3,915 research outputs found
Does size matter? Statistical limits of paleomagnetic field reconstruction from small rock specimens
Recommended from our members
Flow measurement inside a zinc-nickel flow cell battery using FBG based sensor system
Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. A detailed knowledge of the internal flow distribution inside a zinc-nickel flow battery is of critical importance to ensure smooth flow of the electrolyte through the battery cell and better operation of the device. Information of this type can be used as a useful means of early detection of zinc deposition and dendrite formation inside the cell, negative factors which affect the flow and thus which can lead to internal short circuiting, this being a primary failure mode of these types of batteries. This deposition occurs at low pH levels when zinc reacts with the electrolyte to form solid zinc oxide hydroxides. Traditionally, manual inspection is conducted, but this is time consuming and costly, only providing what are often inaccurate results-overall it is an impractical solution especially with the wider use of batteries in the very near future. Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors integrated inside the flow cell offer the advantage of measuring flow changes at multiple locations using a single fibre and that then can be used as an indicator of the correlation between the internal flow distribution and the deposition characteristics. This work presents an initial study, where two networks of FBGs have been installed and used for flow change detection in an active zinc-nickel flow battery. Data have been obtained from the sensor networks and information of battery performance completed and summarized in this paper. The approach shows promising results and thus scope for the future research into the development of this type of sensor system
Recommended from our members
In-sewer field-evaluation of an optical fibre-based condition monitoring system
A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based monitoring system for continuous humidity and temperature measurement has been designed and evaluated experimentally in a sewer environment with high corrosion rates, humidity and the presence of gaseous hydrogen sulfide. The monitoring system has been designed specifically for field use, including packaging prepared for the harsh environment and the challenges of the operation. The system is battery powered and has hardware for controlling the interrogation equipment, power management, data logging and 4G connectivity. Results obtained show the long-term performance, over a 6-month period of non-stop monitoring of real-time data using the same probe. The data acquired was compared to the environmental data of temperature and precipitation for this period from the same location, which showed a good correlation between the expected and the measured data values. The data obtained point to the success of the optical fibre-based sensor system for monitoring in these harsh environments over long periods
Inverse Compton X-rays from Giant Radio Galaxies at z~1
We report XMM-Newton observations of three FR II radio galaxies at redshifts
between 0.85 and 1.34, which show extended diffuse X-ray emission within the
radio lobes, likely due to inverse-Compton up-scattering of the cosmic
microwave background. Under this assumption, through spectrum-fitting together
with archival VLA radio observations, we derive an independent estimate of the
magnetic field in the radio lobes of 3C 469.1 and compare it with the
equipartition value. We find concordance between these two estimates as long as
the turnover in the energy distribution of the particles occurs at a Lorentz
factor in excess of ~ 250. We determine the total energy in relativistic
particles in the radio emitting lobes of all three sources to range between
3e59 and 8e59 erg. The nuclei of these X-ray sources are heavily-absorbed
powerful AGN.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Rapidly variable Fe K line in NGC 4051
We present a detailed analysis on the variability of the Fe K emission line
in NGC 4051 using ASCA data. Through simple Gaussian line fits, we find not
only obvious Fe K line variability with no significant difference in the X-ray
continuum flux between two ASCA observations which were separated by 440
days, but also rapid variability of Fe K line on time scales s
within the second observation. During the second observation, the line is
strong (EW = 733 eV) and broad (
keV) when the source is brightest, and become weaker (EW = 165
eV) and narrower ( keV) whilst the source is weakest. The
equivalent width of Fe K line correlates positively with the continuum flux,
which shows an opposite trend with another Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG --6-30-15.Comment: 12 pages with 5 figures, to appear in ApJ Vol. 516, L6
Recommended from our members
Determination of the hydrodynamic performance of marine propellers using fibre Bragg gratings
Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. A critical aspect in the design of marine propellers is their hydrodynamic performance which, when evaluated experimentally, requires a number of parameters to be monitored at the same time, i.e.The thrust and torque a propeller generates as well as the propeller shaft and vessel speed. In this investigation, three of those parameters are measured using Fibre Bragg Grating-based sensors, thus allowing for computationally derived performance values to be verified. For that purpose, open water tests were carried out where an instrumented propeller shaft was installed into a research vessel and measurements taken, evaluated and the results compared favorably with advanced computer-based simulations
ASCA observations of the nearby galaxies Dwingeloo 1 and Maffei 1
We present ASCA observations of the nearby galaxies Dwingeloo 1 (Dw1) and
Maffei 1 (Mf1). X-ray sources are clearly detected within 3 arcminutes of the
optical nuclei of both galaxies. Despite the low Galactic latitude of these
fields (|b|<1\degmark) we conclude, on probability and spectral grounds, that
the detected sources are intrinsic to these galaxies rather than foreground or
background interlopers. The Dw1 source, designated Dw1-X1, is interpreted as
being either a hyper-luminous X-ray binary (with a 0.5--10\,keV luminosity of
more than 10^{39}\ergps) or an X-ray bright supernova. The Mf1 emission is
hard and extended, suggesting that it originates from a population of X-ray
binaries. Prompted by the Dw1-X1 results, we discuss the nature of
hyper-luminous X-ray binary systems. Such sources are commonly seen in nearby
galaxies with a frequency of approximately one per galaxy. We present a
possible connection between these luminous systems and Galactic superluminal
sources.Comment: 9 pages (4 ps figures included). Accepted for publication in MNRAS.
Higher quality reproductions of Figure 1 available upon reques
Iron K-alpha Fluorescent Line Profiles from Spiral Accretion Flows in AGNs
We present 6.4 keV iron K-alpha fluorescent line profiles predicted for a
relativistic black hole accretion disk in the presence of a spiral motion in
Kerr geometry, the work extended from an earlier literature motivated by recent
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. The velocity field of the spiral motion,
superposed on the background Keplerian flow, results in a complicated redshift
distribution in the accretion disk. An X-ray source attributed to a localized
flaring region on the black hole symmetry axis illuminates the iron in the
disk. The emissivity form becomes very steep because of the light bending
effect from the primary X-ray source to the disk. The predicted line profile is
calculated for various spiral waves, and we found, regardless of the source
height, that: (i) a multiple-peak along with a classical double-peak structure
generally appears, (ii) such a multiple-peak can be categorized into two types,
sharp sub-peaks and periodic spiky peaks, (iii) a tightly-packed spiral wave
tends to produce more spiky multiple peaks, whereas (iv) a spiral wave with a
larger amplitude seems to generate more sharp sub-peaks, (v) the effect seems
to be less significant when the spiral wave is centrally concentrated, (vi) the
line shape may show a drastic change (forming a double-peak, triple-peak or
multiple-peak feature) as the spiral wave rotates with the disk. Our results
emphasize that around a rapidly-rotating black hole an extremely redshifted
iron line profile with a noticeable spike-like feature can be realized in the
presence of the spiral wave. Future X-ray observations, from {\it Astro-E2} for
example, will have sufficient spectral resolution for testing our spiral wave
model which exhibits unique spike-like features.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, submitted to ApJ, will be presented at 204th
Meeting of AAS in Denve
The variable OVIII Warm Absorber in MCG-6-30-15
We present the results of a 4 day ASCA observation of the Seyfert galaxy
MCG-6-30-15, focussing on the nature of the X-ray absorption by the warm
absorber, characterizd by the K-edges of the intermediately ionized oxygen,
OVII and OVIII. We confirm that the column density of OVIII changes on a
timescale of ~s when the X-ray continuum flux decreases. The
significant anti-correlation of column density with continuum flux gives direct
evidence that the warm absorber is photoionized by the X-ray continuum. From
the timescale of the variation of the OVIII column density, we estimate that it
originates from gas within a radius of about 10^{17}\cm of the central
engine. In contrast, the depth of the OVII edge shows no response to the
continuum flux, which indicates that it originates in gas at larger radii. Our
results strongly suggest that there are two warm absorbing regions; one located
near or within the Broad Line Region, the other associated with the outer
molecular torus, scattering medium or Narrow Line Region.Comment: 8 pages (including figures) uuencoded gziped PS file. Submitted to
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa
A Cloudy/Xspec Interface
We discuss new functionality of the spectral simulation code CLOUDY which
allows the user to calculate grids with one or more initial parameters varied
and formats the predicted spectra in the standard FITS format. These files can
then be imported into the x-ray spectral analysis software XSPEC and used as
theoretical models for observations. We present and verify a test case.
Finally, we consider a few observations and discuss our results.Comment: 13 pages, 1 table, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
- âŠ