Refractive-index measurements in freezing sea-ice and sodium chloride brines

Sea ice contains numerous pockets of brine and precipitated salts whose size and number distributions change dramatically with temperature. Theoretical treatment of scattering produced by these inclusions requires information on refractive-index differences among the brine, salts, and surrounding ice. Lacking specific data on refractive-index variations in the brine, we carried out laboratory measurements in freezing-equilibrium solutions between -2 and -32 °C. Index values at 589 nm increased from 1.341 to 1.397 over this temperature range, corresponding to salinities of 35 and 240 parts per thousand (ppt). Spectral data were also taken at 50-nm intervals between 400 and 700 nm in nonequilibrium solutions with salinities ranging up to 300 ppt. Spectral gradients increased slightly with salinity but showed no measurable dependence on temperature between +12 and -16 °C. The Lorentz-Lorenz equation, combined with data on density, molar refractivities, and brine composition, yielded temperature-dependent index predictions in excellent agreement with the experimental data. Similar index and density measurements in freezing sodium chloride brines yielded values nearly identical to those in the sea-ice brines. The absence of mirabilite crystals in sodium chloride ice, however, will cause it to have higher transmissivity and lower reflectivity than sea ice above -22 °C.     

A Low-Cost Digital Psychrometer and Humidity Controller

The digital psychrometer presented in this paper is a general type of humidity meter with an accuracy of ±1 percent with 8-bit resolution and the humidity controller has an accuracy of ±0.5 percent. It is optimized by using the fewest possible number of components in order to increase the reliability and to reduce the cost. The speed of operation of this circuit is on the order of 500 ns. This circuit is used for measurement and control of humidity in the temperature range of 0-31°C with an accuracy of ±1°C for temperature with 5-bit resolution and 1-kbyte memory space is used for storing humidity values. This circuit is provided with wide flexibility to change its measurement range according to the users' specifications. This circuit is used for measurement and control of humidity in cold-storage process applications, textile industrial applications, etc.     

Influence of nitromethane concentration on ignition energy and explosion parameters in gaseous nitromethane/air mixtures

The aim of this paper is to provide new experimental data of the minimum ignition energy (MIE) of gaseous nitromethane/air mixtures to discuss the explosion pressure and the flame temperature as a function of nitromethane concentration. Observations on the influence of nitromethane concentration on combustion pressure and temperature through the pressure and temperature measure system show that peak temperature (the peak of combustion temperature wave) is always behind peak pressure (the peak of the combustion pressure wave) in arrival time, the peak combustion pressure of nitromethane increases in the range of its volume fraction 10-40% as the concentration of nitromethane increases, and it slightly decreases in the range of 40-50%. The maximum peak pressure is equal to 0.94 MPa and the minimum peak pressure 0.58 MPa. Somewhat similar to the peak pressure, the peak combustion temperature increases with the volume fraction of nitromethane in the range of 10-40%, and slightly decreases in 40-50%. The maximum peak temperature is 1340 °C and the minimum 860 °C. The combustion temperature rise rate increases with the concentration of nitromethane in 10-30%, while decreases in 30-50% and its maximum value of combustion temperature rise rate in 10-50% is 4200 °C/s at the volume fraction of 30%. Influence of the concentration of nitromethane on the combustion pressure rise rate is relatively complicated, and the maximum value of rise rate of combustion pressure wave in 10-50% is 11 MPa/s at the concentration 20%.     

Icy wave-cloud lunar corona and cirrus iridescence

Dual-polarization lidar data and radiosonde data are used to determine that iridescence in cirrus and a lunar corona in a thin wave cloud were caused by tiny ice crystals, not droplets of liquid water. The size of the corona diffraction rings recorded in photographs is used to estimate the mean diameter of the diffracting particles to be 14.6 μm, much smaller than conventional ice crystals. The iridescent cloud was located at the tropopause [~11-13.6 km above mean sea level (ASL)] with temperature near -70 °C, while the more optically pure corona was located at approximately 9.5 km ASL with temperature nearing -60 °C. Lidar cross-polarization ratios of 0.5 and 0.4 confirm that ice formed both the iridescence and the corona, respectively.     

Explosion characteristics of synthesised biogas at various temperatures

Biogas is considered as a valuable source of renewable energy. Indeed, it can be turned into useful energy (heat, electricity, fuel) and can contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Knowledge of its safety characteristics is a very important practical issue. Experimental investigation of synthesised biogas explosion characteristics was conducted in a 20-L sphere at various temperatures (30-70 degrees C) and at atmospheric pressure. The studied biogas was made of 50% methane (CH(4)) and 50% carbon dioxide (CO(2)). It was also saturated with humidity: this composition is frequently met in digesters during waste methanisation. There are two inert gases in biogas: water vapour and carbon dioxide. Its vapour water content rises along with temperature. The presence of these inert gases modifies considerably biogas characteristics compared to the ones of pure methane: explosion limits are lowered and beyond 70 degrees C, water vapour content is sufficient to inert the mixture. Furthermore, explosion violence (estimated with the maximum rate of pressure rise values, (dp/dt)(max)) is three times lower for biogas than for pure methane at ambient temperature.     

Isotherms and thermodynamics for the sorption of heavy metal ions onto functionalized sporopollenin

Auto-ignition of lubricating oil working in a compressor for an air conditioner is studied experimentally. The adopted lubricating oil is an unknown mixture with multi-components and known to have flash point temperature of 170 °C. First, its auto-ignition temperature is measured 365 °C at atmospheric pressure. The lubricating oil works under high-pressure condition up to 30 atm and it is heated and cooled down repeatedly. Accordingly, auto-ignition temperatures or flammable limits of lubricating oil are required at high pressures with respect to fire safety. Because there is not a standard test method for the purpose, a new ignition-test method is proposed in this study and thereby, auto-ignition temperatures are measured over the pressure range below 30 atm. The measured temperatures range from 215 °C to 255 °C and they strongly depend on pressure of gas mixture consisting of oil vapor, nitrogen, and oxygen. They are close to flash point temperature and the lubricating oil can be hazardous when it works for high-pressure operating condition and abundant air flows into a compressor.     

A simple experimental investigation of saturated vapour pressure for HFC134a-oil mixtures

A new refrigerant , HFC134a, seems to be the most promising substitute for CFC12. The vapour pressure of HFC134a-oil mixtures is one parameter that is important for a proper analysis of the operation of refrigeration systems. This paper presents vapour pressure curves for HFC134a and three kinds of representative oil for different oil percentages, and for the temperature range from -20 to +40°C (253.15–313.15 K).     

A Linear Temperature/Voltage Converter Using Thermistor in Logarithmic Network

A novel linearization technique comprising thermistor-resistor-log network is shown which exhibits a linear analog temperature/voltage relation over a wide temperature range (-25°C to +110°C) with reasonably good response linearity, reliability, and overall improved performance. A notable feature of the proposed network is that the power dissipation in the thermistor is quite low and it decreases with increasing temperature thus avoiding a self-heating problem in the thermistor.     

Chromatography on water-ice

Ice contains a thin film of water on its surface, the thickness ranging from nanometer to micrometer levels, depending on the bulk temperature and the composition of the solution used in making the ice. It follows that water held on the surface of an ice particle should endow a column packed with microparticulate ice the properties of a chromatographic column containing a pellicular packing. We demonstrate here the normal phase separation of two dyes on a column packed with millimeter-size ice particles, held at -18 °C.     

A comparison of ideal and real moist air models for calculating humidity ratio and relative humidity in the 213.15 to 473.15 K range and up to a pressure of 1 MPa

This study evaluates how the ideal mixture model of moist air approximates a real mixture model when determining both humidity ratio and relative humidity for the 0.1- to 1-MPa pressure range and the -60 to 200°C temperature range. The relevant thermodynamic properties are calculated using, among others, a specific algorithm based on the relationships proposed by Hyland and Wexler corrected for the new ITS-90 temperature scale.     

On the Way to Determination of the Vapor-Pressure Curve of Pure Water

The determination of the physical properties of pure water, especially the vapor-pressure curve of water, is one of the major issues identified by the Consultative Committee for Thermometry of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) to improve the accuracy of the national references in humidity. At the present time the saturation-pressure data, corresponding to ice or liquid?Cvapor equilibrium, at low temperature are scarce and unreliable. This study presents new measurements of vapor and sublimation pressures of, respectively, water and ice, using a static apparatus. Prior to saturation-pressure measurements, the temperature and pressure sensors of the static apparatus were calibrated against reference gauges in use at the LNE- CETIAT laboratories. The effect of thermal transpiration has been studied. The explored temperature range lies between 250 K and 374 K, and the pressure range between 70?Pa and 10⁵ Pa. An automatic data acquisition program was developed to monitor the pressure and temperature. The obtained results have been compared with available literature data. The preliminary uncertainty budget took into account several components: pressure measurements, temperature measurements, and environmental error sources such as thermal transpiration and hydrostatic correction.     

A chamber to test the response of radon detectors to changing environmental conditions

Radon risk assessment is carried out by means of accurate measurements with active or passive instrumentation. All radon detectors must be calibrated and tested using a radon chamber containing a known concentration of radon produced by specific sources of (226)Ra. Some chambers can also be used to test the response of detectors as a function of environmental conditions. In this case, a calibration curve can be inferred with respect to change in one of the considered parameters. For this aim, a new radon chamber was designed and realised to perform calibration and to study the detector response in a large range of variation of the environmental parameters (pressure, 700-1100 mbar; temperature, 5-50°C; humidity, 10-90 %). The first experiments conducted to study the influence of environmental parameters on the detector response have shown flexibility and ease of use of the chamber.     

Exploring the possibilities of cryogenic cooling in liquid chromatography for biological applications: a proof of principle

The possibilities to use cryogenic cooling to trap components in liquid chromatography was investigated. In a first step, van 't Hoff plots were measured with a reversed-phase column using the temperature control unit of a conventional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system to gain insight in the retention behavior of proteins at low temperatures. It was estimated that retention factors in the range of k = 10(4) could be achieved at T = -20 °C for lysozyme, indicating that temperature is a usable parameter to trap components in LC. In a next step, trapping experiments were carried out on a nano-LC system, equipped with a UV-detector, using a commercial reversed-phase column. An in-house built setup, allowing cooling of a segment of the column down to temperatures below T = -20 °C, was used to trap components. Experiments were conducted under isocratic and gradient conditions with methanol as organic solvent. It is demonstrated that, by thermally trapping and elution of components, an enhanced S/N ratio and decreased peak widths can be obtained. At the same time, a significant increase in pressure drop occurs during the cooling process. Limitations and benefits of the technique are further discussed.     

Design and Validation of the MBW Standard Humidity Generators

MBW Calibration AG (MBW) is the Designated Institute (DI) for humidity appointed by the Federal Institute of Metrology, METAS. MBW currently offers calibration and measurement capabilities (CMC) for frost/dew-point hygrometers by comparison with precision chilled-mirror transfer standards that have been calibrated using the primary standards of leading European National Metrology Institutes or DI. The design, construction and validation of two standard humidity generators to be used as the Swiss national standards for the primary realization of frost/dew-point temperature in the range from ? 90 °C to + 95 °C are presented and discussed. The generators are operated as continuous flow “single-pressure” generators in the range from ? 80 °C to ? 10 °C with saturation over ice and from 0.5 °C to + 95 °C with saturation over water. Additionally, they are used in “two-pressure” mode for saturation over ice down to frost-point temperatures of ? 90 °C and down to ? 20 °C for saturation over water. The main saturators of both generators have been designed to fit in commercially available calibration baths with either ethanol or distilled water as the heat transfer fluid for saturator temperatures below and above 0 °C, respectively. Saturator temperature is measured using standard platinum resistance thermometers and a purpose-built precision thermometer. Pressure measurements are taken with gauge pressure transducers and a separate barometric sensor, to reduce the influence of the atmospheric pressure on the measurement of the pressure ratio and make full use of the correlation of pressure measurements and enhancement factors when operating in two-pressure mode. A totally automated pre-saturation and flow control system facilitates the calibration of state-of-the-art chilled-mirror transfer for standards without manual readjustment of the generated flowrate to ensure a constant volumetric flow at the conditions of the mirror. The uncertainty budget leading to the CMC for frost/dew-point temperature realization is presented in the context of the experimental validation performed. The results in the overlapping range of both generators are presented and used as further evidence of the saturation efficiency of both standards.     

Indium oxide thin film based ammonia gas and ethanol vapour sensor

A sensor for ammonia gas and ethanol vapour has been fabricated using indium oxide thin film as sensing layer and indium tin oxide thin film encapsulated in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a miniature heater. For the fabrication of miniature heater indium tin oxide thin film was grown on special high temperature corning glass substrate by flash evaporation method. Gold was deposited on the film using thermal evaporation technique under high vacuum. The film was then annealed at 700 K for an hour. The thermocouple attached on sensing surface measures the appropriate operating temperature. The thin film gas sensor for ammonia was operated at different concentrations in the temperature range 323–493 K. At 473 K the sensitivity of the sensor was found to be saturate. The detrimental effect of humidity on ammonia sensing is removed by intermittent periodic heating of the sensor at the two temperatures 323K and 448 K, respectively. The indium oxide ethanol vapour sensor operated at fixed concentration of 400 ppm in the temperature range 293–393 K. Above 373 K, the sensor conductance was found to be saturate. With various thicknesses from 150–300 nm of indium oxide sensor there was no variation in the sensitivity measurements of ethanol vapour. The block diagram of circuits for detecting the ammonia gas and ethanol vapour has been included in this paper.     

Estimation of vapour liquid equilibria for the system carbon dioxide–difluoromethane using artificial neural networks

In this paper, an alternate tool, i.e. the artificial neural network technique has been applied for estimation of vapour liquid equilibria (VLE) for the binary system, carbon dioxide–difluoromethane, which is an attractive alternative to chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, normally used as refrigerants. The model can satisfactorily estimate the vapour liquid equilibrium pressure and mole fraction carbon dioxide in vapour phase in the temperature range 222.04–343.23 K and in the pressure range 0.105–7.46 MPa. The average absolute error for the system in the estimation of vapour phase mole fraction is 0.0086 and 0.056 MPa for the pressure.     

Conductivity and voltammetry in liquid and supercritical halogenated solvents

A previous study of the voltammetry of ferrocene in liquid and supercritical chlorodifluoromethane revealed electrochemically reversible behavior. However, shifts in the half-wave potential as a function of fluid conditions were observed which were tentatively attributed to ohmic distortion due to changes in fluid resistance. To more completely understand the voltammetry in this fluid, conductivity measurements have been made for a range of fluid conditions. Additionally, a second reference couple, cobaltocenium hexafluorophosphate, has been introduced, and the difference in half-wave potentials between the two redox couples has been examined as a function of fluid conditions. In the liquid, the difference in the half-wave potentials of the two couples corrected for ohmic distortion decreases as the fluid temperature increases (25-85 °C) at constant pressure (5.2 MPa). In the supercritical fluid at constant temperature (115 °C), the difference in the half-wave potentials corrected for ohmic distortion is constant at 1.276 ± 0.005 V over a considerable range of fluid pressure (10-30 MPa). Ion aggregation in the supercritical fluid is indicated both by the conductivity measurements and by the rather large hydrodynamic radius of cobaltocenium computed from the voltammograms. Preliminary voltammetry in supercritical trifluoromethane is also presented.     

The dynamic elastic modulus of hardened cement paste. Part I: A new statistical model—water and ice filled pores

The dynamic elastic modulus and damping coefficient of hardened cement paste is measured by exciting the natural mode of oscillation of a hardened cement paste beam in a temperature range between +20 and −160°C. The damping from the system and water vapour exchange with the specimen are negligible. A new statistical model is proposed for combining the elastic moduli of the constituents: solid matrix, water ice and air. Water-saturated specimens were measured, delivering results for the elastic moduli of solid, ice and water by applying the model.     

A mathematical model for the prediction of water vapour transmission rate at different temperature and relative humidity combinations

A simple mathematical procedure for the estimation of water vapour transmission rate under different conditions is presented and discussed. The ASTM dynamic and gravimetric methods were used for measuring the water vapour transmission rate of four thin plastic films (PET 19 μm, PVC 16 μm, EVA 15 μm and LDPE 23 μm) under 38 different conditions of temperature and relative humidity and the corresponding permeance values were drawn. On the basis of the Clausius Clapeyron's relationship between temperature and water vapour pressure, a simple equation was derived for a rapid transformation of water vapour transmission rate data. The mathematical procedure was applied to the data collected for the four thin films and good agreement was found between observed and predicted values for the PET and LDPE films, while for the PVC and EVA films the equation developed led to an overestimate of water vapour transmission at the lower temperatures.     

Estimation of vapour pressure and partial pressure of subliming compounds by low-pressure thermogravimetry

A method for the estimation of vapour pressure and partial pressure of subliming compounds under reduced pressure, using rising temperature thermogravimetry, is described in this paper. The method is based on our recently developed procedure to estimate the vapour pressure from ambient pressure thermogravimetric data using Langmuir equation. Using benzoic acid as the calibration standard, vapour pressure-temperature curves are calculated at 80, 160 and 1000 mbar for salicylic acid and vanadyl bis-2,4-pentanedionate, a precursor used for chemical vapour deposition of vanadium oxides. Using a modification of the Langmuir equation, the partial pressure of these materials at different total pressures is also determined as a function of temperature. Such data can be useful for the deposition of multi-metal oxide thin films or doped thin films by chemical vapour deposition (CVD).