Anti-aging performance improvement and enhanced combustion efficiency of boron via the coating of PDA

Boron is an ambitious fuel in energetic materials since its high heat release values,but its application is prohibited by low combustion efficiency and oxidization during storage.The polydopamine(PDA)was introduced into boron particles,investigating the impact of PDA content on the energetic behavior of boron.The results indicated that the PDA coating formed a fishing net structure on the surface of boron particles.The heat release results showed that the combustion calorific value of B@PDA was higher than that of the raw boron.Specifically,the actual combustion heat of boron powder in B@10%PDA increased by 38.08%.Meanwhile,the DSC peak temperature decreased by 100.65℃under similar oxidation rate compared to raw boron.Simultaneously,the B@PDA@AP and B@AP composites were prepared,and their combustion properties were evaluated.It was demonstrated that B@10%PDA@AP exhibited superior performance in terms of peak pressure and burning time,respectively.The peak pressure is 12.43 kPa more than B@AP and burning time is 2.22 times higher than B@AP.Therefore,the coating of PDA effectively inhibits the oxidization of boron during storage and enhances the energetic behavior of boron and corresponding composites.

Thermal performance of cast-in-place piles with artificial ground freezing in permafrost regions

During the construction of cast-in-place piles in warm permafrost,the heat carried by concrete and the cement hydration reaction can cause strong thermal disturbance to the surrounding permafrost.Since the bearing capacity of the pile is quite small before the full freeze-back,the quick refreezing of the native soils surrounding the cast-in-place pile has become the focus of the infrastructure construction in permafrost.To solve this problem,this paper innovatively puts forward the application of the artificial ground freezing(AGF)method at the end of the curing period of cast-in-place piles in permafrost.A field test on the AGF was conducted at the Beiluhe Observation and Research Station of Frozen Soil Engineering and Environment(34°51.2'N,92°56.4'E)in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau(QTP),and then a 3-D numerical model was established to investigate the thermal performance of piles using AGF under different engineering conditions.Additionally,the long-term thermal performance of piles after the completion of AGF under different conditions was estimated.Field experiment results demonstrate that AGF is an effective method to reduce the refreezing time of the soil surrounding the piles constructed in permafrost terrain,with the ability to reduce the pile-soil interface temperatures to below the natural ground temperature within 3 days.Numerical results further prove that AGF still has a good cooling effect even under unfavorable engineering conditions such as high pouring temperature,large pile diameter,and large pile length.Consequently,the application of this method is meaningful to save the subsequent latency time and solve the problem of thermal disturbance in pile construction in permafrost.The research results are highly relevant for the spread of AGF technology and the rapid building of pile foundations in permafrost.

A Comprehensive Review of Thermal Performance Improvement of High-Temperature Heat Pipes

Energy efficiency issues are being focused on the growing concern of global warming and environmental pollution.The high-temperature heat pipe(HTHP) is an effective and environmental-friendly heat transfer device employed in many industries,including solar power generation,high-temperature flue gas waste heat recovery,industrial furnaces,nuclear industries,and aviation.As a critical factor in HTHPs,thermal performance is mainly introduced in the entire paper.To date,most reviews have been published concerning one or several application scenarios.However,to the best of authors' knowledge,it is hard to find a review discussing how to improve the thermal performance of HTHPs comprehensively.First,the impact on the performance of three main components of HTHPs over the past 30 years is introduced:the working fluid,the HTHP structure,and the wick structure.Herein,it is a considerable review of the optimal operating conditions for each direction,and we expect this paper contribute to improving the thermal performance of HTHPs.Then,current numerical simulations and theoretical research on the heat transfer limit of HTHPs are recommended.The significant hypotheses used in numerical simulations and the present theoretical studies are compiled here.Finally,some potential future directions and tentative suggestions for HTHP research are put forward.

Improvement of thermal performance of envelopes for traditional wooden vernacular dwellings of Tujia Minority in Western Hunan,China

Thermal performance of envelopes and indoor thermal environment were technologically improved for traditional wooden vernacular dwellings of Tujia Minority in Western Hunan, China, on the premise of protecting their conventional styles. Thermal insulation boards and wooden boards were added to the interior side of external walls of vernacular dwellings to form two layers of air cavities, so as to gain excellent thermal performance. The indoor temperature of such dwellings after reconstruction was apparently improved compared with the data before reconstruction both in winter and summer, which verified the feasibility and the effectiveness of the reconstruction technologies proposed.

Spray Effect on the Thermal Performances of a Dry Cooling Tower

Pre-cooling the inlet air of a dry cooling tower by means of a spray can improve the tower performance during periods of high temperature.To study the spray effect on the thermal performance of natural draft dry cooling towers(NDDCTs),in this study 3-D numerical simulations of such a process have been conducted using Fluent 16.2(a two-way coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian approach).The considered NDDCT is 120 m high and only half system is simulated due to its structural symmetry.Three different spray strategies have been investigated at a typical crosswind speed of 4 m/s,which is the most frequent wind speed.The results have shown that:(1)The three implemented spray strategies can improve the thermal performance of the studied NDDCT with a vary-ing degree of success.In one case,the heat rejection rate can be increased by 35.2%,and the tower outlet water temperature can be decreased by 2.1℃ when compared with the no spray case;(2)To improve the thermal per-formance of the NDDCT using a small amount of water,the design of the spray pre-cooling system must include more nozzles on the windward and fewer or even no nozzles on the leeward sides of the NDDCT.

Performance improvement of CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se_2 solar cells after rapid thermal annealing

In this paper, we investigated the effect of rapid thermal annealing （RTA） on solar cell performance. An opto-electric conversion efficiency of 11.75% （Voc = 0.64 V, Jsc = 25.88 mA/cm2, FF=72.08%） was obtained under AM 1.5G when the cell was annealed at 300℃ for 30 s. The annealed solar cell showed an average absolute efficiency 1.5% higher than that of the as-deposited one. For the microstructure analysis and the physical phase confirmation, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectra, front surface reflection （FSR）, internal quantum efficiency （IQE）, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） were respectively applied to distinguish the causes inducing the efficiency variation. All experimental results implied that the RTA eliminated recombination centers at the p-n junction, reduced the surface optical losses, enhanced the blue response of the CdS buffer layer, and improved the ohmic contact between Mo and Cu（In, Ga）Se2 （CIGS） layers. This leaded to the improved performance of CIGS solar cell.

Influencing Factors and Improvement Suggestions for Agricultural Green Development Performance:Empirical Insights from China

Agricultural green development is an essential direction for global sustainable agriculture.The academic literature,however,needs to place greater emphasis on studying the factors influencing agricultural green development performance and how such performance can be improved.A theoretical framework for agricultural green development performance was constructed in this paper using the Super-SBM model,which considers undesirable outputs,to measure the agricultural green development performance of 330 cities at or above the prefecture level in China(excluding Tibet Autonomous Region,Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan of China)from 2007 to2018.Furthermore,the influencing mechanism of agricultural green development performance was then analyzed using a spatial econometric model.The results show that:1)from 2007 to 2018,China’s agricultural green development performance experienced three stages of evolution:‘rise,decline and rise’.2)The regions with high performance agricultural green development are mainly distributed in eastern China,northeastern China,and southern Qinghai Province.3)The agricultural economic level,industrialization process,and labor quality play significant roles in promoting local agricultural green development performance,while such performance is obviously inhibited by the openness level and the government’s environmental regulations.Local agricultural green development performance is significant inhibited by the agricultural economic level and accelerated industrialization process in neighboring cities,while significantly promoted by the agricultural industrial structure in neighboring cities.Some suggestions for improving agricultural green development performance are proposed based on these research results,which can provide scientific references for promoting sustainable agriculture.

Thermal performance analysis of advanced partial gasification combined cycle

This paper presents the thermodynamic performance analysis and comparison of four kinds of advanced pressurized fluidized bed combustion combined cycle (APFBC-CC) system schemes, two based on pressurized fluidized bed (PFB) combustion and the other two based on atmospheric circulating fluidized bed (CFB) combustion. The results show that the first scheme avoids high temperature gas filter, but has the lower cycle efficiency and syngas heating value. The second scheme can gain the highest cycle efficiency, however it is better to now lower the filter operating temperature. The third and fourth schemes, based on CFB, have lower efficiencies than the second one. But the fourth one, with preheating air/steam for gasification, can obtain the highest heating value of syngas and gain higher efficiency than the third one.

Direct Yaw Moment Control for Distributed Drive Electric Vehicle Handling Performance Improvement

For a distributed drive electric vehicle（DDEV） driven by four in-wheel motors, advanced vehicle dynamic control methods can be realized easily because motors can be controlled independently, quickly and precisely. And direct yaw-moment control（DYC） has been widely studied and applied to vehicle stability control. Good vehicle handling performance： quick yaw rate transient response, small overshoot, high steady yaw rate gain, etc, is required by drivers under normal conditions, which is less concerned, however. Based on the hierarchical control methodology, a novel control system using direct yaw moment control for improving handling performance of a distributed drive electric vehicle especially under normal driving conditions has been proposed. The upper-loop control system consists of two parts： a state feedback controller, which aims to realize the ideal transient response of yaw rate, with a vehicle sideslip angle observer; and a steering wheel angle feedforward controller designed to achieve a desired yaw rate steady gain. Under the restriction of the effect of poles and zeros in the closed-loop transfer function on the system response and the capacity of in-wheel motors, the integrated time and absolute error（ITAE） function is utilized as the cost function in the optimal control to calculate the ideal eigen frequency and damper coefficient of the system and obtain optimal feedback matrix and feedforward matrix. Simulations and experiments with a DDEV under multiple maneuvers are carried out and show the effectiveness of the proposed method： yaw rate rising time is reduced, steady yaw rate gain is increased, vehicle steering characteristic is close to neutral steer and drivers burdens are also reduced. The control system improves vehicle handling performance under normal conditions in both transient and steady response. State feedback control instead of model following control is introduced in the control system so that the sense of control intervention to drivers is relieved.

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF CENTRIFUGAL FAN BY MEANS OF NUMERICAL SIMULATION

Numerical simulation is used to investigate the flow field in a model centrifugal fan for steam power stations in order to improve the performance. During testing the model fan, it is found that the efficiency is only 62.5% with inlet box, without it the efficiency is 83%. In addition, the strong vibration of test rig is observed with inlet box. It would be highly desirable if the aerodynamics of the fan could be studied. Therefore, numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the internal flow characteristics of a model fan with inlet box. The results from CFD analysis show that the whole region of the inlet box is occupied by a spiral vortex rotating inversely as the rotor＇s direction, which significantly affect the most flow＇region inside the fan. For this reason, a dummy plate is arranged in the inlet box to impede the generation of the spiral vortex, the results from CFD after the reform demonstrate that the modification is quiet effective, the former large spiral vertex has been destroyed effectively, the large one is superseded in favor of two small vortexes. However, two small vortexes have little effect on the inner flow of the rotor and the following parts. Finally, the efficiency of the model fan is improved by the test and the strong vibration of the test rig disappears. This type of modification has been used in steam power stations, the fan efficiency raises to 84% successfully.

Effect of obstruction on thermal performance of solar water heaters

Solar water heaters(SWH) are widely used in urban areas because of their advantages in reducing energy consumption and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the performance of SWH subjected to obstructions is unclear yet. In this study, we present a numerical evaluation on thermal performance of fa?ade-installed SWH under three typical obstructed scenarios, based on various levels of sunshine duration. This study is carried out for four locations with various latitudes across China. Thermal performance is measured by solar fraction for annual and monthly evaluation. The results show that the obstruction can seriously degrade annual solar fraction of SWH, even in the 4-hour sunshine duration scenario, for all the studied locations. Interestingly, only lengthening sunshine duration in the standard day(e.g., from 2 h to 4 h) may not result in increasing annual solar fraction markedly. In terms of the monthly performance, solar fraction in January and December decreases significantly, while from May to August it just declines slightly, except for Guangzhou having a swift reduction. This study can provide insights into the behavior and promote the appropriate application of SWH in urban areas.

THE INFLUENCE OF THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF TWT CATHODE-HEATER ASSEMBLY BY DIFFERENT CONTACT FORM BETWEEN INNER HEAT SHIELD AND SUPPORT CYLINDER

In this paper,the influence of thermal performance of cathode-heater assembly of Traveling Wave Tube(TWT),which has different contact form between inner heat shield and supporting cylinder,is analyzed using the simulation software ANSYS.With both thermal radiation and heat conduction are considered,the temperature and heat flux distribution of structures with different contact form are calculated,and also starting time which is needed before temperature come into steady status.The result of analysis suggests that changing the contact form between inner heat shield and support cylinder can influence the thermal performance of cathode-heater assembly and improve assembly's temperature distribution and promote heater's heating efficiency.The result of this paper provides theoretical guidance in the design of cathode-heater assembly.

Thermal performance of tubular heat exchanger with multiple twisted-tape inserts

The paper presents an experimental investigation on enhanced heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics by using single, double, triple, and quadruple twisted-tape inserts in a round tube having a uniform heat-fluxed wall. The investigation has been conducted in the heat exchanger tube inserted with various twisted-tape numbers for co- and counter-twist arrangements for the turbulent air flow, Reynolds number （Re） from 5300 to 24000. The typical single twisted-tape inserts at two twist ratios, y/w = 4 and 5, are used as the base case, while the other multiple twisted-tape inserts are aty/w = 4 only. The experimental results of heat transfer and pressure drop in terms of Nusselt number （Nu） and friction factor 00, respectively, reveal that Nu increases with the increment of Re and of twisted-tape number. The values of Nu for the inserted tube are in a range of 1.15-2.12 times that for the plain tube while f is 1.9-4.1 times. The thermal enhancement factor of the inserted tube under similar pumping power is evaluated and found to be above unity except for the single and the double co-twisted tapes. The quadruple counter-twisted tape insert provides the maximum thermal performance.

Thermal performance assessment of self-rotating twisted tapes and Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticle in a circular pipe

In view of the practical importance of the heat transfer devices in various thermal engineering fields including chemical and nuclear engineering,this study aims at developing an effective method of heat transfer enhancement by using selfrotating twisted tapes(SRTTs)and Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticles.The effect of the selfrotating twisted tapes and Al2O3 nanoparticles on the thermal performance was comprehensively investigated in a circular pipe.The experimental results indicated the heat transfer rate was effectively improved by SRTTs in comparison of plain tube.In addition,the heat transfer multiplier with SRTTs decreased from 1.38 to 1.08 with the Reynolds number increasing from 19,322 to 64,407,while the friction factor multiplier decreased from 1.61 to 1.32.Besides,the results indicated that the employment of Al_(2)O_(3) nanoparticles and SRTTs demonstrated superior thermal performance to the single SRTTs.As Reynolds number increases from 19,322 to 64,407,the heat transfer multiplier decreased from 2.08 to 1.18 in the mass concentration of 3.0%and from 1.38 to 1.08 in mass concentration of 0.0%.Finally,the new heat transfer and friction factor correlations considering the combined effect of Al2O3 nanoparticle and SRTTs were developed within 10%deviation of experimental values.

Performance Improvement of GaN-Based Violet Laser Diodes

The influences of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) and AlGaN electron-blocking layers (EBL) on the performance of GaN-based violet laser diodes are investigated. Compared with the InGaN/GaN MQWs grown at two different temperatures, the same-temperature growth of InGaN well and GaN barrier layers has a positive effect on the threshold current and slope efficiency of laser diodes, indicating that the quality of MQWs is improved. In addition, the performance of GaN laser diodes could be further improved by increasing Al content in the AlGaN EBL due to the fact that the electron leakage current could be reduced by properly increasing the barrier height of AlGaN EBL. The violet laser diode with a peak output power of 20 W is obtained.

Experimental Thermal Performance of Different Capillary Structures for Heat Pipes

The temperature control in electronic packaging is the key in numerous applications,to avoid overheating and hardware failure.Due to high capability of heat transfer,good temperature uniformity,and no power consumption,heat pipes can be widely used for heat dissipation of electronic components.This paper reports an experimental thermal analysis of different capillary structures for heat pipes.The wicks considered are metal screens,axial microgrooves,and sintered metal powder.The heat pipes are made of copper,a 200 mm length tube and a 9.45 mm external diameter.Working fluid used was distilled water.The devices are investigated in three positions:0,90,and 270°to the horizontal under powers of 5 up to 45 W.The results show that in horizontal(0°)and with the evaporator under the condenser(270°),the heat pipes showed similar results.Nevertheless,in the reverse condition(the position against the gravity with the evaporator above the condenser,90°),the heat pipe with sintered wick presented the best thermal performance,as it has the lowest thermal resistance and supported a higher power.Besides that,the sintered powder capillary structure demonstrates the most homogeneous thermal behavior for every position,making the most suitable for applications susceptible to diverse inclinations.

Performance improvement of continuous carbon nanotube fibers by acid treatment

Continuous CNT fibers have been directly fabricated in a speed of 50 m/h-400 m/h,based on an improved chemical vapor deposition method.As-prepared fibers are further post-treated by acid.According to the SEM images and Raman spectra,the acid treatment results in the compaction and surface modification of the CNTs in fibers,which are beneficial for the electron and load transfer.Compared to the HNO3 treatment,HClSO_3 or H_2SO_4 treatment is more effective for the improvement of the fibers＇ properties.After HCISO_3 treatment for 2 h,the fibers＇ strength and electrical conductivity reach up to-2 GPa and-4.3 MS/m,which are promoted by-200%and almost one order of magnitude than those without acid treatment,respectively.The load-bearing status of the CNT fibers are analyzed based on the downshifts of the G＇ band and the strain transfer factor of the fibers under tension.The results reveal that acid treatment could greatly enhance the load transfer and inter-bundle strength.With the HCISO3 treatment,the strain transfer factor is enhanced from-3.9%to-53.6%.

The Impacts of Building Regulations on the Thermal Performance and Energy Consumption of Residential Buildings in Riyadh City-Saudi Arabia

Riyadh city is the fastest growing city in Saudi Arabia. The rapid urban growth that happened recently in Riyadh was not based on the traditional urban planning principles, which have been established and applied for the city development process. The imported building regulations have created a new urban structures and street patterns. The contemporary urban form in Riyadh city is based mainly on traffic and economic consideration with the neglect of environmental dimensions. This research aims to examine the impacts of building regulations on the thermal performance of residential buildings in Riyadh city, with the ultimate goal of establishing planning guidelines that consider the environmental conditions of the city. The methodology adopted for achieving the aim of this study consists of two phases. First, the literature related to building regulations development in Riyadh, as of 2018, was reviewed. Second, buildings energy simulation was conducted to examine the thermal performance of the typical current status of residential building blocks in Riyadh city, and then several changes to building regulations were made to investigate their impacts on the thermal performance of buildings. The results showed that the impacts of Riyadh building regulations on the thermal performance of residential buildings differ across the evaluated cases. The ratio of building height to street width, urban block street orientation, and building orientation are the main factors affecting thermal performance of buildings within urban block. The study also concludes that adjusting the ratio of building height to the distance between buildings could have a significant impact in reducing cooling loads. This study will help policy makers, planners and designers to investigate the shortcoming in the current building regulations.

Al_(2)O_(3) andγAl_(2)O_(3) Nanomaterials Based Nanofluid Models with Surface Diffusion:Applications for Thermal Performance in Multiple Engineering Systems and Industries

Thermal transport investigation in colloidal suspensions is taking a significant research direction.The applications of these fluids are found in various industries,engineering,aerodynamics,mechanical engineering and medical sciences etc.A huge amount of thermal transport is essential in the operation of various industrial production processes.It is a fact that conventional liquids have lower thermal transport characteristics as compared to colloidal suspensions.The colloidal suspensions have high thermal performance due to the thermophysical attributes of the nanoparticles and the host liquid.Therefore,researchers focused on the analysis of the heat transport in nanofluids under diverse circumstances.As such,the colloidal analysis of H_(2)O composed byγAl_(2)O_(3)and Al_(2)O_(3)is conducted over an elastic cylinder.The governing flow models ofγAl_(2)O_(3)/H_(2)O and Al_(2)O_(3)/H_(2)O is reduced in the dimensionless form by adopting the described similarity transforms.The colloidal models are handled by implementing the suitable numerical technique and provided the results for the velocity,temperature and local thermal performance rate against the multiple flow parameters.From the presented results,it is shown that the velocity of Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O increases promptly against a high Reynolds number and it decreases for high-volume fraction.The significant contribution of the volumetric fraction is examined for thermal enhancement of nanofluids.The temperature of Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O andγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O significantly increases against a higherϕ.Most importantly,the analysis shows thatγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O has a high local thermal performance rate compared to Al_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O.Therefore,it is concluded thatγAl_(2)O_(3)–H_(2)O is a better heat transfer fluid and is suitable for industrial and technological uses.

Experimental investigation of thermal performance characteristics of sintered copper wicked and grooved heat pipes:A comparative study

Heat pipes are most frequently used for thermal management solutions.Selection of right type of heat pipe for a specific scenario is utmost necessary for best outcomes.The purpose of this research is comparison of thermal performance characteristics of sintered copper wicked and grooved heat pipes,which are mostly used types of heat pipes.Distilled water filled heat pipes were tested through experimentation in gravity assisted position.Experimental outcomes have been compiled in terms of capillary pressure,operating temperature,thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient.Capillary pressure is high in sintered heat pipes compared to grooved heat pipes irrespective of groove dimensions.Grooved heat pipes have lower operating temperature compared to sintered heat pipes at the same heat load.At 8 W,compared to sintered heat pipes,grooved heat pipes have 8.24% lower condenser surface temperature,4.41% lower evaporator surface temperature and 7.79% lower saturation temperature.Thermal resistance of sintered heat pipe is much lower than grooved heat pipe.The maximum relative difference of 63.8% was observed at 8 W.Heat transfer coefficient of sintered heat pipe was observed double compared to grooved heat pipe at 8 W heat load.Thermal resistance and hence heat transfer coefficient of sintered heat pipe change almost in a linear manner with respect to heat load but unexpectedly turning point is observed in thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient of grooved heat pipe.Grooved heat pipes attain equilibrium much earlier compared to sintered ones.Varying heat loads from 4 to 20 W causes variation in equilibrium establishment time from 7 to 4 min for grooved and from 10 to 7 min for sintered heat pipes.