EXERGETIC EVALUATION OF GAS TURBINE COGENERATION SYSTEMS FOR DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING

A cogeneration system (CGS) generating both power and heat for district heating and cooling is required to be able to cope efficiently with its heat demand change. In this paper, two types of gas turbine CGSs were investigated: (1) a CGS using a dual fluid cycle; and (2) a CGS using a combined cycle. Exergy flows at various points of each CGS have been evaluated when its heat demand is changed. The following have been shown through simulation studies: (a) the higher the heat supply ratio, the higher the exergetic efficiency of the dual fluid cycle CGS; (b) the lower the heat supply ratio, the higher the exergetic efficiency of the combined cycle CGS; and (c) the highest exergetic efficiency of the dual fluid cycle CGS at the maximum heat supply operation is higher than that of the combined cycle CGS; and the exergetic efficiency of the combined cycle CGS at the minimum heat supply operation is higher than that of the dual fluid cycle CGS. A simple criterion has also been derived for determining which type of CGS has higher average exergetic efficiency for a specific district when its heat demand characteristics are known. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the Use of Path-Independent Integrals in Calculating Mixed-Mode Stress Intensity Factors for Elastic and Thermoelastic Cases

It is well known that the energy release rates associated with translation, rotation and self-similar expansion of cavities or cracks in solids are expressed by path-independent integrals J, L and M, respectively. It is shown that for a crack under a uniform tension and for an insulated crack disturbing a uniform heat flow, the energy release rates can be calculated by first considering an elliptical cavity and then performing a limiting process. This limiting process, with certain special properties of the M-integral and the additional relationship provided by the L-integral makes it possible to find the mixed-mode stress intensity factors.     

Adsorption Desalination Quenches Global Thirst

The search for fresh or potable water remains a pressing concern throughout many regions of the world. Although most of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans, the effort to provide for the world's inhabitants with fresh or potable water seems to be insurmountable; at least one billion people do not have access to clean and fresh water. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 41% of the Earth's population lives in water-stressed areas, and the number of people in the water scarce regions may climb to 3.5 billion by the year 2025. Thus, innovative and cost-effective desalination technologies for producing fresh water are needed to provide practical solutions.     

FVF LDO regulator with dual dynamic-load composite gain stage

A low-voltage output-capacitorless low-dropout regulator using dual dynamic-load composite gain stage for flipped voltage follower topology is presented. It also incorporates a delay discharge circuit which aims to reduce the long discharge time arising from the large capacitive load, thus achieving the overshoot time reduction and sustaining fast transient characteristic when driving low-power digital system with internal heavy capacitive load requirement. The regulator can support a minimum of 0.75 V input voltage with 0.5 V output voltage. It consumes 49.4 µA whilst maintaining the stability for a capacitance load range from 470 pF to 10 nF. For a current load transient from 0 to 10 mA with 200 ps edge time, the settling time is 0.38 µs for the load capacitance of 3 nF. The obtained transient figure-of-merit is 0.42 mV. This transient metric outperforms the representative prior-art reported works.     

Designing a Collaborative Visual Analytics Tool for Social and Technological Change Prediction

This paper discussed about GreenOracle which an interdisciplinary team designed and developed. GreenOracle is a collaborative visual analytics tool for predicting global climate change's impact on US power grids and its implications for society and national security. These future scenarios provide critical assessments and information to help policymakers and stakeholders formulate a coherent and unified strategy toward shaping a safe and secure society.