Experimental Investigation on Prototype Latent Heat Thermal Battery Charging and Discharging Function Integrated with Solar Collector

This paper reports the performance investigation of a newly developed Latent Heat Thermal Battery(LHTB)integrated with a solar collector as the main source of heat.The LHTB is a new solution in the field of thermal storage and developed based on the battery concept in terms of recharge ability,portability and usability as a standalone device.It is fabricated based on the thermal battery storage concept and consists of a plate-fin and tube heat exchanger located inside the battery casing and paraffin wax which is used as a latent heat storage material.Solar thermal energy is absorbed by solar collector and transferred to the LHTB using water as Heat Transfer Fluid(HTF).Charging experiments have been conducted with a HTF at three different temperatures of 68°C,88°C and 108°C and three different flow rates of 30,60 and 120 l/h.It is followed by discharging experiments on fully charged LHTB at three different temperatures of 68°C,88°C and 108°C using HTF at three different flow rates of 30,60 and 120 l/h.It is found that both higher HTF inlet temperature and flow rate have a positive impact on stored thermal energy.However,charging efficiency was decreased by increasing the HTF flow rate.The highest charging efficiency of 29%was achieved using HTF of 108°C at a flow rate of 30 l/h.Most of paraffin melted in this case,while part of the paraffin remained solid in other experiments.On the other hand,the results from discharging experiments revealed that both recovered thermal energy and recovery efficiency increased by either increasing the LHTB temperature or HTF flow rate.Highest recovered thermal energy of 5,825 KJ at 35%recovery efficiency achieved at LHTB of 108°C using 120 l/h of HTF.

Estimating Influence of Crystallizing Latent Heat on Cooling-Crystallizing Process of a Granitic Melt and Its Geological Implications

Based on the theory of thermal conductivity, in this paper we derived a formula to estimate the prolongation period （AtL） of cooling-crystallization process of a granitic melt caused by latent heat of crystallization as follows：△tL=QL×△tcol/（TM-TC）×CP where TM is initial temperature of the granite melt, Tc crystallization temperature of the granite melt, Cp specific heat, △tcol cooling period of a granite melt from its initial temperature （TM） to its crystallization temperature （Tc）, QL latent heat of the granite melt. The cooling period of the melt for the Fanshan granodiorite from its initial temperature （900℃） to crystallization temperature （600℃） could be estimated -210,000 years if latent heat was not considered. Calculation for the Fanshan melt using the above formula yields a AtL value of -190,000 years, which implies that the actual cooling period within the temperature range of 900°-600℃ should be 400,000 years. This demonstrates that the latent heat produced from crystallization of the granitic melt is a key factor influencing the cooling-crystallization process of a granitic melt, prolongating the period of crystallization and resulting in the large emplacement-crystallization time difference （ECTD） in granite batholith.

Effect of Boundary Layer Latent Heating on MJO Simulations

A latent heating peak in the PBL was detected in a simulation by a global GCM that failed to reproduce Madden Julian Oscillation （MJO）. The latent heating peak in the PBL was generated by very shallow convection, which prevented moisture from being transported to the free troposphere. Large amount of moisture was therefore confined to the PBL, leading to a dry bias in the free atmosphere. Suffering from this dry bias, deep convection became lethargic, and MJO signals failed to occur. When the latent heating peak in the PBL was removed in another simulation, reasonable MJO signals, including the eastward propagation and the structure of its large-scale circulation, appeared. We therefore propose that the excessive latent heating peak in the PBL due to hyperactive shallow convection may be a reason for a lack of MJO signals in some simulations by other GCMs as well.

Surface latent heat flux anomalies preceding inland earthquakes in China

Using data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction （NCEP）, the paper analyzed the surface latent heat flux （SLHF） variations for five inland earthquakes occurred in some lake area, moist area and arid area of China during recent years. We used the SLHF daily and monthly data to differentiate the global and seasonal variability from the transient local anomalies. The temporal scale of the observed variations is 1-2 months before and after the earthquakes, and spatial scale is about 10°×10°. The result suggests that the SLHFs adjacent the epicenters all are anomalous high value （〉μ＋2σ） 8-30 days before the shocks as compared with past several years of data. Different from the abnormal meteorological phenomenon, the distribution of the anomalies was isolated and local, which usually occurred in the epicenter and its adjacent area, or along the fault lines. The increase of SLHF was tightly related with the season which the earthquake occurs in; the maximal （125 W/m^2, Pu＇er earthquake） and minimal （25 W/m^2, Gaize earthquake） anomalies were in summer and winter, respectively. The abundant surface water and groundwater in the epicenter and its adjacent region can provide necessary condition for the change of SLHF. To further confirm the reliability of SLHF anomaly, it is necessary to explore its physical mechanism in depth by more earthquake cases.

Roles of Mesoscale Terrain and Latent Heat Release in Typhoon Precipitation: A Numerical Case Study

The mesoscale orographic effects on typhoon Aere＇s precipitation are simulated using an Advanced Regional Eta-coordinate Model （AREM） version 3.0. In particular, the effects of the latent heat release are studied by two comparable experiments： with and without condensational heating. The results show that the typhoon rainfall is tripled by the southeastern China mesoscale terrain, and the condensational heating is responsible for at least half of the increase. One role of the latent heat release is to warm the atmosphere, leading to a depression of the surface pressure, which then causes a larger pressure difference in the zonal direction. This pressure gradient guides the water vapour to flow into the foothills, which in turn amplifies the water vapour flux divergence amplified, causing the typhoon rainfall to increase eventually. The other role of the latent heat release is to make the convection more organized, resulting in a relatively smaller rain area and stronger precipitation.

Effect of Radial Porosity Oscillation on the Thermal Performance of Packed Bed Latent Heat Storage

Owing to its high heat storage capacity and fast heat transfer rate,packed bed latent heat storage(LHS)is considered as a promising method to store thermal energy.In a packed bed,the wall effect can impact the packing arrangement of phase change material(PCM)capsules,inducing radial porosity oscillation.In this study,an actual-arrangement-based three-dimensional packed bed LHS model was built to consider the radial porosity oscillation.Its fluid flow and heat transfer were analyzed.With different cylindrical sub-surfaces intercepted along the radial direction in the packed bed,the corresponding relationships between the arrangement of capsules and porosity oscillation were identified.The oscillating distribution of radial porosity led to a non-uniform distribution of heat transfer fluid(HTF)velocity.As a result,radial temperature distributions and liquid fraction distributions of PCMs were further affected.The effects of different dimensionless parameters(e.g.,tube-to-capsule diameter ratio,Reynolds number,and Stefan number)on the radial characteristics of HTF and PCMs were discussed.The results showed that different diameter ratios correspond to different radial porosity distributions.Further,with an increase in diameter ratio,HTF velocity varies significantly in the near wall region while the non-uniformity of HTF velocity in the center region will decrease.The Reynolds and Stefan numbers slightly impact the relative velocity distribution of the HTF-while higher Reynolds numbers can lead to a proportional improvement of velocity,an increase in Stefan number can promote heat storage of the packed bed LHS system.

Variability in Latent Heat Flux over the Tropical Pacific in Association with Recent Two ENSO Events

This paper analyzed the variations of latent heat flux (LHF) over the tropical Pacific in the period 1978-1988 by using COADS (Comprehensive Ocean and Atmospheric Data Set). It has been founded that the interannual variabili ty of LHF exhibits strong ENSO signal, with the significant increasing LHF during the recent two warm events, i.e., 1982 / 83 and 1986 / 87 and decreasing LHF in the cold episodes. However the longitudinal distribution of the LHF departures varies from event to event. In the eastern Pacific, the specific humidity difference at air-sea interface (qs -qa) makes a dominant contribution to the interannual variability of LHF ( r = 0.73 ), while in the western Pacific the surface wind speed, W and the qs - qa make nearly equal contribution to that of LHF.

Role of Composite Phase Change Material on the Thermal Performance of a Latent Heat Storage System: Experimental Investigation

Paraffin wax is a perfect phase change material(PCM)that can be used in latent heat storage units(LHSUs).The utilization of such LHSU is restricted by the poor conductivity of PCM.In the present work,a metal foam made of aluminium with PCM was used to produce a composite PCM as a thermal conductivity technique in PCM⁃LHSU and water was used as heat transfer fluid(HTF).An experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the heat transfer characteristics of LHSU using pure PCM and composite PCM.The study included time⁃dependent visualization of the PCM during the melting and solidification processes.Besides,a thermocouple network was placed inside the heat storage to record the temperature profile during each process.Results showed that better performance could be obtained using composite PCM⁃LHSU for both melting and solidification processes.The melting time of composite PCM⁃LHSU was about 83%faster than that of a simple PCM⁃LHSU,and the percentage decreasing in the solidification time was about 85%due to the provision of metal foam.

A New Model for the Characterization of Frozen Soil and Related Latent Heat Effects for the Improvement of Ground Freezing Techniques and Its Experimental Verification

The correct determination of thermal parameters,such as thermal conductivity and specific heat of soil during freezing,is the most important and basic problem for the construction of an appropriate freezing method.In this study,a calculation model of three stages of soil temperature was established.At the unfrozen and frozen stages,the specific temperatures of dry soil,water,and ice are known.According to the principle of superposition,a calculation model of unfrozen and frozen soils can be established.Informed by a laboratory experiment,the latent heat of the adjacent zone was calculated for the freezing stage based on different water contents in the temperature section.Both the latent and specific heat of water,ice,and particles were calculated via superposition of the weight percentage content.A calculation model of the specific heat of the freezing stage was built,which provides both guidance and theoretical basis for the calculation of the specific heat of frozen soil.

Evaluation of CMIP5 Climate Models in Simulating 1979–2005 Oceanic Latent Heat Flux over the Pacific

The climatological mean state, seasonal variation and long-term upward trend of 1979-2005 latent heat flux （LHF） in historical runs of 14 coupled general circulation models from CMIP5 （Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5） are evaluated against OAFlux （Objectively Analyzed air-sea Fluxes） data. Inter-model diversity of these models in simulating the annual mean climatological LHF is discussed. Results show that the models can capture the climatological LHF fairly well, but the amplitudes are generally overestimated. Model-simulated seasonal variations of LHF match well with observations with overestimated amplitudes. The possible origins of these biases are wind speed biases in the CMIP5 models. Inter-model diversity analysis shows that the overall stronger or weaker LHF over the tropical and subtropical Pacific region, and the meridional variability of LHF, are the two most notable diversities of the CMIP5 models. Regression analysis indicates that the inter-model diversity may come from the diversity of simulated SST and near-surface atmospheric specific humidity. Comparing the observed long-term upward trend, the trends of LHF and wind speed are largely underestimated, while trends of SST and air specific humidity are grossly overestimated, which may be the origins of the model biases in reproducing the trend of LHF.

IMPACT OF LATENT HEAT FLUX ON INDIAN SUMMER MONSOON DURING EL NIO/LA NIA YEARS

El Nio or La Nia manifest in December over the Pacific and will serve as an index for the forecasting of subsequent Indian summer monsoon,which occurs from June to mid-September.In the present article,an attempt is made to study the variation of latent heat flux (LHF) over the north Indian Ocean during strong El Nio and strong La Nia and relate it with Indian monsoon rainfall.During strong El Nio the LHF intensity is higher and associated with higher wind speed and lower cloud amount.During El Nio all India rainfall is having an inverse relation with LHF.Seasonal rainfall is higher in YY+1 (subsequent year) than YY (year of occurrence).However there is a lag in rainfall during El Nio YY+1 from June to July when compared with the monthly rainfall.

A numerical simulation of latent heating within Typhoon Molave

The weather research and forecasting（WRF） model is a new generation mesoscale numerical model with a fine grid resolution（2 km）, making it ideal to simulate the macro-and micro-physical processes and latent heating within Typhoon Molave（2009）. Simulations based on a single-moment, six-class microphysical scheme are shown to be reasonable, following verification of results for the typhoon track, wind intensity, precipitation pattern, as well as inner-core thermodynamic and dynamic structures. After calculating latent heating rate, it is concluded that the total latent heat is mainly derived from condensation below the zero degree isotherm, and from deposition above this isotherm. It is revealed that cloud microphysical processes related to graupel are the most important contributors to the total latent heat. Other important latent heat contributors in the simulated Typhoon Molave are condensation of cloud water, deposition of cloud ice, deposition of snow, initiation of cloud ice crystals, deposition of graupel, accretion of cloud water by graupel, evaporation of cloud water and rainwater,sublimation of snow, sublimation of graupel, melting of graupel, and sublimation of cloud ice. In essence, the simulated latent heat profile is similar to ones recorded by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, although specific values differ slightly.

Application of the Reciprocal Analysis for Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes with Evapotranspiration at a Humid Region

Evapotranspiration acts an important role in hydrologic cycle and water resources planning. But the estimation issue still remains until nowadays. This research attempts to make clear this problem by the following way. In a humid region, by applying the Bowen ratio concept and optimum procedure on the soil surface, sensible and latent heat fluxes are estimated using net radiation (Rn) and heat flux into the ground (G). The method uses air temperature and humidity at a single height by reciprocally determining the soil surface temperature (Ts) and the relative humidity (rehs). This feature can be remarkably extended to the utilization. The validity of the method is confirmed by comparing of observed and estimated latent (lE) and sensible heat flux (H) using the eddy covariance method. The hourly change of the lE, H, Ts and rehs on the soil surface, yearly change of lE and H and relationship of estimated lE and H versus observed are clarified. Furthermore, monthly evapotranspiration is estimated from the lE. The research was conducted using hourly data of FLUXNET at a site of Japan, three sites of the United States and two sites of Europe in humid regions having over 1000 mm of annual precipitation.

Observation Research of the Turbulent Fluxes of Momentum, Sensible Heat and Latent Heat over the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area

This paper describes results of the fluxes of momentum , sensible heat and latent heat for the West Pacific Tropical Ocean Area ( 127 ° E - 150 ° E , 5 ° N -3 ° S ). The data were collected by the small tethered balloon sounding system over this ocean area including 6 continuous stations (140 ° E. 0 ° ; 145 ° E, 0 ° ; 150 ° E, 0 ° ; 140° E, 5 ° N; 145 ° E, 5° N and 150 ° E, 5 ° N) from 11 October to 15 December, 1986 . These fluxes were calculated by the semiempirical flux-profile relationships of Monin-Obukhov similarity theory using these observed data. The results show that for this tropical ocean area the drag coefficient CD is equal to (1.53 ± 0.25) × 10 3 and the daily mean latent flux Hl is greater than its daily mean sensible flux HV by a factor of about 9.

Estimation of precipitation condensation latent heat in rainy season over Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The basic data for this research comprise the outgoing long-wave radiation(OLR) data observed by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) series satellites from June 1974 through December 2005 over the area of 75°-105°E and 25°-40°N(totaling 91 grid zones when the horizontal resolution is 2.5° longitude by 2.5° latitude) and the monthly rainfall data recorded,from 1961 through 2005,by 93 conventional meteorological stations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Based on the research of the relation between rainfall and OLR and climate regionalization,a mathematic model was established for each region and grid zone,which is applied to estimate the monthly rainfall and then to estimate the monthly latent heat resulting from the condensation of precipitation year by year from 1961 through 2005.The results indicated that the multi-year average precipitation is 401.5 mm and the condensation latent heat is 18.55×1020 J in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau;the increasing rate of condensation latent heat is 0.218×1020J/10a in the recent 45 years;that is to say,it will increase 1.2 percent in each decade.Furthermore,the total condensation latent heat and its variation rate in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are slightly larger than in the east to the plateau.

Latent Heat Prediction of Nano Enhanced Phase Change Material by ANN Method

Thermal characteristics of phase change material(PCM)are important in design and utilization of thermal energy storage or other applications.PCMs have great latent heat but suffer from low thermal conductivity.Then,in recent years,nano particles have been added to PCM to improve their thermophysical properties such as thermal conductivity.Effect of this nano particles on thermophysical properties of PCM has been a question and many experimental and numerical studies have been done to investigate them.Artificial intelligence-based approach can be a good candidate to predict thermophysical properties of nano enhance PCM(NEPCM).Then,in this study an artificial neural network(ANN)has been developed to predict the latent heat of the NEPCM.A comprehensive literature search was conducted to acquire thermal characteristics data from various NEPCM to train and test this artificial neural network model.Twenty different types of Nano particle and paraffin based PCMs were used in ANN development.The most important properties which are used as the input for the developed ANN model are NP size,density of NP,latent heat of PCM,density of PCM,concentration and latent heat of NEPCM in the range of 1-60 nm,100-8960 kg/m^(3),89.69-311 kJ/kg,760 to 1520 kg/m^(3),0.02-20 wt%and 60.72-338.6 kJ/kg,respectively.The output variable was latent heat of NEPCM.The result indicates that the ANN model can be applied to predict the latent heat of nano enhanced PCM satisfactory.The correlation coefficient of the created model was 0.97.This result shows ability of ANN to predict the latent heat of NEPCM.

The Impact of Soil Moisture Availability upon the Partition of Net Radiation into Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes

The impact of soil moisture availability on the Bowen ratio and on the partition of net radiation flux into sensible, latent and soil heat fluxes was investigated by using one-dimensional primitive equations with a refined soil parameterization scheme. Simulation results presented that as soil moisture availability increases, the Bowen ratio and the partition of net radiation flux into sensible and soil heat fluxes decrease. The partition of net radiation flux into latent heat flux, however, increases. Quantitative relationships between Bowen ratio and the partitions with soil moisture availability were also given in this study.

Numerical Study of Impacts of Soil Moisture on the Diurnal and Seasonal Cycles of Sensible/Latent Heat Fluxes over Semi-arid Region

The semi-arid regions, as climatic and ecosystem transitional zones, are the most vulnerable to global environmental change. Earlier researches indicate that the semi-arid regions are characterized by strong landatmosphere coupling in which soil moisture is the crucial variable in land surface processes. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of the sensible/latent heat fluxes to soil moisture during the growing season based on the enhanced observations at Tongyu in the Jilin province of China, a reference site of international Coordinated Energy and Water Cycle Observations Project （CEOP） in the semi-arid regions, by using a sophisticated land surface model （NCAR_CLM3.0）. Comparisons between the observed and simulated sensible/latent heat fluxes indicate that the soil moisture has obvious effects on the sensible/latent heat fluxes in terms of diurnal cycle and seasonal evolution. Better representation of the soil moisture could improve the model performance to a large degree. Therefore, for the purpose of simulating the land-atmosphere interaction and predicting the climate and water resource changes in semi-arid regions, it is necessary to enhance the description of the soil moisture distribution both in the way of observation and its treatment in land surface models.

First and Second Laws Analyses of a Closed Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage System

First and Second Law analyses were conducted to evaluate the performance of a closed latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system employing calcium chloride hexahydrate (CaCl2-6H2O).The First and the Second Laws of thermodynamics were applied to the system from viewpoint of energy and exergy analyses,respectively. The energy storage tank in the system is neither fully mixed nor fully stratified. It may be considered as semithermal stratified. Experiments that include both charging and discharging periods were performed on sunny winter days in 1996. The energy and exergy variations and the overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the closed LHTES system were calculated for the complete charging and discharging cycle of the selected fifteen clear-sky winter days. Mean energy and exergy efficiencies were found to be 55.20% and 34.83%, respectively.

Study on release rate of latent heat in Czochralski silicon growth

The pulling rate in czochralski silicon (CZSi) growth is important for reducing the cost of solar cell. In this paper, double-heater, heat shield and composite argon duct system were introduced in the Ф450 mm hot zone of a Czochralski furnace. The pulling rate under different thermal system was recorded in experiments. Argon flow and temperature fields were simulated by finite element method(FEM). Experimental results and numerical simulation indicate that double-heater and composite argon duct system can enhance obviously the release rate of latent heat. In Φ 200 mm Czochralski silicon (CZSi) growth, average pulling rate can increase from 0.6 mm·min-1 in the conventional hot zone to 0.8 mm·min-1 in the modified hot zone.