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Virtually developing of automotive power systems is currently experiencing increasing significance due to elevated vehicular electrification and automation of driving functions. The analysis of system-inherent disturbances requires accurate simulation models for both short-term transients or long-term driving cycles. The electrical behavior of electromechanical actuators such as brake or steering highly depends on the mechanical environmental interaction being dependent many variables. This contribution presents a methodology to extract abstracted models of machine driven actuators on the basis of an electric steering. The dynamics of a complex electromechanical model are investigated using pulse response analysis for differentiated operation points. The obtained model reduction is implemented in a frequency-dependent equivalent circuit.

Attempts to model any present or future power grid face a huge challenge because a power grid is a complex system, with feedback and multi-agent behaviors, integrated by generation, distribution, storage and consumption systems, using various control and automation computing systems to manage electricity flows. Our approach to modeling is to build upon an established model of the low voltage electricity network which is tested and proven, by extending it to a generalized energy model. But, in order to address the crucial issues of energy efficiency, additional processes like energy conversion and storage, and further energy carriers, such as gas, heat, etc., besides the traditional electrical one, must be considered. Therefore a more powerful model, provided with enhanced nodes or conversion points, able to deal with multidimensional flows, is being required. This article addresses the issue of modeling a local multi-carrier energy network. This problem can be considered as an extension of modeling a low voltage distribution network located at some urban or rural geographic area. But instead of using an external power flow analysis package to do the power flow calculations, as used in electric networks, in this work we integrate a multiagent algorithm to perform the task, in a concurrent way to the other simulation tasks, and not only for the electric fluid but also for a number of additional energy carriers. As the model is mainly focused in system operation, generation and load models are not developed. The financial support from EPSRC for Liz Varga on project entitled "Transforming Utilities’ Conversion Points" (no. EP/J005649/1) is gratefully acknowledged.

The thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of a water-saturated cement-based heat store for domestic applications has been investigated. Numerical simulations have been employed to locate the critical regions during thermal loading, for which analytical solutions have been derived and validated by numerical simulations. The analytical solutions allow a fast screening of materials and design parameters in relation to the stresses induced by thermomechanical loading. Maximum stresses in the system have been quantified based on the thermomechanical properties of three heat exchanger materials selected by design engineers and of the filling material. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the stress distribution is very sensitive to the thermal expansion coefficients of the involved materials. The results of this study can serve as a guide line for the design of the present and similar heat storage systems. The analytical solution developed is a fast and robust method for the evaluation of stresses around heat exchangers embedded in a solid material and can serve as a tool for design optimisation.

Abstract The paper presents an equivalent circuit based simulation model for the static and dynamic behavior of lithium-ion battery systems and explains the different steps of the theoretical and experimental modeling process. The equivalent circuit based model describes the voltage-current characteristic, the state of charge behavior and the occurring losses of the battery system. A parameter identification method based on three characteristic experiments, a cycle test, an open circuit voltage test and pulse tests, is introduced. The model parameters are estimated employing a nonlinear optimization method. Furthermore, the experimental test bed for investigation of lithium-ion battery systems is described. The battery model approach is demonstrated and validated for a commercial 5 kWh lithium-ion battery system, including the model validation for test profiles and emulated battery charging and discharging profiles of a real photovoltaic home storage application. The comparison of measured and simulated voltage profiles indicates an excellent performance of the battery model.

Abstract Passivated emitter and rear cells (PERC) are considered to be the next generation of industrial-type screen-printed silicon solar cells. Deposition methods for rear passivation layers have to meet both the high-throughput and low-cost requirements of the PV industry in combination with high-quality surface passivation properties. In this paper, we evaluate and optimise a novel deposition technique for AlO x passivation layers by applying an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) process. The ICP AlO x deposition process enables high deposition rates up to 5 nm/s as well as excellent surface recombination velocities below 10 cm/s after firing. A fixed negative charge of −4×10 12 cm −2 is measured for ICP AlO x single layers with an interface state density of 11.0×10 11 eV −1 cm −2 at midgap position. When applied to PERC solar cells the ICP AlO x layer is capped with a PECVD SiN y layer. We achieve independently confirmed conversion efficiencies of up to 20.1% for large-area (15.6×15.6 cm 2 ) PERC solar cells with screen-printed metal contacts and ICP AlO x /SiN y rear side passivation on standard boron-doped Czochralski-grown silicon wafers. The internal quantum efficiency reveals an effective rear surface recombination velocity S rear of (90±30) cm/s and an internal rear reflectance R b of (91±1)% which demonstrates the excellent rear surface passivation of the ICP AlO x /SiN y layer stack.

In our continued efforts in the synthesis of ruthenium(II) polypyridine complexes as potential dyes for use in varied applications, such as the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), this work particularly describes the synthesis, absorption spectrum, redox behavior and luminescence properties of a new homoleptic ruthenium(II) complex bearing a simple trans-2-methyl-2-butenoic acid functionality as the anchoring ligand on terpyridine moiety. The functionalized terpyridine ligand: 4’-(trans-2-methyl-2-butenoic acid)-terpyridyl (L1) was synthesized by aryl bromide substitution on terpyridine in a basic reaction condition under palladium carbide catalysis. In particular, the photophysical and redox properties of the complex formulated as: bis-4’-(trans-2-methyl-2-butenoic acid)-terpyridyl ruthenium(II) bis-hexafluorophosphate [Ru(L1)2(PF6)2] are significantly better compared to those of [Ru(tpy)2]2+ and compare well with those of the best emitters of Ru(II) polypyridine family containing tridentate ligands. Reasons for the improved photophysical and redox properties of the complex may be attributed partly to the presence of a substituted α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid moiety leading to increase in the length of π-conjugation bond thereby enhancing the MLCT-MC (Metal-to-ligand-charge transfer-metal centred) energy gap, and to the reduced difference between the minima of the excited and ground states potential energy surfaces.

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is a gas injection technology that enables the storage of CO2 underground. The aims are twofold, on one hand to reduce the emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere and on the other hand to increase oil/gas/heat recovery. Different types of CCUS technologies and related engineering projects have a long history of research and operation in the USA. However, in China they have a short development period ca. 10 years. Unlike CO2 capture and CO2-EOR technologies that are already operating on a commercial scale in China, research into other CCUS technologies is still in its infancy or at the pilot-scale. This paper first reviews the status and development of the different types of CCUS technologies and related engineering projects worldwide. Then it focuses on their developments in China in the last decade. The main research projects, international cooperation, and pilot-scale engineering projects in China are summarized and compared. Finally, the paper examines the challenges and prospects to be experienced through the industrialization of CCUS engineering projects in China. It can be concluded that the CCUS technologies have still large potential in China. It can only be unlocked by overcoming the technical and social challenges.

The new GHG calculator named SECTOR (Source-selective and Emission-adjusted GHG CalculaTOR for Cropland) is based on the IPCC Tier 2 approach for rice as well as other crops. The new features of SECTOR facilitate high flexibility in terms of entering newly obtained emission factors, easy data transfer from crop statistics for entering activity data and detailed specifications of GHG scenarios. A new procedure of entering frequency-based data on current water management practices was also developed. Moreover, the tool allows deviating from the 2006 IPCC Guidelines by considering field records with high background levels of N₂O emissions in the overall assessment of GHG emissions. This article assesses different applications of the tool, namely as add-ons to field measurements, for GHG calculation at national/sectorial scale and within measurement, reporting and verification of development projects. SECTOR is downloadable in the form of templates that can be used to develop custom versions with varying levels of disaggregated data entries at different scales. A case study for rice production in one Vietnamese province demonstrates the potential to display GHG results in combination with GIS. SECTOR can easily be adjusted to incorporate new emission factors and calculation procedures expected in forthcoming revisions of the IPCC Guidelines.