A Review on Expert System Applications in Power Plants

The control and monitoring of power generation plants is being complicated day by day, with the increase size and capacity of equipments involved in power generation process. This calls for the presence of experienced and well trained operators for decision making and management of various plant related activities. Scarcity of well trained and experienced plant operators is one of the major problems faced by modern power industry. Application of artificial intelligence techniques, especially expert systems whose main characteristics is to simulate expert plant operator’s actions is one of the actively researched areas in the field of plant automation. This paper presents an overview of various expert system applications in power generation plants. It points out technological advancement of expert system technology and its integration with various types of modern techniques such as fuzzy, neural network, machine vision and data acquisition systems. Expert system can significantly reduce the work load on plant operators and experts, and act as an expert for plant fault diagnosis and maintenance. Various other applications include data processing, alarm reduction, schedule optimisation, operator training and evaluation. The review point out that integration of modern techniques such as neural network, fuzzy, machine vision, data base, simulators etc. with conventional rule based methodologies have added greater dimensions to problem solving capabilities of an expert system.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i1.502

Optimum dose of nitrogen and potassium for ginger in Wynad, Kerala

Study on nutrient requirement of ginger in Wynad, Kerala showed the positive effect of higher, doses of Nand K on the yield. Among the 16 levels of Nand K, 3 combinations viz., 150 kg N, 50 kg K; 150 kg N, 100 kg K and 75 kg N, 150 kg K ha-1 were found to be significantly superior with respect to yield. Among the vegetative characters, plant height was found to be significantly influenced by nitrogen. The optimum dose of Nand K derived from the quadratic equation was 144 kg and 109 kg ha-1 respectively. &nbsp

Catalytic activity studies of some new transition metal complexes in the oxidation of ascorbic acid to dehydroascorbic acid

413-417Certain new Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of the Schiff bases derived from quinoxaline-2-carboxaldehyde have been screened for their catalytic activity towards the oxidation of ascorbic acid. Results of the screening studies indicate that among the various metal complexes synthesised, only the Cu(II) complexes are highly efficient catalysts towards oxidation of ascorbic acid although a few other complexes also exhibit slight activity. The kinetics of oxidation of ascorbic acid in the presence of Cu(II) complex of the Schiff base quinoxaline-2-carboxalidene-2-aminophenol have been studied in detail in methanol water mixtures. These studies indicate that the reaction is first order in catalyst and zero order in ascorbic acid. Added ligand retards the reaction. A suitable mechanism has been proposed to explain these results

Transforming distribution system into a sustainable isolatedmicrogrid considering contingency

Currently, the distribution system has been adapted to include a variety of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). Maximum benefits can be extracted from the distribution system with high penetration of DERs by transforming it into a sustainable, isolated microgrid. The key aspects to be addressed for this transformation are the determination of the slack bus and assurance of reliable supply to the prioritized loads even during contingency. This paper explores the possibilities of transforming the existing distribution system into a sustainable isolated net-work by determining the slack bus and the optimal locations and capacity of Distributed Generators (DGs) in the isolated network, taking into account the contingencies due to faults in the network. A combined sensitivity index is formulated to determine the most sensitive buses for DG placement. Further, the reliability based on the loss of load in the isolated system when a fault occurs is evaluated, and the modifications required in for reliability improvement are discussed. The supremacy of the transformed isolated network with distributed generators is comprehended by comparing the results from conventional IEEE 33-bus grid connected test system and modified IEEE 33-bus isolated test system having no interconnection with the main grid

Claisen rearrangement of allyl phenyl ether over zeolites beta, mordenite and Y

The Claisen rearrangement of allyl phenyl ether (APE) to o-allylphenol was investigated over zeolites beta (BEA), mordenite (MOR) and Y (FAU) with different Si/Al ratios. Over the zeolite catalysts, the allylphenol cyclized to produce 2,3-dihydro-2-methyl benzofuran. Larger catalyst loading, higher reaction temperatures and longer run duration favored the formation of the ring compound. Conversion was small over MOR and FAU although they possessed higher acidity (as measured by the temperature programmed desorption of ammonia) compared to BEA. Studies using BEA revealed that the nature of the solvent influenced the reaction rate. The order of reactivity in the solvents was, benzene > EDC (1,2-dichloroethane) > toluene > TCE (1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane) ≫ ACN (acetonitrile). The intermediate allylphenol reacted with the aromatic solvents to produce byproducts when benzene and toluene were used as solvents. A kinetic analysis assuming first order series and parallel reactions is presented