Heat transfer enhancement of concentrated solar absorber using hollow cylindrical fins filled with phase change material

A concentrated solar absorber with finned phase change materials was experimentally studied using a Scheffler type parabolic dish concentrator. The absorber's inner surface was fixed with hollow cylindrical containers filled with phase change material (PCM) for heat transfer augmentation. The absorber's selected PCM was acetanilide (Melting point of 116 °C)—the cylindrical capsules protruding into the fluid side to create turbulence and mixing and acting as fins. The absorber surface temperature was observed to be about 130–150 °C during the outdoor tests while passing fluid through the absorber. The fluid flow rate varied from 60 to 100 kg/h during the outdoor experiments. The peak energy and exergy efficiency of parabolic dish collector (PDC) at the fluid flow rate of 80 kg/h with PCM integrated solar absorber was found to be about 67.88% and 6.96%, respectively. The integration of cylindrical PCM containers resulted in more heat transfer augmentation in the solar absorbers. The optimized solar absorber could be suitable for various applications like steam generation, biomass gasification, space heating, and hydrogen generation.     

Influence of anode current density on carbon parasitic reactions during electrolysis

In the electro-deoxidation process, carbon parasitic reaction (CO₃^2- + 4e^-=C + 3O^2-) usually occurs when using carbon materials as the anode, which leads to increase of the carbon content in the final metal and decrease of the current efficiency of the process. The aim of this work is to reduce the negative effect of carbon parasitic reaction on the electrolysis process by adjusting anode current density. The results indicate that lower graphite anode area can achieve higher current density, which is helpful to increase the nucleation site of CO₂ bubbles. Most of CO₂ would be released from the anode instead of dissolution in the molten CaCl₂ and reacting with O^2- to form CO₃^2-, thus decreasing the carbon parasitic reaction of the process. Furthermore, the results of the compared experiments show that when the anode area decreases from 172.78 to 4.99 cm², CO₂ concentration in the released gases increases significantly, the carbon mass content in the final metal product decreased from 1.09% to 0.13%, and the current efficiency increased from 6.65% to 36.50%. This study determined a suitable anode current density range for reducing carbon parasitic reaction and provides a valuable reference for the selection of the anode in the electrolysis process.     

Exploring the relationship between the physical properties of activated carbon catalysts and their efficiency in catalyzing hydrogen iodide decomposition to produce hydrogen

Using simple and efficient methods to synthesize biological activated carbon catalysts (ACCs) with the decomposition of hydrogen iodide (HI) in the sulfur-iodine cycle as a typical reaction is urgently needed for the commercialization of hydrogen energy production and development. In this study, a series of ACCs with different specific surface areas (SSAs) and pore structures are prepared by comparing and controlling the changes in carbonization and activation methods of activated carbon (AC) preparation process. Hierarchical porous AC with larger SSA has higher HI decomposition efficiency. The representative samples H240H1h and H240C4h are hierarchical porous ACCs with 48.96% and 46.88% micropores, respectively, and have the highest catalytic activity in the entire series. The nitrogen adsorption and desorption curve is combined with pore size distribution data and analyzed using the capillary aggregation (Kelvin) and monolayer adsorption (Langmuir) theories. And ACC pore grading coefficient—which can improve data visualization—is introduced.     

A novel strategy based on salp swarm algorithm for extracting the maximum power of proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Cell temperature and water content of the membrane have a significant effect on the performance of fuel cells. The current-power curve of the fuel cell has a maximum power point (MPP) that is needed to be tracked. This study presents a novel strategy based on a salp swarm algorithm (SSA) for extracting the maximum power of proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). At first, a new formula is derived to estimate the optimal voltage of PEMFC corresponding to MPP. Then the error between the estimated voltage at MPP and the actual terminal voltage of the fuel cell is fed to a proportional-integral-derivative controller (PID). The output of the PID controller tunes the duty cycle of a boost converter to maximize the harvested power from the PEMFC. SSA determines the optimal gains of PID. Sensitivity analysis is performed with the operating fuel cell at different cell temperature and water content of the membrane. The obtained results through the proposed strategy are compared with other programmed approaches of incremental resistance method, Fuzzy-Logic, grey antlion optimizer, wolf optimizer, and mine-blast algorithm. The obtained results demonstrated high reliability and efficiency of the proposed strategy in extracting the maximum power of the PEMFC.     

An experimental study for optimizing the energy efficiency of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell with an open-cathode

To develop an operating strategy for maximizing the energy efficiency of open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cells (OCPEMFCs), the present study investigates the effect of the fan speed on the stack performance and energy efficiency using a commercially available OCPEMFC system. The temperature, voltage, and current of the stack are monitored, and the energy efficiency is calculated at various stack power levels. The results of the system with a lab-developed controller are compared with the commercial system with a built-in controller. It is found that the fan speed should be minimum to reduce the auxiliary power consumption and that the stack should be efficiently heated to enhance the electrochemical reaction. In addition, it is noticed that the stack performance dramatically drops when the stack temperature is above 75 °C, due to the membrane dehydration. Overall, the results show that the stack temperature is an important indicator for controlling the fan speed for optimization of energy efficiency, and for stack powers of 50, 60, 70, and 80 W, the peak values of energy efficiencies are 38.0%, 38.3%, 38.5%, and 38.3% at the duty cycles of 0.2, 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3, respectively, which are 28–38% higher than the commercially available OCPEMFC system.     

Novel navigation signal design based on spreading code time shift position modulation

A novel navigation signal design method based on spread code time shift position modulation was proposed,which inherits the idea of separating the pilot signal component and the data signal component,and applies time shift position of the spread code to carry data information.The old pattern of using carrier phase to carry information was changed,the power efficiency of data signal components and the performances of the satellite navigation system were improved.Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the transmission rate of data signal component or power ratio of the pilot signal component to data signal component without increasing the total transmission power.Then,the transmission rate,acquisition and tracking performance,positioning accuracy and other technical indicators of the satellite navigation system can be further improved.     

超生雾化降尘研究及应用

为解决某矿破碎筛分车间粉尘污染问题，采用喷嘴雾化理论设计喷嘴雾化降尘实验，并根据实验结果在该矿破碎筛分车间应用了超声雾化降尘技术。实验及应用结果表明：超声雾化发生器的液体雾化装置，气体辅助雾化装置和雾束形成器的几何结构影响喷雾的雾化参数与流量特性，液体雾化器与气体辅助雾化装置影响液体初次破碎与雾化，雾束形成器影响雾滴的二次破碎与约束液束形态；超声雾化发生器的气液比与气液压力比存在幂函数关系，幂指数为-1.09；雾滴粒径越小，雾滴的降尘效率越高，当雾滴D50为23 μm时，雾滴的降尘效率在94%以上；在破碎筛分车间振动筛给料皮带和筛上皮带受料点布置超声雾化发生器，超声雾化发生器开启后，车间内粉尘浓度降低至586～10.54 mg/m3，降尘效率在71.38%以上。     

Participatory system dynamics modelling for housing,energy and wellbeing interactions

The built environment is a key target of decarbonization policies. However, such policies often have a narrow objective and narrow focus, resulting in ‘policy-resistance’ and unintended consequences. The literature attributes these unintended consequences to a narrow financial focus, adverse incentives, and inadequate handling of knowledge, skills, communication and feedback gaps, but it provides little advice on how these complex interactions can be captured. This paper illustrates the development and application of an integrated approach to address these complex interactions with regard to housing performance, energy, communal spaces and wellbeing. In particular, it explores the dynamics created by these relationships with simulation modelling in participatory settings, and with a diverse group of stakeholders. The simulation results suggest that monitoring is key to improve the performance of the housing stock besides energy efficiency; and investments in communal spaces positively affect the adoption of energy-efficiency measures and the wellbeing of residents. The evaluation results for participatory workshops show this approach was found useful by the stakeholders for supporting more integrated decision-making about housing. In future research, this approach can be implemented for policy problems in specific contexts.     

半导体激光器辐照损伤效应实验研究进展

半导体激光器(LD)工作在空间辐射或核辐射环境中时,会受到辐照损伤的影响而导致器件性能退化。文章回顾了不同时期研制的LD(从早期的GaAs LD到量子阱LD和量子点LD)在辐照效应实验方面的研究进展,梳理了国际上开展不同辐射粒子或射线(质子、中子、电子、伽马射线)诱发LD辐射敏感参数退化的实验规律,分析总结了当前LD辐照效应实验方法研究中亟待解决的关键技术问题,为今后深入开展LD的辐照效应实验方法、退化规律、损伤机理及抗辐射加固技术研究提供理论指导和实验技术支持。     

Estimation of Antenna Correlation Coefficient of N-Port Lossy MIMO Array

This paper proposes a simple yet accurate method for estimating the antenna correlation coefficient (ACC) of a high-order multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna. The conventional method employed to obtain the ACC from three-dimensional radiation patterns is costly and difficult to measure. An alternate method is to use the S-parameters, which can be easily measured using a network analyzer. However, this method assumes that the antennas are highly efficient, and it is therefore not suitable for lossy MIMO antenna arrays. To overcome this limitation, we define and utilize the non-coupled radiation efficiency in the S-parameter-based ACC formula. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified by the simulation results of a 4-port highly coupled lossy MIMO array. Further, the proposed method can be applied to N-port arrays by expanding the calculation matrix.