Energy Recovery in Capacitive Deionization Technology

Capacitive deionization technique (CDI) represents an interesting alternative to compete with reverse osmosis by reducing energy consumption. It is based on creating an electric field between two electrodes to retain the salt ions on the electrode surface by electrostatic attraction; thus the CDI cell operates as a supercapacitor storing energy during the desalination process. Most of the CDI research is oriented to improving the electrode materials in order to increase the effective surface and ionic retention. However, if the CDI overall efficiency is to be improved, it is necessary to optimize the CDI cell geometry and the charge/discharge current used during the deionization process. A DC/DC converter is required to transfer the stored energy from one cell to another with the maximum possible efficiency during energy recovery, thus allowing the desalination process to continue. A detailed description of energy losses and the DC/DC converter used to recover part of the energy involved in the CDI process will provide the hints to optimize the efficiency of the CDI technique for water desalination. The proposed chapter presents an electric model to characterize the power losses in CDI cells and the power converter required for the energy recovery process

Real-Time Automatic Calculation of Euro Coins and Banknotes in a Cash Drawer

A very interesting and useful complement to classical cash-registers is presented in this paper, coming up with a real-time auto-counting solution for the money inside a cash drawer. The system allows knowing not only the total amount of money but also how many coins and banknotes there are of each value. The embedded solution developed has been intended to become a low-cost solution, allowing better control over the money and helping both owners and workers in the establishments. By using this system, new utilities including automatic final balancing, instant error handling when making operations, and the lack of certain types of banknotes or coins inside the drawer or the excess of some in a certain compartment, could be implemented. Coins-counting solution is based on their weight, and small individual scales made by load cells have been integrated in each coin compartment. With respect to the banknotes, an innovative alternative based on the electrical properties of capacitors is presented. Additionally, considering the relevance of interoperability in today’s systems, a Bluetooth module has been integrated into the system, allowing for data to be accessed remotely from any smartphone, tablet or computer within the range of the module. In this work, an Android application to both control and interact with the system has also been designed

Optimization of Energy Harvesting in CapMix Cells

Blue energy has revealed as an alternative to other widely used sources of renewable energy. This power source derived from the process of mixing sea and river water still remains to be fully developed. Research on the materials used to produce the cells that capture this energy is one of the topics that will definitely contribute to the development of this technology. And just as important, if not more, is the research related to the systems that must be used to extract the stored energy. This paper shows the influence of the porous carbon used to manufacture the cells and provides insight into the selection of the optimum current that must be used to extract the energy from the cell. These contributions are supported by both simulations and experimental results

Solar thermal power in Egypt

IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting (IAS) (2018, Portland, USA

Effectiveness of Ritonavir-Boosted Protease Inhibitor Monotherapy in Clinical Practice Even with Previous Virological Failures to Protease Inhibitor-Based Regimens.

Journal Article;BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Significant controversy still exists about ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy (mtPI/rtv) as a simplification strategy that is used up to now to treat patients that have not experienced previous virological failure (VF) while on protease inhibitor (PI) -based regimens. We have evaluated the effectiveness of two mtPI/rtv regimens in an actual clinical practice setting, including patients that had experienced previous VF with PI-based regimens. METHODS This retrospective study analyzed 1060 HIV-infected patients with undetectable viremia that were switched to lopinavir/ritonavir or darunavir/ritonavir monotherapy. In cases in which the patient had previously experienced VF while on a PI-based regimen, the lack of major HIV protease resistance mutations to lopinavir or darunavir, respectively, was mandatory. The primary endpoint of this study was the percentage of participants with virological suppression after 96 weeks according to intention-to-treat analysis (non-complete/missing = failure). RESULTS A total of 1060 patients were analyzed, including 205 with previous VF while on PI-based regimens, 90 of whom were on complex therapies due to extensive resistance. The rates of treatment effectiveness (intention-to-treat analysis) and virological efficacy (on-treatment analysis) at week 96 were 79.3% (CI95, 76.8-81.8) and 91.5% (CI95, 89.6-93.4), respectively. No relationships were found between VF and earlier VF while on PI-based regimens, the presence of major or minor protease resistance mutations, the previous time on viral suppression, CD4+ T-cell nadir, and HCV-coinfection. Genotypic resistance tests were available in 49 out of the 74 patients with VFs and only four patients presented new major protease resistance mutations. CONCLUSION Switching to mtPI/rtv achieves sustained virological control in most patients, even in those with previous VF on PI-based regimens as long as no major resistance mutations are present for the administered drug.Ye

Baseline patients’ characteristics.

<p>Baseline patients’ characteristics.</p

Percentages of detectable HIV-RNA determinations (red) according to virological behavior during the follow-up for ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy.

<p>Undetectable viremia (green).</p

Kaplan-Meier estimations of the efficacy as determined by on-treatment analysis applying different criteria for virological failure.

<p>Kaplan-Meier estimations of the efficacy as determined by on-treatment analysis applying different criteria for virological failure.</p