Study of advanced electric propulsion system concept using a flywheel for electric vehicles

Advanced electric propulsion system concepts with flywheels for electric vehicles are evaluated and it is predicted that advanced systems can provide considerable performance improvement over existing electric propulsion systems with little or no cost penalty. Using components specifically designed for an integrated electric propulsion system avoids the compromises that frequently lead to a loss of efficiency and to inefficient utilization of space and weight. A propulsion system using a flywheel power energy storage device can provide excellent acceleration under adverse conditions of battery degradation due either to very low temperatures or high degrees of discharge. Both electrical and mechanical means of transfer of energy to and from the flywheel appear attractive; however, development work is required to establish the safe limits of speed and energy storage for advanced flywheel designs and to achieve the optimum efficiency of energy transfer. Brushless traction motor designs using either electronic commutation schemes or dc-to-ac inverters appear to provide a practical approach to a mass producible motor, with excellent efficiency and light weight. No comparisons were made with advanced system concepts which do not incorporate a flywheel

Thermomechanical Behavior of the HL-LHC 11 Tesla Nb3Sn Magnet Coil Constituents during Reaction Heat Treatment

The knowledge of the temperature induced changes of the superconductor volume, and of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the different coil and tooling materials is required for predicting the coil geometry and the stress distribution in the coil after the Nb3Sn reaction heat treatment. In the present study we have measured the Young's and shear moduli of the HL-LHC 11 T Nb3Sn dipole magnet coil and reaction tool constituents during in situ heat cycles with the dynamic resonance method. The thermal expansion behaviours of the coil components and of a free standing Nb3Sn wire were compared based on dilation experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figures, presented at MT25 conferenc

Magnetic flux pumping in 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic simulations

A self-regulating magnetic flux pumping mechanism in tokamaks that maintains the core safety factor at $q\approx 1$, thus preventing sawteeth, is analyzed in nonlinear 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations using the M3D-C$^1$ code. In these simulations, the most important mechanism responsible for the flux pumping is that a saturated $(m=1,n=1)$ quasi-interchange instability generates an effective negative loop voltage in the plasma center via a dynamo effect. It is shown that sawtoothing is prevented in the simulations if $\beta$ is sufficiently high to provide the necessary drive for the $(m=1,n=1)$ instability that generates the dynamo loop voltage. The necessary amount of dynamo loop voltage is determined by the tendency of the current density profile to centrally peak which, in our simulations, is controlled by the peakedness of the applied heat source profile.Comment: submitted to Physics of Plasmas (23 pages, 15 Figures

Nb3Sn wire shape and cross sectional area inhomogeneity in Rutherford cables

During Rutherford cable production the wires are plastically deformed and their initially round shape is distorted. Using X-ray absorption tomography we have determined the 3D shape of an unreacted Nb3Sn 11 T dipole Rutherford cable, and of a reacted and impregnated Nb3Sn cable double stack. State-of-the-art image processing was applied to correct for tomographic artefacts caused by the large cable aspect ratio, for the segmentation of the individual wires and subelement bundles inside the wires, and for the calculation of the wire cross sectional area and shape variations. The 11 T dipole cable cross section oscillates by 2% with a frequency of 1.24 mm (1/80 of the transposition pitch length of the 40 wire cable). A comparatively stronger cross sectional area variation is observed in the individual wires at the thin edge of the keystoned cable where the wire aspect ratio is largest.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, presented at EUCAS 201

Transcriptional activators and repressors for the neuron-specific expression of a metabotropic glutamate receptor

Metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGlu1) has a discrete distribution in the central nervous system restricted to neurons. Its expression undergoes important changes during development and in response to physiological and pathological modifications. Here, we have determined the structure of the mGlu1 gene and demonstrated that mGlu1 transcription takes places at alternative first exons. Moreover, we have identified active promoter regions upstream from the two most expressed first exons by means of luciferase reporter gene assays performed in primary cerebellar granule neurons. Targeted mutations of active elements constituting the core promoter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that the factors thyroid transcription factor-1 and CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins β act synergistically to promote mGlu1 transcription. We have also elucidated the molecular bases for the neuron-specific expression of mGlu1 identifying a neural restrictive silencing element and a regulatory factor for X box element, which suppressed mGlu1 expression in nonneuronal cells. These results reveal the molecular bases for cell- and context-specific expression of an important glutamate receptor critically involved in synaptogenesis, neuronal differentiation, synaptic transmission, and plasticity. © 2007 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

A New Method for Searching for Free Fractional Charge Particles in Bulk Matter

We present a new experimental method for searching for free fractional charge in bulk matter; this new method derives from the traditional Millikan liquid drop method, but allows the use of much larger drops, 20 to 100 mm in diameter, compared to the traditional method that uses drops less than 15 mm in diameter. These larger drops provide the substantial advantage that it is then much easier to consistently generate drops containing liquid suspensions of powdered meteorites and other special minerals. These materials are of great importance in bulk searches for fractional charge particles that may have been produced in the early universe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures in a singl PDF file (created from WORD Doc.). Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument