Experimental performance comparison and trade-off among air-based precooling methods for postharvest apples by comprehensive multiscale thermodynamic analyses

Air-based precooling methods including room cooling and forced-air cooling were traditionally used for postharvest horticultural products. In this study, disturbed-air cooling with different layouts was proposed for the trade-off between room cooling with long cooling time and forced-air cooling with high energy consumption. Lab-scale experiments with 30 bins of postharvest apples were conducted using the aforementioned methods to measure the temperature history. Multiscale thermodynamic analyses from energy, entropy, exergy, and entransy perspectives were then performed. The time evolution of transient quantities and overall comparison of the trade-off performances were further discussed. The ventilation power and transformed heat became more significant respectively for the total energy consumption and heat load during the precooling processes. The rates of entropy generation, exergy destruction, and entransy dissipation reduced in consistent with the tendency of heat rejection from all bins. The major part of these losses was resulted by the ventilation for convective heat transfer between cold air and apples and became more significant during later stage of precooling processes. The middle-parallel disturbed-air cooling achieved the best trade-off between the lowest energy consumption for room cooling and the lowest maximum seven-eighths cooling time for forced-air cooling by respectively reaching 81.68% and 28.82% of the optimization potential. The best trade-off between the lowest thermodynamic loss for room cooling and the lowest heat transfer ability loss for forced-air cooling was also achieved by this method with around 55% to 62% optimization of the coefficients of performance, around 83% optimization of the entropy generation ratio, around 58% to 62% optimization of the exergy destruction ratio, and around 36% optimization of the entransy dissipation ratio.     

Optimization of hydrogen vehicle refueling via dynamic simulation

A dynamic model has been developed to analyze and optimize the thermodynamics and design of hydrogen refueling stations. The model is based on Dymola software and incorporates discrete components. Two refueling station designs were simulated and compared. The modeling results indicate that pressure loss in the vehicle's storage system is one of the main factors determining the mass flow and peak cooling requirements of the refueling process. The design of the refueling station does not influence the refueling of the vehicle when the requirements of the technical information report J2601 from Society of Automotive Engineers are met. However, by using multiple pressure stages in the tanks at the refueling station (instead of a single high-pressure tank), the total energy demand for cooling can be reduced by 12%, and the compressor power consumption can be reduced by 17%. The time between refueling is reduced by 5%, and the total amount of stored hydrogen at high pressure is reduced by 20%.     

Thermodynamic parametric analysis of refueling heavy-duty hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles

Reliable design and safe operation of heavy-duty hydrogen refueling stations are essential for the successful deployment of heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Fueling heavy-duty FCEVs is different from light-duty vehicles in terms of the dispensed hydrogen quantities and fueling rates, requiring tailored fueling station design for each vehicle class. In particular, the selection and design of the onboard hydrogen storage tank system and the fueling performance requirements influence the safe design of hydrogen fueling stations. A thermodynamic modeling and analysis are performed to evaluate the impact of various fueling parameters and boundary conditions on the fueling performance of heavy-duty FCEVs. We studied the effect of dispenser pressure ramp rate and precooling temperature, initial tank temperature and pressure, ambient temperature, and onboard storage design parameters, such as onboard storage pipe diameter and length, on the fueling rate and final vehicle state-of-charge, while observing prescribed tank pressure and temperature safety limits. An important finding was the sensitivity of the temporal fueling rate profile and the final tank state of charge to the design factors impacting pressure drop between the dispenser and vehicle tank, including onboard storage pipe diameter selection, and flow coefficients of nozzle, valves, and fittings. The fueling rate profile impacts the design and cost of the hydrogen precooling unit upstream of the dispenser.     

Improving hydrogen refueling stations to achieve minimum refueling costs for small bus fleets

Fuel cell vehicles using green hydrogen as fuel can contribute to the mitigation of climate change. The increasing utilization of those vehicles creates the need for cost efficient hydrogen refueling stations. This study investigates how to build the most cost efficient refueling stations to fuel small fleet sizes of 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 fuel cell busses. A detailed physical model of a hydrogen refueling station was built to determine the necessary hydrogen storage size as well as energy demand for compression and precooling of hydrogen. These results are used to determine the refueling costs for different station configurations that vary the number of storage banks, their volume and compressor capacity.It was found that increasing the number of storage banks will decrease the necessary total station storage volume as well as energy demand for compression and precooling. However, the benefit of adding storage banks decreases with each additional bank. Hence the cost for piping and instrumentation to add banks starts to outweigh the benefits when too many banks are used. Investigating the influence of the compressor mass flow found that when fueling fleets of 2 or 4 busses the lowest cost can be reached by using a compressor with the minimal mass flow necessary to refill all storage banks within 24 h. For fleets of 8, 16 and 32 busses, using the compressor with the maximum investigated mass flow of 54 kg/h leads to the lowest costs.     

150单缸机试验台冷却系统流动与传热计算分析

基于Flowmaster软件建立了150单缸柴油机试验台冷却系统流动与传热模型,并在某大功率发动机上进行了验证。在此基础上分析得到了冷却水温度和流量、气缸套和气缸盖温度变化对冷却水总传热流量的影响规律,以及管道尺寸、壁面粗糙度、冷却水流量对冷却水流动总阻力的影响规律。     

Optimisation model for integration of cooling and heating systems in large industrial plants

Large industrial plants have often hundreds of heating and cooling heat exchangers. A common situation is that cooling demands of the processes are satisfied without any deeper analysis of the overall impact of the cooling systems on the plant’s economy or the environment. If cooling water is available it is used as much as needed and then pumped back to the river, some degrees warmer.An optimisation model was developed for integration of cooling and heating systems to tackle the problem. An industrial cooling system is a complex energy system comprising different options of producing cooling, distribution pipelines for cold media and cooling storages. Integration of power generation and heating systems to the cooling systems was included in the model. An illustrative example is presented in the paper. 10 process streams with cooling demand and 10 streams with heating demand were chosen, situated at different locations at the plant site. The optimal matches between the streams were found together with the sizes of the heat exchangers and the demands of hot and cold utilities. The costs of pipelines and the pumping costs of the streams are included in the model. The model can be used in the design of greenfield and retrofit investments and in versatile what-if analyses of the plant design or operation.     

Numerical investigation of the vortex tube performance in novel precooling methods in the hydrogen fueling station

In the present study, the potential of integrating a Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube (RHVT) in the precooling process for refueling high-pressure hydrogen vehicles in hydrogen refueling stations is investigated. In this regard, two novel precooling processes integrating a vortex tube are proposed to significantly reduce the capital expenditure and operating costs in hydrogen fueling stations. Then a numerical study of the RHVT performance is carried out for a high-pressure hydrogen flow to validate the feasibility of the proposed processes. Obtained results from the numerical simulation show that the energy separation effect also exists in the RHVT with hydrogen flow at the pressure level of tens of megapascals. Moreover, it is found that the energy separation performance of the RHVT improves as the pressure ratio increases. In other words, the temperature drop of the cold exit of RHVT decreases as the pressure ratio decreases in the refueling process, which just matches the slowing-down temperature rise during the cylinder charge. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the integration of a RHVT into the precooling process has potential in the hydrogen fueling station.     

Thermal Performance Enhancement of L-Shaped Microgrooved Heat Pipe Containing Water-Based Al2O3 Nanofluids

An experimental study was performed to investigate the thermal performance of an L-shaped grooved heat pipe with cylindrical cross section, which contained 0.5 wt% water-based Al₂O₃ nanofluid as the working fluid. The transient performance of the heat pipe and the effect of cooling water temperature on the heat transfer characteristics of the heat pipe were investigated. The outer diameter and the length of the heat pipe were 6 mm and 220 mm, respectively. Experimental results revealed that the temperature of the cooling water has a significant effect on the thermal resistance of the heat pipe containing nanofluids as its working fluid. By increasing the cooling water temperature from 5°C to 27.5°C, the thermal resistance decreases by approximately 40%. At the same charge volume, test results indicated an average reduction of 30% in thermal resistance of heat pipes with nanofluid as compared with heat pipe containing pure water. For transient conditions, unsteady state time for nanofluids was reduced by approximately 28%, when compared with water as the working fluid.     

Thermodynamic analysis of polymer-electrolyte-membrane fuel-cell performance under varying cooling conditions

The cooling capacity and cooling load of a fuel-cell cooling loop govern the operating temperature of the fuel-cell module and its electrical output, efficiency and other thermodynamic aspects. The aim of this work was to analyze the performance of a polymer-electrolyte-membrane fuel-cell (PEMFC) under changing cooling conditions. A back-iteration algorithm was employed to determine the operating temperature of a PEMFC for which thermodynamic performance models were developed for the entropy generation, exergy-destruction and second-law efficiency using an entropy-analysis method. Electrochemical equations for the calculation of the voltage, power and first-law efficiency of the cell were also formulated. A parametric study was performed to evaluate the effects of varying cooling conditions on the energy and exergy efficiency of the PEMFC. The parameters considered include the electric-current density governing the cooling load, the mass flow rate of the coolant and the external thermal resistance of the cooler, which together determine the cooling ability of the fuel-cell cooling loop. Their influences on operating temperature, voltage, power, energy and exergy efficiencies were numerically investigated. The results indicate that although the power output and exhaust heat of PEMFC is mainly dominated by the electric-current density, the impacts of the coolant's mass flow rate and the cooler's external thermal resistance on the voltage, energy and exergy efficiencies of PEMFC module can't be neglected. In the investigated ranges, the gross energy and exergy efficiencies increase with the cooler's external thermal resistance by 3.2% and 2.45%, and decrease with the increase in coolant's mass flow rate by 1.2% and 0.92%, respectively.     

The design and optimization of a cryogenic compressed hydrogen refueling process

Cryo-compressed hydrogen storage has excellent volume and mass hydrogen storage density, which is the most likely way to meet the storage requirements proposed by United States Department of Energy（DOE）. This paper contributes to propose and analyze a new cryogenic compressed hydrogen refueling station. The new type of low temperature and high-pressure hydrogenation station system can effectively reduce the problems such as too high liquefaction work when using liquid hydrogen as the gas source, the need to heat and regenerate to release hydrogen, and the damage of thermal stress on the storage tank during the filling process, so as to reduce the release of hydrogen and ensure the non-destructive filling of hydrogen. This paper focuses on the study of precooling process in filling. By establishing a heat transfer model, the dynamic trend of tank temperature with time in the precooling process of low-temperature and high-pressure hydrogen storage tank under constant pressure is studied. Two analysis methods are used to provide theoretical basis for the selection of inlet diameter of hydrogen storage tank. Through comparative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the two analysis methods, it is concluded that the analysis method of constant mass flow is more suitable for the selection in practical applications. According to it, the recommended diameter of the storage tank at the initial temperature of 300 K, 200 K and 100 K is selected, which are all 15 mm. It is further proved that the calculation method can meet the different storage tank states of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles when selecting the pipe diameter.     

Dynamic test strategy for diagnosing a heat pipe cooling module

This article experimentally develops a dynamic test strategy for efficiently diagnosing a heat pipe cooling module in order to improve the time-consuming conventional steady-state test. The first step is to investigate the performance of a heat pipe by measuring its thermal resistance, and the next step is to examine the influence of the parameters on the temperature response of the heat pipe cooling module. The experimental parameters include the press force, preheating temperature, heating power, and starting time of the fan. The results show that the thermal performance of a heat pipe, the contact condition between the heat pipe and the base plate, and the heat dissipation ability of a heat sink, are diagnosed within 30 seconds. During the dynamic test, both the startup and the ability to reach uniformity of temperature of the heat pipe can be observed. In addition, the temperature response of a heat pipe cooling module based on a lumped model matches the experimental data.     

蒸汽管网模拟优化技术应用

洛阳分公司蒸汽管网包括10MPa、3．5MPa、1.0MPa和0．3MPa共4个等级．其中3．5MPa和1．0MPa蒸汽管网是主要管网。两套管网均存在供汽结构不合理,管段散热损失大,管网保温材料老化及破损严重,管段外表面温发较高（在50℃以上,局部管段超过80℃）等问题。为此．根据3．5MPa和1．0MPa蒸汽管网平衡数据．作出流量平衡表．利用蒸汽管网模拟分析软件（SNAMER）建立蒸汽管网模型并进行离线模拟分析。根据模拟分析结果,提出增设一条蒸汽跨线,以提高1号汽轮机发电机入口压力和汽轮机输出功率;将热电站至化纤装置3．5MPa蒸汽母管管径改为DN500,以减少压降;将部分管线保温材料改为硅酸铝镁纤维,保护层材质改为镀锌铝皮．以减少散热损火。模拟结果显示,实施上述措施后,1号汽轮机发电机入口压力约提高0．3MPa,在耗汽量不变的情况下,输出功率可提高3％：3．5MPa年1．0MPa蒸汽管网总散热损失将分别下降24％和31％;若对部分管线进行改造,每年将节约费用500万元。     

Study of heat transfer and kinetics parameters influencing the design of heat exchangers for hydrogen storage in high-pressure metal hydrides

This paper discusses the challenges of using hydrogen fuel cells to power light-duty vehicles. Storing sufficient amounts of hydrogen to cover adequate travel distances before refueling is one of the more pressing challenges, and different materials have been recommended to enhance storage capacity. This study concerns one class of storage materials called high-pressure metal hydrides (HPMHs). The most important component of a hydrogen storage system utilizing HPMHs is the heat exchanger, which, aside from storing the HPMH, must providing sufficient cooling during the hydrogen refueling to achieve the required short fill time of less than 5 min. Discussed in this paper are practical heat exchanger design guidelines for storage systems employing materials with high rates of heat generation during refueling. Most important among those is the maximum distance between the HPMH powder and the cooling surface, which, for Ti_1.1CrMn, must be kept below 10 mm to achieve a fill time of 5 min. A new parameter called non-dimensional conductance (NDC) is developed, which serves as a characteristic parameter to estimate the effects of various parameters on the reaction rate. Overall, it is shown that the hydrogen fill time is sensitive mostly to the effective thermal conductivity of the HPMH and the coolant’s temperature, followed by the contact resistance between the powder and cooling surface.     

An Experimental and Numerical Study on the Effects of the Flat Heat Pipe Wick Structure on Its Thermal Performance

This paper presents an experimental and numerical work on the effect of flat heat pipe construction on the cooling of an electronic component. The flat heat pipe is heated via 1-cm-diameter circular electrical resistance (the evaporator side), and the other side (the condenser side) is cooled by convection through a heat sink. In the experimental work, three types of wick construction are used in the heat pipe: (A) mesh + powder, (B) mesh, and (C) powder. A comparison is performed of the electronic component cooling from the heat pipe, copper block, and open heat pipe constructions. The numerical work studies the effect of wick porosity on the heat pipe performance for different wicks that we could not study experimentally. For forced convection, heat pipe A is more efficient for the electronic component cooling than the copper block and other heat pipe construction. For free convection, the copper block is the most efficient. The maximum variation of the heat pipe temperature is about 19% due to change of the heat pipe construction. When the wick porosity increases, the temperature increases and the pressure decreases. The rectangular groove construction produces the minimum temperature compared to the wrapped screen and packed sphere constructions.     

果蔬预冷冰浆式湿冷热湿交换器性能实验

针对果蔬预冷设备应用场合,提出并设计了一套以冰浆作为载冷介质的湿冷热湿交换器,并搭建单体性能测试台架,以出风温度和相对湿度为指标,通过改变填料类型(金属、纸质填料)、载冷介质种类(冰浆、冷水)和喷淋流量进行了性能实验研究。结果表明:实验工况下,金属填料的换热性能较纸质填料好;以冰浆作为载冷介质相比以冷水的情况,可以获得更低的出风温度,但出风相对湿度也有所降低;随着进风干球温度的降低,出风温度明显降低,而出风相对湿度变化并不明显;在一定范围内,提高载冷介质的喷淋流量,有利于湿冷热湿交换器出风温度的降低和出风相对湿度的升高;低浓度的冰浆可以在湿冷热湿交换器中稳定运行,且降温效果较冷水湿冷热湿交换器更加明显,虽然相对湿度略有下降但仍然可保持在90%左右,适用于果蔬预冷和保鲜。     

热管用于笔记本电脑智能温控散热的分析

随着笔记本电脑性能的不断提升,传统的单一风冷散热已经满足不了要求,传热性能优越的热管便应用于笔记本电脑散热。分析了热管用于智能温控散热系统的传热机理,并建立了传热模型．分析了用于笔记本散热的热管的热阻和总传热系数,结合实例进行了定量计算。计算结果表明热管配合智能温控风扇,能很好满足笔记本散热的要求。     

Heat Transfer Performance of Microgroove Back Plate Heat Pipes with Working Fluid and Heating Power

Micro heat pipes(MHP) cooling is one of the most efficient solutions to radiate heat for high heat flux electronic components in data centers. It is necessary to improve heat transfer performance of microgroove back plate heat pipes. This paper discusses about influence on thermal resistance through experiments and numerical simulation with different working fluids, filling ratio and heat power. Thermal resistance of the CO_2 filled heat pipe is 14.8% lower than the acetone filled heat pipe. In the meantime, at the best filling ratio of 40%, the CO_2 filled heat pipe has the optimal heat transfer behavior with the smallest thermal resistance of 0.123 K/W. The thermal resistance continues to decline but the magnitude of decreases is going to be minor. In addition, this paper illustrates methods about how to enhance heat pipe performance from working fluids, filling ratio and heat power, which provides a theoretical basis for practical applications.     

三维内肋螺旋管内强化换热实验

采用实验方法测试了三维内肋螺旋管内的流动传热性能。实验用的螺旋管曲率δ=0．0663,测试段长1．15m,试验工质为水。对螺旋光管和两种不同结构尺寸的三维内肋管进行了测试,测量的雷诺数范围约为Re=1000～8500。结果表明,三维内肋对螺旋管内的对流换热仍然有较大的强化效果,同时流阻也有一定程度的增加。与未加肋的螺旋光管相比,在测试的流动范围内,两种三维内肋管的平均换热强化比达1．71和2．03．热力性能系数为1．2～1．66。     

Modelling and Thermodynamic Analysis of a Hot-Cold Conversion Pipe Using R134a-DMF-He as the Working Pair

Based on the concept of a diffusion absorption system,a hot-cold conversion pipe utilizing 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane(R134 a)-dimethylformamide(DMF)-helium(He)as the working pair is presented with the aim of cooling output by recovering the low-grade waste heat.The model of the hot-cold conversion pipe is established,in which a heat pipe is used to transfer the waste heat as the heat input.The equations of the thermodynamic properties of the working pair are established by equation of state method(EOS).The model of the hot-cold conversion pipe is built based on the mass,species and energy balance equations of each component.The direct conversion of heat to cold is achieved by the desorption,absorption,condensation and diffusion evaporation processes of R134 a.The hot-cold conversion pipe is cooled by natural convection,which can be enhanced by chimney effect.The thermodynamic analysis is carried out to analyze the effect of the boundary conditions,i.e.the heat source temperature,the refrigeration temperature,and the environmental temperature,on the system performance.This paper provides a theoretical basis for actual application of the hot-cold conversion pipe in waste heat recovery field.     

Determination of heat transfer coefficients for cylindrical products exposed to forced-air cooling

An analytical model for estimation of transient heat transfer coefficients in forced-air precooling experiments of cylindrically shaped grapes, using a lumped capacitance approach were addressed and investigated. In order to determine transient heat transfer coefficients, the centre transient temperature measurements during forced-air precooling were used. Experiments involved cooling individual grapes in air flow without water losses. The individual grapes were instrumented with several interior thermocouples for measuring the centre transient temperature response during cooling. The transient values of the heat transfer coefficient history for five different air velocities were found to be about 21–40 W/m² K. These values were in good agreement with the values predicted using well-known Nusselt-Reynolds empirical correlation for forced convection. The present technique has the capability of determining transient heat transfer coefficients in a single transient experiment.