Sharif Digital Repository

Recently, due to the restructuring of power systems and the high penetration level of local renewables, distribution systems have encountered with the complexity of power management. Therefore, the modern systems would be operated in a multi-agent structure which facilitates the power management as well as privacy protections of independent entities. In this structure, the distribution system is assumed to compose of several agents who independently schedule their local resources in order to maximize their own profits. Consequently, this paper provides an efficient peer-to-peer (P2P) active power management framework in a multi-agent distribution system while considering network constraints... 

Nowadays, the increasing integration of variable renewable energies (VREs) in power systems have resulted in operational transformations of energy systems. Respectively, the high-amount of integrated VREs could cause severe-ramping in the net-load of energy systems due to abrupt changes in their power production. Accordingly, based on the limited flexibility capacity in transmission systems, severe ramping-up/down (RU/RD) in distribution systems should be addressed by employing local flexible resources (LFRs). Nevertheless, evolution of multi-agent structured distribution systems has limited the direct access of distribution system operators (DSOs) in scheduling of LFRs. Consequently, this... 

The increasing integration of renewable energy resources (RERs) and the expansion of multi-microgrid systems have transformed the operational condition of power systems. Respectively, the high-amount installation of RERs could result in the volatile changes exchanged-power of local systems, when their power generation drops suddenly. Nevertheless, the available ramp-up power for compensating the supply-demand gap in the power system could be limited due to the operational constraints of power networks and generation units. As a result, in this article, a transactive flexible-ramp-up-management-mechanism is offered in order to enable system operators to exploit the scheduling of microgrid... 

Emergence of reformation and privatization in energy systems has caused the development of multi-agent distribution systems. In this context, each agent as an independent entity aims to efficiently operate its respective resources; while, the distribution network operator (DNO) strives to control the grid in an efficient and reliable manner. Respectively, in case of failure incidences in the grid, DNO should address the economic losses as well as reliability concerns of the agents. Consequently, this paper intends to organize a framework that enables the DNO in order to incentivize the cooperation of agents to alleviate operational effects of the contingency condition. Accordingly, DNO... 

In nature, most microorganisms have flexible micro/nanostructure tails, which help them create propulsion, reduce drag, or search for food. Previous studies investigated these flexible structures mostly from the propulsion creation perspective. However, the drag reduction and the underlying physical mechanisms of such tails are less known. This scientific gap is more significant when multi-polymeric/hierarchical structures are used. To fill the gap, we use the dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) method as a powerful fluid-polymer interaction technique to study the flexible tails' influences on drag reduction. Note that the flow regime for these microorganisms is in the range of laminar low... 

Increasing the intermittent outputs of renewable energy sources (RESs) has forced planners to define a new concept named flexibility. In this regard, some short- and long-term solutions, such as transmission expansion planning (TEP) and energy storage systems (ESSs) have been suggested to improve the flexibility amount. A proper optimization procedure is required to choose an optimal solution to improve flexibility. Therefore, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) direct-optimization TEP versus ESSs co-planning model is presented in this paper to enhance power system flexibility. In doing so, a novel RES-BESS-based grid-scale system flexibility metric is proposed to investigate the... 

This article introduces a class of time-varying controllers for Euler-Lagrange systems such that the convergence occurs at an arbitrary finite time, independently of initial conditions, and free of chattering. The proposed controller is based on a mapping technique and is designed in two steps: First, a conventional (obstacle avoidance) asymptotically stable controller is specified for the nominal system; then, by a simple substitution, a prescribed-time (obstacle avoidance) controller is achievable for the perturbed system. It is proved that the proposed scheme is uniformly prescribed-time stable for unperturbed systems and prescribed-time attractive for perturbed systems as it rejects... 

One of the recently proposed strategies in health systems is providing services to patients at home and improving the service quality in addition to reducing the health system costs. In the real world, some services, such as biological tests or blood sampling, force the nurses to start or end his/her route from/at the laboratory instead of the depot, changing the whole optimal planning. The effect of these special service requirements and features has not been considered so far. In this study, a new mathematical model is suggested considering the flexibility of starting/ending places of each nurse’s route according to the specific characteristics of each service. Then, several sets of... 

A flexible, porous and biocompatible titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNT) - polyurethane (PU) film has been produced as a new scaffold for artificial vascular grafts. Synergistic improvements in the properties of vertical TNT and PU was reached, including enhancements in their biocompatibility, mechanical strength, flexibility and porosity. Open-ended (OE) TNT-PU and close-ended (CE) TNT-PU films were synthesized and their mechanical and biological properties were compared with their pure PU counterparts. TNT were attached to PU with a new strategy. The resulting flexible structure was hydrophilic and super hydrophilic in OE-TNT-PU and CE-TNT-PU scaffolds, respectively. The gas leakage during... 

Smart home is a small but an important energy segment that has a significant potential to implement authentic energy policies, where human is a major decision-maker in the home energy management dilemma. Therefore, humans’ emotions and tendencies plays a vital role as the End-User's daily decisions. In this paper, we develop a behavioral home energy management model based on time-driven prospect theory incorporating energy storage devices, distributed energy resources, and smart flexible home appliances. The conventional prospect theory is then modified by considering the psychological time discount effect in the value function. The non-flexible load and photovoltaic generation uncertainties... 

Alterations in the structure of a magnetron, e.g., the A6 relativistic magnetron, are proposed, which considerably increase the device's build-up speed. We cover the magnetron vane surfaces with semiconductor layers of nonzero electric conductivity, with an exact geometrical design. Semiconductor layers with considerable mechanical strength also provide excellent shielding for the vanes against the high-energy relativistic electrons' bombardment. The novel structure introduces several new free parameters to the magnetron design procedure and considerably increases the design flexibility. A multistage exact optimization procedure, performed by extensive computer simulations, shows that... 

The attitude fault-tolerant control of a flexible satellite actuated by reaction wheels and magnetic torquer bars is investigated in this article. A low earth orbit is considered for moment perturbations such as drag and gravity gradient. Furthermore, the flexible panels attached to a rigid central body are modeled through the assumed mode approach by a finite set of bending modal motion. The ordinary differential equations of their generalized coordinates are found using Lagrange’s equation, and the resulting dynamical model is validated by comparing its simulation results to the NX Siemens software results. Finally, a fault-tolerant controller based on sliding mode control is suggested and... 

Companies and firms, nowadays, due to mounting competition and product diversity, seek to apply virtual cellular manufacturing systems to reduce production costs and improve quality of the products. In addition, as a result of rapid advancement of technology and the reduction of product life cycle, production systems have turned towards dynamic production environments. Dynamic cellular manufacturing environments examine multi-period planning horizon, with changing demands for the periods. A dynamic virtual cellular manufacturing system is a new production approach to help manufacturers for decision making. Here, due to variability of demand rates in different periods, which turns to flow... 

The widespread presence of contingent generation, when coupled with the resulting volatility of the chronological net-load (i.e., the difference between stochastic generation and uncertain load) in today's modern electricity markets, engender the significant operational risks of an uncertain sufficiency of flexible energy capacity. In this article, we address several operational flexibility concerns that originate from the increase in generation variability captured within a security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC) formulation in smart grids. To quantitatively assess the power grid operational flexibility capacity, we first introduce two reference operation strategies based on a two-stage... 

The increasing energy demand for next-generation portable and miniaturized electronics has drawn tremendous attention to develop microscale energy storage and conversion devices with light weight and flexible characteristics. Herein, we report the preparation of flower-like cobalt vanadium selenide/nickel copper selenide (CoVSe/NiCuSe) microspheres with three-dimensional hierarchical structure of micropore growth on copper wire for a flexible fiber microsupercapacitor (microSC) and overall water splitting. The CoV-LDH microspheres are anchored on the dendrite-like NiCu nanostructured Cu wire using a hydrothermal method (CoV-LDH/NiCu@CW). The sulfidation and selenization of CoV-LDH/NiCu was... 

The time-varying structural reliability of an aeroelastic launch vehicle subjected to stochastic parameters is investigated. The launch vehicle structure is under the combined action of several stochastic loads that include aerodynamics, thrust as well as internal combustion pressure. The launch vehicle's main body structural flexibility is modeled via the normal mode shapes of a free-free Euler beam, where the aerodynamic loadings on the vehicle are due to force on each incremental section of the vehicle. The rigid and elastic coupled nonlinear equations of motion are derived following the Lagrangian approach that results in a complete aeroelastic simulation for the prediction of the... 

Virtual power plant (VPP) aggregates the capacity of diverse distributed energy resources (DERs) dispersed around the network and creates an individual operating portfolio from the composition of DERs characteristics. VPP can schedule the DERs to provide energy and different types of reserve services in order to trade in wholesale electricity markets or provide network services. In this chapter, an optimization model of VPP to provide energy and reserve is addressed. In this regard, diverse DERs’ energy and reserve models are mentioned and optimization models of VPP to aggregate DERs in order to provide energy and reserve and make profit in wholesale markets are regarded. Furthermore, a... 

Purpose: The paper aims to report a fire test conducted on a three-dimensional frame in order to investigate the behaviour of bare steel flush end-plate connections with relatively low thickness at elevated temperatures. Design/methodology/approach: A half-scale model was fabricated and exposed to modified (scaled) ISO 834 heating curve using a semi-open furnace. The maximum temperature inside the furnace reached 1,026 °C. Findings: The rotations of connections are reported and compared with those of a previous study on an exactly the same model with thick end-plates. Various modes of failure such as local buckling of the beams flanges and lateral-torsional buckling of beams were observed... 

Solar panel flexibility plays an important role in the attitude control of satellites. Therefore, traditionally the deformations of flexible solar panels are measured with a series of sensors along the panels itself. This paper presents a novel maiden attempt to simultaneously estimate the attitude and deformation of a flexible satellite using only 2 low-cost attitude sensors namely the sun sensor and magnetometer measurements. The flexible satellite is considered as a central rigid body with two attached flexible panels in order to derive the governing dynamic equations based on the Lagrange's equation. Both Extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) are employed for the... 

In this paper, boundary control (BC) laws are designed to find a BC solution for a single-link nonlinear vertical manipulator to suppress the link’s transverse vibrations and control the rigid body nonlinear large rotating motion. The governing equations of motions and boundary conditions, which all consist of a set of PDEs and ODEs have been derived based on the Hamilton principle. It is desired to regulate large angular orientation, suppress the flexible link’s transverse vibrations and compensate the boundary disturbance simultaneously. The amount of elastic boundary vibration has remained within the constraint range. By considering novel Barrier-Integral Lyapunov functional in order to...