A numerical analysis is performed for the three-dimensional, turbulent flow of air in a thyristor valve hall located at the Dorsey Converter Station, owned and operated by Manitoba Hydro. The goal of this analysis was to determine the configurations that result in increased air-side cooling effectiveness in the valve hall. The governing equations are solved using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code CFX-5. This computer code uses a finite volume method of solution and is based on a finite element approach for representing the geometry. The effects of inlet and outlet opening geometry, inlet air mass flow rate, and inlet air angle on the thermal performance for the air-side cooling of the thyristor valve hall geometry are examined.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-13T12:10:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-08-01. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-07-13T12:25:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000837029.pdf: 2125746 bytes, checksum: 3c7acd4bd3c47790e571b23a516ef2d6 (MD5) / Vários segmentos da sociedade têm se voltado para os conceitos da sustentabilidade, pesquisando alternativas para minimizar os impactos causados pelo consumo, muitas vezes, indiscriminado de matéria-prima e pelo grande volume de resíduos gerados, entre os quais se incluem os resíduos de borracha. Neste sentido, diversos trabalhos de engenharia têm indicado que a adição de resíduos de borracha de pneu têm potencial para promover a redução da massa específica de matrizes cimentícias. Deste modo, objetivou-se neste trabalho avaliar a aplicação de resíduos de borracha de pneu na confecção de concretos leves, com massa específica aparente inferior a 2000 kg/m3, tendo em vista a sua aplicação em blocos de concreto para alvenaria. Observou-se que houve uma diminuição da resistência à compressão do concreto, razão pela qual adotou-se o procedimento de substituir 10% de cimento por metacaulim (em massa). Objetivou-se ainda, neste trabalho, promover uma destinação apropriada para este resíduo e assim minimizar os possíveis impactos ambientais, muitas vezes causados pela sua destinação inadequada. Foram produzidos traços de concreto sem resíduo (concreto referência), com 9,2%, 18% e 26,8% de resíduo em substituição do agregado miúdo, em relação ao volume. Confeccionaram-se corpos de prova cilíndricos 10 cm x 20 cm e blocos de concreto 14 cm x 19 cm x 29 cm, os quais foram ensaiados visando a determinação da resistência à compressão simples. Os blocos de concreto foram também submetidos a ensaios de absorção. Constatou-se que entre os traços ensaiados, o resultado menos favorável foi obtido para os blocos produzidos com 26,8% de resíduo, os quais apresentaram resistência característica à compressão de 2,74 MPa e absorção de 6,96%, resultados que atendem às prescrições da NBR 6136 para a confecção de blocos vazados de concreto para alvenaria / Various segments of society have focused on the concepts of sustainability, researching alternatives to minimize the impacts caused by the often indiscriminate consumption of raw materials and the large volume of waste generated, among which include the waste rubber. Accordingly, many engineering studies have shown that the addition of waste rubber tire has the potential to promote the reduction of specific mass of cementitious matrices. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the application of these wastes in the manufacture of lightweight concrete, with specific mass less than 2000 kg/m3, with a view to their application in concrete block masonry. It was observed that there was a decrease in compressive strength of the concrete, which is why we adopted the procedure of replacing 10% of metakaolin in cement (by mass). Still aim of this study, promote appropriate disposal for this waste and to minimize possible environmental impacts, often caused by their improper disposal. Ratio of concrete were produced without residue (reference concrete), with 9,2%, 18% and 26,8% of residue in substitution fine aggregate, in relative to the volume. Were produced cylindrical specimens 10 cm x 20 cm and concrete block 14 cm x 19 cm x 29 cm, which were tested in order to determine the compressive strenght. The concrete blocks were also tested for absorption. It was found that among the tested ratios, the less favorable result was obtained for the blocks produced with 26,8% of residue, which showed characteristic compressive strength of 2,74 MPa and absorption of 6,96%, results that meet the requirements of NBR 6136 for the manufacture of hollow concrete block mansory

The current airspace configuration is highly structured, fixed and is less responsive to changes causing the overall system to lack the flexibility, adaptability, and responsibility needed to handle the increasing air traffic demands in the near future. The work presented in this thesis aims at improving the flexibility and adaptability of today's airspace management in Europe in a pretactical context. We focus on the development of a method to support a process of automatic generation of a sequence of sector configurations composed of predefined sectors. Airspace configurations should be dynamically adjusted to provide maximum efficiency and flexibility in response to demand fluctuations. We dynamically build configurations by combining existing elementary sectors. In this step, any sector combination which forms controllable airspace blocks is eligible and may be used during the day of operation. In this work, we developed efficient methods to solve DAC problem. We formulated and study the sectorization problem from an algorithmic point of view. We proposed methods based on a mathematical modeling and heuristic optimization techniques. We also introduced here an approach to evaluate the workload inside sectors.

Orientador: Jorge Luís Akasaki / Banca: Mauro Mitsuuchi Tashima / Banca: Lúcia Reig Cerdá / Resumo: Vários segmentos da sociedade têm se voltado para os conceitos da sustentabilidade, pesquisando alternativas para minimizar os impactos causados pelo consumo, muitas vezes, indiscriminado de matéria-prima e pelo grande volume de resíduos gerados, entre os quais se incluem os resíduos de borracha. Neste sentido, diversos trabalhos de engenharia têm indicado que a adição de resíduos de borracha de pneu têm potencial para promover a redução da massa específica de matrizes cimentícias. Deste modo, objetivou-se neste trabalho avaliar a aplicação de resíduos de borracha de pneu na confecção de concretos leves, com massa específica aparente inferior a 2000 kg/m3, tendo em vista a sua aplicação em blocos de concreto para alvenaria. Observou-se que houve uma diminuição da resistência à compressão do concreto, razão pela qual adotou-se o procedimento de substituir 10% de cimento por metacaulim (em massa). Objetivou-se ainda, neste trabalho, promover uma destinação apropriada para este resíduo e assim minimizar os possíveis impactos ambientais, muitas vezes causados pela sua destinação inadequada. Foram produzidos traços de concreto sem resíduo (concreto referência), com 9,2%, 18% e 26,8% de resíduo em substituição do agregado miúdo, em relação ao volume. Confeccionaram-se corpos de prova cilíndricos 10 cm x 20 cm e blocos de concreto 14 cm x 19 cm x 29 cm, os quais foram ensaiados visando a determinação da resistência à compressão simples. Os blocos de concreto foram também submetidos a ensaios de absorção. Constatou-se que entre os traços ensaiados, o resultado menos favorável foi obtido para os blocos produzidos com 26,8% de resíduo, os quais apresentaram resistência característica à compressão de 2,74 MPa e absorção de 6,96%, resultados que atendem às prescrições da NBR 6136 para a confecção de blocos vazados de concreto para alvenaria / Abstract: Various segments of society have focused on the concepts of sustainability, researching alternatives to minimize the impacts caused by the often indiscriminate consumption of raw materials and the large volume of waste generated, among which include the waste rubber. Accordingly, many engineering studies have shown that the addition of waste rubber tire has the potential to promote the reduction of specific mass of cementitious matrices. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the application of these wastes in the manufacture of lightweight concrete, with specific mass less than 2000 kg/m3, with a view to their application in concrete block masonry. It was observed that there was a decrease in compressive strength of the concrete, which is why we adopted the procedure of replacing 10% of metakaolin in cement (by mass). Still aim of this study, promote appropriate disposal for this waste and to minimize possible environmental impacts, often caused by their improper disposal. Ratio of concrete were produced without residue (reference concrete), with 9,2%, 18% and 26,8% of residue in substitution fine aggregate, in relative to the volume. Were produced cylindrical specimens 10 cm x 20 cm and concrete block 14 cm x 19 cm x 29 cm, which were tested in order to determine the compressive strenght. The concrete blocks were also tested for absorption. It was found that among the tested ratios, the less favorable result was obtained for the blocks produced with 26,8% of residue, which showed characteristic compressive strength of 2,74 MPa and absorption of 6,96%, results that meet the requirements of NBR 6136 for the manufacture of hollow concrete block mansory / Mestre

Automationscenter & Bråvalla Elteknik AB is a company that offers the market completed total solutions where the customer can operate and monitor their production from the terminal. In these total solutions they lack standard circuit which are developed by the company and which could manoeuvre/control/monitor controlled process objects. This report defines the work of developing the most common standard circuits.The report is initiated by a short theoretical part about PLC and the PLC system, with a connected terminal, which has been used. Thereafter, the turnout of the demands of specification is reported, after discussing with the supervisor in the course of the project. The report concludes with a disclosure of how the programming, the documentation and the testing have proceeded and a final discussion concerning the project and proposals on continuation.The result is a CD with the documentation of standard circuits and how they are implemented in a new project. One library file with the program code to all standard circuit. Program code and documentation for both demonstration and testing are also on the CD. This project represents a start of POS (Process Objektsstyrnings Standard) as the collection is called at Automationscenter. / Automationscenter & Bråvalla Elteknik AB är ett företag som erbjuder marknaden färdiga totallösningar där kunden kan manövrera och övervaka sin produktion från operatörspaneler. I denna totallösning saknar företaget egna framtagna ”typkretsar” som manövrerar/kontrollerar/övervakar styrda processobjekt. En typkrets skall ha en del som implementeras i PLC och en del som implementeras i operatörspanelen.Denna rapport redogör för hur några av de vanligaste ”typkretsarna” tas fram.Rapporten inleds med en kort teoridel om PLC och det PLC‐system med tillhörande operatörspanel som använts. Därefter redogörs hur typkretsarnas kravspecifikation blev efter att ha diskuterat med handledaren under arbetets gång. Rapporten avslutas med en redovisning för hur programmeringen, dokumentationen och testningen gått till och en avslutande diskussion om arbetet och förslag på fortsättning.Resultatet blev en CD‐skiva med dokumentation om typkretsarna och hur de implementeras i ett nytt projekt: en biblioteksfil med programkoden till alla typkretsar. Programkod och dokumentation för både visning och testning finns också med på skivan. Ex‐jobbet utgör en början på POS Process Objektsstyrnings Standard som samlingen heter på Automationscenter & Bråvalla Elteknik AB.

Forskning visar att barn i behov av särskilt stöd i förskolan ofta granskas, kartläggs och kategoriseras med resultat att svårigheter förläggs på det enskilda barnet. Studiens syfte var att kritiskt granska på vilket sätt det evidensbaserade ramverket Building Blocks skulle kunna vägleda pedagoger i specialpedagogiska situationer samt att få svar på vilka möjligheter och hinder ramverkets metoder och strategier har. Ramverket är ett skattningsmaterial som utgår från ett organisations-, grupp- och individperspektiv med fyra nivåer och åtta strategiområden. I studien redovisas fem vägledande samtal med nio pedagoger på tre avdelningar vilka tillämpats med en aktionsforskningsansats. Dessutom har både kvalitativa metoder såsom vägledande samtal och analys av empirisk datainsamling från de tre parallella fallstudier använts samt en kvantitativ metod i form av enkäter för att upptäcka mönster och utforma två teman. Vidare utfördes en korsanalys i syfte att finna likheter och skillnader mellan avdelningarnas arbetsprocess. Studien belyser ett relationellt respektive kategoriskt perspektiv, sociokulturellt perspektiv, systemteoretiskt perspektiv samt teoretisk eklekticism. Resultatet indikerar tydligt att de vägledande samtalen gällande ramverket Building Blocks har haft betydelse för verksamhetens förändringsarbete på organisations-, grupp- och individnivå. Enkätresultatet visar att ramverket har bidragit med att vägleda pedagogerna till att stödja alla barn och varje barn.

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The variation in the compressive strength of concrete block masonry was studied at elevated temperatures. Small specimens known as wallettes were used to obtain the compressive strength under steady state conditions. Eighteen wallettes were made of lightweight concrete blocks and 1:1:5 mortar proportion. The target temperatures were 20°C, 200°C, 400°C, 600°C, 700°C and 800°C. Initially load-deflection relationships were determined from the experimental wallettes and later they were converted into stress-strain relationships. Although the goal was to determine the compressive strength, other parameters were also studied such as modulus of elasticity, temperature-time relationships, modes of failure, material degradation, and change of colour.Lightweight concrete blocks were also tested to determine the compressive strength at equal temperatures applied for the wallettes. The blocks belonged to the same batch used for the wallettes. The tensile behaviour of mortar was determined at 20°C, 200°C and 400°C.Once the mechanical properties of the masonry wallettes, units and mortar were determined, they were used as input data to develop finite element models to simulate the same behaviour of the experimental wallettes. Finally, using the experimental and numerical results from the wallettes, they were used to predict the behaviour of 3m height walls.

The advent of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices like silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs has resulted in a paradigm shift toward high-density and high-efficiency integration of power electronics systems. This being the result of relatively high switching frequencies (>10 kHz) compared to conventional Si IGBT counterparts, which reportedly can minimize the size of passive components such as DC-link capacitors and line harmonic filters. Unfortunately, with faster switching speeds and high slew rates, the common-mode (CM) and differential-mode (DM) conducted emissions interference (EMI) noise is worsened. The effects are manifested at the utility interface with grid-tied applications (three-phase rectifiers or back-to-back converters) in the form of high CM and DM emissions, total harmonic distortion (THD) and current harmonics. While at the motor end, long cable and bearing/leakage current effects are prevalent. As such, typically bulky passive filters are recommended to comply with industry regulations and allow safe and reliable system operation, which can be detrimental on the overall system power density. Hence, it is imperative to minimize the filter volume/weight contribution to fully utilize the benefits of WBG power converters. As an added feature, modular filter building block (FBB) configurations inspired by the building block nature of power electronics converters are needed to address scalability to higher power levels (through interleaving or paralleling) without the need for significant filter redesign. As such, for grid-tied applications (AC-DC converters), the interleaving of parallel converters adopted to achieve superior harmonic attenuation for grid-side currents at the expense of low harmonic filter volume. Therefore, interleaved converters are explored in Chapters 2 and 3. However, to block inter-channel circulation, additional use of coupled inductors (CI) can outweigh the benefits of interleaving. Therefore, modular FBB architectures with unique methods to handle circulating currents are proposed. At the same time, the FBB is designed to meet power quality and EMI limits for any given number of channels, up to the maximum number of channels, N, allowed at the point of common coupling (PCC). Consequently, a qualitative and quantitative comparison of FBB candidates is performed, and the indirectly coupled FBB using a secondary loop interconnection is proposed as a viable modular FBB candidate. Correspondingly, for DC-AC inverters, modular filters can be realized using a masked impedance and decoupling approach. The test case being a DC-fed motor drive for aircraft propulsion systems. Techniques, such as optimized parallel RC dampers to reduce the peak bearing current and CM/DM magnetic integration of a DC side filter with an embedded DC current sensor and embedded decoupling path with gate driver for high frequency commutation, are implemented to reduce the overall weight of the system. The challenges with low temperature rise margin due to high ambient temperature and low peak Partial Discharge Inception Voltage (PDIV) are addressed. In addition, a novel pulse with modulation (PWM) scheme is proposed to further enhance the bandwidth of the proposed AC filter, specifically targeted to reduce the peak bearing current and improve the specific power and motor lifetime. A negative consequence of high-density filter integration is the impact of self and mutual parasitic couplings of filter sub-components on filter attenuation, which is studied on a back-to-back converter system (AC-AC). Simplified lumped models that are representative of the high frequency filter behavior are developed to desensitize the impact of individual filter sub-components. Thereafter, unique winding and placement techniques are proposed to compensate for the impact of self and mutual parasitic couplings on the noise spectrum. Overall, this work presents potential FBB topologies for varying modes of power conversion (AC-DC, DC-AC, and AC-AC), ultimately aimed at reducing the volume/weight of the system. Methods to minimize the passive component volume/weight from the point of view of topology, magnetic integration, and PWM techniques are discussed, while the implications of a high-density integration at high frequency is presented. Generalized practical design guidelines are formulated to aid in accurate high-density filter design for WBG converters. / Doctor of Philosophy / With the ever-increasing use of switching converters, either AC-DC, DC-AC, or DC-DC converters, electromagnetic interference issues can affect the overall system performance, which necessitates the use of filters. This is especially true with more and more point-of-load applications (parallel converters in charging stations, industries, and residential loads), distributed energy sources (solar power, wind power, and battery storage systems), and primary sources (power plants) being integrated together into a super grid. Similarly, transportation applications (electric vehicles, more-electric aircrafts) demand strict filtering requirements, due to the prime importance of reliability. Therefore, three-phase power quality and EMI filters are an integral part of any power conversion system, from low to high power applications. First, novel techniques to address the scalability and modularity of filters with parallel converters are considered (grid-tied application), where the benefits of interleaving and challenges in circulating current mitigation are addressed. The idea is simply to design one filter that can be used with any given number of converters running in parallel, which promotes rapid manufacturability to meet the ever-increasing demand. Thereafter a highly integrated and optimized filter structure is demonstrated for a traction inverter used in aerospace propulsion. Challenges pertaining to compact filter design are addressed, and new methods are proposed to overcome some of the critical issues that come with high-altitude operation, such as reliability, high temperature, and partial discharge-free operation. Lastly, the effect of non-idealities on filters that can lead to deteriorated performance is explored. As such, solutions to compensate for these effects are proposed and verified. Clearly, there is a need to optimize filters as well, minimizing their volume and weight contribution within a power converter. This aspect is considered throughout the work where design guidelines are proposed to optimize the given filter topology, filter parameter selection, and form factors for different applications, ranging from AC-DC converters to DC-AC traction motor drives.

Seismic Design Manual for Interlocking Compressed Earth Blocks Nicholas Edwards Kennedy This thesis presents a comprehensive seismic design manual to be used to design and construct simple Interlocking Compressed Earth Block (ICEB) structures in seismically active regions. ICEBs are earth blocks made primarily of soil and stabilized with cement. They have female and male stud mechanisms designed to interlock when stacked, eliminating the need for mortar. The blocks can accept reinforcement and grout after they are placed. While ICEB construction is similar to conventional masonry construction, current design code standards for masonry only partially capture the actual behavior of ICEB structures. This thesis seeks to supplement the existing masonry design procedures and tailor them for use with ICEBs. Additionally, this paper presents a preliminary design of ICEB shear walls for a disaster reconstruction project in the Philippines. While many structures in Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago are constructed from earthen blocks, very few are engineered. Of those that are, a lack of formal design guidance specific to ICEB construction leaves most engineers and designers with conventional concrete masonry design practices, some of which are not applicable for use with ICEBs.