Evaluation of cut cell cartesian method for simulation of a hook and claw type hydrogen pump

Hook and claw pumps are used for recirculation of excess hydrogen in fuel cells. Optimization of the pump design is essential. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) is an effective method for performance optimization. However, it is difficult to conduct CFD simulation because of the sharp cusp of the rotor profile. Cut cell Cartesian mesh could be the solution to handle this complex and moving geometries. The aim of this paper is to evaluate ANSYS Forte for hook and claw pumps. Firstly, the conservation accuracy of the cut cell cartesian mesh is verified using an adiabatic piston cylinder case. Then, simulation results of hook and claw type pump are compared with experimental data. Finally, simulation results of air and hydrogen are compared. The results show that the CFD simulation of hook and claw pumps using cut cell cartesian mesh could provide an efficient and effective approach for the optimization of the system.     

Effect of wind condition on unintended hydrogen release in a hydrogen refueling station

Ambient condition, especially the wind condition, is an important factor to determine the behavior of hydrogen diffusion during hydrogen release. However, only few studies aim at the quantitative study of the hydrogen diffusion in a wind-exist condition. And very little researches aiming at the variable wind condition have been done. In this paper, the hydrogen diffusion in different wind condition which including the constant wind velocity and the variable wind velocity is investigated numerically. When considering the variable wind velocity, the UDF (user defined function) is compiled. Characteristics of the FGC (flammable gas cloud) and the HMF (hydrogen mass fraction) are analyzed in different wind condition and comparisons are made with the no-wind condition. Results indicate that the constant wind velocity and the variable wind velocity have totally different effect for the determination of hydrogen diffusion. Comparisons between the constant wind velocity and the variable wind velocity indicate that the variable wind velocity may cause a more dangerous situation since there has a larger FGC volume. More importantly, the wind condition has a non-negligible effect when considering the HMF along the radial direction. As the wind velocity increases, the distribution of the HMF along the radial direction is not Gaussian anymore when the distance between the release hole and the observation line exceeds to a critical value. This work can be a supplement of the research on the hydrogen release and diffusion and a valuable reference for the researchers.     

Designing amorphous formulations of polyphenols with naringin by spray-drying for enhanced solubility and permeability

Naringin (NAR), a major flavanone (FVA) glycoside, is a component of food mainly obtained from grapefruit. We used NAR as a food additive to improve the solubility and permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols used as supplements in the food industry. The spray-dried particles (SDPs) of NAR alone show an amorphous state with a glass transition temperature (T_g) at 93.2 °C. SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols, such as flavone (FVO), quercetin (QCT), naringenin (NRG), and resveratrol (RVT) were prepared by adding varying amounts of NAR. All SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols with added NAR were in an amorphous state with a single T_g, but SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols without added NAR showed diffraction peaks derived from each crystal. The SDPs with NAR could keep an amorphous state after storage at a high humidity condition for one month, except for SDPs of RVT/NAR. SDPs with NAR enhanced the solubility of hydrophobic polyphenols, especially NRG solubility, which was enhanced more than 9 times compared to NRG crystal. The enhanced solubility resulted in the increased membrane permeability of NRG. The antioxidant effect of the hydrophobic NRG was also enhanced by the synergetic effect of NAR. The findings demonstrated that NAR could be used as a food additive to enhance the solubility and membrane permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols.     

2.3–21 GHz broadband and high linearity distributed low noise amplifier

This paper focuses on the design of a 2.3–21 GHz Distributed Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) with low noise figure (NF), high gain (S₂₁), and high linearity (IIP3) for broadband applications. This distributed amplifier (DA) includes S/C/X/Ku/K-band, which makes it very suitable for heterodyne receivers. The proposed DA uses a 0.18 μm GaAs pHEMT process (OMMIC ED02AH) in cascade architecture with lines adaptation and equalization of phase velocity techniques, to absorb their parasitic capacitances into the gate and drain transmission lines in order to achieve wide bandwidth and to enhance gain and linearity. The proposed broadband DA achieved an excellent gain in the flatness of 13.5 ± 0.2 dB, a low noise figure of 3.44 ± 1.12 dB, and a small group delay variation of ±19.721 ps over the range of 2.3–21 GHz. The input and output reflection coefficients S₁₁ and S₂₂ are less than −10 dB. The input compression point (P_1dB) and input third-order intercept point (IIP3) are −1.5 dBm and 11.5 dBm, respectively at 13 GHz. The dissipated power is 282 mW and the core layout size is 2.2 × 0.8 mm².     

Numerical study on laminar burning velocity of ammonia flame with methanol addition

The combustion characteristics of ammonia/methanol mixtures were investigated numerically in this study. Methanol has a dramatic promotive effect on the laminar burning velocity (LBV) of ammonia. Three mechanisms from literature and another four self-developed mechanisms constructed in this study were evaluated using the measured laminar burning velocities of ammonia/methanol mixtures from Wang et al. (Combust.Flame. 2021). Generally, none of the selected mechanisms can precisely predict the measured laminar burning velocities at all conditions. Aiming to develop a simplified and reliable mechanism for ammonia/methanol mixtures, the constructed mechanism utilized NUI Galway mechanism (Combust.Flame. 2016) as methanol sub-mechanism and the Otomo mechanism (Int. J. Hydrogen. Energy. 2018) as ammonia sub-mechanism was optimized and reduced. The reduced mechanism entitled ‘DNO-NH3’, can accurately reproduce the measured laminar burning velocities of ammonia/methanol mixtures under all conditions. A reaction path analysis of the ammonia/methanol mixtures based on the DNO-NH3 mechanism shows that methanol is not directly involved in ammonia oxidation, instead, the produced methyl radicals from methanol oxidization contribute to the dehydrogenation of ammonia. Besides, NO_x emission analysis demonstrates that 60% methanol addition results in the highest NO_x emissions. The most important reactions dominating the NO_x consumption and production are identified in this study.     

Maximum likelihood-based adaptive differential evolution identification algorithm for multivariable systems in the state-space form

Parameter estimation plays an important role in the field of system control. This article is concerned with the parameter estimation methods for multivariable systems in the state-space form. For the sake of solving the identification complexity caused by a large number of parameters in multivariable systems, we decompose the original multivariable system into some subsystems containing fewer parameters and study identification algorithms to estimate the parameters of each subsystem. By taking the maximum likelihood criterion function as the fitness function of the differential evolution algorithm, we present a maximum likelihood-based differential evolution (ML-DE) algorithm for parameter estimation. To improve the parameter estimation accuracy, we introduce the adaptive mutation factor and the adaptive crossover factor into the ML-DE algorithm and propose a maximum likelihood-based adaptive differential evolution algorithm. The simulation study indicates the efficiency of the proposed algorithms.     

Ultrasonic tomographic velocimeter for visualization of axial flow fields in pipes

An ultrasonic tomographic velocimeter to provide quantitative images of axial flow fields in pipes is developed and presented in this work. To detect the flow in various directions and positions, a novel transducer configuration strategy is proposed. All-in-one transducers are mounted in two sectional planes of the pipe. In each plane, N transducers are equally spaced along the circumference. Overlapped propagation paths are introduced by the configuration strategy, and the influence of the vortex flow can be eliminated theoretically by averaging the line velocities of the overlapped paths. To achieve a fast detection speed, the projection data is collected via an electrical scan in a fan-beam mode. After rearrangement and interpolation of the projection data, the parallel beam filtered back projection (FBP) algorithm is implemented to reconstruct the axial flow field. Numerical simulations with the theoretical velocity profiles were performed. The compensation method for the vortex flow is proved to be effective and necessary, and the number of transducers required for reconstruction of common flow profiles was estimated. Accordingly, an ultrasonic tomographic velocimeter consisting of 2×12 transducers was fabricated. Experiments were conducted in the straight pipe and downstream of a single bend pipe and compared with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results. As demonstrated, the ultrasonic tomographic velocimeter was capable of visualizing both symmetric and asymmetric axial flow fields with high reliability.     

Exactly satisfying initial conditions neural network models for numerical treatment of first Painlevé equation

In this paper, novel computing approach using three different models of feed-forward artificial neural networks (ANNs) are presented for the solution of initial value problem (IVP) based on first Painlevé equation. These mathematical models of ANNs are developed in an unsupervised manner with capability to satisfy the initial conditions exactly using log-sigmoid, radial basis and tan-sigmoid transfer functions in hidden layers to approximate the solution of the problem. The training of design parameters in each model is performed with sequential quadratic programming technique. The accuracy, convergence and effectiveness of the proposed schemes are evaluated on the basis of the results of statistical analyses through sufficient large number of independent runs with different number of neurons in each model as well. The comparisons of these results of proposed schemes with standard numerical and analytical solutions validate the correctness of the design models.     

In situ efficiency of filters in residential central HVAC systems

High-efficiency filtration in residential forced-air heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems protects equipment and can reduce exposure to particulate matter. Laboratory tests provide a measure of the nominal efficiency, but they may not accurately reflect the in situ efficiency of the filters because of variations in system conditions and changes in filter performance over time. The primary focus of this paper is to evaluate the effective filtration efficiency, which is inclusive of any loading and system impacts, in 21 occupied residential homes through in-duct concentration measurements. We considered the role of filter media by testing both electret and non-electret media, as well as the role of loading by considering new and used filters. The results show that filters with higher nominal efficiency generally had higher effective filtration efficiency in the same home. In terms of performance change, there is no significant difference in efficiency between initial and 3-month non-electret filters, but the efficiency of electret filters generally decreased over time. However, both nominal efficiency and performance change were vastly overshadowed by the wide variety in loading and system conditions across homes, making it hard to predict filter efficiency in a given home without in situ measurements.     

积分中值屈服准则解析厚板轧制椭圆速度场

为解决非线性Mises比塑性功率积分困难以及由此导致的轧制功率解析式难以获得的问题,本文通过建立并利用线性比塑性功率表达式对提出的椭圆速度场进行能量分析,得到了轧制力能参数的解析解.文中通过对变角度屈服函数求积分中值,构建了一个新的屈服准则,它是主应力分量的线性组合,在π平面上的轨迹是逼近Mises圆的等边非等角的十二边形,其基于Lode参数表达式的理论结果也与实验数据吻合较好.同时,根据厚板轧制时金属流动速度从入口到出口逐渐增大的特点,提出了水平速度分量满足椭圆方程的速度场,该速度场满足运动许可条件.通过相应的轧制能量分析,获得了基于线性屈服准则的内部变形功率以及基于应变矢量内积法上的摩擦功率与剪切功率.在此之上,通过泛函的极值变分导出了轧制力矩、轧制力以及应力状态系数的解析解,并与现场实测数据进行了对比,结果表明利用本文提出的屈服准则与速度场所建立的轧制力矩与轧制力模型与实测值吻合较好,其中轧制力误差小于5.3%,轧制力矩误差在6%左右.