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Energy storage systems are being more important to compensate irregularities of renewable energy sources and yields more profitable to invest. Compressed air energy storage systems provide sufficient of system usability, and large scale plants are found around the world. The compression process is the most critical part of these systems and different designs must be developed to improve efficiency such as liquid piston. In this study, a liquid piston is analyzed with CFD tools to look into the effect of piston speed, compression ratio, and cylinder geometry on compression efficiency and required work. It is found that, increasing piston speeds do not affect the piston work but efficiency decreases. Piston work remains constant at higher than 0.05 m/s piston speeds but the efficiency decreases from 90.9 % to 74.6 %. Using variable piston speeds has not a significant improvement on the system performance. It is seen that, the effect of compression ratio is increasing with high piston speeds. The required power, when the compression ratio is 80, is 2.39 times greater than the power when the compression ratio is 5 at 0.01 m/s piston speed and 2.87 times greater at 0.15 m/s. Cylinder geometry is also very important because, efficiency, power and work alter by L/D, D, and cylinder volume, respectively.

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Using compressed air to store energy is one of the energy storage methods. In this study, a small scale compressed air energy storage (CAES) system is designed and modeled. The energy storage capacity of designed CAES system is about 2 kW. The system contains a hydraulic pump unit, expansion-compression liquid pistons, valves, a tank, and a control unit. The aim of the designed system is basically to store air under a defined pressure. The designed CAES system is modeled and simulated by MATLAB/Simulink program. Pressure changes in the tank and pistons are obtained. Besides, energy storage capacity of the system for different pressures is investigated in isothermal conditions.

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In this study, a numerical simulation model and an analytical method are introduced to evaluate the particle collection efficiency and transport phenomena in an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Several complicated physical processes are involved in an ESP, including the turbulent flow, the ionization of gas by corona discharge, particles’ movement, and the displacement of electric charge. The attachment of ions charges suspended particles in the gas media. Then, charged particles in the fluid move towards the collection plate and stick on it. The numerical model comprises the gas flow, electrostatic field, and particle motions. The collection efficiency of the wire-plate type ESP is investigated for the particle diameter range of 0.02 to 10 µm. It is observed that electric field strengths and current densities show considerable variation in the solution domain. Meanwhile, changing supply voltage and charging wire diameters significantly affect the acquired charges on the electrostatic field and particle collecting efficiencies. Simultaneously, the distance between the charging and collecting electrodes and the main fluid inlet velocity has an important effect on the particle collection efficiency. The influence of the different ESP working conditions and particle dimensions on the performance of ESP are investigated and discussed.

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Conductive polymer-electrospun polymer nanofiber network was combined to host iron oxide nanoparticles providing micrometer thick sensing interface. The sensor has fabricated as free-standing fabric exhibiting 10 to 100 KOhm base resistivity upon bias applied. The moving object has been sensed through the electrostatic interactions between fibers and object. The sensing range has been found to be 1-5 cm above the surface of fabric. By the controlled combination of conductive polymers electrospun polymer nanofibers effective device miniaturization has been provided without loss of performance. The noncontact motion sensor platform has unique flexibility and light weight holding a potential for wearable sensor technology.