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Tag: Tomsk Polytechnic University

TPU professor becomes Fellow of world’ largest professional engineering institution

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Dushanta Nalin Kumara Dzhayakodi Jayakody Arachshiladzh, Professor of the TPU Research Center for Automation and Information Technology, has been elected Fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET, Great Britain).

It is the highest grade at the IET awarding to high achievers, those respected professionals who achieved outstanding results for a few years.

The IET is the largest multidisciplinary professional engineering institution in the world. It includes the Institution of Electrical Engineers established in 1871 and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers dating back to 1884. Its worldwide membership is currently in excess of 160,000 in 150 countries.

Fellows of the IET must meet the following criteria: leadership, responsibility, insight and experience, creativity, innovation, enterprise, service, repute, influence and contribution.

As it is reported on the official website of the IET, Fellowship helps experts to increase their professional value, as well as to share their experience and knowledge with the international engineering community. Thus, Fellows of the IET can be experts and speakers in mass media, specialized lecturers at the relevant events.

“Fellows are important for the IET and its mission as they inspire current and future engineers, inform the engineering community and impact the development of the profession,” noted on the website.

TPU Professor Dushantha Jayakody heads the international team of experts conducting research work in 5G, the fifth generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks. The next generation of 5G mobile technologies varies from the previous one by a rattling good data transfer rate. It surpasses indicators in the operating wireless network by several dozen folds. Moreover, 5G reduces signal delay.

It is especially important for development, for instance, technologies of self-driving cars, where signal delay can be crucial. Nowadays, research teams and large companies around the world work at 5G technologies to increase the data transfer rate and its quality.

The research team of Professor Jayakody conducts research on these problems at TPU as well. Therefore, the researchers have developed an algorithm that allows transferring energy from one device to another along with a radio signal in the context of a cellular network bypassing a base station, a gatekeeper. That is during a cellular phone call, electromagnetic waves transfer energy from one smartphone to another and this energy can be enough for charging a cellular phone.

TPU professor wins prestigious international research excellence award

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Pavel Strizhak, Professor of the TPU Butakov Research Center, has become a winner of the 2021 Research Excellence Awards Russia that is conferred to the most published and cited scientists and scientific institutions. The awarding ceremony was held in Moscow and was coincided with the Year of Science and Technology in Russia.

The 2021 Research Excellence Awards Russia is conferred to outstanding Russian researchers and is a part of the Elsevier global initiative to support scientists. The winners of the awards are selected by several indicators, including the number of published research articles, citation rate in international journals (according to the data of the Scopus database) and an expert assessment.

Professor of the TPU Butakov Research Center Pavel Strizhak became a winner in the joint category with the Russian Science Foundation For Outstanding Contribution to Science at National and International Level. Pavel Strizhak was conferred with the award from Andrei Blinov, Deputy General Director, Head of Department of the Russian Science Foundation.

“For eight years, the Russian Science Foundation has been supporting the best Russian projects and creating comfortable conditions for their participants to conduct research,” he said.

“We are proud that our grant holder and representative of tomsk, the venue of the academic development, became a winner.”

“We are awaiting further cooperation, projects and articles,” he added.

The research works of Pavel Strizhak devoted to the creation of sustainable fuel based on industrial waste, process optimization of compounding, fuel transfer, spraying of combustion of fuels, sewage treatment and drinking water treatment from harmful impurities by the explosive breakup of droplets, as well as to effective suppression and containment of forest combustion processes.

TPU scientists offer method for producing frost-resistant fuel oil from old tire casing

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed a technology for producing frost-resistant fuel oil from old tire casing. They were the first in Russia to test a method of steam gasification to produce frost-resistant fuel oil.

The laboratory research demonstrated that this kind of fuel oil does not freeze up and does not lose its properties up to -50°С (conventional fuel oil freezes up in the range from 10°С to -10°С depending on its brand). Sulfur content in frost-resistant fuel oil is approximately two times lower, the derivatives of that are the main environmental contaminants.

“According to the very conservative estimate, about 1 million t of tire casing is thrown away in Russia and about 1 billiard t is thrown away in the world. Some part of the tire casing remains on rubbish dumps, where even under the sunlight, tire casing releases toxic substances, another part is burnt out with an incredible volume of harmful emissions and another 30% of thrown away tire casing is converted to crumb rubber,” Vladimir Gubin, Deputy Director for Development of the TPU School of Energy and Power Engineering, says.

“We treat tire casing not as rubbish but as a source of useful products for the manufacturing industry. We persistently searched for methods which allow converting tire casing with maximum benefit, economic and environmental.”

An experimental installation was created by the scientists at the TPU research center – ecoenergy 4.0. In this installation, under the impact of superheated water vapour, raw material that is tiny crumb rubber decompose into useful products. In particular, liquid hydrocarbons, such as fuel oil, release.

“The topic of recycling tire casing is developing in different countries, the leaders in this field are the USA and China. Pyrolysis is usually used for recycling tire casing. It is the thermal decomposition of a product. The process runs in a vacuum environment. There are a few small-capacity plants in Russia recycling tire casing using this method, however, they produce relatively small volumes of production.

“We offered to use a method of steam gasification, i.e. rubber decomposition occurs under the impact of superheated water vapor. This method and a number of our engineering solutions allowed producing recycled products of higher quality in the environmentally safe regime,” Kirill Larionov, Associate Professor of the TPU Butakov Research Center, explains.

Nowadays, fuel oil is widely used as a fuel for heating plants and ships in the Arctic zones.

“We compared fuel oil of the conventional brands and that one produced from rubber waste. The obtained data prove that the fuel oil produced from rubber waste surpasses all the properties of conventional fuel oil. Particularly, sulfur content is considerably lower in the fuel oil produced from rubber waste that makes it more environmentally friendly. At the same time, it is less viscous and solid, which is important for use. It burns and gives up the same energy as conventional brands do,” Maria Kirgina, Associate Professor of the TPU Division for Chemical Engineering, who conducted research of fuel oil, says.

The TPU scientists already conducted the required complex of fundamental research, created the experimental installation. Engineering documentation on the creation of the experimental installation capable to recycle up to 300 kg of crumb rubber per hour is currently developed jointly with an industrial partner, the Innovatech scientific production association from Saint Petersburg.

“A university is a basic site for technology adjustment. In order to take the next intensive steps towards the introduction of the technology into the industry, we require the participation of industrial partners and investment,” Vladimir Gubin notes

Besides the frost-resistant fuel oil, the technology also allows simultaneously producing gas that can be returned to a technological cycle and producing carbon black as fine powder. The fine powder can be used, for instance, in pavement materials.

 

Scanning electron microscope upgraded to operate faster

Posted on by Editorial Team

An ultra-high-resolution scanning electron microscope that is a part of the TPU Center for Collective Use, has been upgraded at the university. Using the microscope, it is possible to research the morphology and composition of structural elements of a wide variety of materials with resolution up to 1 nm. The renewal allowed reducing the research timing and increasing the quality of research findings.

The scanning electron microscope operates at TPU academic building No.10. The entire renewal conducted by the grant of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation has already been finished.

“In 2008, a microscope of Japanese manufacturing was purchased at TPU within the project of the Federal Target Program for Development of Nanoindustrial Facilities, however, it has remained the only equipment at TPU allowing to research problematic samples of nanostructural materials with nanoscale resolution.

“It is implemented due to two features: the unsurpassed homogeneity of a cathode ray and the capability of operation at extremely low acceleration voltages. The closest tool with the same parameters from the same producer is located in Moscow, while alternative models with similar characteristics are not already produced by this producer or its rivals,” Edgar Dvilis, Senior Research Fellow of the TPU Innovation Center for Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies, says.

The microscope allows scientists to see what structural elements are present in the materials they create, how they are distributed on the surface and related to it and each other. Using the microscope, nanoporous ceramics and membranes, nanoparticles, nanofibers and nanotubes, nanocrystals in the coating films are studied at TPU. Moreover, simultaneously with morphological analysis of the material, elemental analysis can be conducted to find out what chemical elements form the material.

A focused electron flux interacts with the material during the analysis. The products of this interaction are secondary electrons or back-scattered electrons, which are captured by special sensors from every particular point of the sample surface when it is scanned by the thinnest electron flux. Based on it, a complete picture of the material surface is formed in the fixed area.

“During the renewal, a more modern vacuum system was equipped at the microscope that allows preparing the tool for operation faster thereby significantly reducing overall analysis time. The microscope was equipped with an infrared video camera as well. Using this camera, an operator can observe what happens in a sample chamber and does not manipulate the samples randomly having no impact on the analysis results.

“Furthermore, a sputter cleaning installation was purchased to clean the sample surface from carbon contamination essentially affecting the analysis results. The sputter cleaning installation is multipurpose as it is designed for sample preparation not only of a scanning electron microscope but also for sample preparation of an ultra-high resolution transmission electron microscope that is one more unique installation possessed by TPU,” Edgar Dvilis explains.

It is planned that the renewal of the scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope will be continued in 2021. Particularly, for the scanning electron microscope, it is planned to purchase a modern product system of high-resolution energy dispersive X-ray analysis improving the quality of analysis results and not demanding resource-consuming liquid-nitrogen refrigeration.

The transmission electron microscope is planned to equip with a new high vacuum system and a set of improved sample holders for expanding a list of materials appropriate for analysis.

TPU creates an advanced system simulating emergency in electric power system

Posted on by Editorial Team

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University have created a decision support system (DSS) for dispatching personnel of electric power systems (EPS). The system allows dispatchers to quickly test their actions on the management of the EPS, to control and evaluate their consequences using a digital simulator in a regime faster than real-time.

The article devoted to the research work is published in the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (Q1, IF 6.074) academic journal, one of the most peer-reviewed journals in energy, energy technology, electrical engineering and electronics industries.

“An EPS is some kind of a living organism within that changes are permanently and continually taking place. In order for this organism to function properly and without any failures, it must be controlled. This extremely complicated task is carried out by dispatching personnel. Moreover, wrong or belated actions of a dispatcher can exacerbate an emergency,” Aleksey Suvorov, Associate Professor of the TPU Division for Power and Electrical Engineering, one of the authors of the article, says.

He adds that the DSS is a continuation of the research work for a multiprocessor system for real-time simulation of the EPS. For this development, a research team of young scientists from the TPU Research Laboratory for Power Grid Simulation, including Mikhail Andreev, Nikolay Ruban, Aleksey Suvorov and Ruslan Ufa, was conferred with the Russian Federation Government Prize in Science and Technology for Young Scientists. The comprehensive simulation system allows obtaining a huge volume of information on the operation of the EPS. The data are kept on the server. The DSS operates with these data.

“A DSS has been created based on a hybrid approach to EPS simulation that was developed by Alexander Gusev, Professor of the TPU Division for Power and Electrical Engineering. Its core lies in the combination of existing simulation techniques (analog, physical and digital) and the use of the best properties and capabilities of each of the techniques. Using a DSS, methodically accurate simulation is implemented in real time of the EPS of any scale and complication,” the scientist explains.

“The system is actually an alternative to a real EPS, its digital simulator. Furthermore, due to the properties of a hybrid approach, a simulation capability faster than in real time implemented. On the current element base, it was possible to speed up by five folds. It allows the operator to test several case scenarios, to choose the most effective one, to adjust a regime state and only after that to act in a real EPS, reducing a possible negative effect from his actions,” he continues.

All components of the system, including special software, are developed at TPU. The system effectiveness was tested at a real EPS of the Tomsk Region.

“The DSS simultaneously operates with the EPS and collects data from the operative-information complex (OIC). The OIC monitors a regime of the EPS, collects the data about voltage, power and controls how the system operates,” he says.

“To test the system, we created a special emulator simulated the OIC. Using the emulator, an emergency visible for the dispatcher and the system was simulated. The DSS software contains all required algorithms and case scenarios. The dispatchers possess very strict regulatory directions regarding what actions must be taken in any situation,” Aleksey elaborates.

“According to the occurred emergency, the DSS processes the incoming information and suggests patterns based on the direction. Besides, due to the fast simulation, the dispatcher possesses more time to control and take the rightest pattern.”

The effectiveness of the system operation was also experimentally tested jointly with scientists from the Indian Institutes of Technology (Roorkee).

TPU scientists find method to more effectively predict properties of isotopologues of chlorine dioxide

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University has conducted research on the 35ClO2 isotope and developed a mathematical model and software, which allow predicting characteristics by 10 folds more accurate than already known results. The research work was conducted by a research team of Russian, German and Swiss scientists. The research findings are published in the Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (IF: 3,4; Q1) academic journal and listed as one of the best articles.

The ClO2 molecule is extremely important for medicine and biophysics, as well as for the Earth atmosphere. It is used in medicine for disinfection and sterilization. On a global scale, ClO2 plays one of the crucial roles in the formation and migration of ozone holes.

“The theoretical background for nonlinear molecules in so-called non-singlet electronic states, including ClO2, has been poorly developed until very recently. To study such molecules, scientists use a mathematical apparatus for linear molecules. As the molecule and its structure are different, there are large observational errors,” Oleg Ulenekov, Professor of the TPU Research School of High-Energy Physics, the co-author of the article, says.

“We created a mathematical model that takes into account subtle effects, the interaction of rotations and spin-rotational interactions in nonlinear molecules. The mathematical model gives the results with high accuracy that allows obtaining unique data and, the most important is that, predicting the properties of molecules with high accuracy,” Oleg continues.

The TPU scientists compiled the mathematical model of the 35ClO2 molecule for double electronic states and included it in computer codes. This software application can read and predict experimental data, that is properties of a molecule in the given range and its state transitions. Spectral analysis of the molecule based on the compiled model possesses the result by 10 folds accurate than already known ones.

Based on the created model, the scientists conducted an analysis of rotational-vibrational spectra in a degenerate electronic state. The experimental basis of the research work was conducted in the Laboratory for Molecular Spectroscopy at Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany) and ETH Zurich (Switzerland).

According to the scientists, the compiled model possesses a more unique character and it can be developed and adapted to the other ranges.

“Having published the results, the editorial staff of the journal reported that the article was selected and put in the hot topic section, the so-called pool of the best articles. Such recognition of the work of the international research team is very important and valuable. We are planning to continue the research work and apply the model for analysis of the 37ClO2 isotope,” Elena Bekhtereva and Olga Gromova, Professors of the TPU Research School of High-Energy Physics, the co-authors of the article, add.

Teams from Kazakhstan, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tomsk Make It to Next Round of TPU’s Urban Greenhouse Challenge

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The jury of Urban Greenhouse Challenge: Reforest, an international competition currently being held at TPU, has selected the best projects to the next round. Ten interdisciplinary student teams have made it into the final.

It is the first time Urban Greenhouse Challenge: Reforest has been held at a Russian university. Tomsk Polytechnic University became its main organizer. The students are to develop a prototype for a city farm, an autonomous greenhouse for growing coniferous and deciduous seedlings on multi-tiered shelving units. The prize pool of the competition is $10 000.

“Over 20 teams from 12 countries of the world including Kazakhstan, Portugal, Italy, France, China, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and others took part in the selection round. We had students from 57 universities, 11 of them were foreign,” Maxim Volkov, Head of TPU International Cooperation Division, says.

“It was challenging to select the best projects for the final. The experts note a high level of the concepts submitted. The final top ten was difficult enough to choose. In the nearest time, the contestants will work with our mentors to polish and fine-tune their projects. We will sum up the results in the summer of 2021,” adds Maxim.

The finalists are: Accelerator (St. Petersburg Mining University, St. Petersburg); Engineers of the Future (Udmurt State University, Izhevsk); Environmental Engineering Group (TPU, TSU, TUSUR, TSUASU, Tomsk); Green Garden (Ugra State University, Khanty-Mansiysk); Green Spot (Voronezh State University of Forestry named after G.F. Morozov, Voronezh; Gubkin Petroleum Geoecologists (GUBKIN UNIVERSITY National University of Oil and Gas, Moscow) REWIND group (Karaganda Technical University, Karaganda BUKETOV University, Republic of Kazakhstan); Skyff (UrFU, TPU, Higher School of Economics, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk, Moscow); TimiryazevLandscape (Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, ITMO University); YOLKA-IGOLKA (Kryachkov Novosibirsk State University of Architecture, Design and Arts, Novosibirsk State Technical University).

“It is a particularly powerful feature that the projects are presented by truly interdisciplinary teams. We have students of very different fields of study like ecology and nature management, environmental management and water management, design, chemistry, landscape architecture, chemical technology, materials science and many others. Only teamwork and knowledge sharing help to achieve really interesting results,” Maxim Volkov adds.

Urban Greenhouse Challenge: Reforest is supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Nuffic Neso Russia (Netherlands Education Support Office) – the official representative of Dutch higher education in Russia, Schneider Electric – the world expert in energy management and automation with divisions in over 100 countries, and iFarm – a company developing solutions for modern urban farming.

The official media partner of the competition is Social Navigator, an outreach project of Rossiya Segodnya international news agency.

Curved plasmonic fluxes reveal new way to practical light manipulation within nanoscale

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Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University jointly with Russian colleagues and researchers from the Technical University of Denmark for the first time have experimentally proved the existence of a two-dimensional (2D) curved flux of plasmonic quasiparticles, a plasmonic hook.

A flat 2D hook is smaller than a 3D hook and possesses new properties, due to them, the researchers consider it as the most promising transmitter in high-speed microoptical circuits. The research findings are published in Applied Physics Letters (IF: 3,597; Q1) academic journal.

Electrons transmit information in existing calculation devices. The scientists suppose if electrons are replaced by photons, light quanta, it will be possible to transmit the data literally at the speed of light. In order that microoptical circuits and optical computers would become ordinary devices and become mass-produced, it is required to find a way to compress light to the nanoscale.

“We are searching for new types of curved wave fluxes, which can solve this task. Previously, we simulated and experimentally proved the existence of photonic and acoustic hooks and now we have proved the existence of a plasmonic hook. Nowadays, it is the most promising method to transmit a signal. The plasmonic wavelength is shorter than a 3D wavelength in free space and the area of radiation localization is in nanoscale. It is a crucial indicator for miniaturization,” Igor Minin, Professor of the TPU Division for Electronic Engineering, a supervisor of the research work, says.

The authors of the article obtained a flat plasmonic hook using a simple and cheap focusing element. The flat plasmonic hook is an asymmetric dielectric particle sized 4-5 μm and about 0.25 μm thick. According to the scientists, the participle shape can be various, in this case, it was a microcube with a docked prism. This particle was placed on the 0.1 μm thick gold film, on the other side of the film, the diffraction grating was deposited.

During the experiments, the laser ray was directed at the diffraction grating. Plasmon resonance occurred next to the surface of the diffraction grafting under sunlight that is the sunlight was converted into plasmonic waves. These waves passed through the asymmetric dielectric particle focused in a 2D curved ray.

“We obtained a 2D curved ray due to a special shape of a dielectric particle. One of the mechanisms of sub-wave structured focusing is based on the phenomenon of a plasmonic nanojet that we managed to experimentally fix for the first time earlier. When we shift the free 3D space to plasmon polaritons, in other words, 2D space, the quantum nature of matter reveals,” Igor Minin, TPU Professor, initiator of the research work, says.

“It allows implementing implicitly new opportunities to control the interaction between matter and light, for instance, to implement biosensing methods based on the detection of micro- and nanoparticles, biomolecules in the near field. ”

“Of course, it is too early to speak about the application of results, it is a task for future research. Therefore, any research and experiments to transmit signals based on optical principles are still in the practice of fundamental research. Scientists of various fields will have to overcome many challenges to create, for instance, a productive optical computer or even efficient microcircuits. To overcome these challenges, 10-15 years might be spent,” Igor explains.

The research work was partially supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (20-57-S52001) and the TPU Competitiveness Enhancement Program.

The researchers from Technical University of Denmark, Institute of Ultra-High Frequency Semiconductor Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology took part in the research work.

TPU scientists obtain high-entropy carbide in electric arc plasma

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Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University have synthesized high-entropy carbide consisting of five various metals using a vacuum-free electric arc method. The research findings are published in the Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics.

High-entropy carbides are a new class of materials simultaneously consisting of four or more various metals and carbon. Their main feature lies in the capability to endure high temperatures and energy flux densities. Combining various elements in the composition, it is possible to obtain the required mix of features (melting point, oxidation temperature, specific weight and others).

“High-entropy materials are called in such a way due to a relatively high degree of disorder in the crystalline lattice, as an atom of every chemical element possesses a certain size in the crystalline lattices. It causes structural distortions and can positively affect material properties,” Alexander Pak, Research Fellow of the TPU Research Center – Ecoenergy 4.0, explains.

The TPU scientists managed to synthesize high-entropy carbide consisting of Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta and C. Carbide was obtained using a vacuum-free electric arc synthesis. High temperatures are required for a reaction, in order, every primary component interacting with C connects to the face-centred cubic lattice and forms ultra-refractory carbide. Scientists use electric arc plasma to obtain it.

“We became the first who could obtain high-entropy carbide using a vacuum-free electric arc method. It is a great rarity and success for us to synthesize a material that has recently been discovered and to use our method at electric arc reactors created by our research team,” Alexander Pak adds.

“We are planning to improve a synthesis process to obtain a clearer and uncontaminated material, to reduce energy intensity, as well as to research material properties and synthesize high-entropy carbides of the other chemical composition.”

The research work is being conducted jointly with scientists of the A.V. Luikov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The scientists applied for a patent (method of producing TiZrNbHfTaC5 high-entropy carbide).