Solution Economic Power Dispatch Problems by an Ant Colony Optimization Approach

The objective of the Economic Dispatch(ED) Problems of electric power generation is to schedule the committed generating units outputs so as to meet the required load demand at minimum operating cost while satisfying all units and system equality and inequality constraints. This paper presents a new method of ED problems utilizing the Max-Min Ant System Optimization. Historically, traditional optimizations techniques have been used, such as linear and non-linear programming, but within the past decade the focus has shifted on the utilization of Evolutionary Algorithms, as an example Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing and recently Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). In this paper we introduce the Max-Min Ant System based version of the Ant System. This algorithm encourages local searching around the best solution found in each iteration. To show its efficiency and effectiveness, the proposed Max-Min Ant System is applied to sample ED problems composed of 4 generators. Comparison to conventional genetic algorithms is presented.

Application of GAMS and GA in the Location and Penetration of Distributed Generation

Distributed Generation (DG) can help in reducing the cost of electricity to the costumer, relieve network congestion and provide environmentally friendly energy close to load centers. Its capacity is also scalable and it provides voltage support at distribution level. Hence, DG placement and penetration level is an important problem for both the utility and DG owner. DG allocation and capacity determination is a nonlinear optimization problem. The objective function of this problem is the minimization of the total loss of the distribution system. Also high levels of penetration of DG are a new challenge for traditional electric power systems. This paper presents a new methodology for the optimal placement of DG and penetration level of DG in distribution system based on General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) and Genetic Algorithm (GA).

Generalized Chebyshev Collocation Method

In this paper, we introduce a generalized Chebyshev collocation method (GCCM) based on the generalized Chebyshev polynomials for solving stiff systems. For employing a technique of the embedded Runge-Kutta method used in explicit schemes, the property of the generalized Chebyshev polynomials is used, in which the nodes for the higher degree polynomial are overlapped with those for the lower degree polynomial. The constructed algorithm controls both the error and the time step size simultaneously and further the errors at each integration step are embedded in the algorithm itself, which provides the efficiency of the computational cost. For the assessment of the effectiveness, numerical results obtained by the proposed method and the Radau IIA are presented and compared.

A Study of Adaptive Fault Detection Method for GNSS Applications

This study is purposed to develop an efficient fault detection method for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) applications based on adaptive noise covariance estimation. Due to the dependence on radio frequency signals, GNSS measurements are dominated by systematic errors in receiver’s operating environment. In the proposed method, the pseudorange and carrier-phase measurement noise covariances are obtained at time propagations and measurement updates in process of Carrier-Smoothed Code (CSC) filtering, respectively. The test statistics for fault detection are generated by the estimated measurement noise covariances. To evaluate the fault detection capability, intentional faults were added to the filed-collected measurements. The experiment result shows that the proposed method is efficient in detecting unhealthy measurements and improves GNSS positioning accuracy against fault occurrences.

Reliability Verification of the Performance Evaluation of Multiphase Pump

The crude oil in an oil well exists in various phases such as gas, seawater, and sand, as well as oil. Therefore, a phase separator is needed at the front of a single-phase pump for pressurization and transfer. On the other hand, the application of a multiphase pump can provide such advantages as simplification of the equipment structure and cost savings, because there is no need for a phase separation process. Therefore, the crude oil transfer method using a multiphase pump is being applied to recently developed oil wells. Due to this increase in demand, technical demands for the development of multiphase pumps are sharply increasing, but the progress of research into related technologies is insufficient, due to the nature of multiphase pumps that require high levels of skills. This study was conducted to verify the reliability of pump performance evaluation using numerical analysis, which is the basis of the development of a multiphase pump. For this study, a model was designed by selecting the specifications of this study. The performance of the designed model was evaluated through numerical analysis and experiment. The results of the performance evaluation were compared to verify the reliability of the result using numerical analysis.

Design of Cloud Service Brokerage System Intermediating Integrated Services in Multiple Cloud Environment

Cloud service brokering is a new service paradigm that provides interoperability and portability of application across multiple Cloud providers. In this paper, we designed Cloud service brokerage system, anyBroker, supporting integrated service provisioning and SLA based service lifecycle management. For the system design, we introduce the system concept and whole architecture, details of main components and use cases of primary operations in the system. These features ease the Cloud service provider and customer’s concern and support new Cloud service open market to increase Cloud service profit and prompt Cloud service echo system in Cloud computing related area.

Low NOx Combustion Technology for Minimizing NOx

A noble low NOx combustion technology, based on partial oxidation combustion concept in a fuel rich combustion zone, is successfully applied in this research. The burner is designed such that a portion of fuel is heated and pre-vaporized in the furnace then injected into a fuel rich combustion zone so that a partial oxidation reaction occurs. The effects of equivalence ratio, thermal load, and fuel distribution ratio on the emissions of NOx and CO are experimentally investigated. This newly developed combustion technology showed very low NOx emission level, about 12 ppm, when light oil is used as a fuel.

1/f Noise in Quantum-Size Heteronanostructures Based On GaAs and Alloys

The 1/f noise investigation in nanoscale light-emitting diodes and lasers, based on GaAs and alloys, is presented here. Leakage and additional (to recombination through quantum wells and/or dots) nonlinear currents were detected and it was shown that these currents are the main source of the 1/f noise in devices studied.

Conducting Flow Measurement Laboratory Test Work

Mass flow measurement is the basis of most technoeconomic formulations in the chemical industry. This calls for reliable and accurate detection of mass flow. Flow measurement laboratory experiments were conducted using various instruments. These consisted of orifice plates, various sized rotameters, wet gas meter and soap bubble meter. This work was aimed at evaluating appropriate operating conditions and accuracy of the aforementioned devices. The experimental data collected were compared to theoretical predictions from Bernoulli’s equation and calibration curves supplied by the instrument’s manufacturers. The results obtained showed that rotameters were more reliable for measuring high and low flow rates; while soap-bubble meters and wet-gas meters were found to be suitable for measuring low flow rates. The laboratory procedures and findings of the actual work can assist engineering students and professionals in conducting their flow measurement laboratory test work.

Numerical Study of Heat Release of the Symmetrically Arranged Extruded-Type Heat Sinks

In this numerical study, we want to present the design of highly efficient extruded-type heat sink. The symmetrically arranged extruded-type heat sinks are used instead of a single extruded or swaged-type heat sink. In this parametric study, the maximum temperatures, the base temperatures between heaters, and the heat release rates were investigated with respect to the arrangements of heat sources, air flow rates, and amounts of heat input. Based on the results we believe that the use of both side of heat sink is to be much better for release the heat than the use of single side. Also from the results, it is believed that the symmetric arrangement of heat sources is recommended to achieve a higher heat transfer from the heat sink.

Physicochemical Parameters and Economic Evaluation of Bio Ethanol Produced from Waste of Starting Dates in South Algeria

The fight against climate change and the replacement of fossil energies nearing exhaustion gradually emerge as major societal and economic challenges. It is possible to develop common dates of low commercial value, and put on the local and international market a new generation of products with high added values such as bio ethanol. Besides its use in chemical synthesis, bio ethanol can be blended with gasoline to produce a clean fuel while improving the octane.

Numerical Investigation of the Evaporation and Mixing of UWS in a Diesel Exhaust Pipe

Because of high thermal efficiency and low CO2 emission, diesel engines are being used widely in many industrial fields although it makes many PM and NOx which give both human health and environment a negative effect. NOx regulations for diesel engines, however, are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the emission standard without NOx reduction devices such as SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction), LNC (Lean NOx Catalyst), and LNT (Lean NOx Trap). Among the NOx reduction devices, urea-SCR system is known as the most stable and efficient method to solve the problem of NOx emission. But this device has some issues associated with the ammonia slip phenomenon which is occurred by shortage of evaporation and thermolysis time, and that makes it difficult to achieve uniform distribution of the injected urea in front of monolith. Therefore, this study has focused on the mixing enhancement between urea and exhaust gases to enhance the efficiency of the SCR catalyst equipped in catalytic muffler by changing inlet gas temperature and spray conditions to improve the spray uniformity of the urea water solution. Finally, it can be found that various parameters such as inlet gas temperature and injector and injection angles significantly affect the evaporation and mixing of the urea water solution with exhaust gases, and therefore, optimization of these parameters are required.

Issue Reorganization Using the Measure of Relevance

The need to extract R&D keywords from issues and use them to retrieve R&D information is increasing rapidly. However, it is difficult to identify related issues or distinguish them. Although the similarity between issues cannot be identified, with an R&D lexicon, issues that always share the same R&D keywords can be determined. In detail, the R&D keywords that are associated with a particular issue imply the key technology elements that are needed to solve a particular issue. Furthermore, the relationship among issues that share the same R&D keywords can be shown in a more systematic way by clustering them according to keywords. Thus, sharing R&D results and reusing R&D technology can be facilitated. Indirectly, redundant investment in R&D can be reduced as the relevant R&D information can be shared among corresponding issues and the reusability of related R&D can be improved. Therefore, a methodology to cluster issues from the perspective of common R&D keywords is proposed to satisfy these demands.

Determination of the Concentrated State Using Multiple EEG Channels

Analysis of EEG brainwave provides information on mental or emotional states. One of the particular states that can have various applications in human machine interface (HMI) is concentration. 8-channel EEG signals were measured and analyzed. The concentration index was compared during resting and concentrating periods. Among eight channels, locations the frontal lobe (Fp1 and Fp2) showed a clear increase of the concentration index during concentration regardless of subjects. The rest six channels produced conflicting observations depending on subjects. At this time, it is not clear whether individual difference or how to concentrate made these results for the rest six channels. Nevertheless, it is expected that Fp1 and Fp2 are promising locations for extracting control signal for HMI applications.

Influence of Optical Fluence Distribution on Photoacoustic Imaging

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a non-invasive and non-ionizing imaging modality that combines the absorption contrast of light with ultrasound resolution. Laser is used to deposit optical energy into a target (i.e., optical fluence). Consequently, the target temperature rises, and then thermal expansion occurs that leads to generating a PA signal. In general, most image reconstruction algorithms for PAI assume uniform fluence within an imaging object. However, it is known that optical fluence distribution within the object is non-uniform. This could affect the reconstruction of PA images. In this study, we have investigated the influence of optical fluence distribution on PA back-propagation imaging using finite element method. The uniform fluence was simulated as a triangular waveform within the object of interest. The non-uniform fluence distribution was estimated by solving light propagation within a tissue model via Monte Carlo method. The results show that the PA signal in the case of non-uniform fluence is wider than the uniform case by 23%. The frequency spectrum of the PA signal due to the non-uniform fluence has missed some high frequency components in comparison to the uniform case. Consequently, the reconstructed image with the non-uniform fluence exhibits a strong smoothing effect.

An Efficient Backward Semi-Lagrangian Scheme for Nonlinear Advection-Diffusion Equation

In this paper, a backward semi-Lagrangian scheme combined with the second-order backward difference formula is designed to calculate the numerical solutions of nonlinear advection-diffusion equations. The primary aims of this paper are to remove any iteration process and to get an efficient algorithm with the convergence order of accuracy 2 in time. In order to achieve these objects, we use the second-order central finite difference and the B-spline approximations of degree 2 and 3 in order to approximate the diffusion term and the spatial discretization, respectively. For the temporal discretization, the second order backward difference formula is applied. To calculate the numerical solution of the starting point of the characteristic curves, we use the error correction methodology developed by the authors recently. The proposed algorithm turns out to be completely iteration free, which resolves the main weakness of the conventional backward semi-Lagrangian method. Also, the adaptability of the proposed method is indicated by numerical simulations for Burgers’ equations. Throughout these numerical simulations, it is shown that the numerical results is in good agreement with the analytic solution and the present scheme offer better accuracy in comparison with other existing numerical schemes.

A Method for Improving the Embedded Runge Kutta Fehlberg 4(5)

In this paper, we introduce a method for improving the embedded Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg4(5) method. At each integration step, the proposed method is comprised of two equations for the solution and the error, respectively. These solution and error are obtained by solving an initial value problem whose solution has the information of the error at each integration step. The constructed algorithm controls both the error and the time step size simultaneously and possesses a good performance in the computational cost compared to the original method. For the assessment of the effectiveness, EULR problem is numerically solved.

Performance Variation of the TEES According to the Changes in Cold-Side Storage Temperature

Surplus electricity can be converted into potential energy via pumped hydroelectric storage for future usage. Similarly, thermo-electric energy storage (TEES) uses heat pumps equipped with thermal storage to convert electrical energy into thermal energy; the stored energy is then converted back into electrical energy when necessary using a heat engine. The greatest advantage of this method is that, unlike pumped hydroelectric storage and compressed air energy storage, TEES is not restricted by geographical constraints. In this study, performance variation of the TEES according to the changes in cold-side storage temperature was investigated by simulation method.

Spatial Audio Player Using Musical Genre Classification

In this paper, we propose a smart music player that combines the musical genre classification and the spatial audio processing. The musical genre is classified based on content analysis of the musical segment detected from the audio stream. In parallel with the classification, the spatial audio quality is achieved by adding an artificial reverberation in a virtual acoustic space to the input mono sound. Thereafter, the spatial sound is boosted with the given frequency gains based on the musical genre when played back. Experiments measured the accuracy of detecting the musical segment from the audio stream and its musical genre classification. A listening test was performed based on the virtual acoustic space based spatial audio processing.

Combustion and Emission Characteristics in a Can-type Combustion Chamber

Combustion phenomenon will be accomplished effectively by the development of low emission combustor. One of the significant factors influencing the entire Combustion process is the mixing between a swirling angular jet (Primary Air) and the non-swirling inner jet (fuel). To study this fundamental flow, the chamber had to be designed in such a manner that the combustion process to sustain itself in a continuous manner and the temperature of the products is sufficiently below the maximum working temperature in the turbine. This study is used to develop the effective combustion with low unburned combustion products by adopting the concept of high swirl flow and motility of holes in the secondary chamber. The proper selection of a swirler is needed to reduce emission which can be concluded from the emission of Nox and CO2. The capture of CO2 is necessary to mitigate CO2 emissions from natural gas. Thus the suppression of unburned gases is a meaningful objective for the development of high performance combustor without affecting turbine blade temperature.