Passive cooling in a low-energy office building

In office buildings, the use of passive cooling techniques combined with a reduced cooling load may result in a good thermal summer comfort and therefore save cooling energy consumption. This is shown in the low-energy office building ‘SD Worx’ in Kortrijk (Belgium), in which natural night ventilation and an earth-to-air heat exchanger are applied. In winter, the supply air is successively heated by the earth-to-air heat exchanger and the regenerative heat exchanger, which recovers the heat from the exhaust air. In summer, the earth-to-air heat exchanger cools the ventilation air by day. In addition, natural night ventilation cools down the exposed structure which has accumulated the heat of the previous day. In this article the overall thermal comfort in the office building is evaluated by means of measuring and simulation results. Measurements of summer 2002 are discussed and compared to simulations with a coupled thermal and ventilation simulation model TRNSYS-COMIS. The simulations are used to estimate the relative importance of the different techniques. The evaluation shows that passive cooling has an important impact on the thermal summer comfort in the building. Furthermore, natural night ventilation appears to be much more effective than an earth-to-air heat exchanger to improve comfort.     

Nanocrystalline TiO2 photosensitized with natural polymers with enhanced efficiency from 400 to 600 nm

TiO₂ sensitization for solar applications requires not only efficient but also stable and inexpensive sensitizers. Different condensed tannins extracted from bark wastes of tropical wood trees were studied as possible sensitizers of TiO₂. These natural polymers adhere strongly to the TiO₂ even from aqueous solutions. Absorption spectra are presented for 1 mM aqueous sensitizing solutions prepared with lyophilized condensed tannins which absorb light in the visible range. Spectral photocurrent measurements and I–V characterization show that no bias is required for electron injection to the TiO₂ from all studied condensed tannins. Incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) analysis indicates that surface complexation originates absorption bands with different electron injection efficiencies. These play a dominant role in determining IPCE spectral shape. We propose that surface modification by the sensitizer changes the surface trap density, thereby decreasing recombination losses.     

Photochemical reduction of molecular weight and number of double bonds in natural rubber film

Natural rubber (NR) can be degraded depending on various factors such as heat, mechanical force, chemical reaction, and light. Light is a very interesting factor because it can cause the NR to degrade under low temperature and pressure. The photo-degradation of NR films was carried out to investigate the effects of the light and the temperature on the reduction of the weight-average molecular weight (Mw) and the double bonds in the NR films. The NR films, with and without catalysts, titanium dioxide (TiO₂), and potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈), were exposed to light from a mercury light bulb at 7,000 and 36,000 lux, and at the temperature of 25 °C and 80 °C for 192 hrs. After exposure, the Mw of the NR films was analyzed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Changes in the Mw were used to construct a kinetic model for the process, (1/Mw)=(1/Mw₀)+(kt/2M₀) where k is the rate constant, and M₀ is the Mw of the monomer unit. The linear relationship between 1/Mw and time suggested pseudo first-order processes with random scission. The Mw distribution information from the GPC was used to calculate the number of double bonds in the NR films. The trend of the double bonds reduction curves was quite similar to the result obtained from the calculation from the FTIR spectra. This indicated that this calculation method might possibly be another alternative way to obtain the number of double bonds in the NR.     

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以天然气为能源，用燃气机代替电动机驱动压缩机并充分利用发动机废热、工业余热以及低品位环境热量的采暖、空调装置——燃气压缩式热泵近年来发展迅速。美国燃气设备的总装机容量已达到1．2GW，日本燃气机热泵占全部燃气制冷设备的29％，总装机容量大约1GW，燃气机热泵在英国、法国、德国、瑞士等都得到了较快的发展与应用。中研究了以天然气为驱动能源的压缩式热泵的特点及能量利用率，分析并测试了该系统的运行特性及交工况特性，进行了各种工况及转速下的实验研究。结果表明，该系统具有较好的部分负荷特性、一次能源利用率及交工况特性，为一种绿色高效的供热空调系统。     

输气管道天然气连续取样器的研制及应用

文章针对国内管输天然气气质分析工作中取样环节所存在的问题，结合国外技术发展趋势，全面地介绍了输气管道天然气连续取样器的研制过程。实践证明，该装置较好地解决了天然气密度值偏差问题，满足管输天然气全分析的要求，同时，该装置的推广应用将会提高天然气的计量准确度。     

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当前我国管道天然气计量系以体积表示，就其计量器具而言，差压式流量计、容积式流量计和速变式流量计都有，但大流量计量大多仍采用标准孔板差压式流量计，其流量计量标准招待我国SY／T6143－1996《天然气流量的标准孔板计量方法》。文章介绍目前常用的三种流量计的优缺点比较；天然气标准孔板差压式流量计算机自动计量系统的检定，其中包括：标准孔板节流装置，静压、差压变送器、温度传感器、数据采集系统等组件的检定；以及计量器具的正确使用和维护。最后，文章指出目前流量计量的发展主要是二次仪表的发展，籍助应用计算机大大提高流量法的测量范围和准确度，但对用户来说，应选择性／价比合适的仪表，并要考虑所选用仪表要便于检定、维护，同时，计量检定部门则应跟上发展，为广大用户提供技术支持。     

Passive solar systems for heating, daylighting and ventilation for rooms without an equator-facing facade

Spaces without northerly orientations have an impact on the ‘energy behaviour’ of a building. This paper outlines possible energy savings and better performance achieved by different zenithal solar passive strategies (skylights, roof monitors and clerestory roof windows) and element arrangements across the roof in zones of cold to temperate climates typical of the central and central-southern Argentina. Analyses were undertaken considering daylighting, thermal and ventilation performances of the different strategies. The results indicate that heating, ventilation and lighting loads in spaces without an equator-facing facade can be significantly reduced by implementing solar passive strategies. In the thermal aspect, the solar saving fraction reached for the different strategies were averaged 43.16% for clerestories, 41.4% for roof monitors and 38.86% for skylights for a glass area of 9% to the floor area. The results also indicate average illuminance levels above 500 lux for the different clerestory and monitor arrangements, uniformity ratios of 0.66–0.82 for the most distributed arrangements and daylighting factors between 11.78 and 20.30% for clear sky conditions, depending on the strategy. In addition, minimum air changes rates of 4 were reached for the most extreme conditions.     

Circulation rates of boiling liquids in a vertical tube

An experimental study of heat transfer to boiling liquids under natural convective flow has been carried out in a single tube vertical thermosiphon reboiler to investigate the effect of heat flux and submergence on circulation rates. The test liquids used were distilled water, various concentrations of propan-2-ol in water and their azeotrope. The test section was an electrically heated stainless steel tube of 25.56 mm i.d., 28.85 mm o.d. and 1900 mm long with twenty-one spot welded copper constantan thermocouples to measure the variations in wall temperature along its axis. The uniform heat fluxes in the range of 3.5–42.4 kW/m² were employed while inlet liquid sub-cooling varied from 0.2 to 30.7 °C. The liquid submergence levels were maintained in the range 30–100%. The typical experimental data has been graphically presented and discussed. An empirical correlation has been developed from the experimental data of the present study through regression analysis.     

Natural convection from narrow horizontal plates at moderate Rayleigh numbers

The present work deals with the natural convection flow and heat transfer from a horizontal plate cooled from above. Experiments are carried out for rectangular plates having aspect ratios between φ=0.036 and 0.43 and Rayleigh numbers in the range 290?Ra_w?3.3×10⁵. These values of Ra_w and φ have been selected below those commonly considered in previous research in view of a future application to the design of printed circuit boards. The plates are made of two different metals, copper and steel. The choice of a metal is relevant to the present problem because the plates are heated by means of an electric current. Important variations of the surface temperature are observed along the transverse direction for the steel plates. The surface of the copper plates is almost isothermal because of the high thermal conductivity of the metal.Calculations for a semi-infinite plate are carried out to predict the transverse profiles of the surface temperature and heat flux and to visualize the structure of the flow. Three-dimensional calculations are also used at a qualitative level to observe the changes in the flow structure due to the finite length of the plate. Present results are compared with both previous experimental work and analyses that are based on boundary layer theory. It is shown that analyses for an infinite boundary layer are not completely applicable to the present problem because of its different physics. The most relevant feature of the natural convection flow, which is not predicted by boundary layer analyses, is a thermal plume rising near the center of the plate.Present heat transfer results differ from previous experimental work because of the lower Rayleigh numbers and aspect ratios investigated here. The Nusselt number is found to depend on Ra_wⁿ, with the exponent n=0.17 being lower than most of the values reported in the literature. This comparatively low value is related to the transverse conduction of heat through the air, which becomes increasingly significant as Ra_w approaches zero. It is shown that such a low-Ra_w effect can be accounted for in a physically consistent manner by adding a constant term to the heat transfer correlation. On the other hand, it is found that the Nusselt number does not significantly depend on the aspect ratio in the range of φ investigated contrary to what has been previously reported for wider plates.     

线缆护套材料在我国西部环境中的试验研究

本文通过对线缆外护套材料在我国西部地区严酷环境试验站中土壤和大气1～5年的试验结果分析，总结了塑料护套材料的耐蚀性能。为线缆护套的防护设计、合理选材及制定标准提供科学依据。