Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Cape Town includes two vegetable farming areas within the city limits, the Joostenbergvlakte/Kraaifontein area and the Philippi area. Both areas supply produce to local markets and further afield. Sporadically, high levels of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc have been found to occur in some of the soils, irrigation water resources and crops. To find the sources of specifically Cd, Pb and Zn to these agricultural systems, extensive analysis of several heavy metals in inputs such as fertilizers, agrochemicals and supplementary water resources to these farming areas was undertaken. Heavy metal concentrations in soils, irrigation water resources and crops were also determined. Two mitigation techniques that could be used to remediate Cd, Pb and Zn contamination were investigated. The first mitigation method included immobilization of heavy metals as phosphate complexes by using a triple super phosphate fertilizer, while the second method involved mobilisation and thus leaching of heavy metals away from plant roots using EDTA. These mitigation methods were tested in a pot experiment using cabbage as the experimental crop and soil from these areas as growth medium. A survey of common farming practices in these two areas and farmers willingness to use remediation methods was conducted. / South Africa

A produção economicamente viável dos aços inoxidáveis duplex, pressupõe a utilização de sucatas e retornos de ligas contendo altos teores de elementos como Cr, Ni e Mo. O aproveitamento destes materiais pode entretanto, introduzir na composição química outros elementos não previstos pela norma do material sendo produzido. Este trabalho estudou a influência do Nb na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas do aço inoxidável superduplex fundido SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, bem como sobre as etapas de fabricação de um produto fundido. Os teores de Nb estudados foram 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% e 1,5% (% em peso). Foi dado ênfase às microestruturas e propriedades no estado bruto de fundição, após tratamento térmico de solubilização e finalmente, após envelhecimento das amostras solubilizadas. Foram utilizadas diversas técnicas de avaliação microestrutural: microscopia ótica, metalografia quantitativa, microscopia eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão, análise química de microregiões com microssonda eletrônica, ensaios magnéticos via ferritoscópio e ensaios dilatométricos. Os ensaios mecânicos realizados foram: dureza, ensaio de tração e ensaio Charpy. A análise dos resultados demonstrou que o Nb causou uma sensível alteração na microestrutura e nas propriedades mecânicas da liga, dificultando o processo de produção de uma peça fundida. / To produce duplex stainless steel in an economic way it is necessary to use scrap and process returns containing high Cr, Ni and Mo contents. This procedure can result in an unexpected alloy chemical composition with some elements not included in the material standard. This work studied the Nb influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast super duplex stainless steel SEW 410 W. Nr. 1.4517, as well as the influence over the fabrication process of a casting. The Nb contents studied were 0%, 0,2%, 0,5% and 1,5% (weight %). Emphasis was given to the microstructures and mechanical properties in as cast condition, after solution heat treatment and finally after aging of previous solution heat treated samples. Several microstructural analysis techniques were used: optical microscopy, quantitative metallography, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, chemical microanalysis using energy dispersive spectrometry, magnetic phase detection using feritscope and dilatometry. The mechanical testing realized were hardness testing, tension testing and Charpy impact testing. Results analysis demonstrated that Nb caused an appreciable change on microstructure and mechanical properties of the material, making difficult the fabrication process of a casting.

Orientador: Marcelino Pereira do Nascimento / Resumo: Estudos recentes mostram tendência de desenvolvimento de sistemas capazes de recuperar energia dos gases de escape. Apesar de ser de fato uma fonte de energia, os sistemas para recuperação instalados na linha de exaustão mostram grande complexidade e necessidade de muito espaço de instalação. O presente estudo demonstra a viabilidade de recuperação de energia do sistema de arrefecimento com espaço de instalação reduzido. O estudo propõe a geração de vapor através de perfis instalados nas paredes da câmara de combustão e sua aplicação em um ciclo Rankine para gerar trabalho através de expansor. A simulação realizada com o software GT-Power demonstra a possibilidade de extrair calor das câmaras com a mesma eficiência de um sistema convencional de arrefecimento por água e aditivo. Paralelamente, o estudo propõe um sistema de recirculação de gases de exaustão sem o uso de um trocador de calor, patenteado pela empresa patrocinadora, complementando a estratégia para evitar o uso desnecessário de energia em um motor a combustão. Os gases provenientes da linha de baixa pressão da exaustão são admitidos pela linha de ar limpo, em alta pressão, através do uso de uma válvula Laval. Os resultados são provenientes de uma rotina de cálculo em Excel, base VBA. O sistema permite que os gases fluam por fora da turbina e elimina a necessidade de um trocador de calor, resolvendo o maior problema dos sistema convencionais de recirculação de gases em baixa pressão. A combinação das duas soluções,... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Doutor

Ce travail de thèse porte sur le développement et l'étude de diodes laser moyen infrarouge dont la zone active est constituée d'un super réseau (SR) à très courte période InAs/GaSb/InSb élaboré par épitaxie par jets moléculaires. La gamme de longueur d'onde d'émission visée est 3 - 3,5 µm qui est très intéressante pour des applications d'analyse de gaz par spectroscopie optique mais pour laquelle il n'y a encore aucun composant performant. Nous avons tout d'abord étudié les propriétés optoélectroniques du SR InAs/GaSb/InSb. La structure de bandes a été modélisée dans une approche k-p. L'interface sans atome commun InAs/GaSb est simulée arbitrairement par une monocouche de InAsxSb1-x dont la composition varie avec les conditions de croissance et donc avec l'interface réelle. Un bon accord est obtenu entre le gap effectif calculé et l'énergie des spectres de photoluminescence. Une attention particulière a été portée à l'impact de l'insertion contrôlée d'InSb dans le SR. Le raccordement de bandes du SR avec le guide d'onde, capital pour fabriquer un laser, a aussi été étudié. Un premier dessin de zone active a été proposé pour atteindre l'objectif. Par la suite, les performances intrinsèques des diodes lasers à SR ont été calculées par l'intermédiaire de la modélisation du gain du SR. L'effet laser avec une densité de courant de seuil proche de 0,5 kA/cm² est théoriquement possible. Les lasers à SR InAs/GaSb/InSb ont alors été étudiés expérimentalement. Nous avons fait varier de nombreux paramètres : composition et épaisseur du SR, du guide d'onde et des couches de confinement, procédé technologique? Les résultats expérimentaux ont montré des comportements proches des modélisations effectuées. L'effet laser à la température ambiante a été obtenu avec une densité de courant de seuil de l'effet laser de 2 kA/cm² à 3,2 µm et de 1,8 kA/cm² à 3,1 µm. Des perspectives d'optimisation des composants sont proposées en conclusion. / This work reports the development and study of infra-red laser diodes with InAs/GaSb/InSb short-period super lattice (SL) active region grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The target wavelength range of emission is 3 - 3.5 µm which is very interesting for gas application analysis by optical spectroscopy. There is no efficient component in this range. Firstly, we have studied the optoelectronic properties of the InAs/GaSb/InSb SL. The band structure was modelled with the k-p approach. The non-common atom InAs/GaSb interface is simulated by an arbitrary InAsxSb1-x monolayer whose composition depends with the growth conditions. A good agreement is obtained between the calculated effective gap and the energy of the photoluminescence spectra. A special attention was focus on the impact of InSb insertion in the SL. The SL band offset with the waveguide, capital to obtain high laser performance, was also studied. A first design of active zone was proposed to achieve the objective. Then, the intrinsic performances of SL lasers diode were calculated via modelling of the SL gain. Laser operation with a threshold current density close to 0.5kA/cm² is theorically possible. Lasers based on InAs/GaSb/InSb SL were then experimentally investigated. We studied several parameters: composition and thickness of SL, waveguide and cladding, technology process? The experimental results showed behaviours close to modelling. Laser operation was obtained at room temperature with a threshold current density of 2kA/cm² at 3.2µm and 1.8kA/cm² at 3.1µm. Prospects for device optimization are proposed in conclusion.

abstract: In recent years, the Silicon Super-Junction (SJ) power metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), has garnered significant interest from spacecraft designers. This is due to their high breakdown voltage and low specific on-state resistance characteristics. Most of the previous research work on power MOSFETS for space applications concentrated on improving the radiation tolerance of low to medium voltage (~ 300V) power MOSFETs. Therefore, understanding and improving the reliability of high voltage SJMOS for the harsh space radiation environment is an important endeavor.In this work, a 600V commercially available silicon planar gate SJMOS is used to study the SJ technology’s tolerance against total ionizing dose (TID) and destructive single event effects (SEE), such as, single event burnout (SEB) and single event gate rupture (SEGR). A technology computer aided design (TCAD) software tool is used to design the SJMOS and simulate its electrical characteristics. Electrical characterization of SJMOS devices showed substantial decrease in threshold voltage and increase in leakage current due to TID. Therefore, as a solution to improve the TID tolerance, metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor (MNOS) capacitors with different oxide/nitride thickness combinations were fabricated and irradiated using a Co-60 gamma-source. Electrical characterization showed all samples with oxide/nitride stack gate insulators exhibited significantly higher tolerance to irradiation when compared to metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors. Heavy ion testing of the SJMOS showed the device failed due to SEB and SEGR at 10% of maximum rated bias values. In this work, a 600V SJMOS structure is designed that is tolerant to both SEB and SEGR. In a SJMOS with planar gate, reducing the neck width improves the tolerance to SEGR but significantly changes the device electrical characteristics. The trench gate SJ device design is shown to overcome this problem. A buffer layer and larger P+-plug are added to the trench gate SJ power transistor to improve SEB tolerance. Using TCAD simulations, the proposed trench gate structure and the tested planar gate SJMOS are compared. The simulation results showed that the SEB and SEGR hardness in the proposed structure has improved by a factor of 10 and passes at the device’s maximum rated bias value with improved electrical performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2020

Monitoring of public areas and their automatic real-time processing became increasingly significant due to the changing security situation in the world. However, the problem is an analysis of low-quality records, where even the state-of-the-art methods fail in some cases. This work investigates an important area of image similarity – biometric identification based on face image. The work deals primarily with the face super-resolution from a sequence of low-resolution images and it compares this approach to the single-frame methods, that are still considered as the most accurate. A new dataset was created for this purpose, which is directly designed for the multi-frame face super-resolution methods from the low-resolution input sequence, and it is of comparable size with the leading world datasets. The results were evaluated by both a survey of human perception and defined objective metrics. A hypothesis that multi-frame methods achieve better results than single-frame methods was proved by a comparison of both methods. Architectures, source code and the dataset were released. That caused a creation of the basis for future research in this field.

The aim of the work is to design a plain wood combustion boiler of 88 t/h output. Fuelling component analysis has been added to the basic boiler parameters. For given fuel is prepared stechiometric calculations. After making the heat balance of boiler is determined the thermal efficiency. For given output of steam parametrs (temparature, pressure, volume) are designed individual convective surfaces and dimensons of the boiler. It is also made drawings.

The aim of this thesis is design a grate steam boiler for burning straw with an output of 10 tons of steam per hour. The produceds team has parameters 320 °C, 3,2 MPa. For a given fuel (fytomass) is calculated stoichiometric calculation. The following is the calculation of the heat balance of the boiler including the determinativ of thermal efficiency. The fuel used, the required parameters of steam and feed water temperature are designed individual convective surfaces and dimensions of the boiler. The boiler design includes drawings.

This diploma thesis “Tubular Skid Holder of Skoda Fabia Super 2000 Rally Car” is aimed to engineering design of tubular skid holder of rally car Skoda Fabia Super 2000. There is used FEM software for analysis s evaluation of current variant and following variants of engineering design. The most relevant final variant design, which is consistent with asked stiffness and reduction of weight, was chosen based on findings.

The work deals with the constructional and calculation design of the boiler for burning wood and combustion coal in scale (30/70-coal), in load 50 t/h, parameters of steam output p=7,5 MPa, t=480 °C and a temperature of feed water 105 °C. It is a boiler with natural water circulation by evaporation surfaces. In proposal first steichiometric calculations and enthalpic calculations of air and flue gas are performed. Then it is calculated heat balance, the boiler losses and the thermal efficiency is determined. After designing the combustion chamber and dimensions of pulls are determined. In last chapter the overall energy balance are checked. Drawing documentation of steam boiler is a part of the work.