Nonlinear energy harvesting from vibratory disc-shaped piezoelectric laminates

Implementing resonators with geometrical nonlinearities in vibrational energy harvesting systems leads to considerable enhancement of their operational bandwidths. This advantage of nonlinear devices in comparison to their linear counterparts is much more obvious especially at small-scale where transition to nonlinear regime of vibration occurs at moderately small amplitudes of the base excitation. In this paper the nonlinear behavior of a disc-shaped piezoelectric laminated harvester considering midplane-stretching effect is investigated. Extended Hamilton's principle is exploited to extract electromechanically coupled governing partial differential equations of the system. The equations are firstly order-reduced and then analytically solved implementing perturbation method of multiple scales. A nonlinear finite element method(FEM) simulation of the system is performed additionally for the purpose of verification which shows agreement with the analytical solution to a large extent. The frequency response of the output power at primary resonance of the harvester is calculated to investigate the effect of nonlinearity on the system performance. Effect of various parameters including mechanical quality factor, external load impedance and base excitation amplitude on the behavior of the system are studied. Findings indicate that in the nonlinear regime both output power and operational bandwidth of the harvester will be enhanced by increasing the mechanical quality factor which can be considered as a significant advantage in comparison to linear harvesters in which these two factors vary in opposite ways as quality factor is changed.     

On the definition of cavitation intensity

Cavitation intensity has already been used to character the activity or strength of cavitation, and several methods are developed to measure the cavitation intensity. However, the previous definitions of cavitation intensity are often either vague or biased. In this paper, from the point of view of energy, the authors proposed a generalized definition of cavitation intensity, derived an approximate formula to calculate the cavitation intensity and discussed its measure method.     

Investigation of acoustic and geometric effects on the sonoreactor performance

In this work, three design configurations of a sonoreactor are considered under various operating conditions, and the acoustic characteristics during water sonication are investigated while using an immersed-type ultrasonic flat transducer probe in a sonoreactor model. Numerical models are also developed to simulate the sonication process, and they are successfully validated and compared with available data in the literature. Several sets of numerical investigations are conducted using the finite-element method and solved by the computational acoustics module in the COMSOL Multiphysics. The effects of the acoustical and geometrical parameters are investigated, analyzed, and reported, including the ultrasonic frequency, acoustic intensity, and scaling-up the reactor. The present study includes a parametric investigation examining the change of the ultrasonic frequency, intensity, and probe immersion depth on the performance. The results of the parametric study show that the highest cavitation energy corresponds to the maximum magnitude of negative pressure that takes place in the range of 60–80 kHz. The cavitation energy analyses are conducted under the conditions of 20 kHz of frequency and at 36 W input power. It is found that the cavitation energy of 15.87 W could produce 2.98 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol/J of sonochemical efficiency. In addition, the effect of altering the transducer probe depth changes the acoustic pressure field insignificantly. Furthermore, a recommendation is made to improve the sonochemical efficiency by introducing more considerable ultrasound input power while operating the sonoreactor at an ultrasonic frequency lower than 60 kHz. The results presented in this paper provide a comprehensive assessment of different sonoreactors and the feasibility of scaling-up their production rate.     

Solution combustion synthesis,energy and environment: Best parameters for better materials

Solution combustion synthesis (SCS) is a worldwide used methodology for the preparation of inorganic ceramic and composite materials with controlled properties for a wide number of applications, from catalysis to photocatalysis and electrocatalysis, from heavy metal removal to sensoristics and electronics. The high versatility and efficiency of this technique have led to the introduction of many variants, which allowed important optimization to the prepared materials. Moreover, its ecofriendly nature encouraged further studies about the use of sustainable precursors for the preparation of nanomaterials for energy and environment, according to the concept of circular economy. On the other hand, the large variety of expressions to define SCS and the often-contradictory definitions of the SCS parameters witnessed a scarce consciousness of the potentiality of this methodology. In this review article, the most important findings about SCS and the selection criteria for its main parameters are critically reviewed, in order to give useful guidelines to those scientists who want to use this methodology for preparing materials with improved or new functional properties. This review aims as well (i) to bring more clarity in the SCS terminology (ii) to increase the awareness of the SCS as a convenient tool for the synthesis of materials and (iii) to propose a new perspective in the SCS, with special attention to the use of ecofriendly procedures. Part of the review is also dedicated to precautions and limitations of this powerful methodology.     

On the global attractor of 2D incompressible turbulence with random forcing

This study revisits bounds on the projection of the global attractor in the energy–enstrophy plane for 2D incompressible turbulence [Dascaliuc, Foias, and Jolly, 2005, 2010]. In addition to providing more elegant proofs of some of the required nonlinear identities, the treatment is extended from the case of constant forcing to the more realistic case of random forcing. Numerical simulations in particular often use a stochastic white-noise forcing to achieve a prescribed mean energy injection rate. The analytical bounds are demonstrated numerically for the case of white-noise forcing.     

Extending the response spectrum of organic photodetectors by quaternary active layer method with complementary absorption spectra

In this work, we report a new method for extending the response spectra of organic photodetectors (OPDs) by incorporating PBDT-TT-C and PBDT-TT-F in the P3HT:PC₆₁BM. The effects of PBDT-TT-C and PBDT-TT-F incorporation on the optical and electrical properties of OPDs were investigated, It was found that when the mass ratio of P3HT:PBDT-TT-F:PBDT-TT-C:PC₆₁BM was 12:2:2:8, the response spectrum of the active layer was extended to 780 nm. The responsivity (R) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the OPDs reached 340, 376, 315 mA/W and 67%, 88%, 85% under 630, 530, and 460 nm illumination and −1 V bias, respectively, and the detectivity (D*) reached 10¹² Jones. The results show that the inclusion of an appropriate amount of donor material with similar chemical structure and complementary absorption spectrum can reduce the influence of the doping material on the micro-morphology of the original film while improving the absorption of the spectrum. The interaction between the donor materials promotes the generation of photogenerated carriers and increases the photocurrent of the OPDs. In addition, the incorporation of the different component promotes crystallization of the film, resulting in a reduction in dark current of the OPDs.     

Investigation of electrochemical performance of MgNiO2 prepared by sol-gel synthesis route for aqueous-based supercapacitor application

In this work, we have successfully synthesized MgNiO₂ using a sol-gel wet chemical synthesis technique named MNO - 3. Electrochemical measurements in the presence of aqueous 1 M Li₂SO₄ electrolyte indicate that MNO - 3 samples exhibit a capacitance value of about 30 F/g and an energy density of about 20 Wh/kg. Subsequently, in the experiment involving aqueous 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ electrolyte system, it has been found that the capacitance for MNO - 3 sample is about 34 F/g and the energy density is about 23 Wh/kg for MNO - 3 sample. Finally, in the presence of aqueous-based 1 M Mg(ClO₄)₂ electrolyte, MNO - 3 sample is found to exhibit a capacitance of about 26 F/g and an energy density of about 17 Wh/kg, respectively. In all three electrolyte systems, the MNO -3 sample exhibit a long cycle capacitance retention of greater than 85% for 1000 charge-discharge cycles.     

Energy transport in boundary driven quantum spin systems: One-way street phenomenon in models with long range interactions

We address the investigation of non trivial properties of the energy current in boundary driven XXZ quantum spin models. In specific, we focus on the occurrence of the one-way street phenomenon in asymmetrical chains, a phenomenon stronger than rectification, which establishes the existence of a unique way for the energy current in the absence of external magnetic field, that is, the magnitude and direction of the energy flow does not change as we invert the baths at the boundaries. For general target polarizations at the boundaries, we show that such a phenomenon holds in the presence of long range interactions, ingredient which increases the flow and the rectification in chains of classical oscillators, and so, of interest in the study of manipulation and control of the energy flow.     

双甘氨肽与高定向热解石墨的散射动力学研究

本文通过反应力场来研究中性双甘氨肽与高取向热解石墨的碰撞动力学过程，分别模拟初始入射角度为0o、20o、45o和70o以及入射能量为481.5 kJ/mol和表面温度为677 K的情况，并且确定和分析了散射产物的角度分布、平动能分布、内能分布和表面滞留时间分布. 双甘氨肽是一种多原子分子，具有较多的低频振动模式和较强的表面吸附相互作用，这些使得碰撞过程的表面滞留时间较长和容易造成能量损失，尤其是表面法线方向. 由于碰撞分子的动量沿表面法线方向上明显地发生损失，而沿表面平行方向上的动量则会大部分保留，因此，其散射角通常会呈现出超镜面反射分布，并且末态的平动能要远小于所谓硬立方模型的预测值. 本文加深了多肽分子与高取向热解石墨碰撞及其能量转移过程的认识和理解，有助于设计在稀薄大气中收集这类大分子的中性气体浓缩器.     

基于PLC 的中央空调制冷系统变频控制研究

针对现有中央空调系统能源消耗严重的现状,基于可编程逻辑控制器(Programmable Logic Controller,PLC)对中央空调系统进行变流量节能改造。分析改造后中央空调系统的结构组成和变频运行原理,并提出适用于冷冻水泵和冷却水泵的分段速温差控制和PID温差控制设计方案。控制硬件选用三菱FX3U系列PLC和台达VFD-EL变频器,软件选用GX Work2编程软件及力控组态软件。将控制方案进行实验验证,实验结果表明,所设计的两种控制策略不仅跟随系统末端负荷变化快速达到稳定运行状态,提高运行能效比,而且节能效果显著,节能率分别为40.2%和48.7%。