Variable generator output levels from renewable energies is an important technical obstacle to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable resources. Super grids and smart grids are among the most effective solutions to mitigate generation variability. In a super grid, electric utilities within an interconnected system can share generation and reserve units so that they can produce electricity at a lower overall cost. Smart grids, in particular demand response programs, enable flexible loads such as plug-in electric vehicles and HVAC systems to consume electricity preferntially in a grid-friendly way that assists the grid operator to maintain the power balance. These solutions, in conjunction with energy storage systems, can facilitate renewable integration. This study aims to provide an understanding of the achievable benefits from integrating demand response into wholesale and retail electricity markets, in particular in the presence of significant amounts of variable generation. Among the options for control methods for demand response, market-based approaches provide a relatively efficient use of load flexibility, without restricting consumers' autonomy or invading their privacy. In this regard, a model of demand response integration into bulk electric grids is presented to study the interaction between variable renewables and demand response in the double auction environment, on an hourly basis. The cost benefit analysis shows that there exists an upper limit of renewable integration, and that additional solutions such as super grids and/or energy storage systems are required to go beyond this threshold. The idea of operating an interconnection in an unified (centralized) manner is also explored. The traditional approach to the unit commitment problem is to determine the dispatch schedule of generation units to minimize the operation cost. However, in the presence of price-sensitive loads (market-based demand response), the maximization of economic surplus is a preferred objective to the minimization of cost. Accordingly, a surplus-maximizing hour-ahead scheduling problem is formulated, and is then tested on a system that represents a 20-area reduced model of the North America Western Interconnection for the planning year 2024. The simulation results show that the proposed scheduling method reduces the total operational costs substantially, taking advantage of renewable generation diversity. The value of demand response is more pronounced when ancillary services (e.g. real-time power balancing and voltage/frequency regulation) are also included along with basic temporal load shifting. Relating to this, a smart charging strategy for plug-in electric vehicles is developed that enables them to participate in a 5-minute retail electricity market. The cost reduction associated with implementation of this charging strategy is compared to uncontrolled charging. In addition, an optimal operation method for thermostatically controlled loads is developed that reduces energy costs and prevents grid congestion, while maintaining the room temperature in the comfort range set by the consumer. The proposed model also includes loads in the energy imbalance market. The simulation results show that market-based demand response can contribute to a significant cost saving at the sub-hourly level (e.g. HVAC optimal operation), but not at the super-hourly level. Therefore, we conclude that demand response programs and super grids are complementary approaches to overcoming renewable generation variation across a range of temporal and spatial scales. / Graduate / 0791 / sahandbehboodi@gmail.com

Today, hybrid electric propulsion technology provides a promising and practical solution for improving vehicle performance, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing harmful emissions, due to the additional flexibility that the technology has provided in the optimal power control and energy management, which are the keys to its success. In this work, a systematic approach for real-time optimal energy management of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) has been introduced and validated through two HEV/PHEV case studies. Firstly, a new analytical model of the optimal control problem for the Toyota Prius HEV with both offline and real-time solutions was presented and validated through Hardware-in-Loop (HIL) real-time simulation. Secondly, the new online or real-time optimal control algorithm was extended to a multi-regime PHEV by modifying the optimal control objective function and introducing a real-time implementable control algorithm with an adaptive coefficient tuning strategy. A number of practical issues in vehicle control, including drivability, controller integration, etc. are also investigated. The new algorithm was also validated on various driving cycles using both Model-in-Loop (MIL) and HIL environment. This research better utilizes the energy efficiency and emissions reduction potentials of hybrid electric powertrain systems, and forms the foundation for development of the next generation HEVs and PHEVs. / Graduate / laindeece@gmail.com

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-25T12:23:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Danuza Costa Campos.pdf: 804335 bytes, checksum: 441982181b951341885ec2d7d4211a38 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-09 / By the population growth, the production of municipal solid residues is enhancing, and consequently the final disposal of such residues has been one of the major environmental problems faced in large urban centers. Lately the most used form of arrangement is the sanitary landfill, and when the residues are biodegraded inside the landfill cells they produce leachate and biogas. The leachate is a highly liquid pollutant, besides having high concentrations of ammonia nitrogen. Treating leachate is a very difficult task once its composition is very complex. A kind of treatment that is being developed is the stripping of ammonia where this chemical will be removed from the leachate by the mass transfer of the liquid phase to gas. Therefore, this paper addressed to study the ammonia stripping process in leachate liquids using plug-flow reactors in series. In order to accomplish the experimental part four plugflow reactors in series were built, with average height of 50 centimeters, without forced air supplier and without the leachate pH adjustment. The leachate samples used was from the metropolitan landfill of João Pessoa city, Paraiba, which was collected and transported to the EXTRABES laboratory and made the physicalchemical caracterization. The experimental monitoring system consisted of four distinct phases, with applied superficial loads of 450, 500, 600 and 700 kg NH4 +. ha 1.dia 1, hydraulic detention time equal to 65, 60, 50 and 38 days, and it was obtained an average efficiency of ammonia nitrogen removal around 96.1%, 99.7%, 99.5% and 98.5% respectively. At the end of monitoring, the reactor was discharged and made microscopic examinations of the remaining sludge reactor and each can observe the presence of bacteria fototróficas anoxigênicas, cocci, bacilli and algae. Can be found in this study that the higher the applied superficial load, was greater efficiency of removal of ammonia nitrogen, which may be load tested to verify the larger surface of contaminant removal. / Com o aumento populacional, a geração de resíduos sólidos urbanos vem aumentando, e com isso a disposição final desses resíduos vem sendo um dos graves problemas ambientais enfrentados nos grandes centros urbanos. A forma de disposição mais utilizada ultimamente é o aterro sanitário, e quando os resíduos são biodegradados dentro das células dos aterros, esses geram lixiviado e biogás. O lixiviado é um líquido altamente poluidor, haja vista, possuir altas concentrações de nitrogênio amoniacal. Tratar lixiviado é uma tarefa muito difícil devido a sua composição ser muito complexa. Um tratamento que vem sendo desenvolvido é o stripping de amônia, no qual a amônia vai ser removida do lixiviado por transferência de massa da fase líquida para a fase gasosa. Com isso, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar o processo de stripping de amônia em líquidos lixiviados, utilizando reatores em série de fluxo pistonado. Para a realização da parte experimental foram construídos quatro reatores em série de fluxo pistonados, com altura média de 50 centímetros, sem alimentação forçada de ar e sem correção do pH do lixiviado. O lixiviado utilizado foi proveniente do aterro metropolitano de João Pessoa, onde foi coletado e transportado até as dependências físicas do laboratório da Estação Experimental de Tratamento Biológico de Esgoto Sanitário EXTRABES e feito a caracterização físico-química. O monitoramento do sistema experimental constou de quatro fases distintas, com cargas superficiais aplicadas de 450, 500, 600 e 700 kg NH4 +.ha 1.dia 1, tempo de detenção hidráulica igual a 65, 60, 50 e 38 dias, e obteve-se uma eficiência média de remoção de nitrogênio amoniacal em torno de 96,1%, 99,7%, 99,5% e 98,5%, respectivamente. Ao final do monitoramento, os reatores foram descarregados e feitos exames microscópicos no lodo remanescente de cada reator e pode-se observar a presença de bactérias fototróficas anoxigênicas, cocos, bacilos e algas. Pode ser constatado nesta pesquisa que quanto maior a carga superficial aplicada aos reatores, maior foi eficiência de remoção de nitrogênio amoniacal, podendo ainda ser testadas cargas superficiais maiores para verificar a remoção desse contaminante.

This Engineering Doctorate aims to understand the factors that generate variability in small power consumption in commercial office buildings in order to generate more representative, building specific estimates of energy consumption. Current energy modelling practices in England are heavily focussed on simplified calculations for compliance with Building Regulations, which exclude numerous sources of energy use such as small power. When considered, estimates of small power consumption are often based on historic benchmarks, which fail to capture the significant variability of this end-use, as well as the dynamic nature of office environments. Six interrelated studies are presented in this thesis resulting in three contributions to existing theory and practice. The first contribution consists of new monitored data of energy consumption and power demand profiles for individual small power equipment in use in contemporary office buildings. These were used to inform a critical review of existing benchmarks widely used by designers in the UK. In addition, monthly and annual small power consumption data for different tenants occupying similar buildings demonstrated variations of up to 73%. The second contribution consists of a cross-disciplinary investigation into the factors influencing small power consumption. A study based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour demonstrated that perceived behavioural control may account for 17% of the variation in electricity use by different tenants. A subsequent monitoring study at the equipment level identified that user attitudes and actions may have a greater impact on variations in energy consumption than job requirements or computer specification alone. The third contribution consists of two predictive models for estimating small power demand and energy consumption in office buildings. Outputs from both models were validated and demonstrated a good correlation between predictions and monitored data. This research also led to the development and publication of industry guidance on how to stimate operational energy use at the design stage.

On étudie à la fois l'estimation de l'entropie de Shannon d'une probabilité à partir d'observations indépendantes ou markoviennes, et l'estimation du taux d'entropie d'un processus markovien de sauts d'espace d'état fini, à partir d'observations continues ou discrètes. Plusieurs problèmes connexes sont traités. Certains apparaissent en amont de l'estimation, comme l'étude de la géométrie de la divergence de Kullback-Leibler en lien avec la transformation escorte. D'autres apparaissent comme des applications des résultats d'estimation obtenus. On construit ainsi des tests sur le niveau d'entropie d'une probabilité, à partir d'un principe de grandes déviations pour la suite des estimateurs empiriques de l'entropie d'une suite de variables indépendantes. On étudie également diverses propriétés en lien avec l'estimation de l'entropie et du taux d'entropie de files d'attente modélisées par des processus markoviens de naissance et de mort.

This article describes the development of a component-based technology robot system that can be rapidly configured to perform a specific manufacturing task. The system is conceived with standard and inter-operable components including actuator modules, rigid link connectors and tools that can be assembled into robots with arbitrary geometry and degrees of freedom. The reconfigurable "plug-and-play" robot kinematic and dynamic modeling algorithms are developed. These algorithms are the basis for the control and simulation of reconfigurable robots. The concept of robot configuration optimization is introduced for the effective use of the rapidly reconfigurable robots. Control and communications of the workcell components are facilitated by a workcell-wide TCP/IP network and device level CAN-bus networks. An object-oriented simulation and visualization software for the reconfigurable robot is developed based on Windows NT. Prototypes of the robot systems configured to perform 3D contour following task and the positioning task are constructed and demonstrated. Applications of such systems for biomedical tissue scaffold fabrication are considered. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The automotive industry is required to deal with increasingly stringent legislationfor greenhouse gases. Hybrid Electric Vehicles, HEV, are gaining acceptance as thefuture path of lower emissions and fuel consumption. The increased complexityof multiple prime movers demand more advanced control systems, where futuredriving conditions also becomes interesting. For a plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle,PIHEV, it is important to utilize the comparatively inexpensive electric energybefore the driving cycle is complete, this for minimize the cost of the driving cycle,since the battery in a PIHEV can be charged from the grid. A strategy with lengthinformation of the driving cycle from a global positioning system, GPS, couldreduce the cost of driving. This by starting to blend the electric energy with fuelearlier, a strategy called blended driving accomplish this by distribute the electricenergy, that is charged externally, with fuel over the driving cycle, and also ensurethat the battery’s minimum level reaches before the driving cycle is finished. Astrategy called Charge Depleting Charge Sustaining, CDCS, does not need lengthinformation. This strategy first depletes the battery to a minimum State of Charge,SOC, and after this engages the engine to maintain the SOC at this level. In thisthesis, a variable SOC reference is developed, which is dependent on knowledgeabout the cycle’s length and the current length the vehicle has driven in the cycle.With assistance of a variable SOC reference, is a blended strategy realized. Thisis used to minimize the cost of a driving cycle. A comparison between the blendedstrategy and the CDCS strategy was done, where the CDCS strategy uses a fixedSOC reference. During simulation is the usage of fuel minimized; and the blendedstrategy decreases the cost of the driving missions compared to the CDCS strategy.To solve the energy management problem is a model predictive control used. Thedesigned control system follows the driving cycles, is charge sustaining and solvesthe energy management problem during simulation. The system also handlesmoderate model errors. / Fordonsindustrin måste hantera allt strängare lagkrav mot utsläpp av emissioneroch växthusgaser. Hybridfordon har börjat betraktas som den framtida vägenför att ytterligare minska utsläpp och användning av fossila bränslen. Den ökadekomplexiteten från flera olika motorer kräver mera avancerade styrsystem. Begränsningarfrån motorernas energikällor gör att framtida förhållanden är viktigaatt estimera. För plug-in hybridfordon, PIHEV, är det viktigt att använda denvvijämförelsevis billiga elektriska energin innan fordonet har nått fram till slutdestinationen.Batteriets nuvarande energimängd mäts i dess State of Charge, SOC.Genom att utnyttja information om hur långt det är till slutdestinationen från ettGlobal Positioning System, GPS, blandar styrsystemet den elektriska energin medbränsle från början, detta kallas för blandad körning. En strategi som inte hartillgång till hur långt fordonet ska köras kallas Charge Depleting Charge Sustaining,CDCS. Denna strategi använder först energin från batteriet, för att sedanbörja använda förbränningsmotorn när SOC:s miniminivå har nåtts. Strategin attanvända GPS informationen är jämförd med en strategi som inte har tillgång tillinformation om körcykelns längd. Blandad körning använder en variabel SOC referens,till skillnad från CDCS strategin som använder sig av en konstant referenspå SOC:s miniminivå. Den variabla SOC referensen beror på hur långt fordonethar kört av den totala körsträckan, med hjälp av denna realiseras en blandad körning.Från simuleringarna visade det sig att blandad körning gav minskad kostnadför de simulerade körcyklerna jämfört med en CDCS strategi. En modellbaseradprediktionsreglering används för att lösa energifördelningsproblemet. Styrsystemetföljer körcykler och löser energifördelningsproblemet för de olika drivkällorna undersimuleringarna. Styrsystemet hanterar även måttliga modellfel.

Conventional wisdom suggests that in order to build a secure system, security must be an integral component in the system design. However, cost considerations drive most system designers to channel their efforts on the system's performance, scalability and usability. With little or no emphasis on security, such systems are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks that can potentially compromise confidentiality, integrity and availability of sensitive data. It is often cumbersome to redesign and implement massive systems with security as one of the primary design goals. This thesis advocates a proactive approach that cleanly retrofits security solutions into existing system architectures. The first step in this approach is to identify security threats, vulnerabilities and potential attacks on a system or an application. The second step is to develop security tools in the form of customizable and configurable plug-ins that address these security issues and minimally modify existing system code, while preserving its performance and scalability metrics. This thesis uses overlay network applications to shepherd through and address challenges involved in supporting security in large scale distributed systems. In particular, the focus is on two popular applications: publish/subscribe networks and VoIP networks. Our work on VoIP networks has for the first time identified and formalized caller identification attacks on VoIP networks. We have identified two attacks: a triangulation based timing attack on the VoIP network's route set up protocol and a flow analysis attack on the VoIP network's voice session protocol. These attacks allow an external observer (adversary) to uniquely (nearly) identify the true caller (and receiver) with high probability. Our work on the publish/subscribe networks has resulted in the development of an unified framework for handling event confidentiality, integrity, access control and DoS attacks, while incurring small overhead on the system. We have proposed a key isomorphism paradigm to preserve the confidentiality of events on publish/subscribe networks while permitting scalable content-based matching and routing. Our work on overlay network security has resulted in a novel information hiding technique on overlay networks. Our solution represents the first attempt to transparently hide the location of data items on an overlay network.

The batteries used in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) need to overcome significant technical challenges in order for PHEVs to become economically viable and have a large market penetration. The internship at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) involved two experiments which looked at a vehicle systems approach to analyze two such technical challenges: Battery life and low battery power at cold (-7 ⁰C) temperature. The first experiment, concerning battery life and its impact on gasoline savings due to a PHEV, evaluates different vehicle control strategies over a pre-defined vehicle drive cycle, in order to identify the control strategy which yields the maximum dollar savings (operating cost) over the life of the vehicle, when compared to a charge sustaining hybrid. Battery life degradation over the life of the vehicle, and fuel economy savings on every trip (daily) are taken into account when calculating the net present value of the gasoline dollars saved. The second experiment evaluates the impact of different vehicle control strategies in heating up the PHEV battery (due to internal ohmic losses) for cold ambient conditions. The impact of low battery power (available to the vehicle powertrain) due to low battery and ambient temperatures has been well documented in literature. The trade-off between the benefits of heating up the battery versus heating up the internal combustion engine are evaluated, using different control strategies, and the control strategy, which provided optimum temperature rise of each component, is identified.

ABSTRACT NOISE ASSESSMENT OF SHIPYARD WORKERS Can,&Ouml / zg&uuml / n M.Sc.,Department of Engineering Sciences Supervisor : Prof.Dr.G&uuml / lin Birlik May 2008,139 pages Noise is one of the most important health risks in workplaces worldwide and NIOSH identified noise as one of the 10 important occupational problems. In OSHA&#039 / s hearing conservation amendment it is stated that in U.S., more than 5 million workers are exposed to potentially hazardous levels of noise in manufacturing and utilities. In 1981 OSHA estimated that, at least one million workers in industry had undergone occupational hearing loss. Ship building has been one of the most promising and rapidly growing industries in Turkey in the recent years. It comprises many production techniques and activities, requires qualified personnel and compliance with several class institutions making the job interesting for the enthusiastic engineers and workers. However shipyard workers are subject to high levels of noise besides other health risks. The aim of this study is to figure out the effect of noise on shipyard workers. For this purpose 2 factories, namely Factory 1 and Factory 2 in a shipyard were chosen and two methods were adopted. The first method was the subjective evaluation of the workers through questionnaires distributed to them, whereas the second method involved the noise level measurement during their work hours. At all the points in Factory 1 where noise level measurements have been done, higher A-weighted values of noise than the limits stated in the legal regulations were found. In Factory 2, noise levels were all below the action value of 85 dBA .Dose measurements of the workers displayed the extremely variable acoustical conditions that the workers encountered. According to the &ldquo / Noise Regulation&rdquo / of Ministry of Labour and Social Security and &ldquo / The European Noise Directive&rdquo / , the employer seems to be obliged to measure periodically and to assess the level of noise exposure of workers in Factory 1 and take immediately the necessary precautions. Ear plug performance and speech interference conditions were also examined.