Ricerc@Sapienza

Transport is a main source of pollutants in cities, where air quality is a major concern. New transport technologies, such as electric vehicles, and public transport modalities, such as urban railways, have arisen as solutions to this important problem. One of the main difficulties for the adoption of electric vehicles by consumers is the scarcity of a suitable charging infrastructure. The use of the railway power supplies to charge electric vehicle batteries could facilitate the deployment of charging infrastructure in cities.

The paper describes a measurement campaign conducted at the Engineering Department of Astronautics, Electrical and Energetic, Sapienza University of Rome. Starting from measurement campaign, in the context of building an urban microgrid, a PV plant and a energy storage system has been proposed. The measurements were conducted in two relevant period of the year in order to know the power consumption of the facility.

A two-phase model based on the double-diffusive approach is used to perform a numerical study on natural convection of water-based nanofluids in differentially- heated horizontal semi-annuli, assuming that Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis are the only slip mechanisms by which the solid phase can develop a significant relative velocity with respect to the liquid phase.

A high power and high efficiency Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system based on magnetic resonant coupling is proposed to automatically recharge the battery of a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (a remotely controlled drone). The drone is equipped with a WPT receiving (Rx) circular coil with an electronic system to control the battery charging process, while the WPT transmitting (Tx) circular coil is placed on a ground station and connected to the electric power feeding system.

A study is presented on the magnetic field produced by a wireless power transfer (WPT) system installed in an electric vehicle (EV). The considered WPT charging system operates at the frequency of 85 kHz with an output power of 22 kW. The magnetic field levels are numerically calculated. In the simulations the presence of the conductive bodyshell of the vehicle is taken into account.

The paper deals with the protective relaying of MV rings recently introduced by e-distribuzione, the largest Italian Distribution System Operator (DSO). The paper refers to an existing MV distribution system which includes a loop line. Attention is focused on Cross-Country Faults (CCFs), i.e. two Line-to-Ground Faults simultaneously occurring in two different phases at different locations. A large number of detailed ATP-EMTP simulations of CCFs are carried out, evidencing a few critical CCF combinations not detected by the presently adopted protective relays.

BACKGROUND: Three protocols are presented in order to immobilise a laccase (EC 1.10.3.2) from Trametes versicolor on chitosan. In particular, chitosan is functionalized with glutaraldehyde and epichlorohydrin to explore to what extent the conjugation of the enzyme is affected by a carbonyl- or epoxy-modified surface, respectively. In addition, an oxidation procedure is tested to modify, for the first time, the carbohydrate moiety of the enzyme and exploit it for linking with the amine group of chitosan.

The World energy demand is progressively growing, so that many different Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) are exploited to meet the user needs and to reduce the Global Warming. In this context, an emerging RES is the sea wave energy, because it can offer a better continuity in the energy production by taking advantage of the stationary nature of the waves. Research in the energy harvesting from waves has led to the development of Wave Energy Converters (WECs). The adoption of Computational Intelligence techniques become crucial for maximizing the WECs efficiency.

Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is widely used in solar cell devices for its excellent electrical and optical characteristics, such as high transparency in the Ultraviolet-Visible range and good conductivity (around 104W-1cm-1). In this work we have compared thin (70-150 nm) ITO layers deposited by Direct Current or Radio Frequency sputtering. We have used different substrate temperatures during film growthand have afterwards thermally annealed the samples at different temperatures up to 300 °C to investigate the effects on the electrical and optical properties of the material.

In this work, the feasibility of the Shortcut Biological Nitrogen Removal (SBNR) in the anodic chamber of a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) was investigated. Thirty day experiments were carried out using synthetic wastewaters with a Total Organic Carbon vs. nitrogen ratio (TOC/N) ranging from 0.1 to 1. Ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and TOC were daily monitored. Results showed that microaerobic conditions in the anodic chamber favored the development of nitritation reaction, due to oxygen transfer from the cathodic chamber through the membrane.