Showing papers by "General Electric published in 2014"

Impedance-based analysis of grid-synchronization stability for three-phase paralleled converters

Abstract: Grid synchronization instability issues and low frequency oscillations between synchronous generators exist in electrical power system. This kind of stability issue happens between paralleled power converters is also reported. Analysis based on small-signal model of inverters with phase-locked loops (PLL) has been proposed. Different from that approach, which needs detailed inverter and controller parameters, this paper proposes an impedance-based analysis method to analyze the grid-synchronization stability issue in paralleled three-phase converter systems. The proposed method shows that the multivariable generalized inverse Nyquist stability criterion (GINC) can be used to predict the system stability based on the grid and inverter impedances in the synchronous d-q frame. Furthermore, the instability is found to be caused by qq channel impedance interaction. Experimental results verify the analysis and the proposed method.

The structural and functional signatures of proteins that undergo multiple events of post-translational modification.

Abstract: The structural, functional, and mechanistic characterization of several types of post-translational modifications (PTMs) is well-documented. PTMs, however, may interact or interfere with one another when regulating protein function. Yet, characterization of the structural and functional signatures of their crosstalk has been hindered by the scarcity of data. To this end, we developed a unified sequence-based predictor of 23 types of PTM sites that, we believe, is a useful tool in guiding biological experiments and data interpretation. We then used experimentally determined and predicted PTM sites to investigate two particular cases of potential PTM crosstalk in eukaryotes. First, we identified proteins statistically enriched in multiple types of PTM sites and found that they show preferences toward intrinsically disordered regions as well as functional roles in transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and developmental processes. Second, we observed that target sites modified by more than one type of PTM, referred to as shared PTM sites, show even stronger preferences toward disordered regions than their single-PTM counterparts; we explain this by the need for these regions to accommodate multiple partners. Finally, we investigated the influence of single and shared PTMs on differential regulation of protein–protein interactions. We provide evidence that molecular recognition features (MoRFs) show significant preferences for PTM sites, particularly shared PTM sites, implicating PTMs in the modulation of this specific type of macromolecular recognition. We conclude that intrinsic disorder is a strong structural prerequisite for complex PTM-based regulation, particularly in context-dependent protein–protein interactions related to transcriptional and developmental processes. Availability: http://www.modpred.org

Advanced High-Power-Density Interior Permanent Magnet Motor for Traction Applications

Abstract: Electric drive systems, which include electric machines and power electronics, are a key enabling technology for advanced vehicle propulsion systems that reduce the petroleum dependence of the ground transportation sector. To have significant effect, electric drive technologies must be economical in terms of cost, weight, and size while meeting performance and reliability expectations. This paper will provide details of the design, analysis, and testing of an advanced interior permanent magnet (PM) machine that was developed to meet the FreedomCAR 2020 specifications. The 12-slot/10-pole machine has segmented stator structure equipped with fractional-slot nonoverlapping concentrated windings. The rotor has a novel spoke structure/assembly. Several prototypes with different thermal management schemes have been built and tested. This paper will cover the test results for all these prototypes and highlight the tradeoffs between the various schemes. Due to the high machine frequency (~1.2 kHz at the top speed), detailed analysis of various loss components and ways to reduce them will be presented. In addition, due to the high coolant inlet temperature and the fact that the machine is designed to continuously operate at 180 °C, detailed PM demagnetization analysis will be presented. The key novelty in this paper is the advanced rotor structure and the thermal management schemes.

Methods and systems for enhancing control of power plant generating units

Abstract: A control method for optimizing an operation of a power plant having generating units during a selected operating period subdivided so to include regular intervals within which each of the generating units comprises one of an on-condition and an off-condition. The control method may include: determining a preferred case for each of the competing operating modes for the intervals; based upon the preferred cases, selecting proposed turndown operating sequences for the selected operating period; determining a shutdown operation for each of the generating units comprising the off-condition for one or more intervals during the selected operating period and, therefrom, calculating a shutdown economic outcome; determining a turndown operation for each of the generating units comprising the on-condition for one or more intervals during the selected operating period and, therefrom, calculating a turndown economic outcome; calculating a sequence economic outcome for each of the proposed turndown operating sequences; and comparing the sequence economic outcomes.

A Flexible Method for Multi-Material Decomposition of Dual-Energy CT Images

Abstract: The ability of dual-energy computed-tomographic (CT) systems to determine the concentration of constituent materials in a mixture, known as material decomposition, is the basis for many of dual-energy CT's clinical applications. However, the complex composition of tissues and organs in the human body poses a challenge for many material decomposition methods, which assume the presence of only two, or at most three, materials in the mixture. We developed a flexible, model-based method that extends dual-energy CT's core material decomposition capability to handle more complex situations, in which it is necessary to disambiguate among and quantify the concentration of a larger number of materials. The proposed method, named multi-material decomposition (MMD), was used to develop two image analysis algorithms. The first was virtual unenhancement (VUE), which digitally removes the effect of contrast agents from contrast-enhanced dual-energy CT exams. VUE has the ability to reduce patient dose and improve clinical workflow, and can be used in a number of clinical applications such as CT urography and CT angiography. The second algorithm developed was liver-fat quantification (LFQ), which accurately quantifies the fat concentration in the liver from dual-energy CT exams. LFQ can form the basis of a clinical application targeting the diagnosis and treatment of fatty liver disease. Using image data collected from a cohort consisting of 50 patients and from phantoms, the application of MMD to VUE and LFQ yielded quantitatively accurate results when compared against gold standards. Furthermore, consistent results were obtained across all phases of imaging (contrast-free and contrast-enhanced). This is of particular importance since most clinical protocols for abdominal imaging with CT call for multi-phase imaging. We conclude that MMD can successfully form the basis of a number of dual-energy CT image analysis algorithms, and has the potential to improve the clinical utility of dual-energy CT in disease management.

High-Temperature Capacitor Polymer Films

Abstract: Film capacitor technology has been under development for over half a century to meet various applications such as direct-current link capacitors for transportation, converters/inverters for power electronics, controls for deep well drilling of oil and gas, direct energy weapons for military use, and high-frequency coupling circuitry. The biaxially oriented polypropylene film capacitor remains the state-of-the-art technology; however, it is not able to meet increasing demand for high-temperature (>125°C) applications. A number of dielectric materials capable of operating at high temperatures (>140°C) have attracted investigation, and their modifications are being pursued to achieve higher volumetric efficiency as well. This paper highlights the status of polymer dielectric film development and its feasibility for capacitor applications. High-temperature polymers such as polyetherimide (PEI), polyimide, and polyetheretherketone were the focus of our studies. PEI film was found to be the preferred choice for high-temperature film capacitor development due to its thermal stability, dielectric properties, and scalability.

Street lighting communications, control, and special services

Abstract: A smart street lighting system and method employs a plurality of street lights having a luminaire, a luminaire associate and a support pole. A communications module is contained within the luminaire associates and a power line is contained within the support poles. The power line is coupled to the communications module, the luminaire associate and the luminaire, and a steerable millimeter wave radar operatively coupled to the communications module. The communications module operates in a radio frequency network in a frequency range of 57-64 GHz. The steerable millimeter wave radar provides a signal reflected from a target that may be received by one of the luminaire associates within the system. A powerline communications system interfaces with the radio frequency network to provide communications between the communications modules in the street lights and the PLC system.

Liquid fuel cells

Abstract: The advantages of liquid fuel cells (LFCs) over conventional hydrogen–oxygen fuel cells include a higher theoretical energy density and efficiency, a more convenient handling of the streams, and enhanced safety. This review focuses on the use of different types of organic fuels as an anode material for LFCs. An overview of the current state of the art and recent trends in the development of LFC and the challenges of their practical implementation are presented.

Bounds on the sample complexity for private learning and private data release

Abstract: Learning is a task that generalizes many of the analyses that are applied to collections of data, in particular, to collections of sensitive individual information. Hence, it is natural to ask what can be learned while preserving individual privacy. Kasiviswanathan et al. (in SIAM J. Comput., 40(3):793---826, 2011) initiated such a discussion. They formalized the notion of private learning, as a combination of PAC learning and differential privacy, and investigated what concept classes can be learned privately. Somewhat surprisingly, they showed that for finite, discrete domains (ignoring time complexity), every PAC learning task could be performed privately with polynomially many labeled examples; in many natural cases this could even be done in polynomial time. While these results seem to equate non-private and private learning, there is still a significant gap: the sample complexity of (non-private) PAC learning is crisply characterized in terms of the VC-dimension of the concept class, whereas this relationship is lost in the constructions of private learners, which exhibit, generally, a higher sample complexity. Looking into this gap, we examine several private learning tasks and give tight bounds on their sample complexity. In particular, we show strong separations between sample complexities of proper and improper private learners (such separation does not exist for non-private learners), and between sample complexities of efficient and inefficient proper private learners. Our results show that VC-dimension is not the right measure for characterizing the sample complexity of proper private learning. We also examine the task of private data release (as initiated by Blum et al. in STOC, pp. 609---618, 2008), and give new lower bounds on the sample complexity. Our results show that the logarithmic dependence on size of the instance space is essential for private data release.

On the 'Semantics' of Differential Privacy: A Bayesian Formulation

Abstract: Differential privacy is a definition of privacy for algorithms that analyze and publish information about statistical databases. It is often claimed that differential privacy provides guarantees against adversaries with arbitrary side information. In this paper, we provide a precise formulation of these guarantees in terms of the inferences drawn by a Bayesian adversary. We show that this formulation is satisfied by both epsilon-differential privacy as well as a relaxation known as (epsilon,delta)-differential privacy. Our formulation follows the ideas originally due to Dwork and McSherry. This paper is, to our knowledge, the first place such a formulation appears explicitly. The analysis of the relaxed definition is new to this paper, and provides some guidance for setting the delta parameter when using (epsilon,delta)-differential privacy.

Dynamic Modeling of Electric Springs

Abstract: The use of “Electric Springs” is a novel way of distributed voltage control while simultaneously achieving effective demand-side management through modulation of noncritical loads in response to the fluctuations in intermittent renewable energy sources (e.g., wind). The proof-of-concept has been successfully demonstrated on a simple 10-kVA test system hardware. However, to show the effectiveness of such electric springs when installed in large numbers across the power system, there is a need to develop simple and yet accurate simulation models for these electric springs which can be incorporated in large-scale power system simulation studies. This paper describes the dynamic simulation approach for electric springs which is appropriate for voltage and frequency control studies at the power system level. The proposed model is validated by comparing the simulation results against the experimental results. Close similarity between the simulation and experimental results gave us the confidence to use this electric spring model for investigating the effectiveness of their collective operation when distributed in large number across a power system. Effectiveness of an electric spring under unity and non-unity load power factors and different proportions of critical and noncritical loads is also demonstrated.

Compressible Direct Numerical Simulation of Low-Pressure Turbines—Part II: Effect of Inflow Disturbances

Abstract: In the present paper, direct numerical simulation (DNS) studies of the compressible flow in the T106 linear cascade have been carried out. Various environmental variables, i.e. background turbulence level, frequency of incoming wakes and Reynolds number, and a combination of these were considered for a total of 12 fully resolved simulations. The mechanisms dictating the observed flow phenomena, including the mixing and distortion of the incoming wakes, wake/boundary layer interaction, and boundary layer evolution impact on profile loss generation are studied systematically. A detailed loss generation analysis allows the identification of each source of loss in boundary layers and flow core. Particular attention is devoted to the concerted impact of wakes distortion mechanics and the intermittent nature of the unsteady boundary layer. Further, the present study examines the validity of the Boussinesq eddy viscosity assumption, which invokes a linear stress-strain relationship in commonly used RANS models. The errors originating from this assumption are scrutinized with both time and phase-locked averaged flow fields to possibly identify shortcomings of traditional RANS models.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

An Efficient Partial Power Processing DC/DC Converter for Distributed PV Architectures

Abstract: In this paper, a dc/dc power converter for distributed photovoltaic (PV) plant architectures is presented. The proposed converter has the advantages of simplicity, high efficiency, and low cost. High efficiency is achieved by having a portion of the input PV power directly fed forward to the output without being processed by the converter. The operation of this converter allows for a simplified maximum power point tracker design using fewer measurements. The stability analysis of the distributed PV system comprised of the proposed dc/dc converters confirms the stable operation even with a large number of deployed converters. The experimental results show a composite weighted efficiency of 98.22% with very high maximum power point tracking efficiency.

Emerging understanding of multiscale tumor heterogeneity.

Abstract: Cancer is a multifaceted disease characterized by heterogeneous genetic alterations and cellular metabolism, at the organ, tissue, and cellular level. Key features of cancer heterogeneity are summarized by ten acquired capabilities, which govern malignant transformation and progression of invasive tumors. The relative contribution of these hallmark features to the disease process varies between cancers. At the DNA and cellular level, germ-line and somatic gene mutations are found across all cancer types, causing abnormal protein production, cell behavior, and growth. The tumor microenvironment and its individual components (immune cells, fibroblasts, collagen, and blood vessels) can also facilitate or restrict tumor growth and metastasis. Oncology research is currently in the midst of a tremendous surge of comprehension of these disease mechanisms. This will lead not only to novel drug targets, but also to new challenges in drug discovery. Integrated, multi-omic, multiplexed technologies are essential tools in the quest to understand all of the various cellular changes involved in tumorigenesis. This review examines features of cancer heterogeneity and discusses how multiplexed technologies can facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of these features.

Data communication system and method

Abstract: A communication system includes a router transceiver unit and a bandwidth module. The router transceiver unit includes a network adapter module and a signal modulator module. The network adapter module is configured to receive high bandwidth network data from one or more data sources disposed on board a vehicle. The signal modulator module is configured for electrical connection to a wired connection, and to convert the high bandwidth network data into modulated network data in a form suitable for transmission over the wired connection. The bandwidth module is configured to allocate different portions of a data communication bandwidth of the wired connection to the modulated network data. The allocation is based on categories representing at least one of the one or more data sources or contents of the high bandwidth network data.

The disaccharide moiety of bleomycin facilitates uptake by cancer cells.

Abstract: The disaccharide moiety is responsible for the tumor cell targeting properties of bleomycin (BLM). While the aglycon (deglycobleomycin) mediates DNA cleavage in much the same fashion as bleomycin, it exhibits diminished cytotoxicity in comparison to BLM. These findings suggested that BLM might be modular in nature, composed of tumor-seeking and tumoricidal domains. To explore this possibility, BLM analogues were prepared in which the disaccharide moiety was attached to deglycobleomycin at novel positions, namely, via the threonine moiety or C-terminal substituent. The analogues were compared with BLM and deglycoBLM for DNA cleavage, cancer cell uptake, and cytotoxic activity. BLM is more potent than deglycoBLM in supercoiled plasmid DNA relaxation, while the analogue having the disaccharide on threonine was less active than deglycoBLM and the analogue containing the C-terminal disaccharide was slightly more potent. While having unexceptional DNA cleavage potencies, both glycosylated analogues were more cytotoxic to cultured DU145 prostate cancer cells than deglycoBLM. Dye-labeled conjugates of the cytotoxic BLM aglycons were used in imaging experiments to determine the extent of cell uptake. The rank order of internalization efficiencies was the same as their order of cytotoxicities toward DU145 cells. These findings establish a role for the BLM disaccharide in tumor targeting/uptake and suggest that the disaccharide moiety may be capable of delivering other cytotoxins to cancer cells. While the mechanism responsible for uptake of the BLM disaccharide selectively by tumor cells has not yet been established, data are presented which suggest that the metabolic shift to glycolysis in cancer cells may provide the vehicle for selective internalization.

Illustrating Anticipatory Life Cycle Assessment for Emerging Photovoltaic Technologies

Abstract: Current research policy and strategy documents recommend applying life cycle assessment (LCA) early in research and development (R&D) to guide emerging technologies toward decreased environmental burden. However, existing LCA practices are ill-suited to support these recommendations. Barriers related to data availability, rapid technology change, and isolation of environmental from technical research inhibit application of LCA to developing technologies. Overcoming these challenges requires methodological advances that help identify environmental opportunities prior to large R&D investments. Such an anticipatory approach to LCA requires synthesis of social, environmental, and technical knowledge beyond the capabilities of current practices. This paper introduces a novel framework for anticipatory LCA that incorporates technology forecasting, risk research, social engagement, and comparative impact assessment, then applies this framework to photovoltaic (PV) technologies. These examples illustrate the potential for anticipatory LCA to prioritize research questions and help guide environmentally responsible innovation of emerging technologies.

Skin-friction drag reduction in the turbulent regime using random-textured hydrophobic surfaces

Abstract: Technologies for reducing hydrodynamic skin-friction drag have a huge potential for energy-savings in applications ranging from propulsion of marine vessels to transporting liquids through pipes. The majority of previous experimental studies using hydrophobic surfaces have successfully shown skin-friction drag reduction in the laminar and transitional flow regimes (typically Reynolds numbers less than ≃106 for external flows). However, this hydrophobicity induced drag reduction is known to diminish with increasing Reynolds numbers in experiments involving wall bounded turbulent flows. Using random-textured hydrophobic surfaces (fabricated using large-length scalable thermal spray processes) on a flat plate geometry, we present water-tunnel test data with Reynolds numbers ranging from 106 to 9 × 106 that show sustained skin-friction drag reduction of 20%–30% in such turbulent flow regimes. Furthermore, we provide evidence that apart from the formation of a Cassie state and hydrophobicity, we also need a low surface roughness and an enhanced ability of the textured surface to retain trapped air, for sustained drag reduction in turbulent flow regimes. Specifically, for the hydrophobic test surfaces of the present and previous studies, we show that drag reduction seen at lower Reynolds numbers diminishes with increasing Reynolds number when the surface roughness of the underlying texture becomes comparable to the viscous sublayer thickness. Conversely, test data show that textures with surface roughness significantly smaller than the viscous sublayer thickness and textures with high porosity show sustained drag reduction in the turbulent flow regime. The present experiments represent a significant technological advancement and one of the very few demonstrations of skin-friction reduction in the turbulent regime using random-textured hydrophobic surfaces in an external flow configuration. The scalability of the fabrication method, the passive nature of this surface technology, and the obtained results in the turbulent regime make such hydrophobic surfaces a potentially attractive option for hydrodynamic skin-friction drag reduction.

Generalized Approach of Stator Shifting in Interior Permanent-Magnet Machines Equipped With Fractional-Slot Concentrated Windings

Abstract: Electrical drive systems, which include electrical machines and power electronics, are a key enabling technology for advanced vehicle propulsion systems that reduce the petroleum dependence of the ground transportation sector. To have significant effect, electric drive technologies must be economical in terms of cost, weight, and size while meeting performance and reliability expectations. Interior permanent magnet machines with fractional-slot concentrated windings have been shown to be good candidates for hybrid traction applications. One of the key challenges is the additional stator magnetomotive force sub- and superharmonic components that lead to higher losses in the rotor as well as saturation effects. This paper tries to address this issue by looking into the concept of stator shifting. The generalized concept of stator shifting in the context of the harmonic components that are targeted for cancellation is presented; the focus is on single-layer and double-layer windings that have stator space subharmonics. It is shown that the stator shifting can reduce the loss-producing harmonics on the rotor as well as help the flux weakening performance of the fractional-slot concentrated winding designs. The cancellation of the loss harmonics is introduced as a method in which a particular harmonic can be targeted as well as reduce the phase inductance of the machine allowing for more room in terms of the operating voltage at higher speed. The concept of stator shifting will be explained, and the effect of varying the shift angle on the various harmonic components and winding factors will be investigated. Various designs, arising out of single-layer and double winding layer 10-pole, 12-slot configuration (targeting the FreedomCAR specifications) with varied shift angles are evaluated. The comparison between these designs in terms of their power density, efficiency, and torque ripple is presented.

Compressible direct numerical simulation of low-pressure turbines: part I - methodology

Abstract: Modern low pressure turbines (LPT) feature high pressure ratios and moderate Mach and Reynolds numbers, increasing the possibility of laminar boundary-layer separation on the blades. Upstream disturbances including background turbulence and incoming wakes have a profound effect on the behavior of separation bubbles and the type/location of laminar-turbulent transition and therefore need to be considered in LPT design. Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) are often found inadequate to resolve the complex wake dynamics and impact of these environmental parameters on the boundary layers and may not drive the design to the best aerodynamic efficiency. LES can partly improve the accuracy, but has difficulties in predicting boundary layer transition and capturing the delay of laminar separation with varying inlet turbulence levels. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is able to overcome these limitations but has to date been considered too computationally expensive. Here, a novel compressible DNS code is presented and validated, promising to make DNS practical for LPT studies. Also, the sensitivity of wake loss coefficient with respect to freestream turbulence levels below 1% is discussed.

Path diversification for future internet end-to-end resilience and survivability

Abstract: Path Diversification is a new mechanism that can be used to select multiple paths between a given ingress and egress node pair using a quantified diversity measure to achieve maximum flow reliability. The path diversification mechanism is targeted at the end-to-end layer, but can be applied at any level for which a path discovery service is available. Path diversification also takes into account service requirements for low-latency or maximal reliability in selecting appropriate paths. Using this mechanism will allow future internetworking architectures to exploit naturally rich physical topologies to a far greater extent than is possible with shortest-path routing or equal-cost load balancing. We describe the path diversity metric and its application at various aggregation levels, and apply the path diversification process to 13 real-world network graphs as well as 4 synthetic topologies to asses the gain in flow reliability. Based on the analysis of flow reliability across a range of networks, we then extend our path diversity metric to create a composite compensated total graph diversity metric that is representative of a particular topology's survivability with respect to distributed simultaneous link and node failures. We tune the accuracy of this metric having simulated the performance of each topology under a range of failure severities, and present the results. The topologies used are from national-scale backbone networks with a variety of characteristics, which we characterize using standard graph-theoretic metrics. The end result is a compensated total graph diversity metric that accurately predicts the survivability of a given network topology.

Quantitative gait measurement with pulse-Doppler radar for passive in-home gait assessment.

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a pulse-Doppler radar system for in-home gait assessment of older adults. A methodology has been developed to extract gait parameters including walking speed and step time using Doppler radar. The gait parameters have been validated with a Vicon motion capture system in the lab with 13 participants and 158 test runs. The study revealed that for an optimal step recognition and walking speed estimation, a dual radar set up with one radar placed at foot level and the other at torso level is necessary. An excellent absolute agreement with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.97 was found for step time estimation with the foot level radar. For walking speed, although both radars show excellent consistency they all have a system offset compared to the ground truth due to walking direction with respect to the radar beam. The torso level radar has a better performance (9% offset on average) in the speed estimation compared to the foot level radar (13%-18% offset). Quantitative analysis has been performed to compute the angles causing the systematic error. These lab results demonstrate the capability of the system to be used as a daily gait assessment tool in home environments, useful for fall risk assessment and other health care applications. The system is currently being tested in an unstructured home environment.

Multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis on gold, crude oil and foreign exchange rate time series

Abstract: We apply the recently developed multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis method to investigate the cross-correlation behavior and fractal nature between two non-stationary time series. We analyze the daily return price of gold, West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil, foreign exchange rate data, over a period of 18 years. The cross correlation has been measured from the Hurst scaling exponents and the singularity spectrum quantitatively. From the results, the existence of multifractal cross-correlation between all of these time series is found. We also found that the cross correlation between gold and oil prices possess uncorrelated behavior and the remaining bivariate time series possess persistent behavior. It was observed for five bivariate series that the cross-correlation exponents are less than the calculated average generalized Hurst exponents (GHE) for q 0 and greater than GHE when q > 0 and for one bivariate series the cross-correlation exponent is greater than GHE for all q values.

An Overview of the IEEE Standard C37.118.2—Synchrophasor Data Transfer for Power Systems

Abstract: Synchrophasor Standards have evolved since the introduction of the first one, IEEE Standard 1344, in 1995. IEEE Standard C37.118-2005 introduced measurement accuracy under steady state conditions as well as interference rejection. In 2009, the IEEE started a joint project with IEC to harmonize real time communications in IEEE Standard C37.118-2005 with the IEC 61850 communication standard. These efforts led to the need to split the C37.118 into 2 different standards: IEEE Standard C37.118.1-2011 that now includes performance of synchrophasors under dynamic systems conditions; and IEEE Standard C37.118.2-2011 Synchrophasor Data Transfer for Power Systems, the object of this paper.