Numerical study of nanofluid heat transfer for different tube geometries – A comprehensive review on performance

The heat transfer performance of a system can be improved using a combination of passive methods, namely nanofluids and various types of tube geometries. These methods can help enhance the heat transfer coefficient and consequently reduce the weight of the system. In this paper, the effect of tube geometry and nanofluids towards the heat transfer performance in the numerical system is reviewed. The forced convective heat transfer performance, friction factor and wall shear stress are studied for nanofluid flow in different tube geometries. The thermo-physical properties such as density, specific heat, viscosity and thermal conductivity are reviewed for the determination of nanofluid heat transfer numerically. Various researchers had measured and modelled for the determination of thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids. However, the density and specific heat of nanofluids can be estimated with the mixture relations. The different tube geometries in simulation work are analyzed namely circular tube, circular tube with insert, flat tube and horizontal tube. It was observed that the circular tube with insert provides the highest heat transfer coefficient and wall shear stress. Meanwhile, the flat tube has greater heat transfer coefficient with a higher friction factor compared to the circular tube.     

Polyurethanes as solid–solid phase change materials for thermal energy storage

Polyurethane polymers (PUs) have been synthesized as solid–solid phase change materials for thermal energy storage using three different kinds of diisocyanate molecules and polyethylene glycols (PEGs) at three different molecular weights. PEGs and their derivatives are usually used as phase change units in polymeric solid–solid phase change materials due to the hydroxyl functional groups. 1000, 6000, and 10,000 g/mol number average molecular weight PEGs are used as working element as hexamethylene, isophorone, and toluene diisocyanates are used as hard segment at the backbone. The effects of molecular weight of PEG and type of diisocyanate on the thermal energy storage properties have been discussed. Only two of the produced polymers show solid–liquid phase change as the rest show solid–solid phase transitions. The produced PUs with a solid–solid phase transitions have potential to be used in thermal energy storage systems.     

Second law analysis of coupled conduction–radiation heat transfer with phase change

This work considers an exergy-based analysis of two-dimensional solid-liquid phase change processes in a square cavity enclosure. The phase change material (PCM) concerns a semi-transparent absorbing, emitting and anisotropically scattering medium with constant thermodynamic properties. The enthalpy-based energy equation is solved numerically using computational fluid dynamics. Once the energy equation is solved, local exergy loss due to heat conduction and radiative heat transfer during the phase change process is calculated by post processing procedures. In this work, the radiation exergy loss in the medium and at the enclosure boundary is taken into consideration. It is found that radiation exergy loss is significant in the high-temperature phase change process. Parametric investigation is also carried out to study the effects of Stefan number, Biot number, Planck number, single scattering albedo and wall emissivity on exergy loss. The results show that the total exergy loss increases with Biot number, single scattering albedo and wall emissivity. The second law effects of the conduction–radiation coupling in the energy equation are also shown in this work.     

Design and optimization of an air heating solar collector with integrated phase change material energy storage for use in humidification–dehumidification desalination

Compared to solar water heaters, high-temperature solar air heaters have received relatively little investigation and have resulted in few commercial products. However, in the context of a humidification–dehumidification (HD) desalination cycle, air heating offers significant performance gains for the cycle. Heating at a constant temperature and constant heat output is also important for HD cycle performance. The use of built in phase change material (PCM) storage is found to produce consistent air outlet temperatures throughout the day or night. In this study, the PCM has been implemented directly below the absorber plate. Using a two dimensional transient finite element model, it is found that a PCM layer of 8 cm below the absorber plate is sufficient to produce a consistent output temperature close to the PCM melting temperature with a time-averaged collector thermal efficiency of 35%. An experimental energy storage collector with an 8 cm thick PCM layer was built and tested in a variety of weather and operating conditions. Experimental results show strong agreement with model in all cases.     

Experimental study on the performance of a heat pump system with refrigerant mixtures’ composition change

An experimental study on the capacity control of a heat pump system has been performed using refrigerant mixtures of R32/134a. A test apparatus was made of a refrigeration part and two different types of composition changing parts; a single separator system and a separator–rectifier combined system. Analysis of the separation process was made for a basic single separator system. In order to pursue a wider range of composition change, a separator–rectifier combined system with packed-type distillation column was designed with Raschig ring as packing material. The composition changing part was connected to the condenser outlet and the evaporator inlet. Heating capacity, cooling capacity, and coefficient of performance (COP) of the system were measured under heating and cooling conditions. When the single separator system was used as a composition changing part, the range of composition change in the refrigeration system was approximately 13%. Around 26% of composition change was obtained using the separator–rectifier combined system. From the composition change with the separator–rectifier combined system, the capacity improved from 2.6 to 3.4 kW in the cooling test and from 1.8 to 2.4 kW in the heating test. As the composition of R32 increases, heating and cooling capacities were improved, whereas the value of COP with the refrigerant mixture is enhanced due to a temperature glide effect. It is concluded that the system capacity can be adjusted to meet load requirements by controlling the composition of the refrigerant mixture.     

Transient safety evaluation of the heat pipe microreactor – Potential energy source for hydrogen production

Recently, microreactor designs have been receiving significant attention in the nuclear industry due to their potential advantages in certain applications. These nuclear reactor designs have been considered to provide reliable and sustainable power for on-site installation and operation. Microreactors may be utilized to provide heat and power to hydrogen production, remote communities, and industrial facilities such as military installations, disaster relief zones, and are being considered for underwater and deep space operation as well. However, these designs and concepts remain largely untested and unproven in the commercial industry. Further research and development are still required to prove microreactor designs are safe and reliable for commercial use. Different cooling technologies have been taken into consideration for microreactor concepts since the 1960s, mainly for federal space reactor projects such as LEGOLRCS, HOMER, and KRUSTY. This work provides thermal hydraulics and analysis for the Idaho National Laboratory's MAGNET (Micro-reactor Agile Non-nuclear Experimental Testbed) facility. The MAGNET facility is currently being developed to duplicate a microreactor design using heat pipe cooling technology. Our main goal is to examine the response of the test facility under steady-state and transient operation conditions. We constructed our own estimated model of the MAGNET geometry using a software coupling method made up of MOOSE/SAM software systems. The steady state results of this work have been published in a former article. The new results mainly focus on the transient states. By communicating with the Idaho National Laboratories, we upgraded the geometry of MAGNET heat pipes. This not only verifies the design of the facility under such conditions but also benchmarks the modeling capability of the MOOSE/SAM code system that can be potentially used to model other microreactor concepts in the future.     

Effect of particle size on the performance of rare earth–Mg–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloy electrode

Rare earth–Mg–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloy has been synthesized by vacuum induction levitation melting and sieved into five particle size fractions from 120 mesh to below 800 mesh. The effect of particle size on the electrochemical behaviors has been investigated. It was found that the alloy electrode with the particle size of 220–325 mesh exhibited better cyclic stability and high rate dischargeability than the larger or smaller alloy powders. The pulverization and the surface oxidation/corrosion have been studied by SEM, AES, and XPS methods. The results showed that the pulverization rate became faster with the increase of the particle size. The formation of an oxide layer with proper thickness during cycling can effectively improve the cyclic stability for the 220–325 mesh alloy electrode. The capacity degradation and the electrochemical kinetics of the alloy electrodes of different particle sizes are determined by the pulverization rate and the oxidation of active components on the alloy surface during cycling in the alkaline electrolyte.     

Effect of cell compression on the performance of a non–hot-pressed MEA for PEMFC

In this study, the effect of cell compression on the performance of a non–hot-pressed membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is presented. The MEA is made without hot pressing, by carefully placing the gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) and a membrane in a fuel cell fixture. Cell performance is assessed at five different compression ratios between 3.6% and 47.8%. It has been shown that ohmic resistance of the cell, mass transport resistance of reactants, charge transfer resistance at electrode, and overall cell performance are strongly dependent on the cell compression. On increasing the cell compression gradually, cell performance improves initially, reaches the best, and then deteriorates. The cell performance is assessed at fully humidified condition and at dry condition. Optimum cell performances are obtained at compression ratios of 14.2% and 25.7% for 100% relative humidity (RH) and 50% RH, respectively. It is also found that the cell with proper compression and at fully humidified conditions can deliver similar performance to a conventional hot-pressed MEA. Finally, it is shown that after the tests, GDEs can be peeled out, and the membrane inspection can be done as a postexperimental analysis.     

Experimental analysis of hydrogen storage performance of a LaNi5–H2 reactor with phase change materials

Energy storage, especially thermal energy storage, has an important place in terms of efficient use of energy. Systems in which phase change materials (PCMs) are used are among the thermal energy storage (TES) options, thanks to their advantages such as energy storage at almost constant temperature. The use of PCM as a TES material in the metal hydride (MH) reactor is an influential method to store the heat released by the exothermic reaction occurring in the hydrogen charging process and to recover this heat with the endothermic reaction occurring in the hydrogen discharge process. In the present study, hydrogen charge and discharge processes in a LaNi₅–H₂ reactor were experimentally investigated and compared with and without PCM. Therefore, a hybrid system was designed by integrating PCM around the cylindrical MH reactor filled with LaNi₅ alloy. The hydration process was carried out at both constant pressure and variable pressure. The temperature changes on the reactor surface and inside the PCM were measured over time. In experiments to determine the change in the amount of hydrogen stored in MH reactors over time, it was determined that the hydrogen storage pressure and reactor design significantly affect the hydrogen charge-discharge rate. Considering the use of MH reactors in transportation vehicles such as automobiles and submarines, designing a hybrid MH-PCM storage system is promising for the development of hydrogen storage technologies and transportation technologies.     

Study on preparation,structure and thermal energy storage property of capric–palmitic acid/attapulgite composite phase change materials

Fatty acid phase change materials (PCMs) have some advantages such as less corrosivity, no separation of subcooling phase and low price. In this paper, capric acid and palmitic acid are composited according to a certain mass ratio to prepare binary fatty acid. Capric–palmitic acid are absorbed into attapulgite by vacuum method to prepare capric–palmitic acid/attapulgite composite PCMs. Analysis methods such as differential scanning analysis (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and specific surface analysis (BET method) are used to test the thermal properties, structure and composition of the prepared composite PCM. The results indicate that the pore structure of the caplic–paltimic acid/attapulgite composite PCM is open-ended tubular capillary, which is beneficial to the adsorption. Capric acid and palmitic acid can be absorbed uniformly into attapulgite and the optimum absorption ratio of capric–palmitic binary fatty acid is 35%. There is no chemical reaction between the capric–palmitic acid and attapulgite. The phase change temperature of the capric–palmitic acid/attapulgite composite PCM is 21.71 °C and the latent heat is 48.2 J/g.     

Electrospun polyethylene glycol/cellulose acetate phase change fibers with core–sheath structure for thermal energy storage

The ultrafine phase change fibers (PCFs) with core–sheath structure based on polyethylene glycol/cellulose acetate (PEG/CA) blends were fabricated successfully via coaxial electrospinning for thermal energy storage. SEM and TEM images show that cylindrical and smooth phase change fibers are obtained and PEG as a phase change ingredient is encapsulated completely by CA sheath. The morphology of the composite fibers before and after thermal treatment indicates that the prepared fibers are form stable phase change materials (PCMs). The results from DSC demonstrate that the composite fibers impart balanced and reversible phase change behaviors, and phase transition enthalpies of the composite fibers increase with the increasing of PEG content in the fibers, while the phase transition temperatures of the fibers are similar with those of pure PEG. The stress–strain curves show that the ultimate strength and ultimate strain of the composite fibers are lower than those of CA fibers, and they decrease with the increase of PEG content. The PEG/CA composite fibers have extensive applications as a smart material for thermal energy storage and temperature regulation.     

Effect of rotation and internal heat generation on Darcy–Brinkman convection in Oldroyd-B liquid

Convection in an Oldroyd-B liquid saturated highly permeable porous medium is studied via both linear and nonlinear theories. Estimating a convection threshold is the objective of linear-stability analysis whereas convection amplitudes and heat transfer are elucidated by performing nonlinear-stability analysis. The eigenvalue problem is solved by the Galerkin method of weighted residuals. The oscillatory mode becomes dominant over the stationary mode. This is because of the race among diffusivity, viscoelasticity, internal-heat generation, and rotation. The increasing permeability, internal heat generation coefficient, and stress-relaxation parameter are liable to subcritical motions while the rotation, viscosities ratio, heat capacities ratio, and strain retardation parameter are responsible for the system attaining a supercritical state. The Runge–Kutta–Gill method presents the mechanism to evaluate the amount of heat transfer. The increasing Rayleigh number, internal Rayleigh number, Darcy number, Deborah number, Prandtl number, and the heat capacities ratio enhance the heat transfer. This offers a convenient mechanism for regulating convection. The results obtained in the present paper are expected to play a decisive role in some of the real-life applications such as oil-reservoir modeling, crude oil extraction, crystal growth, medicine industries, geothermal-energy utilization, and so on.     

Research on hydrogen permeability of polyamide 6 as the liner material for type Ⅳ hydrogen storage tank

As the liner material of type IV hydrogen storage tank, polymer is restricted in commercial application due to its high hydrogen permeability. In this paper, for the first time, the suitability of polyamide 6 (PA6) filled with lamellar inorganic components (LIC) as the hydrogen storage tank liner is comprehensively investigated, including thermal and mechanical properties, morphology and structure, rheology, and the hydrogen permeability under various temperature (−10 °C, 25 °C, 85 °C) and pressure (25 MPa, 35 MPa, 50 MPa) conditions. The results show that comparing with PA6, the thermal and processing properties of LIC/PA6 have been improved, the tensile strength, bending strength and bending modulus of LIC/PA6 are increased by 36%, 17% and 12%, respectively. Especially, the hydrogen permeability of LIC/PA6 is decreased by 3–5 times which meets the requirements specified by the hydrogen tank standard. The research work provides a theoretical basis and reference for the preparation and selection of high barrier liner materials in the future.     

Numerical study on melt fraction during melting of phase change material inside a sphere

This paper presents a numerical study on the constrained melting of phase change material (PCM) inside a sphere to investigate the effect of various factors on the melt fraction. A mathematical model of melting processes of the PCM inside a sphere is developed. And experiments are conducted to verify the numerical method. On the basis of the model, the effects of the sphere radius, the bath temperature, the PCM thermal conduction coefficient and the spherical shell material on the melt fraction of PCM inside a sphere are discussed. The results show that the PCM inside a sphere melts fast as the sphere radius is small, the bath temperature increases, and the PCM thermal conductivity is high. And the metal shell with high thermal conductivity should be adopted preferentially. The present study provides theoretical guidance for the design and operation of the phase change heat storage unit with sphere containers.     

Effect of Sm on hydrogen storage performance of La–Sm–Mg–Ni alloys

Abstract

In this study, Sm was adopted in order to completely replace the expensive Pr/Nd elements in the A2B7 type alloy. The results indicate that Sm is a favourable element for forming Ce2Ni7 type and Ce5Co19 type phases. With the increasing amount of Sm, the discharge capacity of the alloy retains a value of 283·3 mAh g^?1 at the current density of 1200 mA g^?1. The maximum discharge capacity of the alloys increases with the increasing Sm content when Mg content is relatively low. By optimising the composition and processing technology, the cycle life the alloy enhances from 74 cycles to more than 540 cycles, and the maximum discharge capacity also increases from 300 to 355 mAh g^?1.     

Evaluation of the mechanical performance of a composite multi-cell tank for cryogenic storage: Part II – Experimental assessment

This study focuses on the understanding of the thermal and structural behavior of an innovative Type IV multi-spherical composite-overwrapped pressure vessel through an experimental assessment that consists of hydrostatic testing at ambient conditions and pressure cycling with a cryogenic medium (LN₂). During hydro-burst testing at a high displacement rate, the strain and damage progression is monitored with Digital-Image-Correlation (DIC) and Acoustic Emission (AE) techniques respectively. The effect of filling with LN₂, pressure cycling and draining on the composite overwrap temperature gradient and strain evolution is additionally obtained with Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) and thermocouples. Utilization of AE helped to reveal the different damage mechanisms occurring and enabled the evaluation of the pressure window of the multi-sphere. The experimental measurements in the cryogenic regime verified the suitability of the involved stiffness and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) fitting functions developed in [32] that enable to establish of a relationship between strain and temperature during cryogenic chill-down and pressure cycling. This study provides a framework about the suitability of conformal Type IV multi-spherical COPVs for cryogenic storage.     

Effect of sulfites on the performance of LiBOB/γ-butyrolactone electrolytes

γ-Butyrolactone (GBL) increases the irreversible capacity of lithium ion battery when it is employed as the solvent for the lithium bis(oxalate)borate (LiBOB)-based electrolyte. To solve this problem, four sulfites are introduced to the electrolyte. The effects of ethyl sulfite (ES), propylene sulfite (PS), dimethyl sulfite (DMS) and diethyl sulfite (DES) on the LiBOB/GBL-based electrolytes are studied. The ionic conductivity, electrochemical stability, cycle performance and thermal stability of the sulfite containing electrolytes are tested and compared with that of the common electrolyte and the 1 M LiBOB/GBL electrolyte. The results indicate that the cyclic sulfites ES and PS show little benefit to the performance of the electrolyte. However, the linear sulfites DMS and DES could increase the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte and form an effective SEI film on the anode surface. In particular, the 1 M LiBOB/GBL + DMS (3:1 wt.) electrolyte mitigates the irreversible capacity and enhances the first coulomb efficiency and the capacity retention. The thermal stability of the DMS containing electrolyte is also improved and is better than that of the common electrolyte. These beneficial effects make them possibly to be a promising cosolvent for the LiBOB/GBL electrolyte.     

Estimation of parameters in multi-mode heat transfer problems using Bayesian inference – Effect of noise and a priori

Parameter estimation problems and heat source/flux reconstruction problems are some of the most frequently encountered inverse heat transfer problems. These problems find their application in many areas of science and engineering. The primary focus of this paper is on the heat transfer parameter estimation for a two-dimensional unsteady heat conduction problem with (a) convection boundary condition and (b) convection and radiation boundary condition. The paper demonstrates the effect of a priori model on the performance of the algorithm at different noise levels in the measured data. The inverse problem is solved using three different a priori models namely normal, log normal and uniform. The posterior PDF is sampled using the Metropolis–Hastings sampling algorithm. Both single-parameter estimation and multi-parameter estimation problems are addressed and the effects of corresponding a priori models are studied. It was found that the mean and maximum a posteriori estimates for thermal conductivity and the convection heat transfer coefficient were insensitive to the a priori model at all the considered noise levels for the single-parameter estimation problem. At high noise levels in the two-parameter estimation problem, the estimates for thermal conductivity and convection coefficient were sensitive to the a priori model. It was also found that the standard deviation of the samples was correlated to the error in estimation in the single-parameter estimation case. In three parameter estimation case, alternate solutions to the same problem were retrieved due to a strong correlation between the convection coefficient and the emissivity. However, a more informative a priori model could address this issue.     

Effect of para–ortho conversion on hydrogen storage system performance

We present a study of the effects of para–ortho conversion on performance of an adsorption-based hydrogen storage system using finite element methods implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3a platform. The base model which does not take into account the para–ortho conversion is validated using the experimental data of Maxsorb activated carbon measured with a test bench at room and cryogenic temperatures. The validated model is subsequently applied to simulate the storage system filled with MOF-5 and then extended to investigate the effects of endothermic para–ortho conversion of hydrogen isomers on storage and thermal performances during hydrogen charging/discharging cycle for four inlet temperatures, 35, 50, 77 and 100 K. Our results show that the endothermic conversion reduces the system temperature and increases the net storage capacity. The temperature changes due to the different heat sources are used to investigate the effect of conversion on the temperature reduction. The adsorbed and gas phase masses in the storage system with and without conversion at the end of the charging time are used to determine the effect of conversion on the storage system capacity. Even though the conversion is more significant at low temperature (35 K), the gains are larger at high temperature (100 K).     

Modeling of the absorption phase of a cycle with solar absorption using the couple NH3–H2O for in-sight energy storage

In this work, the emphasis is laid on the study of energy storage and the estimate of the energy density stored for use in the absorption machine in its simplest configuration. As a matter of fact, a simulation program is used to calculate the solution densities and the dynamic system storage in an absorption cycle phase. In times of discharge, the evaporator and the absorber are the only devices in the cycle to operate either in energy or in the upgrading refrigeration. Such a study allows us to select the cooling phase with three storage tanks. At the entrance of the evaporator and the absorber, both reservoirs contain the pure refrigerant and the weak solution already stored in the generation phase during an operating day (charging phase). At the output of the third absorber, the tank is empty. An amount of the refrigerant evaporated at low temperature in the evaporator, receiving an amount of heat Q_E, and is absorbed by the weak solution with the release of an amount of heat Q_A at an intermediate temperature. The rich solution is, then, stored in the third tank. At the end of cooling, when both tanks are empty, the third will be full in order to be used in the generating phase.