Conformal Mapping for the Efficient Solution of Poisson Problems with the Kansa-RBF Method

We consider the solution of Poisson Dirichlet problems in simply-connected irregular domains. These domains are conformally mapped onto the unit disk and the resulting Poisson Dirichlet problems are solved efficiently using a Kansa-radial basis function (RBF) method with a matrix decomposition algorithm (MDA). In a similar way, we treat Poisson Dirichlet and Poisson Dirichlet–Neumann problems in doubly-connected domains. These domains are mapped onto annular domains by a conformal mapping and the resulting Poisson Dirichlet and Poisson Dirichlet–Neumann problems are solved efficiently using a Kansa-RBF MDA. Several examples demonstrating the applicability of the proposed technique are presented.     

Increase in energy and land use by a bio-based chemical industry

About 80% of the chemical products are still based on crude oil. Bio-based materials will increasingly gain importance. As the fraction of oxygen is normally higher in biomass than in crude oil as well as in the derived conventional products, this implies a need to develop new synthesis pathways. Depending on the types of new synthesis pathways, the effects of a complete raw-material change on land and exergy use differ. Here, different synthesis pathways starting from glucose and plant oil to different kinds of end products are evaluated utilizing material and exergy balances. These evaluations are carried out under today's and future conditions and constraints, like yield, demand of organic chemicals and world population. The analysis in this paper shows that the land and energy use can be significantly reduced, if the products are adapted to the chemical structure of their bio-based feedstock.     

Modellbasierte Entscheidungsunterstützung in Produktions- und Dienstleistungsnetzwerken

In this paper, we sketch some of the challenges that should be addressed in future research efforts for model-based decision support in manufacturing and service networks. This includes integration issues, taking into account the autonomy of the decision-making entities in face of information asymmetry, the modeling of preferences of the decision-makers, efficiently determining robust solutions, i.e. solutions that are insensitive with respect to changes in the problem data, and a reduction of the time needed for model building and usage. The problem solution cycle includes problem analysis, the design of appropriate algorithms and their performance assessment. We are interested in a prototypical integration of the proposed methods within application systems, which can be followed up with field tests of the extended application systems. We argue that the described research agenda requires the interdisciplinary collaboration of business and information systems engineering researchers with colleagues from management science, computer science, and operations research. In addition, we present some exemplifying, illustrative examples of relevant research results.     

Ultranarrow Bandwidth Organic Photodiodes by Exchange Narrowing in Merocyanine H‐ and J‐Aggregate Excitonic Systems

Ultranarrowband organic photodiodes (OPDs) are demonstrated for thin film solid state materials composed of tightly packed dipolar merocyanine dyes. For these dyes the packing arrangement can be controlled by the bulkiness of the donor substituent, leading to either strong H‐ or strong J‐type exciton coupling in the interesting blue (H‐aggregate) and NIR (J‐aggregate) spectral ranges. Both bands are shown to arise from one single exciton band according to fluorescence measurements and are not just a mere consequence of different polymorphs within the same thin film. By fabrication of organic thin‐film transistors, these dyes are demonstrated to exhibit hole transport behavior in spin‐coated thin films. Moreover, when used as organic photodiodes in planar heterojunctions with C₆₀ fullerene, they show wavelength‐selective photocurrents in the solid state with maximum external quantum efficiencies of up to 11% and ultranarrow bandwidths down to 30 nm. Thereby, narrowing the linewidths of optoelectronic functional materials by exciton coupling provides a powerful approach to produce ultranarrowband organic photodiodes.     

Design and analysis of an aging‐aware energy management system for islanded grids using mixed‐integer quadratic programming

The rapid increase of renewable energy sources made coordinated control of the distributed and intermittent generation units a more demanded task. Matching demand and supply is particularly challenging in islanded microgrids. In this study, we have demonstrated a mixed‐integer quadratic programming (MIQP) method to achieve efficient use of sources within an islanded microgrid. A unique objective function involving fuel consumption of diesel generator, degradation in a lithium‐ion battery energy storage system, carbon emissions, load shifting, and curtailment of the renewable sources is constructed, and an optimal operating point is pursued using the MIQP approach. A systematic and extensive methodology for building the objective function is given in a sequential and explicit manner with an emphasis on a novel model‐based battery aging formulation. Performance of the designed system and a sensitivity analysis of resulting battery dispatch, diesel generator usage, and storage aging against a range of optimization parameters are presented by considering real‐world specifications of the Semakau Island, an island in the vicinity of Singapore.     

Optical study of twin‐tanked ICS solar heaters combined with asymmetrical CPC‐type reflectors

The distribution of solar irradiance on the absorbing surface of a typical integrated collector storage (ICS) system combined with reflector troughs is commonly studied by means of ray tracing techniques. A conceptually different alternative is offered by the method of the average number of reflections (ANR). In the present work, the latter is employed for the systematic optical study of realistic ICS models. In all cases, the solar devices consist of twin cylindrical storage tanks which are mounted on top of stationary asymmetrical CPC‐type reflectors. The emphasis of the current research is mainly placed on the evaluation of the ANR reliability for the calculation of the optical efficiency of the related twin‐tanked devices. Additionally, useful operational parameters, such as the optical performance of the proposed geometries, are also determined. The behavior of the tested ICS systems reveals that the optical efficiency may vary in the range of 0.75 to 0.91, exhibiting a strong dependence on the geometric parameters of the solar devices. The highest efficiency is achieved by the systems which combine large reflecting area and storage tanks in close proximity.     

Transactional execution of hierarchical reconfigurations in cyber-physical systems

Software and Systems Modeling - Cyber-physical systems reconfigure the structure of their software architecture, e.g., to avoid hazardous situations and to optimize operational conditions like...     

Research Platform: Decentralized Energy System for Sector Coupling

Industrial facilities usually need multiple energy subsystems, e.g., for heat, cold, and electric power supply. Normally, these energy subsystems are controlled locally and independent of each other. Coupling of the different subsystems can open up additional potential. Fraunhofer IISB has developed a demonstration and research platform for investigating the benefits of such sector coupling. A major precondition is to understand the energy flows in the system and establish an overall and flexible system control to realize the required algorithms for setting up an intelligent decentralized energy system. Major components of the overall system are various storages, which extend the degree of freedom for sector coupling and increase the effectiveness of the different subsystems.     

Modeling of the Twin-Roll Casting Process: Transition from Casting to Rolling

During twin-roll casting, an alloy melt is passing the gap between two counter-rotating rolls, where cooling and solidification leads to the continuous formation of a solid strand. In order to describe this process, a two-phase Eulerian–Eulerian volume-averaging model is presented that accounts for (1) transport and growth of spherical grains within a flowing melt, (2) the formation of a coherent solid network above a specific solid fraction and (3) the viscoplastic flow of the solid network with the interstitial melt during casting and compression. For the considered case of an inoculated Al–4wt%Cu alloy, the process conditions are chosen such that two relatively thick viscoplastic semi-solid shells meet between the rolls, and thus, the material is pressed together and squeezed against the casting direction. The squeezed out material consists of segregated melt and some solid that quickly disappears after melting. It is observed during this study that macrosegregation distributions are inherently connected to the mush deformation that is enforced during the hot rolling process.