Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Mechanical Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

High concentrations and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in fluvial systems are associated with the dark brown water colour familiar in many upland, peat-dominated areas and may indicate a depletion of the terrestrial carbon store. The removal of this colour can also be problematic and expensive for water companies as well as affecting the ecological functioning of the water body through factors such as reduced light penetration through the water column. Disturbance resulting from activities such as land use change can also enhance the loss of carbon and this may manifest itself in elevated concentrations and fluxes of DOC from aquatic systems. This thesis describes and explains patterns of change in DOC quantity and quality from the Crosswater, Crosswater of Luce and Tig catchments draining Arecleoch Forest, a peatland in south Ayrshire, Scotland, from 2008 to 2010. This time period incorporates the installation of a 60-turbine wind farm built and operated by Scottish Power Renewables (SPR). Water samples were collected from Arecleoch at different spatial scales ranging from catchments to soil pore water and temporal scales ranging from daily to seasonally. Concentrations of DOC were measured and fluxes estimated at the catchment scale. DOC concentrations from all three catchments exhibited the well-established seasonal pattern with maxima in late August/early September and minima seen in February/March. The Tig catchment experienced the greatest burden of disturbance from the wind farm development and returned the highest DOC concentrations and fluxes. The Crosswater catchment, used as a control site due to its isolation from wind farm activities, had higher DOC concentrations than the Crosswater of Luce throughout the monitoring period possibly due to a greater proportion of forest cover. ii DOC flux ranged from 35.0 g C m-2 yr-1 from the Crosswater of Luce catchment in 2008 to 55.0 g C m-2 yr-1 from the Crosswater in 2009. The Tig catchment was not monitored for the whole period but returned the highest DOC fluxes of the three catchments between January and June 2010 (15.7 g C m-2). These values are considered high for UK peatlands. It is possible to make a tentative estimate of an extra 12 g C m-2 being exported from the Crosswater of Luce in 2009 that may have been a result of wind farm and/or forestry activities in the catchment. At the sub-catchment scale, “hot spots” of high DOC concentrations (up to 113.4 mg L-1) were found during the final survey of headwater streams inside the development area of the wind farm site during construction in August 2010. Further surveys are recommended to assess whether DOC concentrations have decreased since completion of the wind farm. Daily water samples were collected upstream and downstream of turbine 33 during the excavation of the turbine base. DOC concentrations were higher downstream before work began on the turbine base and although the gap between upstream and downstream DOC concentrations increased over the monitoring period, statistical comparisons of these differences before and after the start of excavation work were not significant at the 95 % confidence level. Challenges arose from the practicability of conducting robust research on a construction site and novel approaches to monitoring DOC were developed. Activity scores were used to quantify the effect of peatland disturbance on DOC concentrations at the catchment scale. The results suggest that this approach may have merit but requires comprehensive site records from the developer. The non-linear nature of the individual wind farm development and forestry activities made it impractical to disentangle the impact of each, particularly for forest harvesting. iii Activity scores could, together with other information gathered from site records, be useful to developers as an indicator of the most likely periods for peat disturbance. Knowledge of the differing disturbance potential of the various activities could also provide useful information to feed into the carbon payback calculator. DOC quality was explored using ultraviolet (UV) absorbance, specific UV absorbance (SUVA) and E4/E6 ratios. The latter metric identified changes in the composition of DOC related to disturbance with water samples from areas draining land subject to disturbance having lower E4/E6 ratios indicating a greater degree of humification of the DOC. This research provides one of only three studies to investigate concentrations and fluxes of DOC in water courses draining land subject to disturbance relating to wind farm construction. It is the only study that incorporates a period of time prior to work beginning and takes in the whole of the development phase. In this respect it provides a valuable addition to our understanding of the way in which peatlands respond to land use change and may provide useful tools to assist developers in minimising the impact of their activities on these valuable carbon stores.

Studies of the radiative properties of thin films and near-field radiation transfer in layered structures are important for applications in energy, near-field imaging, coherent thermal emission, and aerospace thermal management. A comprehensive study is performed on the optical constants of dielectric tantalum pentoxide (Ta₂O₅) and hafnium oxide (HfO₂) thin films from visible to the far infrared using spectroscopic methods. These materials have broad applications in metallo-dielectric multilayers, anti-reflection coatings, and coherent emitters based on photonic crystal structures, especially at high temperatures since both materials have melting points above 2000 K. The dielectric functions of HfO₂ and Ta₂O₅ obtained from this work may facilitate future design of devices with these materials. A parametric study of near-field TPV performance using a backside reflecting mirror is also performed. Currently proposed near-field TPV devices have been shown to have increased power throughput compared to their far-field counterparts, but whose conversion efficiencies are lower than desired. This is due to their low quantum efficiency caused by recombination of minority carriers and the waste of sub-bandgap radiation. The efficiency may be improved by adding a gold mirror as well as by reducing the surface recombination velocity, as demonstrated in this thesis. The analysis of the near-field TPV and proposed methods may facilitate the development or high-efficiency energy harvesting devices. Many near-field devices may eventually utilize metallo-dielectric structures which exhibit unique properties such as negative refraction due to their hyperbolic isofrequency contour. These metamaterials are also called indefinite materials because of their ability to support propagating waves with large lateral wavevectors, which can result in enhanced near-field radiative heat transfer. The energy streamlines in such structures are studied for the first time. Energy streamlines illustrate the flow of energy through a structure when the fields are evanescent and energy propagation is not ray like. The energy streamlines through two semi-infinite uniaxially anisotropic effective medium structures, separated by a small vacuum gap, are modeled using the Green’s function. The lateral shift and penetration depth are calculated from the streamlines and shown to be relatively large compared to the vacuum gap dimension. The study of energy streamlines in hyperbolic metamaterials helps understand the near-field energy propagation on a fundamental level.

In this dissertation, two high-frequency (HF) transformer isolated single-stage integrated ac-dc converters are proposed for a small scale permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based wind energy conversion system (WECS). These two types of single-stage integrated ac-dc converters include expected functions of HF isolation, power factor correction (PFC), and output regulation in one single-stage. Fixed-frequency phase-shift control and soft-switching operation are employed in both proposed ac-dc converters. After reviewing the literature and discussing pros and cons of the existing topologies, it is preferred that three identical single-phase single-stage integrated converters with interleaved connection configuration are suitable for the PMSG. For the single-phase converter, two new HF isolated single-stage integrated resonant ac-dc converters with fixed-frequency phase-shift control are proposed. The first proposed circuit is HF isolated single-stage integrated secondary-side controlled ac-dc converter. The other proposed circuit is HF isolated single-stage dual-tank LCL-type series resonant ac-dc converter, which brings better solutions compared to the first converter, such as high power factor and low total harmonic distortion (THD) at the ac input side. Approximate analysis approach and Fourier series methods are used to analyze these two proposed converters. Design examples for each one are given and designed converters are simulated using PSIM simulation package. Two experimental circuits are also built to verify the analysis and simulation. The simulated and experimental results reasonably match the theoretical analysis. Then the proposed HF isolated dual-tank LCL-type series resonant ac-dc converter is used for three-phase interleaved connection in order to satisfy requirements of PMSG based WECS. A design example for this three-phase interleaved configuration is given and simulated for validation under several operating conditions. / Graduate / 0544 / duyimian@uvic.ca

La mise en œuvre de réseaux de capteurs communicants dans des installations industrielles, dans les transports ou le bâtiment apparaît comme un axe de développement qui permettrait d'augmenter les performances globales de ces systèmes.Par une supervision et une exploitation adaptées des informations collectées (température, niveau vibratoire, humidité, etc.), la fiabilité et les performances énergétiques pourraient être optimisées.La diminution régulière de la consommation des nouvelles générations de capteurs sans fil engendre un fort intérêt scientifique pour l'alimentation de ceux-ci de manière autonome. Ainsi, une thématique de recherche spécifique est apparue il y a une dizaine d'années : la réalisation de micro-sources d'énergie pour l'alimentation de capteurs communicants.Ces travaux de recherche proposent l'exploration des performances d'une structure de micro-générateur originale pour la récupération de l'énergie des vibrations : l'"Hybrid Fluid Diaphragm" (HFD).Le concept de l'HFD consiste à encapsuler un fluide incompressible entre deux membranes.Le fluide se comporte comme une masse inertielle qui induit une fréquence de résonance compatible avec les vibrations ambiantes dont les fréquences sont généralement inférieures à quelques centaines de Hertz.Ces membranes en P(VDF-TrFE), un polymère piézoélectrique, ont été réalisées spécifiquement pour assurer la conversion optimale des sollicitations mécaniques (flexion/tension) en énergie électrique.Une modélisation multiphysique qui intègre les comportements fluidiques, mécaniques et électriques, la réalisation et la caractérisation de deux générateurs HFD sont détaillées.Le premier prototype met en œuvre des membranes piézoélectriques monomorphes (monocouche) tandis que le deuxième exploite des membranes piézoélectriques bimorphes (double couche) optimisées.Les puissances générées apparaissent suffisantes pour envisager l'alimentation de capteurs et leurs géométries permettent d'imaginer des scénarios potentiels d'intégration dans des applications réalistes. / The implementation of wireless sensor nodes in industrial installations, transport or building is a potential route to increase the performances of these systems.By a proper supervision and exploitation of the collected information (temperature, vibratory level, humidity, etc.) the reliability and the energy performances can be increased. With the regular reduction of the power requirements for new generations of wireless sensors nodes, a strong scientific interest to develop autonomous power supply has raised.In this framework, a specific research topic appeared about ten years ago: ambient energy harvesting.The present work investigates the performances of an original micro-generator architecture for vibration energy harvesting: the “Hybrid Fluid Diaphragm” (HFD).The concept of HFD consists in encapsulating an incompressible fluid between two flexible membranes. The fluid behaves as an inertial mass which leads to a resonant frequency suitable for ambient vibrations whose spectrum is usually lower than a few hundred Hertz.These membranes are made of P(VDF-TrFE), a piezoelectric polymer, and are designed to ensure the optimal conversion of the mechanical solicitations (flexion/stretch) into electrical energy.A multiphysic modeling which integrates the fluid, the mechanical and the electric coupled behaviors is proposed.The realization and the characterization of two HFD's generators are detailed.A first prototype implements single layer piezoelectric membranes, whereas a second one uses optimized double layer membranes.The generated power appears to be sufficient to consider the power supply of wireless sensor nodes operating in intermittent transmitting mode. The very simple geometry of the proposed generators is favorable to their integration in realistic applications.

La conception d'un microsystème de conversion d'énergie éolienne représente le cœur de cette étude. L'attention est dérivée vers le générateur sans balais à aimant permanent et auto-commutation, avec la configuration de rotor externe et des tensions électromotrices de forme trapézoïdale. L'objectif global de la thèse est représentée par la tentative de déterminer les paramètres optimaux de conception géométriques et électriques du générateur qui donne les plus faibles pertes totales dans le système, en fonctionnant sous un cycle du vent à long terme et ainsi en augmentant l'efficacité globale du système. En avance à l'optimisation, un modèle de simulation adapté doit être développé en termes de précision des résultats et du temps de simulation. Cela se fait dans la première partie de la thèse en déterminant le niveau de modélisation, ainsi que les variables de conception de chacun des composants du système. Comme l'optimisation fait appel à un algorithme pour le processus de conception, la réduction du temps de simulation a été étudiée dans la troisième et la quatrième partie de la thèse, en développant une méthode appropriée qui permet l'intégration et l'exploitation des données provenant du profil de vitesse du vent lors la détermination de la totalité des pertes de puissance du système. Par la suite, la méthode d'optimisation est présentée, même les résultats optimaux obtenus, ainsi que la comparaison de plusieurs paramètres d'entrée / sortie. Enfin, des essais expérimentaux sont également effectués sur un générateur de référence afin de vérifier la technique de commutation et de contrôle électronique. / The design of a micro-wind energy conversion system represents the core of this study. The attention is derived towards the brushless DC permanent magnet generator with outer rotor configuration and trapezoidal induced back-EMF voltages. The global aim of the thesis is represented by the attempt of determining the optimal geometrical and electrical design parameters of the BLDCPM generator that give the minimum total power losses in the system, over long-term wind speed cycle operation and thereby increasing the efficiency of the overall system. In advance to the optimization, an adapted simulation model needs to be developed in terms of results accuracy and simulation time. This is done in the first part of the thesis by determining the modeling level, as well as the design variables of each component of the system. As the optimization appeals to an algorithm for the design process, the reduction of the simulation time has been investigated in the third and fourth part of the thesis by developing a suitable method that allows the integration and exploitation of the available data from the wind-speed profile when determining the totality of the power losses in the system. Afterwards, the optimization methodology is presented along with the optimum results obtained, as well as comparison of several input/output parameters. Finally, experimental tests are also carried out on a reference BLDCPM machine prototype in order to verify its electronic commutation and control technique

La récupération d’énergie vise à réaliser des dispositifs électromécaniques de taille centimétrique permettant d’alimenter des systèmes électroniques en puisant de manière opportuniste l’énergie du milieu environnant. Parmi les différentes sources disponibles (solaire,thermique etc.) les vibrations ambiantes sont susceptibles de fournir assez de puissance pour alimenter des microsystèmes autonomes tels que des noeuds de réseaux de capteurs communicants. L’enjeu consiste à concevoir des microgénérateurs effectuant la conversion de cette énergie mécanique ambiante en énergie électrique exploitable de manière optimale.Ces travaux de thèse proposent dans un premier temps un critère d’étude et de comparaison des performances des générateurs de types piézoélectriques ou électromagnétiques, à partir d’un modèle normalisé unifié. Dans un second temps, un circuit non linéaire d’extraction de l’énergie est étudié pour les générateurs électromagnétiques, et ses performances sont discutées en comparaison avec un circuit classique d’extraction de l’énergie. A partir de ces résultats, une nouvelle structure de générateur électromagnétique est conçue, optimisée puis validée expérimentalement. / Energy harvesting from ambient energy aims at realizing electromechanical miniaturized generators to supply electronic systems from energy of our local environment. Among the available sources (solar, thermal…), ambient vibrations show the requirements to supply autonomous microsystems like communication sensors nodes of sensors networks. The issue is to develop microgenerators doing the optimal conversion of the mechanical energy into usable electrical energy, and supplying the maximal power density. This works presents a criterium to compare piezoelectric systems and electromagnetic systems, based on a common normalized model. In a second part, a new nonlinear extraction circuit for electromagnetic generators is theoretically studied, and its practical advantages are highlighted in comparison with a classical extraction circuit. Based on these results, a new structure of electromagnetic generator is studied,optimized and experimentally validated.

A obesidade está relacionada com uma grande variedade de disfunções, tais como as dislipidemias, resistência à insulina e diabetes tipo II. Estas patologias estão relacionadas com alterações da fisiologia mitocondrial. As mitocôndrias são o principal sítio do metabolismo oxidativo e são importantes fontes de espécies reativas de oxigênio. Alberici et al. (2006) mostraram que a atividade de canais de potássio sensíveis a ATP mitocondriais (mitoKATP), via dissipativa branda, estava aumentada em fígados de animais hipertrigliceridêmicos transgênicos. Este dado sugere um papel adaptativo importante para o mitoKATP como regulador do metabolismo e da massa corpórea. O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar o papel deste canal em fígados de camundongos submetidos a uma dieta hiperlipídica, obtida por meio de suplementação de óleo de soja à única fonte de água dos animais. Foram estabelecidas correlações entre a atividade do canal e parâmetros da fisiologia mitocondrial ou parâmetros sorológicos clássicos como colesterolemia e trigliceridemia. Sendo realizados experimentos de espalhamento de luz, quantificação de peróxido de hidrogênio, potencial de membrana e consumo de oxigênio em mitocôndrias. Nossos resultados mostram aumento de massa corpórea sem dislipidemias e aumento da atividade do mitoKATP, dependente do tempo da suplementação, diretamente correlacionada com a colesterolemia. Nossos resultados apontam aumento da geração de EROs e diminuição da eficiência de conversão energética no grupo suplementado. Como conclusão: manipulações de dieta são eficazes para a indução da atividade do mitoKATP, sendo este um novo e interessante sítio de regulação do metabolismo oxidativo e da massa corpórea. / Obesity is associated with multiple dysfunctions including dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and diabetes. These malfunctions are associated with modifications in mitochondrial physiology. Furthermore, mitochondria are the most important site of energy metabolism and reactive oxygen species production. Alberici et al. (2006) demonstrated that hypertriglyceridemic transgenic mice display increased expression ad activity of mitochondrial ATP sensitive potassium channels (mitoKATP), a mild uncoupling pathway, in liver. This suggests that mitoKATP is an important adaptation to regulate body mass and metabolism. The aim of this work is to investigate the role of mitoKATP in a high fat diet induced by soy oil supplementation, correlating changes in channel activity with metabolic and mitochondrial parameters. Mitochondria were isolated from mouse livers and serological parameters were measured for each animal. Light scattering (to estimate mitoKATP activity), hydrogen peroxide generation, membrane potentials and oxygen consumption were measured in the mitochondrial suspensions. Our results indicate an increase in body mass, without dyslipidemia; and increases in mitoKATP activity, in time-dependent manner, directly correlated to cholesterol levels. In addition, we found increases in ROS generation and decreased capacity of energy conversion (ADP/O) in the high fat diet group. In conclusion, our results indicate that the activity of mitoKATP could be induced by high fat diets and that this is an novel site for metabolic and body mass control.

Motores termomagnéticos são dispositivos capazes de converter calor em energia mecânica através do efeito termomagnético, e são uma alternativa para a conversão de energia de rejeitos térmicos de baixa e baixíssima qualidade. Neste trabalho é proposta uma classificação dos motores termomagnéticos como sendo de dois tipos, os motores tipo Edison e os motores tipo Tesla. Feita a classificação, diferenciou-se o comportamento de operação e os ciclos termodinâmicos desenvolvidos pelos dois tipos de motores, mostrando que motores do tipo Tesla desenvolvem um ciclo termodinâmico que pode ser aproximado por um ciclo Brayton magnético, já motores do tipo Edison descrevem um ciclo mais complexo, não podendo ser aproximado por um ciclo Brayton. Compararam-se os parâmetros de interesse para ambos os motores através de análises termodinâmicas, onde se concluiu que motores do tipo Tesla apresentam melhores respostas de trabalho e eficiência que motores do tipo Edison, quando são consideradas as mesmas condições de operação. Além disso, identificou-se que a equação de força de Kelvin é a equação que corretamente descreve o comportamento da força magnética em um motor termomagnético, essa contribuição é importante, pois vários trabalhos publicados na literatura utilizam equações que não descrevem corretamente o comportamento da força magnética. Mostrou-se que o trabalho produzido em um motor termomagnético é igual ao trabalho produzido pela força magnética resultante no dispositivo. Foi desenvolvida e validada uma metodologia para o cálculo do trabalho específico produzido em um motor do tipo Tesla. Utilizando as metodologias validadas, verificou-se como a temperatura, o campo magnético aplicado, o fator de desmagnetização e o tipo de transição influenciam o comportamento dos motores termomagnéticos tipo Tesla, o que abre caminho para o desenvolvimento de dispositivos mais interessantes do ponto de vista termodinâmico. / Thermomagnetic motors are devices capable of converting heat into mechanical energy through the thermomagnetic effect. These devices are able to operate using low or very low quality thermal waste, being an alternative to avail that range of thermal energy. This work classifies the thermomagnetic motors in two types: The Tesla type and the Edison type thermomagnetic motors, differentiating the operational behavior and the thermodynamic cycles developed in each type. By using thermodynamic approaches, it is shown that the Tesla type thermomagnetic motors have best response in terms of work and efficiency than the Edison type thermomagnetic motors, when the same operating conditions are considered. In addition, an experimental approach is presented, proving that the Kelvin force equation describes the behavior of the force in thermomagnetic motors, and the work produced in a motor is the same that the work produced by the resultant magnetic force in the system. It was developed and validated a method to estimate the work produced by cycle in a Tesla type thermomagnetic motor, and using thermodynamic approaches, the relevance of the temperature, applied magnetic field, demagnetizing factor and transition type in the Tesla type thermomagnetic motor were verified.

Orientador: Jose Antenor Pomilio / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T10:48:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martins_GeomarMachado_D.pdf: 4129472 bytes, checksum: 7290e97be14c6528a200531ef75ad6b8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: A conexão de fontes de geração distribuída com' a rede geralmente necessita de um conversor eletrônico para processar a energia gerada localmente e injetá-la na rede. Este trabalho apresenta um sistema de geração distribuída para baixas potências, composto por uma fonte primária em CC, como uma Célula a Combustível. Um conversor elevador boost conecta a fonte primária a um inversor trifásico comutado em baixa freqüência que injeta a energia na rede e garante a sua qualidade. Um circuito auxiliar é agregado à topologia do inversor com a finalidade de reduzir a distorção de sua tensão de saída, dessa forma melhorando a forma de onda da corrente. A estratégia de controle empregada permite um desempenho seguro mesmo com as flutuações na energia gerada. As principais vantagens desta proposta são a minimização das perdas de chaveamento (ou seja, alto rendimento) e a eliminação de IEM (o que evita o uso de filtros de altas freqüências comuns nos conversores chaveados em alta freqüência). Os procedimentos de projeto são estabelecidos com vistas à redução do volume dos elementos empregados no circuito, buscando uma densidade de potência mais alta. Um protótipo de 1300 V A é implementado e testado. Os resultados obtidos confirmam a análise teórica / Abstract: The connection of distributed power sources with the utility grid generally needs an electronic power converter for processing the locally generated power and injecting current into the system. This work presents a system intended to low-power distributed generation composed by a DC primary source, as a fuel cell. A boost converter connects the supply to an inverter, composed by a three-phase one using low-frequency commutation, which injects the power into the grid and guarantees the AC power quality. An auxiliary circuit is added to the inverter topology in order to reduce the output voltage distortion, thus improving the current waveform. The employed control strategy allows a secure performance even if there are fluctuations in the generated power. The main advantages of this approach are the minimization of the switching losses (i.e. high efficiency) and the elimination of the EMI (which avoids high-frequency filters necessary in high-frequency commutation inverters). Design procedures are established permiting to reduce the volume of the elements, seeking a high power density. A 1300 V A converter prototype is implemented and tested. The obtained results confirm the theoretical analysis / Doutorado / Energia Eletrica / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica