Sharif Digital Repository

Battery chargers are fundamental components for successful deployment of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into future smart grid. Recently, an integrated isolated bidirectional battery charger has been proposed for PHEV applications. The proposed charger eliminates the conventional bulky dc-link capacitor by feeding a dual-bridge resonant tank directly from the three-phase grid. The disadvantages associated with the presented charger are the high number of semiconductor switches which contribute to high cost and switching losses of converter as well as complicated control circuitry. In this paper, the previous structure is modified to address the aforementioned drawbacks and is... 

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles draw electricity from the electrical grid and store energy in their batteries. To increase charge availability for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, on-board chargers can be used, which should be small in size and lightweight. In this article, an on-board bidirectional soft-switched battery charger is proposed that utilizes a phase-shift-controlled dual-bridge series resonant converter with isolation. The bidirectional characteristic of proposed charger makes it suitable for vehicle-to-grid operation (i.e., injecting power from the vehicle to the grid) in smart grids. A switching control scheme is also proposed to provide soft-switching operation for all... 

Lead-acid battery is a storage technology that is widely used in photovoltaic (PV) systems. Battery charging and discharging profiles have a direct impact on the battery degradation and battery loss of life. This study presents a new 2-model iterative approach for explicit modelling of battery degradation in the optimal operation of PV systems. The proposed approach consists of two models: namely, economic model and degradation model which are solved iteratively to reach the optimal solution. The economic model is a linear programming optimisation problem that calculates the optimal hourly battery use profile based on an assumed value of the battery degradation cost. The degradation model,... 

In this paper a novel structure of a zero- voltage transition PWM boost converter is proposed. The main switch and diode of the converter are turned on and off under zero voltage transition. In addition the auxiliary switch and both diodes operate in ZCT condition. The auxiliary circuit consists of a transformer, a snubber capacitor and two diodes. Without imposing much current stress, the switching loss reduces significantly. So a higher efficiency converter is achieved. The simple structure and a wide range of operating current are the advantages of the proposed converter, which make it useful for solar battery chargers etc. The operation principles of the proposed converter are explained... 

The present work describes the preparation and electrochemical characterization of RuO2/MWCNT/Stainless Steel Mesh (SSM) electrode as compared with a MWCNT/SSM electrode in the positive half-cell of a Vanadium Redox Flow Battery (VRFB). The electrochemical characterization of prepared electrode was carried out using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and galvanostatic charge/discharge procedures. The electrochemical activity of MWCNT/SSM modified with RuO2 as positive electrode in a VRFB was notably improved. The RuO2-included electrodes demonstrated high peak current ratio, small peak potential difference and high electron... 

Discharge characteristics of nanorods (NRs), microsized and nanosized copper (II) oxide (CuO) particles prepared via thermal decomposition and thermal oxidation routes are examined as cathode materials of a Zn/CuO cell without membrane separators. The electrochemical discharge is examined galvanostatically at a current density of 500 mAg−1 and reveals that the first discharge cycles of all the CuO materials contain one potential plateau; subsequent discharge cycles involve three potential plateaus. Each potential plateau is due to an electrochemical reaction. The first, second, and third potential plateaus are attributed to Cu2O3, CuO, and Cu2O discharges,... 

Two and three dimensional modeling of a single cell of vanadium redox flow battery has been done thoroughly according to electrochemical and fluid mechanic equations in this study. The modeling has been done in stationary state and its results have been presented in three chemical, electrical and mechanical sub models. The parametric analysis on some of important factors in cell operation demonstrated that increase in electrode and membrane conductivity and electrode porosity contributes to electric potential increase in cells. Also operational temperature increase leads to decrease in cells' voltage. Better fluid distribution on the electrode surface area results in better cell operation,... 

Implementation of various incentive-based and time-based load management strategies has great potential to decrease peak load growth and customer electricity bill cost. In recent years, developments in Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) have provided various environmental and economic advantages. However, high penetration of electric vehicles in to the grid may cause high peak loads at different times of the days. Using advanced metering and automatic chargers makes it possible to optimize the charging cost, and release generation capacities to provide sustainable electricity supply. Using an appropriate encouraging program is a simple way for vehicle owners to manage their energy... 

SiO2-CaO-MgO glass and glass-ceramic powder doped with Nd 3+ were synthesized with sol-gel method. Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), Ca(NO3)2·4H2O, Mg(NO 3)2·6H2O, Nd(NO3) 3·6H2O, ethanol, distilled water, and HNO 3 were used as starting materials. The synthesized powder's properties were examined with simultaneous thermal analysis (STA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The STA curves showed that the softening point and crystallization temperatures were shifted to higher temperatures with increasing dopant content. Regarding XRD patterns of glass samples, Nd was found to act as an intermediate oxide in glass matrix. The XRD... 

Formation of transparent glass-ceramic in the system MgO-SiO 2-Al 2O 3-K 2O-B 2O 3-F with and without addition of LiF and NaF has been investigated. Crystallization of glass-sample was conducted by controlled thermal heat-treatment, at determined nucleation and crystallization temperatures. In this regard, the effects of addition of LiF and NaF were investigated on the crystallization behavior and transparency of the samples. Low transmission (less than 80% at 600. nm) was observed in the basic composition (K).The addition of NaF and LiF caused more intense phase separation in the system. The results indicated that the glass-ceramic can remain transparent if fine grains with nano size are... 

Foaming and crystallisation behaviours of compacted glass powders based on a diopside glass-ceramic composition were investigated using the sintering route. The foaming agent was 2 wt.% SiC particles. The effect of PbO on the foaming ability of glasses was investigated. The results showed that the addition of PbO not only improved the foaming ability, by improving the wettability of the glass-SiC particles but also increased the crystallisation temperature and widened the temperature interval between the dilatometric softening point and the onset of crystallisation. The glass-SiC wetting angle was decreased from 85°for the lead-free glass, to 55°for the glass that contains 15 wt.% PbO  

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of P 2O5 particle size distribution on the crystalline phases and microstructure of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics derived from the TiO2-ZrO2-Li2O-CaO-Al2O 3-SiO2 system for dentistry applications. The samples were made via fusion and casting procedure. Crystallisation as well as the morphology and microstructure of the samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetric and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the crystallisation of the samples occurred in the range of 500-650°C. The main crystalline phase was lithium disilicate (Li2Si2O5) along with Lithium metasilicate (Li2SiO3),... 

Glass-ceramic composites in the SiO2-CaO-MgO-(Na2O) system, reinforced with 5, 10 and 20 wt.% aluminum titanate were synthesized by pressureless sintering. Optimum sintering temperatures with maximum relative density were determined for each composition. The composites were fired above the crystallization peak temperature of glass-ceramic. Mechanical properties of glass-ceramic and sintered composites, such as fracture toughness, flexural strength and Vickers microhardness, were investigated. The sintered composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the composite containing 10... 

In this research, an attempt was made to improve TiO2 photo-catalyst properties, thus pure, N-Ce co-doped TiO2 thin films were prepared on glass-ceramic substrate using a sol-gel dip-coating technique. The samples were calcinated in air at 475 °C, 550°C, and 650°C for 2 h. The result of simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the presence of Ce in TiO2 could inhibit the phase transformation from anatase to rutile and enhance the thermal stability, and anatase was the dominant phase in N-Ce co-doped TiO2 samples. Also based on the results, the doping results in decreasing the size of TiO 2 crystallite. The results of ultra violet-visible light diffuse... 

In this study, lithium disilicate glass-ceramic in the TiO2-ZrO2-Li2O-CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 system was investigated for dentistry applications by incorporation of P2O5 and Nb2O5 as nucleation agent. The influence of the particles size (nano and submicron size) and nucleating agents on the crystalline phases, microstructure, crystallization mechanism and mechanical properties were investigated. Our data indicated that in ceramic glass with nano and submicron P2O5, the main crystalline phase was lithium disilicate. The results also showed that change of P2O5 particle's size had significant effect on the crystalline phases and microstructure. By replacement of submicron P2O5 with submicron Nb2O5,... 

Na3MnCO3PO4 (NMCP) particles were synthesized via ball milling of Mn(NO3)2.4H2O, Na2HPO4.2H2O and Na2CO3.H2O powders. The particles were anchored onto reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets during hydrothermal reduction process under stirring. Materials produced were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric (TG) measurement and galvanostatic charge/discharge tests. Results showed that dissolution of ball milling products in DI water is an effective method for separation of NMCP from byproducts. Best milling time for production of pure NMCP of minimum particle... 

This paper concentrates on degradation of electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) programs and proposes a practical wear cost model for EVs charge scheduling applications. As the first step, all the factors affecting the cycle life of lithium-ion batteries are identified and their impacts on degradation process are investigated. Subsequently, a general model for battery loss of cycle life is devised incorporating all the pertinent factors associated with charging and discharging activities in V2G applications. Modeling the battery wear cost as a series of equal-payments over the cycle life, a mechanism for calculating the cost incurred by EV users due to... 

This paper proposes a new decentralized power management and load sharing method for a photovoltaic (PV)-based, hybrid single/three-phase-islanded microgrid consisting of various PV units, battery units, and hybrid PV/battery units. The proposed method is not limited to the systems with separate PV and battery units, and power flow among different phases is performed automatically through three-phase units. The proposed method takes into account the available PV power and battery conditions of the units to share the load among them. To cover all possible conditions of the microgrid, the operation of each unit is divided into five states in single-phase units and seven states in three-phase...