Distributed, controllable energy storage devices offer several benefits to electric power system operation. Three such benefits include reducing peak load, providing standby power, and enhancing power quality. These benefits, however, are only realized during peak load or during an outage, events that are infrequent. This paper presents a means of realizing additional benefits by taking advanta...

In this study, we present a quantitative approach to construct effective 3D muscle tissues through shape optimization and load impedance matching with electrical and optical stimulation. We have constructed long, thin, fascicle-like skeletal muscle tissue and optimized its form factor through mechanical characterization. A new apparatus was designed and built, which allowed us to measure force-...

Cylindrical thin-walled tubes due to construction and easy installation, high energy absorption capacity are used in the automotive industry as an impact energy absorber. However, the main weakness of cylindrical tubes is in the high initial peak load. Therefore, in this paper, to overcome this weakness, a buckling initiator is used at the top of the tube. This buckling initiator is a steel rod...

Electricity demand response refers to consumer actions that change the utility load profile in a way that reduces costs or improves grid security. Residential demand response (RDR) can be treated as an energy resource which can be assessed and commercially developed. RDR prospectors require more detailed information about usage patterns and penetration for specific electrical appliances during ...

Household electrical energy consumption represents a major chunk of the total demand. This demand is also exhibiting steady increase whereas supplies are struggling to keep up. This poses two key challenges to Demand-Side Management (DSM) – achieving unrealized energy savings and, reducing peak loads. Energy saving in households has not yet achieved its potential chiefly because of poor feedbac...

0196-8904/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2011.11.011 ⇑ Corresponding authors. Tel./fax: +86 551 3607367 E-mail addresses: [email protected] (P. Gang), j Heat-pipe photovoltaic/thermal (HP-PV/T) systems can simultaneously provide electrical and thermal energy. Compared with traditional water-type photovoltaic/thermal systems, HP-PV/T systems can be used in cold ...

A new electromagnetic energy harvester for harnessing energy from vibration induced by Kármán vortex street is proposed. It converts flow energy into electrical energy by fluid flow, vortex shedding from a bluff body and electromagnetic induction. An analytical design method for the energy harvester is developed. A prototype of the energy harvester is fabricated and tested. The prototype has a ...

In power grids, there must always be a balance between energy production and consumption. Due to the variable nature of consumers, energy production should also be subject to these changes. Electricity storage is one of the most important issues in the electricity industry, which can generate many ancillary services such as load curve leveling, peak shaving, integration with renewable units, ro...