Effect of inlet configuration on hydrocyclone performance

Inlet configuration is important parameter of hydrocyclones,which has great impact on the classification performance.The effects of inlet configuration on the precise classification were studied by computational fluid dynamics under variouscombinations of inlet diameter and inlet velocity.The results showed that a high sharpness of classification was achieved withspecific inlet diameter and inlet velocity.The separation efficiency of the coarse particles by underflow significantly decreased wheninlet had an oversize diameter owing to a stronger short-circuit flow.It is resulted from the chaotic flow and the stronger pressuregradient around the vortex finder.Meanwhile,a low separation efficiency of the fine particles by overflow was achieved when inletvelocity was high,which indicated a low sharpness caused by the overlarge centrifugal force.

Mn nanoparticles enhanced dehydrogenation and hydrogenation kinetics of MgH_(2) for hydrogen storage

Mn nanoparticles(nano-Mn)were successfully synthesized and doped into MgH_(2) to improve its de/hydrogenation properties.Compared with MgH_(2),the onset desorption temperature of 10 wt.%nano-Mn modified MgH_(2) was decreased to 175℃ and 6.7,6.5 and 6.1 wt.%hydrogen could be released within 5,10 and 25 min at 300,275 and 250℃,respectively.Besides,the composite started to take up hydrogen at room temperature and absorbed 2.0 wt.%hydrogen within 30 min at low temperature of 50℃.The hydrogenation activation energy of MgH_(2) was reduced from(72.5±2.7)to(18.8±0.2)kJ/mol after doping with 10 wt.%nano-Mn.In addition,the MgH_(2)+10 wt.%nano-Mn composite exhibited superior cyclic property,maintaining 92%initial capacity after 20 cycles.

Recent advances in wave energy converters based on nonlinear stiffness mechanisms

Wave energy is one of the most abundant renewable clean energy sources,and has been widely studied because of its advantages of continuity and low seasonal variation.However,its low capture efficiency and narrow capture frequency bandwidth are still technical bottlenecks that restrict the commercial application of wave energy converters(WECs).In recent years,using a nonlinear stiffness mechanism(NSM)for passive control has provided a new way to solve these technical bottlenecks.This literature review focuses on the research performed on the use of nonlinear mechanisms in wave energy device utilization,including the conceptual design of a mechanism,hydrodynamic models,dynamic characteristics,response mechanisms,and some examples of experimental verification.Finally,future research directions are discussed and recommended.

The Influence of Familial Reference Groups on Consumer Decisions in Different Culture Context

This paper examines the influence of familial reference groups on individuals＇ product and brand decisions for products across two kinds of culture. The study is addressed through an examination of intergenerational influences across the two different cultures. The results of the study lend support to the original approach and also provide an insight look into how reference group influence may vary depending on different culture context. The paper also provides very useful advice for marketers when they apply western marketing concepts in China market.

Simulation of rice grain breakage process based on Tavares UFRJ model

Understanding the breakage characteristics of rice grains is an important means to reduce rice breakage rate. However, the dynamic breakage mechanism of rice grain is unclear due to the lack of a reasonable breakage model. In this study, the uniaxial compression test and drop weight test of single rice were carried out, the breakage model of rice grain was constructed, the reliability of rice model was verified by the experiment and simulation results. The results showed that the fracture energy distribution of rice can be obtained by uniaxial compression test, the specific fracture energy of rice accords with a lognormal distribution, and the median specific fracture energy of rice is 479.75 J/kg. The damage accumulation coefficient and fragment size distribution of rice can be acquired by drop test, the result of damage accumulation coefficient of rice was 4.3. Rice grain breakage mainly occurs in the milling section of the vertical circulation rice mill.

储能硝酸熔盐的热稳定性分析

研究了商业化储能二元混合硝酸熔盐Solar salt(60%NaNO3-40%KNO3)的热稳定性和恒温热稳定性,采用热重法分析了其热分解温度,通过恒温实验考察了处于开放空气气氛中的NaNO3,KNO3和Solar salt在不同温度下的热稳定性,研究了NaNO3和KNO3在Solar salt高温不稳定性中的作用.结果表明,大于500℃时温度越高,熔盐越不稳定,相同温度下不稳定程度NaNO3>Solar salt>KNO3.温度升高,分解产物NO2-平衡含量增大而达到平衡的时间缩短,O^2-含量很低.Solar salt中硝酸盐热分解和挥发的质量损失比接近1:1,NaNO3是造成体系热分解的主要原因,而KNO3起到抗挥发的作用.

Thermal energy storage:Challenges and the role of particle technology

Thermal energy is at the heart of the whole energy chain providing a main linkage between the primary and secondary energy sources. Thermal energy storage （TES） has a pivotal role to play in the energy chain and hence in future low carbon economy. However, a competitive TES technology requires a number of scientific and technological challenges to be addressed including TES materials, TES components and devices, and integration of TES devices with energy networks and associated dynamic optimization. This paper provides a perspective of TES technology with a focus on TES materials challenges using molten salts based phase change materials for medium and high temperature applications. Two key challenges for the molten salt based TES materials are chemical incompatibility and low thermal conductivity. The use of composite materials provides an avenue to meeting the challenges. Such composite materials consist of a phase change material, a structural supporting material, and a thermal conductivity enhancement material. The properties of the supporting material could determine the dispersion of the thermal con- ductivity enhancement material in the salt. A right combination of the salt, the structural supporting material, and the thermal conductivity enhancement material could give a hierarchical structure that is able to encapsulate the molten salt and give a substantial enhancement in the thermal conductivity. Understanding of the structure-property relationships for the composite is essential for the formulation design and fabrication of the composite materials. Linking materials properties to the system level performance is recommended as a key future direction of research.

Effects of operational and structural parameters on cell voltage of industrial magnesium electrolysis cells

Electric field is the energy foundation of the electrolysis process and the source of the multiphysical fields in a magnesium electrolysis cell. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model was developed and used to calculate electric field at the steady state through the finite element analysis. Based on the simulation of the electric field, the operational and structural parameters, such as the current intensity, anode thickness, cathode thickness, and anode-cathode distance （ACD）, were investigated to obtain the minimum cell voltage. The optimization is to obtain the minimum resistance voltage which has a significant effect on the energy consumption in the magnesium electrolysis process. The results indicate that the effect of the current intensity on the voltage could be ignored and the effect of the ACD is obvious. Moreover, there is a linear decrease between the voltage and the thicknesses of the anode and cathode; and the anodecathode working height also has a significant effect on the voltage.

Observation and simulation of wind waves near a typical reef lagoon in South China Sea

Due to the inference of the uneven shallow water seabed and the surrounding islands,the wind-generated waves around or in a reef lagoon are rather complicated,and critical to the safety of floating structures deployed near islands or inside a lagoon.This paper aims to find a feasible analysis tool for the wave simulations near islands and reefs.The proposed three methods of grid techniques of WAVEWATCH III(WW3)are assessed by using on-site measured data which was collected and accumulated for about 5 years since August 2014 by a wave observation system deployed inside and outside a reef lagoon in South China Sea.In the assessments,the wave statistics including the correlation coefficients,root mean square errors,and their variances are used to quantify the precisions of the simulation results of the significant wave heights,mean wave periods,and peak wave directions at two sites.Among the three methods,the Multi-scale Zone and Multi-scale grid Technique(MZMGT)established on unstructured triangular grids exhibits better results in terms of the accuracy and CPU cost.In addition,the bimodal feature of wave spectra was observed at both sites of the reef lagoon in different typhoon events.The wave characteristics inside the reef lagoon and open sea are also analyzed.

Performance analysis of the mooring system of a two-module scientific research and demonstration platform

A mooring system has been designed for the position keeping of a two-module semi-submersible platform which is connected by hinge-type connectors.Under the excitation of ocean waves,the relative motion between the two modules can be significant.It is therefore no longer adequate to model the platform as a single rigid body in the analysis of the performance of the mooring system.In this study,an analysis method has been developed based on the three-dimensional frequency domain hydroelasticity theory in conjunction with the time domain quasi-static analysis method of mooring actions,which takes into account of the coupling effect of the platform motion and mooring tension.The proposed method is verified by comparing the numerical results with the measured data obtained from the on-site measurements.The comparison shows a good agreement,and demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for the analysis of the module responses and mooring tensions of multi-module floating platforms.

The characteristics of waves around an entrance of a lagoon in South China Sea

The characteristics of the waves around a lagoon entrance in South China Sea were observed during the past one and half years based on the wave measurements.The measured results show that the monsoon plays an important role.In summer,waves mostly come from the southeast,among which the wave components of non-dimensional periods larger than 0.2 are fetch-trapped waves.In winter the waves may be divided into two groups,the fetch-trapped waves and the waves from the open sea.The skewness of the directional distribution functions is within+8 around zero.The power relationship between the direction spread and kurtosis is also investigated.Besides,it is found that the waves with the significant wave heights greater than 1.5 m are caused by typhoons or cold air.The frequency components of wave energy driven by cold air appear in the high frequency range at first,and change to the lower frequency range afterwards.The waves driven by typhoon mostly come from the open sea.