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The diploma thesis describes design of bladeless machine known as a Tesla turbine. The work is divided into theoretical part, practical part involving the design and experimental measurements of made bladeless turbine and a final assessment of thesis. The theoretical part deals with the basic design features of bladeless machines and their design modifications and flow in the nozzles. Furthermore there is a dedicated part of the dynamics of working fluid in the rotor of bladeless turbine represented by CFD modeling. The practical part includes the design and construction of parts of the turbine on a preliminary calculation using an analytical model of the flow in the turbine. The designed turbine components were checked for operational safety with structural calculations of shaft and disk impeller. The thesis was also performed experimental measuring of parameters of designed bladeless turbine. Measured values were compared with the analytical model which predicted turbine efficiency. In conclusion, besides to assessment, thesis also outlines possible proposals for further improvements of constructed bladeless turbine.

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy has been used over the last twenty years as a highly sensitive absorption spectroscopic technique to measure light attenuation in gases, liquids, and solid samples. An optical cavity is used as a multi-pass cell, and the decay time of the light intensity in the cavity is measured, thereby rendering the techniques insensitive to light intensity fluctuations. Optical waveguides are used to build the optical cavities presented in this work. The geometries of such waveguides permit the use of very small liquid sample volumes while retaining the advantages of cavity ring-down spectroscopy. In this thesis cavity ring-down measurements are conducted, both, in the time domain and by measuring phase-shifts of sinusoidally modulated light, and the two methods are theoretically connected using a simple mathematical model, which is then experimentally confirmed. A new laser driver, that is compatible with high powered diode lasers, has to be designed to be able to switch from time domain to frequency domain measurements. A sample path length enhancement within the optical cavity is explored with the use of liquid core waveguides. The setup was optimised with respect to the matrix liquid, the geometrical matching of waveguide geometries, and the shape of liquid core waveguide ends. Additionally, a new technique of producing concave lenses at fibre ends has been developed and the output of a general fibre lens is simulated. Finally, liquid core waveguides are incorporated into a fibre-loop ring-down spectroscopy setup to measure the attenuation of two model dyes in a sample volume of <1 µL. The setup is characterized by measuring concentrations of Allura Red AC and Congo Red from 1 µM to a limit of detection of 5 nM. The performance of the setup is compared to other absorption techniques measuring liquid samples. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemistry) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-23 14:08:16.33

The development of a numeric simulation for predicting the performance of an Ocean Current Energy Conversion System is presented in this thesis along with a control system development using a PID controller for the achievement of specified rotational velocity set-points. In the beginning, this numeric model is implemented in MATLAB/Simulink® and it is used to predict the performance of a three phase squirrel single-cage type induction motor/generator in two different cases. The first case is a small 3 meter rotor diameter, 20 kW ocean current turbine with fixed pitch blades, and the second case a 20 meter, 720 kW ocean current turbine with variable pitch blades. Furthermore, the second case is also used for the development of a Voltage Source Variable Frequency Drive for the induction motor/generator. Comparison among the Variable Frequency Drive and a simplified model is applied. Finally, the simulation is also used to estimate the average electric power generation from the 720 kW Ocean Current Energy Conversion System which consists of an induction generator and an ocean current turbine connected with a shaft which modeled as a mechanical vibration system.

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.

This thesis deals with the design of Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV) and EVs. More specifically, a tri-mode high-efficiency non-isolated half-bridge converter is developed for the LEV based HESS applications. A 2 kW, 100 V interleaved two-phase converter prototype was implemented. The peak efficiency of 97.5% and a minimum efficiency of 88% over the full load range are achieved. Furthermore, a power-mix optimizer utilizing the real-time Global Positioning System (GPS) data for the EV based HESS is proposed. For a specific design, it is shown that at the cost of less than 1.5% of the overall energy savings, the proposed scheme reduces the peak battery charge and discharge rates by 76% and 47%, respectively. A 30 kW bi-directional dc-dc converter is also designed and implemented for future deployment of the designed HESS into a prototype EV, known as A2B.