Abstract

The Inspec database contains more than 12 million bibliographic records on physics, electronics, computer science and engineering. Combining tradition, quality and thoroughness it is unmatched in its topic area in the current information market. From a strictly documentary point of view, Inspec is considered as one of the best-designed systems for its balanced and effective indexing, based on its well known classification and thesaurus. A brief description of its contents, value-added fields and new developments is presented.

Abstract

The energy consumption from the expanding use of information and communications technology (ICT) is unsustainable with present drivers, and it will impact heavily on the future climate change. However, ICT devices have the potential to contribute signi - cantly to the reduction of CO2 emission and enhance resource e ciency in other sectors, e.g., transportation (through intelligent transportation and advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving vehicles), heating (through smart building control), and manu- facturing (through digital automation based on smart autonomous sensors). To address the energy sustainability of ICT and capture the full potential of ICT in resource e - ciency, a multidisciplinary ICT-energy community needs to be brought together cover- ing devices, microarchitectures, ultra large-scale integration (ULSI), high-performance computing (HPC), energy harvesting, energy storage, system design, embedded sys- tems, e cient electronics, static analysis, and computation. In this chapter, we introduce challenges and opportunities in this emerging eld and a common framework to strive towards energy-sustainable ICT. Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

This report covers the design and fabrication of a conformable eddy current array useful for the mapping and measurement of external corrosion on a transmission pipeline. The feasibility of the basic measuring approach was demonstrated and the general guidelines for sensor design were disclosed in a previous project. This project was concerned with design of a practical array, development of interface electronics, and design of the operation and analysis software. A prototype system was constructed, checked out, and demonstrated on natural corrosion in a field environment. Document type: Report

Abstract

Flywheel systems are attractive in hybrid and electric vehicles due to their ability to handle power during acceleration and braking. The combination of a flywheel device with a battery source has several advantages such as high peak power capacity, high energy density and reduction in the number of charge/discharge cycles of the battery. A flywheel based all-electric driveline is investigated in this thesis. The novelty of the system consists in the use of a double wound flywheel machine, which divides the system in two different power levels. Due to this configuration, the system becomes efficient and can handle the power developed during fast dynamical processes. The complete driveline consists of three main components: the battery, the flywheel machine and the wheel motor. The High-Power (HP) side of the driveline connects the flywheel machine to the wheel motor, whereas the Low-Power (LP) side connects the flywheel machine to the battery. The connections of different components of the system are made electrically through power converter devices. The present thesis focuses on the electrical converters and control strategies used in the flywheel based all-electric driveline. The control of power converters is responsible for the logic and functionality of the driveline, being a challenging step within this project. Different power converter topologies have been investigated: a DC/DC plus a DC/AC converter on the LP side, and an AC/DC/AC converter on the HP side. The design and assembly of the power electronics and their control scheme have been successfully implemented. Different control strategies have been suggested and a complete scaled driveline has been assembled and tested based on previous simulation results. Results have confirmed the functionality of the driveline, where smoothed output power has been obtained from the battery, whereas the flywheel handles power transients on the traction side. An average efficiency of about 87% (battery to wheels) has been obtained. The power converter systems have been shown to be efficient and robust, with control strategies able to handle the peak energy flow in the system. A regenerative braking strategy has been simulated and a wheel-to-wheel efficiency of about 80% has been estimated.

Abstract

4 pags., 1 fig., 1 tab. This paper presents the first report on on-line and final blind field test results of a pipeline integrity threat surveillance system. The system integrates a machine+activity identification mode, and a threat detection mode. Two different pipeline sections were selected for the blind tests: One close to the sensor position, and the other 35 km away from it. Results of the machine+activity identification mode showed that about 46% of the times the machine, the activity or both were correctly identified. For the threat detection mode, 8 out of 10 threats were correctly detected, with 1 false alarm. This work was mainly supported by three GERG partners (Fluxys, Statoil, and Gassco) under project PIT-STOP, and was also supported in part by: the European Research Council through project UFINE (Grant #307441); the EC Horizon 2020 program through the FINESSE project MSCA-ITN-ETN-722509; the DOMINO Water JPI project, under the WaterWorks2014 cofounded call by EC Horizon 2020 and Spanish MINECO; the Spanish MINECO through projects TEC2013-45265-R, TEC2015-71127-C2-2-R, and TIN2013-47630-C2-1-R; and the regional program SINFOTON-CM: S2013/MIT-2790. The work of HFM was supported by EU funding through the FP7 ITN ICONE program (Grant #608099). The work of JPG and SML was supported by the Spanish MINECO through FPI and \\Ramón y Cajal" contract, respectively. Peer Reviewed

Abstract

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle allows vehicle propulsion from multiple internal power sources. Electric energy from the grid can be utilized by means of the plug-in connection. An on-line energy management (EM) strategy is proposed to minimize the costs for taking energy from each power source. Especially in a dynamical energy market, an on-line optimization algorithm is desirable since energy prices change over time. By construction, the proposed EM system can operate with, and without prediction information. If predictions are available, an electronic horizon is applied to anticipate on up-coming events and further optimize the strategy. Illustrative examples are given to explain the added value for both solutions. Also the situation where energy is transferred back to the grid is considered. © 2008 IEEE.

Abstract

Optical Sensing and Detection II, Brussels, Belgium , 16-19 April, 2012 In this paper we present the field testing results of a low-cost all-fibre polarimetric current sensor for the monitoring of current in the European high-speed railway network. The sensor fulfils the requirements of robustness, sensitivity, accuracy and cost required for the monitoring of catenary current in changeover sections. Changeover sections are nonfed sections of the catenary that are placed between sections fed with different phases and that introduce discontinuities in the current collection done by the train. Since the train passes at high-speed between the two sections, an electric arc can be formed that may lead to significant damage of the infrastructure. To avoid this situation, it is essential to ensure the switch-off of the current collection before arriving and switch-on again when the changeover section is passed. An adequate protection system that monitors the current in the catenary before the changeover section allows to trigger the necessary protection mechanisms in the infrastructure. Efficient, robust and lightweight electrical current sensors are therefore essential for this security system. The sensor proposed here uses the Faraday magneto-optic Effect with a well-known polarimetric interrogation method. The optical configuration is extremely simplified through the use of few cost-effective, all-fibre devices with a simplified alignment. It allows high sensitivity for low current values, demonstrating a resolution below the ampere level with a dynamic range up to 500 A. The setup is electronically self-referenced to reduce the effect of small misalignments in the polarization, power variations in the optical source, temperature changes, birefringence effect and bending-induced attenuation in the lead fibre. A set of temperature tests in a climatic chamber were also performed in a range of temperature between -20 up to 80°C, to assess the robustness of the device to operating temperature variations. The field tests include tests during commercial operations and special tests simulating fault conditions.

Abstract

/" "p"Computer network traffic is analyzed via mutual information techniques, implemented using linear and nonlinear canonical correlation analyses, with the specific objective of detecting UDP flooding attacks. NS simulation of HTTP, FTP, and CBR traffic shows that flooding attacks are accompanied by a change of mutual information, either at the link being flooded or at another upstream or downstream link. This observation appears to be topology independent, as the technique is demonstrated on the so-called parking-lot topology, random 50-node topology, and 100-node transit-stub topology. This technique is also employed to detect UDP flooding with low false alarm rate on a backbone link. These results indicate that a change in mutual information provides a useful detection criterion when no other signature of the attack is available.

Abstract

The recent rise of renewable energy sources connected to the distribution networks and the high peak consumptions requested by electric vehicle-charging bring new challenges for network operators. To operate smart electricity grids, cooperation between grid-owned and third-party assets becomes crucial. In this paper, we propose a methodology that combines machine learning with multi-objective optimization to accurately plan the exploitation of the energy district&rsquo s flexibility with the objective of reducing peak consumption and avoiding reverse power flow. Using historical data, acquired by the smart meters deployed on the pilot district, the district&rsquo s power profile can be predicted daily and analyzed to identify potentially critical issues on the network. District&rsquo s resources, such as electric vehicles, charging stations, photovoltaic panels, buildings energy management systems, and energy storage systems, have been modeled by taking into account their operational constraints and the multi-objective optimization has been adopted to identify the usage pattern that better suits the distribution operator&rsquo s (DSO) needs. The district is subject to incentives and penalties based on its ability to respond to the DSO request. Analysis of the results shows that this methodology can lead to a substantial reduction of both the reverse power flow and peak consumption. Document type: Article

Abstract

The medium frequency transformer (MTF) is a key component of various new DC&ndash DC converters that are designed for applications in modern electrical power grids at medium and high voltage. To attain the high performance that are necessary for targeting these applications, MFTs should have high power density and high efficiency as characteristics. For this endeavor, newly designed MFT procedures, which also take advantages of new core materials, are under investigation. Differently to other design proposals, most of which use conventional transformer design procedures based on equating core losses to copper conduction losses, in this paper, an MTF with a nanocrystalline (VITROPERM 500F) core is designed with a new procedure that is oriented in aiming the maximum flux density (Bmax). The characteristics of the MFTs that are obtained by using this procedure are compared with those of the MFTFs that are designed with a conventional procedure. The results show that by using the proposed technique, we get a 25% reduction in the winding size, a higher power density, and a lower MTF building cost while maintaining a high efficiency (> 98%). The design methodology is developed through a rigorous mathematical analysis that is verified with computer simulations in Matlab-Simulink and validated with experimental results from two MTF laboratory prototypes designed at a flux density of 0.9 T (75% Bmax) and 1.2 T (Bmax). Document type: Article