Search Results (257)

With a potentially increasing share of the electricity grid relying on wind to provide generating capacity and energy, there is an expanding global need for historically accurate, spatiotemporally continuous, high-resolution wind data. Conventional downscaling methods for generating these data based on numerical weather prediction have a high computational burden and require extensive tuning for historical accuracy. In this work, we present a novel deep learning-based spatiotemporal downscaling method using generative adversarial networks (GANs) for generating historically accurate high-resolution wind resource data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Reanalysis version 5 data (ERA5). In contrast to previous approaches, which used coarsened high-resolution data as low-resolution training data, we use true low-resolution simulation outputs. We show that by training a GAN model with ERA5 as the low-resolution input and Wind Integration National Dataset Toolkit (WTK) data as the high-resolution target, we achieved results comparable in historical accuracy and spatiotemporal variability to conventional dynamical downscaling. This GAN-based downscaling method additionally reduces computational costs over dynamical downscaling by two orders of magnitude. We applied this approach to downscale 30 km, hourly ERA5 data to 2 km, 5 min wind data for January 2000 through December 2023 at multiple hub heights over Ukraine, Moldova, and part of Romania. With WTK coverage limited to North America from 2007–2013, this is a significant spatiotemporal generalization. The geographic extent centered on Ukraine was motivated by stakeholders and energy-planning needs to rebuild the Ukrainian power grid in a decentralized manner. This 24-year data record is the first member of the super-resolution for renewable energy resource data with wind from the reanalysis data dataset (Sup3rWind). Full article

This paper presents a low-power data acquisition (DAQ) chip tailored for impulsive charge sensing, featuring a comparator-gated dynamic acquisition (CG-DAQ) architecture. A dynamic comparator triggers both the gain stage and a 12-bit successive-approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) through a shared timing path, enabling event-driven amplification and digitization. Programmable conversion gain ranging from 5 to 40 mV/pC is achieved by switching the sampling capacitance. Fabricated in TSMC 65 nm CMOS, the chip detects input charges from 0.01 to 36 pC, supports a signal bandwidth of 10 kHz to 100 kHz, and enables sampling rates up to 1 MS/s. It achieves an input-referred noise of 5.5 fC_rms and a peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 67 dB, all within a 54 μW power envelope and a compact 0.03 mm² core area. The proposed architecture facilitates accurate and energy-efficient charge-domain sensing for capacitive and piezoelectric sensor applications. Full article

Memristive elements, known as memristors, memcapacitors and meminductors, have become an important topic of research in the electronics world in recent years. As there is still no efficient way to manufacture two-terminal memristive elements, many researchers have focused their efforts on designing emulator circuits that mimic these devices. In this study, a memcapacitor emulator circuit using Current Derivative Buffered Amplifier (CDBA) is proposed, which has significant advantages such as wide dynamic range, differential structure at the input port, high sloping rate and wide bandwidth. The main advantages of the emulator are that it is floating without grounding constraint, it is electronically adjustable, it has charge-controlled incremental and decremental modes and it has a simpler circuit structure since it does not contain a memristor. To ensure the integrity of the circuit theory, the results of the mathematical model and the simulation of the memcapacitor are given together. In addition, the characteristics of the experimentally investigated memcapacitor emulator are in good agreement with the simulation results. To provide an illustration of the performance of the proposed emulator, firstly the second-order active low-pass filter circuit and subsequently the amoeba learning circuit are selected as the working environment. The results show that the filtering performance of the proposed emulator at a value after the cut-off frequency in the filter circuit is $25\%$ more efficient than a standard capacitor and in terms of power consumption, it consumes $27.93\%$ less power than a standard capacitor. Moreover, the emulator successfully accomplishes the learning and data storage tasks in the amoeba learning circuit. Full article

Icing on transmission lines in cold regions can cause asymmetry in the conductor cross-section. This asymmetry can lead to low-frequency, large-amplitude oscillations, posing a serious threat to the stability and safety of power transmission systems. In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of crescent-shaped and sector-shaped iced eight-bundled conductors were systematically investigated over an angle of attack range from 0° to 180°. A combined approach involving wind tunnel tests and high-precision computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations was adopted. In the wind tunnel tests, static aerodynamic coefficients and dynamic time series data were obtained using a high-precision aerodynamic balance and a turbulence grid. In the CFD simulations, transient flow structures and vortex shedding mechanisms were analyzed based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) equations with the SST k-ω turbulence model. A comprehensive comparison between the two ice accretion geometries was conducted. The results revealed distinct aerodynamic instability mechanisms and frequency-domain characteristics. The analysis was supported by Fourier’s fourth-order harmonic decomposition and energy spectrum analysis. It was found that crescent-shaped ice, due to its streamlined leading edge, induced a dominant single vortex shedding. In this case, the first-order harmonic accounted for 67.7% of the total energy. In contrast, the prismatic shape of sector-shaped ice caused migration of the separation point and introduced broadband energy input. Stability thresholds were determined using the Den Hartog criterion. Sector-shaped iced conductors exhibited significant negative aerodynamic damping under ten distinct operating conditions. Compared to the crescent-shaped case, the instability risk range increased by 60%. The strong agreement between simulation and experimental results validated the reliability of the numerical approach. This study establishes a multiscale analytical framework for understanding galloping mechanisms of iced conductors. It also identifies early warning indicators in the frequency domain and provides essential guidance for the design of more effective anti-galloping control strategies in resilient power transmission systems. Full article

This paper proposes a dual-mode CMOS analog front-end (AFE) circuit for short-wave infrared (SWIR) image sensors, which integrates a hybrid readout circuit (ROIC) and a 12-bit two-step single-slope analog-to-digital converter (TS-SS ADC). The ROIC dynamically switches between buffered-direct-injection (BDI) and direct-injection (DI) modes, thus balancing injection efficiency against power consumption. While the DI structure offers simplicity and low power, it suffers from unstable biasing and reduced injection efficiency under high background currents. Conversely, the BDI structure enhances injection efficiency and bias stability via an input buffer but incurs higher power consumption. To address this trade-off, a dual-mode injection architecture with mode-switching transistors is implemented. Mode selection is executed in-pixel via a low-leakage transmission gate and coordinated by the column timing controller, enabling low-current pixels to operate in low-noise BDI mode, whereas high-current pixels revert to the low-power DI mode. The TS-SS ADC employs a four-terminal comparator and dynamic reference voltage compensation to mitigate charge leakage and offset, which improves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and linearity. The prototype occupies 2.1 mm × 2.88 mm in a 0.18 µm CMOS process and serves a 64 × 64 array. The AFE achieves a dynamic range of 75.58 dB, noise of 249.42 μV, and 81.04 mW power consumption. Full article

This research introduces an enhanced fault detection approach, variational mode decomposition (VMD), for identifying open-circuit IGBT faults in the grid-side converter (GSC) of a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbine system. VMD has many advantages over other decomposition methods, notably for non-stationary signals and noise. VMD’s robustness stems from its ability to decompose a signal into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) with well-defined centre frequencies and bandwidths. The proposed methodology integrates VMD with a hybrid convolutional neural network–long short-term memory (CNN-LSTM) architecture to efficiently extract and learn distinctive temporal and spectral properties from three-phase current sources. Ten operational scenarios with a wind speed range of 5–16 m/s were simulated using a comprehensive MATLAB/Simulink version R2022b model, including one healthy condition and nine unique IGBT failure conditions. The obtained current signals were decomposed via VMD to extract essential frequency components, which were normalised and utilised as input sequences for deep learning models. A comparative comparison of CNN-LSTM and CNN-only classifiers revealed that the CNN-LSTM model attained the greatest classification accuracy of 88.00%, exhibiting enhanced precision and resilience in noisy and dynamic environments. These findings emphasise the efficiency of integrating advanced signal decomposition with deep sequential learning for real-time, high-precision fault identification in wind turbine power electronic converters. Full article

This paper aims to maximize the performance of photovoltaic generators under varying atmospheric conditions by employing an improved variable-step current perturbation Perturb and Observe (IVSCP-PO) MPPT controller. The proposed approach overcomes the limitations of traditional controllers and significantly enhances tracking efficiency. The IVSCP-PO controller locates the maximum power point (MPP) using current perturbation instead of voltage perturbation and employs a variable step iteration based on input variables such as power, voltage, and current for better adjustment of the boost converter’s duty ratio. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate the tracking effectiveness of the IVSCP-PO approach under varied and severe temperature and solar intensity conditions. The results indicate that the IVSCP-PO controller outperforms traditional and recently published methods by avoiding drift and oscillation and minimizing power loss. This translates to maximized static and dynamic tracking efficiencies, reaching 99.99% and 99.98%, respectively. Additionally, the IVSCP-PO controller boasts a record-breaking average tracking time of just 0.002 s, a substantial improvement over traditional and improved PO methods ranging from 0.036 to 0.6 s. To further validate these results, experiments were conducted using the dSPACE 1104 board, demonstrating the superior accuracy and effectiveness of the approach and providing a promising solution to optimize the performance of photovoltaic panels. Full article

Based on the GSMC 180 nm SiGe BiCMOS process, a parallel-summation logarithmic amplifier is presented in this paper. The logarithmic amplifier adopts a cascaded structure of nine-stage fully-differential limiting amplifiers (LA) to achieve high dynamic range. The ten-stage rectifier completes the conversion of amplified voltage to a logarithmic current signal. A log slope adjuster is proposed. It can provide slopes of 17–30 mV/dB by configuring an off-chip resistor to meet the detection requirements of different input power. Meanwhile, a power-down control unit is designed to reduce the power consumption to only 162 μW in standby mode. The post-simulation results show that under 5 V power supply voltage, the dynamic range exceeds 80 dB and the 3 dB bandwidth is 20 MHz–4 GHz. It also has a fast response time of 42 ns with a power consumption of 109 mW in normal operation mode. Full article

The four-switch buck–boost (FSBB) converter, which possesses both step-up and step-down capabilities, is highly suitable for applications where input and output voltages have overlapping ranges. Correspondingly, the current shaping control (CSC) strategy is investigated for the FSBB converter, which shapes a quadrilateral inductor current waveform featuring the minimum RMS value to improve efficiency and power density. However, the small-signal model for the CSC algorithm has not yet been established, and the traditional and common modeling method requires considering multiple duty cycles and phase shifts of the FSBB converter, whose calculation is complex and inconvenient to use. For the special case of the CSC strategy using cycle-by-cycle current detection, an additional constraint of the averaged volt-second on the inductor can be regarded as zero, making the inductor current no longer a variable of the state-space, which eliminates the pole generated by the inductor and reduces the order of the small-signal model. Thus, this paper greatly simplifies the computation and design of the compensator by using the constraint condition mentioned above. This one-pole first-order model is simplified, maintains enough accuracy in the low-frequency domain, and can be corrected using only a simple PI controller. Finally, a prototype of the 300 W FSBB converter under the digital CSC algorithm was built to validate the precision and dynamic performance of the proposed first-order small-signal model. Full article

This paper presents a CMOS-based optoelectronic receiver integrated circuit (CORIC) realized in a standard 180 nm CMOS technology for the applications of short-distance optical interconnects. The CORIC comprises a spatially modulated P⁺/N-well on-chip avalanche photodiode (P⁺/NW APD) for optical-to-electrical conversion, a dummy APD at the differential input for enhanced common-mode noise rejection, a cross-coupled differential transimpedance amplifier (CCD-TIA) for current-to-voltage conversion, a 3-bit continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) for adaptive equalization by using NMOS registers, and a $f_T$-doubler output buffer (OB). The CTLE and $f_T$-doubler OB combination not only compensates the frequency-dependent signal loss, but also provides symmetric differential output signals. Post-layout simulations of the proposed CORIC reveal a transimpedance gain of 53.2 dBΩ, a bandwidth of 4.83 GHz even with a 490 fF parasitic capacitance from the on-chip P⁺/NW APD, a dynamic range of 60 dB that handles the input photocurrents from 1 μA_pp to 1 mA_pp, and a DC power consumption of 33.7 mW from a 1.8 V supply. The CORIC chip core occupies an area of 260 × 101 μm². Full article

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) requires tools that improve and facilitate simulating and predicting the system’s output energy. The efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) system can be determined by the performance ratio (PR), which relates the actual system’s output energy to the theoretical output according to the installed power and the solar irradiation, thus accounting for the power losses the PV system undergoes. Among the different parameters affecting PR, module temperature and the angle of incidence of irradiance are the most dependent on the BIPV application due to the varied module positioning. This paper assesses the suitability of several BIPV temperature models and determines the angular losses for any possible module positioning. The proposed methodology is easy to replicate and results in polar heatmap graphs to estimate PR at the desired location as a function of the tilt and azimuth angles of the modules. The calculations require irradiance, ambient temperature, and wind speed data, which can easily be obtained worldwide. Dynamic sky conditions are addressed through filters that smooth out quickly changing input data to avoid high and low peaks. The developed graphs are helpful in the decision-making process for BIPV designs by allowing the designer to estimate the expected PR of the BIPV system for any possible position of the modules on the building envelope, reducing the effect of uncertainties and resulting in more accurate and better predictions of the system’s output energy. The method applied to a BIPV façade in Madrid showed a deviation of less than 3% between the estimated and monitored PRs; the PR values ranged between 0.74 and 0.82, depending on the BIPV application and module position. Full article

To elucidate the compositional characteristics and sources of heavy metals in aerosols at China’s Great Wall Station in Antarctica, high-volume aerosol sampling was conducted from 4 January to 26 December 2022, on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. Ten heavy metals (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) in total suspended particulates (TSPs) were quantified via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Enrichment factor (EF) analysis, correlation metrics, and backward trajectory clustering were integrated to identify potential sources. The results revealed pronounced enrichment (EF > 10) for Cr, As, Zn, Cd, and Pb, indicating dominant non-crustal contributions. Source apportionment identified three pathways: (1) long-range transported anthropogenic emissions, including Southern Hemisphere marine traffic (e.g., V and Ni from ship fuel combustion) and industrial pollutants from South America (Pb and Cd); (2) local anthropogenic sources, primarily diesel generators and tourism-related gasoline combustion (Cu and Zn); and (3) crustal inputs via glacial melt and weathering (Fe and Mn). This study pioneers the quantification of direct anthropogenic impacts (e.g., power generation and tourism) on aerosol heavy metals in Antarctic research zones, offering critical insights into transboundary pollutant dynamics and regional mitigation strategies. Full article

With the growing demand for high-efficiency DC-DC converters with a wide input voltage range for wireless power transmission, four-switch boost converters (FSBBs) are attracting attention due to their low current stress and flexible mode switching characteristics. However, their complex operating modes and nonlinear dynamic characteristics lead to high switching losses and limited efficiency of the system under conventional control. In this paper, an optimization algorithm is combined with the multi-mode control of an FSBB converter for the first time, and a combined optimization and voltage closed-loop control strategy based on the Whale Migration Algorithm (WMA) is proposed. Under the four-mode operation conditions of the FSBB converter, the duty cycle and phase shift parameters of the switching devices are dynamically adjusted by optimizing the values to maximize the efficiency under different operation conditions, with the premise of achieving zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and the optimization objective of minimizing the inductor current as much as possible. Simulation results show that the proposed FSBB switching control strategy combined with the WMA algorithm improves the efficiency significantly over a wide voltage range (120–480 V) and under variable load conditions, and the transfer efficiency is improved by about 1.19% compared with that of the traditional three-mode control, and the maximum transfer efficiency is 99.34%, which verifies the validity and feasibility of the proposed strategy and provides a new approach to the high-efficiency control and application of FSBB converters. Full article

Beam-type structures used in aerospace applications may experience simultaneous broadband dynamic excitation and thermal loads. Design sensitivity, as a powerful tool for structural optimization and reliability analysis, is investigated in this work. The broadband dynamic response and its sensitivity to input parameters for a Euler–Bernoulli beam in a thermal environment are examined using an efficient wave-based method (WBM). First, the accuracy of the simulation for predicting the broadband dynamic response is validated. Then, the influence of thermal effects on the dynamic response is investigated. Further, the normalized sensitivities of the dynamic response with respect to thermal loads, material properties, and geometric parameters are studied. The simulation results highlight the critical role of thermally generated compressive forces in governing structural dynamics. The normalized sensitivities with respect to different input parameters can vary across the broadband frequency band. In the low-frequency ranges, the sensitivities with respect to thermal load, thermal expansion coefficient, the cross-section area, and moment of inertia are dominant. In the high-frequency ranges, the cross-section area, moment of inertia, elastic modulus, and density have major influence on the dynamic response. All the parameters investigated could significantly affect the mid-frequency dynamic response. Full article

This article proposes a high-efficiency isolated three-port resonant converter for DC microgrids, combining a dual active bridge (DAB)–LLC topology with hybrid Pulse Width Modulat-Pulse Frequency Modulation (PWM-PFM) phase shift control. Specifically, the integration of a dual active bridge and LLC resonant structure with interleaved buck/boost stages eliminates cascaded conversion losses. Energy flows bidirectionally between ports via zero-voltage switching, achieving a 97.2% efficiency across 150–300 V input ranges, which is a 15% improvement over conventional cascaded designs. Also, an improved PWM-PFM shift control scheme dynamically allocates power between ports without altering switching frequency. By decoupling power regulation and leveraging resonant tank optimization, this strategy reduces control complexity while maintaining a ±2.5% voltage ripple under 20% load transients. Additionally, a switch-controlled capacitor network and frequency tuning enable resonant parameter adjustment, achieving a 1:2 voltage gain range without auxiliary circuits. It reduces cost penalties compared to dual-transformer solutions, making the topology viable for heterogeneous DC microgrids. Based on a detailed theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed concept. Full article