Plusieurs machines actuellement utilisées, moteurs à combustion interne en automobile ou centrales thermiques dans l'énergie, rejettent de grandes quantités de chaleur. Généralement cette chaleur est dissipée dans l'atmosphère et son énergie perdue. Nous nous sommes donc intéressés aux moteurs à apport de chaleur externe dont l'énergie primaire est de l'énergie thermique, et plus particulièrement aux moteurs Stirling. L'une de ses principales caractéristiques est d'utiliser de la chaleur produite extérieurement comme source d'énergie. Ceci lui permet d'être multi-carburant et même d'utiliser de l'énergie thermique naturelle.L'étude menée comporte deux parties. Tout d'abord un modèle numérique zéro dimension, trois zones en temps fini a été développé. Il prend en compte les échanges thermiques aux parois et les pertes de charge, mais ne préjuge ni des dimensions moteur, ni des conditions de fonctionnement. Ceci lui permet de rester flexible pour s'adapter à l'architecture spécifique du moteur à simuler. Ensuite nous avons réalisé des mesures expérimentales sur deux moteurs de taille et puissance différentes (quelques watts et 1 kW). Ces résultats ont permis de valider le modèle. Au final nous avons obtenu un modèle numérique traduisant l'influence de paramètres dimensionnels et fonctionnels sur la puissance du moteur Stirling.Un outil d'aide à la conception de moteur Stirling a été développé en ajoutant au modèle un algorithme d'optimisation. Il permet une ébauche des caractéristiques d'un moteur Stirling. En fonction de l'application souhaitée et des contraintes s'y appliquant, il agit sur les caractéristiques choisies par l'utilisateur pour maximiser les performances.

Beräkningar visar att det med nuvarande befolkning och en västerländsk levnadsstandard behövs upp till sju jordklot för vår försörjning. Tillsammans förbrukar USA och Europa 2/3 av jordens resurser varav flera därtill redan är överutnyttjade. Jordens nuvarande befolkning förbrukar i dagsläget 120 % mer av jordens resurser än vad som är hållbart. Med den västerländska människans nuvarande genomsnittliga livsstil förmår jorden bara försörja en miljard innevånare på ett hållbart sätt. Ofta är energieffektiviseringar och energibesparingar de lösningar som föreslås för att lösa de problem som det medför. Naturligtvis är det viktigt att spara energi men de tekniska lösningar som finns för att energieffektivisera kan inte ensamma utgöra en lösning. Det visar sig ofta vara så att investeringar i energieffektivisering och energieffektiv teknik leder till högre istället för till lägre energianvändning. Detta kallas för Jevons paradox. Ett sätt att komma runt denna paradox är att göra konsumenter medvetna. Konsumenternas medvetenhet ökar genom att minska avståndet till produktionen. Utnyttjandet av naturresurser blir då inte något abstrakt långt borta utan en konkret verklighet som de kan förhålla sig till. Det bästa skulle därför vara att i byggsammanhang skapa små i stort sett självförsörjande enheter. Permakultur, en metod och ett sätt att tänka som ursprungligen mest handlar om odling, erbjuder verktyg för att göra denna idé till verklighet. Permakultur fokuserar på att skapa småskaliga lösningar nära den enskilda människan för just självförsörjning. Detta går att implementera i olika grad beroende på varje enskilt falls förutsättningar. Den metod som tagits fram i detta arbete går ut på att undersöka platsens och projektets aktuella förutsättningar och sedan matcha detta mot de tekniska lösningar som finns. Syftet med detta är inte enbart att skapa en fungerande teknisk lösning utan också att skapa en lösning som gör brukarna medvetna om sin egen energianvändning. Detta arbete kretsar därför i hög grad kring ett konkret exempel, Freinetskolan Tallbacken i Ljusdal. Där kommer en byggnad uppföras som arbetar med dessa principer och detta arbete visar hur de principerna också kan överföras på byggnadens energiförsörjning. Arbetet visar vilka avvägningar som gjorts i detta enskilda fall och ger därför en hjälp för den som själv vill kunna göra liknande avvägningar i ett byggprojekt. / Calculations show that the current population on earth and with a western life-style takes up to seven earth-like planets to sustain a sustainable lifestyle. Today Europe and the U.S. consume 2/3 of the resources on earth of which many are already over-used. The current population is overconsuming the resources on earth with 120% above the sustainable level. With the standard that the western citizen demands, the earth would only be able to house only one billion citizens in a sustainable way. The suggestion to solve this problem is mostly to invest in energy saving technologies and to invest in energy saving solutions. Of course, energy savings indeed are important but technical solutions can not alone provide a solution. It is often shown that investments in energy efficiency and in energy saving technology leads to higher instead of lower energy consumption. This is known as Jevons paradox. A way to solve this paradox is to create awareness among the energy consumers. By decreasing the distance between energy use and energy production, the awareness among the consumers is likely to increase. Thus, the use of natural resources will no longer remain difficult to grasp and feel remote but will be something everyone can relate to. When it comes to the built environment, the best solution would therefore be to utilse relatively small units with a high grade of self supply. Permaculture, which is a concept captured from the world of farming, provides tools to investigate and to make this idea real. What permaculture and the planning tools of permaculture do is that it focuses on small scale solutions close to the end users. Permaculture is also a concept that allows implementation on levels that can be adapted to every single case. This means that there can be different levels of self sufficiency in every unique project. The method that is presented in this paper focuses in investigating the conditions of the site and the project, and to find the technical solutions that fulfill the prerequisites of the actual case. The purpose is not necessarily just to create a working technical solution but to create a solution that makes the inhabitants aware of their energy use. Therefore this paper focuses a lot on a real example: The Freinet School Tallbacken in the Swedish municipality of Ljusdal. The school is about to build a sports hall and a canteen using these principles. This paper shows the considerations made in that actual case and provides therefore a model for anyone who is interested in the implementation of these principles in any other project.

In 2010 Chung-Graham-Knuth proved an interesting symmetric identity for the Eulerian numbers and asked for a q-analog version. Using the q-Eulerian polynomials introduced by Shareshian-Wachs we find such a q-identity. Moreover, we provide a bijective proof that we further generalize to prove other symmetric qidentities using a combinatorial model due to Foata-Han. Meanwhile, Hyatt has introduced the colored Eulerian quasisymmetric functions to study the joint distribution of the excedance number and major index on colored permutations. Using the Decrease Value Theorem of Foata-Han we give a new proof of his main generating function formula for the colored Eulerian quasisymmetric functions. Furthermore, certain symmetric q-Eulerian identities are generalized and expressed as identities involving the colored Eulerian quasisymmetric functions. Next, generalizing the recent works of Savage-Visontai and Beck-Braun we investigate some q-descent polynomials of general signed multipermutations. The factorial and multivariate generating functions for these q-descent polynomials are obtained and the real rootedness results of some of these polynomials are given. Finally, we study the diagonal generating function of the Jacobi-Stirling numbers of the second kind by generalizing the analogous results for the Stirling and Legendre-Stirling numbers of the second kind. It turns out that the generating function is a rational function, whose numerator is a polynomial with nonnegative integral coefficients. By applying Stanley's theory of P-partitions we find combinatorial interpretations of those coefficients

This thesis is an examination of the belief and practice of popular magic, specifically related to charmers, in the presbyteries of Haddington and Stirling between the years 1603 and 1688. It is the first study of either locality which concentrates on identifying the difference between charmers and witches, and considers the practice of the former in the broader context of seventeenth-century attitudes towards health and disease of both orthodox medical practitioners and the wider population. The thesis examines charmers and their healing practice in reference to theories of power, popular and elite culture, the church and gender, and reveals new information about seventeenth-century society. The principles and practice of charmers are then compared to orthodox medicine and popular magic, and the recorded healing treatments and rituals have been examined and analysed in close detail. A comparative analysis has been made of the two localities which assesses and contrasts patterns of witchcraft and charming accusation on a parish level. By using evidence contained in kirk records, supplemented by secular court material, it has been shown that all levels of society identified differences between the practice and intent of charmers and witches. Accusation and prosecution of witches was influenced more by local elites, and by elite demonological theories, than accusations of charming. Importantly, the devil was not a feature of charming accusations. Due to the overt nature of charming, differences in its perception and acceptability were highlighted by the less severe penalties which were ordered by the kirk. The dilemma for the church and society was that the church had, to an extent, surrendered its practical healing role with the abandonment of pre-Reformation ritual. The emphasis on personal piety and prayer for the relief of mental and physical suffering did not appear to offer sufficient comfort for the rest of society.

Stirling engines are promising candidates for applications where air breathing engines cannot be used. Self contained engines capable of operating independently of the environment are required to convert thermal energy into electric power, or to perform other necessary functions. These are ideally suited for power generation onboard spacecrafts with radioisotope heat source. These engines can power interplanetary missions to Mars and beyond. The problem of parametric analysis, sensitivity and numerical optimization of Stirling cycle engine is discussed and applied to a specific example of a 2kWe free piston Stirling engine. Stirling cycle simulation programs are generated with emphasis and adaptations peculiar to free piston design for space use. Design algorithms are generated in MatLab and optimization toolbox is used for the parametric analysis adopted in this thesis. A free piston beta Stirling engine with a linear alternator configuration has been studied for the interdependency and performance effects of various important operational parameters. The analysis has been carried out in order to optimize the primary parameters, weight vis a vis envelope (length and diameter) and stroke of the engine, to make it suitable for space use. The major cycle parameters considered are operating pressure, linear speed, dead space ratio and swept volume ratio, classified as secondary parameters. The whole analysis has been carried out at a cycle temperature ratio of 0.4 for a heat source temperature of 873 K, typical of a radioisotope heat source. The optimization is carried out for the defined design requirements viz. envelope of 50 × 50 cm , stroke of less than 10 cm, and heat source temperature of 873 K. The process of parametric optimization of the primary parameters viz engine envelope and stroke are carried out with respect to the secondary parameters. Iterations are carried out on the design programs in MatLab. The results indicate that the three primary parameters have a different set each, of the secondary parameter values when optimized to the design requirement. The fmincon solver of MatLab in the optimization tool box is selected in order to validate the optimization results. The solver is used to find a minimum of a constrained nonlinear multivariable function defining the primary parameters. The results obtained concur with the optimization results generated by the design algorithm. Further, the interdependency amongst the primary and secondary parameters is studied by generating MatLab plots for all possible combinations among the various parameters. The effect of variations in the pressure and linear speed on the system envelope and stroke are more pronounced at lower range values of the pressure and speed and the variations of the primary parameter values are constant at higher ranges. The effect of dead space ratio and swept volume ratio (>1.0) is not pronounced. The requirements in the environment of space place a number of constraints upon a Stirling engine/alternator design that are not present in terrestrial applications. High specific power is achieved by designing the engine for higher pressure and frequency operation than a terrestrial Stirling engine, and by using light weight materials where appropriate. Cylinder is the heart of the engine and it forms a major proportion of the total system mass. Mass and heat loss estimates and analysis have been carried out on the cylinder for various materials of construction. Based on the analysis feasibility exists for a Cu-Ni combination. The system would have a mass of 7kg with a specific power estimate of 0.28kW/kg and a conduction heat loss to mass ratio of 159W/kg. The system obtained by numerical analysis is modeled in system simulation software SIMULATIONX. The simulation of the system is studied and a sensitivity analysis performed in order to assess the parametric interdependency of the whole free piston Stirling engine system. The system sensitivity to piston and displacer mass is studied using the simulation model. Sensitivity results indicate that there is a range of mass values within which the system is operational, mass values outside the range makes the system non-functional. Also the range is a function of various parameters and detailed analysis is required in this direction in order to further optimize all the functional parameters. Engineering approximation is carried out using the curve fitting toolbox in MatLab to generate design equations in order to provide preliminary design data for the designer, further a scaling study is carried out at various power levels in order to assess the sensitivity of system geometry at various power levels.

The presented master’s thesis has evaluated the possibility of commercializing a research project at the Royal Institute of Technologys (KTH) Department of Energy Technology (EGI) in Stockholm, Sweden, where a Stirling engine is used for renewable microscale power generation.  The purpose of the thesis has been to evaluate the current market situation and future prospects by composing a business plan under the working name MicroStirling. In the business plan a potential target group consisting of house owners, farming companies and small energy-intensive industries has been identified. The market is currently small but displaying tremendous possibilities and is likely to grow rapidly in coming years. By offering a unique, high quality product MicroStirling has a competitive edge; however, several risks threaten the success of the company. Market readiness and customer acceptance of the technology are significant market barriers. Short term focus should be concentrated on technology development to prepare for pilot projects in 2013 and a market introduction in 2014. A future successful commercialisation of the technology is viable although further technical and business development is required to finalize a product ready for a market introduction. / EXPLORE Polygeneration

Small and medium-scale companies are trying to minimise their carbon footprint and improve their cash flow, renewable installations are increasing all over the Europe and are expected to do so in following years. However, their dependency on the weather cause pressure on matching the production with demand. An option how to challenge this problem is by using energy storage. The aim of this project is to determine techno-economic benefits of Stirling engine and high temperature thermal energy storage for installation in energy user system and identify key factors that affect the operation of such system. In order to determine these factors simulations in Matlab were conducted. The Matlab linear programming tool Optisolve using dual-simplex algorithm was used. The sensitivity analysis was conducted to test the energy system behaviour. Economic evaluation was done calculating discounted savings. From the results, it can be seen the significant benefit of SE-HT-TES installation is the increased self-consumption of the electricity from PV installation. While the self-consumption in cases when there was no energy storage implemented was around 67 % and in one case as low as 50 % with the SE-HT-TES the value has increased up to 100 %. Energy cost savings are 4.7 % of the cost for the original data set and go up to 6.2 % when simulation with load shift was executed. Simulations have also shown that energy customer with predictable energy demand pattern can achieve higher savings with the very same system. It was also confirmed that for users whose private renewable production does not match load potential savings are 30 % higher compared to the system where energy load peak is matching the PV production peak. Simulations also shown that the customers located in areas with higher electricity price volatility can benefit from such system greatly.

Cette thèse comporte deux parties indépendantes. Dans la première partie, nous nous intéressons à l’analyse asymptotique de quelques statistiques sur les arbres binaires de recherche (ABR). Dans la deuxième partie, nous nous intéressons à l’étude du problème du collectionneur de coupons impatient. Dans la première partie, en suivant le modèle introduit par Aguech, Lasmar et Mahmoud [Probab. Engrg. Inform. Sci. 21 (2007) 133—141], on définit la profondeur pondérée d’un nœud dans un arbre binaire enraciné étiqueté comme la somme de toutes les clés sur le chemin qui relie ce nœud à la racine. Nous analysons alors dans ABR, les profondeurs pondérées des nœuds avec des clés données, le dernier nœud inséré, les nœuds ordonnés selon le processus de recherche en profondeur, la profondeur pondérée des trajets, l’indice de Wiener pondéré et les profondeurs pondérées des nœuds avec au plus un enfant. Dans la deuxième partie, nous étudions la forme asymptotique de la courbe de la complétion de la collection conditionnée à T_n≤ (1+Λ), Λ>0, où T_n≃n ln⁡n désigne le temps nécessaire pour compléter la collection. Puis, en tant qu’application, nous étudions les automates déterministes et accessibles et nous fournissons une nouvelle dérivation d’une formule due à Korsunov [Kor78, Kor86] / This Phd thesis is divided into two independent parts. In the first part, we provide an asymptotic analysis of some statistics on the binary search tree. In the second part, we study the coupon collector problem with a constraint. In the first part, following the model introduced by Aguech, Lasmar and Mahmoud [Probab. Engrg. Inform. Sci. 21 (2007) 133—141], the weighted depth of a node in a labelled rooted tree is the sum of all labels on the path connecting the node to the root. We analyze the following statistics : the weighted depths of nodes with given labels, the last inserted node, nodes ordered as visited by the depth first search procees, the weighted path length, the weighted Wiener index and the weighted depths of nodes with at most one child in a random binary search tree. In the second part, we study the asymptotic shape of the completion curve of the collection conditioned to T_n≤ (1+Λ), Λ>0, where T_n≃n ln⁡n is the time needed to complete accessible automata, we provide a new derivation of a formula due to Korsunov [Kor78, Kor86]

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre du projet collaboratif MICROSOL, mené par Schneider Electric, et qui oeuvre pour le développement de micros centrales solaires thermodynamiques destinées à la production d'électricité en sites isolés (non connectés au réseau électrique) en exploitant l'énergie thermique du soleil. Le but de cette thèse étant le développement de lois de commande innovantes et efficaces pour la gestion de l'énergie de deux types de micros centrales solaires thermodynamiques : à base de moteur à cycle de Stirling et à base de machines à Cycle de Rankine Organique (ORC). Dans une première partie, nous considérons une centrale solaire thermodynamique à base de machine à cycle de Stirling hybridée à un supercondensateur comme moyen de stockage d'énergie tampon. Dans ce cadre, nous proposons une première loi de commande validée expérimentalement, associée au système de conversion d'énergie du moteur Stirling, qui dote le système de performances quasi optimales en termes de temps de réponse ce qui permet de réduire la taille du supercondensateur utilisé. Une deuxième loi de commande qui gère explicitement les contraintes du système tout en dotant ce dernier de performances optimales en terme de temps de réponse, est également proposée. Cette dernière loi de commande est en réalité plus qu'un simple contrôleur, elle constitue une méthodologie de contrôle applicable pour une famille de systèmes de conversion de l'énergie.Dans une deuxième partie, nous considérons une centrale solaire thermodynamique à base de machine à cycle de Rankine Organique (ORC) hybridée à un banc de batteries comme moyen de stockage d'énergie tampon. Etant donné que ce système fonctionne à vitesse de rotation fixe pour la génératrice asynchrone qui est connectée à un système de conversion d'énergie commercial, nous proposons une loi de commande prédictive qui agit sur la partie thermodynamique de ce système afin de le faire passer d'un point de fonctionnement à un autre, lors des appels de puissance des charges électriques, le plus rapidement possible (pour réduire le dimensionnement des batteries) tout en respectant les contraintes physiques du système. La loi de commande prédictive développée se base sur un modèle dynamique de la machine ORC identifié expérimentalement grâce à un algorithme d'identification nonlinéaire adéquat. / This Ph.D thesis was prepared in the scope of the MICROSOL project, ledby Schneider Electric, that aims at developing Off-grid solar thermodynamic micro powerplants exploiting the solar thermal energy. The aim of this thesis being the development of innovative and efficient control strategies for the energy management of two kinds of solar thermodynamic micro power plants: based on Stirling engine and based and Organic RankineCycle (ORC) machines.In a first part, we consider the Stirling based solar thermodynamic micro power planthybridized with a supercapacitor as an energy buffer. Within this framework, we propose afirst experimentally validated control strategy, associated to the energy conversion system ofthe Stirling engine, that endows the system with quasi optimal performances in term of settlingtime enabling the size reduction of the supercapacitor. A second control strategy that handlesexplicitly the system constraints while providing the system with optimal performances interm of settling time , is also proposed. This control strategy is in fact more than a simplecontroller, it is a control framework that holds for a family of energy conversion systems.In a second part, we consider the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based thermodynamicmicro power plant hybridized with a battery bank as an energy buffer. Since this system worksat constant speed for the asynchronous generator electrically connected to a commercial energyconversion system, we propose a model predictive controller that acts on the thermodynamicpart of this system to move from an operating point to another, during the load power demandtransients, as fast as possible (to reduce the size of the battery banks) while respecting thephysical system constraints. The developed predictive controller is based upon a dynamicmodel, for the ORC power plant, identified experimentally thanks to an adequate nonlinearidentification algorithm.

I mitt kandidatprojekt har jag arbetat med temat ”att utvecklas som kreatör” och hur man som skapare konstant ifrågasätter sig själv men också blir kritiserad av sin omgivning. Det handlar om att fortsätta följa sin passion trots osäkerhet eller ångest. Som kreatör ställs vi konstant inför val, stora som små, i vårt skapande och det är lätt att bli överväldigad av alla oskrivna regler, men också alla vägar och möjligheter. Jag har valt att gestalta detta med en animerad kortfilm. Att projektet tog form just inom filmmediet beror på att min största inspiration kommer från filmens värld och jag har länge varit intresserad av att utforska animation som berättarform. Jag har huvudsakligen jobbat digitalt, dels för att jag vill utveckla mina kunskaper inom det digitala, men också för att det under omständigheterna med den pågående Coronapandemin var mer praktiskt när jag inte hade lika fri tillgång till skolans utrustning som i vanliga fall.