Optimal operating conditions to maximize the net power of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: The stack-system interface of a commercial 18 kW module

A new, experimental method based on air flow rate rather than current is presented to optimize operating parameters for the stacks and systems of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) for maximizing their net power. This approach is illustrated for a commercial 18 kW PEMFC module. The impact of contamination pressure drop across the cathode air filter is also investigated on the compressor behavior. It is further shown that a 4V reduction in the compressor voltage reduces its power consumption by 9.1%. Using the 3D graphs of the power-pressure-flow data, it is found that the stack pressure of 180 kPaa is superior to the higher tested pressures as it enhances the net power by 7.0 and 13.7% at different conditions. Application of the present study will lead to the development of PEMFCs with higher power output by optimizing stack pressure, stoichiometry and air flow to properly deliver the system design specifications.     

Recent progress on the discrete element method simulations for powder transport systems: A review

Powder transport systems are ubiquitous in various industries, where they can encounter single powder flow, two-phase flow with solids carried by gas or liquid, and gas–solid–liquid three-phase flow. System geometry, operating conditions, and particle properties have significant impacts on the flow behavior, making it difficult to achieve good transportation of granular materials. Compared to experimental trials and theoretical studies, the numerical approach provides unparalleled advantages over the investigation and prediction of detailed flow behavior, of which the discrete element method (DEM) can precisely capture complex particle-scale information and attract a plethora of research interests. This is the first study to review recent progress in the DEM and coupled DEM with computational fluid dynamics for extensive powder transport systems, including single-particle, gas–solid/solid–liquid, and gas–solid–liquid flows. Some important aspects (i.e., powder electrification during pneumatic conveying, pipe bend erosion, non-spherical particle transport) that have not been well summarized previously are given special attention, as is the application in some new-rising fields (ocean mining, hydraulic fracturing, and gas/oil production). Studies involving important large-scale computation methods, such as the coarse grained DEM, graphical processing unit-based technique, and periodic boundary condition, are also introduced to provide insight for industrial application. This review study conducts a comprehensive survey of the DEM studies in powder transport systems.     

基于CFD⁃DEM的水下切粒装置水室内颗粒流动过程数值模拟

基于CFD?DEM耦合方法，研究了颗粒在水室内的流动状态，分析了不同刀盘转速、粒子水通入量和水室出口角度对造粒过程的影响，发现提高刀盘转速、增加粒子水通入量和水室出口倾斜一定的角度都有利于水室内颗粒的排出。进一步研究了颗粒与碎屑在水室内的流动，发现在水室出口处二者的流动基本呈现出一定的分离角度。     

基于VMD和改进TCN的短期光伏发电功率预测

光伏发电功率存在波动性,且光伏出力易受各种气象特征影响,传统TCN网络容易过度强化空间特性而弱化个体特性。针对上述问题,文中提出一种基于VMD和改进TCN的短期光伏发电功率预测模型。通过VMD将原始光伏发电功率时间序列分解为若干不同频率的模态分量,将各个模态分量以及相对应的气象数据输入至改进TCN网络进行建模学习。利用中心频率法确定VMD的最优分解模态分解个数。在传统TCN预测模型的基础上,使用DropBlock正则化取代Dropout正则化以达到抑制卷积层中信息协同的效果,并引入注意力机制自主挖掘并突出关键气象输入特征的影响,量化各气象因素对光伏发电的影响,从而提高预测精度。以江苏省某光伏电站真实数据为例进行仿真实验,结果表明所提预测方法的RMSE为0.62 MW,MAPE为2.03%。     

A new analysis of two phase flow on hydrogen production from water electrolysis

It is clear that the entire world have to research, develop, demonstrate and plan for alternative energy systems for shorter term and also longer term. As a clean energy carrier, hydrogen has become increasingly important. It owes its prestige to the increase within the energy costs as a result of the equivocalness in the future availability. Two phase flow and hydrogen gas flow dynamics effect on performance of water electrolysis. Hydrogen bubbles are recognized to influence energy and mass transfer in gas-evolving electrodes. The movement of hydrogen bubbles on the electrodes in alkaline electrolysis is known to affect the reaction efficiency. Within the scope of this research, a physical modeling for the alkaline electrolysis is determined and the studies about the two-phase flow model are carried out for this model. Internal and external forces acting on the resulting bubbles are also determined. In this research, the analytical solution of two-phase flow analysis of hydrogen in the electrolysis is analyzed.     

Efficient utilization of waste heat from molten carbonate fuel cell in parabolic trough power plant for electricity and hydrogen coproduction

Direct steam generating parabolic trough power plant is an important technology to match future electric energy demand. One of the problems related to its emergence is energy storage. Solar-to-hydrogen is a promising technology for solar energy storage. Electrolysis is among the most processes of hydrogen production recently investigated. High temperature steam electrolysis is a clean process to efficiently produce hydrogen. In this paper, steam electrolysis process using solar energy is used to produce hydrogen. A heat recovery steam generator generates high temperature steam thanks to the molten carbonate fuel cell's waste heat. The analytical study investigates the energy efficiency of solar power plant, molten carbonate fuel cell and electrolyser. The impact of waste heat utilization on electricity and hydrogen generation is analysed. The results of calculations done with MATLAB software show that fuel cell produces 7.73 MWth of thermal energy at design conditions. 73.37 tonnes of hydrogen and 14.26 GWh of electricity are yearly produced. The annual energy efficiency of electrolyser is 70% while the annual mean electric efficiency of solar power plant is 18.30%.The proposed configuration based on the yearly electricity production and hydrogen generation has presented a good performance.     

Systematic analysis and multi-objective optimization of an integrated power and freshwater production cycle

This study represents the results of the analysis and optimization of an integrated system for cogenerating electricity and freshwater. This setup consists of a Solid Oxide Fuel cell (SOFC) for producing electricity. Unburned fuel of the SOFC is burned in the afterburner to increase the temperature of the SOFC's outlet gasses and operate a Gas turbine (GT) to produce additional power and operate the air compressor. At the bottom of this cycle, a combined setup of a Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) is considered to produce freshwater from the unused heat capacity of the GT's exhaust gasses. Also, a Stirling engine is used in the fuel supply line to increase the fuel's temperature. Using LNG and the Stirling engine will replace the fuel compressor with a pump which increases the system performance and eliminates the need for the expansion valve. To study the system performance a mathematical model is developed in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program. Then, the system's simulated data from the EES has been sent to MATLAB to promote the best operating condition based on the optimization criteria. An energetic, exergetic, economic, and environmental analysis has been performed and a Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) is used to achieve the goal. The two-objective optimization is performed to maximize the exergetic efficiency of the proposed system while minimizing the system's total cost of production. This cost is a weighted distribution of the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and Levelized Cost of freshwater (LCOW). The results showed that the exergetic and energetic efficiencies of the system can reach 73.5% and 69.06% at the optimum point. The total electricity production of the system is 99 MW. The production cost is 11.71 Cents/kWh, of which 1.04 Cents/kWh is emission-related and environmental taxes. The freshwater production rate is 42.44 kg/s which costs 4.38 USD/m³.     

Thermal destratification of cryogenic liquid storage tanks by continuous bubbling of gases

This paper focuses on thermal destratification and pressurisation inside thermally stratified storage tanks by continuous gas bubbling. The primary purpose of doing these studies is to better understand the effect of bubble dynamics on thermal destratification and quantify the extent of destratification. The volume of fluid and interface compression method of OpenFOAM CFD code is utilised for the present analysis. Different values of inlet gas velocities (V_g), orifice diameters (d_o), and arrangement of the orifices in triangular and square fashion with different pitches (p/d_o) are considered. In addition, the effect of gravitational forces (g/g_e) on thermal destratification is also reported. For all these cases, the effectiveness of thermal destratification is quantified in terms of a newly defined parameter, the destratification index (I_d). For V_g = 1 m/s, the I_d value is maximum compared to lower V_g values. It is seen that when the gas velocity increased from 0.3 m/s to 1.0 m/s, the average effectiveness in thermal destratification (I_davg) and pressure at the ullage increased by 44.38% and by 64.81%, respectively. The I_davg and pressure at ullage increased by 96.29% and 14.91%, respectively, when the g/g_e ratio changed from 0.3 to 3. Compared to the triangular arrangement with p/d_o = 10, the calculated I_davg increased by 30.67% when gas inlets were arranged with a square pitch of 10. For p/d_o = 4, 6 and 8, the increments in I_davg are of the order of 12.86%, 19.43% and 21.92%, respectively, for gas inlets arranged in a square fashion as compared to the triangular arrangement. It is found that continuous bubbling with gas inlets arranged in square pitch p/d_o = 10 gives higher effectiveness in thermal destratification. Thus, by these studies, one can develop a thermal destratification mechanism with continuous bubbling for optimum performance. Also, these studies give an overall idea of sparger design for getting the correct gas flow rate for thermal destratification within the cryogenic liquid storage tanks.     

An analytical model for gas leakage through contact interface in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Sealing performance between two contacting surfaces is of significant importance to stable operation of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. In this work, an analytical micro-scale approach is first established to predict the gas leakage in fuel cells. Gas pressure and uneven pressure distribution at the interface are also included in the model. At first, the micro tortuous leakage path at the interface is constructed by introducing contact modelling and fractal porous structure theory. In order to obtain the leakage at the entire surface, contact pressure distribution is predicted based on bonded elastic layer model. The gas leakage through the discontinuous interface can be obtained with consideration of convection and diffusion. Then, experiments are conducted to validate the numerical model, and good agreement is obtained between them. Finally, influences of surface topology, gasket compression and gasket width on leakage are studied based on the model. The results show that gas leakage would be greatly amplified when the asperity standard deviation of surface roughness exceeds 1.0 μm. Gaskets with larger width and smaller thickness are beneficial to sealing performance. The model is helpful to understand the gas leakage behavior at the interface and guide the gasket design of fuel cells.     

Squeezed MHD tangent hyperbolic fluid flow across a sensor surface

In the present numerical study, the combined effect of temperature-dependent thermal conductivity, linear thermal radiation, and magnetic effect on shear-thinning tangent hyperbolic fluid past a sensor surface has been studied. After converting the modelled partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations by using similarity transformation, the system of equations is tackled with the aid of the shooting method. The influence of important parameters on the fluid motion and energy distribution is displayed graphically and analyzed in detail. The presented simulations depict that a significant rise in fluid velocity is noticed for an enhancement in the magnetic parameter while an opposite trend is observed for the temperature distribution. Moreover, the skin friction coefficient decreases as the squeezed flow index is increased.