Sharif Digital Repository

Reducing the renewable energy costs is necessary for the competition with the fossil energies and control strategies have great impact on the efficiency of wind machines. In the wind turbine industry, a practical approach is to maximize the energy capture of a wind machine by optimizing the power coefficient in the under-rated situations. In this paper, with the main objective of maximizing the energy capture in the second region, four different control strategies are compared in the presence of uncertainties. The proposed control methods are compared based on their power capture and robustness against probable uncertainties in the structural and environmental parameters. A two-mass... 

Reducing the renewable energy costs is necessary for the competition with the fossil energies and control strategies have great impact on the efficiency of wind machines. In the wind turbine industry, a practical approach is to maximize the energy capture of a wind machine by optimizing the power coefficient in the under-rated situations. In this paper, with the main objective of maximizing the energy capture in the second region, four different control strategies are compared in the presence of uncertainties. The proposed control methods are compared based on their power capture and robustness against probable uncertainties in the structural and environmental parameters. A two-mass... 

In this paper we consider the issue of energy efficiency in random access networks and show that optimizing transmission probabilities of nodes can enhance network performance in terms of energy consumption and fairness. First, we propose a heuristic power control method that improves throughput, and then we model the Utility Constrained Energy Minimization (UCEM) problem in which the utility constraint takes into account single and multi node performance. UCEM is modeled as a convex optimization problem and Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) is used to find optimal transmission probabilities. Numerical results show that our method can achieve fairness, reduce energy consumption and... 

Bio-batteries are environmental friendly electricity generation devices that utilize energy from biological sources, like glucose[1] [2]. It consists of an anode with digesting enzymes and a cathode comprising oxygen-reducing enzymes. Immobilizing enzymes is a considerable issue in these kinds of devices. In this article, we propose two new methods for immobilizing and shifting particles likewise enzymes used in bio-batteries towards the anode or cathode end. Our experiments illustrate how tiny particles could be trapped in the nodes of the ultrasonic standing waves and by two methods of displacing the nodes, we can transfer the particles towards a desired location. First method is based on... 

An ultra-low power frequency-shift keying (FSK) demodulator based on injection-locking ring oscillator for wireless body area networks is presented. The proposed system uses the power-efficient injectionlocking ring oscillator (ILRO) to replace the LC oscillator which occupies much more area on chip with higher power consumption. In addition, through the ILRO, the frequency modulated input signal is converted to a full swing rectangular signal, which can be directly demodulated by a chain of down-conversion passive mixers, lowpass filters and a comparator. Power efficiency and simplicity of the proposed structure eliminate conventional FSK demodulator based on power-hungry phase locked... 

Checkpointing with rollback recovery is a well-established technique to tolerate transient faults. However, it incurs significant time and energy overheads, which go wasted in fault-free execution states and may not even be feasible in hard real-time systems. This paper presents a low-overhead two-state checkpointing (TsCp) scheme for fault-tolerant hard real-time systems. It differentiates between the fault-free and faulty execution states and leverages two types of checkpoint intervals for these two different states. The first type is nonuniform intervals that are used while no fault has occurred. These intervals are determined based on postponing checkpoint insertions in fault-free... 

Diffusive molecular communications (DiMC) have recently gained attention as a candidate for nano- to micro- and macro-scale communications due to its simplicity and energy efficiency. As signal propagation is solely enabled by Brownian motion mechanics, DiMC faces severe inter-symbol interference (ISI), which limits reliable and high data-rate communications. Herein, recent literature on DiMC performance enhancement strategies is surveyed; key research directions are identified. Signaling design and associated design constraints are presented. Studies on fundamental information theoretic limits of DiMC channel are reviewed. Classical and novel transceiver designs are discussed with an... 

Diffusive molecular communications (DiMC) have recently gained attention as a candidate for nano- to micro- and macro-scale communications due to its simplicity and energy efficiency. As signal propagation is solely enabled by Brownian motion mechanics, DiMC faces severe inter-symbol interference (ISI), which limits reliable and high data-rate communications. Herein, recent literature on DiMC performance enhancement strategies is surveyed; key research directions are identified. Signaling design and associated design constraints are presented. Studies on fundamental information theoretic limits of DiMC channel are reviewed. Classical and novel transceiver designs are discussed with an... 

In recent technology nodes, wide guardbands are needed to overcome reliability degradations due to aging. Such guardbands manifest as reduced efficiency and performance. Existing approaches to reduce guardbands trade off aging impact for increased circuit overhead. By contrast, the goal of this work is to completely remove guardbands through exploring, for the first time, application of approximate computing principles in the context of aging. As a result of naively narrowing or removing guardbands, timing errors start to appear as transistors age. We demonstrate that even in circuits that may tolerate errors, aging can be catastrophic due to unacceptable quality loss. Furthermore,... 

With the growing number of cores, high-performance systems face power challenges due to dominating communication power. Thus, attaining energy efficient high-bandwidth inter-core communication nominates photonic network-on chip as the most promising interconnection paradigm. Although photonic networks pave the way for extremely higher performance communications, their intrinsic susceptibility to thermal fluctuations intimidates reliability of system. This necessitates the development of methodologies to analyze and model thermal effects on network behavior. In this paper, we model temperature fluctuations of optical chips and analyze photonic networks in a holistic approach. We present a... 

Significant energy subsidies are believed to be the main factor that has resulted in high energy intensities of Iranian industries. The Subsidy Reform Act of 2010 was directed at modifying energy consumption pattern and fostering energy efficiency enhancement. This study aims at analyzing the effect of energy subsidy reform on promoting energy efficiency in six energy intensive industries of Iran. In order to do so, the energy efficiency practices that have not been adopted after the implementation of the first phase of energy subsidy reform are investigated. Data analysis reveals that if financially interesting investments are determined as those with payback periods less than three years,... 

In the present study, a micro solar Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) system based on Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is thermodynamically and exergoeconomically investigated. Adding a storage tank will lead to the sustainable supply of energy for summer and winter seasons. The model of conservation of energy, conservation of mass, and conservation of linear momentum are applied in order to energy analysis, while a model based on the first and the second laws of thermodynamics are used to exergy analysis. Determining the effective parameters of the system efficiency, including turbine input pressure, turbine inlet temperature, turbine output pressure, and evaporator temperature leads to... 

A new combined cooling and power (CCP) cycle is proposed by a novel combination of the Kalina cycle (KC) and ejector refrigeration cycle (ERC) to produce simultaneous power output and cooling output. The exhaust of the turbine is fed to the ejector as a primary flow to draw the secondary flow (outlet of the evaporator) into the ejector. Energy, exergy, and exergoeconomic analysis of the proposed cycle are carried out leading to determine the first-law-efficiency, the second-law-efficiency, the sum unit cost of the product (SUCP) of the system, and the main source of the irreversibility. The thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency, overall exergy destruction rate, SUCP of the system, net... 

Baseboard heaters are a type of building heating systems that are placed along the base of the interior wall, instead of the traditional skirting. Baseboard heaters meet all the requirements of modern buildings such as thermal comfort, well-architected appearance, space-saving, efficient energy consumption, and fast thermal response. In the present study, we investigate the enhancement of the thermal output of hydronic baseboard heaters. For this purpose, several novel fin-tube arrays such as convector fins and fin-clips are proposed and the thermal performance of each array is evaluated experimentally. In addition, two different types of materials for the tubes, namely, copper and aluminum... 

Condensation of water vapor available in atmospheric air can be considered as a solution for water scarcity problem. In this paper, a comprehensive thermodynamic analysis of water production from humid air using thermoelectric coolers (TECs) is presented. The system consists of a number of thermoelectric coolers, a fan to supply the required air flow circulation, two cold and hot air channels, heat sinks and solar cells for powering the thermoelectric coolers and fan. Effects of various design parameters are investigated and discussed. The proposed design is optimized to get the maximum effectiveness which is defined as the amount of produced water per unit of energy consumption. Sensitivity... 

This work attempts to develop a physical simulation model for the purpose of studying the effect of various design parameters on the performance of a packaged liquid chiller. A computer model which simulates the steady-state cyclic performance of a vapor compression chiller is developed for the purpose of performing detailed physical design analysis of actual industrial chillers. The model can be used for optimizing design and for detailed energy efficiency analysis of packaged liquid chillers. The simulation model takes into account presence of all chiller components such as compressor, shell-and-tube condenser and evaporator heat exchangers, thermostatic expansion valve and connection... 

Background: The use of knee-ankle-foot orthoses with drop locked knee joints produces some limitations for walking in subjects with quadriceps muscle weakness. The development of stance control orthoses can potentially improve their functionality. Objectives: The aim of this review was to compare the evidence of the effect of stance control orthoses to knee-ankle-foot orthoses with drop locked knee joints in improving kinematic variables and energy efficiency of walking by subjects with quadriceps muscle weakness caused by different pathologies. Study design: Literature review. Methods: Based on selected keywords and their composition, a search was performed in Google Scholar, PubMed,... 

Solar updraft tower (SUT) is a simple power plant in which ventilation of heated air inside a channel drives a turbine. This system is recognised as suitable for areas with abundant solar radiation. As a result, there is no extensive research on the performance of SUTs under mild solar radiation. Studies show that strong ambient crosswinds can affect the performance of a SUT. In this paper, the efficiency of SUTs in areas which benefit from strong winds, despite low solar radiation, is investigated through numerical modelling. Comparison is made between the efficiency of a commercial-scale SUT in Manzanares (Spain) with intensive solar radiation, and one of the same size potentially located... 

The aim of this study is to evaluate the sustainability of two actual wastewater treatment plants using the eco-efficiency index based on emergy and life cycle analysis. The life cycle analysis is used for environmental investigation to estimate the eco-efficiency index. Moreover, the emergy theory indicating the input and output flows of the ecosystem are applied to assess the sustainability considering ecosystem services. Two treatment plants are studied in the city of Mashhad in Iran. The potential for sustainability improvement of plants is analyzed in some scenarios including the production of agricultural compost from sludge, 10% reduction of energy consumption, and 10% reduction of... 

In this paper, an approach for topology control has been proposed which make use of distance estimation and angle of arrival (AoA) estimation techniques. Every node in the network tries to keep the number of its neighbors to 4 or 3. These neighbors have been selected from the nearest neighbors of each node and are located in different four quarters of axis. The angular difference between these neighbors is between a minimum and maximum value. This protocol guarantees connectivity on the communication graph with high probability and enforces symmetry on the resulting communication graph, thereby easing the operation of higher level protocols. The performance of the protocol when nodes are...