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At least 1,081 records · Page 60

Amorphous oxide alloys as interfacial layers with broadly tunable electronic structures for organic photovoltaic cells

In diverse classes of organic optoelectronic devices, controlling charge injection, extraction, and blocking across organic semiconductor– inorganic electrode interfaces is crucial for enhancing quantum efficiency and output voltage. To this end, the strategy of inserting engineered interfacial layers (IFLs) between electrical contacts and organic semiconductors has significantly advanced organic light-emitting diode and organic thin film transistor performance. For organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, an electronically flexible IFL design strategy to incrementally tune energy level matching between the inorganic electrode system and the organic photoactive components without varying the surface chemistry would permit OPV cells to adapt to ever-changing generations of photoactive materials. Here we report the implementation of chemically/environmentally robust, low-temperature solution-processed amorphous transparent semiconducting oxide alloys, In-Ga-O and Ga-Zn-Sn-O, as IFLs for inverted OPVs. Lastly, continuous variation of the IFL compositions tunes the conduction band minima over a broad range, affording optimized OPV power conversion efficiencies for multiple classes of organic active layer materials and establishing clear correlations between IFL/photoactive layer energetics and device performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Comparison of Rotor Wake Identification and Characterization Methods for the Analysis of Wake Dynamics and Evolution

Optimal wind power plant design requires understanding of wind turbine wake physics and validation of engineering wake models under wake-controlled operating conditions. In this work, we have developed and investigated several different wake identification and characterization methods for analyzing wake evolution and dynamics. The accuracy and robustness of these methods, based on Gaussian function fitting and adaptive contour identification, have been assessed by application to a large-eddy simulation data set. A new contour-based method based on downstream momentum deficit has been considered. Uncertainties arising from wake-identification errors result in characterizations of the wake expansion, recovery, and meandering motion that differ by 19% of the rotor area, 4% of the freestream, and 15% rotor diameter, respectively.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Muon radiography applied to volcanoes imaging: the MURAVES experiment at Mt. Vesuvius

Muon radiography is a technique based on the measurement of absorption profiles of muons as they pass through matter. This measurement allows to obtain an image of the inner structure of large volume objects and is suitable to be applied in several fields, such as volcanology, archaeology and civil engeneering. One of the main applications concerns the study of volcanic structures; indeed it is possible to use this technique to measure the mass distribution inside the edifice of a volcano providing useful information to better understand the possible eruption mechanisms. The MURAVES (MUon RAdiography of VESuvius) project aims to the study of the summital cone of Mt. Vesuvius near Naples in Italy, one of the most dangerous active volcanoes in the world. The MURAVES apparatus is a modular, robust muon hodoscope system with a low power consumption, optimized to be used in inhospitable environments like the surroundings of volcanoes. The complete detection system is an array of identical tracking modules, each with an area of 1 m2, based on the use of plasic scintillators. The technologies, the status and the data analysis strategy of the experiment will be presented in this paper.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Optimal 1D Ly α forest power spectrum estimation – III. DESI early data

ABSTRACT The 1D power spectrum P1D of the Ly α forest provides important information about cosmological and astrophysical parameters, including constraints on warm dark matter models, the sum of the masses of the three neutrino species, and the thermal state of the intergalactic medium. We present the first measurement of P1D with the quadratic maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey early data sample. This early sample of 54 600 quasars is already comparable in size to the largest previous studies, and we conduct a thorough investigation of numerous instrumental and analysis systematic errors to evaluate their impact on DESI data with QMLE. We demonstrate the excellent performance of the spectroscopic pipeline noise estimation and the impressive accuracy of the spectrograph resolution matrix with 2D image simulations of raw DESI images that we processed with the DESI spectroscopic pipeline. We also study metal line contamination and noise calibration systematics with quasar spectra on the red side of the Ly α emission line. In a companion paper, we present a similar analysis based on the Fast Fourier Transform estimate of the power spectrum. We conclude with a comparison of these two approaches and discuss the key sources of systematic error that we need to address with the upcoming DESI Year 1 analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Networked Control and Optimization for Widescale Integration of Power Electronic Devices in Residential Homes

Power electronics devices are emerging at residential houses, including electric vehicles, energy storage systems, solar photovoltaic systems, and variable-speed air conditioners. Little work has been done on scalable and end-to-end architectures for integrating and engaging large number of residential behind-the-meter assets to provide grid services. In this paper, a framework for integration of a demand management system, home energy management system, and residential smart inverters is presented. Full measured results of inverter response to control signals is also presented.

Starke, Michael↗

DERMS Online: A New Voltage Sensitivity-Enabled Feedback Optimization Framework

This paper proposes a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) solution by developing a new voltage sensitivity-enabled feedback optimization framework. The key idea is to adopt a measurement feedback scheme to reformulate the original nonlinear optimization into a linear programming (LP) problem via perturb-and-observe-based voltage sensitivity analysis. The proposed solution eliminates the dependence on load knowledge and can be implemented online thanks to an efficient open-source solver for LP problems. Comparison results with other control methods on a real distribution feeder in Southern California highlight the feasibility as well as benefits for the proposed framework.

distributed energy resource management↗

The Scientific Impact of the Exascale Computing Project

The recent arrival of the Frontier Supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory officially marked the dawn of the exascale computing era. Its successful deployment coincided with the culmination of the U.S. Department of Energy Exascale Computing Project (ECP), an ambitious, complex, and risky research and development effort that integrated contributions from a broad and diverse subset of the high-performance computing community. The success of ECP will ultimately be judged by the scientific and engineering advances that it enabled. In conclusion, this Special Issue is focused on showcasing early successes in the use of exascale resources to enable breakthroughs in key areas of science in engineering.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Stochastic Pricing Game for Aggregated Demand Response Considering Comfort Level

In recent years, demand response (DR) has been explored as a fundamental strategy for demand-side management due to its advantages in mediating intermittency of renewable energy generation, load shifting, etc. To engage customers in DR programs, several deterministic price-based DR strategies have been developed and implemented. However, the stochastic weather conditions and occupants' consumption behaviors often make the deterministic solution less robust to uncertainties. In this paper, with the consideration of the uncertainties, a stochastic Stackelberg game is proposed to model the price-demand negotiation between a distributed system operator and load aggregators, where the virtual battery constraints are extracted from the building thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs)‘ characteristics to guarantee comfortable TCLs' levels. Following the negotiation, a priority-based control method is used to allocate the optimal aggregated power DR profile at the building level and track the power signal. Several groups of experiments have demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of the stochastic solutions.

Chen, Yang↗

Computation-Efficient Algorithm for Distributed Feedback Optimization of Distribution Grids

Feedback-based optimization algorithms use real-time measurements to update the optimal control for the underlying system which may not be fully identified. Recently, we have developed a distributed feedback-based algorithm [1] that avoids the requirement of fast communication between central computing and local actuator/sensor agents. This paper extends the work by greatly reducing the number of copies of variables involved in the distributed feedback-based algorithm, which results in faster convergence and lower communication requirement. The main idea is to leverage the specific structural properties of the admittance matrix for distribution systems with tree network topology. We also show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A Method for Evaluating Volt-VAR Optimization Field Demonstrations

In a regulated business environment a utility must be able to validate that deployed technologies provide quantifiable benefits to the end-use customers. For traditional technologies there are well established procedures for determining what benefits will be derived from the deployment. But for many emerging technologies procedures for determining benefits are less clear and completely absent in some cases. Volt-VAR Optimization is a technology that is being deployed across the nation, but there are still numerous discussions about potential benefits and how they are achieved. This paper will present a method for the evaluation, and quantification of benefits, for field deployments of Volt-VAR Optimization technologies. In addition to the basic methodology, the paper will present a summary of results, and observations, from two separate Volt-VAR Optimization field evaluations using the proposed method.

optimization↗

Bus Clustering for Distribution Grid Topology Identification

Recovering the distribution grid topology is essential to perform several distribution system operator functions. Many algorithms that address the topology recovery problem have already been proposed in the literature. Most are based on a priori information regarding which buses are fed by which substation; however, this information might not be available because frequent grid reconfigurations change the distribution grid portion connected to each substation. This paper addresses the problem of assigning every substation the set of buses that it is feeding, given field data. First, the aforementioned task is cast as a nonconvex optimization problem. Second, a relaxed version of the optimization problem is solved via the alternating direction method of multipliers. Finally, the performance of our approach is validated through numerical simulations of realistic scenarios using a standard IEEE benchmark feeder.

bus clustering↗

SU-E-I-60: Quality Assurance Testing Methods and Customized Phantom for Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy

Purpose: The objectives of this study are to develop an magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy (MRI-MRS) fused phantom along with the inserts for metabolite quantification and to conduct quantitative analysis and evaluation of the layered vials of brain-mimicking solution for quality assurance (QA) performance, according to the localization sequence. Methods: The outer cylindrical phantom body is made of acrylic materials. The section other than where the inner vials are located was filled with copper sulfate and diluted with water so as to reduce the T1 relaxation time. Sodium chloride was included to provide conductivity similar to the human body. All measurements of MRI and MRS were made using a 3.0 T scanner (Achiva Tx 3.0 T; Philips Medical Systems, Netherlands). The MRI scan parameters were as follows: (1) spin echo (SE) T1-weighted image: repetition time (TR), 500ms; echo time (TE), 20ms; matrix, 256×256; field of view (FOV), 250mm; gap, 1mm; number of signal averages (NSA), 1; (2) SE T2-weighted image: TR, 2,500 ms; TE, 80 ms; matrix, 256×256; FOV, 250mm; gap, 1mm; NSA, 1; 23 slice images were obtained with slice thickness of 5mm. The water signal of each volume of interest was suppressed by variable pulse power and optimized relaxation delays (VAPOR) applied before the scan. By applying a point-resolved spectroscopy sequence, the MRS scan parameters were as follows: voxel size, 0.8×0.8×0.8 cm{sup 3}; TR, 2,000ms; TE, 35ms; NSA, 128. Results: Using the fused phantom, the results of measuring MRI factors were: geometric distortion, <2% and ±2 mm; image intensity uniformity, 83.09±1.33%; percent-signal ghosting, 0.025±0.004; low-contrast object detectability, 27.85±0.80. In addition, the signal-to-noise ratio of N-acetyl-aspartate was consistently high (42.00±5.66). Conclusion: The MRI-MRS QA factors obtained simultaneously using the phantom can facilitate evaluation of both images and spectra, and provide guidelines for obtaining MRI and MRS QA factors simultaneously. This study was supported by grant (2012-007883 and 2014R1A2A1A10050270) from the Mid-career Researcher Program through the NRF funded by Ministry of Science. In addition, this study was supported by the Industrial R&D of MOTIE/KEIT (10048997, Development of the core technology for integrated therapy devices based on real-time MRI-guided tumor tracking)

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

EMIS-CompetitiveEquilibrium.jl [SWR-19-56]

The Electricity Markets Investment Suite - Competitive Equilibrium (EMIS-CE) model is an optimization-based power system investment model developed at NREL. It attempts to approximate a market-driven investment equilibrium outcome under the assumption of idealized or perfect competition (e.g. no participants are able to exert market power or leverage exclusive cost advantages) and uncertain future conditions.

Stephen, Gord [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NRE↗

Enumeration reduction algorithm for the characterization of multi-primary LED systems

Multi-primary tunable LED lighting systems can generate a vast number of spectral outputs, with the exact number depending on the resolution of the control signal and number of LED primaries. Computing all combinations to identify optimal spectral power distributions (SPDs) with a specified chromaticity would require a tremendous amount of time and computational power. Here, an enumeration reduction (ER) algorithm is described to reduce the computation time by defining a bounding pyramid in the three-dimensional tristimulus space that maps to the circumscribed square of the target region in the chromaticity diagram. This method enables computing only the necessary amount of tristimulus values (and resulting chromaticity coordinates) for SPDs that fall into a user-defined target chromaticity area, reducing computation time by avoiding the need to generate each combination and calculate its chromaticity coordinates. The results show that the proposed ER algorithm can greatly reduce the time – up to 922 times in a series of tests – to determine a set of metamers compared to a full enumeration computation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Experimental Verification of An Electro-Hydraulic Actuation System Driven by An Integrated Electro-Hydraulic Unit

This paper proposes an electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) system, and a novel-designed electro-hydraulic unit (EHU) consisting of a fixed-displacement hydraulic gear machine and a variable-speed electric machine. The novel EHU design integrates an electric machine and a hydraulic machine in a single housing, targeting optimal compactness, power density, and component reduction. The EHA system features an open circuit design, where hydraulic hoses connect the EHU with a tank, a valve manifold, and the hydraulic cylinder. In this way, the proposed EHA technology can be used to implement distributed hydraulic actuation in a vehicle without requiring changes to the hydraulic actuators or at the overall layout of the hydraulic components with respect to the original vehicle design. A dedicated test rig is developed to verify the performance of the proposed EHA system. Here, the efficiency of the EHA is measured in a steady state and under a realistic duty cycle of a commercial compact loader. The efficiency of the EHA system based on the measurements on the test rig can reach 54% with up to 20 kN load and 6 kW power level. Furthermore, the EHU is implemented on the reference machine to drive the boom function. Preliminary results on the performance of the EHU show an efficiency of up to 68% under different loading conditions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗