Review of Non-Technical Losses Identification Techniques

Illegally consumption of electric power, termed as non-technical losses for the distribution companies is one of the dominant factors all over the world for many years. Although there are some conventional methods to identify these irregularities, such as physical inspection of meters at the consumer premises etc, but it requires large number of manpower and time; then also it does not seem to be adequate. Now a days there are various methods and algorithms have been developed that are proposed in different research papers, to detect non-technical losses. In this paper these methods are reviewed, their important features are highlighted and also the limitations are identified. Finally, the qualitative comparison of various non-technical losses identification algorithms is presented based on their performance, costs, data handling, quality control and execution times. It can be concluded that the graph-based classifier, Optimum-Path Forest algorithm that have both supervised and unsupervised variants, yields the most accurate result to detect non-technical losses

Support Vector Machine Approach for Non-Technical Losses Identification in Power Distribution Systems

Electricity consumer fraud is a problem faced by all power utilities. Finding efficient measurements for detecting fraudulent electricity consumption has been an active research area in recent years. In this paper,the approach towards nontechnical loss (NTL) detection in power utilities using an artificial intelligence based technique, Support Vector Machine (SVM), are presented. This approach provides a method of data mining, which involves feature extraction from past consumption data. This SVM based approach uses customer load profile information and additional attributes to expose abnormal behavior that is known to be highly correlated with NTL activities. Some key advantages of SVM in data clustering, among which is the easy way of using them to fit the data of a wide range of features are discussed here. Finally, some major weakness of using SVM in clustering for NTL identification are identified, which leads to motivate for the scope of Optimum-Path Forest, a new model of NTL identification

Enhanced coercivity and emergence of spin cluster glass state in 2D ferromagnetic material Fe3GeTe2

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials with high coercivity and high $T_\text{C}$ are desired for spintronics and memory storage applications. Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$ (F3GT) is one such 2D vdW ferromagnet with a reasonably high $T_\text{C}$, but with a very low coercive field, $H_\text{c}$ ($\lesssim$100~Oe). Some of the common techniques of enhancing $H_\text{c}$ are by introducing pinning centers, defects, stress, doping, etc. They involve the risk of undesirable alteration of other important magnetic properties. Here we propose a very easy, robust, and highly effective method of phase engineering by altering the sample growth conditions to greatly enhance the intrinsic coercivity (7-10 times) of the sample, without compromising its fundamental magnetic properties ($T_\text{C}\simeq$210K). The phase-engineered sample (F3GT-2) comprises of parent F3GT phase with a small percentage of randomly embedded clusters of a coplanar FeTe (FT) phase. The FT phase serves as both mosaic pinning centers between grains of F3GT above its antiferromagnetic transition temperature ($T_\text{C1}\sim$70~K) and also as anti-phase domains below $T_\text{C1}$. As a result, the grain boundary disorder and metastable nature are greatly augmented, leading to highly enhanced coercivity, cluster spin glass, and meta-magnetic behavior. The enhanced coercivity ($\simeq$1~kOe) makes F3GT-2 much more useful for memory storage applications and is likely to elucidate a new route to tune useful magnetic properties. Moreover, this method is much more convenient than hetero-structure and other cumbersome techniques.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

Improvement of both performance and stability of photovoltaic devices by in situ formation of a sulfur-based 2D perovskite

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with superior performance have been recognized as a potential candidate in photovoltaic technologies. However, the defects in active perovskite layer induce non-radiative recombination which restricts the performance and stability of the PSCs. The construction of thiophene-based 2D structure is one of the significant approaches for surface passivation of hybrid PSCs that may combine the benefits of the stability of 2D perovskite with the high performance of 3D perovskite. Here, a sulfur-rich spacer cation 2-thiopheneethylamine iodide (TEAI) is synthesized as a passivation agent for the construction of three-dimensional/two-dimensional (3D/2D) perovskite bilayer structure. TEAI-treated PSCs possess a much higher efficiency (20.06%) compared to the 3D perovskite (MAFAPbI3) devices (17.42%). Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and femtosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy are employed to investigate the effect of surface passivation on the charge carrier dynamics of the 3D perovskite. Additionally, the stability test of TEAI-treated perovskite devices reveals significant improvement in humid (RH ~ 56%) and thermal stability as the sulfur-based 2D (TEA)2PbI4 material self-assembles on the 3D surface making the perovskite surface hydrophobic. Our findings provide a reliable approach to improve device stability and performance successively, paving the way for industrialization of PSCs

A Review of Organic Farming for Sustainable Agriculture in Northern India

In the post independence period, the most important challenge in India has been to produce enough food for the growing population. Hence, high-yielding varieties are being used with infusion of irrigation water, fertilizers, or pesticides. This combination of high-yielding production technology has helped the country develop a food surplus as well as contributing to concerns of soil health, environmental pollution, pesticide toxicity, and sustainability of agricultural production. Scientists and policy planners are, therefore, reassessing agricultural practices which relied more on biological inputs rather than heavy usage of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Organic farming can provide quality food without adversely affecting the soil’s health and the environment; however, a concern is whether large-scale organic farming will produce enough food for India’s large population. Certified organic products including all varieties of food products including basmati rice, pulses, honey, tea, spices, coffee, oilseeds, fruits, cereals, herbal medicines, and their value-added products are produced in India. Non edible organic products include cotton, garments, cosmetics, functional food products, body care products, and similar products. The production of these organic crops and products is reviewed with regard to sustainable agriculture in northern India

Exploration of Charge Storage Behavior of Binder-Free EDL Capacitors in Aqueous Electrolytes

Charge storage in electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) is via the adsorption of electrolyte counterions in their positive and negative electrodes under an applied potential. This study investigates the EDLC-type charge storage in carbon nanotubes (CNT) electrodes in aqueous acidic (NaHSO4), basic (NaOH), and neutral (Na2SO4) electrolytes of similar cations but different anions as well as similar anions but different cations (Na2SO4 and Li2SO4) in a two-electrode Swagelok-type cell configuration. The physicochemical properties of ions, such as mobility/diffusion and solvation, are correlated with the charge storage parameters. The neutral electrolytes offer superior charge storage over the acidic and basic counterparts. Among the studied ions, SO42– and Li+ showed the most significant capacitance owing to their larger solvated ion size. The charge stored by the anions and cations follows the order SO42– > HSO4– > OH– and Li+ > Na+, respectively. Consequently, the CNT//Li2SO4//CNT cell displayed outstanding charge storage indicators (operating voltage ∼0–2 V, specific capacitance ∼122 F·g–1, specific energy ∼67 W h·kg–1, and specific power ∼541 W·kg–1 at 0.5 A·g–1) than the other cells, which could light a red light-emitting diode (2.1 V) for several minutes. Besides, the CNT//Li2SO4//CNT device showed exceptional rate performance with a capacitance retention of ∼95% at various current densities (0.5–2.5 A·g–1) after 6500 cycles. The insights from this work could be used to design safer electrochemical capacitors of high energy density and power density