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Solenoid valves are important electromagnetic devices which are used widely in various fields. Considering the uncertainty of failure mechanisms in practical operation, a thermal-structure coupled model of a direct action solenoid valve is constructed by using the finite element method. The coupled model provides useful information such as temperature distribution and stress distribution for failure mechanism study of the solenoid valve. The model results predict that the failure of the solenoid valve is closely related to the thermal expansion inside the coil, which means the high temperature generated by thermal expansion melts the insulation layers. Under the combined action of high temperature and coupled stress, the shorting of coils occurs and the resistance decreases which may cause the eventual failure of the solenoid valve. To verify the prediction of the finite element model, a degradation experiment is designed. The results suggest that the failure of the solenoid valve is a gradual degradation process, and there are several mutations of coil temperature and resistance. The high temperature melts the insulation layers and causes the shorting of coils, which further decreases the resistance and increases the current. Later more heat is generated to rise coil temperature and melt insulation layers, which will short out the coils and drop the resistance. With such a relationship, as the temperature rises alternately, the resistance decreases alternately until the solenoid valve completely fails. The model provides a reference for failure mechanism study and life prolonging research of solenoid valves.

Lithium-ion batteries on electric vehicles have been increasingly deployed for the enhancement of grid reliability and integration of renewable energy, while users are concerned about extra battery degradation caused by vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operations. This paper details a multi-year cycling study of commercial 24 Ah pouch batteries with Li(NiMnCo)O2 (NCM) cathode, varying the average state of charge (SOC), depth of discharge (DOD), and charging rate by 33 groups of experiment matrix. Based on the reduced freedom voltage parameter reconstruction (RF-VPR), a more efficient non-intrusive diagnosis is combined with incremental capacity (IC) analysis to evaluate the aging mechanisms including loss of lithium-ion inventory and loss of active material on the cathode and anode. By analyzing the evolution of indicator parameters and the cumulative degradation function (CDF) of the battery capacity, a non-linear degradation model with calendar and cyclic aging is established to evaluate the battery aging cost under different unmanaged charging (V0G) and V2G scenarios. The result shows that, although the extra energy throughput would cause cyclic degradation, discharging from SOC 90 to 65% by V2G will surprisingly alleviate the battery decaying by 0.95% compared to the EV charged within 90–100% SOC, due to the improvement of calendar life. By optimal charging strategies, the connection to the smart grid can potentially extend the EV battery life beyond the scenarios without V2G.

Biochemical and biomolecular archaeology is increasingly used to elucidate the consumption, use, origin, and trade of plants in the past. However, it can be challenging to use biomarkers to identify the taxonomic origin of archaeological plants due to limited knowledge of molecular survival and degradation for many key plant compounds in archaeological contexts. To gain a fundamental understanding of the chemical alterations associated with chemical degradation processes in ancient samples, we conducted accelerated degradation experiments with essential oil derived from cedar (Cedrus atlantica) exposed to materials commonly found in the archaeological record. Using GC-MS and multivariate analysis, we detected a total of 102 compounds across 19 treatments that were classified into three groups. The first group comprised compounds that were abundant in fresh cedar oil but would be unlikely to remain in ancient residues due to rapid degradation. The second group consisted of compounds that remained relatively stable or increased over time, which could be potential biomarkers for identifying cedar in archaeological residues. Compounds in the third group were absent in fresh cedar oil but were formed during specific experiments that could be indicative for certain storage conditions. These results show that caution is warranted for applying biomolecular profiles of fresh plants to ancient samples and that carefully designed accelerated degradation experiments can, at least in part, overcome this limitation.