Frazil ice is a phenomenon that takes place in cold regions when the water of rivers, lakes or oceans is cooled under 0ºC. Several times during winter, frazil ice can appear at river Ätran, where Träbena hydropower plant is held by the company Wetterstad Consulting AB. Frazil ice particles contained in the flowing water are extremely sticky and adhere to any object placed in the water. Trash racks are used by the power plant at the water intakes to prevent any strange object to go into the turbines. However, frazil ice particles stick to the trash racks creating an ice blockage that interrupts the water inflow. In this situation, the power plant has to stop the production even for several months, due to the lack of water that reaches the turbines. In order to solve this problem, the company has installed a heating system on the trash racks that prevent the adhesion of frazil ice particles. This system is manually operated, and it is turned on or off based on the experience and predictions of the company. This heating system is very power consuming and every time it is turned on unnecessarily the company loses money. An automatic frazil ice detection system that turns on the heating system when needed is to be created. For that, several options have been analysed, and finally a capacitor-based sensor has been developed as a solution. The sensor consist of two steel plates coated with semi-transparent polycarbonate submerged underwater parallel placed in the space between the trash racks’ bars, forming this way a parallel plate capacitor. The capacitance of a capacitor depends exclusively on its geometry and the dielectric material between the plates. Hence when the water temperature is low enough, frazil ice particles stick to the plates of the capacitor and its capacitance will vary indicating that the accretion of frazil ice may block the water inflow. This variation is registered and a signal is send to the heating system to start operating. This way, the heating system is completely automated; no human intervention is needed at all. / <p>Developed for Wettestad Consulting AB.</p>

This thesis presents the design and experimental results of a low-power pipeline ADC that applies front-end capacitor-sharing. The ADC operates at 20 MS/s, resolves 1.5 bits/stage, and is implemented in IBM 0.13um technology. The purpose of the technique is to reduce power consumption in the front-end S/H. This work is a proof-of-concept and it concentrates on the front-end design. A comparison is conducted between a capacitor-sharing ADC and a regular ADC and as a result, the technique reduces the power consumption in the front-end S/H by 39%. At an input frequency of 9.53 MHz and a sampling rate of 20 MS/s, the fabricated capacitor-sharing ADC consumes 4.7 mW at 1.2 V, and it achieves an ENOB of 8.5 bits and a FOM of 0.68 pJ/step. It has an ENOB as high as 8.67 bits at 0.4 MS/s and a FOM as low as 0.6 pJ/step when sub-sampling at 20 MS/s.

This thesis presents the design and experimental results of a low-power pipeline ADC that applies front-end capacitor-sharing. The ADC operates at 20 MS/s, resolves 1.5 bits/stage, and is implemented in IBM 0.13um technology. The purpose of the technique is to reduce power consumption in the front-end S/H. This work is a proof-of-concept and it concentrates on the front-end design. A comparison is conducted between a capacitor-sharing ADC and a regular ADC and as a result, the technique reduces the power consumption in the front-end S/H by 39%. At an input frequency of 9.53 MHz and a sampling rate of 20 MS/s, the fabricated capacitor-sharing ADC consumes 4.7 mW at 1.2 V, and it achieves an ENOB of 8.5 bits and a FOM of 0.68 pJ/step. It has an ENOB as high as 8.67 bits at 0.4 MS/s and a FOM as low as 0.6 pJ/step when sub-sampling at 20 MS/s.

Rechargeable batteries are found in almost every battery powered application. Be it portable, stationary or motive applications, these batteries go hand in hand with battery charging systems. With energy harvesting being targeted in this day and age, high energy density and longer lasting batteries with efficient charging systems are being developed by companies and original equipment manufacturers. Whatever the application may be, rechargeable batteries, which deliver power to a load or system, have to be replenished or recharged once their energy is depleted. Battery charging systems must perform this replenishment by using very fast and efficient methods to extend battery life and to increase periods between charges. In this regard, they have to be versatile, efficient and user programmable to increase their applications in numerous battery powered systems. This is to reduce the cost of using different battery chargers for different types of battery powered applications and also to provide the convenience of rare battery replacement and extend the periods between charges. This thesis proposes a user programmable charging system that can charge a Lithium ion battery from three different input sources, i.e. a wall outlet, a universal serial bus (USB) and an energy harvesting system. The proposed charging system consists of three main building blocks, i.e. a pulse charger, a step down DC to DC converter and a switching network system, to extend the number of applications it can be used for. The switching network system is to allow charging of a battery via an energy harvesting system, while the step down converter is used to provide an initial supply voltage to kick start the energy harvesting system. The pulse charger enables the battery to be charged from a wall outlet or a USB network. It can also be reconfigured to charge a Nickel Metal Hydride battery. The final design is implemented on an IBM 0.18µm process. Experimental results verify the concept of the proposed charging system. The pulse charger is able to be reconfigured as a trickle charger and a constant current charger to charge a Li-ion battery and a Nickel Metal Hydride battery, respectively. The step down converter has a maximum efficiency of 90% at an input voltage of 3V and the charging of the battery via an energy harvesting system is also verified.

Surgical correction of scoliosis is a complicated mechanical process. Understanding the loads applied to the spine and providing immediate feedback to surgeons during scoliosis surgery will prevent overloading, improve surgical outcome and patient safety. Long-term development of residual forces in the spinal instrument after surgery with the continual curvature changes over time has been unknown. The goal of this research work was to develop a wireless implantable sensor platform to investigate the loads during and after surgery. This thesis describes research leading to the design of a sensor platform that uses both 403 MHz and 2.45 GHz for wireless communication, and reports the resolution and accuracy of the built-in temperature sensor, the A/D accuracy of the sensing platform, the power consumption at different operation modes, the range of the wireless communication and the discharge characteristics of a potential capacitive power module. / Biomedical Engineering

The objective of this work is to electrospin poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) based nanofibers with controlled diameter and to stabilize and carbonize them for developing meso-porous carbon for application as electrochemical capacitor electrodes. A sacrificial polymer, poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) has been used to control porosity. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have been used to increase electrode conductivity and hence power density. The study has been divided into two parts. In part I, electrospinning behavior of PAN and PAN/CNT has been studied. The diameter of electrospun PAN fibers was monitored as a function of polymer molecular weight, solution concentration, solution flow rate, distance between the spinneret and the target, and the applied voltage. Bead free PAN fibers of 60 nm diameter have been electrospun. Various electrospun fibers have been characterized by wide angle X-ray diffraction and by Raman spectroscopy. Electrospinning process has been observed by high speed photography. In part II, the electrospun PAN, PAN/SAN, and PAN/SAN/CNT fiber mats were stabilized, carbonized, and processed into electrochemical capacitor electrodes. The performance of the electrochemical capacitors was tested by the constant current charge/discharge and cyclic voltammetry in 6 molar potassium hydroxide aqueous solution. The surface area and pore size distribution of the electrodes were measured using N2 adsorption and desorption. The effect of surface area and pore size distribution on the capacitance performance has been studied. The capacitance performance of various carbonized electrospun fibers mats have been compared to those of the PAN/SAN/CNT film, carbon nanotube bucky paper, and activated carbon pellet. The capacitance of PAN/SAN/CNT fiber mat over 200 F/g (at a current density of 1 A/g) and the power density approaching 1 kW/kg have been observed. Addition of 1 wt% carbon nanotubes in PAN/SAN, improves the power density by a factor of four. For comparison, the capacitance of single wall carbon nanotube bucky paper at a current density of 1 A/g is about 50 F/g.

Hydrogen is considered one of the best alternatives to fossil-fuels for the transportation sector because hydrogen can be burnt cleanly and efficiently in a fuel cell to drive an electric motor. However, due to the low density of H2 at ambient conditions the conventional H2 storage technologies (cryogenic liquid and compressed gas) cannot achieve energy densities comparable to to gasoline and diesel. A second energy storage challenge onboard electric fuel cell vehicles is fuel cell power management at peak current loads, which requires an auxiliary power source like a battery or supercapacitor. The development of efficient onboard energy storage systems for H2 and auxiliary power is critical to realisation of a hydrogen economy. Mesoporous carbons were investigated as H2 storage materials in composites with magnesium hydride (MgH2),and as electrode materials for electrochemical double-later capacitors. The mesoporous carbons were prepared by two methods: (1) from porous silica and alumina templates, and (2) by chemical activation of a waste carbon source (waste coffee grounds). The experimental approach targeted reducing the cost of mesoporous carbon preparation by using a cheaper template, where the cost of alumina template was one-fifth the cost of the silica template (at the laboratory scale), or by using a waste material as a carbon source. The alumina template was found to be suitable to produce a mesoporous carbon with an average pore size of 4.8 nm. Chemical activation of coffee grounds with ZnCl2 produced activated carbons with BET surface areas up to 1280 m2/g. Mesopore volume increased with ZnCl2 impregnation ratio, with mesopore size distributions in the range 2 - 20 nm. The theoretical H2 capacity of MgH2 is 7.6 % but MgH2 application in fuel cell vehicles is limited by slow hydrogenation kinetics and high temperatures (> 573 K) for H2 release. Magnesium was impregnated on activated carbon fibres (ACF) and mesoporous carbon (prepared from silica and alumina templates) to improve H2 storage kinetics and thermodynamics by reducing the magnesium hydride particle size. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) studies showed that thermal decomposition of MgCl2 supported on ACF at 1173 K in N2 and H2 can produce a Mg-ACF composite. At 573 K and 2 MPa H2 pressure a Mg-ACF composite, containing 11.2 %wt Mg, showed improved H2 adsorption kinetics compared to bulk Mg powder, but the total capacity of the Mg-ACF composite was only 0.4 % wt H2. To achieve a target of 6 %wt for onboard H2 storage higher Mg loadings are required. Attempts to impregnate Mg in mesoporous carbon via the MgCl2 thermal decomposition process highlighted the difficulties of avoiding MgO formation, and show that MgH2 loaded carbon is unlikely to be a practical high density onboard H2 storage technology. Activated carbons from waste coffee grounds (CGCs) were used as electrode materials in electrochemical double-layer capacitors. The specific capacitance of CGCs was as high as 368 F/g in 1 mol/L H2SO4, with good capacitance retention at fast charge rates and stable cycling performance. The good electrochemical performance of CGCs is attributed to a porous structure featuring both micropores 0.5 - 1.0 nm wide, which are effective for double-layer formation, and small mesopores, which facilitate electrolyte transport at fast charge rates. The capacitance of CGCs is enhanced by pseudo-Faradaic reactions involving nitrogen and oxygen functional groups. At fast charge-discharge rates the CGCs had higher energy density and better stability than a commercial benchmark activated carbon (Maxsorb). The ZnCl2 activation process can be optimised to develop mesopores for improved capacitance at fast charge rates and capacitance in organic electrolytes. In 1 mol/L tetra ethyl ammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEABF4) / acetonitrile the CGC with the most mesopores, which was prepared with a ZnCl2 to coffee ratio of 5:1, has the highest capacitance at high power density. CGCs with greater mesopore content retained higher specific capacitance at fast charge-discharge rates as the mesopores acts as channels or reservoirs for electrolyte transport. An improved model for evaluation of contributions to capacitance from micropore surfaces and mesopore surfaces is proposed. From this model the double-layer capacitance of mesopores surface area was found to be about 14 μF/cm2 and did not change considerably with increasing current load. The contribution of micropores to capacitance is dependent on the accessibility of ions to the micropores, and this accessibility is proportional to the mesopore surface area. An exponential function was found to describe the contribution of mesopores and micropore surfaces to capacitance. The effective double-layer capacitance of the micropore surface area drops at fast charge-discharge rates as a result of restricted ion transport, and this result highlights the importance of mesopores to retain energy density for high power supercapacitor applications.

Energy storage devices are generally evaluated on two main requirements; power and energy. In supercapacitors these two performance criteria are altered by the capacitance, resistance and voltage. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio University, March, 1999. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2008. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-46).