Design of a superconducting DC wind generator

Offshore wind energy has received a lot of interest as one important renewable energy source. One promising way to reduce the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of offshore wind energy is by developing large wind farms and turbines with large ratings. The average wind turbine size has reached 4.2 MW in 2015 and turbine sizes of 6-8 MW have already been seen in the wind market. Even larger turbine sizes are managing to pave their way from studies to market. The trend towards larger ratings and more offshore installations asks for innovations in power generation, which requires lower weight and cost, smaller size, higher efficiency and reliability. Due to the high current-carrying capability and no DC losses of the superconductors, superior power to weight/volume ratio with high efficiency of a superconducting generator can be achived. Moreover, direct current (DC) transmission has been put forward for the offshore wind farms mainly due to the overall economic benefit, as they are located far away from the land. Hence, this thesis introduces a DC generation and transmission scheme which consists of superconducting DC wind generators and superconducting DC cables as a possible technical solution. This enables a highly efficient and compact generator and in addition a new and also very efficient generator connection scheme at DC. The work presented in the thesis focuses on the feasibility study and design of a superconducting DC wind generator. In part, an optimisation method will be developed by taking superconducting tape length (cost), mass, volume, and efficiency into a simplified objective function. All necessary analytical equations will be derived to connect the electromagnetic design and mechanical design with properties of the superconducting tapes and iron materials. To increase the design accuracy, analytical equations to calculate flux density distribution in the superconducting DC generator will be verified by finite element analysis. Not only the active parts but also inactive structural materials will be included in the mass calculation. Based on the design method, the design of a 10 kW superconducting DC generator demonstrator will be described. The losses of the demonstrator and its commutation, torque and efficiency at different wind speeds will be addressed. As first steps towards the demonstrator, properties of key components, superconducting tapes, iron materials and a superconducting coil, will be tested and characterized. Moreover, a preliminary test of a superconducting coil at 77 K will be completed. In order to identify the potientials that a large scale superconducting DC wind generator could offer, a 10 MW superconducting DC generator will be designed and a comparison with conventional synchronous generators will be made. Additionally, this work will also discuss the savings of HTS tapes by optimizing outer rotor diameter, pole pair number, and superconducting coil height, which contribute to a more competitive alternative to conventional generators

Design of a superconducting DC wind generator

The trend towards larger power ratings of wind turbines asks for innovations in power generation, which requires lower weight and cost, smaller size, higher efficiency and reliability. Due to high current-carrying capability and no DC losses of superconductors, a superconducting wind generator can have a superior power to weight/volume ratio with high efficiency. The work in the book mainly focuses on the feasibility study and design of a superconducting DC wind generator

Research on the Mechanism of Entrepreneurship Education on College Students’ Entrepreneurial Willingness and Its Future Prediction

The strength of college students’ entrepreneurial willingness is a barometer for measuring the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. It is also an important avenue for college students to expand their employment opportunities and enhance the quality of their employment in the face of new employment trends. Comprehensive universities offer a wide range of disciplines and great professional specialization. It is of great significance to explore the diversity results in college students’ entrepreneurship education indicators. According to the data on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurship willingness in comprehensive universities in Jiangsu province, various factors such as subject characteristics, work experience, educational background, and family environment significantly impact college students’ willingness to become entrepreneurs. The implementation of entrepreneurship education, including the awakening of entrepreneurial consciousness, the cultivation of entrepreneurial abilities, and the improvement of entrepreneurial willingness, has a direct impact on college students’ willingness to start their own businesses

Comparative analysis of 17 complete chloroplast genomes reveals intraspecific variation and relationships among Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax populations

Pseudostellaria heterophylla (Miq.) Pax is a well-known medicinal and ecologically important plant. Effectively distinguishing its different genetic resources is essential for its breeding. Plant chloroplast genomes can provide much more information than traditional molecular markers and provide higher-resolution genetic analyses to distinguish closely related planting materials. Here, seventeen P. heterophylla samples from Anhui, Fujian, Guizhou, Hebei, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces were collected, and a genome skimming strategy was employed to obtain their chloroplast genomes. The P. heterophylla chloroplast genomes ranged from 149,356 bp to 149,592 bp in length, and a total of 111 unique genes were annotated, including 77 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. Codon usage analysis showed that leucine had the highest frequency, while UUU (encoding phenylalanine) and UGC (encoding cysteine) were identified as the most and least frequently used codons, respectively. A total of 75–84 SSRs, 16–21 short tandem repeats, and 27–32 long repeat structures were identified in these chloroplast genomes. Then, four primer pairs were revealed for identifying SSR polymorphisms. Palindromes are the dominant type, accounting for an average of 47.86% of all long repeat sequences. Gene orders were highly collinear, and IR regions were highly conserved. Genome alignment indicated that there were four intergenic regions (psaI-ycf4, ycf3-trnS, ndhC-trnV, and ndhI-ndhG) and three coding genes (ndhJ, ycf1, and rpl20) that were highly variable among different P. heterophylla samples. Moreover, 10 SNP/MNP sites with high polymorphism were selected for further study. Phylogenetic analysis showed that populations of Chinese were clustered into a monophyletic group, in which the non-flowering variety formed a separate subclade with high statistical support. In this study, the comparative analysis of complete chloroplast genomes revealed intraspecific variations in P. heterophylla and further supported the idea that chloroplast genomes could elucidate relatedness among closely related cultivation materials

The role of Th17 cells and regulatory T cells in Coxsackievirus B3-induced myocarditis

AbstractIL-17-producing (Th17) and regulatory T (Treg) cells have been well established in the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases. To assess whether Th17 and Treg were altered in acute virus-induced myocarditis (AVMC) mice, we assessed Th17/Treg functions on different levels in AVMC. It was shown that the expression of splenic Th17 cells and Th17-related cytokines (IL-17A, IL-21) markedly increased. Interestingly, the expression of splenic Treg cells and Treg-related cytokines (TGF-β, IL-10) also significantly increased. Using neutralization of IL-17 in the AVMC, we found that Treg cells roughly decreased compared with isotype control mice. However, T cells and perforin dramatically increased, followed by a marked reduction in CVB3 replication. The results suggested that Th17 cells possibly contributed to viral replication through the action of Treg cells in mediating T cells and perforin response in AVMC