When using an intermittent source of energy such as wind power together with a synchronous machine a frequency converter system is needed to decouple the generator from the grid, due to the fluctuations in wind speed resulting in fluctuating electrical frequency. The aim of this master's thesis is to investigate how different types of rectification methods affect permanent magnet synchronous machines of different saliency ratios. A literature study was carried out to review the research within the area and to acquire the necessary knowledge to carry out the work. Two simulation models were created that include a permanent magnet synchronous generator driven by a wind turbine and connected to the grid via a frequency converter, where one model utilizes active rectification and one utilizes passive rectification. The simulation models were verified by carrying out an experiment on a similar setup, which showed that the simulation results coincide well with the results of the experiment. The results of the simulation study were then used to compare the rectification systems as well as investigate the affect that rotor saliency has on the system. It was shown that the active rectification provided a higher efficiency than the passive rectification system, however the saliency of the rotor had little effect on the system

This thesis describes reconstruction of scene which is scan trough two cameras. There are described methods of calibration of cameras system, methods for finding the corners and methods for finding correspondences. Corners are searched by FAST detector and for search correspondences are used normalized cross correlation. In the framework of 3D reconstruction is implemented rectification. The final shape is saved to VRML format. In the thesis are described parallelization options. The calculation of the correlation is optimized for multiprocessors CPU and there are designed implementations of algorithm to GPU and FPGA too.

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Yes / The activity-regulated cytoskeleton associated protein (Arc/Arg3.1) plays a key role in determining synaptic strength through facilitation of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) endocytosis. Although there is considerable data on the mechanism by which Arc induction controls synaptic plasticity and learning behaviours, several key mechanistic questions remain. Here we review data on the link between Arc expression and the clathrin-mediated endocytic pathway which internalises AMPARs and discuss the significance of Arc binding to the clathrin adaptor protein 2 (AP-2) and to endophilin/dynamin. We consider which AMPAR subunits are selected for Arc-mediated internalisation, implications for synaptic function and consider Arc as a therapeutic target. / The work in S.A.L.C. laboratory is supported by the BBSRC (BB/H018344/1 and BB/J02127X/1) and Wellcome Trust 200646/Z/16/Z. The work in M.J.W. Laboratory is supported by ERUK.

Since strain changes the interatomic spacing of matter and alters electron and phonon dispersion, an applied strain ϵ can modify the thermal conductivity κ of a material. This thesis shows how the strain induced by heteroepitaxy is a passive mechanism to change κ in a thin film and how the film thickness is key to the functional form of κ(ϵ). Molecular Dynamics simulations of the physical vapor deposition and epitaxial growth of ZnTe thin films provide insights into the role of interfacial strain on the thermal conductivity of a deposited film. ZnTe films grown on a lattice mismatched CdTe substrate exhibit ~6% in-plane biaxial tension and ~7% out-of-plane uniaxial compression. In the T=700 K to 1100 K temperature range, the conductivities of strained ZnTe layers that are 5 unit cells thick decrease by ~ 35%, a result that is relevant to thermoelectric devices since strain can also enhance charge mobility and increase their overall efficiency. The resulting understanding of dκ/dT shows that strain engineering can also be used to create a thermal rectifier in a material that is partly strained and partly relaxed, like at the junction of an axial nanowire heterostructure. To better isolate the role of strain, the study is extended to free-standing ZnTe films with thicknesses between 116 Å to 1149 Å under the application of both uniform and biaxial strain between -3% to 3% at 300 K. Since the boundaries of the film are diffuse, κ becomes size dependent when the film thickness approaches the order of the mean free path of the phonons. As this thickness is decreased, the magnitude of κ decreases until boundary scattering dominates so that κ(ϵ) depends on v_g (ϵ). This conclusion is important as it can be generalized to other materials and potential functions; it suggests that if a film is thin enough for boundary scattering to dominate, then the behavior of κ(ϵ) can be predicted based on the bulk dispersion curve alone, which should greatly simplify strain-based device design. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Since strain changes the interatomic spacing of matter and alters electron and phonon dispersion, an applied strain ϵ can modify the thermal conductivity κ of a material. This thesis shows how the strain induced by heteroepitaxy is a passive mechanism to change κ in a thin film and how the film thickness is key to the functional form of κ(ϵ). Molecular Dynamics simulations of the physical vapor deposition and epitaxial growth of ZnTe thin films provide insights into the role of interfacial strain on the thermal conductivity of a deposited film. The result is relevant to thermoelectric devices since strain can also enhance charge mobility and increase their overall efficiency. The resulting understanding of dκ/dT shows that strain engineering can also be used to create a thermal rectifier in a material that is partly strained and partly relaxed, like at the junction of an axial nanowire heterostructure.

Due to the loose coupling nature and separated primary/secondary side, achieving tight load regulation or implementing closed-loop control of output voltage/current is nontrivial in a wireless power transfer (WPT) system. Previously presented methods for regulating or controlling the output of a WPT system include incorporating either post-regulator stage, wireless communication from secondary to primary side, primary side sensing and modulation scheme, or dual active bridge type of topology. However, all existing methods have limitations and disadvantages in terms of increased size/cost, control complexity, or reliability in electrically noisy environments. This dissertation proposes a single switch control and regulation mechanism based on the secondary side of the WPT system. Specifically, the duty cycle of the secondary side synchronous rectifier (SR) switch is modulated to control the output voltage or current. By modulating the SR duty cycle, output of the WPT system can be controlled without requiring additional regulator stages/power devices, a primary side sensing mechanism, or secondary to primary communication. The proposed control method lowers cost and simplifies the design of WPT systems while improving reliability in noisy environments. The proposed control and modulation mechanism maintains zero voltage switching of all power semiconductor switches so efficiency of the WPT system would not be compromised by implementing the proposed control scheme. The proposed secondary side SR based control method can be applied to dc-dc WPT systems to control output voltage or current, or it could be used in a dc-ac WPT system to generate and regulate ac output if combined with an unfolding stage. When used in dc-ac WPT systems, the bulky output filter stage usually required in conventional dc-ac inverters is eliminated. The proposed control scheme is evaluated with computer simulation as well as hardware implementation and testing. / Doctor of Philosophy / Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an emerging technology that supplies electric power to loads without using wires or electrical contacts. WPT technology has many promising uses in consumer, industrial, transportation, biomedical, and other applications. However, unlike controlling the output voltage of a conventional power supply or power converter, controlling the output of a WPT system is not a simple task due to the physical separation between the transmitting and receiving sides. State-of-the-art methods for controlling the output of a WPT system include adding another power regulator stage to regulate output, incorporating secondary side (power receiver) to primary side (power transmitter) communication so that output information can be passed back to the primary side where that information is used to monitor and regulate output. In some systems, output information may also be estimated indirectly from primary side voltage/current information. However, all these methods have significant disadvantages. Adding another power converter stage increases cost and efficiency loss of the WPT system. Incorporating secondary to primary communication for output control is detrimental to the reliability of the PWT system because communication may be impacted by external noise. The reliability of primary side sensing and regulation is also severely impacted by component parameter variations in the WPT system. This dissertation proposes a new mechanism that controls output of a WPT system at the receiver or secondary side without needing another power conversion stage, communication or any cooperation from primary side. The proposed control mechanism controls the turn on duration of the synchronous rectifier (SR) switch at the receiver side to modulate output voltage or current. Since SR technology is already prevalently used in power electronics systems, including WPT systems, to efficiently convert high frequency ac to dc before delivering power to the load, implementing the proposed control mechanism does not increase complexity or cost of the WPT system. The proposed control mechanism is useful in both dc-dc and dc-ac WPT systems. In a dc-dc WPT system, the proposed mechanism can control or regulate output voltage or current independently from the primary side, while in a dc-ac WPT system the proposed mechanism can generate and regulate ac output. If used in a dc-ac WPT system an unfolding stage needs to be added, but the bulky output filter stage required in conventional pulse width modulation (PWM) dc-ac inverters for suppressing switching ripple is not needed. The proposed mechanism is verified with computer simulation as well as hardware prototyping in this dissertation.

Materials at the nanoscale show properties uniquely different from the bulk scale which when controlled can be utilized for variety of thermal management applications. Different applications require reduction, increase or directional control of thermal conductivity. This thesis focuses on investigating thermal transport in two such application areas, viz., 1) thermoelectric energy conversion and 2) thermal rectification. Using molecular dynamics simulations, several methods for reducing of thermal conductivity in polyaniline and polyacetylene are investigated. The reduction in thermal conductivity leads to improvement in thermoelectric figure of merit. Thermal diodes allow heat transfer in one direction and prevents in the opposite direction. These materials have potential application in phononics, i.e., for performing logic calculations with phonons. Rectification obtained with existing material systems is either too small or too difficult to implement. In this thesis, a more useful scheme is presented that provides higher rectification using a single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) that is covalently functionalized near one end with polyacetylene (PA). Although several thermal diodes are discussed in literature, more complex phononic devices like thermal logic gates and thermal transistors have been sparingly investigated. This thesis presents a first design of a thermal AND gate using asymmetric graphene nanoribbon (GNR) and characterizes its performance. / Ph. D.

Nanofabrication techniques continue to advance and are rapidly becoming the primary route to enhancement for the electrical, thermal, and optical properties of materials. The work presented in this dissertation details fabrication and characterization techniques of thin films and nanoparticles for these purposes. The four primary areas of research presented here are thermoelectric enhancement through nanostructured thin films, an alternative frequency-domain thermoreflectance method for thin film thermal conductivity measurement, thermal rectification in nanodendritic porous silicon, and plasmonic enhancement in silver nanospheroids as a reverse photolithography technique. Nanostructured thermoelectrics have been proposed to greatly increase thermopower efficiency and to bring thermoelectrics to mainstream power generation and cooling applications. In our work, thermoelectric thin films of SbTe, BiTe, and PbTe grown by atomic layer deposition and electrochemical atomic layer deposition were characterized for enhanced performance over corresponding bulk materials. Seebeck coefficient measurements were performed at temperatures ranging from 77 K to 380 K. Atomic composition was verified by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and structures were imaged by scanning electron microscopy. All thin films measured were ultimately found to have a comparable or smaller Seebeck coefficient to corresponding materials made by conventional techniques, likely due to issues with the growth process. Frequency-domain thermoreflectance offers a minimally invasive optical pump-probe technique for measuring thermal conductivity. Like time-domain thermoreflectance, the version of frequency-domain thermoreflectance demonstrated here relies on a non-zero thermo-optic coefficient in the sample, but uses moderate cost continuous wave lasers modulated at kHz or MHz frequencies rather than a more expensive ultrafast laser system. The longer timescales of these frequency ranges enables this technique to take measurements of films with thicknesses ranging from 100 nm to 10 um, complimentary to time-domain thermoreflectance. This method differentiates itself from other frequency-domain methods in that it is also capable of simultaneous independent measurements of both the in plane and out of plane values of the thermal conductivity in anisotropic samples through relative reflective magnitude, rather than phase, measurements. We validated this alternate technique by measuring the thermal conductivity of Al2O3 and soda-lime and found agreement both with literature values and with separate measurements obtained with a conventional time-domain thermoreflectance setup. Thermal rectification has the potential to enhance microcircuit performance, improve thermoelectric efficiency, and enable the creation of thermal logic circuits. Passive thermal rectification has been proposed to occur in geometrically asymmetric nanostructures when heat conduction is dominated by ballistic phonons. Here, nanodendritic structures with branch widths of ~ 10 nm and lengths of ~ 20 nm connected to ~ 50 um long trunks were electrochemically etched from <111> silicon wafers. Thermal rectification measurements were performed at temperatures ranging from 80 K to 250 K by symmetric thermal conductivity measurements. No thermal rectification was ultimately found in these samples within the margin of thermal conductivity measurement error 1%. This result is consistent with another study which found thermal rectification with greater conduction in the direction opposite to what ballistic phonon heat conduction theories predicted. Plasmonic resonance concentrates incident photon energy and enables channeling of that energy into sub-wavelength volumes where it can be used for nanoscale applications. We demonstrated that surface plasmon polaritons induced in silver nanosphereoid films by 532 nm light defunctionalize previously photocleaved ligands adsorbed onto the films, to yield a reverse photolithographic technique. In this method, gold nanosphere conjugation were conjugated to a photocleaved ligand, however conjugation could be inhibited by exposing the cleaved ligand to 532 nm light and consequently yield a reversal technique. This defunctionalizion effect did not occur on gold films or nanoparticles conjugated with the ligand in IR spectroscopy, and was observed to have a reduced effect in silver films relative to silver nanospheroid film. As silver nanospheroid films and gold nanospheres of the size used in this study are known to have plasmon resonance in the green wavelengths, while gold and silver continuous films do not, this defunctionalization likely results from plasmonic effects. / Ph. D.

L’objectif général de cette thèse est d’appliquer une méthode d’optimisation polynomiale basée sur la théorie des moments à certains problèmes de vision artificielle. Ces problèmes sont en général non convexes et classiquement résolus à l’aide de méthodes d’optimisation locales Ces techniques ne convergent généralement pas vers le minimum global et nécessitent de fournir une estimée initiale proche de la solution exacte. Les méthodes d’optimisation globale permettent d’éviter ces inconvénients. L’optimisation polynomiale basée sur la théorie des moments présente en outre l’avantage de prendre en compte des contraintes. Dans cette thèse nous étendrons cette méthode aux problèmes de minimisation d’une somme d’un grand nombre de fractions rationnelles. De plus, sous certaines hypothèses de "faible couplage" ou de "parcimonie" des variables du problème, nous montrerons qu’il est possible de considérer un nombre important de variables tout en conservant des temps de calcul raisonnables. Enfin nous appliquerons les méthodes proposées aux problèmes de vision par ordinateur suivants : minimisation des distorsions projectives induites par le processus de rectification d’images, estimation de la matrice fondamentale, reconstruction 3D multi-vues avec et sans distorsions radiales. / The overall objective of this thesis is to apply a polynomial optimization method, based on moments theory, on some vision problems. These problems are often nonconvex and they are classically solved using local optimization methods. Without additional hypothesis, these techniques don’t converge to the global minimum and need to provide an initial estimate close to the exact solution. Global optimization methods overcome this drawback. Moreover, the polynomial optimization based on moments theory could take into account particular constraints. In this thesis, we extend this method to the problems of minimizing a sum of many rational functions. In addition, under particular assumptions of "sparsity", we show that it is possible to deal with a large number of variables while maintaining reasonable computation times. Finally, we apply these methods to particular computer vision problems: minimization of projective distortions due to image rectification process, Fundamental matrix estimation, and multi-view 3D reconstruction with and without radial distortions.

Ce travail porte sur l’étude d’un nouveau type de thermo-transformateur à absorption-démixtion (TTAD) utilisant un mélange présentant une lacune de miscibilité à basse température. Dans ce cycle, l’opération de séparation, est effectuée par décantation gravitaire par simple refroidissement du mélange. La séparation est ainsi énergétiquement gratuite et permet d’atteindre des rendements thermiques plus élevés que ceux des pompes à chaleur à absorption classiques dans lesquelles la séparation s’effectue par distillation.Afin de trouver des mélanges de travail pour atteindre un saut thermique de 50°C, un outil de simulation numérique a été développé pour évaluer les performances des TTAD en fonction des conditions opératoires (rapport d’alimentation et nombre d’étages de la colonne de rectification inverse) et des caractéristiques des composés du mélange de travail (Cp, Lv, paramètres caractéristiques des équilibres liquide-liquide et liquide-vapeur). L’optimisation des conditions opératoires a ainsi permis d’obtenir un saut thermique maximal de 12,4°C pour le mélange n-heptane / DMF pris comme référence. En faisant varier les propriétés des composés autour de celles de ce mélange de référence, un saut maximum de 32°C a été calculé pour un mélange fictif. L’étude de 17 mélanges réels a permis atteindre 21°C de saut thermique. Une liste d’autres mélanges à étudier a été établie. A l’aide d’une unité pilote d’une puissance de 4kW, des mesures expérimentales des performances du cycle modifié de TTAD pour le mélange n-heptane / DMF ont été réalisées et démontré la faisabilité de ce cycle même si le saut thermique de 11°C atteint au maximum est inférieur à celui calculé par simulation / This work is a study of a new type of Absorption-Demixing Heat Transformer (ADHT), using a mixture exhibiting a miscibility gap at low temperature. In this cycle, the separation step is performed by settling obtained after cooling the mixture. The separation is then energetically free and enables to reach thermal yields higher than those obtained for classical absorption heat transformers where separation is done by distillation.In order to find suitable working mixtures to reach temperature lift of 50°C, a numerical simulation tool was developed to calculate ADHT performances. This tool enabled to calculate thermal yield and thermal lift for different values of operating parameters (molar feed ratio, number of stages of rectification column) and different properties of working mixtures (Cp, Lv, parameters characterizing liquid-liquid and liquid-vapour equilibria). The best operating conditions allowed reaching a 12,4°C thermal lift for the n-heptane / DMF mixture takes as a reference mixture. By varying the mixture properties around the values of the reference mixture properties, a maximal thermal lift of 32°C was reached for an imaginary mixture. 17 real mixtures were also studied and enabled to reach a 21°C temperature lift. A list of other working mixtures that should be suitable was established. A 4 kW ADHT pilot unit was designed and built. The technical feasibility of this cycle was then experimentally demonstrated with this unit. A maximum temperature lift of 11°C was measured with the n-heptane / DMF mixture that is lower than the values calculated by simulation