Sharif Digital Repository

The first phase of the Alborz Observatory Array (Alborz-1) consists of 20 plastic scintillation detectors each one with surface area of 0.25 m2 spread over an area of 40×40 m2 realized to the study of Extensive Air Showers around the knee at the Sharif University of Technology campus. The first stage of the project including construction and operation of a prototype system has now been completed and the electronics that will be used in the array instrument has been tested under field conditions. In order to achieve a realistic estimate of the array performance, a large number of simulated CORSIKA showers have been used. In the present work, theoretical results obtained in the study of... 

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) are an important concept of biomedical engineering because of their ability to improve life conditions for people with different disabilities. Lots of studies have worked on important characteristics of BCI systems, such as speed and accuracy, whereas price is an important aspect too. Thus, a low cost BCI system with high accuracy clearly can help more people. Our purpose in this study is to design a P300 based BCI system using a low-priced EEG headset which has an acceptable accuracy. Our final design got a mean real-time accuracy of 93.3% which is comparable to systems with much more expensive hardware. © 2019 IEEE  

With the advent of small-scale heat and electricity producers in distribution energy systems, the interdependencies between energy carriers have been increased. Moreover, the rapid deployment of micro CHP, electric heat pumps, electricity-to-heat appliances etc., calls for new local market frameworks to be employed in distribution energy systems. In response, this paper presents a new energy market framework based on the concept of peer-to-peer negotiations to facilitate energy transactions between agents at the distribution level while addressing the interdependencies between different energy carriers. Moreover, linear optimization problems are proposed to investigate the optimal strategies... 

Space constraint is a limiting factor for the widespread commercial adaptation of switched reluctance generators (SRGs). Maximizing the output power and minimizing the dc bus filter size are thus highly desired. The output power profiles of a typical SRG are determined by applying various excitation angles. Excitation for maximum output power is obtained while limiting the rms value of the phase currents. The dc bus current of an SRG drive, operating in single pulse mode, is highly distorted by low-frequency ripples. Introducing a freewheeling angle in the excitation pattern can lower the current ripple factor. A novel transform is proposed to establish a relationship between the... 

The rapid deployment of district heating systems in local energy markets and increasing the number of small-scale heat producers along with the expansion of local electricity markets increase the need for a transaction framework to manage the transactions between local participants in both heat and electricity markets. This paper presents a peer-to-peer thermal energy transaction framework to manage the transactions between small-scale heat prosumers. This framework enables small-scale thermal energy producers and consumers to participate in the market as price maker agents. Moreover, the optimal strategy of heat market participants is determined by proposing a linear profit function for... 

Proliferation of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and integration of various distributed generation (DG) technologies have been recognized to play an undeniable role in modern power systems of the future. In order to effectively model the interactions of these two technologies, this paper develops a multi-criteria framework to coordinate the charging behaviors of PHEVs within an energy hub platform. In this regard, the desirable charging profiles from the viewpoint of both PHEV owners and hub manager are first captured and reported to the PHEVs Coordinator Entity (PCE). The PCE, then, runs an optimization framework in which several criteria including the PHEV owners’ convenience,... 

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a subset of artificial intelligence in which a decision-making agent tries to act optimally in an environment by controlling different parameters. There is no need to identify and mathematically formulate the environmental constraints in such a method. Moreover, the RL agent does not need prior information about future outcomes to act optimally in the current situation. However, its performance is adversely affected by the environmental complexity, which increases the agent's effort to choose the optimal action in a particular condition. Integrating RL and linear programming (LP) methods is beneficial to tackle this problem as it reduces the state-action space... 

This paper proposes a new experimental procedure for magnetic characterization of switched reluctance machines. In the existing methods, phase voltage and current data are captured and further processed to find the flux linkage. Conventionally, assuming zero initial flux value, the flux linkage can be found by integrating the corresponding voltage term. However, the initial flux value is usually unknown, e.g., it can be nonzero when the current is zero due to the residual flux effect, and, thus, imposes error in magnetic characterization. The proposed method addresses this issue by considering an additional equation in steady state. This method injects a low-frequency sinusoidal current to... 

Using the potential of off-grid photovoltaic systems is a feasible way to supply electrical energy to locations which are far from the national electricity grid. In the design process of these systems, it is important to choose an appropriate capacity of these panels, since it should be able to steadily supply energy in all-weather conditions, especially cloudy days. In the conventional algorithm to design these panels and determine the capacity of these photovoltaic arrays, the number of cloudy days is not considered. Thus, in this papers, a new method is introduced in order to find out the appropriate capacity of off-grid photovoltaic arrays in the planning process of these systems. © 2019... 

With the increasing rate of population in big cities around the world, the tendency to build new buildings in the suburb of main cities or to build large apartments in the main cities has been highlighted. In this regard, building residential complexes has seen a dramatic increase in these areas as it makes it possible to build a large number of residential units within a reasonable space. Although these complexes have brought numerous benefits, they are some challenges regarding their construction processes. One main concern associated with these complexes is how to optimally install energy components such as transformers, combined heat and power (CHP) units, boilers etc., in the shared... 

A three-phase dual active bridge (DAB) converter is designed and constructed as the DC/DC stage of a 50 kW fast charger station. Recently introduced 300A SiC power modules and drivers are utilized in the converter to obtain a high efficiency. Each module has two interconnected switches with anti-parallel diodes resembling a converter leg. It is observed that the driver halts the module operation as a result of protective actions such as over-current, gate under-voltage, or gate overvoltage. In such case the module operates as a leg with two diodes until an external hardware signal resets the driver. The aim of this paper is to provide analysis, simulation and experiments for a three-phase...