Effects of fuel combination and IVO timing on combustion and emissions of a dual-fuel HCCI combustion engine

This paper experimentally and numerically studied the effects of fuel combination and intake valve opening (IVO) timing on combustion and emissions of an n-heptane and gasoline dual-fuel homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. By changing the gasoline fraction (GF) from 0.1 to 0.5 and the IVO timing from –15°CA ATDC to 35°CA ATDC, the in-cylinder pressure traces, heat release behaviors, and HC and CO emissions were investigated. The results showed that both the increased GF and the retarded IVO timing delay the combustion phasing, lengthen the combustion duration, and decrease the peak heat release rate and the maximum average combustion temperature, whereas the IVO timing has a more obvious influence on combustion than GF. HC and CO emissions are decreased with reduced GF, advanced IVO timing and increased operational load.     

石墨烯泡沫热物性与界面热导温度相关性研究

石墨烯泡沫是将石墨烯立体化形成的复合材料,在锂离子电池等领域有较好的应用前景,而其导热性质成为限制工业应用的重要因素。基于瞬态电热技术,研究了石墨烯泡沫的导热性质及其随温度的变化。结果表明,不同于Umklapp声子散射机理,石墨烯泡沫的热导率随温度呈正相关性:由室温至373 K时,热导率由0.71升高至1.10 W/(m·K)。分析发现,泡沫内部的大量界面是其低导热性质的主要因素。利用分子动力学模拟验证了石墨烯与基体材料间的界面传热随温度成正相关,与宏观材料测量结果相符。     

Analysis of flux-base fins for estimation of heat transfer coefficient

Exact solutions are given for the transient temperature in flux-base fins with the method of Green’s functions (GF) in the form of infinite series for three different tip conditions. The speed of convergence is improved by replacing the steady part by a closed-form steady solution. For the insulated-tip case, a quasi-steady solution is presented. Numerical values are presented and the conditions under which the quasi-steady solution is accurate are determined. An experimental example is given for estimation of the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on a non-rotating roller bearing, in which the outer bearing race is treated as a transient fin.     

Modification of graphite felt using nano polypyrrole and polythiophene for microbial fuel cell applications-a comparative study

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are bio-electrochemical devices used for the generation of electricity from biomass. A single chamber membrane less air-breathing cathode microbial fuel cell (SCMFC) with two different anode configurations was investigated for energy generation using shewanella putrifaciens as bio-catalyst. The graphite felt (GF) anode was modified with 0.008 g/cc polypyrrole nanoparticles (Ppy-NPs) and 0.024 g/cc polythiophene nanoparticles (PTh-NPs) by conventional method. The nanoparticles coating improved the properties such as thermal characteristics and electron transfer capabilities of the anodes, which was confirmed by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltametry (CV). The variation in the cell potential with time under open circuit condition resulted in voltages of 0.842V and 0.644 V for Ppy-NP and PTh-NP modified GF respectively. A maximum power density (1.22 W/m²) was obtained for Ppy-NP modified GF than PTh-NP modified GF (0.8 W/m²). The results showed that GF coated with nano conductive polymers such as Ppy and PTh are the promising candidates for the best performance of a MFC.     

Investigations on physicochemical properties and electrochemical performance of graphite felt and carbon felt for iron-chromium redox flow battery

In this paper, polyacrylonitrile-based graphite felt (GF), carbon felt (CF) and the effect of thermal activation on them with or without the catalyst (BiCl₃) are comprehensively investigated for iron-chromium redox flow battery (ICRFB) application. The physical-chemical parameters of GF and CF after the thermal activation is affected significantly by their graphitization degree, oxygen functional groups, and surface area. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results manifest that GF and CF before and after the thermal activation have different electrocatalytic activities owing to oxygen functional groups number increase and the graphitization degree decrease. In terms of the capacity decay rate, as oxygen functional groups provide shorter electrocatalytic pathways than bismuth ions, the performance of GF and CF after the thermal activation is more ideal. As a result, GF before and after the thermal activation exhibits higher efficiency (EE: 86%) and better stability at a charge-discharge current density of 60 mA·cm⁻² than those of CF during charge-discharge cycling, as the dominant limitation in an ICRFB is ohmic and activation polarization. Therefore, GF after thermal activation together with the addition of BiCl₃ in the electrolyte is a more promising electrode material for ICRFBs application than CF.     

Effect of g-C3N4 amount on green synthesized GdFeO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites as promising compounds for solid-state hydrogen storage

Hydrogen energy is a key role in novel renewable energy production/consumption technologies. Traditional hydrogen energy systems are suffered from low density, high production cost, low efficiency, and storage complications. With the start of solid-state hydrogen storage technology, many of above deficiencies are fulfilled, however, there are several unknown points, particularly in metal oxides, which need more attention. Hydrogen sorption on the layered materials or inside porous materials is a hopeful key to drawbacks for high-performance hydrogen sorption. Hereupon, layered solids with the merit of hydrogen sorption are introduced, for the first time, including “nanostructured bi-metal oxide (BMO)” and “graphitic carbon nitride (CN)”. Perovskites are ceramic and they are hard materials so they could be a favorable candidate for solid-state hydrogen storage. g-C₃N₄ has attractive features including high surface area, chemical stability, small band gap, and low-cost synthesis methods but also has great potential as an electrode material for energy storage capacitors. The main motivation for this study comes from the potential applications for perovskite materials and graphitic carbon nitride for the solid-state hydrogen storage method. The Perovskite type GdFeO₃ nanostructures (as BMO) synthesized through sol-gel approach in front of natural source of Grape juice as both complexing agent and fuel. The experimental scrutinization ascertains an original fabrication of GdFeO₃ (GF) nanostructures in Grape juice at 800 °C, with an approximately uniform nanosized structure of 70 nm on average. The obtained pure GF nanostructures are then utilized for nanocomposite formation based on g-C₃N₄ (CN) with different amounts. The resulting nanocomposites with the ratio of 1:2 from GF:CN perform a preferable hydrogen sorption capacity, in terms of “maximum discharge capacity of 577 mAhg^?1” in 2 M KOH electrolyte. It should be declared that however, the discharge capacity of the nanostructured GF is 188 mAhg^?1. It can be emphasized that these GF/CN nanocomposites can be utilized as hopeful hosts in an electrochemical hydrogen storage setup due to the synergic effect of g-C₃N₄ with essential characteristics in cooperation with BMO nanostructures as acceptable electrocatalysts.     

A unified model for multi-turn closed-loop pulsating heat pipe

Numerical modeling of  the multi-turn closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) in the bottom, horizontal, and top heat mode is presented in this paper, with water as working fluid. Modeling is carried out for 2-mm ID CLPHP having 5, 16, and 32 turns at different orientations for 10 different cases. Momentum and heat transfer variations with time are investigated by numerically solving the one-dimensional governing equations for vapor bubble and liquid plugs. Instead of considering all the vapor bubble at saturation temperature, vapor bubbles are allowed to remain in super-heated condition. Film thickness is found using a correlation. Two-phase heat transfer coefficient is calculated by considering conduction through the thin film at liquid–vapor interface. Liquid plug merging and splitting result in continuous variation in the number of liquid plugs and vapor bubble with time, which is also considered in the code. During the merging of liquid plugs, a time step-adaptive scheme is implemented and this minimum time step was found to be 10⁻⁷ s. Model results are compared with the experimental results from literature for heat transfer and the maximum variation in heat transfer for all these cases is below ±39%.     

The correlation between the number of fins and the discharge time for a finned heat pipe latent heat storage system

The concept of a solar energy heat pipe latent heat storage system is presented. In order to assure large charging and discharging rates, finned heat pipes are used to transfer heat to and from the phase-change material (paraffin in this case). The evolution of the solid - liquid interface is studied by considering the radial heat transfer (due to the heat pipe wall) and the angular one (due to the fin). Two mathematical models, corresponding to exponential, respectively polynomial functions describing the fin temperature profile are presented and the results are compared. The two models allow the evaluation of the discharge time of the storage unit for a certain number of fins for a single heat pipe. When the discharge time has a fixed value, the methods presented in the paper allow to conclude whether the number of fins is sufficiently large to assure the complete solidification of the phase-change material.     

Control of the boundary heat flux during the heating process of a solid material

In this paper we apply the conjugate gradient method to solve the inverse problem of determining a time-dependent boundary heat flux in order to achieve a given temperature distribution at the final time. The derivation of sensitivity and adjoint equations in conjunction with the conjugate gradient algorithm are given in detail. The zeroth-order Tikhonov regularization is introduced to stabilize the inverse solution. Solutions by finite differences are obtained for various heat flux profiles. It is found that the time-dependent heat flux may be predicted only for a non-dimensional time of the order of 0.1 while the control problem can be satisfactorily solved for an arbitrary period of time.     

Comparative study of mechanical and chemical methods for surface cleaning of a marine shell‐and‐tube heat exchanger

In this article, experimental analysis is done on shell‐and‐tube heat exchanger of a marine vessel for removal of fouling using optimum surface‐cleaning techniques. The main objective is to compare the performance of the heat exchanger before and after maintenance. Two identical deteriorated systems of heat exchangers are taken and real‐time analysis is conducted. The log data are taken before and after undergoing maintenance for the two systems. Two different cleaning techniques are used, namely, chemical cleaning and mechanical cleaning. Detailed calculations are made for the shell‐and‐tube heat exchanger. From the obtained data, comparisons are made for different parameters on the tube side such as friction factor, heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop, as well as total heat transfer rate on the shell side. From the analysis and comparison, it was found that greater heat transfer takes place for the tubes cleaned using the chemical cleaning method than for tubes cleaned by the mechanical cleaning method. Pressure drop is found to be less for chemical cleaning method than mechanical cleaning method. This indicates that the fouling effect is reduced for tubes cleaned by the chemical cleaning method, and furthermore these tubes remain corrosion‐resistant for longer periods of time.     

板式相变贮能换热器传热模型和热性能分析

建立了板式相变贮能换热器的无量纲传热模型。它对流体入口流量、入口温度随时间变化情况和需考虑入口效应及添加肋片的情况均适用。模型解和文献准稳态解吻合。作为算例,藉此模型从各时刻的流体温度、相变界面随空间的分布情况和相变蓄热比、相变传热效率、传热系数、完全相变截面位置随时间的变化情况六个角度分析了一板式相变贮能换热器的相变传热性能。该模型可为板式相变贮能换热器的结构优化设计和热性能分析提供帮助。     

A fast algorithm for the hourly simulations of ground-source heat pumps using arbitrary response factors

Hourly energy simulations are an important part of the design and analysis of ground-source heat pump systems. In order to evaluate the fluid temperature in the borehole of a geothermal heat pump system, most of the current models express the heat transfer rate as a sum of step changes in heat transfer rate. The borehole temperature is then computed as a superposition of the different contributions of each time step. The main difference between the different models lies in the way the step response is computed. Since all these methods are based on a convolution scheme, long time simulations are very time consuming. Many load aggregation algorithms have been proposed in order to reduce this computational time. In a previous paper we proposed a new algorithm to evaluate the overall response which was much faster than the classical aggregation schemes. However this new algorithm was based on the cylindrical source step response for a single borehole. In this paper, we present a generalization of this scheme for any kind of step response making it a very powerful tool for hourly simulations.     

Numerical simulation of heat transfer and fluid flow past a rotating isothermal cylinder – A LBM approach

In this paper, a viscous fluid flowing past a rotating isothermal cylinder with heat transfer is studied and simulated numerically by the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). A numerical strategy for dealing with curved and moving boundaries of second-order accuracy for both velocity and temperature fields is proposed and presented. The numerical strategy and method are validated by comparing the present numerical results of flow without heat transfer with those of available previous theoretical, experimental and numerical studies, showing good agreements. On this basis, the convective heat transfer performance in such rotational boundary environments is further studied and validated; the numerical results are reported in the first time. The effects of the peripheral-to-translating-speed ratio, Reynolds number and Prandtl number on flow and heat transfer are discussed in details.     

Simultaneous determination of in- and over-tube heat transfer correlations in heat exchangers by global regression

We propose a method of data reduction that improves the predictions of correlations obtained from heat exchanger measurements. If we define an ideal heat exchanger on the basis of commonly made assumptions, the two heat transfer correlations corresponding to both sides of the heat transfer surface can be simultaneously determined. A local regression analysis, however, gives a multiplicity of possible correlations corresponding to the given data. The best correlations are obtained from this set by using a global regression procedure. Three methods are evaluated for this purpose: genetic algorithms, simulated annealing and interval analysis. All three perform well, with some differences in accuracy and CPU time. The predictions are further improved by correlating the error that is introduced by the assumptions of the ideal heat exchanger. The heat rate predictions are then improved considerably, giving a good idea of the extent to which these assumptions degrade them.     

Freezing of Water in a Slab with Boundary Conditions of the Third Kind

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Fluid temperature and velocity effect on fouling

A wide variety of industrial processes involve the transfer of heat energy between fluids in process equipment. As a result of this energy exchange unwanted deposits accumulate on the process surfaces causing a resistance to energy transfer. These deposits reduce the heat recovery and can restrict fluid flow in the exchanger by narrowing the flow area. Prevention and control of fouling is costly and time consuming. In many situations, fouling can be reduced but not necessarily eliminated. Fouling is a major unresolved problem in heat transfer.In general, the heat exchangers evaluated in this study were exposed to untreated lake water for typical conditions. After the prescribed time period the exchangers were taken off line and evaluated. Conclusions and observations regarding fouling of brazed heat exchangers, exposed to once-through lake water, are presented here. Transient observations and photographs of the exchanger surfaces are given. Results are presented that compare these heat exchangers to test plates, also exposed to lake water. The progressive change of surface appearance with increasing immersion times is presented.     

Unsteady forced convection with sinusoidal duct wall generation: the conjugate heat transfer problem

Transient heat transfer solutions are found for a fluid flowing within a parallel plate duct when there is sinusoidal generation with axial position in the duct wall. Solutions are found for wall temperature, surface heat flux and fluid bulk mean temperature as a function of position and time in this conjugated problem. To develop this solution, finite difference methods are used as well as the quasi-steady method and another method which employs a two integral representation for the surface heat flux. Accuracy limitations of the quasi-steady results are identified. Transient local Nusselt number predictions show its dependence upon time.     

Performance study of a high efficient multifunction heat pipe type adsorption ice making system with novel mass and heat recovery processes

The purpose of this paper is to present the performance analysis of a multifunction heat pipe type adsorption ice maker with activated carbon–CaCl₂ as compound adsorbent and ammonia as refrigerant. For this test unit, the heating, cooling and heat recovery processes between two adsorbent beds are performed by multifunction heat pipes. A novel mass and heat recovery adsorption refrigeration cycle is developed. When mass recovery process is implemented before heat recovery process, the performance of the cycle with novel mass and heat recovery processes is much better than that for the cycle with the conventional mass and heat recovery processes. The experimental results show that the former cycle can increase the coefficient of performance (COP) and specific cooling power (SCP) by more than 17% compared with the latter cycle. In comparison with the basic adsorption cycle, the mass and heat recovery cycle can enlarge the cycled refrigerant mass and reduce the power consumption of boiler; the COP and SCP were improved by more than 11% when the mass recovery time was 20 s, while at the optimal mass recovery time of 40 s, the COP improvements for conventional and novel mass and heat recovery cycles are 43.8% and 68.7%, respectively. It was concluded that the novel mass and heat recovery processes are more beneficial to improve the performance of adsorption refrigeration system in comparison with the conventional mass and heat recovery processes.     

改进型格尼襟翼对不同实度的垂直轴风力机气动性能的影响

为了提升垂直轴风力机获能效率,为风力机叶片加装格尼襟翼并对格尼襟翼进行改进,通过数值模拟研究了两种格尼襟翼对不同实度的垂直轴风力机气动性能的影响。研究发现：当尖速比为3.1、实度为0.250时,原始格尼襟翼可提升10.92%的风能利用系数,改进型格尼襟翼可提升17.92%。在不同实度,改进型格尼襟翼在高尖速比时可较好地提升气动性能,而原始格尼襟翼在低尖速比时可较好地提升气动性能。当实度增大时,由于叶片间尾迹影响加剧而导致风能利用系数下降,但载荷波动情况得到改善;当实度为0.416时,载荷波动最小。     

Feasibility of Ni/Ti and Ni/GF cathodes in microbial electrolysis cells for hydrogen production from fermentation effluent: A step toward real application

The low cost, low over-potential loss, good catalytic properties for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), high corrosion stability, commercially available, and could be applied in pH-neutral solution and ambient temperature are important properties for the cathode materials when it is applied in microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) technology. This study has two-pronged objectives: the first is to investigate the feasibility of titanium (Ti) and graphite felt (GF) coated with nickel (Ni), and the second is to generate hydrogen from the fermentation effluent (FE). The electrodeposition (ED) method was used to deposit Ni catalyst onto Ti (Ni/Ti) and GF (Ni/GF) surfaces. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy were used to characterize the cathode morphology and element composition. The catalytic properties of Ni/Ti and Ni/GF could be evaluated using the linear sweep voltammetry tests. The maximum volumetric H₂ production rates of MEC using Ni/Ti and Ni/GF cathodes were obtained at 0.39 ± 0.01 and 0.33 ± 0.03 m³ H₂ m⁻³ d⁻¹ respectively. The Ni/Ti and Ni/GF cathodes could be used as alternative cathodes while producing hydrogen from FE.