Module design and fault diagnosis in electric vehicle batteries

Systems integration issues, such as electrical and thermal design and management of full battery packs - often containing hundreds of cells - have been rarely explored in the academic literature. In this paper we discuss the design and construction of a 9 kWh battery pack for a motorsports application. The pack contained 504 lithium cells arranged into 2 sidepods, each containing 3 modules, with each module in a 12P7S configuration. This paper focuses particularly on testing the full battery pack and diagnosing subsequent problems related to cells being connected in parallel. We demonstrate how a full vehicle test can be used to identify malfunctioning strings of cells for further investigation. After individual cell testing it was concluded that a single high inter-cell contact resistance was causing currents to flow unevenly within the pack, leading to cells being unequally worked. This is supported by a Matlab/Simulink model of one battery module, including contact resistances. Over time the unequal current flowing through cells can lead to significant differences in cells' state of charge and open circuit voltages, large currents flowing between cells even when the load is disconnected, cells discharging and aging more quickly than others, and jeopardise capacity and lifetime of the pack

Transcriptional regulation of the tyrosine hydroxylase gene by neurotensin in human neuroblastoma CHP212 cells.

The human neuroblastoma cell line CHP212 was found to express functional high affinity neurotensin (NTS-1) receptor subtype. Based on the functional interactions between neurotensin and dopamine transmission, we have used this cell line to investigate the short- and long-term modulation of tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression by the stable neurotensin agonist JMV 449. After exposure of the cells to 1 microM JMV 449 for 5 or 72 h, tyrosine hydroxylase protein and mRNA levels were significantly increased as detected by western blot analysis and quantitative RT-PCR, respectively. Transfection of CHP212 cells with a plasmid containing the luciferase reporter gene under the control of a limited proximal region of the cloned tyrosine hydroxylase promoter, revealed that the effect of JMV 449 results from an increase in the transcriptional activity of the TH gene. These results indicate that modulation of tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression may constitute one of the mechanisms involved in the control of dopamine transmission by neurotensin. Such neurotensin-mediated changes in tyrosine hydroxylase expression may also participate in multiple adaptation processes within the central nervous system to environmental conditions where neurotensin is released such as stress and food intake

Formalism to design a neural network: Application to an induction machine drive coupled to a non linear mechanical load

This search deals with the control of a process in order to take into account non linearities without parameters identification. Neural networks properties are exploited for the modelling of non linear features, and a formalism is proposed to design a neural model which can be used directly as a controller. We apply this formalism to the modelling of a non linear mechanical load torque feature coupled to an induction machine in order to design a speed controller. A partial and a global neural method are presented. In order to overcome modelling errors or any process changes, an adaptive on line method is proposed. At last, simulation and experimental results are presented

Molecular docking simulation reveals ACE2 polymorphisms that may increase the affinity of ACE2 with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein

There is increasing evidence that ACE2 gene polymorphism can modulate the interaction between ACE2 and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein affecting the viral entry into the host cell, and/or contribute to lung and systemic damage in COVID-19. Here we used in silico molecular docking to predict the effects of ACE2 missense variants on the interaction with the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. HDOCK and FireDock simulations identified 6 ACE2 missense variants (I21T, A25T, K26R, E37K, T55A, E75G) with higher affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) with respect to wild type ACE2, and 11 variants (I21V, E23K, K26E, T27A, E35K, S43R, Y50F, N51D, N58H, K68E, M82I) with lower affinity. This result supports the hypothesis that ACE2 genetic background may represent the first “genetic gateway” during the disease progression

Characterization of HDL apolipoproteins in the goose susceptible to liver steatosis

International audienc

Quantitative RT-PCR: limits and accuracy

International audienceIn this paper we determine the limits and accuracy of quantitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR using a modification of the original protocol. The quantification of mRNA with this procedure requires a preliminary estimation of the target molecule (TM) concentration, established from experiments with an internal control molecule (ICM). A definitive quantification is then attained from serial dilutions of the reverse transcription reaction. The success of this latter step is dependent on maintaining an equivalent number of TM and ICM in the reaction. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the influence of the deviation between the TM and the ICM on the result. We show here that we can control the accuracy of the assay by fixing the limit of the TM/ICM ratio. Indeed, when the TM/ICM ratio is between 0.66 and 1.5 (i.e., the difference between TM and ICM is 1.5-fold), the final result has an error of approximately 10%. Exceeding this limit produces errors approaching 60%, as in the case of TM/ICM = 2. When the above conditions are respected, a difference as small as 20% between two samples can be determined with an accuracy of 95%