scholarly journals Thermoacoustic Refrigerators and Heat Pumps: New Insights for A High Performance

Author(s):  
Mahmoud A. Alamir ◽  
Nor Azwadi Che Sidik

Thermoacoustic refrigerators and heat pumps are considered one of the important emerging green technologies. They are based on the use of acoustic pressure waves to supply cooling or heating effects. The oscillating gas interaction with a solid wall called the stack generates thermoacoustic effects. This study presents the effects of the operating conditions and geometric parameters on the temperature difference across the stack and the coefficient of performance of a thermoacoustic heat pump at different cooling loads. The design steps of these systems were also demonstrated. Theoretical study of the operation conditions and geometric parameters was presented using “DeltaEC”. The results showed that higher harmonics are less desirable for thermoacoustic phenomena as they lower the temperature difference across the stack. Further insights into the effects of amplitude pressure, mean pressure and stack geometries were also demonstrated. This study helps to establish the concepts and design steps for thermoacoustic refrigerators and heat pumps.

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 479
Author(s):  
Ignacio Paniagua ◽  
Ángel Álvaro ◽  
Javier Martín ◽  
Celina Fernández ◽  
Rafael Carlier

Although CO 2 as refrigerant is well known for having the lowest global warming potential (GWP), and commercial domestic heat pump water heater systems exist, its long expected wide spread use has not fully unfolded. Indeed, CO 2 poses some technological difficulties with respect to conventional refrigerants, but currently, these difficulties have been largely overcome. Numerous studies show that CO 2 heat pump water heaters can improve the coefficient of performance (COP) of conventional ones in the given conditions. In this study, the performances of transcritical CO 2 and R410A heat pump water heaters were compared for an integrated nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) application. The thermodynamic cycle of two commercial systems were modelled integrating experimental data, and these models were then used to analyse both heat pumps receiving and producing hot water at equal temperatures, operating at the same ambient temperature. Within the range of operation of the system, it is unclear which would achieve the better COP, as it depends critically on the conditions of operation, which in turn depend on the ambient conditions and especially on the actual use of the water. Technology changes on each side of the line of equal performance conditions of operation (EPOC), a useful design tool developed in the study. The transcritical CO 2 is more sensitive to operating conditions, and thus offers greater flexibility to the designer, as it allows improving performance by optimising the global system design.


Author(s):  
Rabih Al Haddad ◽  
Hussein Basma ◽  
Charbel Mansour

Given the continuous tightening of emissions regulations on vehicles, battery-electric buses (BEB) play an essential role in the transition toward cleaner transport technologies, as they represent the most promising solution to replace diesel buses and reduce their environmental impact in the short term. However, heating the bus cabin leads to a considerable increase in energy consumption under cold weather conditions, which significantly reduces the driving range, given the limited battery capacity. Heat pumps (HP) are the primary heating technology used in BEB for their improved consumption performance compared to other technologies. Therefore, this study aims at optimizing the coefficient of performance (COP) of an HP system in a BEB for maximizing the bus electric driving range under cold weather conditions while maintaining satisfactory thermal comfort levels for passengers. Accordingly, an HP model is developed and integrated into an electric bus model using Dymola. A genetic algorithm (GA) based controller is proposed to find the optimal combination of the HP operating parameters, namely the compressor speed, the air mass flow rate at the inlet of the condenser, and the recirculation rate in order to maximize the system’s COP, and extend the BEB driving at different external temperatures, and as a function of the passengers’ occupancy levels. Results are carried under transient and steady-state operating conditions and show that the proposed GA-based controller saves up to 39% of the HP energy consumption as compared to the conventional HP control strategy, and therefore, enhances the BEB driving range up to 17%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Bellos ◽  
Christos Tzivanidis

Heat pumps are efficient and well-established technologies for providing the proper cooling load in the building sector. The objective of this work is the parametric investigation of a heat pump operating with the promising refrigerant R152a for different operating conditions. More specifically, the heat pump is studied for different ambient temperatures, different indoor temperatures and various compressor rotational speeds. The cooling capacity and the coefficient of performance (COP) are the most important parameters which calculated in every scenario. A detailed model is developed in Engineering Equations Solver (EES) and it is validated with literature data. According to the final results, the system can operate in nominal conditions with 5 kW cooling capacity and a COP equal to 6.46. It is found that the COP can be ranged from 4 to 12 and the cooling capacity, while the cooling capacity can reach up to 9 kW. Moreover, a regression equation about the performance of the system is suggested. The obtained results indicate that the use of the R152a leads to high performance and so it can be an environmentally friendly choice for the cooling systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (Suppl. 2) ◽  
pp. 585-596
Author(s):  
Long Ni ◽  
Jijin Wang ◽  
Dehu Qv ◽  
Qiang Cai ◽  
Yang Yao

Currently, water-cooled screw chiller is widely applied in commercial and industrial buildings, and the energy consumption of water chiller even could cover 70% of air-conditioning energy consumption in the most adverse operating conditions. Moreover, a number of chillers are running at a low rate under part-load state. In order to reduce the energy consumption of water-cooled screw chillers under part-load state, the paper presents the paralleling throttle mechanism. Through experimental study, under part-load state, it can be found that the by-pass tube diameter ?16 has the most positive effect on the performance of water-cooled screw chiller in four by-pass tube diameters. The oblique access mode is better than the vertical access mode, while the spiral access mode has little influence on the chiller performance. Because of paralleling throttle using, the exergetic loss of the evaporator and chiller is able to be reduced by 3.4%-15.5% and 0-6.7%, respectively. Meanwhile, the coefficient of performance of chiller can be enhanced by 0.2%-1.6%, and discharge temperature can be reduced by 0.4-2.7?C. In addition, the economic and environmental benefits of the advanced water-cooled screw chiller are more evident than the conventional water-cooled screw chiller's.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Milana Treshcheva ◽  
Irina Anikina ◽  
Vitaly Sergeev ◽  
Sergey Skulkin ◽  
Dmitry Treshchev

The percentage of heat pumps used in thermal power plants (TPPs) in the fuel and energy balance is extremely low in in most countries. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a systematic approach to selecting and justifying the circuit solutions and equipment capacity. This article aims to develop a new method of calculating the maximum capacity of heat pumps. The method proposed in the article has elements of marginal analysis. It takes into account the limitation of heat pump capacity by break-even operation at electric power market (compensation of fuel expenses, connected with electric power production). In this case, the heat pump’s maximum allowable capacity depends on the electric capacity of TPP, electricity consumption for own needs, specific consumption of conditional fuel for electricity production, a ratio of prices for energy resources, and a conversion factor of heat pump. For TPP based on combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) CCGT-450 with prices at the Russian energy resources markets at the level of 2019, when operating with the maximum heat load, the allowable heat pump capacity will be about 50 MW, and when operating with the minimum heat load—about 200 MW.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Florian Schlosser ◽  
Heinrich Wiebe ◽  
Timothy G. Walmsley ◽  
Martin J. Atkins ◽  
Michael R. W. Walmsley ◽  
...  

Heat pumps are the key technology to decarbonise thermal processes by upgrading industrial surplus heat using renewable electricity. Existing insight-based integration methods refer to the idealised Grand Composite Curve requiring the full exploitation of heat recovery potential but leave the question of how to deal with technical or economic limitations unanswered. In this work, a novel Heat Pump Bridge Analysis (HPBA) is introduced for practically targeting technical and economic heat pump potential by applying Coefficient of Performance curves into the Modified Energy Transfer Diagram (METD). Removing cross-Pinch violations and operating heat exchangers at minimum approach temperatures by combined application of Bridge Analysis increases the heat recovery rate and reduce the temperature lift to be pumped at the same time. The insight-based METD allows the individual matching of heat surpluses and deficits of individual streams with the capabilities and performance of different market-available heat pump concepts. For an illustrative example, the presented modifications based on HPBA increase the economically viable share of the technical heat pump potential from 61% to 79%.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 581
Author(s):  
Yongbae Kim ◽  
Juyong Back ◽  
Jongweon Kim

A tachograph in a vehicle records the vehicle operating conditions, such as speed, distance, brake operation conditions, acceleration, GPS information, etc., in intervals of one second. For accidents, the tachograph records information, such as the acceleration and direction of a vehicle traveling in intervals of 1/100 s for 10 s before and after the accident occurs as collision data. A vehicle equipped with a tachograph is obliged to upload operation data to administrative organizations periodically via other auxiliary storage devices like a USB attached external memory or online wireless communication. If there is a problem with the recorded contents, data may be at risk of being tampered with during the uploading process. This research proposed tamper-resistant technology based on blockchain for data in online and offline environments. The suggested algorithm proposed a new data recording mechanism that operates in low-level hardware of digital tachographs for tamper-resistance in light blockchains and on/offline situations. The average encoding time of the proposed light blockchain was 1.85 ms/Mb, while the average decoding time was 1.65 ms/Mb. With the outliers in statistical tests removed, the estimated average encoding and decoding time was 1.32 ms/Mb and 1.29 ms/Mb, respectively, and the tamper verification test detected all the tampered data.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 412
Author(s):  
Mirosław K. Szukiewicz ◽  
Krzysztof Kaczmarski

A dynamic model of the hydrogenation of benzene to cyclohexane reaction in a real-life industrial reactor is elaborated. Transformations of the model leading to satisfactory results are presented and discussed. Operating conditions accepted in the simulations are identical to those observed in the chemical plant. Under those conditions, some components of the reaction mixture vanish, and the diffusion coefficients of the components vary along the reactor (they are strongly concentration-dependent). We came up with a final reactor model predicting with reasonable accuracy the reaction mixture’s outlet composition and temperature profile throughout the process. Additionally, the model enables the anticipation of catalyst activity and the remaining deactivated catalyst lifetime. Conclusions concerning reactor operation conditions resulting from the simulations are presented as well. Since the model provides deep insight into the process of simulating, it allows us to make knowledge-based decisions. It should be pointed out that improvements in the process run, related to operating conditions, or catalyst application, or both on account of the high scale of the process and its expected growth, will remarkably influence both the profits and environmental protection.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1576
Author(s):  
Piotr Jadwiszczak ◽  
Jakub Jurasz ◽  
Bartosz Kaźmierczak ◽  
Elżbieta Niemierka ◽  
Wandong Zheng

Heating and cooling sectors contribute to approximately 50% of energy consumption in the European Union. Considering the fact that heating is mostly based on fossil fuels, it is then evident that its decarbonization is one of the crucial tasks for achieving climate change prevention goals. At the same time, electricity sectors across the globe are undergoing a rapid transformation in order to accommodate the growing capacities of non-dispatchable solar and wind generators. One of the proposed solutions to achieve heating sector decarbonization and non-dispatchable generators power system integration is sector coupling, where heat pumps are perceived as a perfect fit. Air source heat pumps enable a rapid improvement in local air quality by replacing conventional heating sources, but at the same time, they put additional stress on the power system. The emissions associated with heat pump operation are a combination of power system energy mix, weather conditions and heat pump technology. Taking the above into consideration, this paper presents an approach to estimate which of the mentioned factors has the highest impact on heat pump emissions. Due to low air quality during the heating season, undergoing a power system transformation (with a relatively low share of renewables) in a case study located in Poland is considered. The results of the conducted analysis revealed that for a scenario where an air-to-water (A/W) heat pump is supposed to cover space and domestic hot water load, its CO2 emissions are shaped by country-specific energy mix (55.2%), heat pump technology (coefficient of performance) (33.9%) and, to a lesser extent, by changing climate (10.9%). The outcome of this paper can be used by policy makers in designing decarbonization strategies and funding distribution.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4360
Author(s):  
Umar Nawaz Bhatti ◽  
Salem Bashmal ◽  
Sikandar Khan ◽  
Rached Ben-Mansour

Thermoacoustic refrigerators have huge potential to replace conventional refrigeration systems as an alternative clean refrigeration technology. These devices utilize conversion of acoustic power and heat energy to generate the desired cooling. The stack plays a pivotal role in the performance of Standing Wave Thermoacoustic Refrigerators (SWTARs), as the heat transfer takes place across it. Performance of stacks can be significantly improved by making an arrangement of different materials inside the stack, resulting in anisotropic thermal properties along the length. In the present numerical study, the effect of multi-layered stack on the refrigeration performance of a SWTAR has been evaluated in terms of temperature drop across the stack, acoustic power consumed and device Coefficient of Performance (COP). Two different aspects of multi-layered stack, namely, different material combinations and different lengths of stacked layers, have been investigated. The combinations of four stack materials and length ratios have been investigated. The numerical results showed that multi-layered stacks produce lower refrigeration temperatures, consume less energy and have higher COP value than their homogeneous counterparts. Among all the material combinations of multi-layered stack investigated, stacks composed of a material layer with low thermal conductivity at the ends, i.e., RVC, produced the best performance with an increase of 26.14% in temperature drop value, reduction in the acoustic power consumption by 4.55% and COP enhancement of 5.12%. The results also showed that, for a constant overall length, an increase in length of side stacked material layer results in an increase in values of both temperature drop and COP.


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