Methods for the analysis of thermomagnetic phase transitions of magnetocaloric materials

This thesis focuses on the analysis of the relation between thermomagnetic phase transitions and magnetocaloric response of materials. First, various experimental factors that can a ect the measurements of the magnetocaloric e ect and can potentially cause misleading interpretation or artifacts are studied with the aid of experimental data and numerical calculations. These are sample geometry, compositional inhomogeneities, low temperature limitation in heat capacity measurements and measurement protocols in direct techniques. After that, it is shown that the analysis of the magnetic eld dependence of the magnetocaloric e ect is useful for obtaining information of thermomagnetic phase transitions, such as Curie temperature, critical exponents (even in biphasic systems), order of the phase transition and critical composition for which rst order phase transition becomes second order. These analyses were performed in well know materials such as Gd, Gd5Si2Ge2, La(Fe,Si)13, Ni-Mn-In Heusler alloys and Fe-, Co-, Ni-amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys. Next, various possible avenues to optimize the magnetocaloric behavior by tapping on the characteristics of rst and second order phase transition type systems were investigated. For second order phase transition type, the coe cient of refrigerant performance was optimized as a function of the amount of the various phase fractions in Gd-GdZn composite, while an enhanced magnetic eld responsiveness is achived in nanostructured Gd/Ti multilayers. For rst order phase transition type, reduction of hysteresis and enhancement of rst order character is achieved in Ni- and Cr-doped La(Fe,Si)13 compounds, respectively.Esta tesis se centra en el análisis de las relaciones entre las transiciones de fase termomagnéticas y la respuesta magnetocalórica de los materiales. En primer lugar,se han estudiado diferentes factores experimentales que pueden afectar a la medida e interpretacióndel efecto magnetocalórico, como son: la geometría de la muestra, la presencia de inhomogeneidades composicionales, el truncado de datos calorimétricos a bajas temperaturas y los protocolos de medida para la caracterización directa del efecto magnetocalórico. Posteriormente, se ha puesto de manifiesto que el análisis de la dependencia del efecto magnetocalórico con el campo magnético sirve para obtener información de las transiciones de fase termomagnéticas tales como la temperatura de Curie, los exponentes críticos y el orden de la transición, así como la composición crítica a la queel sistema transita de una transición de fase deprimer orden a una desegundo orden. Estos análisis se han llevado a cabo en materiales ampliamente conocidos tales como Gd, Gd5Si2Ge2, La(Fe,Si)13, aleaciones Heusler Ni-Mn-In y aleaciones amorfas y nanocristalinas basadas en Fe, Co y Ni. Finalmente, se han investigado varias rutas para la optimización de las propiedades magnetocalóricas de los materiales aprovechando las características de las transiciones de primero y segundo orden. Para las transiciones de segundo orden, se ha optimizado la capacidad de refrigeración en función de la fracción de fasesen compuestos Gd-GdZn.Para multicapas nanoestructuradas de Gd/Ti, se ha encontrado una mejor respuesta al campo magnético. Para las transiciones de primer orden, en compuestos La(Fe,Si)13 dopados con metales de transición,se ha reducido la histéresis asociada a la transición mediante el dopado con Ni y se ha aumentado el carácter de primer orden de la transición mediante la adición de Cr. Para estos estudios se han utilizado los métodos de análisis previamente tratados.Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado U

Fiabilidad y costes de mantenimiento en un programa de electrificación rural de 13.000 solar home systems

La electrificación rural fotovoltaica ha experimentado últimamente un salto de escala tanto en la dimensión de sus programas como en sus sistemas de gestión. Garantizar la calidad técnica ya no se reduce solamente a la fase de diseño e instalación, sino también a la de operación y mantenimiento. El presente trabajo trata de caracterizar la fase de operación del programa de electrificación rural fotovoltaico de Marruecos sobre el cual se ha llevado a cabo un exhaustivo estudio de fiabilidad de los distintos componentes que integran los sistemas solares (SHS), así como una evaluación de los costes unitarios ligados al mantenimiento, analizando su impacto en la estructura general de costes del programa. Los resultados van dirigidos hacia la caracterización de un modelo de la estructura de mantenimiento que logre asegurar la sostenibilidad de este tipo de programas

Operational costs and reliability in a large rural electrification programme based on solar home systems

Experiences in decentralized rural electrification programmes using solar home systems have suffered difficulties during the operation and maintenance phase, due in many cases, to the underestimation of the maintenance cost, because of the decentralized character of the activity, and also because the reliability of the solar home system components is frequently unknown. This paper reports on the reliability study and cost characterization achieved in a large photovoltaic rural electrification programme carried out in Morocco. The paper aims to determinate the reliability features of the solar systems, focusing in the in-field testing for batteries and photovoltaic modules. The degradation rates for batteries and PV modules have been extracted from the in-field experiments. On the other hand, the main costs related to the operation and maintenance activity have been identified with the aim of establishing the main factors that lead to the failure of the quality sustainability in many rural electrification programmes

Electrificación rural fotovoltaica "Solar Home Systems". Fiabilidad y costes de mantenimiento

La electrificación rural fotovoltaica ha experimentado últimamente un salto de escala tanto en la dimensión de sus programas como en sus sistemas de gestión. Garantizar la calidad técnica ya no se reduce solamente a la fase de dise~o e instalación, sino también a la de operación y mantenimiento. El estudio del Instituto de Energfa Solar de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid trata de caracterizar la fase de ope ración del programa de electrificación rural fotovoltaico de Marruecos sobre el cual se ha llevado a cabo un exhaustivo estudio de fiabilidad de los distintos componentes que integran los denominados Solar Heme 5ysrems (SHS). Ase como una evaluación de los costes unitarios ligados al mantenimiento, analizando su impacto en la estructura general de costes del programa. Los resultados van dirigidos hacia la caracterización de un modelo de la estructura de mantenimiento que logre asegurar la sostenibilidad de este tipo de programas energéticos

In-field assessment of batteries and PV modules in a large photovoltaic rural electrification programme

Assuring the sustainability of quality in photovoltaic rural electrification programmes involves enhancing the reliability of the components of solar home systems as well as the characterization of the overall programme cost structure. Batteries and photovoltaic modules have a great impact on both the reliability and the cost assessment, the battery being the weakest component of the solar home system and consequently the most expensive element of the programme. The photovoltaic module, despite being the most reliable component, has a significant impact cost-wise on the initial investment, even at current market prices. This paper focuses on the in-field testing of both batteries and photovoltaic modules working under real operating conditions within a sample of 41 solar home systems belonging to a large photovoltaic rural electrification programme with more than 13,000 installed photovoltaic systems. Different reliability parameters such as lifetime have been evaluated, taking into account different factors, for example energy consumption rates, or the manufacturing quality of batteries. A degradation model has been proposed relating both loss of capacity and time of operation. The user e solar home system binomial is also analysed in order to understand the meaning of battery lifetime in rural electrification

LED bulb lamps technical specification and testing procedure for solar home systems.

With the consolidation of the new solid state lighting LEOs devices, te5t1n9 the compliance 01 lamps based on this technology lor Solar Home Systems (SHS) have been analyzed. The definition of the laboratory procedures to be used with final products 15 a necessary step in arder to be able to assure the quality of the lamps prior to be installed [1]. As well as with CFL technology. particular attention has been given to simplicity and technical affordability in arder to facilitate the implementation of the test with basie and simple laboratory too15 even on the same SHS electrification program locations. The block of test procedures has been applied to a set of 14 low-cost lamps. They apply to lamp resistance, reliability and performance under normal, extreme and abnormal operating conditions as a simple but complete quality meter tool 01 any LEO bulb

Study of turbulent jets by means of PIV technique

Turbulent jets have been always present in fluid-mechanic researches due to the large number of applications they have and to the presence of all the turbulence features on them. Thanks to the use of relative new non-intrusive techniques–such as PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry)-, the knowledge of turbulence in general, and turbulent jets in particular has increased. This work is focused on the assessment of both, the main characteristics of the turbulent jet and, at the same time, some significant PIV features. For that aim two experiments are proposed: -The first one, denominated “Spatial Resolution in PIV”, tries to determine the best position to place the digital camera that films the movement of the particles present in the jet, taking into account that we are interested on studying not only the microscales of the turbulent flow, but also the velocity field and the recovering of isotropy by evaluating the turbulent parameters (skewness, kurtosis, square mean derivative ratios,…). -In the second one, called “Effect of the Reynolds Number in Turbulence”, starting from the results of the first experiment, the behavior of the jet depending on the relationship between the inertia forces and the viscous ones is analyzed. To do this, three different zones along the jet and eight different Reynolds numbers are to be studied. This report is structured in four different chapters. The first one corresponds to a theoretical introduction to turbulence. In the second one the experimental setup is described after introducing the PIV measurement technique. The third one presents the results and carries out a deep analysis of them. Finally, in chapter four, the results are summarized obtaining some important conclusions and considering as well future challenges of the present work.Ingeniería Industria

Setting the basis for the interpretation of temperature first order reversal curve (TFORC) distributions of magnetocaloric materials

First Order Reversal Curve (FORC) distributions of magnetic materials are a well-known tool to extract information about hysteresis sources and magnetic interactions, or to fingerprint them. Recently, a temperature variant of this analysis technique (Temperature-FORC, TFORC) has been used for the analysis of the thermal hysteresis associated with first-order magnetocaloric materials. However, the theory supporting the interpretation of the diagrams is still lacking, limiting TFORC to a fingerprinting technique so far. This work is a first approach to correlate the modeling of first-order phase transitions, using the Bean–Rodbell model combined with a phenomenological transformation mechanism, with the features observed in experimental TFORC distributions of magnetocaloric materials. The different characteristics of the transformations, e.g., transition temperatures, symmetry, temperature range, etc., are correlated to distinct features of the distributions. We show a catalogue of characteristic TFORC distributions for magnetocaloric materials that exhibit some of the features observed experimentally.Army Research Laboratory W911NF-19-2-021

Reversibility of the Magnetocaloric Effect in the Bean-Rodbell Model

The applicability of magnetocaloric materials is limited by irreversibility. In this work, we evaluate the reversible magnetocaloric response associated with magnetoelastic transitions in the framework of the Bean-Rodbell model. This model allows the description of both second- and first-order magnetoelastic transitions by the modification of the η parameter (η1 for first-order ones). The response is quantified via the Temperature-averaged Entropy Change (TEC), which has been shown to be an easy and effective figure of merit for magnetocaloric materials. A strong magnetic field dependence of TEC is found for first-order transitions, having a significant increase when the magnetic field is large enough to overcome the thermal hysteresis of the material observed at zero field. This field value, as well as the magnetic field evolution of the transition temperature, strongly depend on the atomic magnetic moment of the material. For a moderate magnetic field change of 2 T, first-order transitions with η≈1.3−1.8 have better TEC than those corresponding to stronger first-order transitions and even second-order ones.Universidad de Sevilla US-1260179Junta de Andalucía P18-RT-746Army Research Laboratory W911NF192021

Operational costs of A 13,000 solar home systems rural electrification programme

This paper presents an assessment and evaluation of the costs of operation and maintenance (O&M) in a real PV rural electrification (PVRE) programme, with the aim of characterizing its costs structure. Based on the extracted data of the 5-years operational costs of a private operator, the programme has been analyzed to take out the most relevant costs involved in the O&M phase as well as the comparative appraisal between the 3 main activities: installation, O&M and management. Through this study we try to answer to the new challenge of decentralized rural electrification based on larger programmes (with tens of thousands of SHSs) and longer maintenance and operation periods (at least 10 years)