Conceptual design of offshore platform supply vessel based on hybrid diesel generator-fuel cell power plant

Nowadays increasing fuel prices and upcoming pollutant emission regulations are becoming a growing concern for the shipping industry worldwide. While fuel prices will keep rising in future years, the new International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and Sulphur Emissions Control Areas (SECA) regulations will forbid ships to use heavy fuel oils at certain situations. To fulfil with these regulations, the next step in the marine shipping business will comprise the use of cleaner fuels on board as well as developing new propulsion concept. In this work a new conceptual marine propulsion system is developed, based on the integration of diesel generators with fuel cells in a 2850 metric tonne of deadweight platform supply vessel. The efficiency of the two 250 kW methanol-fed Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system installed on board combined with the hydro dynamically optimized design of the hull of the ship will allow the ship to successfully operate at certain modes of operation while notably reduce the pollutant emissions to the atmosphere. Besides the cogeneration heat obtained from the fuel cell system will be used to answer different heating needs on board the vessel

Power Converter Topologies for a High Performance Transformer Rectifier Unit in Aircraft Applications

This paper presents some power converter architectures and circuit topologies, which can be used to achieve the requirements of the high performance transformer rectifier unit in aircraft applications, mainly as: high power factor with low THD, high efficiency and high power density. The voltage and the power levels demanded for this application are: three-phase line-to-neutral input voltage of 115 or 230V AC rms (360 – 800Hz), output voltage of 28V DC or 270V DC(new grid value) and the output power up to tens of kilowatts.

The Impacts of National Culture on Safety Culture in the Global Oil and Gas Industry

Safety culture is one of the most-studied subjects in the safety literature today, although no agreement exists on exactly what it means. Most safety culture research has been conducted in high-hazard industries such as nuclear power, aviation, and offshore oil and gas production. Only limited research has investigated links between safety culture and the prevailing national culture. This paper proposes that efforts to build safety culture and improve safety performance in the global oil and gas industry will be enhanced if the safety culture maturity and the prevailing national culture are assessed and a location-specific plan is developed based on these factors. A model plan to improve safety performance for one multinational oil and gas company is presented.

Measuring color differences in gonioapparent materials used in the automotive industry

This paper illustrates how to design a visual experiment to measure color differences in gonioapparent materials and how to assess the merits of different advanced color-difference formulas trying to predict the results of such experiment. Successful color-difference formulas are necessary for industrial quality control and artificial color-vision applications. A color- difference formula must be accurate under a wide variety of experimental conditions including the use of challenging materials like, for example, gonioapparent samples. Improving the experimental design in a previous paper [Melgosaet al., Optics Express 22, 3458-3467 (2014)], we have tested 11 advanced color-difference formulas from visual assessments performed by a panel of 11 observers with normal colorvision using a set of 56 nearly achromatic colorpairs of automotive gonioapparent samples. Best predictions of our experimental results were found for the AUDI2000 color-difference formula, followed by color-difference formulas based on the color appearance model CIECAM02. Parameters in the original weighting function for lightness in the AUDI2000 formula were optimized obtaining small improvements. However, a power function from results provided by the AUDI2000 formula considerably improved results, producing values close to the inter-observer variability in our visual experiment. Additional research is required to obtain a modified AUDI2000 color-difference formula significantly better than the current one.

Forerunners or scaremongers? Germany to abandon nuclear power. OSW Commentary No. 58, 2011-07-21

The German government’s final decision to abandon nuclear power as of 2022 has been expected for months. However, instead of calming the waters, providing solutions and answering the question ‘What next?’, it has only fanned the flames. Even the adoption of legal amendments enforcing the government’s decision by the German parliament (both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat) in late June and early July has not calmed the situation. It is more than apparent that these decisions have been made under emotional pressure: there was not enough time for accurate calculations to be made and consideration to be given to the consequences of Germany abandoning nuclear power. Chancellor Angela Merkel has so far been unable to fully convince the public that the ‘energy shift is a huge opportunity’ and that this process will be carried out on condition that ‘the supplies remain secure, the climate protected and the whole process economically efficient’1. German economic associations have warned against a politically motivated, ill-judged and irreversible abandonment of nuclear energy. They are anxious about an increase in electricity prices, the instability of supplies and environmental damage. The government believes, however, that green technologies will become a new driving force for the German economy and its main export commodity. Before that happens the industry will have to increase its use of electricity produced from fossil fuels, mainly natural gas imported from Russia. This may be exploited by Gazprom which will try to strengthen its position on the German market, and thus in the entire EU.

The uncertain future of the coal energy industry in Germany. OSW COMMENTARY #188, 2015-10-20

Germany’s current energy strategy, known as the “energy transition”, or Energiewende, involves an accelerated withdrawal from the use of nuclear power plants and the development of renewable energy sources (RES). According to the government’s plans, the share of RES in electricity production will gradually increase from its present rate of 26% to 80% in 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to fall by 80–95% by 2050 when compared to 1990 levels. However, coal power plants still predominate in Germany’s energy mix – they produced 44% of electricity in 2014 (26% from lignite and 18% from hard coal). This makes it difficult to meet the emission reduction objectives, lignite combustion causes the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reach the emission reduction goals, the government launched the process of accelerating the reduction of coal consumption. On 2 July, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy published a plan to reform the German energy market which will be implemented during the present term of government. Emission reduction from coal power plants is the most important issue. This problem has been extensively discussed over the past year and has transformed into a conflict between the government and the coal lobby. The dispute reached its peak when lignite miners took to the streets in Berlin. As the government admits, in order to reach the long-term emission reduction objectives, it is necessary to completely liquidate the coal energy industry in Germany. This is expected to take place within 25 to 30 years. However, since the decision to decommission nuclear power plants was passed, the German ecological movement and the Green Party have shifted their attention to coal power plants, demanding that these be decommissioned by 2030 at the latest.

Economics of nuclear power, a literature search /

"July 1957."

Energy consumption of environmental controls : fossil fuel, steam electric generating industry : final report /

Includes bibliography.

Investigation of concentration of economic power; monograph no. 1[-43]

Printed for the use of the Temporary National Economic Committee.

Impacts of financial constraints on the electric utility industry /

Item 429-T-11.

Power laundries, case study data on productivity and factory performance.

"Glossary": p. 61-64.

Electric transmission of power for mill work.

Cover-title.

Utility corporations. Letters from the chairman of the Federal trade commission transmitting, in response to Senate resolution no. 83, 70th Congress, a monthly report on the electric power and gas utilities inquiry.

Nos. 71B, 81A, and 84D constitute a general index to all numbers.

Methanol as transportation fuel : hearings before the Subcommittee on Fossil and Synthetic Fuels and the Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-eighth Congress, second session, on H.R. 4855 and H.R. 5075 ... April 4 and 25, 1984.

Mode of access: Internet.

Commercial nuclear power.

"DOE/EIA-0438."