Applications of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Grid-Scale Energy Storage Systems

In the electrical energy transformation process,the grid-level energy storage system plays an essential role in balancing power generation and utilization.Batteries have considerable potential for application to grid-level energy storage systems because of their rapid response,modularization,and flexible installation.Among several battery technologies,lithium-ion batteries(LIBs) exhibit high energy efficiency,long cycle life,and relatively high energy density.In this perspective,the properties of LIBs,including their operation mechanism,battery design and construction,and advantages and disadvantages,have been analyzed in detail.Moreover,the performance of LIBs applied to grid-level energy storage systems is analyzed in terms of the following grid services:(1) frequency regulation;(2) peak shifting;(3) integration with renewable energy sources;and(4) power management.In addition,the challenges encountered in the application of LIBs are discussed and possible research directions aimed at overcoming these challenges are proposed to provide insight into the development of grid-level energy storage systems.     

Blind separation of speech signals based on wavelet transform and independent component analysis

Speech signals in frequency domain were separated based on discrete wavelet transform （DWT） and inde- pendent component analysis （ICA）. First, mixed speech signals were decomposed into different frequency domains by DWT and the subbands of speech signals were separated using ICA in each wavelet domain; then, the permutation and scaling problems of frequency domain blind source separation （BSS） were solved by utilizing the correlation between adjacent bins in speech signals; at last, source signals were reconstructed from single branches. Experiments were car- ried out with 2 sources and 6 microphones using speech signals at sampling rate of 40 kHz. The microphones were aligned with 2 sources in front of them, on the left and right. The separation of one male and one female speeches lasted 2.5 s. It is proved that the new method is better than single ICA method and the signal to noise ratio is improved by 1 dB approximately.