Search results for "Nuclear engineering"
showing 10 items of 533 documents
Analysis of Energy Consumption Performance towards Optimal Radioplanning of Wireless Sensor Networks in Heterogeneous Indoor Environments
2014
In this paper the impact of complex indoor environment in the deployment and energy consumption of a wireless sensor network infrastructure is analyzed. The variable nature of the radio channel is analyzed by means of deterministic in-house 3D ray launching simulation of an indoor scenario, in which wireless sensors, based on an in-house CyFi implementation, typically used for environmental monitoring, are located. Received signal power and current consumption measurement results of the in-house designed wireless motes have been obtained, stating that adequate consideration of the network topology and morphology lead to optimal performance and power consumption reduction. The use of radiopl…
Knock onset prediction of propane, gasoline and their mixtures in spark ignition engines
2016
Gaseous fuels, such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Natural Gas (NG), thanks to their excellent mixing capabilities and high knocking resistance, allow complete and cleaner combustion than gasoline in Spark Ignition (SI) engines, resulting in lower pollutant emissions, above all if particulate matter is considered. In previous works [1,2] the authors proved how the simultaneous combustion of gasoline and gaseous fuel (NG or LPG) may strongly reduce both fuel consumption and pollutant emissions with respect to pure gasoline operation without a significant power loss. These very encouraging results were obtained thanks to the strong knock resistance increase obtained adding gaseous fuel …
PCM thermal storage design in buildings: Experimental studies and applications to solaria in cold climates
2017
Abstract As energy availability and demand often do not match, thermal energy storage plays a crucial role to take advantage of solar radiation in buildings: in particular, latent heat storage via phase-change material is particularly attractive due to its ability to provide high energy storage density. This paper analyzes the performance of a building-integrated thermal storage system to increase the energy performances of solaria in a cold climate. A wall opposing a highly glazed facade (south oriented) is used as thermal storage with phase change materials embedded in the wall. The study is based on both experimental and simulation studies. The concept considered is particularly suited t…
Recovery Capabilities of Rateless Codes on Simulated Turbulent Terrestrial Free Space Optics Channel Model
2013
Free Space Optics (FSO) links are affected by several impairments: optical turbulence, scattering, absorption, and pointing. In particular, atmospheric optical turbulence generates optical power fluctuations at the receiver that can degrade communications with fading events, especially in high data rate links. Innovative solutions require an improvement of FSO link performances, together with testing models and appropriate channel codes. In this paper, we describe a high-resolution time-correlated channel model able to predict random temporal fluctuations of optical signal irradiance caused by optical turbulence. Concerning the same channel, we also report simulation results on the error mi…
Analysis of Thermal Comfort Conditions and Actual Energy Efficiency for Different Heating Systems in Test Buildings
2015
The aim of this study is detailed analysis of long-term monitoring data on thermal comfort conditions and energy efficiency in small test buildings equipped with different heating systems. Calculations of PPD index and local thermal discomfort factors, as well as actual energy efficiency ratios for different heat pump systems are provided for the test buildings during three weeks of the heating season. It is shown that the type of heating system has an influence not only on heating energy needs, but also on thermal comfort conditions in the room.
GA-based Off-Line Parameter Estimation of the Induction Motor Model Including Magnetic Saturation and Iron Losses
2020
This paper, starting from recent papers in the scientific literature dealing with Rotating Induction Motor (RIM) dynamic modelling, as a first step, improves its space-vector dynamic model, including both the magnetic saturation and iron losses; The main original aspects of the proposed model are the following: 1) the magnetic saturation of the iron core has been described on the basis of both current versus flux and flux versus current functions, 3) it includes the iron losses, separating them in hysteresis and eddy current ones, 4) it includes the effect of the load on the magnetic saturation. Afterwards, it proposes an off-line technique for the estimation of electrical parameters of thi…
New measurement of the 242Pu(n,γ) cross section at n_TOF
2016
The use of MOX fuel (mixed-oxide fuel made of UO2 and PuO2 ) in nuclear reactors allows substituting a large fraction of the enriched Uranium by Plutonium reprocessed from spent fuel. With the use of such new fuel composition rich in Pu, a better knowledge of the capture and fission cross sections of the Pu isotopes becomes very important. In particular, a new series of cross section evaluations have been recently carried out jointly by the European (JEFF) and United States (ENDF) nuclear data agencies. For the case of 242 Pu, the two only neutron capture time-of-flight measurements available, from 1973 and 1976, are not consistent with each other, which calls for a new time-of flight captu…
Mechanical construction and installation of the ATLAS tile calorimeter
2013
This paper summarises the mechanical construction andinstallation of the Tile Calorimeter for the ATLASexperiment at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, Switzerland. The TileCalorimeter is a sampling calorimeter using scintillator as the sensitivedetector and steel as the absorber and covers the central region of the ATLASexperiment up to pseudorapidities ±1.7. The mechanical construction ofthe Tile Calorimeter occurred over a periodof about 10 years beginning in 1995 with the completionof the Technical Design Report and ending in 2006 with the installationof the final module in the ATLAS cavern. Duringthis period approximately 2600 metric tons of steel were transformedinto a laminated struc…
Decay Heat Removal and Transient Analysis in Accidental Conditions in the EFIT Reactor
2008
The development of a conceptual design of an industrial-scale transmutation facility (EFIT) of several 100 MW thermal power based on accelerator-driven system (ADS) is addressed in the frame of the European EUROTRANS Integral Project. In normal operation, the core power of EFIT reactor is removed through steam generators by four secondary loops fed by water. A safety-related decay heat removal (DHR) system provided with four independent inherently safe loops is installed in the primary vessel to remove the decay heat by natural convection circulation under accidental conditions which are caused by a loss-of-heat sink (LOHS). In order to confirm the adequacy of the adopted solution for decay…
The measurement programme at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN
2016
Neutron-induced reaction cross sections are important for a wide variety of research fields ranging from the study of nuclear level densities, nucleosynthesis to applications of nuclear technology like design, and criticality and safety assessment of existing and future nuclear reactors, radiation dosimetry, medical applications, nuclear waste transmutation, accelerator-driven systems and fuel cycle investigations. Simulations and calculations of nuclear technology applications largely rely on evaluated nuclear data libraries. The evaluations in these libraries are based both on experimental data and theoretical models. CERN’s neutron time-of-flight facility n TOF has produced a considerabl…