Utilização do coque verde de petróleo da Petrobras em substituição parcial ao carvão mineral das misturas injetadas em altos fornos

The Petrobras produced green petroleum coke (GPC) is a carbon rich fuel, virtually ash-free, with low sulfur content, and is a fuel suitable to replace metallurgical coke in blast furnaces. The GPC was tested in a pulverized coal injection simulator built in the Volta Redonda research center. It presented a low burning efficiency due to low volatile material content and high substitution rate by the carbon content. The tests were carried out in blast furnaces with ≤ 50% Petrobras GPC in the coal blends. The injected coal/CVP mixtures produced no negative side effects in the blast furnace grinding systems, pneumatic conveying, or operating process. The mixture burning process inside the blast furnace showed a decrease in fuel consumption, with a significant reduction in metallurgical coke consumption. The industrial-scale tests of the GPC mixtures did not reach the 70% maximum for lack of the GPC feedstock, which is necessary to continue with standard coal mixtures.

TORP: An open standard framework for humanoid robots

Humanoid robots are an extremely complex interdisciplinary research field. Particularly, the development of high size humanoid robots usually requires joint efforts and skills from groups that are in many different research centers around the world. However, there are serious constraints in this kind of collaborative development. Some efforts have been made in order to propose new software frameworks that can allow distributed development with also some degree of hardware abstraction, allowing software reuse in successive projects. However, computation represents only one of the dimensions in robotics tasks, and the need for reuse and exchange of full robot modules between groups are growing. Large advances could be reached if physical parts of a robot could be reused in a different robot constructed with other technologies by other researcher or group. This paper proposes a new robot framework, from now on called TORP (The Open Robot Project), that aims to provide a standard architecture in all dimensions (electrical, mechanical and computational) for this collaborative development. This methodology also represents an open project that is fully shared. In this paper, the first robot constructed following the TORP specification set is presented as well as the advances proposed for its improvement. © 2010 IEEE.

Remote Sensing Detection of atmospheric pollutants using Lidar, Sodar and correlation with air quality data in an industrial area

Optical remote sensing techniques have obvious advantages for monitoring gas and aerosol emissions, since they enable the operation over large distances, far from hostile environments, and fast processing of the measured signal. In this study two remote sensing devices, namely a Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) for monitoring the vertical profile of backscattered light intensity, and a Sodar (Acoustic Radar, Sound Detection and Ranging) for monitoring the vertical profile of the wind vector were operated during specific periods. The acquired data were processed and compared with data of air quality obtained from ground level monitoring stations, in order to verify the possibility of using the remote sensing techniques to monitor industrial emissions. The campaigns were carried out in the area of the Environmental Research Center (Cepema) of the University of São Paulo, in the city of Cubatão, Brazil, a large industrial site, where numerous different industries are located, including an oil refinery, a steel plant, as well as fertilizer, cement and chemical/petrochemical plants. The local environmental problems caused by the industrial activities are aggravated by the climate and topography of the site, unfavorable to pollutant dispersion. Results of a campaign are presented for a 24- hour period, showing data of a Lidar, an air quality monitoring station and a Sodar. © 2011 SPIE.

Using serial bluetooth converters as a sensor link in networked control systems

Networked control systems (NCS) are distributed control system in which sensors, actuators and controllers are physically separated and connected through communication networks. NCS represent the evolution of networked control architectures providing greater modularity and control decentralization, ease maintenance and diagnosis and lower cost of implementation. A recent trend in this research topic is the development of NCS using wireless networks which enable interoperability between existing wired and wireless systems. This paper presents the feasibility analysis of using a serial RS-232 to Bluetooth converter as a wireless sensor link in NCS. In order to support this investigation, relevant performance metrics for wireless control applications such as jitter, time delay and messages lost are highlighted and calculated to evaluate the converter capabilities. In addition the control performance of an implemented motor control system using the converter is analyzed. Experimental results led to the conclusion that serial RS-232 Bluetooth converters can be used to implement wireless networked control systems (WNCS) providing transmission rates and closed control loop times which are acceptable for NCS applications. © 2011 IEEE.

Evaluating serial ZigBee devices for application in wireless networked control systems

Networked control systems (NCS) are distributed control system where the sensors, actuators and controllers are physically separated and connected through communication networks. NCS represent the evolution of networked control architectures providing greater modularity and control decentralization, ease maintenance and diagnosis and lower cost of implementation. A recent trend in this research topic is the development of NCS using wireless networks (WNCS) enabling interoperability between existing wired and wireless systems. This paper evaluates a serial RS-232 ZigBee device as a wireless sensor link in NCS. In order to support this investigation, relevant performance metrics for wireless control applications such as jitter, time delay and messages lost are highlighted and calculated to evaluate the device capabilities. In addition the control performance of an implemented motor control system using the device is analyzed. Experimental results led to the conclusion that serial RS-232 ZigBee devices can be used to implement WNCS and the use of this device delay information in the PID controller discretization can improve the control performance of the system. © 2012 IEEE.

Procedimento numérico para análise de vigas de alvenaria estrutural submetidas à flexão simples

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Civil - FEIS

A aquisição do sistema ortográfico: alterações na representação gráfica de fonemas surdos/sonoros

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudo experimental da remoção, por jato de ar comprimido, de detritos na superfície de corte de rebolo diamantado durante a retificação da alumina refrigerada pela técnica MQL

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Biologia da broca do pedúnculo floral de coqueiro (Homalinotus coriaceus (Gyllenhal, 1836), coleoptera : curculionidae) em três dietas

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Proteção de Plantas) - FCA

A narrativa de crianças sobre o insucesso escolar: aproximações psicanalíticas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Estudo da combustão de carvões e misturas com o coque verde de petróleo injetadas em altos fornos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Avaliação do controle de azevém (Lolium multiflorum) nas condições de cana crua em Louisiana/EUA e dinâmica dos herbicidas na palha

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Agricultura) - FCA

Estimação de parâmetros genéticos para características de crescimento em bovinos da raça Canchim com modelos de dimensão finita e infinita

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Resistência de progênies de Stylosanthes capitata e S. macrocephala à antracnose causada por Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Proteção de Plantas) - FCA

Sexagem molecular em aves: contribuições à conservação biológica e á divulgação científica

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Genética) - IBB