This paper presents parametric analysis of solar collector area and solar energy storage volume for a passive house in Galway, Ireland. Using the simulation tool Transient System Simulation Tool (TRNSYS), a model was developed to represent a 215 m 2 home built to Passivhaus standards and incorporating a 10.6 m 2 solar thermal collector and a 23 m 3 solar thermal storage tank. This model was validated through comparison with data collected in situ from the operation of the home over the period of 1 year. Once validated, the model was used to investigate the effect of varying solar collector area and solar energy storage volume on the fraction of heat demand met by solar energy. Results indicate that increasing collector area from 10.6 to 20 m 2 could increase total solar fraction from 0.47 to 0.63, decreasing fossil-fuel-derived energy demand at the home under study by a further 30%.
This article continues our work to develop magnetoelectric materials as self-sensing actuators. Our research is directed at developing a two-segment cantilever device with closed-loop control. The actuator under study is fabricated as a laminated composite of the magnetostrictive material Iron-Gallium (Galfenol) and a Lead-Zirconate-Titanate piezoelectric material (PZT-5H). The mechanical and electrical characteristics of a single-segment cantilever are modeled using the equation of motion developed from variational principles in earlier work and are compared with experimental data from other groups. Additionally, parametric analysis is performed to determine the effect of varying the thickness fraction of the piezoelectric layer on the frequency response characteristics of the actuator. When applied to the dynamic behavior of the actuator, the model predicts behavior that closely resembles experimental results published by other groups. Parametric analysis of the piezoelectric layer thickness fraction indicates that the design of a magnetoelectric cantilever self-sensing actuator can be optimized by varying the thickness fraction.
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