Experimental Investigation of Lab-Scale, Heat Exchanger Prototypes Designed to Provide Refugia for Trout

In recent years Spring Creek in South Dakota, a popular fishing location, has been experiencing higher surface water temperatures, which negatively impact cold-water trout species. One potential solution is to provide localized refugia of colder water produced via active cooling. The present work focuses on the design and testing of a small-scale prototype heat exchanger, for such a cooling system. Various prototypes of the heat exchanger were tested in a 1/10th-scaled model of a section of the creek. A staggered, tube-bundle heat exchanger was used. The prototypes consisted of just the heat exchanger placed directly in the scaled-stream model and of the heat exchanger placed inside an enclosure with an aperture. The results show that, without the enclosure, the average temperature difference is 0.64 °C, with a corresponding heat transfer requirement of 1.63 kW/°C of cooling. However, with an enclosure, the average temperature difference is 1.95 °C, which required 0.59 kW/°C of cooling. Modifications to the enclosure decrease the average temperature difference but also decrease the standard deviation of the temperature difference. Thus, the cooling effect is more evenly spread throughout the water in the enclosure. This indicates that the enclosure design can be used to balance the requirements of obtaining a desired temperature difference with a relatively low spatial variation in that temperature difference. These results will be used to guide the design of the large-scale heat exchanger prototype.

Selection and Evaluation of influencing Parameters for Heat Load Forecasting Model

This paper analyses the factors affecting the heating consumption of a heating substation. The input parameters of neural network prediction model are analysed and selected. The average absolute error, average absolute percentage error, and mean square error are used to evaluate the effect of the prediction model. The results show that when the model input parameters are the maximum outdoor temperature, the average outdoor temperature, the average temperature difference between the primary supply and return of domestic hot water, the heating load in the previous three days, the heating load in the previous two days, the heating load in the previous day and when the model input parameters are the maximum outdoor temperature, the minimum outdoor temperature, the average outdoor temperature, the average temperature difference between the primary supply and return of domestic hot water, the heating load of the previous three days, the heating load of the previous two days, the heating load of the previous day, the effects are better.

Field Study on the Microclimate of Public Spaces in Traditional Residential Areas in a Severe Cold Region of China

As residential environment science advances, the environmental quality of outdoor microclimates has aroused increasing attention of scholars majoring in urban climate and built environments. Taking the microclimate of a traditional residential area in a severe cold city as the study object, this study explored the influence of spatial geometry factors on the microclimate of streets and courtyards by field measurements, then compared the differences in microclimate of distinct public spaces. The results are as follows. (1) The temperature of a NE-SW (Northeast-Southwest) oriented street was higher than that of a NW-SE (Northwest-Southeast) oriented street in both summer and winter, with an average temperature difference of 0.7–1.4 °C. The wind speeds in the latter street were slower, and the difference in average wind speed was 0.2 m/s. (2) In the street with a higher green coverage ratio, the temperature was much lower, a difference that was more obvious in summer. The difference in mean temperature was up to 1.2 °C. The difference in wind speed between the two streets was not obvious in winter, whereas the wind speed in summer was significantly lower for the street with a higher green coverage ratio, and the difference in average wind speed was 0.7 m/s. (3) The courtyards with higher SVF (sky view factor) had higher wind speeds in winter and summer, and the courtyards with larger SVF values had higher temperatures in summer, with an average temperature difference of 0.4 °C. (4) When the spaces had the same SVF values and green coverage ratios, the temperature of the street and courtyard were very similar, in both winter and summer. The wind speed of the street was significantly higher than the courtyard in summer, and the wind speed difference was 0.4 m/s.