Viable photocatalysts under solar-spectrum irradiation: Nonplasmonic metal nanoparticles

Supported nanoparticles (NPs) of nonplasmonic transition metals (Pd, Pt, Rh, and Ir) are widely used as thermally activated catalysts for the synthesis of important organic compounds, but little is known about their photocatalytic capabilities. We discovered that irradiation with light can significantly enhance the intrinsic catalytic performance of these metal NPs at ambient temperatures for several types of reactions. These metal NPs strongly absorb the light mainly through interband electronic transitions. The excited electrons interact with the reactant molecules on the particles to accelerate these reactions. The rate of the catalyzed reaction depends on the concentration and energy of the excited electrons, which can be increased by increasing the light intensity or by reducing the irradiation wavelength. The metal NPs can also effectively couple thermal and light energy sources to more efficiently drive chemical transformations.

Performance analysis of solar desiccant-evaporative cooling for a commercial building under different Australian climates

This paper evaluates and compares the system performance of a solar desiccant-evaporative cooling (SDEC) system with a referenced conventional variable air volume (VAV) system for a typical office building in all 8 Australian capital cities. A simulation model of the building is developed using the whole building simulation software EnergyPlus. The performance indicators for the comparison are system coefficient of performance (COP), annual primary energy consumption, annual energy savings, and annual CO2 emissions reduction. The simulation results show that Darwin has the most apparent advantages for SDEC system applications with an annual energy savings of 557 GJ and CO2 emission reduction of 121 tonnes. The maximum system COP is 7. For other climate zones such as Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne, the SDEC system is not as energy efficient as the conventional VAV system.

Design and flight testing of an integrated solar powered UAV and WSN for greenhouse gas monitoring emissions in agricultural farms

There is an increased interest in measuring the amount of greenhouse gases produced by farming practices . This paper describes an integrated solar powered Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) gas sensing system for greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural lands. The system uses a generic gas sensing system for CH4 and CO2 concentrations using metal oxide (MoX) and non-dispersive infrared sensors, and a new solar cell encapsulation method to power the unmanned aerial system (UAS)as well as a data management platform to store, analyze and share the information with operators and external users. The system was successfully field tested at ground and low altitudes, collecting, storing and transmitting data in real time to a central node for analysis and 3D mapping. The system can be used in a wide range of outdoor applications at a relatively low operational cost. In particular, agricultural environments are increasingly subject to emissions mitigation policies. Accurate measurements of CH4 and CO2 with its temporal and spatial variability can provide farm managers key information to plan agricultural practices. A video of the bench and flight test performed can be seen in the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwas7stYIxQ

Remote Sensing and Data Collection from Solar Powered Wireless Sensor Network using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System

Sensor networks for environmental monitoring present enormous benefits to the community and society as a whole. Currently there is a need for low cost, compact, solar powered sensors suitable for deployment in rural areas. The purpose of this research is to develop both a ground based wireless sensor network and data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles. The ground based sensor system is capable of measuring environmental data such as temperature or air quality using cost effective low power sensors. The sensor will be configured such that its data is stored on an ATMega16 microcontroller which will have the capability of communicating with a UAV flying overhead using UAV communication protocols. The data is then either sent to the ground in real time or stored on the UAV using a microcontroller until it lands or is close enough to enable the transmission of data to the ground station.

An Integrated Assessment Of The Suitability Of Domestic Solar Still As A Viable Safe Water Technology For India

Improving access to safe drinking water can result in multi-dimensional impacts on people's livelihood. This has been aptly reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as one of the major objectives. Despite the availability of diverse and complex set of technologies for water purification, pragmatic and cost-effective use of the same is impeding the use of available sources of water. Hence, in country like India simple low-energy technologies such as solar still are likely to succeed. Solar stills would suffice the basic minimum drinking water requirements of man. Solar stills use sunlight, to kill or inactivate many, if not all, of the pathogens found in water. This paper provides an integrated assessment of the suitability of domestic solar still as a viable safe water technology for India. Also an attempt has been made to critically assess the operational feasibility and costs incurred for using this technology in rural India.

Solar powered high voltage energization for vehicular exhaust cleaning: A step towards possible retrofitting in vehicles

This paper proposes a novel way of generating high voltage for electric discharge plasma in controlling NOx emission in diesel engine exhaust. A solar powered high frequency electric discharge topology has been suggested that will improve the size and specific energy density required when compared to the traditional repetitive pulse or 50 Hz AC energization. This methodology has been designed, fabricated and experimentally verified by conducting studies on real diesel engine exhaust.

The hemispheric asymmetry of solar activity during the last century and the solar dynamo

We believe the Babcock-Leighton process of poloidal field generation to be the main source of irregularity in the solar cycle. The random nature of this process may make the poloidal field in one hemisphere stronger than that in the other hemisphere at the end of a cycle. We expect this to induce an asymmetry in the next sunspot cycle. We look for evidence of this in the observational data and then model it theoretically with our dynamo code. Since actual polar field measurements exist only from the 1970s, we use the polar faculae number data recorded by Sheeley (1991, 2008) as a proxy of the polar field and estimate the hemispheric asymmetry of the polar field in different solar minima during the major part of the twentieth century. This asymmetry is found to have a reasonable correlation with the asymmetry of the next cycle. We then run our dynamo code by feeding information about this asymmetry at the successive minima and compare the results with observational data. We find that the theoretically computed asymmetries of different cycles compare favorably with the observational data, with the correlation coefficient being 0.73. Due to the coupling between the two hemispheres, any hemispheric asymmetry tends to get attenuated with time. The hemispheric asymmetry of a cycle either from observational data or from theoretical calculations statistically tends to be less than the asymmetry in the polar field (as inferred from the faculae data) in the preceding minimum. This reduction factor turns out to be 0.43 and 0.51 respectively in observational data and theoretical simulations.

Intelligent thermal energy meter cum controller for solar water heating systems

A microcontroller based, thermal energy meter cum controller (TEMC) suitable for solar thermal systems has been developed. It monitors solar radiation, ambient temperature, fluid flow rate, and temperature of fluid at various locations of the system and computes the energy transfer rate. It also controls the operation of the fluid-circulating pump depending on the temperature difference across the solar collector field. The accuracy of energy measurement is +/-1.5%. The instrument has been tested in a solar water heating system. Its operation became automatic with savings in electrical energy consumption of pump by 30% on cloudy days.

Computation of Diffuse Solar Radiation

A technique for computing the spectral and angular (both the zenith and azimuthal) distribution of the solar energy reaching the surface of earth and any other plane in the atmosphere has been developed. Here the computer code LOWTRAN is used for getting the atmospheric transmittances in conjunction with two approximate procedures: one based on the Eddington method and the other on van de Hulst's adding method, for solving the equation of radiative transfer to obtain the diffuse radiation in the cloud-free situation. The aerosol scattering phase functions are approximated by the Hyeney-Greenstein functions. When the equation of radiative transfer is solved using the adding method, the azimuthal and zenith angle dependence of the scattered radiation is evaluated, whereas when the Eddington technique is utilized only the total downward flux of scattered solar radiation is obtained. Results of the diffuse and beam components of solar radiation received on surface of earth compare very well with those computed by other methods such as the more exact calculations using spherical harmonics and when atmospheric conditions corresponding to that prevailing locally in a tropical location (as in India) are used as inputs the computed values agree closely with the measured values.

Theoretical Optimization of Metal Para-Normal Silicon Schottky-Barrier Solar-Cell

The theoretical optimization of the design parametersN A ,N D andW P has been done for efficient operation of Au-p-n Si solar cell including thermionic field emission, dependence of lifetime and mobility on impurity concentrations, dependence of absorption coefficient on wavelength, variation of barrier height and hence the optimum thickness ofp region with illumination. The optimized design parametersN D =5×1020 m−3,N A =3×1024 m−3 andW P =11.8 nm yield efficiencyη=17.1% (AM0) andη=19.6% (AM1). These are reduced to 14.9% and 17.1% respectively if the metal layer series resistance and transmittance with ZnS antireflection coating are included. A practical value ofW P =97.0 nm gives an efficiency of 12.2% (AM1).

The effect of bottom reflectivity on the performance of a solar pond

The reflectivity of the bottom of a solar pond increases on account of the accumulation of dirt or the presence of undissolved salt. The effect of the reflection of the solar radiation at the bottom of the pond on the seasonal performance of the pond has been studied using a three zone model. The spectral reflectivity of dirt and common salt were measured in the laboratory and used in the analysis. The results obtained from the analysis show that the presence of dirt at the bottom of the pond does not affect the performance of the pond substantially. On the other hand, the presence of undissolved salt at the bottom of the pond results in substantial deterioration of the pond performance.

Depth profile composition studies of thin film CdS: Cu,S solar cells using XPS and AES

Surface composition and depth profile studies of hemiplated thin film CdS:CuzS solar cells have been carried out using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) techniques. These studies indicate that the junction is fairly diffused in the as-prepared cell. However, heat treatment of the cell at 210°C in air relatively sharpens the junction and improves the cell performance. Using the Cu(2p3p)/S(2p) ratio as well as the Cu(LVV)/(LMM) Auger intensity ratio, it can be inferred that the nominal valency of copper in the layers above the junction is Cut and it is essentially in the CUSS form. Copper signals are observed from layers deep down in the cell. These seem to appear mostly from the grain boundary region. From the observed concentration of Cd, Cu and S in these deeper layers and the Cu(LVV)/(LMM) ratio it appears that the signals from copper essentially originate partly from copper in CuS and partly from Cu2t trapped in the lattice. It is significant to note that the nominal valence state of copper changes rather abruptly from Cut to Cuz+ across the junction.

Changes in the Activities of two membrane-bound enzymes during solar eclipse on February 16, 1980

ON Saturday February 16, 1980 total solar eclipse Occurred for a period of 2-3 min in a belt of 135 km during the eclipse from 14'17 to 17'00 hrs across peninsular India. The city of Bangalore, being just outside this belt, had witnessed 92% eclipse for about 2. 1/2 min at the peak period of 15.44 hr at which time a temperature drop of 2' C and a considerable dimness of the light were experienced. In view of the interest in our laboratory on biochemical adaptation under conditions of environmental stress, we designed an experiment to study the possible changes in enzyme activities during the solar eclipse on February 16, 1980.

Design and Simulation of a Solar Powered UAV for Remote Sensing Tasks Technical Report

This research deals with the development of a Solar-Powered UAV designed for remote sensing, in particular to the development of the autopilot sub-system and path planning. The design of the Solar-Powered UAS followed a systems engineering methodology, by first defining system architecture, and selecting each subsystem. Validation tests and integration of autopilot is performed, in order to evaluate the performances of each subsystem and to obtain a global operational system for data collection missions. The flight tests planning and simulation results are also explored in order to verify the mission capabilities using an autopilot on a UAS. The important aspect of this research is to develop a Solar-Powered UAS for the purpose of data collection and video monitoring, especially data and images from the ground; transmit to the GS (Ground Station), segment the collected data, and afterwards analyze it with a Matlab code.

Mesospheric influences on linkages between solar activity and lower atmospheric phenomena

Analyses of rocket data at mid- and high-latitude locations over the American Continent show a solar activity-dependent mesospheric heating effect in the 60 to 90 km altitude region. A study of the altitude dependence of the effect shows that the heating and associated processes propagating downwards through the mesosphere do not cause discernible effects, below the 50 to 60 km layer. At Thumba, a significant short-term heating effect attributable to varying solar ultraviolet fluxes causing variable heating of atmospheric ozone is observed. This effect does not seem to propagate downwards into the upper stratosphere.