Multiple-Objective Optimization for Solar Concentrator Layout

2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kung-Jeng Wang ◽  
Le Duc Dao

Abstract Solar energy is critical because it does not only sustain global environment but also produce ample power to use. This study addresses solar concentrator layout to maximize the profit for the firm manufacturing the concentrator, while helping an energy user receives as much sunlight as possible. We consider several key design factors of a solar concentrator layout, such as light transmission loss, to make the model more accurate. As for the economic scale of production, some key constraints are considered, such as concentrator thickness and the number of exits, where a sunbeam is delivered to an optical cable for energy transmission. To obtain a high brightness from a good solar concentrator for the user, the concentrator manufacturer requires to increase the complexity of concentrator layout, but suffers from the high manufacturing cost. In this study, we simultaneously address the issues of the optimal solar concentrator layout and trade-off of conflict objectives between the energy user and the concentrator manufacturer. This study proposes a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm for multiple-objective optimization solution. To summarize, the result from this study presents a promising solution both for the light efficiency to supply users and for the profit of the firm on delivering the solar concentrator layout.

Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Cobo ◽  
Francisco Simón

Sound absorbing materials are used in buildings to dissipate sound energy into heat using viscous and thermal processes. Sound absorbers increase the transmission loss of walls, decrease the reverberation time of rooms, and attenuate the noise generated by internal sound sources. Porous absorbers (fibrous, cellular, or granular) are the most used materials in noise control applications because of their high performance-to-cost ratio in the frequency band of interest. However, when cleaning conditions and health reasons are of concern, microperforated panel (MPP) absorbers may be the preferred choice. MPPs, consisting of many minute (sub-millimetric) holes in a panel, are tunable absorbers in a prescribed frequency band, whose main shortcomings are high manufacturing cost and limited absorption frequency band. Currently, the production cost of MPPs can be drastically reduced by means of modern techniques. The absorption frequency band can be considerably enlarged by designing multiple-layer MPPs (ML-MPPs). The aim of this article is to review the high potential of ML-MPPs as a modern, clean, and healthy alternative to porous materials for sound absorption.


Author(s):  
Pedro Cobo ◽  
Francisco Simón

Sound absorbing materials are used in building to dissipate sound energy into heat by viscous and thermal processes. Sound absorbers increase the transmission loss of walls, decrease the reverberation time of rooms and attenuate the noise generated by internal sound sources. Porous absorbers (fibrous, cellular or granular) are the most used materials in noise control applications, since their high performance-to-cost ratio in the frequency band of interest. However, when cleaning and health reasons are of concern, microperforated panel (MPP) absorbers can be preferred. MPPs, consisting of many minute (sub-millimetric) holes in a panel, are tunable absorbers in a prescribed frequency band, which main shortcomings are high manufacturing cost and limited absorption frequency band. Production cost of MPP can nowadays be drastically cut down by means of modern techniques. Absorption frequency band can be considerably enlarged by designing multiple-layer MPPs (ML-MPPs). The aim of this article is to review the high potential of ML-MPPs as a modern, clean and healthy alternative of porous materials for sound absorption.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 671
Author(s):  
Xiaoying Zhou ◽  
Feier Wang ◽  
Kuan Huang ◽  
Huichun Zhang ◽  
Jie Yu ◽  
...  

Predicting and allocating water resources have become important tasks in water resource management. System dynamics and optimal planning models are widely applied to solve individual problems, but are seldom combined in studies. In this work, we developed a framework involving a system dynamics-multiple objective optimization (SD-MOO) model, which integrated the functions of simulation, policy control, and water allocation, and applied it to a case study of water management in Jiaxing, China to demonstrate the modeling. The predicted results of the case study showed that water shortage would not occur at a high-inflow level during 2018–2035 but would appear at mid- and low-inflow levels in 2025 and 2022, respectively. After we made dynamic adjustments to water use efficiency, economic growth, population growth, and water resource utilization, the predicted water shortage rates decreased by approximately 69–70% at the mid- and low-inflow levels in 2025 and 2035 compared to the scenarios without any adjustment strategies. Water allocation schemes obtained from the “prediction + dynamic regulation + optimization” framework were competitive in terms of social, economic and environmental benefits and flexibly satisfied the water demands. The case study demonstrated that the SD-MOO model framework could be an effective tool in achieving sustainable water resource management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 168781402110349
Author(s):  
Huiqiang Guo ◽  
Mingzhe Li ◽  
Pengfei Sun ◽  
Changfeng Zhao ◽  
Wenjie Zuo ◽  
...  

Rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widespread in both the military and civilian applications. However, there are still some problems for the UAV design such as the long design period, high manufacturing cost, and difficulty in maintenance. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel design method to obtain a lightweight and maintainable UAV frame from configurable design to detailed design. First, configurable design is implemented to determine the initial design domain of the UAV frame. Second, topology optimization method based on inertia relief theory is used to transform the initial geometric model into the UAV frame structure. Third, process design is considered to improve the manufacturability and maintainability of the UAV frame. Finally, dynamic drop test is used to validate the crashworthiness of the UAV frame. Therefore, a lightweight UAV frame structure composed of thin-walled parts can be obtained and the design period can be greatly reduced via the proposed method.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyun Heo ◽  
Jae-Yun Han ◽  
Soohyun Kim ◽  
Seongmin Yuk ◽  
Chanyong Choi ◽  
...  

Abstract The vanadium redox flow battery is considered one of the most promising candidates for use in large-scale energy storage systems. However, its commercialization has been hindered due to the high manufacturing cost of the vanadium electrolyte, which is currently prepared using a costly electrolysis method with limited productivity. In this work, we present a simpler method for chemical production of impurity-free V3.5+ electrolyte by utilizing formic acid as a reducing agent and Pt/C as a catalyst. With the catalytic reduction of V4+ electrolyte, a high quality V3.5+ electrolyte was successfully produced and excellent cell performance was achieved. Based on the result, a prototype catalytic reactor employing Pt/C-decorated carbon felt was designed, and high-speed, continuous production of V3.5+ electrolyte in this manner was demonstrated with the reactor. This invention offers a simple but practical strategy to reduce the production cost of V3.5+ electrolyte while retaining quality that is adequate for high-performance operations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 104439
Author(s):  
Tram Nguyen ◽  
Toan Bui ◽  
Hamido Fujita ◽  
Tzung-Pei Hong ◽  
Ho Dac Loc ◽  
...  

Fresa implements a nature inspired plant propagation algorithm for the solution of single and multiple objective optimization problems. The method is population based and evolutionary. Treating the objective function as a black box, the implementation is able to solve problems exhibiting behaviour that is challenging for mathematical programming methods. Fresa is easily adapted to new problems which may benefit from bespoke representations of solutions by taking advantage of the dynamic typing and multiple dispatch capabilities of the Julia language. Further, the support for threads in Julia enables an efficient implementation on multi-core computers.


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