Search results for: Daily solar radiation

Authors: Farid Arya, Trevor Hyde, Paul Henshall, Phillip Eames, Roger Moss, Stan Shire

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Vacuum flat plate solar thermal collectors offer several advantages over other collectors namely the excellent optical and thermal characteristics they exhibit due to a combination of their wide surface area and high vacuum thermal insulation. These characteristics can offer a variety of applications for industrial process heat as well as for building integration as they are much thinner than conventional collectors making installation possible in limited spaces. However, many technical challenges which need to be addressed to enable wide scale adoption of the technology still remain. This paper will discuss the challenges, expectations and requirements for the flat-plate vacuum solar collector development. In addition, it will provide an overview of work undertaken in Ulster University, Loughborough University, and the University of Warwick on flat-plate vacuum solar thermal collectors. Finally, this paper will present a detailed experimental investigation on the development of a vacuum panel with a novel sealing method which will be used to accommodate a novel slim hydroformed solar absorber.

Keywords: Hot box calorimeter, infrared thermography, solar thermal collector, vacuum insulation.

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Authors: Yadan Mao, Chengwang Lei, John C. Patterson

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The mixing of pollutions and sediments in near shore regions of natural water bodies depends heavily on the characteristics such as the strength and frequency of flow instability. In the present paper, the instability of natural convection induced by absorption of solar radiation in littoral regions is considered. Spectral analysis is conducted on the quasi-steady state flow to reveal the power and frequency modes of the instability at various positions. Results indicate that the power of instability, the number of frequency modes, the prominence of higher frequency modes, and the highest frequency mode increase with the offshore distance and/or Rayleigh number. Harmonic modes are present at relatively low Rayleigh numbers. For a given offshore distance, the position with the strongest power of instability is located adjacent to the sloping bottom while the frequency modes are the same over the local depth. As the Rayleigh number increases, the unstable region extends toward the shore.

Keywords: Instability, Littoral waters, natural convection, Spectral analysis

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Authors: Eakkasak Susakunphaisan, Pichai Namprakai, Withaya Puangsombut

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The objective of this paper was to designing a ventilation system to enhance the performance of roof solar collector (RSC) for reducing heat accumulation inside the house. The RSC has 1.8 m2 surface area made of CPAC monier roof tiles on the upper part and gypsum board on the lower part. The space between CPAC monier and gypsum board was fixed at 14 cm. Ventilation system of modified roof solar collector (modified RSC) consists of 9 tubes of 0.15m diameter and installed in the lower part of RSC. Experimental result showed that the temperature of the room, and attic temperature. The average temperature reduction of room of house used modified RSC is about 2oC. and the percentage of room temperature reduction varied between 0 to 10%. Therefore, modified RSC is an interesting option in the sense that it promotes solar energy and conserve energy.

Keywords: roof solar collector, heat accumulation

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Authors: Azza A. Abou-Arab, Marwa H. Mahmoud, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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The present investigation studied the content of bioactive compounds as ascorbic acid, β-carotene, and flavonoids, and the effect of drying methods (microwave, solar, and air oven drying) on its level in citrus peel. These levels were decreased significantly (p <0.05) due to the dried methods. The percentage of ascorbic acid content loss of orange C. Valencia were 46.64, 52.95 and 68.83% with microwave, solar and air oven methods, respectively comparing to fresh samples. Also, the percentages of β- carotene loss of orange C. Valencia were 38.89, 52.42 and 87.14% with microwave, solar and air oven methods, respectively. Total flavonoid content recorded 453.33, 396.67 and 327.50 mg QE/100g dw, with dried by microwave, solar and oven methods, respectively compared with control in orange, C. valencia. These results revealed that microwave drying procedure was the most effective method which maintained citrus bioactive compounds content (ascorbic acid, β-carotene and flavonoid) followed by solar. On the other hand, air oven drying came in the last order due to direct heat treatment.

Keywords: Ascorbic acid, β-carotene, flavonoids, microwave, solar, air oven drying.

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Authors: F.Belhocine-Nemmar; MS.Belkaid D. Hatem, O Boughias

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In this work, the influence of temperature on the different parameters of solar cells based on organic semiconductors are studied. The short circuit current Isc increases so monotonous with temperature and then saturates to a maximum value before decreasing at high temperatures. The open circuit voltage Vco decreases linearly with temperature. The fill factor FF and efficiency, which are directly related with Isc and Vco follow the variations of the letters. The phenomena are explained by the behaviour of the mobility which is a temperature activated process.

Keywords: cells parameters, organic materials, solar cells, temperature effect

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Authors: Hossein Mirzaee, Farhad Besharati

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A combination of image fusion and quad tree decomposition method is used for detecting the sunspot trajectories in each month and computation of the latitudes of these trajectories in each solar hemisphere. Daily solar images taken with SOHO satellite are fused for each month and the result of fused image is decomposed with Quad Tree decomposition method in order to classifying the sunspot trajectories and then to achieve the precise information about latitudes of sunspot trajectories. Also with fusion we deduce some physical remarkable conclusions about sun magnetic fields behavior. Using quad tree decomposition we give information about the region on sun surface and the space angle that tremendous flares and hot plasma gases permeate interplanetary space and attack to satellites and human technical systems. Here sunspot images in June, July and August 2001 are used for studying and give a method to compute the latitude of sunspot trajectories in each month with sunspot images.

Keywords: Quad Tree Decomposition, Sunspot.

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Authors: S. Kong Wang

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficiency of a double-layer roof in collecting solar energy as an application to the areas such as raising high-end temperature of organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The by-product of the solar roof is to reduce building air-conditioning loads. The experimental apparatus are arranged to evaluate the effects of the solar roof in absorbing solar energy. The flow channel is basically formed by an aluminum plate on top of a plywood plate. The geometric configurations in which the effects of absorbing energy is analyzed include: a bare uncovered aluminum plate, a glass-covered aluminum plate, a glass-covered/black-painted aluminum plate, a plate with variable lengths, a flow channel with stuffed material (in an attempt on enhancement of heat conduction), and a flow channel with variable slanted angles. The experimental results show that the efficiency of energy collection varies from 0.6 % to 11 % for the geometric configurations mentioned above. An additional study is carried out using CFD simulation to investigate the effects of fins on the aluminum plate. It shows that due to vastly enhanced heat conduction, the efficiency can reach ~23 % if 50 fins are installed on the aluminum plate. The study shows that a double-layer roof can efficiently absorb solar energy and substantially reduce building air-conditioning loads. On the high end of an organic Rankine cycle, a solar pond is used to replace the warm surface water of the sea as OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) is the driving energy for the ORC. The energy collected from the double-layered solar roof can be pumped into the pond and raise the pond temperature as the pond surface area is equivalently increased by nearly one-fourth of the total area of the double-layer solar roof. The effect of raising solar pond temperature is especially prominent if the double-layer solar roofs are installed in a community area.

Keywords: solar energy collection, double-layer solar roof, energy conservation, ORC, OTEC

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Authors: H. López-Moreno, A. Rodríguez-Sánchez, C. Viñas-Arrebola, C. Porras-Amores

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The ventilated façade has great advantages when compared to traditional façades as it reduces the air conditioning thermal loads due to the stack effect induced by solar radiation in the air chamber. Optimizing energy consumption by using a ventilated façade can be used not only in newly built buildings but also it can be implemented in existing buildings, opening the field of implementation to energy building retrofitting works. In this sense, the following three prototypes of façade where designed, built and further analyzed in this research: non-ventilated façade (NVF); slightly ventilated façade (SLVF) and strongly ventilated façade (STVF). The construction characteristics of the three facades are based on the Spanish regulation of building construction “Technical Building Code”. The façades have been monitored by type-k thermocouples in a representative day of the summer season in Madrid (Spain). Moreover, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, studying the thermal lag in the ventilated and no-ventilated façades has been designed. Results show that STVF façade presents higher levels of thermal inertia as the thermal lag reduces up to 17% (daily mean) compared to the non-ventilated façade. In addition, the statistical analysis proves that an increase of the ventilation holes size in STVF façades can improve the thermal lag significantly (p >0.05) when compared to the SLVF façade.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, experimental study, statistical analysis, thermal behavior, ventilated façade.

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Authors: Mohammad Seifi, Azura Bt. Che Soh, Noor Izzrib. Abd. Wahab, Mohd Khair B. Hassan

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Solar energy has a major role in renewable energy resources. Solar Cell as a basement of solar system has attracted lots of research. To conduct a study about solar energy system, an authenticated model is required. Diode base PV models are widely used by researchers. These models are classified based on the number of diodes used in them. Single and two-diode models are well studied. Single-diode models may have two, three or four elements. In this study, these solar cell models are examined and the simulation results are compared to each other. All PV models are re-designed in the Matlab/Simulink software and they examined by certain test conditions and parameters. This paper provides comparative studies of these models and it tries to compare the simulation results with manufacturer-s data sheet to investigate model validity and accuracy. The results show a four- element single-diode model is accurate and has moderate complexity in contrast to the two-diode model with higher complexity and accuracy

Keywords: Fill Factor (FF), Matlab/Simulink, Maximum PowerPoint (MPP), Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT), Photo Voltaic(PV), Solar cell, Standard Test Condition (STC).

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Authors: Sheam-Chyun Lin, Wei-Kai Chen, Hung-Cheng Yen, Yung-Jen Cheng, Yu-Cheng Chen

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Result from the constant dwindle in natural resources, the alternative way to reduce the costs in our daily life would be urgent to be found in the near future. As the ancient technique based on the theory of solar chimney since roman times, the double-skin façade are simply composed of two large glass panels in purpose of daylighting and also natural ventilation in the daytime. Double-skin façade is generally installed on the exterior side of buildings as function as the window, so there is always a huge amount of passive solar energy the façade would receive to induce the airflow every sunny day. Therefore, this article imposes a domestic double-skin window for residential usage and attempts to improve the volume flow rate inside the cavity between the panels by the frame geometry design, the installation of outlet guide plate and the solar energy collection system. Note that the numerical analyses are applied to investigate the characteristics of flow field, and the boundary conditions in the simulation are totally based on the practical experiment of the original prototype. Then we redesign the prototype from the knowledge of the numerical results and fluid dynamic theory, and later the experiments of modified prototype will be conducted to verify the simulation results. The velocities at the inlet of each case are increase by 5%, 45% and 15% from the experimental data, and also the numerical simulation results reported 20% improvement in volume flow rate both for the frame geometry design and installation of outlet guide plate.

Keywords: Solar energy, Double-skin façades, Thermal buoyancy, Fluid machinery.

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Authors: Hai Huu Le, Paul Junor, Moshi Geso, Graeme O’Keefe

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In this paper, the authors propose a personal wearable directionally-sensitive radiation dosimeter using multiple semiconductor CdZnTe detectors. The proposed dosimeter not only measures the real-time dose rate but also provide the direction of the radioactive source. A linear relationship between radioactive source direction and the radiation intensity measured by each detectors is established and an equation to determine the source direction is derived by the authors. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed dosimeter is verified by simulation using Geant4 package. Results have indicated that in a measurement duration of about 7 seconds, the proposed dosimeter was able to estimate the direction of a 10μCi 137/55Cs radioactive source to within 2 degrees.

Keywords: Dose rate, Geant4 package, radiation detectors, radioactive source direction.

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Authors: Ki-Sung Park, Dae-Hee Lee, Dae-Ho Won, Yeon-Mo Yang

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Solar power plants(SPPs) have shown a lot of good outcomes in providing a various functions depending on industrial expectations by deploying ad-hoc networking with helps of light loaded and battery powered sensor nodes. In particular, it is strongly requested to develop an algorithm to deriver the sensing data from the end node of solar power plants to the sink node on time. In this paper, based on the above observation we have proposed an IEEE802.15.4 based self routing scheme for solar power plants. The proposed beacon based priority routing Algorithm (BPRA) scheme utilizes beacon periods in sending message with embedding the high priority data and thus provides high quality of service(QoS) in the given criteria. The performance measures are the packet Throughput, delivery, latency, total energy consumption. Simulation results under TinyOS Simulator(TOSSIM) have shown the proposed scheme outcome the conventional Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector(AODV) Routing in solar power plants.

Keywords: Solar Power Plants(SPPs), Self routing, Quality of Service(QoS), WPANs, WSNs, TinyOS, TOSSIM, IEEE802.15.4

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Authors: Hla Hla Khaing, Yit Jian Liang, Nant Nyein Moe Htay, Jiang Fan

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Partial shadowing is one of the problems that are always faced in terrestrial applications of solar photovoltaic (PV). The effects of partial shadow on the energy yield of conventional mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline PV modules have been researched for a long time. With deployment of new thin-film solar PV modules in the market, it is important to understand the performance of new PV modules operating under the partial shadow in the tropical zone. This paper addresses the impacts of different partial shadowing on the operating characteristics of four different types of solar PV modules that include multi-crystalline, amorphous thin-film, CdTe thin-film and CIGS thin-film PV modules.

Keywords: Partial shade, CdTe, CIGS, multi-crystalline (mc-Si), amorphous silicon (a-Si), bypass diode.

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Authors: Dzmitry M. Kabanau, Vladimir V. Kabanov, Yahor V. Lebiadok, Denis V. Shabrov, Pavel V. Shpak, Gevork T. Mikaelyan, Alexandr P. Bunichev

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This article is deal with the experimental investigations of the laser diode matrixes (LDM) based on the AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructures (lasing wavelength 790-880 nm) to find optimal LDM parameters for active vision systems. In particular, the dependence of LDM radiation pulse power on the pulse duration and LDA active layer heating as well as the LDM radiation divergence are discussed.

Keywords: Active vision systems, laser diode matrixes, thermal properties, radiation divergence.

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Authors: Yasser Elhenawy, M. Abd Elkader, Gamal H. Moustafa

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A theoretical study of a humidification dehumidification solar desalination unit has been carried out to increase understanding the effect of weather conditions on the unit productivity. A humidification-dehumidification (HD) solar desalination unit has been designed to provide fresh water for population in remote arid areas. It consists of solar water collector and air collector; to provide the hot water and air to the desalination chamber. The desalination chamber is divided into humidification and dehumidification towers. The circulation of air between the two towers is maintained by the forced convection. A mathematical model has been formulated, in which the thermodynamic relations were used to study the flow, heat and mass transfer inside the humidifier and dehumidifier. The present technique is performed in order to increase the unit performance. Heat and mass balance has been done and a set of governing equations has been solved using the finite difference technique. The unit productivity has been calculated along the working day during the summer and winter sessions and has compared with the available experimental results. The average accumulative productivity of the system in winter has been ranged between 2.5 to 4 (kg/m2)/day, while the average summer productivity has been found between 8 to 12 (kg/m2)/day.

Keywords: Finite difference, Dehumidification, Humidification, Solar desalination, Solar collector, Simulation, Water productivity.

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Authors: O. Frolov, K. Kolacek, J. Schmidt, J. Straus, V. Prukner, A. Shukurov

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Many applications require surface modification and micro-structuring of polymers. For these purposes is mainly used ultraviolet (UV) radiation from excimer lamps or excimer lasers. However, these sources have a decided disadvantage - degrading the polymer deep inside due to relatively big radiation penetration depth which may exceed 100 μm. In contrast, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is absorbed in a layer approximately 100 nm thick only. In this work, the radiation from a discharge-plasma EUV source (with wavelength 46.9 nm) based on a capillary discharge driver is focused with a spherical Si/Sc multilayer mirror for surface modification of PMMA sample or thin gold layer (thickness about 40 nm). It was found that the focused EUV laser beam is capable by one shot to ablate PMMA or layer of gold, even if the focus is significantly influenced by astigmatism.

Keywords: ablation, capillary discharge, EUV laser, surface modification

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Authors: David Goldblum, Lesley S. Rigg

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To simulate expected climate change, we implemented a two-factor (temperature and soil moisture) field design in a forest in Ontario, Canada. To manipulate moisture input, we erected rain-exclusion structures. Under each structure, plots were watered with one of three treatments and thermally controlled with three heat treatments to simulate changes in air temperature and rainfall based on the climate model (GCM) predictions for the study area. Environmental conditions (including untreated controls) were monitored tracking air temperature, soil temperature, soil moisture, and photosynthetically active radiation. We measured rainfall and relative humidity at the site outside the rain-exclusion structures. Analyses of environmental conditions demonstrates that the temperature manipulation was most effective at maintaining target temperature during the early part of the growing season, but it was more difficult to keep the warmest treatment at 5º C above ambient by late summer. Target moisture regimes were generally achieved however incoming solar radiation was slightly attenuated by the structures.

Keywords: Acer saccharum, climate change, forest, environmental manipulation.

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Authors: M. Si Abdallah, B. Zeghmati

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A numerical analysis used to simulate the effects of wavy surfaces and thermal radiation on natural convection heat transfer boundary layer flow over an inclined wavy plate has been investigated. A simple coordinate transformation is employed to transform the complex wavy surface into a flat plate. The boundary layer equations and the boundary conditions are discretized by the finite difference scheme and solved numerically using the Gauss-Seidel algorithm with relaxation coefficient. Effects of the wavy geometry, the inclination angle of the wavy plate and the thermal radiation on the velocity profiles, temperature profiles and the local Nusselt number are presented and discussed in detail.

Keywords: Free convection, wavy surface, inclined surface, thermal radiation.

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Authors: Rishindra M. Sarviya, Ashish Agrawal

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Solar energy is available abundantly in the world, but it is not continuous and its intensity also varies with time. Due to above reason the acceptability and reliability of solar based thermal system is lower than conventional systems. A properly designed heat storage system increases the reliability of solar thermal systems by bridging the gap between the energy demand and availability. In the present work, two dimensional numerical simulation of the melting of heat storage material is presented in the horizontal annulus of double pipe latent heat storage system. Longitudinal fins were used as a thermal conductivity enhancement. Paraffin wax was used as a heat-storage or phase change material (PCM). Constant wall temperature is applied to heat transfer tube. Presented two-dimensional numerical analysis shows the movement of melting front in the finned cylindrical annulus for analyzing the thermal behavior of the system during melting.

Keywords: Latent heat, numerical study, phase change material, solar energy.

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Authors: N. C. Shahi, Anupama Singh, A. E. Kate

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There was a scenario present day that drying of fresh fruits and vegetables by indirect solar drying by using mechanical device; hence, an effort was made to develop a small scale solar tunnel dryer (STD). Drying of spinach is carried out to analyze the performance of the dryer and to study its drying characteristics. To evaluate the performance of dryer the independent variables were selected as air flow rate, loading density and shade net while collector efficiency, drying efficiency, overall efficiency and specific energy consumption were selected as responses during performing the experiments. The spinach was dried from initial moisture content 88.21-94.04% (w.b.) to final moisture content 3.50-5.13% (w.b.). The drying time considerably reduced as compared to open sun drying of spinach as sun drying took 15 h for drying. The average collector efficiency, drying efficiency and overall efficiency were in the range 28.73-61.15%, 11.63% to 22.13%, and 7.61-14.66%, respectively.

Keywords: Solar dryer, collector efficiency, drying efficiency, spinach.

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Authors: Tusharkanta Das, Tumbanath Samantara, Sukanta Kumar Sahoo

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Unsteady effects of MHD free convection flow past in an infinite vertical plate with heat source in presence of radiation with reference to all critical parameters that appear in field equations are studied in this paper. The governing equations are developed by usual Boussinesq’s approximation. The problem is solved by using perturbation technique. The results are obtained for velocity, temperature, Nusselt number and skin-friction. The effects of magnetic parameter, prandtl number, Grashof number, permeability parameter, heat source/sink parameter and radiation parameter are discussed on flow characteristics and shown by means of graphs and tables.

Keywords: Heat transfer, radiation, MHD, free convection, porous medium, suction.

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Authors: Asmat Nawaz, Ali Koray Erdinc, Burak Gultekin, Muhammad Tayyib, Ceylan Zafer, Kaiying Wang, M. Nadeem Akram

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In this study, a sequential deposition process is used for the fabrication of PEDOT: PSS based inverted planar perovskite solar cell. A small amount of additive deionized water (DI-H₂O) was added into PbI₂ + Dimethyl formamide (DMF) precursor solution in order to increase the solubility of PbI₂ in DMF, and finally to manipulate the surface morphology of the perovskite films. A morphology transition from needle like structure to hexagonal plates, and then needle-like again has been observed as the DI-H2O was added continuously (0.0 wt% to 3.0wt%). The latter one leads to full surface coverage of the perovskite, which is essential for high performance solar cell.

Keywords: Charge carrier diffusion lengths, methylamonium lead iodide, precursor composition, perovskite solar cell, sequential deposition.

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Authors: M. Hosseinnejad, K. Gharanjig

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In the present study, metal free organic dyes were prepared and used as photo-sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells. Double rhodanine was utilized as the fundamental electron acceptor group to which electron donor aldehyde with varying substituents was attached to produce new organic dye. This dye was first purified and then characterized by analytical techniques. Spectrophotometric evaluations of the prepared dye in solution and on a nano anatase TiO₂ substrate were carried out in order to assess possible changes in the status of the dyes in different environments. The results show that the dye form j-type aggregates on the nano TiO₂. Additionally, oxidation potential measurements were also carried out. Finally, dye sensitized solar cell based on synthesized dye was fabricated in order to determine the photovoltaic behavior and conversion efficiency of individual dye.

Keywords: Conversion efficiency, dye-sensitized solar cell, photovoltaic behavior, sensitizer.

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Authors: Victoria A. Okwoche, Benjamin C. Asogwa

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This paper analysed the food security situation among Nigerian rural farmers. Data collected on 202 rural farmers from Benue State were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that majority of the respondents (60.83%) had medium dietary diversity. Furthermore, household daily calorie requirement for the food secure households was 10,723 and the household daily calorie consumption was 12,598, with a surplus index of 0.04. The food security index was 1.16. The Household daily per capita calorie consumption was 3,221.2. For the food insecure households, the household daily calorie requirement was 20,213 and the household daily calorie consumption was 17,393. The shortfall index was 0.14. The food security index was 0.88. The Household daily per capita calorie consumption was 2,432.8. The most commonly used coping strategies during food stress included intercropping (99.2%), reliance on less preferred food (98.1%), limiting portion size at meal times (85.8%) and crop diversification (70.8%).

Keywords: Analysis, food security, rural areas, farmers, Nigeria.

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Authors: M. R. AlRashidi, K. M. El-Naggar, M. F. AlHajri

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A new technique based on Pattern search optimization is proposed for estimating different solar cell parameters in this paper. The estimated parameters are the generated photocurrent, saturation current, series resistance, shunt resistance, and ideality factor. The proposed approach is tested and validated using double diode model to show its potential. Performance of the developed approach is quite interesting which signifies its potential as a promising estimation tool.

Keywords: Solar Cell, Parameter Estimation, Pattern Search.

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Authors: Ashok K. Satapathy, Prerana Nashine

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Radiative heat transfer in participating medium was carried out using the finite volume method. The radiative transfer equations are formulated for absorbing and anisotropically scattering and emitting medium. The solution strategy is discussed and the conditions for computational stability are conferred. The equations have been solved for transient radiative medium and transient radiation incorporated with transient conduction. Results have been obtained for irradiation and corresponding heat fluxes for both the cases. The solutions can be used to conclude incident energy and surface heat flux. Transient solutions were obtained for a slab of heat conducting in slab and by thermal radiation. The effect of heat conduction during the transient phase is to partially equalize the internal temperature distribution. The solution procedure provides accurate temperature distributions in these regions. A finite volume procedure with variable space and time increments is used to solve the transient radiation equation. The medium in the enclosure absorbs, emits, and anisotropically scatters radiative energy. The incident radiations and the radiative heat fluxes are presented in graphical forms. The phase function anisotropy plays a significant role in the radiation heat transfer when the boundary condition is non-symmetric.

Keywords: Participating media, finite volume method, radiation coupled with conduction, heat transfer.

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Authors: Nasim Abuali Galehdari, Venkat Mani, Ajit D. Kelkar

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Space Radiation has become one of the major factors in successful long duration space exploration. Exposure to space radiation not only can affect the health of astronauts but also can disrupt or damage materials and electronics. Hazards to materials include degradation of properties, such as, modulus, strength, or glass transition temperature. Electronics may experience single event effects, gate rupture, burnout of field effect transistors and noise. Presently aluminum is the major component in most of the space structures due to its lightweight and good structural properties. However, aluminum is ineffective at blocking space radiation. Therefore, most of the past research involved studying at polymers which contain large amounts of hydrogen. Again, these materials are not structural materials and would require large amounts of material to achieve the structural properties needed. One of the materials to alleviate this problem is polymeric composite materials, which has good structural properties and use polymers that contained large amounts of hydrogen. This paper presents steps involved in fabrication of multi-functional hybrid sandwich panels that can provide beneficial radiation shielding as well as structural strength. Multifunctional hybrid sandwich panels were manufactured using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding process and were subjected to radiation treatment. Study indicates that various nanoparticles including Boron Nano powder, Boron Carbide and Gadolinium nanoparticles can be successfully used to block the space radiation without sacrificing the structural integrity.

Keywords: Multi-functional, polymer composites, radiation shielding, sandwich composites.

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Authors: Chayma Bahar, Chokri Baccouch, Hedi Sakli, Nizar Sakli

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Harvesting and transport of optical and radiofrequency signals are a topical subject with multiple challenges. In this paper, we present a Optical RECTENNA system. We propose here a hybrid system solar cell antenna for 5G mobile communications networks. Thus, we propose rectifying circuit. A parametric study is done to follow the influence of load resistance and input power on Optical RECTENNA system performance. Thus, we propose a solar cell antenna structure in the frequency band of future 5G standard in 2.45 GHz bands.

Keywords: Antenna, Rectenna, solar cell, 5G, optical RECTENNA.

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Authors: Y. Aldali, F. Ahwide

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This paper investigates the application of large scale (LS-PV) two-axis tracking photovoltaic power plant in Al-Jagbob, Libya. A 50MW PV-grid connected (two-axis tracking) power plant design in Al-Jagbob, Libya has been carried out presently. A hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) type PV module has been selected and modeled. A Microsoft Excel-VBA program has been constructed to compute slope radiation, dew-point, sky temperature, and then cell temperature, maximum power output and module efficiency for this system, for tracking system. The results for energy production show that the total energy output is 128.5 GWh/year. The average module efficiency is 16.6%. The electricity generation capacity factor (CF) and solar capacity factor (SCF) were found to be 29.3% and 70.4% respectively. A 50MW two axis tracking power plant with a total energy output of 128.5 GWh/year would reduce CO₂ pollution by 85,581 tonnes of each year. The payback time for the proposed LS-PV photovoltaic power plant was found to be 4 years.

Keywords: Large PV power plant, solar energy, environmental impact, Dual-axis tracking system.

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Authors: G. Rajamohan, N. Ramesh, P. Kumar

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Experiments have been performed to investigate the radiation effects on mixed convection heat transfer for thermally developing airflow in vertical ducts with two differentially heated isothermal walls and two adiabatic walls. The investigation covers the Reynolds number Re = 800 to Re = 2900, heat flux varied from 256 W/m2 to 863 W/m2, hot wall temperature ranges from 27°C to 100 °C, aspect ratios 1 & 0.5 and the emissivity of internal walls are 0.05 and 0.85. In the present study, combined flow visualization was conducted to observe the flow patterns. The effect of surface temperature along the walls was studied to investigate the local Nusselt number variation within the duct. The result shows that flow condition and radiation significantly affect the total Nusselt number and tends to reduce the buoyancy condition.

Keywords: Mixed convection, vertical duct, thermally developing and radiation effects.

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