A supercapacitor-based energy-storage system for elevators with soft commutated interface

Power variations and energy criteria have been the main motivations for developing regenerative drive converters for elevators. A better performing solution for power smoothing can be easily found by using a supercapacitor-based storage device, connected to the intermediary circuit of a variable-speed-drive system. In this paper, power and energy considerations are being accounted for in the design of the storage tank and regarding the maximum power demand from the feeding network. For the power-conversion circuit, which is necessary to compensate the voltage variations of the supercapacitors during charge and discharge, a high-efficiency converter, topology is proposed, which allows the bidirectional energy flow under soft-commutation conditions. Additionally it offers a good flexibility for the optimal sizing of the supercapacitor voltage level. The typical behavior of the special converter is given, together with an analysis of the advantages related to the specific application.     

Power quality compensation using universal power quality conditioning system

The aim of this letter is to present a universal power quality conditioning system (UPQS) named after a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), which is extended by adding a shunt active filter at the load side. Its main purpose is to compensate for supply voltage and load current imperfections, such as sags, swells, interruptions, imbalance, flicker, harmonics, reactive currents, and current unbalance. Converter and control analysis is presented together with results showing the UPQS modes of operation.     

A supercapacitor-based energy storage substation for voltage compensation in weak transportation networks

A supercapacitive-storage-based substation for the compensation of resistive voltage drops in transportation networks is proposed. It allows to feed as a current source in any voltage conditions of the line. The system has been designed as a compensation substation to be placed at weak points like end-of-line stations, instead of additional feeding substations. A dedicated power-electronic converter with an associated control system for the stabilization of the voltage level at the point of coupling in case of strong perturbations is proposed. Practical results are also presented, which have been recorded from a reduced size prototype.     

HA-1 and the SMCY-derived peptide FIDSYICQV (H-Y) are immunodominant minor histocompatibility antigens after bone marrow transplantation

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic bone marrow donors can be incompatible at different levels. Even HLA-identical pairs will be still incompatible for numerous minor histocompatibility antigens (mHag). Nevertheless, some incompatibilities are found to be associated with an increased risk of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), which could be related to the way the immune system recognizes these antigens. METHODS: We determined the specificity of cytotoxic T-cell clones isolated during acute GVHD or during bone marrow graft rejection in patients (n=14) transplanted with marrow from donors who were histoincompatible for different minor and/or major histocompatibility antigens. RESULTS: We found a clear hierarchy among the different types of histoincompatibilities. In three combinations mismatched for a class I allele, all 27 clones isolated during GVHD were specific for the incompatible HLA molecule. In the 11 class I-identical combinations, 14 different mHags were recognized. The mHag HA-1, known to have a significant impact on the development of GVHD, was recognized in the two HA-1-incompatible combinations. In one of these combinations, which was sex mismatched, all 56 clones analyzed were directed against HA-1, demonstrating the dominance of this mHag. In the four HA-1-compatible, sex-mismatched combinations, the anti-H-Y response was directed against one immunodominant epitope rather than against multiple Y-chromosome-encoded epitopes. All male specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (n=15) recognized the same high-performance liquid chromatography-purified peptide fraction presented by T2 cells. Moreover, all cytotoxic T lymphocytes tested (n=6) were specific for the SMCY-derived peptide FIDSYICQV, originally described as being the H-Y epitope recognized in the context of HLA-A*0201. CONCLUSIONS: Some histocompatibility antigens are recognized in an immunodominant fashion and will therefore be recognized in the majority of mismatched combinations. Only for such antigens, correlations between mismatches and the occurrence of GVHD or graft rejections will be found.     

Control of a hybrid asymmetric multilevel inverter for competitive medium-voltage industrial drives

In symmetric multilevel inverters, there is a tradeoff between the output quality and the reliability and efficiency of the converter. New asymmetric and hybrid solutions, using different voltages and devices in various parts of the inverter, promise significant improvements for medium-voltage industrial drives. This paper investigates such a hybrid asymmetric nine-level inverter. It consists of a three-phase three-level integrated gate-commutated thyristor inverter (main inverter), with a two-level insulated-gate bipolar transistor H-bridge (subinverter) in series with each phase. To keep the power part simple and the efficiency high, the subinverters have no feeding from the net and can only supply reactive power. This is a very interesting solution in terms of power quality, efficiency, reliability, and cost. But the nonsupplied intermediate-circuit capacitors form an unstable system. This paper proposes a control method to stabilize their voltages. Power balancing is guaranteed by varying the common-mode voltage, using an online nonlinear model-predictive controller. The controller predicts the system evolution as a function of the control inputs. A cost function of system and control quantities is iteratively minimized in real time, to find the optimal control to apply to the system. Simulations and measurements demonstrate stable behavior in steady state and during transients. Precharging of the nonsupplied capacitors is also an issue to consider. This paper proposes a startup method that charges them in parallel with the supplied ones, without any additional equipment. Measurements show its successful application in the proposed drive system.     

An Integrated Floating-Electrode Electric Microgenerator

Microfabricated electric generators, scavenging ambient mechanical energy, are potential power sources for autonomous systems. Described presently are the design, modeling, and implementation of a single-wafer floating-electrode electric microgenerator, integrating a micromechanical resonator and a number of electronic devices. Forming a plate of a variable capacitor, the resonator is responsible for converting mechanical vibration to electricity. A sense transistor and a diode bridge are integrated, respectively, for monitoring the "charging" of the floating electrode and for rectification. A lumped electromechanical model of the generator is developed and expressed in terms of a set of nonlinear coupled state equations that are numerically solved. For small-amplitude excitation, a circuit based on a set of linearized equations is developed. The generator is realized using a compatible combination of standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) "floating gate" process and a post-CMOS photoresist molded electroplating process. Adequate agreement between model predictions and measurement results was obtained     

Open loop and closed loop spectral frequency active filtering

This paper proposes two frequency based methods for parallel active filtering of current harmonics in utility grids. Active filter (AF) reference prediction and AF current control are the two key-points to obtain high performances. This paper deals with the AF reference prediction. The two proposed methods are based on the Fourier series and its implementation on DSP. They belong to two prediction structures: (1) the open-loop structure which predicts the reference currents from the load currents; and (2) the closed-loop structure which predicts the reference currents from the grid currents. Fourier series based methods are very flexible and have several interesting properties. These two methods have been successfully implemented and tested. The latter method cancels permanent errors and results in better performances. Both methods are very flexible     

Molecular characterization of HLA-C incompatibilities in HLA-ABDR-matched unrelated bone marrow donor-recipient pairs. Sequence of two new Cw alleles (Cw*02023 and Cw*0707) and recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes

While the influence of HLA-AB and -DRB1 matching on the outcome of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) with unrelated donors is clear, the evaluation of HLA-C has been hampered by its poor serological definition. Because the low resolution of standard HLA-C typing could explain the significant number of positive cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursor frequency (CTLpf) tests found among HLA-AB-subtype, DRB1/B3/B5-subtype matched patient/donor pairs, we have identified by sequencing the incompatibilities recognized by CD8+ CTL clones obtained from such positive CTLpf tests. In most cases the target molecules were HLA-C antigens that had escaped detection by serology (e.g. Cw*1601, 1502 or 0702). Direct recognition of HLA-C by a CTL clone was demonstrated by lysis of the HLA class I-negative 721.221 cell line transfected with Cw*1601 cDNA. Because of the functional importance of Cw polymorphism, a PCR-SSO oligotyping procedure was set up allowing the resolution of 29 Cw alleles. Oligotyping of a panel of 382 individuals (including 101 patients and their 272 potential unrelated donors, 5 related donors and 4 platelet donors) allowed to determine HLA-C and HLA A-B-Cw-DRB1 allelic frequencies, as well as a number of A-Cw, B-Cw, and DRB1-Cw associations. Two new HLA-Cw alleles (Cw*02023 and Cw*0707) were identified by DNA sequencing of PCR-amplified exon 2-intron 2-exon 3 amplicons. Furthermore, we determined the degree of HLA-C compatibility in 287 matched pairs that could be formed from 73 patients and their 184 potential unrelated donors compatible for HLA-AB by serology and for HLA-DRB1/ B3/B5 by oligotyping. Cw mismatches were identified in 42.1% of these pairs, and AB-subtype oligotyping showed that 30% of these Cw-incompatible pairs were also mismatched for A or B-locus subtype. The degree of HLA-C incompatibility was strongly influenced by the linkage with B alleles and by the ABDR haplotypes. Cw alleles linked with B*4403, B*5101, B18, and B62 haplotypes were frequently mismatched. Apparently high resolution DNA typing for HLA-AB does not result in full matching at locus C. Since HLA-C polymorphism is recognized by alloreactive CTLs, such incompatibilities might be as relevant as AB-subtype mismatches in clinical transplantation.     

Birefringence of Zn(x)Cd(1-x)S near the isotropic point

The birefringence of the mixed crystal Zn0.14Cd0.86S has been measured near its isotropic point and found to be highly dispersive. The region of strong dispersion shifts to shorter wavelengths than observed in pure CdS, and its magnitude near the isotropic point is larger. These results are highly significant for the development of narrowband dispersive birefringent filters in the blue-green region of the spectrum.