Rapid and Continuous Production of LiFePO4/C Nanoparticles in Super Heated Water

A rapid and continuous method for production of LiFePO4/C nanoparticles in super heated water is described, wherein soluble starch was used as carbon precursor. The effects of pH, flow rate, temperature, and pressure on the formation of LiFePO4/C particles were investigated. Results showed that the pH value was the key factot on the formation of phase pure LiFePO4, which only formed at pH = 7; the LiFePO4/C-occurred as particles with about 70-200 nm size and LiFePO4 was covered by a thin carbon layer; higher flow rate, higher pressure, and lower temperature led to smaller particles of LiFePO4/C.

Practice and analysis of recycling non-drinking water from air-condition and reverse-osmosis system into rainwater collection system

This paper is based on the rainwater collection project in the retrofit of the Dongyi teaching block in Zhejiang University Xixi Campus.The analysis incorporates the local meteorological data, recycling water utilization, and precipitation adjustment.The rainwater collection system in this program also adds the condensation water from the heating, ventilation and air conditioning （ HVAC） system and the concentration from the reverse-osmosis system used for watering greens and supplying waterscapes.By calculating, the quantity of the HVAC condensation water in summer is 3.48 m3/d, and the quantity of the reverse-osmosis concentrated water is 198 to 396 L/d.This method solves the water shortage caused by high evaporation in summer and low precipitation in winter.Supported by empirical monitoring data, the proposed method significantly increases the economic efficiency of the system during the summer period.

Experimental study on characteristics of transcritical heat pump water heater using refrigerant HFC125

To evaluate the performance of heat pumps using refrigerant HFC125,an experimental rig of a DC-inverter heat pump water heater is designed and set up,and the research on the transcritical heat pump water heater is carried out experimentally.It is found that there is a top value of the coefficient of performance（COP）when the system runs at 95 Hz of frequency.The relationships between the COP and compressor frequency,condensation pressure,evaporation pressure,condensation water temperature rise,and discharge temperature are discussed and analyzed at 95 Hz.And the COP of the HFC125 transcritical cycle is also compared with that of a R410 subcritical heat pump under the same conditions.The results indicate that there exists an optimum frequency for a better COP,and the system COP shows an increasing tendency with the decrease in condensation pressure and compressor ratio while the evaporation pressure remains invariant,and the COP decreases rapidly when cooling water temperature rises over 47.5 ℃.Compared with the R410A sub-critical cycle,the COP of HFC125 transcritical cycle significantly increases by 12% on average.

Water and heat transport in hilly red soil of southern China:I. Experiment and analysis

Studies on coupled transfer of soil moisture and heat have been widely carried out for decades. However, little work has been done on red soils, widespread in southern China. The simultaneous transfer of soil moisture and heat depends on soil physical properties and the climate conditions. Red soil is heavy clay and high content of free iron and aluminum oxide. The climate conditions are characterized by the clear four seasons and the serious seasonal drought. The great annual and diurnal air temperature differences result in significant fluctuation in soil temperature in top layer. The closed and evaporating columns experiments with red soil were conducted to simulate the coupled transfer of soil water and heat under the overlaying and opening fields’ conditions, and to analyze the effects of soil temperature gradient on the water transfer and the effects of initial soil water contents on the transfer of soil water and heat. The closed and evaporating columns were designed similarly with about 18 °C temperatures differences between the top and bottom boundary, except of the upper end closed or exposed to the air, respectively. Results showed that in the closed column, water moved towards the cold end driven by temperature gradient, while the transported water decreased with the increasing initial soil water content until the initial soil water content reached to field capacity equivalent, when almost no changes for the soil moisture profile. In the evaporating column, the net transport of soil water was simultaneously driven by evaporation and temperature gradients, and the drier soil was more influenced by temperature gradient than by evapo- ration. In drier soil, it took a longer time for the temperature to reach equilibrium, because of more net amount of transported water.

Coupled Transfer of Water and Heat in Red Soil: Experiment and Numerical Modelling

Coupled transfer of soil water and heat in closed columns of homogeneous red soil was studied under laboratory conditions. A coupled model was constructed using soil physical theory, empirical equations and experimental data to predict the coupled transfer. The results show that transport of soil water was affected by temperature gradient, and the largest net water transport was found in the soil column with initial water content of 0.148 m3 m-3. At the same time, temperature changes with the transport of soil water was in a nonlinear shape as heat parameters were function of water content, and the changes of temperature were positively correlated with the net amount of water transported. Numerical modelling results show that the predicted values of temperature distribution were close to the observed values, while the predicted values of water content exhibited limited deviation at both ends of the soil column due to the slight temperature changes at both ends. It was indicated that the model proposed here was applicable.

Modelling plant canopy effects on water-heat exchange in the freezingthawing processes of active layer on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The effect of vegetation on the water-heat exchange in the freezing-thawing processes of active layer is one of the key issues in the study of land surface processes and in predicting the response of alpine ecosystems to climate change in permafrost regions. In this study, we used the simultaneous heat and water model to investigate the effects of plant canopy on surface and subsurface hydrothermal dynamics in the Fenghuoshan area of the QinghaiTibet Plateau by changing the leaf area index(LAI) and keeping other variables constant. Results showed that the sensible heat, latent heat and net radiation are increased with an increase in the LAI. However, the ground heat flux decreased with an increasing LAI. The annual total evapotranspiration and vegetation transpiration ranged from-16% to 9% and-100% to 15%, respectively, in response to extremes of doubled and zero LAI, respectively. There was a negative feedback between vegetation and the volumetric unfrozen water content at 0.2 m through changing evapotranspiration. The simulation results of soil temperature and moisture suggest that better vegetation conditions are conducive to maintaining the thermal stability of the underlying permafrost, and the advanced initial thawing time and increasing thawing rate of soil ice with the increase in the LAI may have a great influence on the timing and magnitude of supra-permafrost groundwater. This study quantifies the impact of vegetation change on surface and subsurface hydrothermal processes and provides a basic understanding for evaluating the impact of vegetation degradation on the water-heat exchange in permafrost regions under climate change.

Effects of biodegradable mulch on soil water and heat conditions,yield and quality of processing tomatoes by drip irrigation

To combat the problem of residual film pollution and ensure the sustainable development of agriculture in oasis areas,a field experiment was carried out in 2019 at the Wuyi Farm Corps Irrigation Center Test Station in Urumqi,Northwest China.Four types of biodegradable mulches,traditional plastic mulchs and a control group(bare land;referred to as CK)were compared,including a total of six different treatments.Effects of mulching on soil water and heat conditions as well as the yield and quality of processing tomatoes under drip irrigation were examined.In addition,a comparative analysis of economic benefits of biodegradable mulches was performed.Principal component analysis and gray correlation analysis were used to evaluate suitable mulching varieties for planting processing tomatoes under drip irrigation.Our results show that,compared with CK,biodegradable mulches and traditional plastic mulch have a similar effect on retaining soil moisture at the seedling stage but significantly increase soil moisture by 0.5%-1.5%and 1.5%-3.0%in the middle and late growth periods(P<0.050),respectively.The difference in the thermal insulation effect between biodegradable mulch and plastic mulch gradually reduces as the crop grows.Compared with plastic mulch,the average soil temperature at 5-20 cm depth under biodegradable mulches is significantly lowered by 2.04°C-3.52°C and 0.52°C-0.88°C(P<0.050)at the seedling stage and the full growth period,respectively,and the water use efficiency,average fruit yield,and production-investment ratio under biodegradable mulches were reduced by 0.89%-6.63%,3.39%-8.69%,and 0.51%-6.33%(P<0.050),respectively.The comprehensive evaluation analysis suggests that the black oxidized biological double-degradation ecological mulch made from eco-benign plastic is the optimal film type under the study condition.Therefore,from the perspective of sustainable development,biodegradable mulch is a competitive alternative to plastic mulch for large-scale tomato production under drip irrigation in the oasis.

Water and heat transport in hilly red soil of southern China:II. Modeling and simulation

Simulation models of heat and water transport have not been rigorously tested for the red soils of southern China. Based on the theory of nonisothermal water-heat coupled transfer, a simulation model, programmed in Visual Basic 6.0, was developed to predict the coupled transfer of water and heat in hilly red soil. A series of soil column experiments for soil water and heat transfer, including soil columns with closed and evaporating top ends, were used to test the simulation model. Results showed that in the closed columns, the temporal and spatial distribution of moisture and heat could be very well predicted by the model, while in the evaporating columns, the simulated soil water contents were somewhat different from the observed ones. In the heat flow equation by Taylor and Lary (1964), the effect of soil water evaporation on the heat flow is not involved, which may be the main reason for the differences between simulated and observed results. The predicted temperatures were not in agreement with the observed one with thermal conductivities calculated by de Vries and Wierenga equations, so that it is suggested that Kh, soil heat conductivity, be multiplied by 8.0 for the first 6.5 h and by 1.2 later on. Sensitivity analysis of soil water and heat coefficients showed that the saturated hydraulic conductivity, KS, and the water diffusivity, D(θ), had great effects on soil water transport; the variation of soil porosity led to the difference of soil thermal properties, and accordingly changed temperature redistribution, which would affect water redistribution.

Different discretization method used in coupled water and heat transport mode for soil under freezing conditions

A coupled water and heat transport mode is established based on the Richards equation to study water flow and heat transport in soil during freezing process. Both the finite difference and finite element method are used in the discretization, respectively. Two different computer programs are written and used to simulate an indoor unidirectional frozen test. The freezing depth, freezing rate and temperature variation are compared among lab tests, finite difference calculation simulation and finite element calculation simulation. Result shows that： the finite difference method has a better performance in freezing depth simulation while the finite element method has a better performance in numerical stability in one-dimensional freezing simulation.

Life cycle cost analysis of new FRP based solar parabolic trough collector hot water generation system

Parabolic trough collectors （PTCs） are employed for a variety of applications including steam generation and hot water generation. This paper deals with the experimental results and an economic analysis of a new fibre reinforced plastic （FRP） based solar PTC with an embedded electronic controlled tracking system designed and developed for hot water generation in a restaurant in Madurai, India. The new collector performance has been tested according to ASHRAE Standard 93 （1986）. The performance of a new PTC hot water generation system with a well mixed hot water storage tank is investigated by a series of extensive tests over ten months period. The average maximum storage tank water temperature observed was 74.91℃, when no energy is withdrawn from the tank to the load during the collection period. The total cost of the new economic FRP based solar PTC for hot water generation with an embedded electronic controlled tracking system is Rs. 25000 （US$ 573） only. In the present work, life cycle savings （LCS） method is employed for a detailed economic analysis of the PTC system. A computer program is used as a tool for the economic analysis. The present worth of life cycle solar savings is evaluated for the new solar PTC hot water generation system that replaces an existing electric water heating system in the restaurant and attains a value of Rs. 23171.66 after 15 years, which is a significant saving. The LCS method and the MATLAB computer simulation program presented in this paper can be used to estimate the LCS of other renewable energy systems.

Modeling water and carbon fluxes above summer maize field in North China Plain with back-propagation neural networks

In this work, datasets of water and carbon fluxes measured with eddy covariance technique above a summer maize field in the North China Plain were simulated with artificial neural networks (ANNs) to explore the fluxes responses to local environmental variables. The results showed that photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), air temperature (T) and leaf area index (LAI) were primary factors regulating both water vapor and carbon dioxide fluxes. Three-layer back-propagation neural networks (BP) could be applied to model fluxes exchange between cropland surface and atmosphere without using detailed physiological information or specific parameters of the plant.

Finite element simulation of three-dimensional temperature field in underwater welding

Mathematical models of three-dimensional temperature fields in underwater welding with moving heat sources are built. Double ellipsoid Gauss model is proposed as heat sources models. Several factors which affect the temperature fields of underwater welding are analyzed. Water has little influence on thermal efftciency. Water convection coefftcient varies with the temperature difference between the water and the workpiece , and water convection makes molten pool freeze quickly. With the increase of water depth, the dimensions of heat sources model should be reduced as arc shrinks. Finite element technology is used to solve mathematical models. ANSYS software is used as finite element tool, and ANSYS Parametric Design Language is used to develop subprograms for loading the moving heat sources and the various convection coefftcients. Experiment results show that computational results by using double ellipsoid Gauss heat sources model accord well with the experimental results.

Optimal design of heat exchanger header for coal gasification in supercritical water through CFD simulations

Heat exchangers play an important role in supercritical water coal gasification systems for heating feed and cooling products. However, serious deposition and plugging problems always exist in heat exchangers. CFD modeling was used to simulate the transport characteristics of solid particles in supercdtical water through the shell and tube of heat exchangers to alleviate the problems. In this paper, we discuss seven types of exchangers CA, B, C D, E, F and G）, which vary in inlet nozzle configuration, header height, inlet pipe diameter and tube pass distribution. In the modeling, the possibility of deposition in the header was evaluated by accumulated mass of particles; we used the velocity contour of supercritical water （SCW） to evaluate the uniformity of the velocity dis- tribution among the tube passes. Simulation results indicated that the optimum heat exchanger had structure F, which had a rectangular configuration of tube pass distractions, a bottom inlet, a 200-mm header height and a 10-ram inlet pipe diameter.

Heating of Nanosized Liquid Water in High-Intensity Terahertz Pulses

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water in picosecond high-power terahertz pulses are performed by using a non-polarizable potential model. Numerical results show that the energy absorption of water molecules exhibits a pronounced resonance with THz pulses in the frequency range of 14-17 THz. With the THz pulse at resonant frequencies, the maximum temperature is about 562 K by heating the water at room temperature. Further investigation indicates that the results are independent of the size of the nanoscale water box. The efficiency of energy transfer by resonant absorption is more than seven times of microwave heating. These studies show promising applications of ultrashort THz pulses.

Recent Progresses on Optimal Design of Heat Integrated Water Allocation Network

Energy integration and mass integration are important approaches to achieve energy saving and emission reduction in the process industry.Generally,the methods can be classified into two groups,viz.:conceptual design methods and mathematical programming methods.The former includes mainly graphical methods based on pinch technology that is operated easily.A feasible solution can be quickly obtained.Conceptual design methods are sequential in nature including two steps,namely:targeting and designing.The latter is based on superstructure optimization,and corresponding algorithm is adopted to solve the model.The trade-offs and connections among the entire network can be established and explored.Multiple factors can be considered and optimized simultaneously by mathematical programming methods.This paper describes the synthesis of heat integrated water allocation networks(HIWAN)based on both conceptual design methods and mathematical programming methods systematically.In addition,the characteristics and shortcomings of the existing research methods are summarized,and the future research direction is prospected.

Field experiment on coalmine heat disaster governance using cold source from surface water

Regarding the lack of cold source for underground cooling systems from either mine inflow or return air, field experiments were taken in a high temperature deep coal mine with abundant cold source from surface water. Taking Sanhejian coal mine as an example, this paper introduced the technology scheme of heat disaster governance using surface water cold source. The paper presents the basics of this field experiment at the beginning, following by the design and site layout of the cooling system including the analysis and calculation of cold source. Numerical calculation method is also applied based on the operation parameters to simulate the influence to the surface river ecosystem. The results suggest that the temperature of surface water shall be lower than 34 ℃ after heat exchange, and when more cooling capacities are needed in the future, increasing the water flow is more favorable than increasing the cooling range of water, which is better for the ecological environment protection,

Program for Solar Water Heating Systems Based on the F-Chart Method

This paper aims at presenting an application developed in Java for optimizing the design of centralized solar water heating systems with forced circulation, based on the f-chart method. The program uses data from the Brazilian Solar Atlas, performance data of flat plate collectors and thermal reservoirs from the standardized tests run within the Brazilian Labeling Program, and values of water consumption of appliances defined by the ABNT. The program finds the inclination of the collector that maximizes the annual solar fraction, or for the winter, and enables the use of arrays in series and parallel collectors. From the investment costs and O ＆ M （operations and maintenance） of solar heating systems, the program carries out economical analysis using classical parameters as net present value, discounted payback and internal rate of return. The program was validated through examples from the book of Duffle ＆ Beckman and also by comparison with the results from a project developed at UFRGS, having obtained good agreement.

Cool water brought by upwelling in the Sanya Bay benefits corals in the background of global warming

It has been reported that global warming has negative effects on coral ecosystems in the past 50 years and the effects vary in different ocean environment. In order to make clear the coral reef status in the background of global warming along the south coast of Hainan Island of China, satellite and in situ data are used to retrieve the information of the coral reef status and surrounding environmental factors. The results show that cool water induced by upwelling along the south coast of Hainan Island is found in the area every summer month, especially in the relatively strong El Ni？o years（2002–2003 and 2005）. From the NOAA satellite data, degree heating week（DHW） index does not exceed 3 in Sanya Bay even in the relatively strong El Ni？o years. By comparison of a coral reef growth rate in the Sanya Bay with respect to El Ni？o events from 1957 to 2000, coral＇s growth rate is relatively greater during 1972, 1991–1994 and 1998 El Ni？o event. By analyzing the environmental factors, it is found that the cool water induced by upwelling may be the main reason for protecting corals from global warming effects.

Autonomous Changes in the Concentration of Water Vapor Drive Climate Change

When compared to the average annual global temperature record from 1880, no published climate model posited on the assumption that the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide is the driver of climate change can accurately replicate the significant variability in the annual temperature record. Therefore, new principles of atmospheric physics are developed for determining changes in the average annual global temperature based on changes in the average atmospheric concentration of water vapor. These new principles prove that: 1) Changes in average global temperature are not driven by changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide;2) Instead, autonomous changes in the concentration of water vapor, ΔTPW, drive changes in water vapor heating, thus, the average global temperature, ΔTAvg, in accordance with this principle, ΔTAvg=0.4ΔTPW the average accuracy of which is ±0.14%, when compared to the variable annual, 1880-2019, temperature record;3) Changes in the concentration of water vapor and changes in water vapor heating are not a feedback response to changes in the concentration of CO2;4) Rather, increases in water vapor heating and increases in the concentration of water vapor drive each other in an autonomous positive feedback loop;5) This feedback loop can be brought to a halt if the average global rate of precipitation can be brought into balance with the average global rate of evaporation and maintained there;and, 6) The recent increases in average global temperature can be reversed, if average global precipitation can be increased sufficiently to slightly exceed the average rate of evaporation.

Numerical and Experimental Study on Dynamic Performance of Heat Pump Water Heater with Electronic Expansion Valve

A series of experiments on the dynamic performance of the HPWH （heat pump water heater） unit with EXV （electronic expansion valve） under different environmental conditions were conducted. The dynamic heating capacity and COP （coefficient of performance） of the HPWH unit under different EXV openings were measured. The effects of the EXV opening on the performance of the HPWH unit were analyzed. Meanwhile, the dynamic performance of the HPWH with EXV was simulated and the results were compared with the experimental one. The experimental results indicate that during heating process, the COP increases firstly and then decreases for a fixed EXV opening, which is in good agreement with the numerical result. For different EXV openings, the COP and heating capacity of the system using larger EXV opening are superior to those using the smaller one in the initial heating stage. While in the late stage, the performance of system using smaller EXV opening is better. It is found that the system performance is improved significantly by changing the EXV opening in the different heating period and the average COP of the HPWH system is increased by 7.6%.