartafor Europe (now called “the Reform Treaty”), a normative structure based on the old ideas of deference to national identities, sovereignty and equality. To many authors, the first time that juridical equality between states was solemnly stated was in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), in the Westphalia Peace Treaties, representing the beginning of modern international society established in a system of states, and at the same time, “the plain affirmation of the statement of absolute independence of the different state orders.” In fact, under an Eurocentric conception of political ideas (which envisages England as an isolated island and Iberia as Maghreb, north of Africa), the modern state emerges with the Westphalia Peace Treaties. However, under a broader conception, the modern nation-state (under the form of absolute monarchy) emerged long before the Westphalia Peace Treaties, in Iberia and England. Nevertheless, it is in these documents which lies the “birth certificate” of the modern sovereignty nation-state, base of the present democratic state, and “founding moment” of the international political system. Far beyond this merely formal aspect, the importance of the Westphalia Peace Treaties is so great to the understanding of the notion of state that Roland Mousnier, in describing the 16th and 17th centuries in theGeneral History of the Civilizations, organized by Maurice Crouzet, asserts that those treaties symbolized a real “constitution of the new Europe,” a multifarious Europe, plural and very distant from the religious unit of Christianity, from the political unit of the Holy Roman Empire, and from the economical unit of the feudal system. Constitutions are especially important because they establish the rules for the political authority, they determine who governs and how they govern: “[I]n codifying and legitimating the principle of sovereign statehood, the Westphalian constitution gave birth to the modern states-system.”

A high-temperrature vacuum furnace for melting quartz glass

An economical high-temperature unit for quartz glass test melts was created based on a vacuum resistance furnace. To update the melting chamber of the standard furnace, a heating unit with a working temperature of up to 2200°C was developed and manufactured; it consists of a tungsten heater and molybdenum heat shields which allow melting small blocks of quartz glass. The updated furnace is used to evaluate the technological properties of natural quartz from different deposits.