Circuit Structure and Control Method to Reduce Size and Harmonic Distortion of Interleaved Dual Buck Inverter

A new circuit structure and control method for a high power interleaved dual-buck inverter are proposed. The proposed inverter consists of six switches, four diodes and two inductors, uses a dual-buck structure to eliminate zero-cross distortion, and operates in an interleaved mode to reduce the current stress of switch. To reduce the total harmonic distortion at low output power, the inverter is controlled using discontinuous-current-mode control combined with continuous-current-mode control. The experimental inverter had a power-conversion efficiency of 98.5% at output power = 1300 W and 98.3% at output power = 2 kW, when the inverter was operated at an input voltage of 400 V-DC, output voltage of 220 V-AC/60 Hz, and switching frequency of 20 kHz. The total harmonic distortion was < 0.66%, which demonstrates that the inverter is suitable for high-power dc-ac power conversion.11Ysciescopu

Electron orbital valves made of multiply connected armchair carbon nanotubes with mirror-reflection symmetry: tight-binding study

Using the tight-binding method and the Landauer-B\"{u}ttiker conductance formalism, we demonstrate that a multiply connected armchair carbon nanotube with a mirror-reflection symmetry can sustain an electron current of the $\pi$-bonding orbital while suppress that of the $\pi$-antibonding orbital over a certain energy range. Accordingly, the system behaves like an electron orbital valve and may be used as a scanning tunneling microscope to probe pairing symmetry in d-wave superconductors or even orbital ordering in solids which is believed to occur in some transition-metal oxides.Comment: 4 figures, 12 page

EFFECTS OF TEMPERING AND PWHT ON MICROSTRUCTURES AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SA508 GR.4N STEEL

Presented in this study are the variations of microstructures and mechanical properties with tempering and Post-Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT) conditions for SA508 Gr.4N steel used as Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) material. The blocks of model alloy were austenitized at the conventional temperature of 880 °C, then tempered and post-weld heat treated at four different conditions. The hardness and yield strength decrease with increased tempering and PWHT temperatures, but impact toughness is significantly improved, especially in the specimens tempered at 630 °C. The sample tempered at 630 °C with PWHT at 610 °C shows optimum mechanical properties in hardness, strength, and toughness, excluding only the transition property in the low temperature region. The microstructural observation and quantitative analysis of carbide size distribution show that the variations of mechanical properties are caused by the under-tempering and carbide coarsening which occurred during the heat treatment process. The introduction of PWHT results in the deterioration of the ductile-brittle transition property by an increase of coarse carbides controlling cleavage initiation, especially in the tempered state at 630 °C

PAGaN I: Multi-Frequency Polarimetry of AGN Jets with KVN

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) with bright radio jets offer the opportunity to study the structure of and physical conditions in relativistic outflows. For such studies, multi-frequency polarimetric very long baseline interferometric (VLBI) observations are important as they directly probe particle densities, magnetic field geometries, and several other parameters. We present results from first-epoch data obtained by the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) within the frame of the Plasma Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (PAGaN) project. We observed seven radio-bright nearby AGN at frequencies of 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz in dual polarization mode. Our observations constrain apparent brightness temperatures of jet components and radio cores in our sample to $>10^{8.01}$ K and $>10^{9.86}$ K, respectively. Degrees of linear polarization $m_{L}$ are relatively low overall: less than 10%. This indicates suppression of polarization by strong turbulence in the jets. We found an exceptionally high degree of polarization in a jet component of BL Lac at 43 GHz, with $m_{L} \sim$ 40%. Assuming a transverse shock front propagating downstream along the jet, the shock front being almost parallel to the line of sight can explain the high degree of polarization.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables. To appear in JKAS (received 2015 July 27; accepted 2015 October 25). Note the PAGaN II companion paper by J. Oh et a

Highly efficient active optical interconnect incorporating a partially chlorinated ribbon POF in conjunction with a visible VCSEL

A low-loss 4-ch active optical interconnect (AOI) enabling passive alignment was proposed and built resorting to a transmitter (Tx) incorporating a red 680-nm VCSEL, which is linked to a receiver (Rx) module via a partially chlorinated ribbon POF. The POF was observed to exhibit an extremely low loss of similar to 0.24 dB/m at lambda = 680 nm, in comparison to similar to 1.29 dB/m at lambda = 850 nm, and a large numerical aperture of similar to 0.42. Both the Tx and Rx, which taps into a beam router based on collimated beam optics involving a pair of spherical lenses, were meant to be substantially alignment tolerant and compact. The achieved tolerance for the constructed modules was beyond 40 m in terms of the positioning of VCSEL and photodetector. The proposed AOI was completed by linking the Tx with the Rx via a 3-m long ribbon POF, incurring a transmission loss of as small as 3.2 dB. The AOI was practically assessed in terms of a high-speed data transmission over a wide range of temperatures and then exploited to convey full HD video signals. (C) 2014 Optical Society of Americ

PAGaN II: The Evolution of AGN Jets on Sub-Parsec Scales

We report first results from KVN and VERA Array (KaVA) VLBI observations obtained in the frame of our Plasma-physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (PAGaN) project. We observed eight selected AGN at 22 and 43 GHz in single polarization (LCP) between March 2014 and April 2015. Each source was observed for 6 to 8 hours per observing run to maximize the $uv$ coverage. We obtained a total of 15 deep high-resolution images permitting the identification of individual circular Gaussian jet components and three spectral index maps of BL Lac, 3C 111 and 3C 345 from simultaneous dual-frequency observations. The spectral index maps show trends in agreement with general expectations -- flat core and steep jets -- while the actual value of the spectral index for jets shows indications for a dependence on AGN type. We analyzed the kinematics of jet components of BL Lac and 3C 111, detecting superluminal proper motions with maximum apparent speeds of about $5c$. This constrains the lower limits of the intrinsic component velocities to $\sim0.98c$ and the upper limits of the angle between jet and line of sight to $\sim$20$\deg$. In agreement with global jet expansion, jet components show systematically larger diameters $d$ at larger core distances $r$, following the global relation $d\approx0.2r$, albeit within substantial scatter.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, 4 tables. To appear in JKAS (received 2015 August 31; accepted 2015 October 15). Note the PAGaN I companion paper by J.-Y. Kim et a

High-efficiency Bidirectional Buck-Boost Converter for Residential Energy Storage System

This paper proposes a bidirectional dc-dc converter for residential micro-grid applications. The proposed converter can operate over an input voltage range that overlaps the output voltage range. This converter uses two snubber capacitors to reduce the switch turn-off losses, a dc-blocking capacitor to reduce the input/output filter size, and a 1:1 transformer to reduce core loss. The windings of the transformer are connected in parallel and in reverse-coupled configuration to suppress magnetic flux swing in the core. Zero-voltage turn-on of the switch is achieved by operating the converter in discontinuous conduction mode. The experimental converter was designed to operate at a switching frequency of 40-210 kHz, an input voltage of 48 V, an output voltage of 36-60 V, and an output power of 50-500 W. The power conversion efficiency for boost conversion to 60 V was >= 98.3% in the entire power range. The efficiency for buck conversion to 36 V was >= 98.4% in the entire power range. The output voltage ripple at full load was <3.59 V-p.p for boost conversion (60 V) and 1.35 V-p.p for buck conversion (36 V) with the reduced input/output filter. The experimental results indicate that the proposed converter is well-suited to smart-grid energy storage systems that require high efficiency, small size, and overlapping input and output voltage ranges.11Ysciescopu