Wall Outlets Research Articles

Learning-based approach to enable mobile robots to charge batteries using standard wall outlets

Learning-based approach to enable mobile robots to charge batteries using standard wall outlets

Medical gas pipeline system as a limiting factor for hospital oxygen supply during COVID-19 outbreak.

Medical gas pipeline system as a limiting factor for hospital oxygen supply during COVID-19 outbreak.

Effective management of plug loads in commercial buildings with occupant engagement and centralized controls

Plug loads, or devices plugged into wall outlets, comprise a growing proportion of commercial building electricity consumption. This study presents the results of a hybrid approach for plug load management, which includes a combination of occupant engagement and centralized controls. Electricity consumption was monitored for 249 plug load devices in the XFINITY Center at the University of Maryland. After a baseline monitoring period, 1) on-off schedules were set for 78 devices in the concession stands, and 2) 31 office occupants in the facility took part in an energy competition and were given access to a mobile energy app (Keewi, Inc.) to control their 115 devices. Centralized controls resulted in a reduction of 58% in consumption in the concessions during the days when the concessions were not in use. Occupant engagement led to a reduction of 32% in plug load electricity consumption in the offices. Savings were largest in high-consumption categories such as merchandisers and food preparation chillers in the concessions, and IT equipment, refrigerators, desktop computers, and space heaters in the offices. The study indicates the benefits of hybrid approaches to plug load management given unique facility characteristics.

ガス供給と電源容量の問題が解決されhigh flow nasal cannula呼吸補助下に施設間陸路搬送した1例(A case of interhospital ground transport with a high flow nasal cannula for respiratory support enabled by the resolution of gas and power supply capacity problems)

要旨High flow nasal cannula（HFNC）療法は様々な医療場面での使用が増加しているが，HFNCを用いた施設間搬送の報告は少ない。これまで当院では，HFNCシステムへの酸素・混合ガス供給とドクターカーの電源容量の問題によりHFNC呼吸補助下の施設間陸路搬送が実施できなかった。しかし，新たなHFNCシステムの導入と，ドクターカーの電源容量増加と補助電源の確保により，HFNCを用いた施設間搬送が可能となった。今回，我々はHFNC呼吸補助下に施設間陸路搬送した症例を経験したので報告する。症例は11か月の男児。Respiratory syncytial virus（RSV）細気管支炎による急性呼吸不全のため当院へ転院し，pediatric intensive care unit（PICU）でHFNC療法が導入された。その後症状が軽快しHFNC呼吸補助下に医療機関へ転院搬送となった。搬送中，呼吸状態の悪化や重篤な副作用を認めず，安全に搬送が行われた。搬送にHFNCを用いる場合，デバイスによっては呼吸器設定に限界があること，屋外使用時はデバイスへの外気温の影響を考慮すること，および複数の医療機器を同時に使用する場合の総電源容量と搬送車両の電源容量を把握するなど留意すべき点がある。今後，症例を蓄積し施設間搬送におけるHFNC療法の安全性と有効性を評価する必要がある。

Energy efficiency practices in power supplies: Scenario and solution

ABSTRACTMost household electronic products and office equipment circuitry are operated internally at a low direct current (DC) voltage. However, they are designed to be plugged directly into wall outlets with alternating current (AC). AC to DC conversion is performed by devices called DC power supplies. Energy efficiency is a serious concern for most electrical and electronic appliances that require power supplies to operate. The majority of end users consume excess energy because of inefficient, bulky, and outdated power supply systems. A great gap exists in studies on energy saving in power supply design and selection. This article presents an overview of power supply energy consumption patterns and the effects of different operation modes on overall system power consumption. Recommendations for achieving an efficient energy system are presented.

Charging ahead on the transition to electric vehicles with standard 120 V wall outlets

Electrification of transportation is needed soon and at significant scale to meet climate goals, but electric vehicle adoption has been slow and there has been little systematic analysis to show that today’s electric vehicles meet the needs of drivers. We apply detailed physics-based models of electric vehicles with data on how drivers use their cars on a daily basis. We show that the energy storage limits of today’s electric vehicles are outweighed by their high efficiency and the fact that driving in the United States seldom exceeds 100km of daily travel. When accounting for these factors, we show that the normal daily travel of 85–89% of drivers in the United States can be satisfied with electric vehicles charging with standard 120V wall outlets at home only. Further, we show that 77–79% of drivers on their normal daily driving will have over 60km of buffer range for unexpected trips. We quantify the sensitivities to terrain, high ancillary power draw, and battery degradation and show that an extreme case with all trips on a 3% uphill grade still shows the daily travel of 70% of drivers being satisfied with electric vehicles. These findings show that today’s electric vehicles can satisfy the daily driving needs of a significant majority of drivers using only 120V wall outlets that are already the standard across the United States.

Quantifying EV battery end-of-life through analysis of travel needs with vehicle powertrain models

Electric vehicles enable clean and efficient transportation, however concerns about range anxiety and battery degradation hinder EV adoption. The common definition for battery end-of-life is when 70–80% of original energy capacity remains, however little analysis is available to support this retirement threshold. By applying detailed physics-based models of EVs with data on how drivers use their cars, we show that EV batteries continue to meet daily travel needs of drivers well beyond capacity fade of 80% remaining energy storage capacity. Further, we show that EV batteries with substantial energy capacity fade continue to provide sufficient buffer charge for unexpected trips with long distances. We show that enabling charging in more locations, even if only with 120 V wall outlets, prolongs useful life of EV batteries. Battery power fade is also examined and we show EVs meet performance requirements even down to 30% remaining power capacity. Our findings show that defining battery retirement at 70–80% remaining capacity is inaccurate. Battery retirement should instead be governed by when batteries no longer satisfy daily travel needs of a driver. Using this alternative retirement metric, we present results on the fraction of EV batteries that may be retired with different levels of energy capacity fade.

Relationship of electric power quality to milk production of dairy herds — Field study with literature review

Public Utility Commissions (PUC) in several states adopted 0.5volt rms (root mean squared) or 1.0milliampere as the actionable limit for utilities to respond to complaints of uncontrolled voltage. This study clearly shows that the actionable level should be reduced to 10mV p-p (peak-to-peak), which is 140 times less than the current standard. Dairy farmer complaints that animal behavior and milk production were affected by electrical shocks below adopted standards were investigated on 12 farms in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Milk production per cow was determined from daily tank-weight pickup and number of cows milked. Number of transient events, transients, voltage p-p, waveform phase angle degree, sags, and sag-Vrms were measured from event recorders plugged into milk house wall outlets. Data from 1705 cows and 939 data points were analyzed by multiherd least-squares multiple regression and SAS-ANOVA statistical programs. In five herds for 517days, milk/cow/day decreased −0.0281kg/transient event as transient events increased from 0 to 122/day (P<0.02). Negative effects on milk/cow/day from event recorder measurements were significant for eight independent electrical variables. Step-potential voltage and frequency of earth currents were measured by oscilloscope from metal plates grouted into the floor of milking stalls. Milk decreased as number of 3rd, 5th, 7th, 21st, 28th, and 42nd harmonics and the sum of triplen harmonics (3rd, 9th, 15th, 21st, 27th, 33rd, and 39th) increased/day (P<0.003). Event recorder transient events were positively correlated with oscilloscope average V p-p event readings. Steps/min counted from videotapes of a dancing cow with no contact to metal in the barnyard were correlated with non-sinusoidal 8.1 to 14.6mV p-p impulses recorded by oscilloscope for 5min from EKG patches on legs. PUC standards and use of 500-Ohm resistors in test circuits underestimate effects of non-sinusoidal, higher frequency voltage/current common on rural power lines.

Observing the Power Grid: Working Toward a More Intelligent, Efficient, and Reliable Smart Grid with Increasing User Visibility

As an essential fixture of modern society, electricity is often taken for granted. In many cases, it becomes invisible or is ignored until it is not there or it is time to pay the electric bill. Electricity has been around for well over a century, and the march of industry and progress have created the most complex interconnected system in existence. In a delicate balancing act, the amount of electricity generation must track the amount consumed to prevent the system from collapsing, as there is only very limited storage capacity on the grid. The balance is maintained via a combination of predictions and control systems distributed across the grid. How well this balance is maintained produces signals that propagate across the entire system from the large generators to the wall outlets that are ubiquitous across the world. Observing these signals can provide a great deal of insight into the current status and operation of the power grid and can be done cheaply and accurately from inside a home or office.

Analysis, Measurement and Evaluation of Power Line Communication Network Applied for popular Houses

This paper presents the results obtained by measurement and evaluation performance of the PLC network operating at popular houses in the suburb of Cuiaba city. The key point is to show if the government projects and electric installations used to build popular houses are able to receive Internet signal by power line. This can be a good alternative to the other classical last mile solutions such as ADSL, cable modems or wireless access systems that are not able to be present at residential quarter far from downtown or remote areas. The major advantage offered by power line based home network is the availability of an existing infrastructure of wires and wall outlets.

Wind-Induced Internal Pressures in Buildings with Large Façade Openings

The paper presents the results of a study that investigated the effects of wall porosity, inlet-to-outlet-ratio, opening location, and blockage on internal pressure in buildings with large facade openings located on opposite or adjacent walls considering data from simultaneous measurements on multiple internal pressure taps. The study found that the internal airflow field has a significant effect on mean and peak values of internal pressure, which is not uniform for configurations with wall porosity higher than 10% and openings located on adjacent walls. Peak internal pressure coefficients were found to exceed (1) the recommended ASCE 7-10 value for all configurations tested with inlets located above the midheight of the building and particularly those with inlet-to-outlet-ratios equal to 1 and (2) the recommended design value for building category 3 for configurations with openings located above the midheight of the building, leeward wall outlets, and inlet-to-outlet-ratios greater than 2.

A Near Miss: A Nitrous Oxide-Carbon Dioxide Mix-up Despite Current Safety Standards

A Near Miss: A Nitrous Oxide-Carbon Dioxide Mix-up Despite Current Safety Standards

Take this car and plug it [plug-in hybrid vehicles

This paper presents hybrid cars with a bigger battery packs that can recharge from wall outlets. The resulting machines, referred to as plug-in hybrids, can be propelled exclusively by their electric motors for, in some cases, more than 30 kilometers without their gasoline engines even turning on. The advantages and disadvantages of these cars are discussed in this paper.

Compressed Air as a Source of Inhaled Oxidants in Intensive Care Units

Exhaled gas from mechanically ventilated preterm infants was found to have similar oxidant concentrations, regardless of lung disease, leading to the hypothesis that wall outlet gases were an oxidant source. Oxidants in compressed room air and oxygen from wall outlets were assessed in three hospitals. Samples were collected by flowing wall outlet gas through a heated humidifier and an ice-packed condenser. Nitric oxide (NO) was measured in intensive care room air and in compressed air with and without a charcoal filter using a Sievers NOA280 nitric oxide analyzer (Boulder, CO). Oxidants were measured by spectrophotometry and expressed as nMol equivalents of H2O2/mL. The quantity of oxidant was also expressed as amount of Vitamin C (nMol/mL) added until the oxidant was nondetectable. This quantity of Vitamin C was also expressed in Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) units (mMol/L). Free and total chlorine were measured with a Chlorine Photometer. Oxidants were not found in compressed oxygen and were only found in compressed air when the compression method used tap water. At a compressed room air gas flow of 1.5 L/min, the total volume of condensate was 20.2 +/- 1 mL/hr. The oxidant concentration was 1.52 +/- 0.09 nMol/mL equivalents of H2O2/mL of sample and 30.8 +/- 1.2 nMol/hr; 17.9% of that found in tap water. Oxidant reduction required 2.05 +/-0.12 nMol/mL vitamin C, (1.78 +/- 0.1 x 10(-3) TEAC units). Free and total chlorine in tap water were 0.3 +/- 0.02 mg/mL and 2.9 +/- 0.002 mg/mL, respectively. Outlet gas contained 0.4 +/- 0.06 mg/mL and 0.07 + 0.01 mg/mL total and free chlorine, respectively; both 14% of tap water. When a charcoal filter was installed in the hospital with oxidants in compressed air, oxidants were completely removed. Nursery room air contained 12.4 +/- 0.5 ppb NO; compressed wall air without a charcoal filter, 8.1 +/- 0.1 ppb and compressed air with a charcoal filter 12.5 +/- 0.5 ppb. A charcoal filter does not remove NO. (Table 3) We recommend that all compressed air methods using tap water have charcoal filters at the compression site and the gases be assessed periodically for oxidants.

Mechanisms of pediatric electrical injury. New implications for product safety and injury prevention.

To determine age-specific mechanisms of electrical injury in children, to examine product safety regulation of the major sources of electrical injury hazard, and to assess the adequacy of current prevention strategies. Case series of 144 pediatric and adolescent electrical injuries in patients seen in the specialized burn center and tertiary care hospital between 1970 and 1995, examination of Consumer Product Safety Commission product recall reports for electrical injury hazards between 1973 and 1995, and review of the National Electric Code. Eighty-six cases of electrical injuries resulted from low-voltage (< 1000-V) exposures, all occurring within the home. In children aged 12 years and younger, household appliance electrical cords and extension cords caused more than 64 (63%) of 102 injuries, whereas wall outlets were responsible for only 14 (15%) of injuries. Fifty-eight cases resulted from high-voltage exposures, accounting for 38 (90%) of 42 injuries in children older than 12 years. No federal safety regulations for electrical cords exist, although voluntary standards have been adopted by many manufacturers. Among 383 consumer products identified by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be electrical injury hazards, 119 were appliance cords, extension cords, or holiday stringed light sets. Several products numbered more than 1.5 million units in US household distribution prior to the investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Household electrical cords are the major electrocution hazard for children younger than 12 years, yet no federal safety mandates exist. Despite voluntary standards, noncompliant manufacturers can introduce vast numbers of unsafe cords onto the US household market every year. Conversion of existing voluntary safety guidelines into federally legislated standards may be the most effective intervention against pediatric electrocutions.

Wrong connection of a flexible medical air hose to a nitrous oxide outlet caused by a defective safety device

When plugging the O2, N2O and air hoses into the corresponding wall sockets, the air hose was wrongly inserted into the N2O wall outlet. This was made possible because of faulty retaining clasps of the male coupler of the air probe. French "fail-safe" connections consist of a two-clasp male coupler for air, three clasps for O2 and four clasps for N2O hoses. Additionally the clasps of the air probe are broader then those of the N2O probe. However, the latter difference was lost due to wear. The incident was recognized without delay as the N2O hose could not be inserted into the air outlet. However, it could have remained unnoticed had there been two N2O wall outlets and could have resulted in severe adverse effects.

My life as a physicist: Memories and perspectives

This paper constitu~s a brief personal history from my beginnings as a physicist through the period of my discovery and consolidation of what has since become the self-consistent field theory of molecular structure. My career as a molecular theorist began only a few short years after the most traumatic experiences of my life took place during World War II. My growth as a scientist did not stop during those difficult years, but proceeded as if driven by forces independent of the surrounding events. It is only during the last decade or so that I have spoken somewhat more freely about the painful experiences described below. However, those events were always vividly present in my mind. I hope that sharing those memories with my friends and colleagues will help them to understand me better, and perhaps also the human condition. And since my training in the fundamentals of physics occurred during those years, my account may also offer some insight into how learning can, and does, occur under improbable circumstances. But first I like to turn back to my chilled, when I experienced the earliest stirrings of scientific curiosity. I am certain that my interest in science began when I was three years old. I did not understand how toasters, lamps and irons depended on a wire coming out of the wall. In those days, wall outlets were surface mounted and covered by porcelain caps. One day I found an outlet whose cap had crumbled. I began to put my finger systematically on the various exposed parts, intent on getting some response from this mysterious gadget. I finally did, in the form of an electric shock that made me withdraw my finger abruptly, and imbued me with great respect for the mysterious force I had just experienced. This was one experiment that I reported to no one; I was brought up in a proper home and had sense enough to know that, whatever I had done, it was wrong. The experience increased my prudence but in no way diminished my curiosity. By the age of seven, I was conducting less dangerous experiments with batteries, lights, switches and electric bells. Radio broadcasting was just

My life as a physicist: memories and perspectives

This paper constitu~s a brief personal history from my beginnings as a physicist through the period of my discovery and consolidation of what has since become the self-consistent field theory of molecular structure. My career as a molecular theorist began only a few short years after the most traumatic experiences of my life took place during World War II. My growth as a scientist did not stop during those difficult years, but proceeded as if driven by forces independent of the surrounding events. It is only during the last decade or so that I have spoken somewhat more freely about the painful experiences described below. However, those events were always vividly present in my mind. I hope that sharing those memories with my friends and colleagues will help them to understand me better, and perhaps also the human condition. And since my training in the fundamentals of physics occurred during those years, my account may also offer some insight into how learning can, and does, occur under improbable circumstances. But first I like to turn back to my chilled, when I experienced the earliest stirrings of scientific curiosity. I am certain that my interest in science began when I was three years old. I did not understand how toasters, lamps and irons depended on a wire coming out of the wall. In those days, wall outlets were surface mounted and covered by porcelain caps. One day I found an outlet whose cap had crumbled. I began to put my finger systematically on the various exposed parts, intent on getting some response from this mysterious gadget. I finally did, in the form of an electric shock that made me withdraw my finger abruptly, and imbued me with great respect for the mysterious force I had just experienced. This was one experiment that I reported to no one; I was brought up in a proper home and had sense enough to know that, whatever I had done, it was wrong. The experience increased my prudence but in no way diminished my curiosity. By the age of seven, I was conducting less dangerous experiments with batteries, lights, switches and electric bells. Radio broadcasting was just

Pseudomonas cepacia in the hospitalsetting: Lack of transmission between cystic fibrosis patients

Possible mechanisms of transmission of Pseudomonas cepacia in hospitalized patients with cystic fibrosis were examined. Twelve patients were colonized with P. cepacia prior to admission (group 1), and 15 patients were not (group 2). Daily contact occurred between both groups. Sputum cultures were obtained from all patients at admission and discharge, and 3 and 6 months after discharge in group 2 patients. Environmental cultures included cough plates, settle plates, spirometry tubing, stethoscopes, sinks, wall outlets, and hands of patients, physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists. Specimens were plated on a P. cepacia-selective medium. All group 1 patients remained colonized with P. cepacia at discharge. None of the group 2 patients acquired P. cepacia during hospitalization or follow-up. P. cepacia was recovered from three of 151 environmental cultures; two of these were presumably patient related. P. cepacia contamination of pulmonary function equipment, wall outlets, hands, and stethoscopes was not documented. We conclude that transient aerosol environmental contamination is uncommon and restricted to the immediate patient environment.

Home safety: development and validation of one component of an ecobehavioral treatment program for abused and neglected children.

Parents may be charged with child abuse or neglect or both on the basis of a variety of circumstances. Child neglect, for example, is often documented when caseworkers observe that the family's home itself is so poorly kept that it presents an environment in which young children have ready access to lethal hazards such as poisons, uncovered wall outlets, and firearms. In this study, we describe the development of a Home Accident Prevention Inventory (HAPI) which was validated and used to assess hazards in the homes of several families under state protective service for child abuse and neglect. The HAPI included five categories of hazards: fire and electrical, mechanical-suffocation, ingested object suffocation, firearms, and solid/liquid poisons. Following the collection of baseline data, parents were presented with a treatment package that included instructions and demonstrations on making hazards inaccessible to children, plus feedback regarding the number and location of hazards in the home. The multiple-baseline design across hazardous categories in each family's home showed that the package resulted in decreases in the number of these accessible hazards. These improvements were maintained over an extended period of unannounced follow-up checks. This research provides a model for the development and assessment of an area previously unexamined in the child abuse and neglect literature.