This paper presents an evaluation of an infrared sensor for monitoring the welding pool temperature in a Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process. The purpose of the study is to develop a real time system control. It is known that the arc welding pool temperature is related to the weld penetration depth; therefore, by monitoring the temperature, the arc pool temperature and penetration depth are also monitored. Various experiments were performed; in some of them the current was varied and the temperature changes were registered, in others, defects were induced throughout the path of the weld bead for a fixed current. These simulated defects resulted in abrupt changes in the average temperature values, thus providing an indication of the presence of a defect. The data has been registered with an acquisition card. To identify defects in the samples under infrared emissions, the timing series were analyzed through graphics and statistic methods. The selection of this technique demonstrates the potential for infrared emission as a welding monitoring parameter sensor.
Thanks to the location close to the Equator line, Colombia offers an advantage location for solar applications. This is the case of Neiva, a city located in the south of Colombia where the average temperature and irradiance are 31 °C and 4 kW/m2 respectively. This paper describes the development of an investment payback solar calculator (PSC) software for residential and commercial PV solar applications in Neiva. The PSC uses both the average solar energy and the electricity prices to estimate the rate of return on investment, the payback period (PBP), the net present value (NPV) as well as the environmental impact. The PCS software is then evaluated using a historical and statistical information from NASA, adjusted with the results of a small scale 1 kW grid connected PV system production. The results show that the PCS software can satisfactorily indicate the PV system size and perform an economic evaluation of the system to be implemented. The results obtained using the application developed were compared to two commercially available software Sunny Design and HOMER. The NPV and the PBP values showed that the proposed application results are like those delivered by the commercial software. Furthermore, the economic evaluation given by the developed tool uses additional information which makes it more accurate in countries where socioeconomic stratum is presented.
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