Mitigation of Voltage flicker and reduction in THD by using STATCOM

Voltage flicker is considered as one of the most severe power quality problems (especially in loads like electrical arc furnaces) and much attention has been paid to it lately. Due to the latest achievements in the semiconductors industry and consequently the emergence of the compensators based on voltage source converters, FACTS devices have been gradually noticed to be used for voltage flicker compensation. This paper covers the contrasting approaches; dealing with the voltage flicker mitigation in three stages and reduction in total harmonic distortion and assessing the related results in details. Initially, the voltage flicker mitigation, using FCTCR (Fixed Capacitor Thyristor Controlled Reactor), was simulated. Secondly, the compensation for the six-pulse as well as 12-pulse Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) has been performed. In this case, injection of harmonics into the system caused some problems which were later overcome by using 12-pulse assignment of SATCOM and RLC filter (three phase harmonic filter). The obtained results show that STATCOM is very efficient and effective for the flicker compensation as well as harmonic sprectrum. All the simulations have been performed on the MATLAB Software.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v3i1.195

On-Chip AHB Bus Trace Analyzer for Real Time Tracing With Lossless Data Compression

The advanced micro controller bus  Architecture (AMBA) is widely used as the on-chip bus in System-on-Chip(SoC) designs. The important aspect of a SoC is not only which components or blocks it houses, but also how they are interconnected. AMBA is a solution for the blocks to interface with each other. The objective of the AMBA specification is to be technology independent, minimize silicon infrastructure while supporting high performance and low power on-chip communication. The biggest challenge in SoC design is in validating and testing the system. The Advanced High-performance Bus (AHB) is a part of the Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA). Performance can be improved at high-frequency operation. Performance is independent of the mark-space ratio of the clock. No special considerations are required for automatic test insertion. Our aim in this project is to design the AHB- protocol with bus tracer. For real-time tracing, we should reduce the trace size as much as possible without reducing the original data. The experimental results show that trace compression ratio reduced by 96.32%. Finally this approach was designed successfully along with MODEL SIM and synthesis using Xilinx ISE. The SoC can be verified in field-programmable gate array

Automatic license plate recognition using pre-processing methods

In this paper, we present a method to automatically detect a vehiclersquos number by usingnbsp pre-processing techniques. We also include image enhancement techniques, edge detection methods, morphological methods including image filling and some techniques like image filling. This paper provides an advantage of effective detection of more number of vehicles compared to the detection using edge detection methods.nbs

Influence of lattice distortion on the Curie temperature and spin-phonon coupling in LaMn0.5_{0.5}Co0.5_{0.5}O3_{3}

Two distinct ferromagnetic phases of LaMn$_{0.5}$Co$_{0.5}$O$_{3}$ having monoclinic structure with distinct physical properties have been studied. The ferromagnetic ordering temperature $\textit{T}_{c}$ is found to be different for both the phases. The origin of such contrasting characteristics is assigned to the changes in the distance(s) and angle(s) between Mn - O - Co resulting from distortions observed from neutron diffraction studies. Investigations on the temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy provide evidence for such structural characteristics, which affects the exchange interaction. The difference in B-site ordering which is evident from the neutron diffraction is also responsible for the difference in $\textit{T}_{c}$. Raman scattering suggests the presence of spin-phonon coupling for both the phases around the $\textit{T}_{c}$. Electrical transport properties of both the phases have been investigated based on the lattice distortion.Comment: 9 figure

Taguchi Loss Function for Varus/Valgus Alignment in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Methods of designing equipment to improve quality have been developed by Taguchi. A key feature of these methods is the development of loss function, which quantifies the financial cost (loss) resulting from deviations from target dimensions. Total knee arthroplasties can fail due to prosthetic component malalignment. A Taguchi loss function for varus/valgus alignment of the prosthesis and revision rates was developed. Six studies were identified from a comprehensive literature search. Varus and extreme valgus alignments correlated with an increased percentage of prosthetic failure. A loss function of L( y) = $326.80y2 , where y was deviation from ideal varus/valgus angle, was determined. The expected loss function was EL=$326.80y¯2+s2 , where y¯ was the mean deviance from the ideal varus/valgus angle and s2 was the variance in varus/valgus angle. This loss function was used to estimate the cost savings of using computer-assisted surgical navigation in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The average savings of a navigated TKA versus a conventional TKA, based on the expected loss equation derived from the Taguchi loss function, was $2,304 per knee. The expected loss function derived here can serve as a tool for biomedical engineers seeking to use Taguchi quality engineering methods in designing orthopaedic devices

Alpha1-antitrypsin improves survival in murine abdominal sepsis model by decreasing inflammation and sequestration of free heme

BackgroundExcessive inflammation, hemolysis, and accumulation of labile heme play an essential role in the pathophysiology of multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) in sepsis. Alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT), an acute phase protein with heme binding capacity, is one of the essential modulators of host responses to inflammation. In this study, we evaluate the putative protective effect of AAT against MODS and mortality in a mouse model of polymicrobial abdominal sepsis.MethodsPolymicrobial abdominal sepsis was induced in C57BL/6N mice by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Immediately after CLP surgery, mice were treated intraperitoneally with three different forms of human AAT—plasma-derived native (nAAT), oxidized nAAT (oxAAT), or recombinant AAT (recAAT)—or were injected with vehicle. Sham-operated mice served as controls. Mouse survival, bacterial load, kidney and liver function, immune cell profiles, cytokines/chemokines, and free (labile) heme levels were assessed. In parallel, in vitro experiments were carried out with resident peritoneal macrophages (MPMΦ) and mouse peritoneal mesothelial cells (MPMC).ResultsAll AAT preparations used reduced mortality in septic mice. Treatment with AAT significantly reduced plasma lactate dehydrogenase and s-creatinine levels, vascular leakage, and systemic inflammation. Specifically, AAT reduced intraperitoneal accumulation of free heme, production of cytokines/chemokines, and neutrophil infiltration into the peritoneal cavity compared to septic mice not treated with AAT. In vitro experiments performed using MPMC and primary MPMΦ confirmed that AAT not only significantly decreases lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced pro-inflammatory cell activation but also prevents the enhancement of cellular responses to LPS by free heme. In addition, AAT inhibits cell death caused by free heme in vitro.ConclusionData from the septic CLP mouse model suggest that intraperitoneal AAT treatment alone is sufficient to improve sepsis-associated organ dysfunctions, preserve endothelial barrier function, and reduce mortality, likely by preventing hyper-inflammatory responses and by neutralizing free heme

Neutrino mixing matrices with relatively large θ13\theta_{13} and with texture one-zero

The recent T2K, MINOS and Double Chooz oscillation data hint a relatively large $\theta_{13}$, which can be accommodated by some general modification of the Tribimaximal/Bimaximal/Democratic mixing matrices. Using such matrices we analyze several Majorana mass matrices with texture one-zero and show whether they satisfy normal or inverted mass hierarchy and phenomenologically viable or not.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, minor modification in the text, version to appear in EPJ

Design of low power SRAM cells with increased read and write performance using Read - Write assist technique

The demand for enhancing the performance of reliable processors necessitates using dependable, energy-efficient, and high-speed memory. Multiple obstacles arise as a consequence of this enhancement at lower technological nodes. Process, voltage, and temperature fluctuation significantly influence several performance characteristics, making it a crucial concern in nanometer SRAM design. This study presents two novel SRAM designs that effectively decrease power consumption during read operations without compromising performance or stability. A 14T SRAM has been built with an architecture that enables single-ended write and differential read operations. In addition, a 13T SRAM has been developed using an architecture that incorporates a differential write and single-ended read operation with the assistance of a write-read circuit. The two suggested SRAM cells have been fabricated using the CMOS 45 nm technology. The provided study examines the impact of modifications in process parameters on several design metrics, including the proposed cell's read-write power and current. These metrics are then compared with those of a previously suggested SRAM cell. The read power consumption of the 14T SRAM cell is reduced by 20 %, 60.63 %, 34.73 % 53.68 %, when compared to CS6T, SS8T, SS10T, and SEW10T. For the proposed 13T SRAM, the read power consumption is reduced by 147.40 %, 230.43 %, 178.2 % 217.39 %, 30.4 % when compared to CS6T, SS8T,SS10T, SEW10T, SER11T. Also the proposed SRAM II has 106.52 % lower read power when compared with proposed 14T SRAM. Also the write power of the proposed 13T SRAM is at lower side when compared to others but at the sametime write power of proposed 14T suffers from higher power consumption. Therefore the proposed 13T SRAM has been considered for the further evaluation. The RSNM and WSNM show atleast 5 % improvement when compared to existing architectures