Search results for "efficiency."
showing 10 items of 1362 documents
Architectural technologies for life environment: Spent coffee ground reuse in lime-based mortars. A preliminary assessment for innovative green therm…
2022
Spent coffee ground, the residue obtained from the brewing process, is the primary unavoidable (inedible) waste from the coffee consumption. As coffee production and beverage consumption are increasing worldwide, a more sustainable waste management is required since the usual disposal in landfill is a liability to both humans and the environment. This paper is aimed at showing a possible alternative reuse of coffee ground wastes in novel green building materials intended for thermo-plastering applications in construction, in a circular economy context. Coffee waste was used in various percentages (up to 17.5%) to assess the engineering performance of the produced bio-composite mortars. The …
Thermo-elektrische Verbindungen. Strom aus Abwärme
2011
Thermoelektrische Materialien bieten die Moglichkeit, thermische Gradienten in elektrische Energie umzuwandeln um somit Abwarme aus verschiedensten Prozessen zur Energieerzeugung zu nutzen. In diesem Artikel werden die physikalischen Hintergrunde der thermoelektrischen Effekte beschrieben sowie Aufbau und Wirkungsgrad thermoelektrischer Generatoren erlautert. Um eine Brucke zwischen der Physik und Chemie in Festkorpern zu schlagen, werden die unterschiedlichen physikalischen Transportprozesse in Festkorpern mit Hilfe chemischer Konzepte erlautert. Anhand von Beispielen fur thermoelektrische Materialien werden die Ansatze zur Maximierung des thermoelektrischen Wirkungsgrades und der Einfluss…
The photovoltaic growth in the European Union requires stronger RES support
2016
Since the adoption of the EU Directive, 2001/77/EC, the production of electricity from renewable energy sources has progressed. Apart from the indicative target proposed by the Directive, actually no other tools of policy monitoring exist. To fill this gap, we propose a dynamic method able to capture this multidimensional phenomenon, providing an assessment tool to measure the technical efficiency performances of EU countries in the photovoltaic sector (1996–2010). Results show how technical efficiencies of countries are, from one hand, due to problems belonging to the economic and political contexts in which they operate, on the other hand driven by specific political support schemes adopt…
Intracavity Frequency Doubling and Difference Frequency Mixing for Pulsed ns Ti:Sapphire Laser Systems at On-Line Radioactive Ion Beam Facilities
2015
Intra-cavity second harmonic generation of a Titanium:sapphire (Ti:sa) laser system has been used to improve the conversion efficiency to the second harmonic. Over the course of several experiments performance data spanning the whole wavelength range of a Ti:sa has been collected, which may be used as a guideline for future experiments. An average output power of up to 3.7 W was achieved, resulting in a conversion efficiency of >75 % to the second harmonic. A wavelength coverage from 340-525 nm has been demonstrated. To extend the wavelength range of the solid state laser system, difference frequency mixing has been applied to the intra-cavity doubled light and the fundamental output of a s…
400– to 1000–nm imaging spectrometer based on acousto-optic tunable filters
2004
An imaging spectrometer covering the 400-1000 nm band has been conceived and developed. The system is based on an Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF) attached to a high performance digital camera. The AOTF permits the selection of spectral bands with an RF signal in the range of 70-210 MHz. The range is covered using two transducers attached to a single crystal. Although the idea is not new it covers a broader spectrum than previous systems. It includes a telecentric optical system that enhances system efficiency, by ensuring that the chief ray of each light cone emerges out of this doublet parallel to the optical axes. Additionally, an smart choice of integration time reduces the dependenc…
Influence of the evolutionary optimization parameters on the optimal topology
2016
Topological optimization can be considered as one of the most general types of structural optimization. Between all known topological optimization techniques, the Evolutionary Structural Optimization represents one of the most efficient and easy to implement approaches. Evolutionary topological optimization is based on a heuristic general principle which states that, by gradually removing portions of inefficient material from an assigned domain, the resulting structure will evolve towards an optimal configuration. Usually, the initial continuum domain is divided into finite elements that may or may not be removed according to the chosen efficiency criteria and other parameters like the spee…
Experimental Comparative Analysis of Efficiency and THD for a Three-phase Five-level Cascaded H-Bridge Inverter Controlled by Several MC-PWM Schemes
2021
Cascaded H-Bridges Multilevel Inverters are an innovative and promising solution in different application fields. This topology allows obtaining an improvement in the performance (e.g. reduced harmonic content, the low voltage stress on power components, and high efficiency) in respect to the traditional two-level inverters. In this context, the Multicarrier-PWM strategies play an important role thanks to their features. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the performance of a three-phase five-level Cascaded H-Bridge inverter by using different PWM modulation strategies. In particular, the paper is focused on the experimental validation of the main features of Multicarrier …
Estimation of interfacial fracture toughness based on progressive edge delamination of a thin transparent coating on a polymer substrate
2010
Evaluation of interfacial toughness of sub-micron-thickness layers deposited on a ductile substrate is a challenging task which has motivated different experimental approaches Fragmentation testing was used in the present study as a means of interface characterization of a silicon-nitride-coated polyimide substrate. During the test, after an initial rapid segmentation-cracking phase, the coating fragments developed edge delaminations which propagated in a stable manner with further increase in the applied strain The debonding process was modelled by the finite element method Incorporating a cohesive zone at the front of the interfacial crack The edge cracks were found to be dominated by mod…
A Trans-amplifying RNA Vaccine Strategy for Induction of Potent Protective Immunity
2019
Here, we present a potent RNA vaccine approach based on a novel bipartite vector system using trans-amplifying RNA (taRNA). The vector cassette encoding the vaccine antigen originates from an alphaviral self-amplifying RNA (saRNA), from which the replicase was deleted to form a transreplicon. Replicase activity is provided in trans by a second molecule, either by a standard saRNA or an optimized non-replicating mRNA (nrRNA). The latter delivered 10- to 100-fold higher transreplicon expression than the former. Moreover, expression driven by the nrRNA-encoded replicase in the taRNA system was as efficient as in a conventional monopartite saRNA system. We show that the superiority of nrRNA- ov…
Contribution of polyadenylate sequences to the translational efficiency of globin messenger RNAs
1987
mRNAs from reticulocyte polysomes were fractionated by chromatography on poly(U)-Sepharose and thermal elution. The molar ratio of alpha- to beta-globin mRNA was found to be 2:1 and 1:1 respectively in short- and long-poly(A) size classes. Translational analyses indicated that the globin mRNAs containing long poly(A) tracts (with a mean length of about 70 nucleotides) directed protein synthesis with higher rates than did mRNA containing short poly(A) tracts (15-35 nucleotides). Experiments performed with sub-saturating mRNA concentrations showed that the digestion with RNAase H induced a decrease in the translational capacity of both globin mRNAs and an increase in the alpha- to beta-globin…