Search results for: earthwork operation
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2778

Search results for: earthwork operation

2478 Intensification of Heat Transfer in Magnetically Assisted Reactor

Authors: Dawid Sołoducha, Tomasz Borowski, Marian Kordas, Rafał Rakoczy

Abstract:

The magnetic field in the past few years became an important part of many studies. Magnetic field (MF) may be used to affect the process in many ways; for example, it can be used as a factor to stabilize the system. We can use MF to steer the operation, to activate or inhibit the process, or even to affect the vital activity of microorganisms. Using various types of magnetic field generators is always connected with the delivery of some heat to the system. Heat transfer is a very important phenomenon; it can influence the process positively and negatively, so it’s necessary to measure heat stream transferred from the place of generation and prevent negative influence on the operation. The aim of the presented work was to apply various types of magnetic fields and to measure heat transfer phenomena. The results were obtained by continuous measurement at several measuring points with temperature probes. Results were compilated in the form of temperature profiles. The study investigated the undetermined heat transfer in a custom system equipped with a magnetic field generator. Experimental investigations are provided for the explanation of the influence of the various type of magnetic fields on the heat transfer process. The tested processes are described by means of the criteria which defined heat transfer intensification under the action of magnetic field.

Keywords: heat transfer, magnetic field, undetermined heat transfer, temperature profile

Procedia PDF Downloads 168
2477 Yield Enhancement and Reduced Nutrient Removal by Weeds in Winter Irrigated Cotton Using Potassium Salt Based Glyphosate

Authors: N. Viji, K. Siddeswaran

Abstract:

Field experiment was conducted at Eastern Block farm, Department of Farm Management, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during winter season of 2011-2012 to evaluate potassium salt based glyphosate (Roundup Crop Shield 460 SL) with and without intercultural operations on seed cotton yield and weed nutrient removal in irrigated cotton. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with treatments replicated thrice. The treatments consisted of POE glyphosate (Roundup Crop Shield 460 SL) at 1350 (T1), 1800 (T2), 2250 (T3) g a.e. ha-1, 1800 g a.e. ha-1 + IC (T4), PE pendimethalin at 750 g a.i. ha-1 + IC (T5), HW at 35 and 70 DAS + IC (T6), HWW at 35 and 70 DAS + IC (T7), PWW at 35 and 70 DAS + IC (T8), HW at 25 and 45 DAS (T9) and Unweeded control (T10). Among the weed management methods, decreased nutrient removal by weeds were observed with POE glyphosate at 1800 g a.e. ha-1 + IC which was comparable with PE pendimethalin at 750 g a.i. ha-1 + IC. Higher seed cotton yield was obtained with POE glyphosate at 1800 g a.e. ha-1 at 35 and 70 DAS with + IC at 45 and 55 DAS which was comparable with PE pendimethalin at 750 g a.i. ha-1 + IC at 45 and 55 DAS. Comparing treatments without intercultural operation, intercultural operation carried out treatments performed better and recorded more seed cotton yield.

Keywords: cotton, weed, glyphosate, nutrient

Procedia PDF Downloads 609
2476 Basavaraj Kabade, K. T. Nagaraja, Swathi Ramanathan, A. Veeraragavan, P. S. Reashma

Authors: Dechrit Maneetham

Abstract:

Pick and place task is one among the most important tasks in industrial field handled by 'Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm' (SCARA). Repeatability with high-speed movement in a horizontal plane is a remarkable feature of this type of manipulator. The challenge of design SCARA is the difficulty of achieving stability of high-speed movement with the long length of links. Shorter links arm can move more stable. This condition made the links should be considered restrict then followed by restriction of operation area (workspace). In this research, authors demonstrated on expanding SCARA robot’s workspace in horizontal area via linear sliding actuator that embedded to base link of the robot arm. With one additional prismatic joint, the previous robot manipulator with 3 degree of freedom (3-DOF), 2 revolute joints and 1 prismatic joint becomes 4-DOF PRRP manipulator. This designation increased workspace of robot from 0.5698m² performed by the previous arm (without linear actuator) to 1.1281m² by the proposed arm (with linear actuator). The increasing rate was about 97.97% of workspace with the same links' lengths. The result of experimentation also indicated that the operation time spent to reach object position was also reduced.

Keywords: kinematics, linear sliding actuator, manipulator, control system

Procedia PDF Downloads 240
2475 EZOB Technology, Biomass Gasification, and Microcogeneration Unit

Authors: Martin Lisý, Marek Baláš, Michal Špiláček, Zdeněk Skála

Abstract:

This paper deals with the issue of biomass and sorted municipal waste gasification and cogeneration using hot air turbo set. It brings description of designed pilot plant with electrical output 80 kWe. The generated gas is burned in secondary combustion chamber located beyond the gas generator. Flue gas flows through the heat exchanger where the compressed air is heated and consequently brought to a micro turbine. Except description, this paper brings our basic experiences from operating of pilot plant (operating parameters, contributions, problems during operating, etc.). The principal advantage of the given cycle is the fact that there is no contact between the generated gas and the turbine. So there is no need for costly and complicated gas cleaning which is the main source of operating problems in direct use in combustion engines because the content of impurities in the gas causes operation problems to the units due to clogging and tarring of working surfaces of engines and turbines, which may lead as far as serious damage to the equipment under operation. Another merit is the compact container package making installation of the facility easier or making it relatively more mobile. We imagine, this solution of cogeneration from biomass or waste can be suitable for small industrial or communal applications, for low output cogeneration.

Keywords: biomass, combustion, gasification, microcogeneration

Procedia PDF Downloads 307
2474 Biomass Gasification and Microcogeneration Unit–EZOB Technology

Authors: Martin Lisý, Marek Baláš, Michal Špiláček, Zdeněk Skála

Abstract:

This paper deals with the issue of biomass and sorted municipal waste gasification and cogeneration using hot-air turbo-set. It brings description of designed pilot plant with electrical output 80 kWe. The generated gas is burned in secondary combustion chamber located beyond the gas generator. Flue gas flows through the heat exchanger where the compressed air is heated and consequently brought to a micro turbine. Except description, this paper brings our basic experiences from operating of pilot plant (operating parameters, contributions, problems during operating, etc.). The principal advantage of the given cycle is the fact that there is no contact between the generated gas and the turbine. So there is no need for costly and complicated gas cleaning which is the main source of operating problems in direct use in combustion engines because the content of impurities in the gas causes operation problems to the units due to clogging and tarring of working surfaces of engines and turbines, which may lead as far as serious damage to the equipment under operation. Another merit is the compact container package making installation of the facility easier or making it relatively more mobile. We imagine, this solution of cogeneration from biomass or waste can be suitable for small industrial or communal applications, for low output cogeneration.

Keywords: biomass, combustion, gasification, microcogeneration

Procedia PDF Downloads 463
2473 Study on Carbon Nanostructures Influence on Changes in Static Friction Forces

Authors: Rafał Urbaniak, Robert Kłosowiak, Michał Ciałkowski, Jarosław Bartoszewicz

Abstract:

The Chair of Thermal Engineering at Poznan University of Technology has been conducted research works on the possibilities of using carbon nanostructures in energy and mechanics applications for a couple of years. Those studies have provided results in a form of co-operation with foreign research centres, numerous publications and patent applications. Authors of this paper have studied the influence of multi-walled carbon nanostructures on changes in static friction arising when steel surfaces were moved. Tests were made using the original test stand consisting of automatically controlled inclined plane driven by precise stepper motors. Computer program created in the LabView environment was responsible for monitoring of the stand operation, accuracy of measurements and archiving the obtained results. Such a solution enabled to obtain high accuracy and repeatability of all conducted experiments. Tests and analysis of the obtained results allowed us to determine how additional layers of carbon nanostructures influenced on changes of static friction coefficients. At the same time, we analyzed the potential possibilities of applying nanostructures under consideration in mechanics.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes, static friction, dynamic friction

Procedia PDF Downloads 287
2472 The Environmental Impact Assessment of Land Use Planning (Case Study: Tannery Industry in Al-Garma District)

Authors: Husam Abdulmuttaleb Hashim

Abstract:

The environmental pollution problems represent a great challenge to the world, threatening to destroy all the evolution that mankind has reached, the organizations and associations that cares about environment are trying to warn the world from the forthcoming danger resulted from excessive use of nature resources and consuming it without looking to the damage happened as a result of unfair use of it. Most of the urban centers suffers from the environmental pollution problems and health, economic, and social dangers resulted from this pollution, and while the land use planning is responsible for distributing different uses in urban centers and controlling the interactions between these uses to reach a homogeneous and perfect state for the different activities in cities, the occurrence of environmental problems in the shade of existing land use planning operation refers to the disorder or insufficiency in this operation which leads to presence of such problems, and this disorder lays in lack of sufficient importance to the environmental considerations during the land use planning operations and setting up the master plan, so the research start to study this problem and finding solutions for it, the research assumes that using accurate and scientific methods in early stages of land use planning operation will prevent occurring of environmental pollution problems in the future, the research aims to study and show the importance of the environmental impact assessment method (EIA) as an important planning tool to investigate and predict the pollution ranges of the land use that has a polluting pattern in land use planning operation. This research encompasses the concept of environmental assessment and its kinds and clarifies environmental impact assessment and its contents, the research also dealt with urban planning concept and land use planning, it also dealt with the current situation of the case study (Al-Garma district) and the land use planning in it and explain the most polluting use on the environment which is the industrial land use represented in the tannery industries and then there was a stating of current situation of this land use and explaining its contents and environmental impacts resulted from it, and then we analyzed the tests applied by the researcher for water and soil, and perform environmental evaluation through applying environmental impact assessment matrix using the direct method to reveal the pollution ranges on the ambient environment of industrial land use, and we also applied the environmental and site limits and standards by using (GIS) and (AUTOCAD) to select the site of the best alternative of the industrial region in Al-Garma district after the research approved the unsuitability of its current site location for the environmental and site limitations, the research conducted some conclusions and recommendations regard clarifying the concluded facts and to set the proper solutions.

Keywords: EIA, pollution, tannery industry, land use planning

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2471 High-Frequency Full-Bridge Isolated DC-DC Converter for Fuel Cell Power Generation Systems

Authors: Nabil A. Ahmed

Abstract:

DC-DC converters are necessary to interface low-voltage fuel cell power generation systems to a higher voltage DC bus system. A system and method for generating a regulated output power from fuel cell power generation systems is proposed in this paper, this includes a soft-switching isolated DC-DC converter to reduce the idling and circulating currents. The system incorporates a high-frequency center tap transformer link DC-DC converter using secondary-side soft switching control. Snubber capacitors including the parasitic capacitance of the switching devices and the transformer leakage inductance are utilized to achieve zero-voltage switching (ZVS) in the primary side of the high-frequency transformer. Therefore, no extra resonant components are required for ZVS. The inherent soft-switching capability allows high power density, efficient power conversion, and compact packaging. A prototype rated at 6.5 kW is proposed and simulated. Simulation results confirmed a wide range of soft-switching operation and consequently high conversion efficiency will be achieved.

Keywords: secondary-side, phase-shift, high-frequency transformer, zero voltage, zero current, soft switching operation, switching losses

Procedia PDF Downloads 282
2470 Comparative Public Administration: A Case Study of ASEAN Member States

Authors: Nattapol Pourprasert

Abstract:

This research is to study qualitative research having two objectives: 1. to study comparison of private sector of government to compare with ASEAN Member States, 2. to study trend of private enterprise administration of ASEAN Member States. The results are: (1) Thai people focus on personal resource administrative system, (2) Indonesia focuses on official system by good administrative principles, (3) Malaysia focuses on technology development to service people, (4) Philippines focuses on operation system development, (5) Singapore focuses on public service development, (6) Brunei Darussalam focuses on equality in government service of people, (7) Vietnam focuses on creating government labor base and develop testing and administration of operation test, (8) Myanmar focuses on human resources development, (9) Laos focuses on form of local administration, (10) Cambodia focuses on policy revolution in personal resources. The result of the second part of the study are: (1) Thailand created government personnel to be power under qualitative official structural event, (2) Indonesia has Bureaucracy Reform Roadmap of Bureaucracy Reform and National Development Plan Medium Term, (3) Malaysia has database for people service, (4) Philippines follows up control of units operation by government policy, (5) Singapore created reliability, participation of people to set government policy people’s demand, (6) Brunei Darussalam has social welfare to people, (7) Vietnam revolved testing system and administration including manpower base construction of government effectively, (8) Myanmar creates high rank administrators to develop country, (9) Laos distributes power to locality, and (10) Cambodia revolved personnel resource policy.

Keywords: public administration development, ASEAN member states, private sector, government

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2469 Displacement Situation in Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan: Issues and Challenges

Authors: Sohail Ahmad, Inayat Kaleem

Abstract:

Federally Administered Tribal Area(FATA) of Pakistan is one of the most neglected regions in the world as far as development is concerned. It has been the hub of all sorts of illegal activities including militancy and export of terrorism. Therefore, it became inevitable for the government of Pakistan to take action against militants through military operations. Small and large scale military operations are being taken against the non-state actors in FATA with continuity. Over the years, hundreds of thousands have been displaced from the tribal areas of the country. Moreover, military operation Zarb-e-Azb has been launched in North Waziristan Agency in June 2014 to counter militancy across the Af-Pak border region. Though successful in curbing militancy, the operation has displaced around 0.5 million people from the area. Most of them opt to take shelter in the government installed shelter camps, some of them take refuge outside tent villages in the country while some of them prefer to cross into Afghanistan rather their own country Pakistan. This paper will evaluate how the influx of these internally displaced persons in the country is influencing the socio-economic situation of not only the displaced but of the hosting areas as well. Secondly, attention would be given to gauge the impact of such a huge number of displaced population on the law and order and security situation in the host areas.

Keywords: Af-Pak, federally administered tribal area, IDPs, internal displacement, Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 292
2468 Optimization of Turbocharged Diesel Engines

Authors: Ebrahim Safarian, Kadir Bilen, Akif Ceviz

Abstract:

The turbocharger and turbocharging have been the inherent component of diesel engines, so that critical parameters of such engines, as BSFC(Brake Specific Fuel Consumption) or thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, BMEP(Brake Mean Effective Pressure), the power density output and emission level have been improved extensively. In general, the turbocharger can be considered as the most complex component of diesel engines, because it has closely interrelated turbomachinery concepts of the turbines and the compressors to thermodynamic fundamentals of internal combustion engines and stress analysis of all components. In this paper, a waste gate for a conventional single stage radial turbine is investigated by consideration of turbochargers operation constrains and engine operation conditions, without any detail designs in the turbine and the compressor. Amount of opening waste gate which extended between the ranges of full opened and closed valve, is demonstrated by limiting compressor boost pressure ratio. Obtaining of an optimum point by regard above mentioned items is surveyed by three linked meanline modeling programs together which consist of Turbomatch®, Compal®, Rital®madules in concepts NREC® respectively.

Keywords: turbocharger, wastegate, diesel engine, concept NREC programs

Procedia PDF Downloads 223
2467 Control of a Wind Energy Conversion System Works in Tow Operating Modes (Hyper Synchronous and Hypo Synchronous)

Authors: A. Moualdia, D. J. Boudana, O. Bouchhida, A. Medjber

Abstract:

Wind energy has many advantages, it does not pollute and it is an inexhaustible source. However, the cost of this energy is still too high to compete with traditional fossil fuels, especially on sites less windy. The performance of a wind turbine depends on three parameters: the power of wind, the power curve of the turbine and the generator's ability to respond to wind fluctuations. This paper presents a control chain conversion based on a double-fed asynchronous machine and flow-oriented. The supply system comprises of two identical converters, one connected to the rotor and the other one connected to the network via a filter. The architecture of the device is up by three commands are necessary for the operation of the turbine control extraction of maximum power of the wind to control itself (MPPT) control of the rotor side converter controlling the electromagnetic torque and stator reactive power and control of the grid side converter by controlling the DC bus voltage and active power and reactive power exchanged with the network. The proposed control has been validated in both modes of operation of the three-bladed wind 7.5 kW, using Matlab/Simulink. The results of simulation control technology study provide good dynamic performance and static.

Keywords: D.F.I.G, variable wind speed, hypersynchrone, energy quality, hyposynchrone

Procedia PDF Downloads 345
2466 Identification of the Interior Noise Sources of Rail Vehicles

Authors: Hyo-In Koh, Anders Nordborg, Alex Sievi, Chun-Kwon Park

Abstract:

The noise source for the interior room of the high speed train is constituted by the rolling contact between the wheel and the rail, aerodynamic noise and structure-borne sound generated through the vibrations of bogie, connection points to the carbody. Air-borne sound is radiated through the panels and structures into the interior room of the trains. The high-speed lines are constructed with slab track systems and many tunnels. The interior noise level and the frequency characteristics vary according to types of the track structure and the infrastructure. In this paper the main sound sources and the transfer paths are studied to find out the contribution characteristics of the sources to the interior noise of a high-speed rail vehicle. For the identification of the acoustic power of each parts of the rolling noise sources a calculation model of wheel/rail noise is developed and used. For the analysis of the transmission of the sources to the interior noise noise and vibration are measured during the operation of the vehicle. According to operation speeds, the mainly contributed sources and the paths could be analyzed. Results of the calculations on the source generation and the results of the measurement with a high-speed train are shown and discussed.

Keywords: rail vehicle, high-speed, interior noise, noise source

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2465 Impact of Endogenous Risk Factors on Risk Cost in KSA PPP Projects

Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

Abstract:

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts are produced taking into account the reason that the configuration, development, operation, and financing of an open undertaking is to be recompensed to a private gathering inside a solitary contractual structure. PPP venture dangers are ordinarily connected with the improvement and development of another resource and in addition its operation for a considerable length of time. Without a doubt, the most genuine outcomes of dangers amid the development period are value and time overwhelms. These occasions are amongst the most extensively utilized situations as a part of worth for cash investigation dangers. The wellsprings of danger change over the life cycle of a PPP venture. In customary acquirement, the general population segment ordinarily needs to cover all value trouble from these dangers. At any rate there is bounty confirmation to recommend that cost pain is a standard in a percentage of the tasks that are conveyed under customary obtainment. This paper means to research the effect of endogenous dangers on expense overwhelm in KSA PPP ventures. The paper displays a brief writing survey on PPP danger evaluating systems, and after that presents an affiliation model between danger occasions and expense invade in KSA. The paper finishes up with considerations for future examination.

Keywords: PPP, risk pricing, impact of risk, Endogenous risks

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2464 Research on the Ecological Impact Evaluation Index System of Transportation Construction Projects

Authors: Yu Chen, Xiaoguang Yang, Lin Lin

Abstract:

Traffic engineering construction is an important infrastructure for economic and social development. In the process of construction and operation, the ability to make a correct evaluation of the project's environmental impact appears to be crucial to the rational operation of existing transportation projects, the correct development of transportation engineering construction and the adoption of corresponding measures to scientifically carry out environmental protection work. Most of the existing research work on ecological and environmental impact assessment is limited to individual aspects of the environment and less to the overall evaluation of the environmental system; in terms of research conclusions, there are more qualitative analyses from the technical and policy levels, and there is a lack of quantitative research results and quantitative and operable evaluation models. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of the ecological and environmental impacts of transportation construction projects is conducted, and factors such as the accessibility of data and the reliability of calculation results are comprehensively considered to extract indicators that can reflect the essence and characteristics. The qualitative evaluation indicators were screened using the expert review method, the qualitative indicators were measured using the fuzzy statistics method, the quantitative indicators were screened using the principal component analysis method, and the quantitative indicators were measured by both literature search and calculation. An environmental impact evaluation index system with the general objective layer, sub-objective layer and indicator layer was established, dividing the environmental impact of the transportation construction project into two periods: the construction period and the operation period. On the basis of the evaluation index system, the index weights are determined using the hierarchical analysis method, and the individual indicators to be evaluated are dimensionless, eliminating the influence of the original background and meaning of the indicators. Finally, the thesis uses the above research results, combined with the actual engineering practice, to verify the correctness and operability of the evaluation method.

Keywords: transportation construction projects, ecological and environmental impact, analysis and evaluation, indicator evaluation system

Procedia PDF Downloads 77
2463 The Influence of Swirl Burner Geometry on the Sugar-Cane Bagasse Injection and Burning

Authors: Juan Harold Sosa-Arnao, Daniel José de Oliveira Ferreira, Caice Guarato Santos, Justo Emílio Alvarez, Leonardo Paes Rangel, Song Won Park

Abstract:

A comprehensive CFD model is developed to represent heterogeneous combustion and two burner designs of supply sugar-cane bagasse into a furnace. The objective of this work is to compare the insertion and burning of a Brazilian south-eastern sugar-cane bagasse using a new swirl burner design against an actual geometry under operation. The new design allows control the particles penetration and scattering inside furnace by adjustment of axial/tangential contributions of air feed without change their mass flow. The model considers turbulence using RNG k-, combustion using EDM, radiation heat transfer using DTM with 16 ray directions and bagasse particle tracking represented by Schiller-Naumann model. The obtained results are favorable to use of new design swirl burner because its axial/tangential control promotes more penetration or more scattering than actual design and allows reproduce the actual design operation without change the overall mass flow supply.

Keywords: comprehensive CFD model, sugar-cane bagasse combustion, swirl burner, contributions

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2462 Artificial Neural Network Reconstruction of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Output Profile under Transient Operation

Authors: Ge Zheng, Jun Peng

Abstract:

Unbalanced power output from individual cells of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) has direct effects on PEMFC stack performance, in particular under transient operation. In the paper, a multi-layer ANN (Artificial Neural Network) model Radial Basis Functions (RBF) has been developed for predicting cells' output profiles by applying gas supply parameters, cooling conditions, temperature measurement of individual cells, etc. The feed-forward ANN model was validated with experimental data. Influence of relevant parameters of RBF on the network accuracy was investigated. After adequate model training, the modelling results show good correspondence between actual measurements and reconstructed output profiles. Finally, after the model was used to optimize the stack output performance under steady-state and transient operating conditions, it suggested that the developed ANN control model can help PEMFC stack to have obvious improvement on power output under fast acceleration process.

Keywords: proton exchange membrane fuel cell, PEMFC, artificial neural network, ANN, cell output profile, transient

Procedia PDF Downloads 144
2461 Impact of Construction Risk Factors into Actual Construction Price in PPP Projects

Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

Abstract:

The majority of Public Private Partnership (PPP) are developed based on the rationale that the design, construction, operation, and financing of a public project is to be awarded to a private party within a single contractual framework. PPP project risks normally include the development and construction of a new asset as well as its operation for decades. Undoubtedly the most serious consequences of risks during the construction period are price and time overruns. These events are amongst the most broadly used scenarios in value for money analysis risks. The sources of risk change over the life cycle of a PPP project. In traditional procurement, the public sector normally has to cover all price distress from these risks. At least there is plenty evidence to suggest that price distress is a norm in some of the projects that are delivered under traditional procurement. This paper will find the impact of construction risk factors into actual construction price into PPP projects. The paper will present a brief literature review on PPP risk pricing strategies, and then using system dynamics (SD) to analyses of the risks associated with the estimated project price. Based on the finding from these analyses a risk pricing association model is presented and discussed. The paper concludes with thoughts for future research.

Keywords: Public Private Partnership (PPP), Risk, Risk Pricing, System Dynamics (SD), construction price

Procedia PDF Downloads 536
2460 The Significance of Seasonality on the Airport Efficiency in Touristic Regions

Authors: Ioanna Pagoni, Annitsa Koumoutsidi

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to estimate the efficiency of airports that are located in touristic regions. It focuses on the regional airports of Greece, which are located at the mainland and the islands that constitute touristic destinations. Most of these airports share the following characteristics. They operate at levels below capacity with a high level of seasonality to their traffic. In addition, in such airports, the operation of charter and low-cost airlines is significant. The efficiency of the study airports is calculated by using the non-parametric data envelopment analysis during the period of 2010-2016. The selected inputs include several airport infrastructure measures such as passenger terminal size, aircraft parking area, runway length, and the number of check-in counters, while the number of employees in each airport is also used. The number of passengers and aircraft movements are selected as outputs. The effect of seasonality, as well as the operation of charter airlines and low-cost carriers on airport efficiency, is estimated by running proper regression models. Preliminary findings indicate that low-cost and charter airlines contribute to increasing airport efficiency for most of the study airports. The results of this research could be useful for airlines, airport operators, hotel businesses, and other tourism-related operators.

Keywords: airport efficiency, data envelopment analysis, low-cost carriers, charter airlines, seasonality

Procedia PDF Downloads 106
2459 Computer Modeling and Plant-Wide Dynamic Simulation for Industrial Flare Minimization

Authors: Sujing Wang, Song Wang, Jian Zhang, Qiang Xu

Abstract:

Flaring emissions during abnormal operating conditions such as plant start-ups, shut-downs, and upsets in chemical process industries (CPI) are usually significant. Flare minimization can help to save raw material and energy for CPI plants, and to improve local environmental sustainability. In this paper, a systematic methodology based on plant-wide dynamic simulation is presented for CPI plant flare minimizations under abnormal operating conditions. Since off-specification emission sources are inevitable during abnormal operating conditions, to significantly reduce flaring emission in a CPI plant, they must be either recycled to the upstream process for online reuse, or stored somewhere temporarily for future reprocessing, when the CPI plant manufacturing returns to stable operation. Thus, the off-spec products could be reused instead of being flared. This can be achieved through the identification of viable design and operational strategies during normal and abnormal operations through plant-wide dynamic scheduling, simulation, and optimization. The proposed study includes three stages of simulation works: (i) developing and validating a steady-state model of a CPI plant; (ii) transiting the obtained steady-state plant model to the dynamic modeling environment; and refining and validating the plant dynamic model; and (iii) developing flare minimization strategies for abnormal operating conditions of a CPI plant via a validated plant-wide dynamic model. This cost-effective methodology has two main merits: (i) employing large-scale dynamic modeling and simulations for industrial flare minimization, which involves various unit models for modeling hundreds of CPI plant facilities; (ii) dealing with critical abnormal operating conditions of CPI plants such as plant start-up and shut-down. Two virtual case studies on flare minimizations for start-up operation (over 50% of emission savings) and shut-down operation (over 70% of emission savings) of an ethylene plant have been employed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed study.

Keywords: flare minimization, large-scale modeling and simulation, plant shut-down, plant start-up

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2458 Key Issues in Transfer Stage of BOT Project: Experience from China

Authors: Wang Liguang, Zhang Xueqing

Abstract:

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project delivery system has provided effective routes to mobilize private sector funds, innovative technologies, management skills and operational efficiencies for public infrastructure development and have been widely used in China during the last 20 years. Many BOT projects in China will be smoothly transferred to the government soon and the transfer stage, which is considered as the last stage, must be studied carefully and handled well to achieve the overall success of BOT projects. There will be many issues faced by both the public sector and private sector in the transfer stage of BOT projects, including project post-assessment, technology and documents transfer, personal training and staff transition, etc. and sometimes additional legislation is needed for future operation and management of facilities. However, most previous studies focused on the bidding, financing, and building and operation stages instead of transfer stage. This research identifies nine key issues in the transfer stage of BOT projects through a comprehensive study on three cases in China, and the expert interview and expert discussion meetings are held to validate the key issues and give detail analysis. A proposed framework of transfer management is prepared based on the experiences derived and lessons drawn from the case studies and expert interview and discussions, which is expected to improve the transfer management of BOT projects in practice.

Keywords: BOT project, key issues, transfer management, transfer stage

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2457 Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting Friendly Self-Clocked Digital Low Drop-Out for System-On-Chip Internet of Things

Authors: Christos Konstantopoulos, Thomas Ussmueller

Abstract:

Digital low drop-out regulators, in contrast to analog counterparts, provide an architecture of sub-1 V regulation with low power consumption, high power efficiency, and system integration. Towards an optimized integration in the ultra-low-power system-on-chip Internet of Things architecture that is operated through a radio frequency energy harvesting scheme, the D-LDO regulator should constitute the main regulator that operates the master-clock and rest loads of the SoC. In this context, we present a D-LDO with linear search coarse regulation and asynchronous fine regulation, which incorporates an in-regulator clock generation unit that provides an autonomous, self-start-up, and power-efficient D-LDO design. In contrast to contemporary D-LDO designs that employ ring-oscillator architecture which start-up time is dependent on the frequency, this work presents a fast start-up burst oscillator based on a high-gain stage with wake-up time independent of coarse regulation frequency. The design is implemented in a 55-nm Global Foundries CMOS process. With the purpose to validate the self-start-up capability of the presented D-LDO in the presence of ultra-low input power, an on-chip test-bench with an RF rectifier is implemented as well, which provides the RF to DC operation and feeds the D-LDO. Power efficiency and load regulation curves of the D-LDO are presented as extracted from the RF to regulated DC operation. The D-LDO regulator presents 83.6 % power efficiency during the RF to DC operation with a 3.65 uA load current and voltage regulator referred input power of -27 dBm. It succeeds 486 nA maximum quiescent current with CL 75 pF, the maximum current efficiency of 99.2%, and 1.16x power efficiency improvement compared to analog voltage regulator counterpart oriented to SoC IoT loads. Complementary, the transient performance of the D-LDO is evaluated under the transient droop test, and the achieved figure-of-merit is compared with state-of-art implementations.

Keywords: D-LDO, Internet of Things, RF energy harvesting, voltage regulators

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2456 Numerical Study on the Performance of Upgraded Victorian Brown Coal in an Ironmaking Blast Furnace

Authors: Junhai Liao, Yansong Shen, Aibing Yu

Abstract:

A 3D numerical model is developed to simulate the complicated in-furnace combustion phenomena in the lower part of an ironmaking blast furnace (BF) while using pulverized coal injection (PCI) technology to reduce the consumption of relatively expensive coke. The computational domain covers blowpipe-tuyere-raceway-coke bed in the BF. The model is validated against experimental data in terms of gaseous compositions and coal burnout. Parameters, such as coal properties and some key operational variables, play an important role on the performance of coal combustion. Their diverse effects on different combustion characteristics are examined in the domain, in terms of gas compositions, temperature, and burnout. The heat generated by the combustion of upgraded Victorian brown coal is able to meet the heating requirement of a BF, hence making upgraded brown coal injected into BF possible. It is evidenced that the model is suitable to investigate the mechanism of the PCI operation in a BF. Prediction results provide scientific insights to optimize and control of the PCI operation. This model cuts the cost to investigate and understand the comprehensive combustion phenomena of upgraded Victorian brown coal in a full-scale BF.

Keywords: blast furnace, numerical study, pulverized coal injection, Victorian brown coal

Procedia PDF Downloads 212
2455 Experimental Investigation of Compressed Natural Gas Injector for Direct Injection System

Authors: Rafal Sochaczewski, Grzegorz Baranski, Adam Majczak

Abstract:

This paper presents the bench research results on a CNG injector at steady state. The quantities measured included voltage and current in a solenoid, pressure of gas behind an injector and injector’s flow rate. Accordingly, injector’s operation parameters were determined according to needle’s lift and injection pressure. The discrepancies between the theoretical (electric) and actual time of injection were defined to specify injector’s opening and closing lag times and the uniqueness of these values in successive cycles of gas injection. It has been demonstrated that needle’s lift has got a stronger impact on injector’s operating parameters than injection pressure. With increasing injection pressure, the force increases and closes an injection valve, which adversely affects uniqueness of injector’s operation. The paper also describes the concept of an injector dedicated to direct CNG injection into a combustion chamber in a dual-fuel engine. The injector’s design enables us to replace 80% of diesel fuel in a dual-fuel engine with a maximum power of 85 kW. Minimum injection pressure is 1,4 MPa then. Simultaneously, injector’s characteristics for varied needle’s lifts and injector’s nonlinear operating points were developed. Acknowledgement: This work has been financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, under Grant Agreement No. PBS1/A6/4/2012.

Keywords: CNG injector, diesel engine, direct injection, dual fuel

Procedia PDF Downloads 251
2454 The Sea Striker: The Relevance of Small Assets Using an Integrated Conception with Operational Performance Computations

Authors: Gaëtan Calvar, Christophe Bouvier, Alexis Blasselle

Abstract:

This paper presents the Sea Striker, a compact hydrofoil designed with the goal to address some of the issues raised by the recent evolutions of naval missions, threats and operation theatres in modern warfare. Able to perform a wide range of operations, the Sea Striker is a 40-meter stealth surface combatant equipped with a gas turbine and aft and forward foils to reach high speeds. The Sea Striker's stealthiness is enabled by the combination of composite structure, exterior design, and the advanced integration of sensors. The ship is fitted with a powerful and adaptable combat system, ensuring a versatile and efficient response to modern threats. Lightly Manned with a core crew of 10, this hydrofoil is highly automated and can be remoted pilote for special force operation or transit. Such a kind of ship is not new: it has been used in the past by different navies, for example, by the US Navy with the USS Pegasus. Nevertheless, the recent evolutions in science and technologies on the one hand, and the emergence of new missions, threats and operation theatres, on the other hand, put forward its concept as an answer to nowadays operational challenges. Indeed, even if multiples opinions and analyses can be given regarding the modern warfare and naval surface operations, general observations and tendencies can be drawn such as the major increase in the sensors and weapons types and ranges and, more generally, capacities; the emergence of new versatile and evolving threats and enemies, such as asymmetric groups, swarm drones or hypersonic missile; or the growing number of operation theatres located in more coastal and shallow waters. These researches were performed with a complete study of the ship after several operational performance computations in order to justify the relevance of using ships like the Sea Striker in naval surface operations. For the selected scenarios, the conception process enabled to measure the performance, namely a “Measure of Efficiency” in the NATO framework for 2 different kinds of models: A centralized, classic model, using large and powerful ships; and A distributed model relying on several Sea Strikers. After this stage, a was performed. Lethal, agile, stealth, compact and fitted with a complete set of sensors, the Sea Striker is a new major player in modern warfare and constitutes a very attractive response between the naval unit and the combat helicopter, enabling to reach high operational performances at a reduced cost.

Keywords: surface combatant, compact, hydrofoil, stealth, velocity, lethal

Procedia PDF Downloads 91
2453 Gariep Dam Basin Management for Satisfying Ecological Flow Requirements

Authors: Dimeji Abe, Nonso Okoye, Gideon Ikpimi, Prince Idemudia

Abstract:

Multi-reservoir optimization operation has been a critical issue for river basin management. Water, as a scarce resource, is in high demand and the problems associated with the reservoir as its storage facility are enormous. The complexity in balancing the supply and demand of this prime resource has created the need to examine the best way to solve the problem using optimization techniques. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the multi-objective meta-heuristic algorithm for the operation of Gariep Dam for satisfying ecological flow requirements. This study uses an evolutionary algorithm called backtrack search algorithm (BSA) to determine the best way to optimise the dam operations of hydropower production, flood control, and water supply without affecting the environmental flow requirement for the survival of aquatic bodies and sustain life downstream of the dam. To achieve this objective, the operations of the dam that corresponds to different tradeoffs between the objectives are optimized. The results indicate the best model from the algorithm that satisfies all the objectives without any constraint violation. It is expected that hydropower generation will be improved and more water will be available for ecological flow requirements with the use of the algorithm. This algorithm also provides farmers with more irrigation water as well to improve their business.

Keywords: BSA evolutionary algorithm, metaheuristics, optimization, river basin management

Procedia PDF Downloads 225
2452 Multibody Constrained Dynamics of Y-Method Installation System for a Large Scale Subsea Equipment

Authors: Naeem Ullah, Menglan Duan, Mac Darlington Uche Onuoha

Abstract:

The lowering of subsea equipment into the deep waters is a challenging job due to the harsh offshore environment. Many researchers have introduced various installation systems to deploy the payload safely into the deep oceans. In general practice, dual floating vessels are not employed owing to the prevalent safety risks and hazards caused by ever-increasing dynamical effects sourced by mutual interaction between the bodies. However, while keeping in the view of the optimal grounds, such as economical one, the Y-method, the two conventional tugboats supporting the equipment by the two independent strands connected to a tri-plate above the equipment, has been employed to study multibody dynamics of the dual barge lifting operations. In this study, the two tugboats and the suspended payload (Y-method) are deployed for the lowering of subsea equipment into the deep waters as a multibody dynamic system. The two-wire ropes are used for the lifting and installation operation by this Y-method installation system. 6-dof (degree of freedom) for each body are considered to establish coupled 18-dof multibody model by embedding technique or velocity transformation technique. The fundamental and prompt advantage of this technique is that the constraint forces can be eliminated directly, and no extra computational effort is required for the elimination of the constraint forces. The inertial frame of reference is taken at the surface of the water as the time-independent frame of reference, and the floating frames of reference are introduced in each body as the time-dependent frames of reference in order to formulate the velocity transformation matrix. The local transformation of the generalized coordinates to the inertial frame of reference is executed by applying the Euler Angle approach. The spherical joints are articulated amongst the multibody as the kinematic joints. The hydrodynamic force, the two-strand forces, the hydrostatic force, and the mooring forces are taken into consideration as the external forces. The radiation force of the hydrodynamic force is obtained by employing the Cummins equation. The wave exciting part of the hydrodynamic force is obtained by using force response amplitude operators (RAOs) that are obtained by the commercial solver ‘OpenFOAM’. The strand force is obtained by considering the wire rope as an elastic spring. The nonlinear hydrostatic force is obtained by the pressure integration technique at each time step of the wave movement. The mooring forces are evaluated by using Faltinsen analytical approach. ‘The Runge Kutta Method’ of Fourth-Order is employed to evaluate the coupled equations of motion obtained for 18-dof multibody model. The results are correlated with the simulated Orcaflex Model. Moreover, the results from Orcaflex Model are compared with the MOSES Model from previous studies. The MBDS of single barge lifting operation from the former studies are compared with the MBDS of the established dual barge lifting operation. The dynamics of the dual barge lifting operation are found larger in magnitude as compared to the single barge lifting operation. It is noticed that the traction at the top connection point of the cable decreases with the increase in the length, and it becomes almost constant after passing through the splash zone.

Keywords: dual barge lifting operation, Y-method, multibody dynamics, shipbuilding, installation of subsea equipment, shipbuilding

Procedia PDF Downloads 177
2451 Solubility of Water in CO2 Mixtures at Pipeline Operation Conditions

Authors: Mohammad Ahmad, Sander Gersen, Erwin Wilbers

Abstract:

Carbon capture, transport and underground storage have become a major solution to reduce CO2 emissions from power plants and other large CO2 sources. A big part of this captured CO2 stream is transported at high pressure dense phase conditions and stored in offshore underground depleted oil and gas fields. CO2 is also transported in offshore pipelines to be used for enhanced oil and gas recovery. The captured CO2 stream with impurities may contain water that causes severe corrosion problems, flow assurance failure and might damage valves and instrumentations. Thus, free water formation should be strictly prevented. The purpose of this work is to study the solubility of water in pure CO2 and in CO2 mixtures under real pipeline pressure (90-150 bar) and temperature operation conditions (5-35°C). A set up was constructed to generate experimental data. The results show the solubility of water in CO2 mixtures increasing with the increase of the temperature or/and with the increase in pressure. A drop in water solubility in CO2 is observed in the presence of impurities. The data generated were then used to assess the capabilities of two mixture models: the GERG-2008 model and the EOS-CG model. By generating the solubility data, this study contributes to determine the maximum allowable water content in CO2 pipelines.

Keywords: carbon capture and storage, water solubility, equation of states, fluids engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 270
2450 Comparison of Performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Membrane Electrode Assemblies Prepared from 10 and 15-Micron Proton Exchange Membranes

Authors: Yingjeng James Li, Chiao-Chih Hu

Abstract:

Membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications were prepared by using 10 and 15 um PEMs. Except for different membrane thicknesses, these MEAs were prepared by the same conditions. They were prepared by using catalyst coated membrane (CCM) process. The catalyst employed is 40% Pt/C, and the Pt loading is 0.5mg/cm² for the sum of anode and cathode. Active area of the MEAs employed in this study is 5cm*5cm=25cm². In polarization measurements, the flow rates were always set at 1.2 stoic for anode and 3.0 stoic for cathode. The outlets were in open-end mode. The flow filed is tri-serpentine design. The cell temperatures and the humidification conditions were varied for the purpose of MEA performance observations. It was found that the performance of these two types of MEAs is about the same at fully or partially humidified operation conditions; however, 10um MEA exhibits higher current density in dry or low humidified conditions. For example, at 70C cell, 100% RH, and 0.6V condition, both MEAs have similar current density which is 1320 and 1342mA/cm² for 15um and 10um product, respectively. However, when in operation without external humidification, 10um MEA can produce 1085mA/cm²; whereas 15um MEA produces only 720mA/cm².

Keywords: fuel cell, membrane electrode assembly, PEFC, PEMFC, proton exchange membrane

Procedia PDF Downloads 213
2449 Simulation and Experimental Research on Pocketing Operation for Toolpath Optimization in CNC Milling

Authors: Rakesh Prajapati, Purvik Patel, Avadhoot Rajurkar

Abstract:

Nowadays, manufacturing industries augment their production lines with modern machining centers backed by CAM software. Several attempts are being made to cut down the programming time for machining complex geometries. Special programs/software have been developed to generate the digital numerical data and to prepare NC programs by using suitable post-processors for different machines. By selecting the tools and manufacturing process then applying tool paths and NC program are generated. More and more complex mechanical parts that earlier were being cast and assembled/manufactured by other processes are now being machined. Majority of these parts require lots of pocketing operations and find their applications in die and mold, turbo machinery, aircraft, nuclear, defense etc. Pocketing operations involve removal of large quantity of material from the metal surface. The modeling of warm cast and clamping a piece of food processing parts which the used of Pro-E and MasterCAM® software. Pocketing operation has been specifically chosen for toolpath optimization. Then after apply Pocketing toolpath, Multi Tool Selection and Reduce Air Time give the results of software simulation time and experimental machining time.

Keywords: toolpath, part program, optimization, pocket

Procedia PDF Downloads 271