Energy,exergy and exergo-environmental impact assessment of a solid oxide fuel cell coupled with absorption chiller & cascaded closed loop ORC for multi-generation

A novel solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) multigeneration system fueled by biogas derived from agricultural waste (maize silage) is designed and analyzed from the view point of energy and exergy analysis. The system is proposed in order to limit the greenhouse gas emissions as it uses a renewable energy source as a fuel. Electricity, domestic hot water, hydrogen and cooling load are produced simultaneously by the system. The system includes a solid oxide fuel cell; which is the primary mover, a biogas digester subsystem, a cascaded closed loop organic Rankine cycle, a single effect LiBr-water absorption refrigeration cycle, and a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer subsystem. The proposed cascaded closed-loop ORC cycle is considered as one of the advanced heat recovery technologies that significantly improve thermal efficiency of integrated systems. The thermal performance of the proposed system is observed to be higher in comparison to the simple ORC and the recuperated ORC cycles. The integration of a splitter to govern the flue gas separation ratio is also introduced in this study to cater for particular needs/demands. The separation ratio can be used to vary the cooling load or the additional power supplied by the ORC to the system. It is deduced that net electrical power, cooling load, heating capacity of the domestic hot water and total energy and exergy efficiency are 789.7 kW, 317.3 kW, 65.75 kW, 69.86% and 47.4% respectively under integral design conditions. Using a parametric approach, the effects of main parameters on the output of the device are analyzed. Current density is an important parameter for system performance. Increasing the current density leads to increased power produced by the system, decreased exergy efficiency in the system and increased energy efficiency. After-burner, air and fuel heat exchangers are observed to have the highest exergy destruction rates. Lower current density values are desirable for better exergy-based sustainability from the exergetic environmental impact assessment. Higher current density values have negative effect on the environment.     

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.     

上海市火力发电行业能源计量现状分析

能源计量与节能监测、能源审计、能源统计、能源利用状况分析是用能单位能源管理和节能工作的基础。通过对本市部分火力发电企业的现场调研，针对性地提出改进建议，以期帮助用能单位增强能源计量在节能减排工作中的有效性。     

Effect of titanium diboride on the homogeneity of boron carbide ceramic by flash spark plasma sintering

A novel method, namely flash spark plasma sintering (FSPS), combining flash sintering and electric field assisted sintering, was utilized to densify boron carbide/titanium diboride (B₄C/TiB₂) composites. Further, sintering homogeneity of the composites with different contents of TiB₂ was systematically investigated and theoretical model was built. Results indicated that addition of 50?wt% TiB2 led to the densification of B₄C/TiB₂ composite by up to 97.7% with regional range 1.9% at 1872?°C under pressure of 4?MPa in 60?s. The preferential pathway of TiB₂ network proves to disperse the central current and distribute thermal flow throughout the specimen possibly via tunneling, electronic field emission effect at first stage and lower-resistance composite pathway latter, contributing to the increased homogeneity.     

Boost converter with adaptive reference tracking control for dimmable white LED drivers

An LED driver consisting of dimmable current regulators and a boost converter with adaptive reference tracking control (ARTC) is proposed. The ARTC is realized with only one integrator and one subtractor to detect the voltage variation among the current regulators and then to generate an adaptive reference tracking voltage. Based on the reference tracking voltage, the driving voltage of the boost converter is dynamically adjusted, so as to not only maintain a minimum voltage on the current regulator but also keep the required LED-string current. A prototype control circuit including ARTC and PWM control fabricated with TSMC 0.35-μm 2P4M CMOS process validates the proposed technique. The measurement results show that the driving voltage of the boost converter is automatically regulated to compensate for the voltage alteration on the current regulators. Furthermore, the overall efficiency of the LED driver with ARTC is 6.1% better than that of the LED driver without ARTC.     

Rogowski coil current transducer compensation method for harmonic active power error

In the harmonic active power measurement, the highest uncertainties are generally introduced by the current and voltage transducers. In a previous paper, the authors showed that the current transformer (CT) can introduce significant errors in such measurement, especially if the phase shift between voltage and current is close to ±90°. In such condition the errors on harmonic power measurement are mainly due to the CT phase displacement. This paper shows that better results can be achieved with more linear transducers, such as the Rogowski coil current transducers (RCCTs), whose metrological performance in distorted condition can be improved, by means of a proper compensation method. The proposed method for RCCTs compensation is based on the frequency response and it allows to reduce the errors on harmonic power measurement, also for phase shift close to ±90°. The study is supported by several experimental tests.     

Literature Listing

The quarterly Literature Listing is intended as a current awareness service for readers indicating newly published books, journal and conference articles on: patent search techniques, databases, analysis and classifications; patent searcher certification; patents relating to a) life sciences and pharmaceuticals and b) software; patent policy and strategic issues; trade marks; designs; domain names; and articles reviewing historical aspects of intellectual property or reviewing specific topics/persons. The current Literature Listing was compiled end-November 2019. Key resources used are Scopus, Digital Commons, publishers’ RSS feeds, and serendipity! Please feel free to send the author details of newly published reports/monographs/books for potential inclusion.     

Empirical correlations for the performance of a PEFC considering relative humidity of fuel and oxidant gases

The growing energy demand and the impact of polluting gases lead to the necessity of alternative energy sources and conversion energy devices. Fuel cells (FCs) appears as a suitable solution for facing the mentioned issues. Predicting the behavior of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) under different conditions represents a proper initial step to solve the several issues, e.g., aging water balance problems, which occur inside the cell during the energy conversion process. Understanding microstructural impacts of the diffusion media, water management issues of FCs or the impacts of the inlet reactant gases to the cell represent some of the processes that have to be analyzed to improve the efficiency and behavior of FCs.The current study aims, based on experimentally collected data, to propose empirical correlations that describe and predict the performance of a PEFC. The single cell considered in this study corresponds to a single PEFC with a Nafion® 112 membrane as electrolyte and with an effective area of 25 cm². Relative humidity as a function of the reactive inlet gas temperature, as well as the power and the current density as a function of the cell/reactant gas temperature gradient are analyzed. In addition, correlations for power and current density as a function of the relative humidity (RH) have been proposed. Our correlations are obtained for an operating voltage of 0.6 V. It was shown a strong correlation between the power and current densities with the RH since the membrane conductivity depends mainly on the water content. The PEFC behavior was evaluated at different RHs. The results show big losses of operating power and current densities, as well as an increment of the resistance of the membrane when it operates at low RH.     

电能替代实施现状及发展趋势预判

20132019年电能替代得到大力实施,替代电量稳步增加,替代领域不断扩增,未来电能替代电量依然呈现增长趋势。本文首先对电能替代的实施现状及存在问题进行总结和梳理。其次,从技术、政策及市场等方面分析电能替代的发展趋势。最后,初步测算电能替代潜力,分不同情境给出电能替代量预测结果。     

Mechanism of enhancement in magnetoresistance properties of manganite perovskite ceramics by current annealing

Studies on spintronics have provided solid evidence that the grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline manganite can produce a strong extrinsic magnetoresistance (MR). This type of MR, called Low-field MR (LFMR), is larger than the intrinsic MR and can be triggered over a wide range of temperature. However, the existence of more GBs would bring about the weakening of magnetism and decrease the magnitude of MR simultaneously. Here we show that during annealing the application of electric-current to a representative ferromagnetic manganite perovskite, polycrystalline La_2/3Sr_1/3MnO₃ (LSMO), can produce more GBs and improve low-field magnetization, which leads to enhanced MR effect and field-response sensitivity as compared to the traditional-annealed sample. By using static micromagnetic models combined with the theories of spin-polarized intergrain tunneling and charge carrier hopping across domain wall, the observed enhancement of magnetoresistive response in current-annealed LSMO can be well explained.