Numerical and experimental investigation of a thermosiphon solar water heater system thermal performance used in domestic applications

The thermosiphon is a passive heat exchange method, which circulates a fluid within a system without the need for any electrical or mechanical pumps. The thermosiphon is based on natural convection where the thermal expansion occurs when the temperature difference has a corresponding difference in density across the loop. Thermosiphons are used in different applications such as solar energy collection, automotive systems, and electronics. The current study aims to investigate thermosiphon thermal performance used in domestic applications. The thermal performance of a thermosiphon has been studied by many researchers; however, according to the knowledge of the authors, the influence of the amount of the working fluid on the thermal output has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the influence of the amount of working fluid within the riser pipe has been investigated on the thermal performance of the thermosiphon. In the current study, a computational fluid dynamics model is involved. This model has been validated by comparison with experimental findings. The maximum variation between numerical and experimental results is 14.2% and 11.2% for the working fluid at the inlet and outlet of the absorber pipe, respectively. Furthermore, the results show that the amount of working fluid inside the closed thermosiphon has a great influence on the thermal performance of the system. Additionally, it is found that Case-B, when the amount of working fluid is less than by 10% compared to the traditional model, is the best case among all cases under study. Furthermore, a correlation equation to predict water temperature at the exit of the absorber pipe has been established with an accuracy of 95.05%.     

Experimental study on combustion stability and performance of hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas of a free-piston linear generator

Free Piston linear Generator (FPLG) engine fueled by compressed natural gas (CNG) has recently gained increased research attention. However, due to the low-velocity burning and poor lean limit of CNG fuel, the FPLG engine combustion stability, performance, and efficiency are still low. Hydrogen has a greater burning velocity with wider flame limits that could extend the lean burn limits and combustion characteristics of CNG. This paper compares pure CNG and 10% hydrogen-enriched CNG at various ignition speeds (0.6 ms, 0.8 m/s, and 1 m/s), injection positions (0 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm and 15 mm), and lambda ratios (0.9, 1.4 and 1.7) on the combustion characteristics, performance, and conversion efficiency are duly discussed. The findings show that the FPLG combustion stability limits increase with the hydrogen addition into the CNG. The CNG in-cylinder pressure increases significantly when the injection position is advanced, whereas the hydrogen addition reduces the influence of the injection position. The heat release rate increases by 15.62% and 23.72% with hydrogen addition, corresponding to the advanced and retarded injection positions. Consequently, the hydrogen addition increases the power RMS to 209.21 W and 232.64 W with an increment of 3.46% and 3.13%, respectively. Conclusively, the hydrogen addition into the CNG evidently shortens the combustion duration while improving the heat release rate, combustion stability, power RMS, Cycle-to-Cycle variation, and conversion efficiency.     

Conversion of aqueous extracts from thermochemical treatment of bagasse into functional emulsifiers

Synthetic emulsifiers in food industries are being replaced with a customer-friendly food ingredient that is derived from biomass using sustainable green technologies. After hydrothermal liquefaction treatment, raw bagasse (21%), pith (26%), and rind portions (25%) were obtained with reduced ash contents. As aqueous extracts, with oligosaccharides and lignin residues, it was used in the preparation of oil-in-water emulsions with 5% soybean oil. Results showed that the emulsions stabilised the oil droplets with particle size between 11 and 17 µm by steric repulsion with raw bagasse-stabilised emulsion showing a better stability at 25 °C (31 days). It was demonstrated that raw bagasse extracts, without alteration, maybe a potential unconventional source for food-grade emulsifiers by integrating a versatile thermochemical conversion of waste without the use of chemicals.     

What are the potential strategies to achieve potentially more healthful meat products?

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the consumption of meat and processed meat, and their relationship with a healthy diet. This review provides an overview of the potential strategies, which can be used to provide the implications for producing healthy, wholesome and consistently high-quality meat products. Genetic selection, nutrition and feeding management, and gene manipulation techniques have been used as the main strategies to induce beneficial changes in meat and meat composition. Besides, the incorporation of ingredients that play a technological role and are potentially health-enhancing, such as fibre, fat substitutes, natural antioxidants and the reduction of sodium and nitrites, has a high potential in the development of healthier meat products. In this review, we have observed that many strategies have been successfully used to obtain products with low fat, reduced sodium and nitrite content, low cholesterol and absence of synthetic antioxidants. Another point to be highlighted is that some of these strategies also allow obtaining products with positive health effects that can be potential alternatives to improve consumer acceptance.     

Design and computational analysis of a metal hydride hydrogen storage system with hexagonal honeycomb based heat transfer enhancements-part A

In this study, design and performance analysis is carried out for a 10 kWh metal hydride based hydrogen storage system. The system is equipped with distinctive aluminium hexagonal honeycomb based heat transfer enhancements (HTE) having higher surface area to volume ratio for effective heat transfer combined with low system weight addition. The system performance was studied under different operating conditions. The optimum absorption condition was achieved at 35 bar with water at room temperature as heat transfer fluid where up to 90% absorption was completed in 7200 s. The performance of the reactor was observed to significantly improve upon the addition of the HTE network at a minimal system weight penalty.     

Soft Matter Technology at KIT: Chemical Perspective from Nanoarchitectures to Microstructures

Bioinspiration has emerged as an important design principle in the rapidly growing field of materials science and especially its subarea, soft matter science. For example, biological cells form hierarchically organized tissues that not only are optimized and designed for durability, but also have to adapt to their external environment, undergo self‐repair, and perform many highly complex functions. Being able to create artificial soft materials that mimic those highly complex functions will enable future materials applications. Herein, soft matter technologies that are used to realize bioinspired material structures are described, and potential pathways to integrate these into a comprehensive soft matter research environment are addressed. Solutions become available because soft matter technologies are benefitting from the synergies between organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, and materials science.     

Natural Gas Production

Current data on natural gas production, as well as a breakdown of production by country. Updated on a monthly basis.     

Misconceptions of human factors concepts

Abstract

Like many scientific topics, Human Factors, and Ergonomics concepts are susceptible to being misunderstood by people unfamiliar with the subject matter. Most of the time these misunderstandings are harmless, like when a safety poster within a work setting encourages employees to 'overcome complacency'. This misunderstanding of complacency suggests it is a motivational aspect of human behaviour correctable with encouragement, whereas the human factors approach to overcoming complacency would be to evaluate how task design could diminish the destructive consequences of unexpected changes within a routine setting. No harm comes from the message within the safety poster, other than some wasted ink and paper, but misconceptions among particular audiences can eventually result in dire consequences for the human operator. This paper presents recent evidence that the concepts are being misapplied by casual consumers of human factors, particularly in the aftermath of accidents within complex systems, in ways detrimental to the core mission of improving the well-being of the human operator. Later, because this special issue presents new ways to demonstrate value via return on investment, practical efforts we can take to overcome such misconceptions are suggested.     

枪管结构对固有频率的影响

为了研究枪管结构对枪管固有频率的影响,针对枪管尤其是狙击枪管设计中约束长度、枪管外形、膛口装置以及膛线等不同结构,建立了相应的三维模型。采用以六面体为主的网格对枪管进行了网格划分,采用有限元方法对枪管进行了模态分析。计算获得了不同结构枪管的固有频率; 通过比较,得到了不同枪管结构对固有频率的影响。分析结果表明:枪管尾部螺纹长度越长,枪口振动幅度越低; 相同质量枪管,锥形外形枪管刚度最好; 加装膛口装置对枪管刚度和振动特性有不利影响。