Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, a two-stage charging management framework is proposed to exploit the potential flexibility of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The aim is to reduce drastic variations in distribution system net load caused by integration of intermittent renewable distributed generation (DG) units. In the first stage, a home-based charging method is formulated in which the desired charging schedule of EVs is obtained by minimizing the cost of energy taking into account owners' preferences. The attained charging schedules are then announced to EVs Coordinator Agent (ECA) which, as the second stage, applies an LP optimization to reduce the cost of ramp provision. Moreover, an incentive scheme is... 

Employing more flexibility in power systems is one of the main challenges brought about by integrating more renewable energy sources in power systems. A promising way to overcome this challenge is to have local sources of flexibility in distribution level. In this respect, a novel approach is introduced in this paper for multi-stage distribution system expansion planning which jointly considers expansion of the network assets as well as flexibility enhancement. To this end, construction and reinforcement of feeders and substations are considered as various alternatives for network expansion. Moreover, installation of conventional dispatchable distributed generation units is selected as the... 

A high-performing, lightweight, and flexible asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) using NiCo-layered double hydroxide (NiCo LDH) supported on 3D nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) as a positive electrode and NG as a negative electrode is demonstrated. Highly conductive NG provides fast electron transfer and facilitates (dis)charging of NiCo LDH deposited on it. The composite electrode of NiCo LDH@NG exhibits a high specific capacitance of 1421 F g −1 at 2 A g −1 . Moreover, the as-obtained hybrid electrode shows an excellent rate capability with a specific capacitance of 1397 F g −1 at a high current density of 10 A g −1 , which is about 98% of the capacitance obtained at 2 A g −1 . The flexible ASC... 

Tool reliability is one of the most important issues in a flexible manufacturing system. If a tool fails to operate correctly, the performance of the manufacturing system is reduced, the due date may be violated, or the product quality falls behind the standards. This paper develops a bi-objective mathematical model for tool selection in a flexible manufacturing system in order to optimize both reliability and cost. The tools in these environments are considered to have increasing failure rates as they are used over time; a case closer to reality. This paper aims to evaluate the availability of different tools used in a production system, in which the reliability of a tool is dependent on... 

We present a geometric approach for fault detection and isolation (FDI) in robotic manipulators in presence of model uncertainty. A systematic procedure is introduced for representing robotic system model being affine with respect to faults and disturbances. The proposed residual generator has smooth dynamics with freely selectable functions and it does not require high gains or threshold adjustment for the FDI purpose. No assumption on amplitude of faults and their rate is used. The solvability conditions for the FDI problem lead to a quotient observable subspace unaffected by all unknown inputs except the faults. Simulation example demonstrates localization of faults in presence of... 

Design and fabrication of highly efficient and low-cost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is of paramount importance for practical applications. Herein, we proposed a cost-effective, metal-free catalyst based on ZIF-8 metal-organic framework nanoparticles/electro-polymerized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) film on the surface of flexible carbon cloth (CC) electrode (ZIF-8/PEDOT/CC) via a two-step procedure. For this purpose, worm-like PEDOT nanostructures were deposited on the surface of carbon fibers using a pulse electro-polymerization technique followed by facile growth of ZIF-8 polyhedra nanoparticles via a chemical bath deposition method. The ORR measurements in... 

Large customers are considered as major flexible electricity demands which can reduce their electricity costs by choosing appropriate strategies to participate in demand response programs. However, practical methods to aid the large customers for handling the complex decision making process for participating in the programs have remained scarce. This paper proposes a novel decision-making tool for enabling large customers to determine how they adjust their electricity usage from normal consumption patterns in expectation of gaining profit in response to changes in prices and incentive payments offered by the system operators. The proposed model, formulated as a mixed-integer linear... 

Electrospun porous membrane; Superhydrophilic surfaces; Superhydrophobic surfaces; Cell culture; Organ on a chip; Flexible membrane; Strong membrane; Surface modications  

Demand response (DR) and flexible AC transmission system (FACTS) devices can be effectively used for congestion management in power transmission systems. However, demand response program (DRP) implementation can itself affect the optimum location of FACTS devices, which is one of the main issues in power system planning. This paper investigates the impact of DRPs on unified power flow controller (UPFC) placement. The harmony search algorithm is employed to determine the optimum locations and parameter setting of UPFC in a long-term framework. The optimization problem is solved with different objectives including generation and congestion cost reduction, as well as loss reduction. In this... 

Design and fabrication of highly efficient and low-cost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts is of paramount importance for practical applications. Herein, we proposed a cost-effective, metal-free catalyst based on ZIF-8 metal-organic framework nanoparticles/electro-polymerized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) film on the surface of flexible carbon cloth (CC) electrode (ZIF-8/PEDOT/CC) via a two-step procedure. For this purpose, worm-like PEDOT nanostructures were deposited on the surface of carbon fibers using a pulse electro-polymerization technique followed by facile growth of ZIF-8 polyhedra nanoparticles via a chemical bath deposition method. The ORR measurements in... 

Large customers are considered as major flexible electricity demands which can reduce their electricity costs by choosing appropriate strategies to participate in demand response programs. However, practical methods to aid the large customers for handling the complex decision making process for participating in the programs have remained scarce. This paper proposes a novel decision-making tool for enabling large customers to determine how they adjust their electricity usage from normal consumption patterns in expectation of gaining profit in response to changes in prices and incentive payments offered by the system operators. The proposed model, formulated as a mixed-integer linear... 

onstructing of the scaffolds for cell culture applications has long been of interest for engineering researchers and biologist. In this study, a novel process is utilized for construction of suitable membrane with a high mechanical strength and appropriate surface behavior. Poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is electrospun into fine fibers using poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the carrier polymer in different weight ratios. Since the surface behavior of all PDMS substrates is moderately hydrophobic (120 < contact angle (CA) < 150), the electrospun membranes with higher PDMS ratios show slightly higher hydrophilicity. Direct plasma treatment is utilized to change the interfacial wettability... 

Miniaturization of electronic devices with portable, flexible and wearable characteristics created a great demand for high-performance microscale energy storage devices with lightweight and flexible properties. Among the energy storage devices, wire-shaped supercapacitors (WSSCs) have recently received tremendous attention due to their tiny volume, wearability, high flexibility and potential applications in the next-generation portable/wearable electronic devices. Herein, we successfully fabricated a porous dendritic Ni-Cu film on Cu wire substrate (CWE) for fabrication of high-performance wire-type supercapacitors. The porous structure with dendritic morphology provides a high surface area,... 

The pipe-spool fabrication process is a critical operational section in the piping projects that usually used to accelerate and discipline the installation process, especially, when we have a particular deadline for the project. For this reason, the fast and optimal scheduling of the fabrication activities with considering the real conditions and using manual or traditional methods is a significant problem for the decision-makers. In this paper, we use a novel linear programming model to schedule the spool fabrication activities based on the flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP). Because FJSP is a challengeable NP-hard problem, we solve the proposed mathematical model with a heuristic... 

In this paper, the planar maneuver of a flexible satellite with regard to its flexible appendages vibration has been studied. The flexible satellite translates and rotates in a plane; in addition, the flexible appendages can also vibrate in that plane. The system governing equations, which are coupled partial and ordinary differential equations, are obtained based on Hamilton's principle. Then the original system converts to three equivalent subsystems, two of which contains one partial differential equation and one ordinary differential equation along with four boundary conditions, by using change of variables. Employing control forces and one control torque which are applied to the central... 

The utility of probability density evolution method for reliability-based active vibration control of a cantilevered flexible beam is experimentally investigated. In this respect, an optimal linear quadratic regulator (LQR) is utilized together with an observer to design an online full-state feedback controller. In order to design a well-performing controller and to simulate the controller performance, a system model is obtained via identification techniques. Reliability tests are consequently performed to verify the effectiveness of the presented reliability assessment method as a foundation for reliability-based control. Subsequently, a hybrid metaheuristic optimization scheme of... 

Providing backhaul connectivity for macro and pico base stations (BSs) constitutes a significant share of infrastructure costs in future heterogeneous networks (HetNets). To address this issue, the emerging idea of flexible backhaul is proposed. Under this architecture, not all the pico BSs are connected to the backhaul, resulting in a significant reduction in the infrastructure costs. In this regard, pico BSs without backhaul connectivity need to communicate with their nearby BSs in order to have indirect accessibility to the backhaul. This makes the radio resource management (RRM) in such networks more complex and challenging. In this paper, we address the problem of cross-layer RRM in... 

Reliability of machinery and equipment in flexible manufacturing systems are among the most important issues to reduce production costs and to increase efficiency. This paper investigates the reliability of machinery in job shop production systems, where materials, parts, and other production needs are handled by automated guided vehicles (AGV). The failures time of the parallel machines in a given shop follow either an exponential or a Weibull distribution. As there is no closed-form equation to calculate the reliability of the shop in the Weibull case, a simulation approach is taken in this paper to estimate the reliability. Then, a bi-objective nonlinear optimization model is developed... 

Trolling mode atomic force microscopy (TR-AFM) has resolved many imaging problems by a considerable reduction of the liquid-resonator interaction forces in liquid environments. The present study develops a nonlinear model of the meniscus force exerted to the nanoneedle of TR-AFM and presents an analytical solution to the distributed-parameter model of TR-AFM resonator utilizing multiple time scales (MTS) method. Based on the developed analytical solution, the frequency-response curves of the resonator operation in air and liquid (for different penetration length of the nanoneedle) are obtained. The closed-form analytical solution and the frequency-response curves are validated by the... 

In this paper, we analytically and numerically investigate chaos in attitude dynamics of a flexible satellite composed of a rigid body and two identical rigid panels attached to the main body with springs. Flexibility, viewed as a perturbation, can cause chaos in the satellite. To show this, first, we use a novel approach to define this perturbation. Then, we employ canonical transformation to transform the Hamiltonian of the system from five to three degrees of freedom. Next, we approximate the system by a second-order differential equation with a time quasiperiodic perturbation. Finally, we apply Melnikov–Wiggins’ method near the heteroclinic orbits to prove the existence of chaos. Using...