Engineering Commons^™

Footwear Antennas For Body Area Telemetry, Domenico Gaetano, Patrick Mcevoy, Max Ammann, Jacinta Browne, Louise Keating, Frances Horgan

Articles

Antennas designed to link footwear sensors within body centric networks are introduced with two small UWB antennas, one directional and another quasi-omnidirectional. The radiating characteristics are evaluated for three positions on a sample sports shoe using a detailed simulation model and measurements with a homogenous foot phantom. Antenna performance is assessed for resilience to close proximity loading by the footwear materials and the phantom foot.

Non-Negative Matrix Factorization Based Algorithms To Cluster Frequency Basis Functions For Monaural Sound Source Separation., Rajesh Jaiswal

Doctoral

Monophonic sound source separation (SSS) refers to a process that separates out audio signals produced from the individual sound sources in a given acoustic mixture, when the mixture signal is recorded using one microphone or is directly recorded onto one reproduction channel. Many audio applications such as pitch modification and automatic music transcription would benefit from the availability of segregated sound sources from the mixture of audio signals for further processing. Recently, Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) has found application in monaural audio source separation due to its ability to factorize audio spectrograms into additive part-based basis functions, where the parts …

Small-Scale Wind Turbines: An Appraisal, Tony Kealy

Conference Papers

This research seeks to evaluate the economic benefits to be gained by installing a small-scale wind turbine for a customer with a three-phase electrical supply requirement. The evidence for the claims made in this paper is obtained by using actual data obtained from the installed equipment over a three year period. The objective is to accurately appraise the financial investment using real data. There appears to be limited studies conducted into this type of research, possibly because the renewable energy sector is in the infancy stage in the host country, Ireland. There are some wind energy installations with financial appraisal …

Maximising Value Of Electrical Networks For Wave Energy Converter Arrays, Fergus Sharkey, Elva Bannon, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Articles

Currently there are the beginnings of a commercial wave energy industry and the ultimate ambition will be to deploy Wave Energy Converters (WECs) in arrays, or wave farms, in a similar fashion to offshore wind. These arrays will require electrical networks to collect and export the generated electrical power to shore and onto the electrical grid. For large scale wind farms the inter-array and export electrical networks can represent more than 20% of the project’s capital expenditure. Submarine power cables account for a large proportion of this cost. The same is expected to be the same for WEC arrays.

This …

Impacts On The Electrical System Economics From Critical Design Factors Of Wave Energy Converters And Arrays, Fergus Sharkey, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Conference papers

It is expected that ultimately, like offshore wind farms, electrical systems will make up to a quarter of the overall Capex of wave farms. This is a significant element of cost and consideration must be taken in the design of both individual wave energy converters (WECs) and arrays of WECs to ensure that these costs can be minimised. In a worst case scenario design decisions could increase the cost of the electrical system by several orders and ultimately make the technology uncompetitive.

This paper outlines the impacts on the cost of the electrical system arising from design factors of WECs …

Solar Photovoltaic Water Pumping For Multiple Use Systems (Mus) In Nepal, Fintan Mcloughlin, Aidan Duffy, Michael Conlon

Conference Papers

This paper investigates the performance of five solar photovoltaic (PV) Multiple Use Systems (MUS) used for water pumping. The solar MUS’s provide water for drinking, cleaning and micro-irrigation for some of the poorest communities in Nepal. In the absence of data logging, the performance of each system is investigated based on a series of rules of thumb to determine the predicted, expected and estimated demand and supply of water to small rural communities. The systems are compared based on their technical and economic performance and how this relates to local environmental, physical and socioeconomic characteristics at each location.

Single-Mode Tunable Laser Emission In The Single-Exciton Regime From Colloidal Nanocrystals, Christos Grivas, Chunyong Li, Peristera Andreakou, Pengfei Wang, Ming Ding, Gilberto Brambilla, Liberato Manna, Pavlos Lagoudakis

Articles

Whispering-gallery-mode resonators have been extensively used in conjunction with different materials for the development of a variety of photonic devices. Among the latter, hybrid structures, consisting of dielectric microspheres and colloidal core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals as gain media, have attracted interest for the development of microlasers and studies of cavity quantum electrodynamic effects. Here we demonstrate single-exciton, single-mode, spectrally tuned lasing from ensembles of optical antenna-designed, colloidal core/shell CdSe/CdS quantum rods deposited on silica microspheres. We obtain singleexciton emission by capitalizing on the band structure of the specific core/shell architecture that strongly localizes holes in the core, and the two-dimensional quantum …

Resource-Induced Voltage Flicker For Wave Energy Converters – Assessment Tools, Fergus Sharkey, Joe Macenri, Elva Bannon, Michael Conlon, Kevin Gaughan

Articles

For wave energy converters, the input resource has a typical period of 5–20 s depending on the site location and dominant seastates. Wave energy converters generally produce mechanical power twice per wave cycle and therefore depending on the storage available, the electrical power output has half the period of the input resource. These regular power changes induce a voltage change at the point of connection (POC) which is proportional to the amplitude of the power change and at the same frequency. Therefore the coupling of the input resource to the output power of a wave energy converter will cause voltage …

Grid Voltage Unbalance And The Integration Of Dfig’S, Joseph Kearney

Doctoral

Double-fed induction generators (DFIG’s) became the predominant generator installed for wind generation applications in the mid 1990’s. Issues pertaining to the operation and control of DFIG’s subsequently became apparent, particularly in weak areas of the grid network. Ironically weak areas of the grid tend to be where the average wind speed is high and the usual location of wind farms. One of the issues that emerged was the quality of the voltage in the network at the point of common coupling (PCC) with the DFIG’s. An important issue is the question of voltage unbalance at the PCC. As part of …

Advanced Circularly Polarised Microstrip Patch Antennas, Adam Z. Narbudowicz

Doctoral

The thesis describes outcomes of research on advanced circularly polarised antennas. The proposed designs are intended for integration into small mobile devices, therefore low profile and easy manufacturability are key parameters, along with good CP radiation properties. The designs were validated by simulation and measurement, and are also backed by theory and design guidelines. The primary focus is on the development of planar omnidirectional circularly polarised antennas, which are fabricated using multilayer PCB techniques and thus are lightweight and cost-efficient. Unlike in classical microstrip patch antenna designs, the groundplane of the proposed antenna was substantially reduced. This helps to achieve …

Comparative Study Of Artificial Lighting Systems With Different Fixtures Considering Daylight Availability, Leticia Niero Moraes, Anderson Claro

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

The use of daylight is indicated as a primary factor in energy savings of buildings, since it can reduce the use of electric lighting through control systems. However, the efficiency of systems is also associated with technical characteristics and performance of various elements. The positioning of fixtures, as well as its specifications can contribute for environmental comfort and energy conservation. Such concerns, however, are not part of the currently established practice of lighting design professionals. Considering this gap, this paper seeks to develop a study that addresses the integration of natural and electric light. The methodology is based on evaluating …

Helping To Explain Lighting Quality & Energy Efficiency To Non-Experts, Anna Whittaker, Julie Gore, Stuart Mucklejohn

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International lighting Conference

15 Ways To Save Energy, Iain Macrae

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Standards And Codes, Peter Raynham

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Rethinking Daylighting And Compliance, John Mardaljevic

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

In-Field Measurment Of Cylindrical Illuminance And The Impact Of Room Surface Reflectance On The Visual Environment, James Duff

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Light Environment In Japanese Office Buildings, Nozomu Yoshizawa, Etsuko Mochizuki,, Toshie Iwata

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference.

Energy And Cost Savings By Using Lighting Controls In Offices, Carmen Munoz Munoz, David Moreno, Paula Esquivias, Ignacio Acosta, Jaime Navarro

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Lighting Quality For All, Peter Boyce

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Looking At Art In A New Light, Emrah Baki Ulas, Mirjam Roos

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Innovations In Light, John Gorse, Mike Simpson

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Retrofit Electrochromic Glazing In An Open Plan Office: A Case Study, Ruth Kelly, Birgit Painter, John Mardaljevic, Katherine Irvine

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference, Dublin, 2013

CIBSE & SLL International Lighting Conference

Development Of Novel Fiber Optic Humidity Sensors And Their Derived Applications, Jinesh Mathew

Doctoral

The main focus of this thesis is on the design and development of novel fiber optic devices for relative humidity (RH) sensing with emphasis on high sensitivity, a wide humidity range, low temperature dependence, fast response time and good stability.
Novel RH sensors based on fiber bends are fabricated by coating the surface of the buffer stripped bent fiber with selected hygroscopic materials such as Polyethylene oxide or Agarose. It is shown that the Polyethylene oxide coated device has a high sensitivity in a narrow RH range while the Agarose coated fiber bend shows a linear RH sensitivity in a …

Characterising Domestic Electricity Demand For Customer Load Profile Segmentation, Fintan Mcloughlin

Doctoral

The aim of this research was to characterise domestic electricity patterns of use on a diurnal, intra-daily and seasonal basis as a function of customer characteristics. This was done in order to produce a library of representative electricity demand load profiles that are characteristic of how households consume electricity. In so doing, a household’s electricity demand can be completely characterised based solely on their individual customer characteristics.

A number of different approaches were investigated as to their ability to characterise domestic electricity use. A statistical regression approach was evaluated which had the advantage of identifying key dwelling, occupant and appliance …

Reversible Photoluminescence Quenchin Of Cdse/Zns Quantum Dots Embedded In Porous Glass By Ammonia Vapor, A. O. Orlova, Yu A. Gromova, V. G. Maslov, O. V. Andreeva, A. V. Baranov, A. V. Federov, A. V. Prudnikau, M. V. Artemyev, Kevin Berwick

Articles

The photoluminescence response of semiconductor CdSe/ZnS quantum dots embedded in a borosilicate porous glass matrix to exposure to ammonia vapor is investigated. Formation of surface complexes on the quantum dots results in quenching of the photoluminescence and a shortening of the luminescence decay time. The process is reversible, desorption of ammonia molecules from the quantum dot surface causes the photoluminescence to recover. The sensitivity of the quantum dot luminescence intensity and decay time to the interaction time and the reversibility of the photoluminescence changes makes the CdSe/ZnS quantum dot in porous glass system a candidate for use as an optical …

Reduction Of Circulating Current Flow In Parallel Operation Of Apf Based On Hysteresis Current Control, Shafiuzzaman K. Khadem, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Capacity enhancement and operation flexibility are two of the important limitations of the centralized Shunt Active Power Filter (APF_sh) unit. This can be overcome by multiple and parallel APF_sh units (in distributed mode) with a common DC link. In that case, a circulating current (CC) can flow. In the case of a hysteresis current controller based multiple APF_sh units in load sharing mode, this CC control is not yet achieved. One of the difficulties of this CC flow control or reduction is the variable switching frequency of the APF_sh units. In this paper, the model …

Community Microgrid Based On Micro-Wind Generation System, Lubna Mariam, Malabika Basu, Michael Conlon

Conference papers

Penetration of renewable energy sources (such as solar/wind) are being explored mostly as micro power generation (μGen) or mega power plant system. In recent years, emphasis has been given on Microgrid (μGrid) systems because of their few advantages over μGen systems in terms of power quality, stability, reliability, economics etc. But the commercial installation of the μGrid system is not yet progressing significantly. This paper presents the techno-economic aspects of μGen and μGrid systems towards the development of grid connected community based μGrid (C-μGrid) system. Emphasis has been given to identify the benefits of the μGrid over the μGen system. …

Economic Challenges And Optimisation Of Ocean Energy Electrical Systems, Fergus Sharkey

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Light Beam Convergence On The Stop-Bands Of A One-Dimensional Photonic Crystal, Vladimir A. Tolmachev, Kevin Berwick, Tatiana S. Perova

Articles

The influence of beam convergence on the photonic band-gaps, or stop-bands (SBs), of onedimensional photonic crystals (1D PCs) is investigated. The investigation is based on an analysis of the gap map obtained from reflection spectra, calculated by the transfer matrix method for various angles of light incidence, φ, The calculated data is compared with reflection spectra taken using Fourier Transform Infrared microspectroscopy. It was found that the introduction of the parameter, Δφ to account for the focused light beam, for angles up to 20°, has little effect on the first, or lowest SB and the SBs adjacent to it. However, …

A Study On The Power Quality Of Dg Integrated Building Energy System In Virtual Environment, Shafiuzzaman K. Khadem, Ruth Kerrigan, Malabika Basu, Biswajit Basu

Conference papers

In this paper, the electrical energy demand of a typical residential building has been extracted from a Virtual Environment (VE) simulation. The extracted energy demand is generated by input load demand and hourly operating information. Based on the electrical energy demand for a typical day, a building integrated photovoltaic (PV) system is then simulated in MATLAB to extract the current/voltage disturbance information into the network. Outcome of this simulation shows the voltage/current waveform along with the disturbances at different locations in the building. The city of Dublin, Ireland has been chosen as a geographical location and VE-Pro software has been …