On modeling and real-time simulation of a robust adaptive controller applied to a multicellular power converter

Introduction. This paper describes the simulation and the robustness assessment of a DC-DC power converter designed to interface a dual-battery conversion system. The adopted converter is a Buck unidirectional and non-isolated converter, composed of three cells interconnected in parallel and operating in continuous conduction mode. Purpose. In order to address the growing challenges of high switching frequencies, a more stable, efficient, and fixed-frequency-operating power system is desired. Originality. Conventional sliding mode controller suffers from high-frequency oscillation caused by practical limitations of system components and switching frequency variation. So, we have explored a soft-switching technology to deal with interface problems and switching losses, and we developed a procedure to choose the high-pass filter parameters in a sliding mode-controlled multicell converter. Methods. We suggest that the sliding mode is controlled by hysteresis bands as the excesses of the band. This delay in state exchanges gives a signal to control the switching frequency of the converter, which, in turn, produces a controlled trajectory. We are seeking an adaptive current control solution to address this issue and adapt a variable-bandwidth of the hysteresis modulation to mitigate nonlinearity in conventional sliding mode control, which struggles to set the switching frequency. Chatter problems are therefore avoided. A boundary layer-based control scheme allows multicell converters to operate with a fixed-switching-frequency. Practical value. Simulation studies in the MATLAB / Simulink environment are performed to analyze system performance and assess its robustness and stability. Thus, our converter is more efficient and able to cope with parametric variation.Вступ. У статті описується моделювання та оцінка надійності силового перетворювача постійного струму, призначеного для взаємодії із системою перетворення з двома батареями. Прийнятий перетворювач є односпрямованим і неізольованим перетворювачем Бака, що складається з трьох паралельно з’єднаних між собою осередків, що працюють в режимі безперервної провідності. Мета. Для вирішення проблем, пов’язаних з високими частотами перемикання, потрібна більш стабільна, ефективна система живлення з фіксованою частотою. Оригінальність. Звичайний регулятор ковзного режиму страждає від високочастотних коливань, викликаних практичними обмеженнями компонентів системи та зміною частоти перемикання. Отже, ми дослідили технологію м’якого перемикання для вирішення проблем інтерфейсу та комутаційних втрат, а також розробили процедуру вибору параметрів фільтра верхніх частот у багатоосередковому перетворювачі зі ковзним режимом. Методи. Ми припускаємо, що ковзний режим управляється смугами гістерезису як надлишками смуги. Ця затримка обміну станами дає сигнал управління частотою перемикання перетворювача, який, своєю чергою, створює керовану траєкторію. Ми шукаємо рішення для адаптивного керування струмом, щоб вирішити цю проблему і адаптувати гістерезисну модуляцію зі змінною смугою пропускання для пом’якшення нелінійності у звичайному ковзному режимі керування, яке щосили намагається встановити частоту перемикання. Таким чином вдається уникнути проблем із деренчанням. Схема керування на основі прикордонного шару дозволяє перетворювачам з кількома осередками працювати з фіксованою частотою перемикання. Практична цінність. Імітаційне моделювання у середовищі MATLAB/Simulink виконується для аналізу продуктивності системи та оцінки її надійності та стабільності. Таким чином, наш перетворювач ефективніший і здатний справлятися зі зміною параметрів

ANALYSIS OF THE ENERGETIC AND EXERGETIC EFFICIENCY OF THE ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC DRYING PROCESS

International audienceDrying is an energy intensive unit operation encountered in many industrial sectors, especially in the food industry. Still over 85% of industrial dryers are convective type. Electrohydrodynamic convective drying (EHD drying) is a novel drying method used to enhance forced convection drying by using electrodes to create an electrostatic field and generate an electric wind. This latter may alter the boundary layer and enhance the heat and mass transfer. In this study, experiments were performed to analyze the drying kinetics during EHD and forced convection (FC) drying experiments. Transient energy and exergy efficiencies expressions were discussed, proposed and computed for each experiment. With airflow of 0.3 m/s in the case of EHD configurations, similar drying rates than FC at 1.0-2.0 m/s can be achieved. Moreover, it leaded to greater energy efficiency (x5) and it was confirmed, using exergy efficiency concept, that EHD better used energy than FC

Distal regulatory regions restrict the expression of cis-linked genes to the tapetal cells

AbstractThe oleosin glycine-rich protein genes Atgrp-6, Atgrp-7, and Atgrp-8 occur in clusters in the Arabidopsis genome and are expressed specifically in the tapetum cells. The cis-regulatory regions involved in the tissue-specific gene expression were investigated by fusing different segments of the gene cluster to the uidA reporter gene. Common distal regulatory regions were identified that coordinate expression of the sequential genes. At least two of these genes were regulated spatially by proximal and distal sequences. The cis-acting elements (122 bp upstream of the transcriptional start point) drive the uidA expression to floral tissues, whereas distal 5′ upstream regions restrict the gene activity to tapetal cells

Reversible dilated cardiomyopathy caused by hypothyroidism

The association between lack of thyroid hormones and cardiac dysfunction has been well described. We report two new cases of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), revealing a periphery hypothyroidism and for whom cardiac function significantly improved after L thyroxin substitutive treatment. Our cases highlight the necessity to perform thyroid function testing to investigate the etiology of non ischemic DCM

Selective Reflection Spectroscopy on the UV Third Resonance Line of Cs : Simultaneous Probing of a van der Waals Atom-Surface Interaction Sensitive to Far IR Couplings and of Interatomic Collisions

We report on the analysis of FM selective reflection experiments on the 6S1/2->8P3/2 transition of Cs at 388 nm, and on the measurement of the surface van der Waals interaction exerted by a sapphire interface on Cs(8P3/2). Various improvements in the systematic fitting of the experiments have permitted to supersede the major difficulty of a severe overlap of the hyperfine components, originating on the one hand in a relatively small natural structure, and on the other hand on a large pressure broadening imposed by the high atomic density needed for the observation of selective reflection on a weak transition. The strength of the van der Waals surface interaction is evaluated to be 73$\pm$10 kHz.$\mu$m3. An evaluation of the pressure shift of the transition is also provided as a by-product of the measurement. We finally discuss the significance of an apparent disagreement between the experimental measurement of the surface interaction, and the theoretical value calculated for an electromagnetic vacuum at a null temperature. The possible influence of the thermal excitation of the surface is evoked, because, the dominant contributions to the vW interaction for Cs(8P3/2) lie in the far infrared range.Comment: submitted to Laser Physics - issue in the memory of Herbert Walther

Exploring the van der Waals Atom-Surface attraction in the nanometric range

The van der Waals atom-surface attraction, scaling as C3 z-3 for z the atom-surface distance, is expected to be valid in the distance range 1-1000 nm, covering 8-10 orders of magnitudes in the interaction energy. A Cs vapour nanocell allows us to analyze the spectroscopic modifications induced by the atom-surface attraction on the 6P3/2->6D5/2 transition. The measured C3 value is found to be independent of the thickness in the explored range 40-130 nm, and is in agreement with an elementary theoretical prediction. We also discuss the specific interest of exploring short distances and large interaction energy.Comment: to appear in Europhysics Letter

The Genetic Potential of a Germplasm of Interspecific Crosses between Durum Wheats (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) and their Relatives (T. dicoccum Schübl. and T. polonicum L.) in Five Glutenin Loci

Wheat endosperm storage proteins are the major components of gluten. They play an important role in dough properties and in bread making quality in various wheat varieties. In the present study, the different alleles encoded at the 5 glutenin loci were identified from a set of 38 tetraploid wheat germplasm obtained from interspecific crosses between durum wheats (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum (Desf.) Husn.) and their relatives (T. dicoccum Schübl. and T. polonicum L.) using SDS-PAGE. At Glu-A1 and Glu-B1, encoding high molecular weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS), 2 and 4 alleles were observed, respectively. Low molecular weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) displayed similar polymorphism, as 3, 5 and 3 alleles were identified at loci Glu-A3, Glu-B3 and Glu-B2, respectively. One new allele was detected at Glu-B3 locus and appeared in nine accessions obtained from five crosses. This allele codes for five subunits (2 + 8 + 9 + 13 + 18), encoded by the Glu-B3b without subunit 16 plus subunits 2 and 18. A total of 38 patterns resulted from the genetic combination of the alleles encoding at the five glutenin loci. This led to a significantly higher Nei coefficient of genetic variation in Glu-1, Glu-3 and Glu-B2 loci (0.54). The germplasm analyzed exhibited allelic variation in HMW and LMW glutenin subunit composition and the variation differed from that of tetraploid wheats of other countries. The presence of high quality alleles in glutenin loci have led the accessions to be considered as an asset in breeding programs aimed for wheat quality