Mold temperature control using high-frequency proximity effect induced heating

A rapid heating in an injection molding cycle has the advantage of improving product quality without significant increase in cycle time. In this study, high-frequency proximity effect induced heating (HFPEIH) was developed and combined with water cooling to achieve dynamic mold surface temperature control. By applying the HFPEIH system on a pair of mold plates separated with a small gap, the relevant influence of HFPEIH design was evaluated under various parameters including different mold plate material, inductor designs, and inductor channel depths beneath mold surface as well as mold separations. Simulation was also conducted and verified with experiments. Results show that all the heating rates range within 2 °C/s to 4 °C/s for the mold plate size of 100 mm by 100 mm. For the inductor design with three channels of circular cross section, the heating rate is fastest whereas one inductor design of rectangular shape exhibits the best the uniformity of temperature distribution. When the channel depth is reduced from 12 mm to 4 mm, the heating rate is increased significantly. The heating rate is also sensitive to mold plate surface area. When stainless steel N700 was used as the plate materials in a smaller plate of 60 mm by 60 mm, the heating rate can reach 7.6 °C/s using one channel inductor design. The mold separation exhibits that it is less sensitive to the heating rate within 1 mm to 5 mm range and when it is greater than 5 mm, the heating rate starts to decrease slightly. All the simulated results show good coincidence with experimental measurements.     

Gas-assisted mold temperature control for improving the quality of injection molded parts with fiber additives

A rapid heating cycle has the advantage of improving product quality in injection molding. In this study, gas-assisted mold temperature control (GMTC) was combined with cool water to achieve dynamic mold surface temperature control. By applying the GMTC system on the mold of a rectangular plate, the advantages of using GMTC for injection molding were evaluated and compared with the traditional injection molding process using different gas gap sizes and gas flow capacities. The effect of GMTC on the quality of the part was also studied. Results showed that when GMTC was used, the heating rate can reach 28 °C/s. For an initial mold temperature of 60 °C, and an air gap size of 8 mm, after 6 s heating, the mold surface temperature can reach 147.8 °C, 167.2 °C, and 229 °C with gas flow capacities of 100, 200, and 300 l/min, respectively. When the gas gap size is changed from 4 mm to 8 mm, the uniformity of temperature distribution shows a clear improvement. When GMTC was used for injection molding of parts with fiber additives, the part surface was clearly improved.     

Induction heating with the ring effect for injection molding plates

Induction heating in injection molding has the advantages of rapid heating, reduced cycle time, and improved product quality. In this research, using both experiment and simulation, externally wrapped coil induction heating was applied to verify the heating capacity of a pair of mold plates. By applying different coil designs and mold gap, the effect of the externally wrapped coil induction heating was evaluated. Results showed that when a serial coil was used as an inductor, the heating rate reached 8.0 °C/s. From an initial mold temperature of 40 °C, after 15 s heating, the mold surface temperature reached 159.9 °C with the serial coil. The parallel coil shows a better heating uniformity but its heating rate is far lower than the serial coil. For the serial coil, the temperature distribution between the core and cavity plate are almost the same. The heating rate increases from 4.9 °C/s to 10.6 °C/s when the inductor design is changed from 5 turns to 7 turns. After 15 s heating, the temperature at point T2 increases from 40 °C to 166.7 °C and 106.1 °C with a mold gap of 1 mm, and 6 mm, respectively.     

Rapid mold temperature control in injection molding by using steam heating

The rapid heating cycle has the advantage of improving product quality in injection molding. In this study, steam heating was combined with cool water on the same mold design to achieve dynamic mold surface temperature to establish control. By applying the steam system on a TV housing mold, the advantage of using steam heating for injection molding was then evaluated and compared with water heating by experiment and simulation. The effect of steam on the quality of the part was also studied. Results showed that as steam was used, the heating time of the simple mold plate can be reduced from 18 s to 8 s with the heating rate of 9 °C/s, and the cooling time is reduced over water heating. When the target temperature is changed from 70 °C to 110 °C, the heating time of the TV housing mold plate varies from 7 s to 19 s. For the product quality, steam heating showed an improvement in both the gloss and hardness of the TV housing.     

Geothermal space heating

The use of geothermal resources for space heating dominates the direct use industry, with approximately 37% of all direct use development. Of this, 75% is provided by district heating systems. In fact, the earliest known commercial use of geothermal energy was in Chaudes-Aigues Cantal, France, where a district heating system was built in the 14th century. Today, geothermal district space heating projects can be found in 12 countries and provide some 44,772 TJ of energy yearly. Although temperatures in excess of 50 °C are generally required, resources as low as 40 °C can be used in certain circumstances, and, if geothermal heat pumps are included, space heating can be a viable alternative to other forms of heating at temperatures well below 10 °C.     

Thermal response of solar and conventional school buildings to design- and human-driven factors

The objectives of this work are (I) to describe the design and building technology details of a solar school built in a continental semiarid region of central Argentina, (II) to show data from energy, hygrothermal and environmental monitoring, and (III) to compare the behavior of a solar and a conventional school building in response to design and human management factors. Both buildings are located on 36° 24′ latitude and 63° 25′ longitude. With respect to the solar school, good outdoor climate conditions during the study period in winter, plus unnecessary auxiliary heating, have led to indoor temperature increasing beyond 24 °C under real use conditions. Similarly, overheating of functional areas in autumn and spring was the result of temperate outdoor conditions, uncontrolled use of auxiliary heating and internal gains. Even without incoming sunlight, indoor temperature reached 27 °C on some days in summer, while outdoor temperature peaked to 35 °C. Based on the parameters of ISO 7730, more than 10% of people experienced discomfort when temperature exceeded 25 °C. In contrast, an average indoor temperature of 16 and 21 °C was recorded, respectively, for the conventional and the solar building. However, the consumption of natural gas for heating was 50% less in the solar school. Furthermore, this consumption could also be smaller if we take into account that a large proportion of people expressed discomfort at noon because of overheating during the winter time. This demonstrated once more that proper use of heating devices is a very important factor to be considered in solar designs. The work allowed a good validation of methods to assess energy gains and losses during the winter.     

A hybrid solar-assisted adsorption cooling unit for vaccine storage

A concept of a hybrid adsorption cooling unit for vaccine storage utilizing solar energy as a main power supply and a gas burner as an alternative power supply has been developed. The components of the cooling unit have been designed to work under the weathering conditions of Burkina Faso, West coast of Africa according to the requirements of the World Health Organization. For the first adsorber, which is driven by a gas burner, zeolite-13X has been selected. For the second adsorber to be driven by solar energy selective water sorbent SWS-2L has been applied. Water is selected as a refrigerant for both adsorbents. Theoretical investigations of the expected performance of the designed cooling unit have shown a coefficient of performance (COP) of 0.28 for the solar-operated system based on the heat input to the adsorption unit, at the design conditions of T_evap=−5 °C, T_con=55 °C, T_ads=38 °C, T_des(max)=122 °C. For the gas-heated system, also a COP of 0.28 has been estimated at the design conditions of T_evap=−5 °C, T_con=55 °C, T_ads=38 °C, T_des(max)=280 °C. The variations of COP, cooling capacity and the heating power required to operate both systems have been estimated for a broad range of desorption temperatures. It turns out that the SWS-2L/water system is much more sensitive to the operating conditions than the zeolite-13X/water system. The obtained results should serve in designing both control and heating components of the cooling unit.     

Geothermal development in Hungary—country update report 2000–2002

This paper describes the status of geothermal energy utilization—direct use—in Hungary, with emphasis on developments between 2000 and 2002. The level of utilization of geothermal energy in the world increased in this period and geothermal energy was the leading producer, with 70% of the total electricity production, of all the renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal and tidal), followed by wind energy at 28%. The current cost of direct heat use from biomass is 1–5 US¢/kWh, geothermal 0.5–5 US¢/kWh and solar heating 3–20 US¢/kWh. The data relative to direct use in Hungary decreased in this period and the contribution of geothermal energy to the energy balance of Hungary, despite significant proven reserves (with reinjection) of 380 million m³/year, with a heat content of 63.5 PJ/a at ΔT=40 °C, remained very low (0.25%). Despite the fact that geothermal fluids with temperatures at the surface higher than 100 °C are available, no electricity has been generated. As of 31 December 2002, the geothermal capacity utilised in direct applications in Hungary is estimated to be 324.5 MW_t and to produce 2804 TJ/year. Geothermal heat pumps represent about 4.0 MW_t of this installed capacity. The quantity of thermal water produced for direct uses in 2002 was approximately 22 million m³, with an average utilization temperature of 31 °C. The main consumer of geothermal energy is agriculture (68% of the total geothermal heat dedicated to direct uses). The geothermal water is used only in five spas for space heating and sanitary hot water (SHW), although there are 260 spas in the country, and the thermal water produced has an average surface temperature of 68 °C. The total heat capacity installed in the spas is approximately 1250 MW_t; this is not provided by geothermal but could be, i.e., geothermal could provide more than three times the geothermal capacity utilized in direct uses by 31 December 2002 (324.5 MW_t).     

Design and performance prediction of a novel double heat pipes type adsorption chiller for fishing boats

A novel double heat pipe type adsorber, which uses compound adsorbent of CaCl₂ and expanded graphite to improve the adsorption performance, is designed. The double heat pipes are integrated into the adsorbers in order to solve the problem of the corrosion between seawater and the steel adsorber in ammonia system and improve the heat transfer performance of the adsorber. There are two kinds of heat pipes integrated with the adsorber. One is the split type heat pipe for heating the adsorber in desorption phase, the other one is the two-phase closed thermosyphon heat pipe for cooling the adsorber in adsorption phase. The performance of two-adsorber adsorption chiller integrated with double heat pipes is predicted. The heat transfer performance of the heat pipes can meet the heat demands for adsorption/desorption of the adsorbent when the heating/cooling time is 720 s and mass recovery time is 60 s. When the exhaust gas temperature is 550 °C, the cooling water temperature is 25 °C, the inlet and outlet chilled water is −10 and −15.6 °C, respectively; the simulation results show that the cooling power and COP of this adsorption system are 5.1 kW and 0.38, respectively.     

Torque and power characteristics of a helium charged Stirling engine with a lever controlled displacer driving mechanism

This study presents test results of a Stirling engine with a lever controlled displacer driving mechanism. Tests were conducted with helium and the working fluid was charged into the engine block. The engine was loaded by means of a prony type micro dynamometer. The heat was supplied by a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) burner. The engine started to run at 118 °C hot end temperature and the systematic tests of the engine were conducted at 180 °C, 220 °C and 260 °C hot end external surface temperatures. During the test, cold end temperature was kept at 27 °C by means of water circulation. Variation of the shaft torque and power with respect to the charge pressure and hot end temperature were examined. The maximum torque and power were measured as 3.99 Nm and 183 W at 4 bars charge pressure and 260 °C hot end temperature. Maximum power corresponded to 600 rpm speed.     

Design and operation of an air-conditioning system fueled by wood pellets

A room-cooling system of 2 kW capacity fueled by wood pellets was designed, built and tested. The system was demonstrated during summer at the Yakushima Field Station of Kagoshima University, Japan. It contained a pellet feeder, a pellet burner, a heat exchanger, a lithium bromide–water absorption heat pump and a control unit. The volume of the test room was 36.9 m³ and ambient temperature 30 °C. The airflow temperature from the room unit was decreased to 16 °C by the system, and the room temperature could be successfully controlled to 24 °C steady state. Room heating in winter was also demonstrated. Since the air was heat exchanged, the overall energy efficiency of the cooling system was low at about 19%. However, the calculation based on the heat flow showed that the efficiency could be enhanced to about 75% by direct heating of the regenerator by the flue gas.     

Shallow gravel aquifers and the urban ‘heat island’ effect: a source of low enthalpy geothermal energy

Northern European countries with no high temperature geothermal resources can utilise the urban ‘heat island’ effect to generate low enthalpy geothermal energy for space heating/cooling systems in buildings, provided a suitable aquifer underlies the urban area. Buried valleys, formed at the height of the Pleistocene glaciation 15,000 years ago, when sea level was 130 m lower than present, and infilled with gravels as sea level rose again at the end of the Pleistocene, underlie many European cities. These high yielding aquifers exist at only a few metres depth, and can provide a supply of groundwater at temperatures elevated 3–4 K above the average rural groundwater temperatures. This can produce a marked improvement both in the output and in the efficiency of a geothermal system making use of this source. When passed through a heat pump operating at a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 4.5:1, a well yielding 20 l/s of groundwater at 13 °C can generate 865 kW heat, sufficient to supply space heating for buildings with a footprint in excess of 12,000 m² with a peak heating intensity of 70 W/m². The economics of this low enthalpy geothermal energy source are outlined. Although development costs are minimal, at current low natural gas fuel prices in Ireland, heating-only applications will be less attractive, and a real cost saving will only accrue if dual heating/cooling functions can be developed.     

Heating and cooling degree-hours for Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece

The purpose of this study is to determine and present heating and cooling degree-hours for the two main cities in Greece, namely Athens and Thessaloniki, using hourly dry bulb temperature records from the meteorological stations of the National Observatory of Athens and of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The heating degree-hours were calculated for base temperatures from 10 to 20 °C and the cooling degree-hours for base temperatures from 20 to 27.5 °C, using a temperature step of 0.5 °C. The results are presented in tabular form and serve the estimation of the energy requirements and fuel consumption of heating and air conditioning systems for either monthly or seasonally operation.     

Investigation on thermal management performance of wedge‐shaped microchannels for rectangular Li‐ion batteries

The performance of power battery is a significant factor affecting the overall quality of electric vehicles. To optimize the thermal management effect of battery pack, cold plate with wedge‐shaped microchannels was proposed in this paper. On the basis of the models of the independent cold plate and the battery‐cooling module, the effects of outlet aspect ratio, flow rate, and branching structure on the heat dissipation performance of the cold plate were studied at first. Afterwards, the effects of cooling surface, flow rate, and branching structure on the temperature distribution of the battery module were simulated. The results showed that the wedge‐shaped channels provided a good cooling efficiency and surface temperature uniformity. When the wedge‐shaped channel was used in thermal management of the battery module, the side‐cooling method reduced the temperature difference of batteries by more than 35.71% compared with front cooling under the mass flow rate of 2 × 10^?5 kg/s. At a discharge rate of 3.5 C, the flow rate of 1 × 10^?4 kg/s controlled the battery temperature to within 45°C, and the branching structure designed for the module successfully decreased the maximum temperature difference from 7.27°C to 4.67°C, which has been reduced by approximately 35.78%.     

Effect of cavity surface coating on mold temperature variation and the quality of injection molded parts

Suiting for high gloss surface of injection molded parts free of painting is a great concern from both environment and cost effective considerations. As a result, variable mold temperature controls to achieve the mentioned goal have been paid great attentions. In this study, TiN and Teflon of various thicknesses were coated on the cavity surface of a tensile bar mold designed with double gate. During the injection molding process, melt–mold interface temperature was analyzed and simulated. In a regular injection molding of ABS resin using P20 as the mold material, the initial melt temperature may drop from 240 °C to about 65 °C after 0.01 s of contact with the cavity surface when the coolant temperature is 60 °C. For a TiN surface coating of 4 µm, the interface contact temperature was raised to 73.6 °C. For a Teflon coating of 22 µm, the contact surface temperature is as high as 100 °C initially (about 25 °C higher) and remains above 80 °C for about 0.4 s. Teflon coating on the cavity surface eliminates the weld-line marks, improves part surface smoothness and results in better tensile strength for weld line than TiN coating. Moreover, the cooling time was almost not affected. When surface coating is combined with infrared heating, not only the tensile strengths of the weld line were further enhanced but also the heating rate at mold surface is enhanced.     

Low enthalpy geothermal energy utilisation schemes for greenhouse and district heating at Traianoupolis Evros, Greece

A socio-economic study has been made of the possible use of low enthalpy geothermal resources for district and greenhouse heating in the Traianoupolis Evros region. The thermal energy potential of the Aristino-Traianoupolis geothermal field has been estimated at 10.8 MW_th (discharge temperature of 25 °C). Geothermal wellhead water temperatures range from 53 to 92 °C, from 300 m deep wells yielding over 250 m³/h. Our conclusions show, amongst the different scenarios examined and on the basis of a market study, that utilisation of this geothermal energy capacity for district heating of nearby villages, and/or greenhouse heating directed at serving local vegetable markets, would be an attractive investment.     

Experimental investigation of a comfort heating system for a passenger vehicle with an air-cooled engine

This study describes a novel approach utilizing waste heat from the exhaust gas for comfort heating of the passenger compartment of a vehicle with an air-cooled engine. In the devised system, a water stream heated by the hot exhaust gas was sent to the passenger compartment of a commercial minibus with an air-cooled engine, and the system was tested under various operating conditions. Variations of the temperatures at several locations inside the vehicle were monitored while ambient temperatures were −3, 0, 5 and 10 °C and there were various numbers of passengers on board. It is found that the system shows a reasonable heating performance while consuming no extra fuel for this purpose, and experimental data is in good agreement with numerical results based on heat loss calculations. Results show that when the ambient temperature is above 0 °C and the engine speed is above 2500 rpm, the system yielded comfortable compartment temperatures. Compared with alternative methods using extra fuel for comfort heating, the proposed system decreases vehicle operating costs and environmental pollution caused by the heating system as well as causing a lower global warming.     

Novel composite sorbent for resorption systems and for chemisorption air conditioners driven by low generation temperature

The utilization of a composite sorbent (NaBr and expanded graphite) in chemisorption air conditioning systems driven by low-grade heat source, and in resorption systems with simultaneous heating and cooling effects was experimentally investigated using bench-scale prototypes. The mass of ammonia desorbed and adsorbed was measured, and used to calculate the specific cooling capacity. The sorbent produced 219 kJ kg⁻¹ of cooling at 5 °C and 510 kJ kg⁻¹ at 15 °C, when the heat source temperature was 65 °C and the heat sink temperature was 30 °C. The air conditioning system mean specific cooling power (SCP), and mean coefficient of performance (COP) were calculated based on the desorbed and adsorbed masses, and on the variation of temperature in the reactors. For the same heat source and heat sink temperatures mentioned above, the air conditioning system had a SCP of 129 ± 7 W kg⁻¹ and a COP of 0.46 ± 0.01, when cooling occurred at 15 °C. Regarding the utilization of the composite sorbent in resorption machines, the prototype was tested for production of cooling/heating at −5/50 °C, and at 10/70 °C. In the former condition, the COP was only 0.02, but in the latter condition, there was a tenfold increase in the COP, and the combined coefficient of performance and amplification reached 1.11, which indicates the energy saving potential of resorption systems using the studied sorbent.     

Simulation of gas-assisted injection mold-cooling process using line source model approach for gas channel

Whether it is feasible to perform an integrated simulation for process simulation based on a unified CAE model for gas-assisted injection molding (GAIM) is a great concern. In the present study, numerical algorithms based on the same CAE model used for process simulation regarding filling and packing stages were developed to simulate the cooling phase of GAIM using a cycle-averaged three-dimensional modified boundary element technique similar to that used for conventional injection molding. However, to use the current CAE model for analysis, gas channel was modeled by two-node elements using line source approach. It was found that this new modeling not only affects the mold wall temperature calculation very slightly but also reduces the computer time by 95% as compared with a full gas channel modeling required a lot of triangular elements on gas channel surface. This investigation indicates that it is feasible to achieve an integrated process simulation for GAIM under one CAE model resulting in great computational efficiency for industrial application.     

Solar absorption cooling with low grade heat source — a strategy of development in South China

Based on experiences with an operating solar cooling system in south China, a low temperature driven solar cooling system has been proposed, and a new model of two-stage lithium bromide absorption chiller has been developed. Test results have proved that the two-stage chiller could be driven by low temperature hot water ranging from 60 to 75°C, which can be easily provided by conventional solar hot water systems. Relying on the successes of the above system, an integrated solar cooling and heating system with two-stage absorption chiller was constructed (cooling CAPACITY=100 kW). Preliminary operating data of the system has indicated that this type of system could be efficient and cost effective. Compared to the conventional cooling system (with single-stage chiller), the proposed system with a two-stage chiller could achieve roughly the same total COP as of the conventional system with a cost reduction of about 50%.