Installation Issues Research Articles

Trends in Dam Upgrading in Japan

Japan is subjected to harsh weather conditions, with a high overall annual rainfall, a rainy season, and concentrated torrential rains during the typhoon season. Moreover, rivers in Japan generally have a steep gradient and are characteristically subjected to sudden rises of water level that cause flooding, or the falling of water level over a short period when the rain ends, causing the water shortage. Although dams have been constructed according to river basin characteristics to handle flooding and water usage issues, the number of favorable dam sites in Japan is rather small. Thus, extensive dam upgrading, aimed at strengthening the function of existing dams, has recently been carried out. In this report, examples of past dam upgrading projects as well as the status of dam upgrading are reviewed. In particular, the technological issues of dam heightening and additional installation of discharge facilities are discussed for upgrading projects in which structural retrofitting is carried out while the dam is in operation. Moreover, the required measures are considered.

INSTALLATION CONSTRAINTS OF SUCTION ASSISTED FOUNDATIONS AND ANCHORS FOR OFFSHORE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

The application of suction caissons has increased over the last two decades for offshore energy developments. Their installation challenges in different seabed types affect their execution process and load-bearing capacity. Hence, the identification of these challenges and understanding their root causes are highly important. As such, this paper aims to review the recorded installation constraints due to different seabed conditions, discuss the various factors related to each of these constraints, and finally provide some suggestions to rectify each constraint and/or its relevant factors. To do so, the approach is to evaluate the geological (geophysical and geotechnical) conditions in multiple case studies and analyze the stability of suction caisson installation in different soil types. Results show that some factors such as plug heave contributes about 29% of the installation issues in both homogeneous clay soils and layered clay soils, soil piping and bottom resistance failure contribute about 16% and 10% respectively of the installation issues in both sand and layered sand soils, while high penetration resistance contributes about 23% of installation issues in layered soils. Also, the uncertainty of soil parameters or behavior is a complementary factor which adds more complexities to the above-mentioned factors. Therefore, a good understanding of the seabed conditions and soil parameters before and during installation, as well as constant monitoring of the induced suction created during penetration with respect to the penetration depth is essential to mitigate the likely issues.

CMPVI-Based MIDO Scheme Under SSE for Optimum Energy Balance and Reduced ROI

Based on interaction with farmers, few post photovoltaic (PV) irrigation installation issues like diminishing water discharge due to increasing depth of ground water level, prolonged idleness (40%–60% time over a year) including morning/evening, no alternate use after irrigation, high maintenance cost of brushless dc pump, low return on investment (ROI), surrounding shading effect, etc., are identified. To address above issues, a co-operative movement for PV irrigation scheme-based solution is implemented by integration of PV arrays of two farmers (minimum) using multi-input dual-output controller with single-ended primary-inductance converter design. Control features like maximum power point tracking, energy transfer, optimum power utilization and sharing, vector control inverter, protections are adapted. MATLAB simulation and real-time field data result shows ROI per kilowatt improvement by 5.97%, reduced PV energy cost per watt by 14.89%, additional morning, evening PV extraction by 13.68%, and overall daily excess energy yield and water discharge by 18.75% and 24.74% for each farmer.

Design and status of the new WEST IR thermography system

The WEST (Tungsten Environment for Steady State Tokamak) platform aims at testing ITER like divertor targets in an integrated tokamak environment, to minimize risks for procurement and operation. After 4 years of construction, WEST is now operational, with the first plasma breakdown achieved in December 2016. To operate long plasma discharge in WEST, infrared thermography is a key device, which enables a safe operation by means of a real time surface temperature monitoring, while providing essential data for various physics studies.For WEST, the IR thermography system has been deeply renewed, to match with the new tokamak configuration, and to fulfil the new measurement requirements. It consists of a set of 5 different diagnostics: 1) 7 endoscopes located in upper ports viewing the whole lower divertor and the 5 heating devices 2) a tangential endoscope located in a median port, providing a wide angle view of the vacuum vessel, and in particular of the upper divertor and first wall protections 3) a submillimetre resolution view on the divertor strike points from an upper port endoscope 4) 2 additional views of the divertor and of the heating devices.The paper describes the new IR diagnostics configuration (spatial covering, IR cameras, optics, data processing hardware and software), the main design options, manufacturing and installation issues, and some measurement performances.

Policy implications for the performance gap of low-carbon building technologies

ABSTRACT It is widely recognized that the actual impact of low-carbon technologies is often lower than predicted by models alone, a phenomenon which has been coined the ‘performance gap’. Despite this awareness, in many instances estimates of both energy savings and renewable energy generation in domestic buildings continue to rely on engineering models and building energy simulations rather than approaches that are based on measured parameters. Much of the existing literature on the performance gap focuses on energy efficiency and is concerned with the quantification of the scale of the performance gap. This paper adds to this body of evidence by drawing retrospectively on a range of grey literature evaluations of low-carbon technologies (including energy-efficiency measures, renewable heat and renewable electricity) in the UK household sector. The focus is on not only the quantification of the performance gap but also the qualitative factors often overlooked, such as installation issues or installer/user behaviour. Recommended policy changes include the development of evaluation standards, the experimentation with pay-for-performance programmes, ensuring that installation standards for low-carbon technologies are being enforced, and taking reasonable steps to ensuring that end users can use any new technology effectively.

PMU Placement in Electric Transmission Networks for Reliable State Estimation Against False Data Injection Attacks

Currently the false data injection (FDI) attack bring direct challenges in synchronized phase measurement unit (PMU) based network state estimation in wide-area measurement system, resulting in degraded system reliability and power supply security. This paper assesses the performance of state estimation in electric cyber-physical system paradigm considering the presence of FDI attacks. The adverse impact on network state estimation is evaluated through simulations for a range of FDI attack scenarios using IEEE 14-bus network model. In addition, an algorithmic solution is proposed to address the issue of additional PMU installation and placement with cyber security consideration and evaluated for a set of standard electric transmission networks (IEEE 14-bus, 30-bus, and 57-bus network). The numerical result confirms that the FDI attack can significantly degrade the state estimation and the cyber security can be improved by an appropriate placement of a limited number of additional PMUs.

The thermal characteristics of roofs: policy, installation and performance

This paper investigates the in-situ performance of UK cold pitched roof structures through a case study dwelling of typical construction using site survey, and estimation of U-values through simple calculation and from measured heat flow data. Significant increases of U-values resulted from under- and un-insulated areas due to installation issues, whilst a higher than expected estimated thermal resistance of the roof space and structure was also noted, potentially associated with heat gains. Both issues are expected to be observed more widely in the stock and contribute to a performance gap for roof insulation.

A holistic review of mismatch loss: From manufacturing decision making to losses in fielded arrays

Mismatch loss relating to difference in as-manufactured cell performance is known to be nearly non-existent in a modern, undamaged, photovoltaic module. At a system level, potential contributors to this loss can include manufacturing variance, uncertainties in cell and module performance measurements and variation in operating conditions in the field. While some of these aspects have been individually studied, often using idealised performance models, there lacks a holistic treatment that assesses all the contributing effects in the same context. This is particularly important given the potential for trade-off among some of the underlying loss mechanisms in the way cells and modules are grouped and installed. This study shows, using a hybridised approach of published studies, manufacturing data, field performance data, and performance and variance modeling, that mismatch loss remains a potentially important performance loss mechanism in many photovoltaic installation. The decisions made in manufacturing pertaining to mismatch loss are found to often have only a small impact, despite potentially adding cost and complexity to the process. Conversely, field installation issues are shown to be of dominant importance in the final mismatch loss estimate. Understanding the individual contributing mechanisms, all together, will allow for the development of a realistic and least cost approach to mitigating the loss right from the decisions made in manufacturing through to how the modules are installed in the field.

Standardized error severity score (ESS) ratings to quantify risk associated with child restraint system (CRS) and booster seat misuse

ABSTRACTObjective: Although numerous research studies have reported high levels of error and misuse of child restraint systems (CRS) and booster seats in experimental and real-world scenarios, conclusions are limited because they provide little information regarding which installation issues pose the highest risk and thus should be targeted for change. Beneficial to legislating bodies and researchers alike would be a standardized, globally relevant assessment of the potential injury risk associated with more common forms of CRS and booster seat misuse, which could be applied with observed error frequency—for example, in car seat clinics or during prototype user testing—to better identify and characterize the installation issues of greatest risk to safety.Methods: A group of 8 leading world experts in CRS and injury biomechanics, who were members of an international child safety project, estimated the potential injury severity associated with common forms of CRS and booster seat misuse. These injury risk error severity score (ESS) ratings were compiled and compared to scores from previous research that had used a similar procedure but with fewer respondents. To illustrate their application, and as part of a larger study examining CRS and booster seat labeling requirements, the new standardized ESS ratings were applied to objective installation performance data from 26 adult participants who installed a convertible (rear- vs. forward-facing) CRS and booster seat in a vehicle, and a child test dummy in the CRS and booster seat, using labels that only just met minimal regulatory requirements. The outcome measure, the risk priority number (RPN), represented the composite scores of injury risk and observed installation error frequency.Results: Variability within the sample of ESS ratings in the present study was smaller than that generated in previous studies, indicating better agreement among experts on what constituted injury risk. Application of the new standardized ESS ratings to installation performance data revealed several areas of misuse of the CRS/booster seat associated with high potential injury risk.Conclusions: Collectively, findings indicate that standardized ESS ratings are useful for estimating injury risk potential associated with real-world CRS and booster seat installation errors.

Installation and Commissioning of a 100 kW Rooftop Solar PV Power Plant

Objectives: The grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic system is gaining momentum. The feasibility study of its installation, testing, commissioning and grid connectivity issues is a must. The analysis of economic benefits in comparison with electricity charges as per utility and the payback period is prime requirement. The objective is to integrate solar power with grid and share a greater portion of solar power for the local use and contribute the solar power installed capacity of the nation Methods/Statistical Analysis: The paper gives a comprehensive study of site information, plant architecture, layout, single line diagram and test results prior to commissioning. An operation and maintenance sheet has been maintained to track the various parameters such as voltage, current and power both on DC and AC mains for individual inverters. The average V DC , I DC and P DC has been found to be 620 volts, 32 Amps, 20 kW respectively from 11 am to 4 pm on bright sunny days. Similarly, V DC , I DC and P DC were noted to be 440 volts, 27 Amps, 20 kW respectively.Findings: During light loading in the institute, the power flow from solar to grid was evidenced through net meters installed by the utility. This relieved the institute management to pay heavy electricity charges. The electricity charge by the utility for HT consumer was Rs.10 per kWh whereas the solar charges were paid at the rate of Rs. 6.4. This resulted in a significant cost saving. Application/Improvements: The power taken from grid during 11 am to 4 pm has been reduced from an average 45 kWh to 12 kWh per hour. The scheme is well suited for large commercial complex, residential buildings and offices. It can be implemented with battery back up in remote villages which has poor access to electricity.

The numerical evaluation of safety valve size in the pipelines of cryogenic installations

The flow of cold helium in pipes is a fundamental issue of any cryogenic installation. Pipelines for helium transportation can reach lengths of hundreds of meters. The proper selection of size for individual pipelines and safety valves is a crucial part in the consideration of costs for the entire installation and its safe operation. The size of the safety valve must be properly designed in order to avoid a dangerous pressure build-up during normal operation, as well as in the case of emergency. The most commonly occurring dangerous situation is an undesired heat flux in the helium as a result of a broken insulation. In this case, the heat flux can be very intense and the build-up of the pressure in the pipe can be very rapid. In the present work, numerical calculations were used to evaluate the build-up of pressure and temperature in the pipe, in the case of a sudden and intense heat flux. The main goal of the applied numerical procedure was to evaluate the proper sizes of the safety valves in order to avoid a rise in pressure above the safety limit. The proposed numerical model and calculations were based on OpenFOAM, an open source CFD toolbox.

Rational design of foundations on soil reinforced by columns

Abstract This paper presents a review of the book titled “Design of column-reinforced foundations” that I recently published. The design of foundations on reinforced soil by columns is tackled within a general framework, where several aspects are taken into consideration: modeling of reinforced soil, bearing capacity, settlement, acceleration of consolidation, and improvement of soil characteristics with selected case histories. Unlike existing books on unique improvement techniques (deep soil mixing, stone columns, sand compaction piles) that focus on installation and equipment issues, this one-of-a-kind guide details design purpose. This book rationally handles the design of column-reinforced foundations (CRF) from modeling up to the study of behavior predicted by the numerical analysis and assessed by the field test results. Quasi-exact solutions of the ultimate bearing capacity of soil reinforced by a trench are suggested. The analytical solutions for predicting the settlement of CRF assuming the linear elastic behavior of constituents of soil reinforced by a group of columns are proposed. A novel methodology for the design of CRF is presented and illustrated by different study cases. The improvement of properties of the initial soil due to the installation of stone columns has been evidenced using numerical and experimental investigations. The behavior of foundations resting on soil reinforced by columns has been predicted by numerical 2D and 3D codes. Related results have been assessed after in situ data.

Do deep low carbon domestic retrofits actually work?

This paper uses a socio-technical building performance evaluation (BPE) approach to assess the pre- and post- actual performance of two discrete deep low energy retrofits in the UK – a Victorian solid-wall house and modern 1990s cavity-wall house. A ‘low-energy first, then low-carbon’ approach was adopted in both cases, to achieve an 80% reduction in annual CO2 emissions. Pre-retrofit, both houses had lower measured annual gas consumption as compared to predictions made by energy models, although the electricity consumption in the modern house was higher than modelled, due to occupancy pattern and occupant behaviour. Post-retrofit, it was found that the Victorian house achieved nearly 75% CO2 reduction, while the modern house achieved only 57% CO2 reduction over the baseline emissions. Key reasons were higher than expected air permeability rates, installation issues with micro-renewable systems, lack of proper commissioning, usability of controls, occupant preferences and behaviour. Despite the gap between expected and actual carbon emissions, occupant comfort and satisfaction was significantly improved across both retrofits. This evidence-based understanding of the process and outcomes of deep low carbon retrofits is vital not only for learning and innovation, but also for scaling-up deep retrofit programmes for meeting national and international carbon targets.

Proposal of fault prediction system for underground installations

The absence of intelligent systems for fault prediction in components and equipment in underground installations does not allow a correct structure for maintenance programs to reduce intervening maintenance actions. Thus, it is necessary to devise a computer system that can conjugate potential causes and factors of failure as input data that can correctly inform output data, which represents a component or equipment failure prediction. The aim of this paper is to present a proposal system to support maintenance analyses, where sensors of temperature, water level and vibration, can provide real time data to analyze the isolation condition of transformers and switches within underground chambers. The paper also presents a new use of a neural network to alarm partial discharges (PD) activities. A case is presented where hardware and software are developed and an underground chamber is used as a real test case. In this research, cost, performance, environmental hostility, and the availability of installed equipment in the Brazilian market were considered. After the methodology was verified, the cost was compared with imported equipment, and the result was approximately a 50% cost reduction. Issues of telemetry, hub specification, and sensor installation were also evaluated.

Design of Wireless Logging Instrument System for Monitoring Oil Drilling Platform

In order to achieve more effective monitoring and to solve the heavy workload issues of installation and removal on the existing wired-system logging site, thus guarantee the safety in normal operation, a wireless logging instrument system is designed to monitor the oil drilling platform. This paper introduces the overall architecture of the wireless system, and develops the hardware system—in which embedded software is designed—based on analog–digital conversion device, field-programmable gate array chip, and microprocessor. Combined with wireless sensor technology, analog measurements, and encoding quadruple frequency and phase-detection techniques, the wireless nodes in the system can detect and preprocess analog signals in the frequency range from 0.1 to 200 Hz and encoder signals of 90° phase difference, then output data through wireless transmitter module to upper monitoring center. Experimental results show that this system can realize a real-time wireless communication and monitoring for oil drilling platform stably. Moreover, it has features such as coding flexibility, high precision, good reliability, high integration, small size, and low-power consumption. Thus, the system provides a promising solution of data collection and analysis for the drilling platform.

A Low Cost, Highly Scalable Wireless Sensor Network Solution to Achieve Smart LED Light Control for Green Buildings

Reducing energy demand in the residential and industrial sectors is an important challenge worldwide. In particular, lights account for a great portion of total energy consumption, and unfortunately a huge amount of this energy is wasted. Light-emitting diode (LED) lights are being used to light offices, houses, industrial, or agricultural facilities more efficiently than traditional lights. Moreover, the light control systems are introduced to current markets, because the installed lighting systems are outdated and energy inefficient. However, due to high costs, installation issues, and difficulty of maintenance; existing light control systems are not successfully applied to home, office, and industrial buildings. This paper proposes a low cost, wireless, easy to install, adaptable, and smart LED lighting system to automatically adjust the light intensity to save energy and maintaining user satisfaction. The system combines motion sensors and light sensors in a low-power wireless solution using Zigbee communication. This paper presents the design and implementation of the proposed system in a real-world deployment. Characterization of a commercial LED panel was performed to evaluate the benefit of dimming for this light technology. Measurements of total power consumption over a continuous six months period (winter to summer) of a busy office were acquired to verify the performance and the power savings across several weather conditions scenarios. The proposed smart lighting system reduces total power consumption in the application scenario by 55% during a six month period and up to 69% in spring months. These figures take also into account individual user preferences.

Deployment of Submarine Power Cables

With the increased interconnection between lands and integration with power generation from offshore renewable energy, more and more submarine power cables are deployed and in operation. This article discusses the deployment aspects of submarine power cables and investigates the physical considerations, installation and operational issues of high-voltage submarine power cables. Typical problems and lessons learned from actual projects are highlighted. This article builds the discussions on a sister article by the author on ‘Power Cables and Submarine Power Cables’ focusing on the design and technical aspects surrounding submarine power cables. Unless otherwise indicated, the discussion in this article focuses on the transmission level, that is, 110 kV (in the mainland Europe) or 132 kV/275 kV in (Great Britain) and above, for both AC and DC applications. However, the content of this article should largely be valid for lower voltage power cables as well.

Mitigation of ground motion effects in linear accelerators via feed-forward control

Ground motion is a severe problem for many particle accelerators, since it excites beam oscillations, which decrease the beam quality and create beam-beam offset (at colliders). Orbit feedback systems can only compensate ground motion effects at frequencies significantly smaller than the beam repetition rate. In linear colliders, where the repetition rate is low, additional counter measures have to be put in place. For this reason, a ground motion mitigation method based on feed-forward control is presented in this paper. It has several advantages compared to other techniques (stabilization systems and intratrain feedback systems) such as cost reduction and potential performance improvement. An analytical model is presented that allows the derivation of hardware specification and performance estimates for a specific accelerator and ground motion model. At the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF2), ground motion sensors have been installed to verify the feasibility of important parts of the mitigation strategy. In experimental studies, it has been shown that beam excitations due to ground motion can be predicted from ground motion measurements on a pulse-to-pulse basis. Correlations of up to 80% between the estimated and measured orbit jitter have been observed. Additionally, an orbit jitter source was identified and has been removed, which halved the orbit jitter power at ATF2 and shows that the feed-forward scheme is also very useful for the detection of installation issues. We believe that the presented mitigation method has the potential to reduce costs and improve the performance of linear colliders and potentially other linear accelerators.8 MoreReceived 24 September 2014DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.17.122801This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical Society

Research on Design and Construction Issues of Oxygen Pipeline in Chemical Plant

When the high-pressure chemical oxygen delivery device, the slightest mistake, likely to cause explosion, so the design oxygen pipeline, it is usually as a special danger medium piping design. This paper explores the design of the petrochemical industry in oxygen pipes, installation and construction unit issues and process piping installation and construction issues, systematic analysis of the piping in the design and construction should pay attention to the problems and solutions to ensure each petrochemical industry aspects of safe operation. Standard requirements and corresponding measures in aspects of oxygen pipeline flow rate control, material selection, pipe and valve selection and pipeline construction, which should be followed to ensure the safety of oxygen pipeline, which are described in details, according to the national standard/safety technical regulation for oxygen and relative gases produced with cryogenic method. Finally, the experience of safe use of oxygen pipelines is presented.

Environmental Monitoring Based on the Wireless Sensor Networking Technology

This paper investigates real-life environmental monitoring applications based on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Wireless sensor networking is an emerging technology, which through the research in the labs and the real deployments has proved to be a significant and valuable tool for scientists in their effort to explore various environmental phenomena. During the last decades, this wireless networking technology has been adopted by many scientific fields in order to accurately and effectively monitor climate phenomena such as air pollution, destruction phenomena (i.e., landslides), etc. It has also been widely used in agriculture as well as in horticulture for field monitoring. This paper provides a critical overview of the basic components existing WSN deployments use. It also categorizes these deployments, 111 in total, into five different field categories, namely agricultural monitoring, environmental monitoring, air-water pollution monitoring, monitoring of destruction phenomena, as well as monitoring of livestock, and wild animal, in order to provide a general view of the technologies used, the conditions under which the deployments were conducted, and much more. Then, five easy-to-use guides are provided discussing basic considerations for deploying WSNs in each of these fields. These guides cover various issues, such as sensor node platforms, operating systems (OSs), topologies, installation and maintenance issues, and much more. In order to showcase the usefulness of consulting the resulted guides, this work considers representative application scenarios for each of these field deployments.