The complicated process may cause the internal defects of multi-layered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and result in the malfunctions. This work aims to investigate the deformations of MLCCs that composed of nearly a hundred of BaTiO3 and Ni electrode films interleaved and stacked due to high pressure at elevated temperature. This study focuses on theoretical and numerical analyses. Classical laminated plate theory, linear elastic assumptions and equilibrium equations were adopted. Associated with the texts by Timoshenko and practical manufacturing process, three types of boundary conditions were considered, such as all edges simple-supported, two opposite edges simple-supported and the other two free, and four edges free. Also, two more conditions need be added, including four fixed points at corners and the elastic foundation at bottom. The numerical simulation by finite element method (FEM) incorporated with software ANSYS was used to obtain the displacement field of MLCCs due to high pressure at elevated temperature. The MLCCs were divided into nine regions with suitably different boundary conditions. Compared with the numerical results the analytical solutions of nine regions were found satisfactorily acceptable, i.e., the errors were about 0.1% - 6.2% for the boundary conditions of four edges free and four corners fixed. The errors about 0.13% - 6.15% were also acceptable for the boundary conditions of two opposite edges simple-supported and the others free. However, the analytical solutions did not agree with the numerical results for the case of all the boundary conditions simple-supported. Finally the proposed theoretical methodology provides an analytical method alternatively, instead of FEM and ANSYS, to analyze a nearly hundred layered MLCCs.

A miniaturization technique that allows the size of microstrip square open loop resonators to be reduced by more than 80% is presented and studied. The technique is based on the loading of the resonator with a series surface mount capacitor. It is shown that this technique allows the design of microwave bandpass filters with a wider stopband when compared with conventional designs. It is also proved that the insertion loss of the miniaturized filter is not degraded, but in fact can be maintained or even enhanced by the miniaturization process; this is true whenever the quality factor of the lumped capacitor is higher than the quality factor of the microstrip resonator. Finally, the feasibility of using the effect of the capacitor loss in the miniaturized resonator quality factor as a method to measure the effective series resistance of surface mount capacitors is studied, and recommendations towards its implementation are presented.

Energijos kaupiklių kūrimas pastaraisiais metais tapo svarbia mokslo aktualija. Elektrocheminiai kondensatoriai pasižymi didesne galia, ilgesniu savaiminio išsikrovimo laiku ir didesniu darbo ciklų skaičiumi negu tradicinės elektrocheminės baterijos. Didžiausia savitąja talpa pasižymi RuO2, tačiau jo praktinį taikymą riboja didelė kaina, todėl ieškoma pigesnių pakaitalų. Pastaraisiais metais aktyviai tiriamas kobalto oksidas. Svarbu yra surasti ekonomiškai efektyvius ir paprastus metodus, leidžiančius padidinti kobalto oksidų pseudotalpas. Darbe nustatytos elektrocheminio Co nusodinimo sąlygos, kurioms esant yra formuojama pluoštinė nanostruktūra, pasižyminti dideliu paviršiaus plotu. Anodinės poliarizacijos būdu buvo suformuoti kobalto hidro/oksido sluoksniai ir ištirta jų pseudotalpa ant skirtingų substratų: nanostruktūrinės, magnetroninės-plazminės dangos ir metalurginio Co. Pseudotalpinė kobalto hidro/oksidų elgsena buvo ištirta ciklinės voltamperometrijos metodu kartu su elektrocheminėmis kvarco kristalo svarstyklėmis (EKKM). Oksidiniai sluoksniai parodė grįžtamą redukcijos-reoksidacijos ir atitinkamą pseudotalpinę elgseną. Per kelis tūkstančius anodinių ciklų buvo parodyta, kad oksidinis sluoksnis išliko stabilus. Nustatyta, kad hidro/oksidų, suformuotų ant nanostruktūrinės Co dangos, talpa maždaug 5 kartus didesnė nei suformuotų ant metalurginio Co. Šiame darbe pasiūlytas naujas kobalto oksido formavimo būdas: sulfidinės Co(OH)2–CoS kompozicijos formavimas ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Design of high efficiency energy accumulators has recently become an important issue of science and technology. Electrochemical capacitors are distinguished for a greater power, a longer self-discharge time and a greater number of work cycles as compared to those of traditional electrochemical batteries. Effective supercapacitors are mainly produced of RuO2, which is distinguished from other metals for its nearly highest specific capacity, however its practical application is limited by its high price, therefore efforts are under way to find cheaper substitutes. Recently cobalt oxide has been intensively studied. It is important to find economically effective and simple methods which will make it possible to increase the pseudocapacities of cobalt oxides. The conditions of electrochemical cobalt deposition, under which the fiber Co nanostructure possessing a great surface area is formed, have been determined in the work. Cobalt hydro/oxide layers were formed by the anodic polarization method and their pseudocapacity was studied on various substrates: nanostructured, magnetron-sputtered coating and metallurgical cobalt. The pseudocapacitor behaviour of cobalt hydro/oxides was studied by using the cyclic voltammetry method along with electrochemical quartz crystal mocrobalance (EKKM). Oxide layers showed oxidation-reduction and corresponding pseudo-capacitor behaviour.It has been shown that the oxide layer is stable and it withstands a few thousand polarization cycles. It has... [to full text]

Design of high efficiency energy accumulators has recently become an important issue of science and technology. Electrochemical capacitors are distinguished for a greater power, a longer self-discharge time and a greater number of work cycles as compared to those of traditional electrochemical batteries. Effective supercapacitors are mainly produced of RuO2, which is distinguished from other metals for its nearly highest specific capacity, however its practical application is limited by its high price, therefore efforts are under way to find cheaper substitutes. Recently cobalt oxide has been intensively studied. It is important to find economically effective and simple methods which will make it possible to increase the pseudocapacities of cobalt oxides. The conditions of electrochemical cobalt deposition, under which the fiber Co nanostructure possessing a great surface area is formed, have been determined in the work. Cobalt hydro/oxide layers were formed by the anodic polarization method and their pseudocapacity was studied on various substrates: nanostructured, magnetron-sputtered coating and metallurgical cobalt. The pseudocapacitor behaviour of cobalt hydro/oxides was studied by using the cyclic voltammetry method along with electrochemical quartz crystal mocrobalance (EKKM). Oxide layers showed oxidation-reduction and corresponding pseudo-capacitor behaviour.It has been shown that the oxide layer is stable and it withstands a few thousand polarization cycles. It has... [to full text] / Energijos kaupiklių kūrimas pastaraisiais metais tapo svarbia mokslo aktualija. Elektrocheminiai kondensatoriai pasižymi didesne galia, ilgesniu savaiminio išsikrovimo laiku ir didesniu darbo ciklų skaičiumi negu tradicinės elektrocheminės baterijos. Didžiausia savitąja talpa pasižymi RuO2, tačiau jo praktinį taikymą riboja didelė kaina, todėl ieškoma pigesnių pakaitalų. Pastaraisiais metais aktyviai tiriamas kobalto oksidas. Svarbu yra surasti ekonomiškai efektyvius ir paprastus metodus, leidžiančius padidinti kobalto oksidų pseudotalpas. Darbe nustatytos elektrocheminio Co nusodinimo sąlygos, kurioms esant yra formuojama pluoštinė nanostruktūra, pasižyminti dideliu paviršiaus plotu. Anodinės poliarizacijos būdu buvo suformuoti kobalto hidro/oksido sluoksniai ir ištirta jų pseudotalpa ant skirtingų substratų: nanostruktūrinės, magnetroninės-plazminės dangos ir metalurginio Co. Pseudotalpinė kobalto hidro/oksidų elgsena buvo ištirta ciklinės voltamperometrijos metodu kartu su elektrocheminėmis kvarco kristalo svarstyklėmis (EKKM). Oksidiniai sluoksniai parodė grįžtamą redukcijos-reoksidacijos ir atitinkamą pseudotalpinę elgseną. Per kelis tūkstančius anodinių ciklų buvo parodyta, kad oksidinis sluoksnis išliko stabilus. Nustatyta, kad hidro/oksidų, suformuotų ant nanostruktūrinės Co dangos, talpa maždaug 5 kartus didesnė nei suformuotų ant metalurginio Co. Šiame darbe pasiūlytas naujas kobalto oksido formavimo būdas: sulfidinės Co(OH)2–CoS kompozicijos formavimas ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Vertically aligned multi walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) arrays fabricated by xylene pyrolysis in anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) templates without the use of a catalyst, were integrated into a resistive sensor design. The steady state sensitivities as high as 5% and 10% for 100 ppm of NH3 and NO2 respectively at a flow rate of 750 sccm were observed. A study was undertaken to elucidate (i) the dependence of sensitivity on the thickness of amorphous carbon layers, (ii) the effect of UV light on gas desorption characteristics and (iii) the dependence of room temperature sensitivity on different NH3 and NO2 flow rates. An equivalent circuit model was developed to understand the operation and propose design changes for increased sensitivity. Multi Walled Carbon NanoTubes (MWCNTs) – Polymer composite based hybrid sensors were fabricated and integrated into a resistive sensor design for gas sensing applications. Thin films of MWCNTs were grown onto Si/SiO2 substrates via xylene pyrolysis using chemical vapor deposition technique. Polymers like PEDOT:PSS and Polyaniline (PANI) mixed with various solvents like DMSO, DMF, 2-Propanol and Ethylene Glycol were used to synthesize the composite films. These sensors exhibited excellent response and selectivity at room temperature when exposed to low concentrations (100ppm) of gases like NH3 and NO2. Effect of various solvents on the sensor response imparting selectivity to CNT – Polymer nanocomposites was investigated extensively. Sensitivities as high as 28% was observed for a MWCNT – PEDOT:PSS composite sensor when exposed to 100ppm of NH3 and -29.8% sensitivity for a MWCNT-PANI composite sensor to 100ppm of NO2. A novel nanostructured electrode design for Li based batteries and electrochemical capacitor applications was developed and tested. High density and highly aligned metal oxide nanowire arrays were fabricated via template assisted electrochemical deposition. Nickel and Molybdenum nanowires fabricated via cathodic deposition process were converted into respective oxides via thermal treatments and were evaluated as electrodes for batteries and capacitor applications via Cyclic Voltammetery (CV). Several chemical baths were formulated for the deposition of pristine molybdenum nanowires. Superior electrochemical performance of metal (Ni and Mo) oxide nanowires was observed in comparison to the previously reported nano-particle based electrodes.

With the MOSFET scaling practice, the performance of IC devices is improved tremendously as we experienced in the last decades. However, the small semiconductor devices also bring some drawbacks among which the high gate leakage current is becoming increasingly serious. This thesis work is focused on the of gate leakage current reduction in thin oxide semiconductor devices. The method being studied is the Phonon Energy Coupling Enhancement (PECE) effect induced by Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP). The basic MOS capacitors are used to check improvements of leakage current reduction after appropriate RTP process. Through sets of experiments, it is found that after RTP in Helium environment could bring about four orders reduction in gate leakage current of MOS capacitors.

Driven by economic, technical and environmental factors, the energy sector is currently undergoing a profound paradigm shift towards a smarter grid setup. Increased intake of Distributed and Renewable Generation (DG) units is one of the Smart Grid (SG) pillars that will lead to numerous advantages among which lower electricity losses, increased reliability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions are the most salient. The increase of DG units’ penetration will cause changes to the characteristics of distribution networks from being passive with unidirectional power flow towards Active Distribution Networks (ADNs) with multi-direction power flow. However, such changes in the current distribution systems structure and design will halt the seamless DG integration due to various technical issues that may arise. Voltage and reactive power control is one of the most significant issues that limit increasing DG penetration into distribution systems. On the other hand, the term microgrid has been created to be the building block of ADNs. A microgrid should be able to operate in two modes of operation, grid-connected or islanded. The successful implementation of the microgrid concept demands a proper definition of the regulations governing its integration in distribution systems. In order to define such regulations, an accurate evaluation of the benefits that microgrids will bring to customers and utilities is needed. Therefore, there is a need for careful consideration of microgrids in the assessment, operation, planning and design aspects of ADNs. Moreover, SG offers new digital technologies to be combined with the existing utility grids to substantially improve the overall efficiency and reliability of the network. Advanced network monitoring, two ways communication acts and intelligent control methods represent the main features of SG. Thus it is required to properly apply these features to facilitate a seamless integration of DG units in ADNs considering microgrids. Motivated by voltage and reactive power control issues in ADNs, the concept of microgrids, and SG technologies, three consequent stages are presented in this thesis. In the first stage, the issues of voltage and reactive power control in traditional distribution systems are addressed and assessed in order to shed the light on the potential conflicts that are expected with high DG penetration. A simple, yet efficient and generic three phase power flow algorithm is developed to facilitate the assessment. The results show that utility voltage and reactive power control devices can no longer use conventional control techniques and there is a necessity for the evolution of voltage and reactive power control from traditional to smart control schemes. Furthermore, a probabilistic approach for assessing the impacts of voltage and reactive power constraints on the probability of successful operation of islanded microgrids and its impacts on the anticipated improvement in the system and customer reliability indices is developed. The assessment approach takes into account: 1) the stochastic nature of DG units and loads variability, 2) the special philosophy of operation for islanded microgrids, 3) the different configurations of microgrids in ADNs, and 4) the microgrids dynamic stability. The results show that voltage and reactive power aspects cannot be excluded from the assessment of islanded microgrids successful operation. The assessment studies described in the first stage should be followed by new voltage and reactive power planning approaches that take into account the characteristics of ADNs and the successful operation of islanded microgrids. Feeders shunt capacitors are the main reactive power sources in distribution networks that are typically planned to be located or reallocated in order to provide voltage support and reduce the energy losses. Thus, in the second stage, the problem of capacitor planning in distribution network has been reformulated to consider microgrids in islanded mode. The genetic algorithm technique (GA) is utilized to solve the new formulation. The simulation results show that the new formulation for the problem of capacitor planning will facilitate a successful implementation of ADNs considering islanded microgrids. In the third stage, the SG technologies are applied to construct a two ways communication-based distributed control that has the capability to provide proper voltage and reactive power control in ADNs. The proposed control scheme is defined according to the concept of multiagent technology, where each voltage and reactive power control device or DG unit is considered as a control agent. An intelligent Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is proposed for the interior structure of each control agent. The Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA) performatives are used as communication acts between the control agents. First, the distributed control scheme is applied for voltage regulation in distribution feeders at which load tap changer (LTC) or step voltage regulators are installed at the begging of the feeder. In this case, the proposed control aims to modify the local estimation of the line drop compensation circuit via communication. Second, the control scheme is modified to take into consideration the case of multiple feeders having a substation LTC and unbalanced load diversity. To verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control structure, a multiagent simulation model is proposed. The simulation results show that distributed control structure has the capability to mitigate the interference between DG units and utility voltage and reactive power control devices.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-96).

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 6, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Naz E. Islam. Includes bibliographical references.