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This article proposes and analyzes the use of the high-resolution Lhires III spectrograph as a pedagogical tool for teaching-learning concepts of optical spectroscopy. A methodology was developed and it was tested in a population of 20 students from different engineering programs at the Technological University of Pereira, Colombia. The methodology was implemented through a guide, which describes the 3 experiments that are part of the methodological proposal. Upon completion of the guide, students were asked to respond to a test. The Hake gain coefficient was used to measure the learning evolution of students and verify the methodology proposed in this study. 85% of the students affirmed they would like to explore in more depth the concepts of spectroscopy. Although more analysis may be required to verify the findings, these preliminary results show the experiments carried out with the Lhires III allow students to strengthen knowledge acquired in the classroom, fostering interest in science both at high school and university levels.

This paper is presents the design and implementation of an energy conversion system based on a single-phase inverter for an application in the context of microgrids. In this context, it was conducted a study, an analysis, an design and the implementation by means of simulations of two novel controllers techniques based on control of two degrees of freedom plus repetitive controller configurations (R2DOF) and PI-P controller plus resonant controller configuration (PI-P + ResC) in droop control scheme that island mode operation of the inverter allowed maintain the characteristics of the voltage signal to be supplied to the load effectively. With these control configurations was maintained the amplitude, waveform and frequency of the voltage signal and attend increases linear and nonlinear load in island mode operation of a single phase inverter. Finally is implemented the above controllers within a droop control schemes were implemented through simulations for the active and reactive power control required by the loads. With these control schemes is achieved that several inverters connected to the microgrid, working to the voltage sources can operate in parallel, without interfering with each other and provide to loads the active and reactive power, dividing the power supplies by each inverter.

Abstract Ultimate and proximate analyses, HHV and BET surface area have been assessed in the unburned materials obtained by combustion in a conical spouted bed of four types of vegetable biomasses representative of forestry residues, grass and food industry. The results show that the materials are mainly of carbonaceous structure, which stems from the incomplete decomposition of cellulose and lignin, and their content decreases with combustion temperature. The unburned materials have a high surface area, which is of the same order as certain commercial active carbons, rendering them suitable properties for use as low-cost adsorbent. In order to verify this fact, removal efficiencies have been determined in amoxicillin removal tests, and the characteristic parameters, as well as mass transfer coefficients, have been calculated for two adsorption models following Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The results confirm that this byproduct obtained in the recovery of energy from waste biomass performs well in the removal of emerging pollutants from wastewater, and is a viable alternative of commercial adsorbents.

Rational energy consumption in large buildings depends on both the users' consumption culture and the management systems implemented. In Colombia, few buildings have an energy management system characterized by its adaptability to the user and with a certain degree of intelligence. Thus, this document describes the summarized research process for the development of an Internet of Things (IoT) system, which has been designed to promote an intelligent lighting service in an academic environment. The IoT system orchestrates a series of sensors, monitoring systems and controlled actions, all based on the principle of making the system functions and consumption records available in real-time, via web services. The devices used are "Things" with improved functionality, becoming "Smart Things" within the IoT paradigm. Methodologically, an experimental process was followed, linking the development of electronic tools, the construction of services, and the development of interfaces for a pleasant user experience. Research contributes to two essential areas: intelligent buildings, through the intelligent adaptation of an environment; and sustainability and eco-innovation, since the system provides appropriate information for environmental education, in terms of real-time energy consumption, that impacts directly on the fair-use culture of a service expensive for the environment.

Energy storage emerged as a top concern for the modern cities, and the choice of the lithium-ion chemistry battery technology as an effective solution for storage applications proved to be a highly efficient option. State of charge (SoC) represents the available battery capacity and is one of the most important states that need to be monitored to optimize the performance and extend the lifetime of batteries. This review summarizes the methods for SoC estimation for lithium-ion batteries (LiBs). The SoC estimation methods are presented focusing on the description of the techniques and the elaboration of their weaknesses for the use in on-line battery management systems (BMS) applications. SoC estimation is a challenging task hindered by considerable changes in battery characteristics over its lifetime due to aging and to the distinct nonlinear behavior. This has led scholars to propose different methods that clearly raised the challenge of establishing a relationship between the accuracy and robustness of the methods, and their low complexity to be implemented. This paper publishes an exhaustive review of the works presented during the last five years, where the tendency of the estimation techniques has been oriented toward a mixture of probabilistic techniques and some artificial intelligence.

Evaluation and monitoring of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and the parameters defining their operations and design, such as energy consumption, latency, and stability, is a complex task due to interaction with real devices. For greater control of these variables, the use of simulators arises as an alternative. Cooja is a WSN simulator/emulator which handles the devices’ controllers and multiple communication protocol implementations, such as RPL (RPL is one of the most used protocol in IoT). However, Cooja does not consider either the implementation of an energy model (it has infinite energy consumption) nor the visual behavior of the topology construction, although these aspects are crucial for effective network analysis and decision taking. This paper presents the design and the implementation of ViTool-BC, a software built on top of Cooja, which allows the creation of different energy estimation models and also to visualize in real time the behavior of WSN topology construction. In addition, ViTool-BC offers a heat map of energy consumption traces. Therefore, this tool helps researchers to monitor in real time the topology construction, node disconnection, and battery depletion, aspects to be considered in the analysis of the available routing protocols in Cooja.

Abstract One of the options for non-dependence on fossil fuels is the use of renewable energy, which has not grown significantly due to the variable nature of this type of energy. The combined use of wind and solar energy as energy sources can be a good solution to the problem of variable energy output. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to model a combination of the wind-turbine system and photovoltaic cell, which is needed to investigate their ability to supply electrical energy. To determine this important power production, real data of solar-radiation intensity and wind are used and, in modelling photovoltaic cells, the effects of ambient temperature are also considered. In order to generalize the studied system in all dimensions, different scenarios have been considered. According to the amount of electrical power generated, during the evaluation of these scenarios, two economic parameters, namely the selected scenario of a wind/solar system with diesel-generator support, was determined.

This study evaluates and compares the trends in CO2 emissions for the manufacturing industries of three countries: two developed countries (Germany and Sweden) that have applied several measures to promote a shift towards a low-carbon economy and one developing country (Colombia) that has shown substantial improvements in the reduction of CO2 emissions. This analysis is conducted using panel data cointegration techniques to infer causality between CO2 emissions, production factors and energy sources. The results indicate a trend of producing more output with less pollution. The trends for these countries’ CO2 emissions depend on investment levels, energy sources and economic factors. Furthermore, the trends in CO2 emissions indicate that there are emission level differences between the two developed countries and the developing country. Moreover, the study confirms that it is possible to achieve economic growth and sustainable development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as Germany and Sweden demonstrate. In the case of Colombia, it is important to encourage a reduction in CO2 emissions through policies that combine technical and economic instruments and incentivise the application of new technologies that promote clean and environmentally friendly processes.