Mineral oil has been widely used in liquid insulation of power transformers. However, it is poorly biodegradable and could cause serious contamination to the environment if a spill occurs. With increasingly strict environmental rules and regulations, there is considerable interest from the Utilities to apply esters in power transformers as substitutions to mineral oil. In order to use esters in large power transformers, their dielectric properties should be thoroughly investigated. This PhD thesis covers the experimental studies on the dielectric properties of a type of synthetic ester (Midel 7131) and a type of natural ester (FR3) in both uniform and divergent electric fields, using a mineral oil (Gemini X) as the benchmark. The dielectric properties of transformer liquids in uniform fields were investigated using breakdown voltage tests. The breakdown voltages of esters should be at least similar to that of mineral oil to allow a replacement in transformers. To obtain a fair comparison, the AC breakdown voltages of well-processed transformer liquids were tested, and their distributions were statistically analyzed. Since the breakdowns of transformer liquids in uniform fields are caused by the weakest-links, conditions representative of in-service transformer liquids were also considered by testing the effects of extraneous factors, such as particles, water and electrode area. The divergent fields were produced by sharp needle electrodes with tip curvatures of a few micrometers. The dielectric properties of transformer liquids in such fields were studied using several methods. A traditional PD detector was used to study the partial discharge characteristics of insulating liquids, such as the inception voltages and the repetition rates. A high speed camera was utilized to identify the streamer generation, propagation and breakdown phenomena. An oscilloscope was used to investigate the current signals associated with these phenomena. The breakdown voltages of transformer liquids were also determined in the divergent field at various gaps. Furthermore, the fault gases in transformer liquids under partial discharge faults were determined and analyzed. The following findings and conclusions can be made from the research in this thesis: * The AC dielectric strengths of esters in uniform fields are similar to that of mineral oil when they are in a well-processed condition. When practical liquid conditions are considered, the AC dielectric strengths of esters are higher than that of mineral oil. * The partial discharge behaviours at overstressed voltages can be used to differentiate various transformer liquids. Esters are relatively inferior to mineral oil in terms of higher discharge amplitude, higher discharge repetition rate and more negative partial discharges.* Mineral oil possesses a higher ability to suppress the propagation of negative streamers. Thus, the AC dielectric strength of mineral oil in the divergent field is relatively higher than those of esters. * Esters generate the same types of fault gases due to electrical discharge as mineral oil, but in relatively larger amounts.

The ageing of polymer insulation occurs under long-term exposure to high electric fields and has attracted research due its relevance to high voltage insulation. In this work, polymers that have been electrically aged via a number of methods have been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Despite some use in the investigation of outdoor insulation surfaces, XPS has not been used for investigations of polymer bulk electrical ageing before now. The first XPS measurements, using both small spot analysis and XPS imaging, are presented from the exposed inner surfaces of electrically aged artificial voids and electrical breakdown channels, as well as corona discharge aged surfaces and spark discharge by-products. XPS is shown to be a valuable technique for the investigation of polymer electrical ageing. Investigations into breakdown channels are supported by data acquired using X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (XPEEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Results show that the chemistry present at these surfaces takes the form of significant oxidation over a wide area with localised production of graphitic carbon. C-O-, C=O, and O-C=O species are detected in all cases. It is found that similar ageing products are present regardless of the ageing process or material investigated. However, the level of oxidation and relative ratio of the species seen with XPS is shown to be highly dependant on oxygen availability. Greater intensity of carbon oxides, and a shift towards highly oxidised species, is observed when there is more oxygen in the system. XPS imaging of breakdown channels reveals that high concentrations of oxidised components form on the outer edges of the channel, with graphitic carbon forming in the central regions. In addition, evidence for degradation is seen to extend at least 300 μm from channels in XPS imaging and at least ~650 μm in XPS line scans. Variation with the applied discharge energy was investigated for breakdown channels and spark discharge ageing. Evidence is seen for an energy dependence on the breakdown products, with higher energies producing relatively higher graphitic carbon and reduced oxidation products. Further, the relationship between the applied voltage and graphitic carbon concentration suggests an activated process with an energy barrier before graphitic carbon formation starts. XPS observations are supported by confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy (CRMS) results from artificial voids and electrical breakdown channels, which identify graphitic carbon on a fluorescent background as the main features. XPS data indicate oxidised species are the origin of the fluorescence seen and provides quantitative information on the levels, chemical states and spatial distribution of these species and of graphitic carbon.

The thesis focuses on project of highway tunnel Rojkov in northern Slovakia. It analyses opportunities of company Uranpres to take part in construction. It proposes technical and organizational actions using project management methods. The outcome is a feasibility study consisting of partial plans for administration and course of a project.

<p>Contact electrification of solids in a gas medium involves two stages, i.e., surface charge deposition immediately at separation, and dissipation due to dielectric breakdown of the medium as the gap increases. The presumption that such gas breakdown obeys Paschen's law, which is conventionally determined for gas between electrodes with constant charge supply, is widely accepted yet unverified. The present work experimentally validates such dependence of the breakdown voltage of air between charged dielectric surfaces on both its pressure and the gap distance. Sample surfaces are brought to cycles of contact electrification in a vacuum chamber and charge relaxation due to air breakdown is monitored with measurements of the Coulomb attraction by fixing either the air pressure or gap distance and varying the other. The results indicate thresholds of pressure and distance to facilitate investigations of the raw amount of charge transfer prior to any breakdown discharge, which is adopted to examine the saturation trend of surface charge density in the contact electrification of multiple material combinations using the same test apparatus. Comparatively consistent results are obtained in repeated tests for a variety of contact pairs, while a reduction of saturated surface charge density is observed for PTFE against PDMS after breakdown discharge in low-pressure air, which is preliminarily attributed to alternations of PTFE surfaces caused by accelerated cation strikes during air breakdown, based on SEM images and estimations of particle energy in Townsend avalanches. Conclusions on both the general raw level of surface charge density and the air breakdown during separation in contact electrification are applied to complement models of vibro-impact triboelectric energy harvesters for predicting their performance under various air pressures and physical dimensions in order to either prevent or exploit air breakdown to enhance the power output.</p>

Trance and house music are sub-genres within the genre of electronic dance music. The form of breakdown, buildup and anthem is the main driving force behind trance and house music. This thesis analyzes transcriptions from 22 trance and house songs in order to establish and define new terminology for formal devices used within the breakdown, buildup and anthem sections of the music.

D'ici quelques années, une nouvelle classe de télescopes verra le jour : celle des télescopes géants. Ceux-ci se caractériseront par un diamètre supérieur à 20m, et jusqu'à 39m pour le représentant européen, l'Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Seulement, l'atmosphère terrestre vient dégrader sévèrement les images obtenues lors d'observations au sol : la résolution de ces télescopes est alors réduite à celle d'un télescope amateur de quelques dizaines de centimètres de diamètre.L'optique adaptative (OA) devient alors essentielle. Cette dernière permet de corriger en temps-réel les perturbations induites par l'atmosphère et de retrouver la résolution théorique du télescope. Néanmoins, les systèmes d'OA ne sont pas exempt de tout défaut, et une erreur résiduelle persiste sur le front d'onde (FO) et impacte la qualité des images obtenues. Cette dernière est dépendante de la Fonction d'Étalement de Point (FEP) de l'instrument utilisé, et la FEP d'un système d'OA dépend elle-même de l'erreur résiduelle de FO. L'identification et la compréhension des sources d'erreurs est alors primordiale. Dans la perspective de ces télescopes géants, le dimensionnement des systèmes d'OA nécessaires devient tel que ces derniers représentent un challenge technologique et technique. L'un des aspects à considérer est la complexité numérique de ces systèmes. Dès lors, les techniques de calcul de haute performance deviennent nécessaires, comme la parallélisation massive. Le General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) permet d'utiliser un processeur graphique à cette fin, celui-ci possédant plusieurs milliers de coeurs de calcul utilisables, contre quelques dizaines pour un processeur classique.Dans ce contexte, cette thèse s'articule autour de trois parties. La première présente le développement de COMPASS, un outil de simulation haute performance bout-en-bout dédié à l'OA, notamment à l'échelle des ELT. Tirant pleinement parti des capacités de calcul des GPU, COMPASS permet alors de simuler une OA ELT en quelques minutes. La seconde partie fait état du développement de ROKET : un estimateur complet du budget d'erreur d'un système d'OA intégré à COMPASS, permettant ainsi d'étudier statistiquement les différentes sources d'erreurs et leurs éventuels liens. Enfin, des modèles analytiques des différentes sources d'erreur sont dérivés et permettent de proposer un algorithme d'estimation de la FEP. Les possibilités d'applications sur le ciel de cet algorithme sont également discutées. / In a few years, a new class of giants telescopes will appear. The diameter of those telescope will be larger than 20m, up to 39m for the european Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). However, images obtained from ground-based observations are severely impacted by the atmosphere. Then, the resolution of those giants telescopes is equivalent to the one obtained with an amateur telescope of a few tens of centimeters of diameter.Therefore, adaptive optics (AO) becomes essential as it aims to correct in real-time the disturbance due to the atmospherical turbulence and to retrieve the theoretical resolution of the telescope. Nevertheless, AO systems are not perfect: a wavefront residual error remains and still impacts the image quality. The latter is measured by the point spread function (PSF) of the system, and this PSF depends on the wavefront residual error. Hence, identifying and understanding the various contributors of the AO residual error is primordial.For those extremely large telescopes, the dimensioning of their AO systems is challenging. In particular, the numerical complexity impacts the numerical simulation tools useful for the AO design. High performance computing techniques are needed, as such relying on massive parallelization.General Purpose Graphical Processing Unit (GPGPU) enables the use of GPU for this purpose. This architecture is suitable for massive parallelization as it leverages GPU's several thousand of cores, instead of a few tens for classical CPU.In this context, this PhD thesis is composed of three parts. In the first one, it presents the development of COMPASS : a GPU-based high performance end-to-end simulation tool for AO systems that is suitable for ELT scale. The performance of the latter allows simulating AO systems for the ELT in a few minutes. In a second part, an error breakdown estimation tool, ROKET, is added to the end-to-end simulation in order to study the various contributors of the AO residual error. Finally, an analytical model is proposed for those error contributors, leading to a new way to estimate the PSF. Possible on-sky applications are also discussed.

No description available.

The quality of the flow over a 75 degree-sweep delta wing was documented for steady angles of attack and during dynamic maneuvers with and without the use of two control surfaces. The three-dimensional velocity field over a delta wing at a steady angle of attack of 38 degrees and Reynolds number of 72,000 was mapped out using laser-Doppler velocimetry over one side of the wing. The three-dimensional streamline and vortex line distributions were visualized. Isosurfaces of vorticity, planar distributions of helicity and all three vorticity components, and the indicator of the stability of the core were studied and compared to see which indicated breakdown first. Visualization of the streamlines and vortex lines near the core of the vortex indicate that the core has a strong inviscid character, and hence Reynolds number independence, upstream of breakdown, with viscous effects becoming more important downstream of the breakdown location. The effect of cavity flaps on the flow over a delta wing was documented for steady angles of attack in the range 28 degrees to 42 degrees by flow visualization and surface pressure measurements at a Reynolds number of 470,000 and 1,000,000, respectfully. It was found that the cavity flaps postpone the occurrence of vortex breakdown to higher angles of attack than can be realized by the basic delta wing. The effect of continuously deployed cavity flaps during a dynamic pitch-up maneuver of a delta wing on the surface pressure distribution were recorded for a reduced frequency of 0.0089 and a Reynolds number of 1,300,000. The effect of deploying a set of cavity flaps <u>during</u> a dynamic pitch-up maneuver on the surface pressure distribution was recorded for a reduced frequency of 0.0089 and a Reynolds number of 1,300,000 and 187,000. The active deployment of the cavity flaps was shown to have a short-lived beneficial effect on the surface pressure distribution. The effect on the surface pressure distribution of the varying the reduced frequency at constant Reynolds number for a plain delta wing was documented in the reduced frequency range of 0.0089 to 0.0267. The effect of the active deployment of an apex flap <u>during</u> a pitch-up maneuver on the surface pressure distribution at Reynolds numbers of 532,000, 1,000,000, and 1,390,000 were documented with reduced frequencies of 0.0053 to 0.0114 with flap deployment locations in the range of 21° to 36° . The apex flap deployment was found to have a beneficial effect on the surface pressure distribution during the maneuver and in the post-stall regime after the maneuver is completed. / Ph. D.

This study determined the effect of milk or carbohydrate-electrolyte supplementation immediately after resistance exercise on muscle protein breakdown before and after a 10-week resistance training program. Nineteen untrained males, 18-25 years of age, consumed either a carbohydrate-electrolyte (CHO) or milk (MILK) beverage immediately after a strenuous leg resistance exercise bout, both before and after training. Muscle protein breakdown, as estimated by 3-methylhistidine-to-creatinine ratio, was significantly reduced after resistance exercise for both groups, as the ratio was decreased by 19.9% from baseline on the day of resistance exercise. A trend was present for a training effect for 3-methylhistidine-to-creatinine ratio (p<0.07), as the reduction from before to after resistance exercise was greater after training. There was no difference in muscle protein breakdown between the groups. One hour after exercise, serum concentrations of amino acids were significantly elevated for MILK and significantly reduced for CHO. Serum glucose was significantly higher for both groups 30 minutes post-exercise than baseline, and serum insulin was greater than baseline 30 minutes and 1 hour after exercise. Serum insulin was significantly greater for CHO than MILK 1 hour after resistance exercise. No effect of training was observed for the response of serum amino acids, glucose, or insulin to resistance exercise with beverage ingestion. In conclusion, although the type of beverage ingested post-exercise affected serum insulin and amino acid concentrations, it did not influence the reduction in muscle protein breakdown observed after resistance exercise. A trend was present for a greater reduction in protein breakdown after training. / Master of Science

TCAD numerical simulations have been carried out to study the current-voltage, electrical breakdown, and self-heating characteristics of β-Ga2O3 based metal-oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs). β-Ga2O3 semiconductor has an ultra-wide bandgap of ~ 4.8 eV, a theoretical critical breakdown field strength, Ec ~ 8 MV/cm, making it an excellent candidate for high-voltage or power electronics applications. The numerical simulations have been benchmarked against experimentally reported data. For modeling impact ionization, which is expected to induce intrinsic avalanche breakdown, the Selberherr’s model has been used with appropriate parameterization. For a device with a gate length of 2 μm, 0.6 μm gate-drain spacing, 3.4 μm source-drain spacing, and 20 nm thick Al2O3 gate insulator, the intrinsic breakdown voltage was found to be ~460 V. While self-heating dramatically affects the output current and conductance, it has an insignificant effect on the breakdown voltage. The use of a thinner epitaxial channel was found to increase the breakdown voltage slightly (by ~30 V).