Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, a three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design with response surface methodology were used to maximize the TOC removal and minimize the H2O2 residual in the effluent of the combined UV-C/H2O2-VUV system for the treatment of an actual slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) collected from one of the meat processing plants in Ontario, Canada. The irradiation time and the initial concentrations of total organic carbon (TOCo) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2o) were the three predictors, as independent variables, studied in the design of experiments. The multiple response approach was used to obtain desirability response surfaces at the optimum factor settings. Subsequently, the optimum... 

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of molybdenum disulfide on tribological properties of Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). UHMWPE/MoS2 nano-composites were prepared using in-situ polymerization and Ziegler-Natta catalytic system. Studies showed that, in order to obtain the optimum tribological properties, interlayer distance between nanosheets should be as high as possible. Therefore, the nanosheets were subjected to oxidation using the required oxidants followed by thermal shock and ultrasound. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was used to determine the formation of functional groups which indicate the formation of S═O bond in the... 

A conic body packed bed reactor, internally irradiated with a UV-C lamp and equipped with circulating upflow stream was employed to investigate the decomposition of a widely used azo dye, direct red 16, in water. The synthesized nanostructure TiO 2 photocatalyst particles were immobilized on the surface of transparent Raschig ring packings. Solutions with initial concentration of 30 mg L -1 of dye, within the range of typical concentration in textile waste waters, were treated under the mild operating conditions of natural pH of 6.75 and temperature of 25 °C. Investigations on the active species showed that hydroxyl radicals play the major role in the process, providing a perfect degradation... 

This article addresses a combined approach of sliding mode control (SMC) with generalized predictive control (GPC) to achieve fluid temperature control in the evaporator of a heat recovery steam generator. The evaporator is modelled as a first-order plus dead time process. The model is developed using the experimental data obtained at an actual power plant. An output error identification algorithm is used to minimize the error between the model and the experiments in different operating conditions. A GPC method is exploited to optimize the sliding surface and the coefficients of the switching functions used in SMC. The proposed control schemes are evaluated by thorough simulation for... 

In this paper, the performance of a turbocharger twin-entry radial inflow turbine is investigated analytically and experimentally under steady state, full and partial admission conditions. In this modeling, the mass flow rate, pressure ratio and efficiency of the turbine are assumed unknown. The turbine geometry and the inlet total pressure and temperature are known, hence, the turbine performance characteristics can be obtained. In the turbocharger laboratory, performance characteristics of the turbine are determined, measuring the main parameters for various operating conditions. Comparing the model and experimental results shows good agreement. Also, considering the effect of test... 

One of the efficient solar energy harvesting technics is the parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant. However, if the concentrated solar power plant were not equipped with a storage system, the power plant capacity factor would be deficient. Latent thermal energy storage system using phase change material (PCM) is a high energy density storage system to provide durable energy with a constant temperature. In this study, first, a dynamic analysis is performed implementing TRNSYS software on the parabolic trough concentrated solar power plant located in Shiraz, Iran. Consequently, this system is assisted by the latent thermal energy storage system to improve its performance and capacity... 

Transmission health is an important factor in safety and maintenance costs in industries, so construction of test rigs for testing high-powered gearboxes under different operating conditions of helicopters is required. The studied test rig, which is developed at Sharif University of Technology branch of ACECR (Academic Centre of Education, Culture and Research) is mainly used for testing high-powered gearboxes through a mechanically closed-loop procedure. For providing a variety of speeds and torques in test rigs, torque applying system is required. According to generation of higher forces, reduced size of equipment and accurate positioning, electro hydraulic actuators (EHAs) are used for... 

This work considers the problem of designing a fault tolerant system for IPMS motor drive subject to current sensor fault. To achieve this goal, two control strategies are considered. The first is based on field oriented control and a developed adaptive backstepping observer which simultaneously are used in the case of fault-free. The second approach proposed is concerned with fault tolerant strategy based on observer for faulty conditions. Stator resistance as possible source of system uncertainty is taken into account under different operating conditions. Current sensors failures are detected and observer based on adaptive backstepping approach is used to estimate currents and stator... 

LLC-LC resonant converter is a suitable circuit topology to design switched-mode power supplies for wide-output-voltage and wide-output-load applications. In this paper, a design procedure is introduced to optimize this converter. Unlike soft switching techniques for pulse width modulated converters, which usually apply an active auxiliary circuit to reduce switching losses and EMI, in the proposed converter, not only such circuits are not used, but also all of the parasitic elements are merged to the converters main components. Zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operation is realized for all power devices under all operating conditions. Thus, this converter is a suitable choice for... 

This paper presents a phase-noise reduction technique for voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) using a harmonic tuned (HT) LC tank. The phase-noise suppression is achieved through almost rectangular-shaped VCO oscillating signal which effectively maximizes oscillating signal slope at zero crossing points resulting in-phase-noise degradation. In addition, by shortening down converted noise power around oscillating signal second harmonic, more phase-noise suppression has been achieved. A comprehensive analysis for frequency and amplitude deviations as high as 20% for third harmonic and its effect on output phase-noise suppression has been discussed. In the followings, a comprehensive analysis... 

Compared with fossil fuel, biomass is a clean energy with zero CO 2 emission, because CO 2 is fixed by photosynthesis during biomass growth and released again during utilization. Due to its low energy density, direct use of biomass is not convenient. Thus, it is necessary to convert biomass to fuel gas, such as hydrogen, which can be used cleanly and highly efficiently in fuel cell. Thermo-chemical gasification is likely to be the most cost-effective conversion process and it is promising technology for renewable hydrogen production by utilizing biomass. Biomass gasification produces a mixture of gases (mainly consisting of H 2, CO, CO 2, CH 4 and higher hydrocarbons), solids (char) and... 

This paper describes a control scheme that allows an IPMS motor drive system to operate in the event of current and speed sensor faults. This task can be achieved by two control strategies: a nominal performance controller and a fault detection part. The nominal controller combines field oriented control and addresses fault tolerance scheme. Fault-tolerant strategy will operate in parallel with the system until a fault is detected. This approach is based on the adaptive backstepping observer. Stator resistance as possible source of system uncertainty is taken into account under different operating conditions. Sensors failure are detected and developed observer is used to estimate currents... 

An experimental investigation was conducted on the oxidative desulfurization of model sulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene and benzothiophene in toluene as a simulated light fuel oil with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant and various acids as the catalyst. The influences of various parameters including reaction temperature (T), acid to sulfur molar ratio (Acid/S), oxidant to sulfur molar ratio (O/S), type of acid, and the presence of sodium tungstate and commercial activated carbon as a co-catalyst on the fractional conversion of the model sulfur compounds were investigated. The experimental data obtained were used to determine the reaction rate constant of the model sulfur... 

TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by the sol - gel process using 2-hydroxylethy- lammonium formate as an ionic liquid. Nanoparticles were crystallized at various temperatures (300-700°C). The products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption - desorption isotherms and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. It was found that the resulting TiO2 nanoparticles had good thermal stability either to resist collapse or the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation during heat treatment. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocrystalline TiO2 was evaluated by the degradation of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) which is commonly used as a textile dye. The results showed that the... 

The present work is comprised of two main parts. In part 1 the Co-Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was prepared using a sol-gel procedure. Then the effect of calcination variables including the calcination temperature and time on the catalytic performance for production of light olefins was investigated and optimized. The obtained results have shown that the catalyst which was calcined at 550 °C for 6 h has revealed the better catalytic performance for production of light olefins. In part 2 the effect of process conditions including the reaction temperature, H2/CO feed ratio and total reaction pressure on the catalytic performance (CO conversion%, (C2-C4) selectivity% and C5+ selectivity%) was...