No abstract

No abstract

Wind energy is a great alternative to solar energy (During monsoon) along with conventional non-renewable energy sources and has a potential market growing exponentially. Modern 3 Blade HAWTs are most dominant in the market and have high efficiency. Blades are 15 to 20% of the cost of the wind turbine unit and also exposed to the environment. Therefore it is crucial to employ suitable material that has lightweight, high stiffness and strength. Carbon fibre, Glass Fibre, Timber are some materials that are used for blade manufacturing. Design can be improved by stress deformation analysis, load estimation via methodology of blade element momentum or computational simulation using deep learning. Also, by developing a bio-inspirational method via 1% Gravo-Aeroelastic Scaling (GAS), cavity optimization approach and vacuum infusion or reinforcing resins in composites, to improve mechanical properties. To prevent surface erosion due to acidic or saline or rainwater, it is coated with a protective layer. Mechanical recycling of the blade material composites is both simpler and economically viable in comparison to thermal and chemical recycling.

The staggering rate of population growth has augmented the reliance on fossil fuel utilization, and it kindled the society to explore alternative and sustainable sources of energy. In this regard, biodiesel from microalgae came to the limelight; but crucial energy-consuming and expensive processes like cultivation, harvesting, and drying make the microalgal biodiesel unsustainable and economically unfeasible. To surpass these impediments, in this research work, a low-cost box-type passive solar dryer (BTPSD) is designed and fabricated with zero energy consumption mode and compared with conventional hot air oven for drying the biomass, neutral lipids of the marine microalga Chlorella vulgaris for biodiesel application. The onset of the work, BTPSD with 2 cm thickness of glass wool as TIM (thermal insulation material), 4 cm TIM thickness and no TIM was simulated for thermal storage behaviour using ANSYS FLUENT 19.2 Computational Fluid Dynamics tool and based on the results, 4 cm TIM thickness was chosen for experimentation. The time taken by BTPSD and hot air oven to remove the moisture from algal biomass is 3 and 2 h, respectively, whereas for neutral lipids drying, it was 4 and 3.5 h, respectively. Though there is a little difference in drying time, neutral lipid and FAME content from both drying systems are tantamount, i.e., ~ 12% neutral lipid and 95% FAME. Further, the percentage of vital fatty acids identified from BTPSD and hot air oven methods are almost similar, i.e., C16:0 (23.4%), C18:1 (14.3%), C18:3 (11.42%), C18:1 (9.22%). Though the time taken for valorizing biomass and neutral lipids of C. vulgaris by BTPSD is slightly longer than hot air oven, low energy consumption and cost-effectiveness make the BTPSD a promising system to scale down the microalgal biodiesel production cost significantly.

This study aims to review the present progress of integrating the PV cell with other prominent mainstream photovoltaic cell materials. The combination of the materials in a thin film electric cell is advantageous due to the reduction within the material usage and therefore the rise in efficiency. Amorphous Silicon (α-Si), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS) are the three major thin film solar cells technologies. The discussion mainly focuses on the environmental factors, efficiency of the energy production and limitations of the utilization of the technology. The recent progress within the third-generation cells is being reckoned as a pathway to beat the drawbacks and therefore, the concerns regarding the present solar cell technologies. Referring to this situation there are certainly more theoretical analysis than the sensible application of the third-generation solar cells. The need of low-cost, flexible, scalable and lightweight materials has certainly been the key propulsion within the development of the third-generation solar cells. The exploration of those new materials certainly holds the aptitude to enhance the device performance and stability, resulting in its commercialization within the photovoltaic field in the coming years.