Multi-objective optimisation of horizontal axis wind turbine structure and energy production using aerofoil and blade properties as design variables

The design of wind turbine blades is a true multi-objective engineering task. The aerodynamic effectiveness of the turbine needs to be balanced with the system loads introduced by the rotor. Moreover the problem is not dependent on a single geometric property, but besides other parameters on a combination of aerofoil family and various blade functions. The aim of this paper is therefore to present a tool which can help designers to get a deeper insight into the complexity of the design space and to find a blade design which is likely to have a low cost of energy. For the research we use a Computational Blade Optimisation and Load Deflation Tool (CoBOLDT) to investigate the three extreme point designs obtained from a multi-objective optimisation of turbine thrust, annual energy production as well as mass for a horizontal axis wind turbine blade. The optimisation algorithm utilised is based on Multi-Objective Tabu Search which constitutes the core of CoBOLDT. The methodology is capable to parametrise the spanning aerofoils with two-dimensional Free Form Deformation and blade functions with two tangentially connected cubic splines. After geometry generation we use a panel code to create aerofoil polars and a stationary Blade Element Momentum code to evaluate turbine performance. Finally, the obtained loads are fed into a structural layout module to estimate the mass and stiffness of the current blade by means of a fully stressed design. For the presented test case we chose post optimisation analysis with parallel coordinates to reveal geometrical features of the extreme point designs and to select a compromise design from the Pareto set. The research revealed that a blade with a feasible laminate layout can be obtained, that can increase the energy capture and lower steady state systems loads. The reduced aerofoil camber and an increased L/. D-ratio could be identified as the main drivers. This statement could not be made with other tools of the research community before. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Energy performance certification as a signal of workplace quality

Energy performance labelling and certification have been introduced widely to address market failures affecting the uptake of energy efficient technologies, by providing a signal to support decision making during contracting processes. The UK has recently introduced the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) as a signal of building energy performance. The aims of this article are: to evaluate how valid EPC's are signals of occupier satisfaction with office facilities; and to understand whether occupant attitudes towards environmental issues have affected commercial office rental values. This was achieved by surveying occupant satisfaction with their workplaces holistically using a novel multi-item rating scale which gathered 204 responses. Responses to this satisfaction scale were matched with the corresponding EPC and rental value of occupier's workplaces. The satisfaction scale was found to be both a reliable and valid measure. The analysis found that EPC asset rating correlates significantly with occupant satisfaction with all facility attributes. Therefore, EPC ratings may be considered valid signals of overall facility satisfaction within the survey sample. Rental value was found to correlate significantly only with facility aesthetics. No evidence suggests rental value has been affected by occupants' perceptions towards the environmental impact of facilities. © 2013 The Authors.

Effect of dry oxidation on the energy gap and chemical composition of CVD graphene on nickel

The findings presented herein show that the electronic properties of CVD graphene on nickel can be altered from metallic to semiconducting by introducing oxygen adsorbates via UV/ozone or oxygen plasma treatment. These properties can be partially recovered by removing the oxygen adsorbates via vacuum annealing treatment. The effect of oxidation is studied by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As probed by STM/STS, an energy gap opening of 0.11-0.15 eV is obtainable as the oxygen/carbon atomic ratio reaches 13-16%. The corresponding XPS spectra show a significant monotonic increase in the concentration of oxygenated functional groups due to the oxidation treatments. This study demonstrates that the opening of energy gap in CVD graphene can be reasonably controlled by a combination of UV/ozone or oxygen plasma treatment and vacuum annealing treatment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Is UK Planning a Barrier to Energy Efficient Heritage Retrofit: A Comparative Analysis of a Selection of London Boroughs

This paper is part of a larger PhD research project examining the apparent conflict in UK planning between energy efficiency and conservation for the retrofit of the thermal envelope of the existing building stock. Review of the literature shows that the UK will not meet its 2050 emission reduction target without substantial improvement to the energy performance of the thermal envelope of the existing building stock and that significantly, 40% of the existing stock has heritage status and may be exempted from Building Regulations. A review of UK policy and legislation shows that there are clear national priorities towards reducing emissions and addressing climate change, yet also shows a movement towards local decision making and control. This paper compares the current status of thirteen London Boroughs in respect to their position on thermal envelope retrofit for heritage and traditionally constructed buildings. Data collection is through ongoing surveys and interviews that compare statistical data, planning policies, sustainability and environmental priorities, and Officer decision-making. This paper finds that there is a lack of consistency in application of planning policy across Boroughs and suggests that this is a barrier to the up-take of energy efficient retrofit. Various recommendations are suggested at both national and local level which could help UK planning and planning officers deliver more energy efficient heritage retrofits.

An energy-efficient hopping robot based on free vibration of a curved beam

This paper explores a design strategy of hopping robots, which makes use of free vibration of an elastic curved beam. In this strategy, the leg structure consists of a specifically shaped elastic curved beam and a small rotating mass that induces free vibration of the entire robot body. Although we expect to improve energy efficiency of locomotion by exploiting the mechanical dynamics, it is not trivial to take advantage of the coupled dynamics between actuation and mechanical structures for the purpose of locomotion. From this perspective, this paper explains the basic design principles through modeling, simulation, and experiments of a minimalistic hopping robot platform. More specifically, we show how to design elastic curved beams for stable hopping locomotion and the control method by using unconventional actuation. In addition, we also analyze the proposed design strategy in terms of energy efficiency and discuss how it can be applied to the other forms of legged robot locomotion. © 1996-2012 IEEE.

Minimalistic models of an energy-efficient vertical-hopping robot

The use of free vibration in elastic structure can lead to energy-efficient robot locomotion, since it significantly reduces the energy expenditure if properly designed and controlled. However, it is not well understood how to harness the dynamics of free vibration for the robot locomotion, because of the complex dynamics originated in discrete events and energy dissipation during locomotion. From this perspective, the goals of this paper are to propose a design strategy of hopping robot based on elastic curved beams and actuated rotating masses and to identify the minimalistic model that can characterize the basic principle of robot locomotion. Since the robot mainly exhibits vertical hopping, three 1-D models are examined that contain different configurations of simple spring-damper-mass components. The real-world and simulation experiments show that one of the models best characterizes the robot hopping, through analyzing the basic kinematics and negative works in actuation. Based on this model, the self-stability of hopping motion under disturbances is investigated, and design and control parameters are analyzed for the energy-efficient hopping. In addition, further analyses show that this robot can achieve the energy-efficient hopping with the variation in payload, and the source of energy dissipation of the robot hopping is investigated. © 1982-2012 IEEE.

Effects of animal-plant protein ratio in extruded and expanded diets on nitrogen and energy budgets of juvenile Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis Wiegmann)

In this study, we investigated the effects of animal-plant protein ratio in extruded and expanded diets on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen and energy budgets of juvenile soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis). Four extruded and expanded feeds (diets 1-4) were formulated with different animal-plant protein ratios (diet 1, 1.50:1; diet 2, 2.95:1; diet 3, 4.92:1; diet 4, 7.29:1). The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter and crude lipid for diet 1 were significantly lower than those for diets 2-4. There was no significant difference in crude protein digestibility among diets 1-4. The ADC of carbohydrate was significantly increased with the increase in animal-plant protein. Although nitrogen intake rate, faecal nitrogen loss rate and excretory nitrogen loss rate of turtles fed diet 1 were significantly higher than those fed diets 2-4, nitrogen retention rate, net protein utilization and biological value of protein in these turtles were significantly lower than those fed diets 2-4. In addition, energy intake rate, excretory energy loss rate and heat production rate of turtles fed diet 1 were also significantly higher than those fed diets 2-4. Faecal energy loss was significantly reduced with the increase in the animal-plant protein ratio. The ADC of energy and assimilation efficiency of energy significantly increased with a higher animal-plant protein ratio. The growth efficiency of energy in the group fed diet 1 was significantly lower than those in the groups fed diets 2-4. Together, our results suggest that the optimum animal-plant protein ratio in extruded and expanded diets is around 3:1.

Studies on the energy release of rice mitochondria under different conditions by means of microcalorimetry

The thermodynamic and kinetic behaviors of energy release of mitochondria isolated from rice (Oryza sative L.) were studied by using a LKB 2277 Bioactivity Monitor under different conditions. The thermogenesis curves of energy release of the rice mitochondria (which had been kept at 0-3 degreesC for 15 h and 40 day before the determination) were determined respectively at 25 and 30 degreesC, and the difference in shape of the thermogenesis curves and thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics were compared. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of energy release of the mitochondria in the thermogenesis increasing stage have been calculated, and the experimental thermokinetic equations of the thermogenesis have been established. The results indicated that the lower the temperature, the slower the energy release of the rice mitochondria. Both the thermogenesis and the energy release late of the rice mitochondria increased after the mitochondria was kept at lower temperature for 40 days. One can use the methods to characterize the ability of the rice mitochondria to release energy under different conditions. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Effect of body size on growth and energy budget of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

A growth trial was conducted at 30 degrees C to investigate the effect of body size on growth and energy budget of Nile tilapia. The average initial body weights of the four size groups tested were 9.3, 34.1, 80.3 and 172.4 g, respectively. Fish were fed to satiation twice a day with a diet containing 35.6% crude protein. Food consumption (C-max: kJ/day) increased with body size (W: g) according to the relationship: Ln C-max = 1.45 + 0.42 LnW. The final body contents of dry matter, crude protein and ash per unit body weight increased with increasing body size while contents of fat and energy were independent of body size. Specific growth rates of wet weight, dry weight, protein and energy decreased as the fish increased in size. Feed efficiencies in wet weigh, dry weight and crude protein decreased with increasing body size, while that of energy remained unchanged. The proportions of energy intake allocated to the various components (faecal energy, excretory energy, heat production and recovered energy) of the energy budget were not significantly affected by body size, and the average budget was: 100IE-18.5(+/- 1.33)FE + 5.9 (+/- 3.09)(ZE + UE) + 49.3(+/- 3.77)HE + 26.3(+/- 6.23)RE, where IE, FE, (ZE + UE), HE and RE represent gross energy intake, faecal energy, excretory (non-faecal) energy loss, heat production and recovered energy (growth), respectively. It is suggested that the decrease in growth rate in larger fish is mainly due to the decrease in relative food intake. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Energy budget of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in relation to ration size

Nile tilapia weighing 8.29-11.02 g were fed a practical diet at seven ration levels (starvation, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4% body weight per day and satiation) twice a day at 30 degrees C. Feed consumption, apparent digestibility, nitrogenous excretion and growth were determined directly, and heat production was calculated by difference of energy budget. The relationship between specific growth rate in wet weight (SGR(w), percentage per day) and ration size (RL, percentage per day) was a decelerating curve described as SGR(w) = 2.98 (1 - e(-0.61(RL-0.43))). The apparent digestibility coefficients for dry matter and protein showed a decreasing pattern with increasing ration while the apparent digestibility coefficient of energy was not significantly affected by ration size. The proportion of gross energy intake lost in nitrogenous excretion tended to decrease with increasing ration. Feed efficiency was highest, and the proportion of gross energy intake channelled to heat production was lowest, at an intermediate ration level (2% per day). The energy budget at the satiation level was: 100IE = 16.9FE + 1.2(ZE + UE) + 62.3HE + 19.6RE, where IE, FE, (ZE + UE), HE and RE represent gross energy intake, faecal energy, excretory (non-faecal) energy loss, heat production and recovered energy (growth), respectively. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Energy band alignment of SiO2/ZnO interface determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Thin SiO2 interlayer is the key to improving the electroluminescence characteristics of light emitting diodes based on ZnO heterojunctions, but little is known of the band offsets of SiO2/ZnO. In this letter, energy band alignment of SiO2/ZnO interface was determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The valence band offset Delta E-V of SiO2/ZnO interface is determined to be 0.93 +/- 0.15 eV. According to the relationship between the conduction band offset Delta E-C and the valence band offset Delta E-V Delta E-C=E-g(SiO2)-E-g(ZnO)-Delta E-V, and taking the room-temperature band-gaps of 9.0 and 3.37 eV for SiO2 and ZnO, respectively, a type-I band-energy alignment of SiO2/ZnO interface with a conduction band offset of 4.70 +/- 0.15 eV is found. The accurate determination of energy band alignment of SiO2/ZnO is helpful for designing of SiO2/ZnO hybrid devices and is also important for understanding their carrier transport properties. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI 10.1063/1.3204028]

Energy Levels of Hydrogenic Impurities in InAs Quantum Ring

The distribution of energy levels of the ground state and the low-lying excited states of hydrogenic impurities in InAs quantum ring was investigated by applying the effective mass approximation and the perturbation method. In 2D polar coordinates, the exact solution to the Schrodinger equation was used to calculate the perturbation integral in a parabolic confinement potential. The numerical results show that the energy levels of electron are sensitively dependent on the radius of the quantum ring and a minimum exists on account of the parabolic confinement potential. With decreasing the radius, the energy spacing between energy levels increases. The degenerate energy levels of the first excited state for hydrogenic impurities are not relieved, and when the degenerate energy levels are split and the energy spacing will increase with the increase in the radius. The energy spacing between energy levels of electron is also sensitively dependent on the angular frequency and will increase with the increases in it. The degenerate energy levels of the first excited state are not relieved. The degenerate energy levels of the second excited state are relieved partially. The change in angular frequency will have a profound effect upon the calculation of the energy levels of the ground state and the low-lying excited states of hydrogenic impurities in InAs quantum ring. The conclusions of this paper will provide important guidance to investigating the optical transitions and spectral structures in quantum ring.

Energy spectra of two-electron two-dimensional quantum dots confined by elliptical and bowl-like potentials

The laterally confining potential of quantum dots (QDs) fabricated in semiconductor heterostructures is approximated by an elliptical two-dimensional harmonic-oscillator well or a bowl-like circular well. The energy spectrum of two interacting electrons in these potentials is calculated in the effective-mass approximation as a function of dot size and characteristic frequency of the confining potential by the exact diagonalization method. Energy level crossover is displayed according to the ratio of the characteristic frequencies of the elliptical confinement potential along the y axis and that along the x axis. Investigating the rovibrational spectrum with pair-correlation function and conditional probability distribution, we could see the violation of circular symmetry. However, there are still some symmetries left in the elliptical QDs. When the QDs are confined by a "bowl-like" potential, the removal of the degeneracy in the energy levels of QDs is found. The distribution of energy levels is different for the different heights of the barriers. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Time-resolved photoluminescence studies of AlInGaN alloys

We study the two samples of AIInGaN, i.e., 1-mum GaN grown at 1030degreesC on the buffer and followed by a 0.6-mum-thick epilayer of AIInGaN under the low pressure of 76 Torr and the AIInGaN layer deposited directly on the buffer layer without the high-temperature GaN layer, by temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and picosecond time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) spectroscopy. The TRPL signals of both the samples were fitted well as a stretched exponential decay at all temperatures, indicating significant disorder in the material. We attribute the disorder to nanoscale quantum dots or discs of high indium concentration. Temperature dependence of dispersive exponent beta shows that the stretched exponential decay of the two samples comes from different mechanisms. The different depths of the localization potential account for the difference, which is illustrated by the results of temperature dependence of radiative recombination lifetime and PL peak energy.

Impact of symmetrized and Burt-Foreman Hamiltonians on spurious solutions and energy levels of InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We present a systematic investigation of calculating quantum dots (QDs) energy levels using finite element method in the frame of eight-band k . p method. Numerical results including piezoelectricity, electron and hole levels, as yell as wave functions are achieved. In the calculation of energy levels, we do observe spurious solutions (SSs) no matter Burt-Foreman or symmetrized Hamiltonians are used. Different theories are used to analyse the SSs, we find that the ellipticity theory can give a better explanation for the origin of SSs and symmetrized Hamiltonian is easier to lead to SSs. The energy levels simulated with the two Hamiltonians are compared to each other after eliminating SSs, different Hamiltonians cause a larger difference on electron energy levels than that on hole energy levels and this difference decreases with the increase of QD size.