Evaluating the Performance and Economics of Transpired Solar Collectors for Commercial Applications: Preprint

Using transpired solar collectors to preheat ventilation air has recently become recognized as an economic alternative for integrating renewable energy into commercial buildings in heating climates. The collectors have relatively low installed costs and operate on simple principles. Theory and performance testing have shown that solar collection efficiency can exceed 70% of incident solar. However, implementation and current absorber designs have adversely affected the efficiency and associated economics from this initial analysis. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has actively studied this technology and monitored performance at several installations. A calibrated model that uses typical meteorological weather data to determine absorber plate efficiency resulted from this work. With this model, an economic analysis across heating climates was done to show the effects of collector size, tilt, azimuth, and absorptivity. The analysis relates the internal rate of return of a system based on the cost of the installed absorber area. In general, colder and higher latitude climates return a higher rate of return because the heating season extends into months with good solar resource

Dew Point Evaporative Comfort Cooling: Report and Summary Report

The project objective was to demonstrate the capabilities of the high-performance multi-staged IEC technology and its ability to enhance energy efficiency and interior comfort in dry climates, while substantially reducing electric-peak demand. The project was designed to test 24 cooling units in five commercial building types at Fort Carson Army Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Thermographic Imaging of the Space Shuttle During Re-Entry Using a Near Infrared Sensor

High resolution calibrated near infrared (NIR) imagery of the Space Shuttle Orbiter was obtained during hypervelocity atmospheric re-entry of the STS-119, STS-125, STS-128, STS-131, STS-132, STS-133, and STS-134 missions. This data has provided information on the distribution of surface temperature and the state of the airflow over the windward surface of the Orbiter during descent. The thermal imagery complemented data collected with onboard surface thermocouple instrumentation. The spatially resolved global thermal measurements made during the Orbiter s hypersonic re-entry will provide critical flight data for reducing the uncertainty associated with present day ground-to-flight extrapolation techniques and current state-of-the-art empirical boundary-layer transition or turbulent heating prediction methods. Laminar and turbulent flight data is critical for the validation of physics-based, semi-empirical boundary-layer transition prediction methods as well as stimulating the validation of laminar numerical chemistry models and the development of turbulence models supporting NASA s next-generation spacecraft. In this paper we provide details of the NIR imaging system used on both air and land-based imaging assets. The paper will discuss calibrations performed on the NIR imaging systems that permitted conversion of captured radiant intensity (counts) to temperature values. Image processing techniques are presented to analyze the NIR data for vignetting distortion, best resolution, and image sharpness. Keywords: HYTHIRM, Space Shuttle thermography, hypersonic imaging, near infrared imaging, histogram analysis, singular value decomposition, eigenvalue image sharpnes

Care of the Critically Ill Pregnant Patient and Perimortem Cesarean Delivery in the Emergency Department

BackgroundMaternal resuscitation in the emergency department requires planning and special consideration of the physiologic changes of pregnancy. Perimortem cesarean delivery (PMCD) is a rare but potentially life-saving procedure for both mother and fetus. Emergency physicians should be aware of the procedure's indications and steps because it needs to be performed rapidly for the best possible outcomes.ObjectiveWe sought to review the approach to the critically ill pregnant patient in light of new expert guidelines, including indications for PMCD and procedural techniques.DiscussionThe prevalence of maternal cardiac arrest and survival outcomes of PMCD in the emergency department setting are difficult to estimate. Advanced cardiovascular life support protocols should be followed in maternal arrest with special considerations made based on the physiologic changes of pregnancy. The latest recommendations for maternal resuscitation are reviewed, including advance planning, rapid determination of gestational age, emergent delivery, and postprocedure considerations for PMCD.ConclusionsMaternal resuscitation requires knowledge of physiologic changes and evidence-based recommendations. PMCD outcomes are best for both mother and fetus when the procedure is performed rapidly and efficiently in the appropriate setting. Emergency physicians should be familiar with this unique clinical scenario so they are adequately prepared to intervene in order to improve maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality

Biology of archaea from a novel family Cuniculiplasmataceae (Thermoplasmata) ubiquitous in hyperacidic environments

The order Thermoplasmatales (Euryarchaeota) is represented by the most acidophilic organisms known so far that are poorly amenable to cultivation. Earlier culture-independent studies in Iron Mountain (California) pointed at an abundant archaeal group, dubbed 'G-plasma'. We examined the genomes and physiology of two cultured representatives of a Family Cuniculiplasmataceae, recently isolated from acidic (pH 1-1.5) sites in Spain and UK that are 16S rRNA gene sequence-identical with 'G-plasma'. Organisms had largest genomes among Thermoplasmatales (1.87-1.94 Mbp), that shared 98.7-98.8% average nucleotide identities between themselves and 'G-plasma' and exhibited a high genome conservation even within their genomic islands, despite their remote geographical localisations. Facultatively anaerobic heterotrophs, they possess an ancestral form of A-type terminal oxygen reductase from a distinct parental clade. The lack of complete pathways for biosynthesis of histidine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine and proline pre-determines the reliance on external sources of amino acids and hence the lifestyle of these organisms as scavengers of proteinaceous compounds from surrounding microbial community members. In contrast to earlier metagenomics-based assumptions, isolates were S-layer-deficient, non-motile, non-methylotrophic and devoid of iron-oxidation despite the abundance of methylotrophy substrates and ferrous iron in situ, which underlines the essentiality of experimental validation of bioinformatic predictions

Effect of donor concentration on parameters and concentration of defect centers in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers

Przeprowadzono pomiary metodą DLTS czterech próbek zawierających warstwy epitaksjalne 4H-SiC, różniących się koncentracją atomów azotu oraz efektywną koncentracją donorów. Dwie spośród próbek wybranych do badań wpływu koncentracji donorów na właściwości i koncentrację centrów defektowych zawierały warstwy osadzone w ITME, natomiast pozostałe dwie zostały wytworzone w instytucie Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Na podstawie uzyskanych widm DLTS dla każdej z próbek określono parametry wykrytych pułapek oraz ich koncentrację. Zaproponowano identyfikację wszystkich wykrytych pułapek oraz możliwe modele powstawania typowych dla SiC pułapek Z1/2. Przeprowadzono analizę wpływu atomów azotu na efektywną koncentrację donorów oraz na koncentrację centrów defektowych. Podjęto próbę wyjaśnienia różnicy w stopniu kompensacji dla próbek wytworzonych w ITME i NRL i jej związku z koncentracją centrów defektowych.The DLTS measurements of four samples with 4H-SiC epitaxial layers with different effective donors concentration was performed. Two samples chosen for investigations of the effect of donor concentration on parameters and concentration of defect centers has epitaxial layers made in ITME and the other two was made in Naval Research Laboratory. Based DLTS spectra for each sample parameters and concentration values was determined. Identification for all detected traps and possible models for typical SiC Z1/2 traps have been proposed. The nitrogen atoms influence on effective donor concentration and defect centers concentration was analyzed. The difference in compensation level for ITME and NRL samples and also its connection with defect centers was tried to explain

The notation of condition of plasticity in procedure-oriented language in FLEXPDE and FLAC2D codes

Praca powstała jako rozwiązanie problemu zapisu zagadnień plastyczności w programie MES FlexPDE v5.0 oraz programie MRS FLAC 2D. Zastosowano model ciała sprężysto-idealnie plastycznego w zadaniach płaskiego stanu odkształcenia, założono stowarzyszone prawo płynięcia. Opracowana ścieżka postępowania w dogodny sposób umożliwia zapisanie warunków z dodatkowymi ograniczeniami, tj. zamknięcie od strony naprężeń ściskających w przestrzeni naprężeń głównych oraz ograniczenie rozciągania zapisanych jako wypukłe linie wielosegmentowe.In the paper the describing of linear-plastic material behaviour in Finite Elements codes: FlexPDE and MRS FLAC is presented. The discussion is restricted to linear elastic-perfectly plastic material, two-dimensional plane strain and associated flow rule. For describing linear-elastic material behaviour (for general stress states): stress-strain behaviour in elastic range, yield function or failure function, flow rule, definition of strain hardening (softening) are needed. In the solution the tension stresses are limited and showed like convex multi segment line

New measurement system for characterization of defect centers by capacitance transient spectroscopy method

W oparciu o miernik pojemności zestawiono nowy układ do pomiarów metodą niestacjonarnej spektroskopii pojemnościowej (DLTS). Rejestracja relaksacyjnych przebiegów pojemności pozwoliła na zastosowanie zaawansowanych procedur numerycznych, które umożliwiają uzyskanie dwuwymiarowych powierzchni widmowych. Na podstawie tych powierzchni możliwe jest następnie określenie temperaturowych zależności szybkości emisji nośników ładunku związanych z głębokimi poziomami defektowymi. Zależności te umożliwiają określenie podstawowych parametrów elektrycznych wykrytych centrów defektowych w materiałach półprzewodnikowych z większa precyzją i rozdzielczością niż dotychczas za pomocą spektrometru DLS-81. Artykuł opisuje projekt, budowę oraz proces uruchomienia nowego stanowiska pomiarowego do charakteryzacji centrów defektowych metodą niestacjonarnej spektroskopii pojemnościowej wraz z przykładowymi wynikami pomiarów oraz analizy numerycznej opartej na algorytmie korelacyjnym oraz algorytmie odwrotnej transformaty Laplace'a na przykładzie głębokich centrów defektowych wykrytych w warstwie epitaksjalnej 4H-SiC.A new capacitance transient spectroscopy measurement system has been set up based on a capacitance meter. The acquisition of capacitance transients has allowed the application of advanced numerical methods which make obtaining two-dimensional spectral surfaces possible. These surfaces enable the determination of the temperature dependences of the emission rates of charge carriers related to deep defect levels. As a result, the electrical parameters of detected traps are likely to be specified with higher precision and resolution than when using the DLS-81 spectrometer. The present paper describes the design, construction and start up of the new measurement system for the characterization of defect centers by means of the deep level transient spectroscopy method with exemplary test results and a numerical analysis based on the correlation algorithm and the inverse Laplace transform algorithm for deep defect centers detected in the 4H-SiC epitaxial layer