Effect of different earth surface treatments on the thermal performance of a room coupled to an earth-air tunnel

The thermal performance of a normal size room (4 m × 3 m × 3 m) connected to an idealized earth-air tunnel has been analysed interms of heating degree-hours (base 18°C) and cooling degree-hours (base 30°C). The effects of various earth-air tunnel parameters on the heating degree-hours and cooling degree-hours have been studied. The effects of various treatments of the earth surface over the tunnel have been analysed for three different climates (namely hot-dry, hot-humid and cold-dry) prevalant in India. The earth-surface treatments for hot-dry and hot-humid climates include shading and wetting of the earth surface, and for the cold-dry climate, the surface treatments considered are blackening and glazing of the earth surface.     

Thermal performance of a parallel earth air-pipes system

In the present analysis the thermal performance of a parallel earth air-pipe system has been evaluated in terms of annual heating and cooling potential. The influence of the pipes on each other's thermal performance has been considered. The effect of seasonal variation of environmental parameters (ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, earth temperature etc.) has been considered. The results are obtained for the hot-dry climate of Jodhpur and the composite climate of Delhi. From the various possible earth surface treatments to increase the effectiveness of earth storage systems for air conditioning purposes, the results are presented for wet-shaded earth surface conditions, the most effective earth surface treatment for the climate considered. Thermal performance of the parallel air-pipe system is evaluated for the two cases. In the first case, inlet air temperature to the pipes is taken to be the hourly mean of the ambient air temperature of the average day of each month, and, in the second case, the inlet air temperature is taken to be equal to that of a conditioned room whose set-point temperature varies from month to month.     

Experimental performance investigation of a horizontal ground source compression refrigeration machine

In this paper, the effect of various system parameters on horizontal ground source compression refrigeration machine (CRM) performance is studied experimentally in Bursa, Turkey. A ground heat exchanger (GHE) system connected to CRM in a test room in the air conditioning and refrigeration laboratory of Uludag University has been designed and constructed. This system was tested for space cooling in August and September 2004 and performance tests were performed during this period. Overall, system mainly consists of the GHE (GHE–water circuit) and CRM (CRM–refrigerant circuit). Refrigerant is R134a. Hourly variations of inlet and outlet water temperatures, extracted heat from test room, rejected heat to ground, compression ratio, total power consumption, and coefficient of performance (COP) values for both whole system and only CRM are obtained. Thermal properties of soil are also estimated by using experimental data and theory. Cooling load of test room and rejected heat to ground, and all COP values are also presented. Finally, heat rejection rate to ground with respect to leaving water temperature from GHE is given. The COP of the overall system changes between 2 and 2.5, also CRM COP values are in the range of 3 and 3.86. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recent researches in indirect evaporative cooler III: optimization of the cooling potential of a room–coupled indirect evaporative cooler

A mathematical model based on heat transfer principles, for characterizing the cooling performance of a room coupled indirect evaporative cooler (tube type) has been developed. Two dimensionless parameters, i.e. environment factor, ϕ and cooling factor, CF have been defined to characterize the performance of IEC coupled with a room. The optimum values of these parameters have been obtained for different environmental and thermal load conditions. In addition to this, a linear relationship has been obtained for the optimum size of a cooler to remove maximum heat from a room of given size. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of variations in thermophysical properties and design parameters on the performance of a V-shaped micro grooved heat pipe

The paper presents a detailed simulation of a V-shaped micro heat pipe. The effect of the substrate temperature on the model has been considered. A new method for calculating dry-out length has been proposed. The sensitivity of the model to variations in thermophysical properties and design parameters has been studied. The variations in the contact angle for the substrate-coolant liquid system, surface tension and viscosity of the coolant liquid, inclination, groove angle, length of adiabatic section and radius of ungrooved substrate have been considered. The effect of design and operating parameters on the performance of the heat pipe has been studied. The variations in contact angle have been found to significantly affect the performance of a micro heat pipe. The performance of a micro heat pipe is susceptible to ungrooved area of a V-shaped micro heat pipe. If the groove is not sharp enough i.e., the radius of ungrooved substrate is more; the micro heat pipe may cease to work even before it reaches its other operating limits. The various sensitivity studies made in this work gives better understanding of variations in thermophysical properties and design parameters of a micro heat pipe.     

基于GA-BP神经网络的土壤-空气换热器换热量预测分析

文章对位于太原市一个日光温室内的土壤-空气换热器进行夏季工况试验,获得了不同运行工况下换热管内空气的温度和湿度的分布数据.试验结果表明:土壤-空气换热器具有一定的除湿效果;当换热管长度为17.2 m,换热管内空气流速为2 m/s时,土壤-空气换热器潜热换热量占全热换热量的31.37％,且潜热换热量在全热换热量中的占比随...     

An exergy based test protocol for truncated pyramid type solar box cooker

Developing a test standard/protocol for solar box type cookers has drawn a considerable interest among the researchers throughout the world. Recent publications on solar cookers emphasize the need of introducing the thermal performance indicators determined through exergy analysis. In the present paper, the time variation of instantaneous exergy output and energy output as function of its temperature and also of the instantaneous ambient temperature have been reported for truncated pyramid type solar box cooker and compared with those of box type cooker. Further, variations in the exergy lost with temperature difference have been depicted for the selected water temperature range from 60 °C to 95 °C. Based on this study, quality factor, exergy temperature difference gap product, and heat loss coefficient are determined and are proposed as benchmark parameters of solar cooker’s thermal performance.     

Thermal evaluation of a “Winter House”

In this paper, the transient thermal model of a “Winter House” has been presented for a cold climatic region of Srinagar in India. In order to reduce the fluctuations in living room temperature, the effect of an isothermal mass has been incorporated in the thermal model. An analytical expression for room temperature has been derived to evaluate the performance of the “Winter House” by incorporating the effect of movable insulation during the night. Numerical calculations were done in terms of system as well as climatical parameters. Some isothermal mass, like water, has been considered to stabilize the room temperature throughout the day and right. For further heating, the effect of the roof as an air collector has also been taken into account.     

Starting of three-phase reluctance motors connected to a singlephase supply

An analysis of the starting process of a three-phase reluctance motor when fed from a single-phase supply is presented. This analysis is aimed, mainly, at the determination of the variations in the different machine parameters as it pulls into synchronism. Special attention is given to the calculation of both the positive and negative sequence impedances. These impedances play an important role in the proper selection of the phase converter capacitance needed for ensuring satisfactory operation. For this purpose, the symmetrical component concept along with classical synchronous machine theory have been effectively employed. The devised mathematical model could also help in studying the asynchronous operation of synchronous machines when fed from either three-phase or single-phase power supplies. The effect of the value of the selected phase converter capacitance on the performance of the reluctance motor during starting and normal running conditions is investigated     

Modelling and simulation of Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell with serpentine bipolar plate using MATLAB

This report presents experimental results derived from a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell with a serpentine flow plate design. The investigation seeks to explore the effects of some parameters like cell operational temperature, humidification and atmospheric pressure on the general performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cell using MATLAB. A number of codes were written to generate the polarization curve for a single stack and five (5) cell stack fuel cell at various operating conditions. Detailed information of hydrogen and oxygen consumption and the effect they have on the fuel cell performance were critically analysed. The investigation concluded that the open circuit voltage generated was less than the theoretical voltage predicted in the literature. It was also noticed that an increase in current or current density reduced the voltage derived from the fuel cell stack. The experiment also clearly confirmed that when more current is being drawn from the fuel cell, more water will also be generated at the cathode section of the cell hence the need for an effective water management to improve the performance of the fuel cell. Other parameters like the stack efficiency and power density were also analysed using the experimental results obtained.     

Aerodynamically shaped vortex generators

An aerodynamically shaped vortex generator has been proposed, manufactured and tested in a wind tunnel. The effect on the overall performance when applied on a thick airfoil is an increased lift to drag ratio compared with standard vortex generators. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

工况不确定性对汽轮机末两级气动性能的影响研究

汽轮机运行条件存在随机波动性,对汽轮机的稳定运行造成一定影响。以往的研究多将汽轮机的工作环境条件作为确定因素,未考虑其随机变化的影响。本文将汽轮机背压、径向气流角和进口流量作为服从一定概率分布的随机变量,采用多项式混沌方法结合计算流体力学（CFD）模拟仿真,研究了以上参数的随机波动对某汽轮机末两级叶片气动性能的影响。结果表明：计算进口边界条件的设置方法对汽轮机末两级总体性能的计算结果影响不大,当给定进口流量边界条件时,末两级效率的计算结果最高;在接近堵塞工况时,进出口条件的随机变化对通流流量的影响不大,但效率存在明显的波动,进口气流角对总体性能的影响相对较小;当背压和进口流量存在随机波动时,末级动叶中激波位置小范围波动,激波位置对径向气流角的波动不敏感。     

Effect of modelling solar radiation on the cooling performance of radiant floors

When modelling buildings, solar radiation has a large impact on the thermal balance because it usually heats the rooms. In radiant systems that are used for heating and cooling buildings, solar radiation has a large influence both on indoor temperatures and on the efficiency of the radiant system.Many analyses have already been carried out in order to study how beam and diffuse radiation can be distributed in a room. One of the most difficult issues, when modelling room thermal balance, is how to simulate the solar radiation when it enters the room, which in turn depends on the reflectance characteristics of the surface finishing elements.In this study, four different radiation models have been applied in order to solve an overall detailed, dynamic thermal balance in a room with pipes embedded in the floor. Two of the models are detailed; the other two consider the radiation entering the room to be diffuse radiation. As for the behaviour of the impinging solar radiation on the covering materials in a room, measurements have been carried out to determine the reflectance coefficients, which will be used in simulations for characteristic materials used in buildings.Results of the simulations show that a simplified model, which considers solar radiation as uniformly distributed in a room, cannot be used for a detailed comfort analysis; however, when looking at the cooling output of a radiant floor system at the design stage, a simplified model can predict energy transfer to a certain level of accuracy. Moreover, results coming from combined measurements and simulations show that the reflectance characteristic of the covering materials does not affect the cooling capacity of the radiant floor systems, since the most important parameter for cooling performance is the thermal conductivity of the covering layer.     

Magnetohydrodynamic flow of a nanofluid due to a non‐linearly curved stretching surface with high order slip flow

This article numerically scrutinizes magnetohydrodynamic flow of a nanofluid due to a nonlinearly curved stretching surface with third order slip flow conditions. The third order slip flow condition has not yet been discussed in fluid dynamics research. The mathematical modeling of the flow problem is given in partial differential equation form. The governing partial differential equations are transformed to high order ordinary differential equations using the similarity transformation and then solved numerically using a boundary value problem solver, bvp4c from Matlab software. The effect of the governing parameters on the flow of the velocity profile, concentration, and heat transfer characteristics are studied. Also graphs of the skin friction coefficient, local Nusselt number, and Sherwood number are drawn and their numerical values are tabulated. The numerical results of the study are compared with previously published articles in the limiting condition. The velocity of the flow field is reduced as the third order slip parameter and the first order slip parameter rises, but the velocity grows as the values of the second order slip flow parameter are elevated. The findings also indicate that the local Nusselt number is depreciated but local Sherwood numbers are elevated when the Soret and Dufour numbers are larger.     

Optimum length of underground tunnel and corresponding annual heating/cooling potentials

Dimensionless optimum lengths of an underground tunnel, for which annual heating potential (HPD) and annual cooling potential (CPD) per unit tunnel length are maximum, have been obtained in terms of dimensionless parameters. The effect of different earth-surface treatments (shading, wetting, blackening and glazing) over the tunnel on the optimum tunnel length and corresponding values of HPD/CPD for three climates, namely hot-dry, composite and cold-dry, prevalent in the country have also been evaluated.     

Modeling analysis on solar steam generator employed in multi-effect distillation (MED) system

Recently the porous bilayer wood solar collectors have drawn increasing attention because of their potential application in solar desalination. In this paper, a thermodynamic model has been developed to analyze the performance of the wood solar collector. A modeling analysis has also been conducted to assess the performance and operating conditions of the multiple effect desalination (MED) system integrated with the porous wood solar collector. Specifically, the effects of operating parameters, such as the motive steam temperature, seawater flow rate, input solar energy and number of effects on the energy consumption for each ton of distilled water produced have been investigated in the MED desalination system combined with the bilayer wood solar steam generator. It is found that, under a given operating condition, there exists an optimum steam generation temperature of around 145°C in the wood solar collector, so that the specific power consumption in the MED system reaches a minimum value of 24.88 kWh/t. The average temperature difference is significantly affected by the solar heating capacity. With the solar capacity increasing from 50 kW to 230 kW, the average temperature difference increases from 1.88°C to 6.27°C. This parametric simulation study will help the design of efficient bilayer wood solar steam generator as well as the MED desalination system.     

Maximum thermal load levelling in a double hollow wall/roof

The effect of a metal sheet in the middle of a hollow concrete slab, on the thermal performance of the concrete slab has been studied; one face of the wall/roof is exposed to solar radiation and ambient air and the other is in contact with room air at constant temperature. the optimum distribution of inside and outside concrete thicknesses for maximum thermal load levelling has been obtained; it is seen that this is achived when the outer concrete thickness is as small as possbile. These result have also been compared with the results corresponding to single hollow and double hollow concrete slabs.     

Performance of different structured surfaces in nucleate pool boiling

Several structured surfaces have been developed in-house for the augmentation of boiling heat transfer using distilled water as test fluid under atmospheric pressure. These surfaces have either a number of parallel tunnels or orthogonally intersecting tunnels. Effect of design parameters like tunnel inclination and different cavity structure at the tunnel base on the boiling heat transfer has been investigated. Three different structures namely circular groove, rectangular groove and rounded base have been used at the end of the tunnels. Heat flux is varied in the range of 0–250 kW/m². Experimental results showed tunnels inclined at an angle 60° with the horizontal provide better augmentation compared to straight vertical tunnels. Amongst different base geometry the circular pocket produced most conducive condition for the boiling heat transfer. The use of tunnels also increases the degree of augmentation. The highest augmentation was obtained from the surface having intersecting inclined tunnels with a circular base.     

A numerical investigation on effects of ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions on the Nusselt number for a floor heating system

In this study, the effect of ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions on the Nusselt number over the floor of a floor heating system has been investigated numerically. The variation of the Nusselt number with Rayleigh number has been analyzed under constant wall temperature condition for different ceiling temperatures (10–25 °C) and room dimensions. It has been seen that when the room dimensions and temperature difference between the ceiling and interior air are increased, the Nusselt number over the floor increases as well. The numerical results have been compared with the correlations given in the literature. It has been seen that the correlations available in the literature are valid only for given thermal conditions and room dimensions. The results calculated from the correlations which do not consider the effects of ceiling and floor surface temperatures deviate up to 35% than the results of this numerical study carried out for different ceiling and floor surface temperatures and room dimensions. Therefore, a new correlation for Nusselt number over the floor, which contain the influence of thermal conditions and all of room dimensions must be discovered.     

Effect of different surface treatments of the surrounding earth on thermal performance of earth-integrated buildings

The thermal performance of earth-integrated buildings can be suitably modified by appropriate treatment of the surrounding earth's surface (namely shading, wetting, blackening and glazing with cheap plastic sheets). The effect of these surface treatments on the thermal performance of a partially sunken room has been investigated for three different climates: hot and dry, hot and wet and cold and dry, typified by Delhi, Madras and Leh, respectivly.