Heat transfer and rheological properties of transformer oil-oxidized MWCNT nanofluid

Power transformers play a key role in power and electrical industries and thus boosting their efficiency is necessary. In this study, the effect of oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes on transformer oil thermophysical properties was experimentally investigated. The maximum amount of carbon nanotubes was chosen up to 0.01 mass% to assure the maximum purity of transformer oil. Heat transfer characteristics of transformer oil and nanofluids in two cases of free and forced convection were studied. Breakdown voltage, flash point, pour point, density, electrical and thermal conductivities, viscosity and shear stress, as eight important quality parameters, were determined. According to the experimental results, the Breakdown voltage decreased through concentration increasing. Electrical conductivity is not changed considerable with increasing concentration and temperature. Thermal conductivity of nanofluids and transformer oil changed with increasing temperature and concentration. Furthermore, at all concentrations and temperatures, the viscosity of the nanofluids was lower than that of transformer oil.     

Electrochemical preparation of α-Ni(OH)2 ultrafine nanoparticles for high-performance supercapacitors

Well-dispersed nanoparticles of nickel hydroxide were prepared via a simple electrochemical method. Electrodeposition experiments were performed from 0.005 M Ni(NO₃)₂ bath at a constant current density of 0.1 mA cm^?2 on the steel cathode for 1 h. Recording the potential values during the deposition process revealed that the reduction of water has major role in the base electrogeneration at the applied conditions. The obtained deposit was characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared (IR), differential scanning calorimeter–thermogravimetric analysis, carbon–nitrogen–hydrogen (CHN), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The CHN, XRD, and IR analyses showed that the obtained deposit has α phase of Ni(OH)₂ with intercalated nitrate ions in its structure. Morphological characterization by SEM and TEM revealed that the prepared α-Ni(OH)₂ is composed of well-dispersed ultrafine particles with the size of about 5 nm. The supercapacitive performance of the prepared nanoparticles was analyzed by means of cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests. The electrochemical measurements showed an excellent supercapacitive behavior of the prepared α-Ni(OH)₂ nanoparticles. It was also observed that the α-Ni(OH)₂ ultrafine particles have better electrochemical characteristic and supercapacitive behavior than β-Ni(OH)₂ ultrafine nanoparticles, including less positive charging potential, lower E _a???E _c value, better reversibility, higher E _OER???E _a, higher utilization of active material, higher proton diffusion coefficient, greater discharge capacity, and better cyclability. These results make the α-Ni(OH)₂ nanoparticles as an excellent candidate for the supercapacitor materials.     

Comparison and Evaluation of Three Diagnostic Methods for Detection of Beet Curly Top Virus in Sugar Beet Using Different Visualizing Systems

To diminish the time required for some diagnostic assays including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP; due to mainly DNA extraction step) and also triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TAS-ELISA) into a minimum level, an innovative immunocapture LAMP (IC-LAMP) and immunocapture PCR (IC-PCR) protocol on the basis of beet curly top virus (BCTV) genome was used and optimized. TAS-ELISA was employed first to validate the existence of the virus. All six IC-LAMP primers (i.e. forward outer primer (F3), backward outer primer (B3), forward inner primer (FIP), backward inner primer (BIP), loop forward (LF) and loop backward (LB)) together with IC-PCR primers were designed on the basis of the replication-associated protein (rep) gene (GenBank accession AF379637.1) of BCTV genome. Also, a novel colorimetric IC-LAMP assay for rapid and easy detection of BCTV was developed here, its potential compared with TAS-ELISA and IC-PCR assays. The method, on the whole, had the following advantages over the two mentioned procedures: (i) fascinatingly, no need of DNA extraction; (ii) no requirement of expensive and sophisticated tools for amplification and detection; (iii) no post-amplification treatment of the amplicons and (iv) a flexible and easy detection approach, which is visually detected by naked eyes using diverse visual dyes.     

Selective complexation of alkali metal ions and nanotubular cyclopeptides: a DFT study

A density functional theory based on interaction of alkali metal cations (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, Rb⁺ and Cs⁺) with cyclic peptides constructed from 3 or 4 alanine molecule (CyAla3 and CyAla4), has been investigated using mixed basis set (C, H, O, Li⁺, Na⁺ and K⁺ using 6-31+G(d), and the heavier cations: Rb⁺ and Cs⁺ using LANL2DZ). The minimum energy structures, binding energies, and various thermodynamic parameters of free ligands and their metal cations complexes have been determined with B3LYP and CAM-B3LYP functionals. The order of interaction energies were found to be Li⁺ > K⁺ > Na⁺ > Rb⁺ > Cs⁺ and Li⁺ > Na⁺ > K⁺ ? Rb⁺ > Cs⁺, calculated at CAM-B3LYP level for the M/CyAla3 and M/CyAla4 complexes, respectively. Their selectivity trend shows that the highest cation selectivity for Li⁺ over other alkali metal ions has been achieved on the basis of thermodynamic analysis. The main types of driving force host–guest interactions are investigated, the electron-donating O offers lone pair electrons to the contacting LP* of alkali metal cations.     

Rapid and green synthesis of 4H-benzo[b]pyrans using triethanolamine as an efficient homogeneous catalyst under ambient conditions

Research on Chemical Intermediates - 4H-benzo[b]pyrans were obtained rapidly in high yields using triethanolamine as an efficient, eco-friendly and low-cost basic catalyst. One-pot three-component...     

The effect of 3D printing on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone filament and scaffold

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing becomes an attractive technique to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds through its high control on fabrication and repeatability using the printing parameters. This technique can be combined by the finite element method (FEM), and tissue‐specific scaffolds with desirable morphological and mechanical properties can be designed and manufactured. In this study, the influential 3D printing parameters on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone (PCL) filament and scaffold were studied experimentally and numerically. First, the effects of printing parameters and process on the properties of extruded PCL filament were investigated. Then, using FEM, the effects of filament specifications on the overall characteristics of the scaffold were evaluated. Results showed that both the printing process in terms of resting time and remaining time and the printing parameters like pressure, printing speed, and printing path length have influenced the filament properties. In addition, both the filament diameter and elastic modulus had significant effects on the properties of scaffold especially, a 20% increase in the filament diameter caused the scaffold compressive elastic modulus to rise by around 72%. It is concluded that the printing parameters and process must be tuned very well in fabricating scaffolds with the desired morphology and mechanical property.     

Experimental design for estimation of the distribution of the convective heat transfer coefficient for a bubbly impinging jet

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, a two-dimensional inverse algorithm is developed to determine the heat transfer coefficient distribution of a two-phase air–water...     

Hybrid thermal management of lithium-ion batteries using nanofluid,metal foam,and phase change material: an integrated numerical–experimental approach

Safety issues of Li-ion batteries imposed by unfavorable thermal behavior accentuate the need for efficient thermal management systems to prevent the runaway conditions. To that end, a hybrid thermal management system is designed and further investigated numerically and experimentally in the present study. The passive cooling system is fabricated by saturating copper foam with paraffin as the phase change material (PCM) and integrated with an active cooling system with alumina nanofluid as the coolant fluid. Results for various Reynolds numbers and different heating powers indicate that the hybrid nanofluid cooling system can successfully fulfill safe operation of the battery during stressful operating conditions. The maximum time in which all PCM field is changed to the liquid phase is defined as the onset of the stressful conditions. Therefore, the start time of stressful conditions at 41 W and Re 420 is increased from 3700 s with nanofluid composed of 1% volume fraction nanoparticles (VF-1%) to 4600 s with nanofluid VF-2% during high current discharge rates. Nanofluid cooling extends the operating time of the battery in comparison with the water-based cooling system with 200-s (nanofluid with volume fraction of 1%) and 900-s (nanofluid with volume fraction of 2%) increases in operating time at Reynolds of 420. Using nanofluid, instead of water, postpones the onset of paraffin phase transition effectively and prolongs its melting time which consequently leads to a decrease in the rate of temperature rise.

     

Schemes for Single Electron Transistor Based on Double Quantum Dot Islands Utilizing a Graphene Nanoscroll,Carbon Nanotube and Fullerene

The single electron transistor (SET) is a nanoscale switching device with a simple equivalent circuit. It can work very fast as it is based on the tunneling of single electrons. Its nanostructure contains a quantum dot island whose material impacts on the device operation. Carbon allotropes such as fullerene (C₆₀), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoscrolls (GNSs) can be utilized as the quantum dot island in SETs. In this study, multiple quantum dot islands such as GNS-CNT and GNS-C₆₀ are utilized in SET devices. The currents of two counterpart devices are modeled and analyzed. The impacts of important parameters such as temperature and applied gate voltage on the current of two SETs are investigated using proposed mathematical models. Moreover, the impacts of CNT length, fullerene diameter, GNS length, and GNS spiral length and number of turns on the SET’s current are explored. Additionally, the Coulomb blockade ranges (CB) of the two SETs are compared. The results reveal that the GNS-CNT SET has a lower Coulomb blockade range and a higher current than the GNS-C₆₀ SET. Their charge stability diagrams indicate that the GNS-CNT SET has smaller Coulomb diamond areas, zero-current regions, and zero-conductance regions than the GNS-C₆₀ SET.     

Robust fixed-time attitude stabilization control of flexible spacecraft with actuator uncertainty

Nonlinear Dynamics - A robust fixed-time control framework is presented to stabilize flexible spacecraft’s attitude system with external disturbance, uncertain parameters of inertia, and...