Efficiency of a constructed wetland for wastewaters treatment

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

Candida parapsilosis complex water isolates from a haemodialysis unit: biofilm production and in vitro evaluation of the use of clinical antifungals

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Efeitos da subsolagem e da adubação verde nas propriedades físicas do solo em pomar de citros

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar o efeito da subsolagem e da adubação verde nas propriedades físicas de um Latossolo Vermelho distrófico típico, cultivado com citros (laranjeira Valência). Os tratamentos empregados foram: manejo mecânico das plantas invasoras com roçadora (Testemunha); subsolagem em um lado da planta na entrecopa; subsolagem nos dois lados da planta na entrecopa, e semeadura direta de Crotalaria spectabilis na entrecopa. As propriedades físicas do solo avaliadas foram: porosidade total, macroporosidade, microporosidade, densidade, resistência mecânica à penetração vertical e condutividade hidráulica. Na avaliação efetuada na safra 2001-2002, obtiveram-se os maiores valores de densidade do solo e resistência do solo à penetração vertical, e os menores valores de macroporos e condutividade hidráulica do solo nas entrecopas com e sem tráfego no pomar, em relação à região da copa, principalmente na camada de 0,0-0,2 m de profundidade. Os tratamentos aplicados não surtiram efeitos positivos significativos nas propriedades físicas do solo.

Rotina computacional e equação simplificada para modelar o transporte de sedimentos num Latossolo Vermelho Distrófico

Os objetivos do presente trabalho foram desenvolver rotina computacional para a solução da equação de Yalin e do diagrama de Shields e avaliar uma equação simplificada para modelar a capacidade de transporte de sedimento num Latossolo Vermelho Distrófico que possa ser utilizada no Water Erosion Prediction Project - WEPP, assim como em outros modelos de predição da erosão do solo. A capacidade de transporte de sedimento para o fluxo superficial foi representada como função-potência da tensão cisalhante, a qual revelou ser aproximação da equação de Yalin. Essa equação simplificada pôde ser aplicada em resultados experimentais oriundos de topografia complexa. A equação simplificada demonstrou acuracidade em relação à equação de Yalin, quando calibrada utilizando-se da tensão média cisalhante. Testes de validação com dados independentes demonstraram que a equação simplificada foi eficiente para estimar a capacidade de transporte de sedimento.

Implantação de um sistema de detecção de vazamentos em oleodutos com tratamento de alarmes falsos

The pumping of fluids in pipelines is the most economic and safe form of transporting fluids. That explains why in Europe there was in 1999 about 30.000 Km [7] of pipelines of several diameters, transporting millíons of cubic meters of crude oil end refined products, belonging to COCAWE (assaciation of companies of petroleum of Europe for health, environment and safety, that joint several petroleum companies). In Brazil they are about 18.000 Km of pipelines transporting millions of cubic meters of liquids and gases. In 1999, nine accidents were registered to COCAWE. Among those accidents one brought a fatal victim. The oil loss was of 171 m3, equivalent to O,2 parts per million of the total of the transported volume. Same considering the facts mentioned the costs involved in ao accident can be high. An accident of great proportions can bríng loss of human lives, severe environmental darnages, loss of drained product, loss . for dismissed profit and damages to the image of the company high recovery cost. In consonance with that and in some cases for legal demands, the companies are, more and more, investing in systems of Leak detection in pipelines based on computer algorithm that operate in real time, seeking wíth that to minimize still more the drained volumes. This decreases the impacts at the environment and the costs. In general way, all the systems based on softWare present some type of false alarm. In general a commitment exists betWeen the sensibílity of the system and the number of false alarms. This work has as objective make a review of thé existent methods and to concentrate in the analysis of a specific system, that is, the system based on hydraulic noise, Pressure Point Analyzis (PPA). We will show which are the most important aspects that must be considered in the implementation of a Leak Detection System (LDS), from the initial phase of the analysis of risks passing by the project bases, design, choice of the necessary field instrumentation to several LDS, implementation and tests. We Will make na analysis of events (noises) originating from the flow system that can be generator of false alarms and we will present a computer algorithm that restricts those noises automatically

Changes on emitter discharge under different water temperature and pressure

The study was conducted at the Research Laboratory of Hydraulic and Irrigation Group in the Rural Engineering Department, Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), Madrid, Spain. Water temperatures of 20, 30, 40 degrees C and system pressures often encountered in irrigation practices of 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 and 200 k Pa were applied to determine the effects of different water temperatures and pressures on emitter discharge. Non-pressure compensating in-line emitter which has turbulent flow regime with a long-path (labyrinth), emitter discharge was 4 L h(-1) at system pressure of 100 kPa according to the manufacturer recommended, was used. Emitters were spaced 20 cm along the drip laterals with 16 mm diameter. Discharge equations and coefficients of variation related to temperatures of 20, 30 and 40 degrees C were obtained as q = 0.375H(0.51), q = 0.358H(0.52), q = 0.346H(0.53) and 2.68, 2.09, 3.65, respectively. Discharge of the emitter was affected by different system pressures and increased as potentially (R = 0993-0996). In general. the emitter discharge increased with increasing temperature. However, especially in the common system pressures of 90-120 k Pa, differences of obtained emitter discharges between the different water temperatures were not significant (1%).

Avaliação do contato pneu-solo em três modelos de pneus agrícolas

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Avaliação dos atributos físicos de um Nitossolo Vermelho distroférrico sob sistema plantio direto, preparo convencional e mata nativa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Distribuição da carga hidráulica em linhas de derivação otimizadas por programação linear

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Perspectivas de inserção da energia solar fotovoltaica na geração de energia elétrica no Rio Grande do Norte

The generation of electricity in Brazil is predominantly renewable, with internal hydraulic generation being more than 70% of its energy matrix. The electricity rationing occurred in 2001 due to lack of rain, led the country to increase the participation of alternative energy sources. This need for new sources of energy makes the regional potential to be exploited, which configures the change of generation model from centralized generation to distributed generation. Among the alternative sources of energy, the solar energy is presented as very promising for Brazil, given that most of its territory is located near to the equator line, which implies days with greater number of hours of solar radiation. The state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) has one of the highest levels of solar irradiation of the Brazilian territory, making it eligible to receive investments for the installation of photovoltaic solar plants. This thesis will present the state-of-the-art in solar photovoltaic power generation and will examine the potential for generation of solar photovoltaic power in Brazil and RN, based on solarimetrics measurements conducted by various institutions and also measurements performed in Natal, the state capital

Least limiting water range and crop yields as affected by crop rotations and tillage

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

Utilização da lógica difusa no controle inteligente de sistemas eletro-hidráulicos

Electro-hydraulic servo-systems are widely employed in industrial applications such as robotic manipulators, active suspensions, precision machine tools and aerospace systems. They provide many advantages over electric motors, including high force to weight ratio, fast response time and compact size. However, precise control of electro-hydraulic systems, due to their inherent nonlinear characteristics, cannot be easily obtained with conventional linear controllers. Most flow control valves can also exhibit some hard nonlinearities such as deadzone due to valve spool overlap on the passage´s orifice of the fluid. This work describes the development of a nonlinear controller based on the feedback linearization method and including a fuzzy compensation scheme for an electro-hydraulic actuated system with unknown dead-band. Numerical results are presented in order to demonstrate the control system performance

Controle inteligente de sistemas eletroidráulicos utilizando redes neurais artificiais

This work describes the development of a nonlinear control strategy for an electro-hydraulic actuated system. The system to be controlled is represented by a third order ordinary differential equation subject to a dead-zone input. The control strategy is based on a nonlinear control scheme, combined with an artificial intelligence algorithm, namely, the method of feedback linearization and an artificial neural network. It is shown that, when such a hard nonlinearity and modeling inaccuracies are considered, the nonlinear technique alone is not enough to ensure a good performance of the controller. Therefore, a compensation strategy based on artificial neural networks, which have been notoriously used in systems that require the simulation of the process of human inference, is used. The multilayer perceptron network and the radial basis functions network as well are adopted and mathematically implemented within the control law. On this basis, the compensation ability considering both networks is compared. Furthermore, the application of new intelligent control strategies for nonlinear and uncertain mechanical systems are proposed, showing that the combination of a nonlinear control methodology and artificial neural networks improves the overall control system performance. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control system

Perfis de distribuição volumétrica de pontas XR 11003 e TXVK-4 em diferentes condições de pulverização

Com o objetivo de avaliar a uniformidade da distribuição volumétrica e o efeito da angulação dos bicos na barra em pulverizações, foi conduzido experimento em laboratório, com dez unidades de cada uma das pontas de jato plano XR 11003 e de jato cônico vazio TXVK-4, fabricadas pela Spraying Systems Co. As pontas XR 11003 foram avaliadas, isoladamente, em mesa de prova para bicos construída conforme a Norma ISO 5682-1:1996, a 0,30; 0,40 e 0,50 m de altura, submetidas à pressão de 200 e 300 kPa e posicionadas com ângulos de 30º e 45º no sentido horário e anti-horário e na vertical; as pontas TXVK-4 foram avaliadas nas mesmas alturas, porém a 300 e 400 kPa, e somente na vertical. A distribuição média do volume coletado em cada configuração, das dez unidades de cada ponta, foi inserida num programa computacional, desenvolvido para o estudo, que permitiu a simulação do padrão de deposição de uma barra pulverizadora, com 24 bicos, com sobreposições variáveis, obtendo-se, ao final, o coeficiente de variação da sobreposição, o desvio- padrão e a média do volume aplicado. Os resultados sugerem a necessidade de ajustes no espaçamento entre bicos para a obtenção de melhor uniformidade na distribuição, principalmente quando se utiliza ângulo na barra; há menor influência da variação da altura da barra sobre a uniformidade da distribuição quando o espaçamento entre bicos é reduzido.

Controle por modos deslizantes com compensação difusa aplicado a sistemas com descontinuidade

The development of non-linear controllers gained space in the theoretical ambit and of practical applications on the moment that the arising of digital computers enabled the implementation of these methodologies. In comparison with the linear controllers more utilized, the non -linear controllers present the advantage of not requiring the linearity of the system to determine the parameters of control, which permits a more efficient control especially when the system presents a high level of non-linearity. Another additional advantage is the reduction of costs, since to obtain the efficient control through linear controllers it is necessary the utilization of sensors and more refined actuators than when it is utilized a non-linear controller. Among the non-linear theories of control, the method of control by gliding ways is detached for being a method that presents more robustness, before uncertainties. It is already confirmed that the adoption of compensation on the region of residual error permits to improve better the performance of these controllers. So, in this work it is described the development of a non-linear controller that looks for an association of strategy of control by gliding ways, with the fuzzy compensation technique. Through the implementation of some strategies of fuzzy compensation, it was searched the one which provided the biggest efficiency before a system with high level of nonlinearities and uncertainties. The electrohydraulic actuator was utilized as an example of research, and the results appoint to two configurations of compensation that permit a bigger reduction of the residual error