Florin Drăgan, Ørnulf Nordseth, L. Fara, C. Dumitru, D. Craciunescu, Vlad Muscurel, P. Sterian
{"title":"Optical Modeling and Simulation of Tandem Metal Oxide Solar Cells","authors":"Florin Drăgan, Ørnulf Nordseth, L. Fara, C. Dumitru, D. Craciunescu, Vlad Muscurel, P. Sterian","doi":"10.2478/awutp-2018-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/awutp-2018-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract An investigation of silicon-based tandem solar cells incorporating Al-doped ZnO (AZO) and Cu2O metal oxides, via two of the most efficient methods of optical modeling, specifically ray tracing and transfer matrix algorithms, was performed. The simulations were conducted based on specialized software, namely Silvaco Atlas and MATLAB, as well as on OPAL2 simulation platform. The optical analysis involved the calculation of the spectral curves for reflectance, absorptance and transmittance for different thicknesses of the thin film layers constituting the cell. It was established the optimum thickness of the AZO layer based on the minimum reflectance and maximum transmittance. Moreover, several materials were investigated in order to determine the optimum buffer layer for the tandem solar cell, based on optical modeling. The optical parameters of the ZnO/Cu2O top subcell were optimized, in order to achieve the highest conversion efficiency of such heterojunction solar cell.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77228186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Paulescu, N. Stefu, C. Dughir, Robert Blaga, Andreea Săbăduş, E. Paulescu, Sorin Bojin
{"title":"Online Forecasting of the Solar Energy Production","authors":"M. Paulescu, N. Stefu, C. Dughir, Robert Blaga, Andreea Săbăduş, E. Paulescu, Sorin Bojin","doi":"10.2478/awutp-2018-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/awutp-2018-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Forecasting the solar energy production is a key issue in the large-scale integration of the photovoltaic plants into the existing electricity grid. This paper reports on the research progress in forecasting the solar energy production at the West University of Timisoara, Romania. Firstly, the experimental facilities commissioned on the Solar Platform for testing the forecasting models are briefly described. Secondly, a new tool for the online forecasting of the solar energy production is introduced. Preliminary tests show that the implemented procedure is a successful trade-off between simplicity and accuracy.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80317155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Influence of the Precursor Type and of the Substrate on the SPD Deposited TiO2 Photocatalytic Thin Films","authors":"I. Tismanar, M. Covei, C. Bogatu, A. Duţă","doi":"10.2478/awutp-2018-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/awutp-2018-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants from wastewater using titanium dioxide is recognized as an efficient process. To be feasible, this process needs to be solar- or visible light -activated, but, due to its wide band gap energy, titanium dioxide can only be activated by ultraviolet radiation. In this paper, thin films of titanium dioxide were deposited by Spray Pyrolysis Deposition using organo-metallic (titanium-iso-propoxide) and inorganic (titanium chloride) precursors, as a first step in optimizing the deposition process of titanium dioxide - carbon composite thin films, active in the visible spectral range. The thin films were characterized to outline the differences when using these two precursor solutions, when deposited on Fluorine doped Tin Oxide-glass, regular glass and microscopic glass, in terms of crystallinity (by using X-ray diffraction), elemental composition (using Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometry), surface morphology (Scanning Electronic Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy). The photocatalytic activity of the titanium dioxide thin films was investigated based on the removal efficiencies of methylene blue from a synthetically prepared wastewater. The samples deposited using the inorganic precursor show higher roughness, and this proves to be the most important factor that influences the phocatalytic processes. After 8 hours of ultraviolet irradiation, methylene blue removal efficiencies up to 36% were observed; the highest removal efficiency was registered using the thin titanium dioxide film obtained using the titanium chloride precursor, deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide glass substrate, due to the titanium dioxide-tin dioxide semiconductor tandem formed at the interface, that limits the electron-hole recombination, thus increasing the photoctalytic performance of the substrate.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89467897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Surface Solar Radiation Projections in Bias-Corrected Euro-Cordex Regional Climate Models","authors":"B. Bartók","doi":"10.2478/awutp-2018-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/awutp-2018-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Regional climate models (RCMs) are used in a wide range of climate applications as they can provide high resolution (up to 10 to 20 km or less) and multi-decadal simulations of the climate system describing climate feedback mechanisms acting at the regional scale. However due to different forcing data and physics parametrisations regional climate models might produce different results. This study aims to achieve a state-of-the-art knowledge of bias-corrected surface solar radiation projections coming from 11 EURO-CORDEX regional climate models. First a comparison against 63 GEBA observations is elaborated indicating a general overestimation of surface solar radiation (SSR) in the RCMs by 6.12 W/m2 (4.4%). Next changes in surface radiation between the period of 2031-2060 and 1971-2000 are presented on annual and seasonal time scale. The model projections indicate robust increase in SSR mainly in the western part of the Mediterranean region, while the northern part of the continent is characterised by decreases in SSR till the middle of this century. The study emphasis the need of an overall validation of different climate models before introducing them in impact studies in order to have an overview regarding the uncertainties.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89494314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Channel Flow and Flood Estimate","authors":"J. Adegoke, M. A. Fakunle","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2016-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2016-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The movement of water on the land surface, within channels and through the soil is dependent on some hydrological factors. For surface flow, the velocity of flow increases with the bottom gradient of the channel and the flow depth, but when roughness increases, it decreases. For a given flow depth, the velocity decreases as the channel height increases. The construction of sub-surface drainage helps to remove excess soil water that can cause flood. To model overland flow, a kinematic-wave approach is applied so that flood prediction could be made.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82156436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Laser Heating of the Core-Shell Nanowires","authors":"I. Astefanoaei, I. Dumitru, A. Stancu","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2016-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2016-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The induced thermal stress in a heating process is an important parameter to be known and controlled in the magnetization process of core-shell nanowires. This paper analyses the stress produced by a laser heating source placed at one end of a core-shell type structure. The thermal field was computed with the non-Fourier heat transport equation using a finite element method (FEM) implemented in Comsol Multiphysics. The internal stresses are essentially due to thermal gradients and different expansion characteristics of core and shell materials. The stress values were computed using the thermo elastic formalism and are depending on the laser beam parameters (spot size, power etc.) and system characteristics (dimensions, thermal characteristics). Stresses in the GPa range were estimated and consequently we find that the magnetic state of the system can be influenced significantly. A shell material as the glass which is a good thermal insulator induces in the magnetic core, the smaller stresses and consequently the smaller magnetoelastic energy. These results lead to a better understanding of the switching process in the magnetic materials.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87717263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sergiu A. Lucaciu, Robert Blaga, N. Stefu, M. Paulescu
{"title":"Quantification of the Solar Radiative Regime Variability Based on the Clearness Index","authors":"Sergiu A. Lucaciu, Robert Blaga, N. Stefu, M. Paulescu","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2016-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2016-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The fluctuation of solar radiation at ground level represents a challenge in modeling the time series of solar irradiance. A procedure for the quantification of the instability of the solar radiative regime is reported. This procedure is based on the clearness index, as the ratio of the horizontal solar irradiance measured at ground level and the estimated one at extraterrestrial level. New quantities for classifying the days from the radiative stability point of view are being introduced. A procedure for classifying days according to their stability regime as stable, variable and unstable is presented.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73279412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pulsed Laser Ablation of the Solid Targets in a Liquid Environment","authors":"M. Osiac, M. Dinu, M. Udriștioiu","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2016-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2016-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this paper, the viability of laser ablation of gold target immersed in medical distillated water used to produce nanoparticles having morphological, structural and compositional properties for medical applications is explored. The morphological properties were investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis was used to reveal the composition of resulting particles. The absorbance in the wavelengths range of 300-800 nm can be assigned to the small gold nanoparticles.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89243270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Determination of Maximum Horizontal Distance (XMHD) Travelled by Landfill Leachate from Lapite Dumpsite in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria","authors":"O. Popoola, M. A. Fakunle","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2016-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2016-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study was designed to determine Maximum Horizontal Distance (XMHD) travelled by landfill leachate. Twenty - nine Schlumberger Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) were conducted at 10.0m intervals away from four sides A, B, C and D of Lapite dumpsite. One VES point conducted outside the vicinity of the dumpsite served as a control. VES data were processed. Lowest resistivity values (Y) of VES points and the control point (Yc) were extracted. Curves of Y against X fitted best to yield an equation. XMHD was determined from the generated equation when Y = Yc. The determined (XMHD) on the four sides ranged from78.95m to 179.86m.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88596227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relativistic Rotating Boltzmann Gas Using the Tetrad Formalism","authors":"Victor E. Ambruş, Robert Blaga","doi":"10.1515/awutp-2015-0211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2015-0211","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We consider an application of the tetrad formalism introduced by Cardall et al. [Phys. Rev. D 88 (2013) 023011] to the problem of a rigidly rotating relativistic gas in thermal equilibrium and discuss the possible applications of this formalism to rel- ativistic lattice Boltzmann simulations. We present in detail the transformation to the comoving frame, the choice of tetrad, as well as the explicit calculation and analysis of the components of the equilibrium particle ow four-vector and of the equilibrium stress-energy tensor.","PeriodicalId":31012,"journal":{"name":"Annals of West University of Timisoara Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74806459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}