Analysis Of The Cyclability Of Lithium-polymer Batteries

Comunicación y póster en congresoLithium ion batteries and similar energy storage devices have an increasing importance for the modern society as they are present in many portable electronic devices and have perspectives in the fields of electric vehicles and renewable energy accumulation. Herein, we present results from charge and discharge cycles on batteries under controlled conditions. The cyclability of commercial lithium-polymer pouch batteries under different charge/discharge rates and temperatures was studied. Based on the results, the relationship between the state of charge and the cell voltage was obtained, as well as degradation of the cells, i.e., the decrease of the energy capacity after a number of cycles. The experimental results were compared with simulations based on Newman's model for Lithium Ion Batteries, carried out using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. The batteries and fuel cell and the heat transfer modules were use to couple between the temperature and the electrochemical interactions. The results show the correlation between temperature, C-rate and degradation in lithium ion batteries. It is specially remarkable the decrease of the apparent capacity of batteries at low temperatures, and the increase of the degradation at higher temperatures. These results are essential for the design of mechanisms that could prevent battery failure.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045, and the "Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia de la Universidad de Málaga", code: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17

Optimización de redes de distribución de agua utilizando un algoritmo genético

Un algoritmo genético (AG), es un procedimiento de búsqueda del óptimo de una función basado en la mecánica natural darwiniana de supervivencia de los individuos mejor adaptados. En el presente trabajo se ha desarrollado un algoritmo genético que permite determinar la red de distribución de agua de coste mínimo para una topología y una condición de carga dadas. El procedimiento consiste en asimilar las redes a cadenas binarias (conjuntos de unos y ceros). Partiendo de una población de redes generada aleatoriamente, se realizan los procesos naturales de selección, cruce y mutación, obteniéndose una nueva población. Así, generación tras generación, se llega al individuo mejor adaptado, es decir la red de distribución de mínimo coste. El algoritmo, implementado en FORTRAN-77 y ejecutable en PC, se ha aplicado a un ejemplo extraído de la bibliografía, obteniéndose resultados satisfactorio

Mean field study of structural changes in Pt isotopes with the Gogny interaction

The evolution of the nuclear shapes along the triaxial landscape is studied in the Pt isotopic chain using the selfconsistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation based on the Gogny interaction. In addition to the parametrization D1S, the new incarnations D1N and D1M of this force are also included in our analysis to asses to which extent the predictions are independent of details of the effective interaction. The considered range of neutron numbers 88<N<26 includes prolate, triaxial, oblate and spherical ground state shapes and serves for a detailed comparison of the predictions obtained with the new sets D1N and D1M against the ones provided by the standard parametrization Gogny-D1S in a region of the nuclear landscape for which experimental and theoretical fingerprints of shape transitions have been found. Structural evolution along the Pt chain is discussed in terms of the deformation dependence of single particle energies.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Desarrollo de una ontología en el contexto de la web semántica a partir de un tesauro documental tradicional

A thesaurus is a documentary tool that is used to catalog and retrieve information in specialized environments. In the search for better alternatives in the representation of information resources, ontologies—in the context of the semantic web—are being seen as a new means of representing the knowledge that currently exists in thesauri, now that it has been demonstrated that ontologies make it possible to improve the precision and the reutilization of all kinds of knowledge. The objective of this work is to present an option for the migration of the traditional documentary thesaurus to ontology in the environment of the semantic web, with the objective of permitting its use in document retrieval

The end-to-end testbed of the Optical Metrology System on-board LISA Pathfinder

LISA Pathfinder is a technology demonstration mission for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The main experiment on-board LISA Pathfinder is the so-called LISA Technology Package (LTP) which has the aim to measure the differential acceleration between two free-falling test masses with an accuracy of 3x10^(-14) ms^(-2)/sqrt[Hz] between 1 mHz and 30 mHz. This measurement is performed interferometrically by the Optical Metrology System (OMS) on-board LISA Pathfinder. In this paper we present the development of an experimental end-to-end testbed of the entire OMS. It includes the interferometer and its sub-units, the interferometer back-end which is a phasemeter and the processing of the phasemeter output data. Furthermore, 3-axes piezo actuated mirrors are used instead of the free-falling test masses for the characterisation of the dynamic behaviour of the system and some parts of the Drag-free and Attitude Control System (DFACS) which controls the test masses and the satellite. The end-to-end testbed includes all parts of the LTP that can reasonably be tested on earth without free-falling test masses. At its present status it consists mainly of breadboard components. Some of those have already been replaced by Engineering Models of the LTP experiment. In the next steps, further Engineering Models and Flight Models will also be inserted in this testbed and tested against well characterised breadboard components. The presented testbed is an important reference for the unit tests and can also be used for validation of the on-board experiment during the mission

Carbon and oxygen in HII regions of the Magellanic Clouds: abundance discrepancy and chemical evolution

We present C and O abundances in the Magellanic Clouds derived from deep spectra of HII regions. The data have been taken with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the 8.2-m VLT. The sample comprises 5 HII regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 4 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We measure pure recombination lines (RLs) of CII and OII in all the objects, permitting to derive the abundance discrepancy factors (ADFs) for O^2+, as well as their O/H, C/H and C/O ratios. We compare the ADFs with those of other HII regions in different galaxies. The results suggest a possible metallicity dependence of the ADF for the low-metallicity objects, but more uncertain for high-metallicity objects. We compare nebular and B-type stellar abundances and we find that the stellar abundances agree better with the nebular ones derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs). Comparing these results with other galaxies we observe that stellar abundances seem to agree better with the nebular ones derived from CELs in low-metallicity environments and from RLs in high-metallicity environments. The C/H, O/H and C/O ratios show almost flat radial gradients, in contrast with the spiral galaxies where such gradients are negative. We explore the chemical evolution analysing C/O vs. O/H and comparing with the results of HII regions in other galaxies. The LMC seems to show a similar chemical evolution to the external zones of small spiral galaxies and the SMC behaves as a typical star-forming dwarf galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 11 figures, 8 table

Remote Laboratories for Teaching and Training in Engineering

Typical mechatronic systems are a combination of advanced technologies involving several disciplines. This multidisciplinary approach to the development of industrial applications provides great opportunities for the implementation of e-learning environments and collaborative schemes. Engineering education, in particular, benefits from many of these advances, among which, virtual instrumentation is a useful tool for the development of virtual environments, e-learning spaces and, particularly, remote laboratories. This chapter describes the implementation of web-based laboratories that allow the remote operation of experiments used as training exercises in undergraduate engineering courses. The remote laboratories were developed using LabVIEW® software, and they enable remote control and monitoring of laboratory equipment, allowing engineering students to perform experiments in real time, at their own pace, from anywhere, and whenever is suitable for them. Besides the experimental training that the web-based laboratories provide to students, the system is also a powerful teaching tool since real-time demonstrations of the experiments can be performed, and they also can be simultaneously monitored by a group of students. This approach is highly beneficial for engineering schools in developing countries, as resources can be shared through the Internet. A description of the system and three proposed experiments is presented, together with the experimental results

Microneedle based electrochemical (bio)sensing: towards decentralized and continuous health status monitoring

Microneedle (MN) based electrochemical (bio)sensing has become a growing field within the discipline of analytical chemistry as a result of its unique capacity for continuous, decentralized health status monitoring. There are two significant advantages to this exclusive feature: i) the ability to directly analyze interstitial fluid (ISF), a body fluid with a similar enough composition to plasma (and blood) to be considered a plentiful source of information related to biologically relevant molecules and biomarkers; and ii) the capacity to overcome some of the major limitations of blood analysis including painful extraction, high interferant concentrations, and incompatibility with diagnosis of infants (and especially newborns). Recent publications have demonstrated important advancements in electrochemical MN sensor technology, among which are included new MN fabrication methods and various modification strategies, providing different architectures and allowing for the integration of electronics. This versatility highlights the undeniable need for interdisciplinary efforts towards tangible progress in the field. In a context evidently dominated by glucose sensing, which is slowly being expanded towards other analytes, the following crucial questions arise: to what extent are electrochemical MN (bio)sensors a reliable analytical tool for continuous ISF monitoring? Which is the best calibration protocol to be followed for in vivo assays? Which strategies can be employed to protect the sensing element during skin penetration? Is there an appropriate validation methodology to assess the accuracy of electrochemical MN (bio)sensors? How significant is the distinction between successful achievements in the laboratory and the real commercial feasibility of products? This paper aims to reflect on those previous questions while reviewing the progress of electrochemical MN (bio)sensors in the last decade with a focus on the analytical aspects. Overall, we describe the current state of electrochemical MN (bio)sensors, the benefits and challenges associated to ISF monitoring, as well as key features (and bottlenecks) regarding its implementation for in vivo assays