Novel Cascade Refrigeration Cycle for Cold Supply Chain of COVID-19 Vaccines at Ultra-Low Temperature -80°C Using Ethane (R170) Based Hydrocarbon Pair

Several media report highlight on that the pharmaceutical companies require ultra-low temperatures -80°C to transport and store its COVID-19 vaccines. This research presents the thermodynamic analysis on cascade refrigeration system (CRS) with several refrigerant pairs which are R32/R170, R123/R170, R134a/R170, R404A/R170, R407c/R170, R410/R170, and the hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerant pair Propane/Ethane, namely R290/R170. Besides, the results of R22/R170 pair, which is not recommended to be used due to phase out of R22 as per Montréal Protocol, are included as base case to compare the novel hydrocarbon pairs in CRS and the old trend of refrigerant pairs. Thermodynamic properties of all these pairs were investigated and compared under different intermediate temperature used in CRS heat exchanger, which thermally connected both the Low and High temperature cycles (LTC) and (HTC). By applying the first law of thermodynamics, the coefficients of performance (COPs) and the specific power consumptions (SPC) in kW/TR are presented and compared. In addition, by applying the second law of thermodynamics the exergetic efficiencies were estimated. The results reveal the promising opportunity of using the HC pair (R290/R170). The minimum SPC in kW/TR is recorded for the pair R123/R170. One the other hand, the highest exegetic efficiency values are observed to be 40%, 38%, and 35% for the pairs R123/R170, R290/R170, and R134/R170, respectively. This research concludes that the HC pair (R290/R170) is highly recommended for CRS applications either to transport the COVID-19 or store it in cold storage rooms in hospitals and clinics. All precautionary measures should be carefully applied in design and operation of HC pair (R290/R170) due to its flammability hazard.

Effect of Ultra-low Temperature on Carbonation Performance of SFRRC and Prediction Model

Through the rapid carbonation test of SFRRC with different fiber volume fractions at ultralow temperature,the influence of ultra-low temperature damage on the carbonation resistance of SFRRC was analyzed,which provides a theoretical basis for the application of SFRRC in ultra-low temperature engineering.The experimental results show that ultra-low temperatures can significantly weaken the carbonization resistance of SFRRC.When the temperature reaches 160℃,the carbonization depth increases by 67.66%compared with the normal state.The proper amount of steel fiber has an evident influence on the carbonation resistance of the material.However,when the addition amount exceeds the optimum content,the carbonation resistance of the material decreases.The grey prediction model established by constructing the original sequence can reasonably predict the carbonation resistance of SFRRC after ultra-low temperatures.

Breakdown characteristics of CF4 and CF4/N2 hybrid gas in refrigeration temperature range

Common insulation gas cannot normally work in refrigeration temperature range(153-243 K), especially in extremely cold regions. To solve this problem, this essay uses cubic equation combined with two-parameter model in theorem of corresponding states to estimate dew-point of hybrid gas. The influence of temperature on mixing ratio is studied by using van der Waals equation. The result shows that the mixing ratio is stable during temperature-fall period. Insulation property of CF_4 and CF_4/N_2 in refrigeration temperature range is studied through self-designed low-temperature test system. The result shows when the density of hybrid gas is invariable, temperature changing has less influence on breakdown voltage, and when the mixing ratio is 20%, CF_4/N_2 is the greatest potential hybrid gas.

Research of refrigeration system for a new type of constant temperature hydraulic tank

Different from the traditional hydraulic oil cooling method,a new type of constant temperature oil tank cooling system based on semiconductor refrigeration technology is designed. This paper studies the principle of semiconductor refrigeration and establishes a heat transfer model. Semiconductor cooler on piping refrigeration is simulated,and influence of the parameters on the outlet temperature,such as pipe pressure difference of inlet and outlet,pipe length,pipe radius,are gotten,and then hydraulic tank semiconductor refrigeration system is proposed. The semiconductor refrigeration system can control temperature at 37 ± 1°C.

Development of permanent magnetic refrigerator at room temperature

A reciprocating magnetic refrigerator was developed based on the active magnetic regeneration technology. Rare earth metal Gd and intermetallic compound LaFe11.2Co0.7Si1.1 were used as the magnetic operating materials in the machine. The particles of the magnetic operating materials, with diameter of 0.5-2 mm and total mass of 950 g, were mounted in the cooling bed. A magnetic field was assembled using NdFeB rare earth permanent magnets. It had the magnetic field space of Φ 34×200 and the magnetic induction of 1.5 T. The water at pH=10 is used as a heat transfer fluid. When the ambient temperature is 296 K, a temperature span of 18 K was achieved after operation of 45 min at a frequency of 0.178 Hz. The temperature span and the output power increase significantly with the increasing velocity of heat transfer.

Innovation for forming aluminum alloy thin shells at ultra-low temperature by the dual enhancement effect

Integral thin shells made of high strength aluminum alloys are urgently needed in new generation transportation equipment. There are challenges to overcoming the co-existing problems of wrinkling and splitting by the cold forming and hot forming processes. An innovative technology of ultra-low temperature forming has been invented for aluminum alloy thin shells by the new phenomenon of ‘dual enhancement effect’. That means plasticity and hardening are enhanced simultaneously at ultra-low temperatures. In this perspective, the dual enhancement effect is described, and the development, current state and prospects of this new forming method are introduced. This innovative method can provide a new approach for integral aluminum alloy components with large size, ultra-thin thickness, and high strength. An integral tank dome of rocket with 2 m in diameter was formed by using a blank sheet with the same thickness as the final component, breaking through the limit value of thickness-diameter ratio.

Anisotropic Rock Poroelasticity Evolution in Ultra-low Permeability Sandstones under Pore Pressure,Confining Pressure,and Temperature:Experiments with Biot's Coefficient

This study aimed to show anisotropic poroelasticity evolution in ultra-low permeability reservoirs under pore pressure,confining pressure,and temperature.Several groups of experiments examining Biot's coefficient under different conditions were carried out.Results showed that Biot's coefficient decreased with increased pore pressure,and the variation trend is linear,but the decreasing rate is variable between materials.Biot's coefficient increased with increased confining pressure;the variation trend is linear,but the increasing rate varies by material as well.Generally,Biot's coefficient remains stable with increased temperature.Lithology,clay mineral content,particle arrangement,and pore arrangement showed impacts on Biot's coefficient.For strong hydrophilic clay minerals,expansion in water could result in a strong surface adsorption reaction,which could result in an increased fluid bulk modulus and higher Biot's coefficient.For skeleton minerals with strong lipophilicity,such as quartz and feldspar,increased oil saturation will also result in an adsorption reaction,leading to increased fluid bulk modulus and a higher Biot's coefficient.The study's conclusions provide evidence of poroelasticity evolution of ultra-low permeability and help the enhancing oil recovery(EOR)process.

Experimental Performance of Moderate and High Temperature Heat Pump Charged with Refrigerant Mixture BY-3

Theoretical and experimental analysis of a new refrigerant mixture BY-3 was conducted based on a single-stage vapor compression refrigeration system. The water-water heat pump system used BY-3 to produce hot water when the low temperature was 20 ℃. The following results were obtained: the highest temperature at the condenser outlet reached about 85 ℃; when the difference between the water temperatures at the condenser outlet and the evaporator inlet was less than 40 ℃, the coefficient of performance (COP) was larger than 4; when the difference reached 55 ℃, the COP still kept 3; the discharge temperature of BY-3 was lower than 100 ℃, and the refrigerant vapor pressure kept lower than 1.8 MPa. When the water temperature at the condenser outlet reached over 85 ℃, nearly a 5 ℃ superheating temperature was maintained.

Experimental Analysis of the Performances of Unit Refrigeration Systems Based on Parallel Compressors with Consideration of the Volumetric and Isentropic Efficiency

The performances of a refrigeration unit relying on compressors working in parallel have been investigated considering the influence of the compressor volumetric efficiency and isentropic efficiency on the compression ratio.Moreover,the following influential factors have been taken into account:evaporation temperature,condensation temperature and compressor suction-exhaust pressure ratio for different opening conditions of the compressor.The following quantities have been selected as the unit performance measurement indicators:refrigeration capacity,energy efficiency ratio(COP),compressor power consumption,and refrigerant flow rate.The experimental results indicate that the system refrigeration capacity and COP decrease with a decrease in evaporation temperature,increase of condensation temperature,and increase in pressure ratio.The refrigerant flow rate increases with the increase in evaporation temperature,decrease in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio.The compressor power consumption increases with the increase in condensing temperature and increase in pressure ratio,but is not significantly affected by the evaporation temperature.

Magnetic entropy change and magnetic properties of LaFe_(11.5)Si_(1.5) after controlling the Curie temperature by partial substitution of Mn and hydrogenation

Magnetic properties and magnetic entropy changes of La（Fe_（1-x）Mn_x）_（11.5）Si_（1.5）H_y compounds are investigated. Their Curie temperatures are adjusted to room temperature by partial Mn substitution for Fe and hydrogen absorption in 1-atm（1 atm = 1.01325×10~5Pa） hydrogen gas. Under a field change from 0 T to 2 T, the maximum magnetic entropy change for La（Fe_（0.99）Mn_（0.01））_（11.5）Si_（1.5）H_（1.61）is-11.5 J/kg. The suitable Curie temperature and large value of ？S_m make it an attractive potential candidate for the room temperature magnetic refrigeration application.

A review of low-temperature heat recovery technologies for industry processes

The amount of low-temperature heat generated in industrial processes is high,but recycling is limited due to low grade and low recycling efficiency,which is one of the reasons for low energy efficiency.It implies that there is a great potential for low-temperature heat recovery and utilization.This article provided a detailed review of recent advances in the development of low-temperature thermal upgrades,power generation,refrigeration,and thermal energy storage.The detailed description will be given from the aspects of system structure improvement,work medium improvement,and thermodynamic and economic performance evaluation.It also pointed out the development bottlenecks and future development trends of various technologies.The low-temperature heat combined utilization technology can recover waste heat in an all-round and effective manner,and has great development prospects.

Study on Gd-Al-Dy System Magnetic Refrigeration Materials

d-Al-Dy system materials were prepared by the technique of powder sintering. Twolayers gradient function materials with compositions of (Gd_0.9Dy_0.1)_3Al_2 and Gd_3Al_2 respectively were studied. The results show that the Curie temperature (Tc) of the monolayer material decreases with the increment of Dy content. The Tc values of the twolayer gradient function material agree well with the layer numbers and corresponding to Dy content. For the Tc gradiently changed twolayers Gd-Al-Dy system material, its ΔSm changes smoothly with temperature. Therefore, the magnetic refrigeration is improved.

Estimation on Magnetic Refrigeration Material (Gd_(1-x)RE_x)_5Si_4 (RE=Dy,Ho)

A systematic （Gd1-xREx）sSi4 （RE=Dy, Ho） alloys are investigated to estimate their magnetocaloric effect. The Curie points of （Gd1-xREx）Si4 alloys can tunable from 266 K to 336 K when RE=Dy, Ho; z=0N0.35 and 0-0.15, respectively, and decrease nearly linearly with increasing x. These alloys keep orthorhombic structures GesSm4 and exhibit second order transition when they experience in a change magnetic field at about Curie points. The weight and voluminal magnetic entropy changes are about 3.5 J/（kg.K） and 23-29 mJ/（cm^3.K） when magnetic field changes 0-2 T. The adiabatic temperatures changes （△Tad） of these alloys at Curie points are larger than 1 K in a field change 0-1.4 T, the curve of ATad is wide as that of Gd. The relative cooling power is about 0.8-0.9 J/cm^3 when field changes 0-2 T, 55% of that of Gd. Comparing with Gds（Si1-xGex）4, these alloys do not contain expensive element Ge, so that their cost are lower than the former. Because they could work at temperature region 260-340 K due to their Curie points can be tuned, which is an advantage comparing with Gd, these alloys are potential magnetic refrigerants working in a magnetic refrigerator with a low magnetic field at room temperatures.

Low-temperature environments for quantum computation and quantum simulation

This review summarizes the requirement of low temperature conditions in existing experimental approaches to quantum computation and quantum simulation.

Role of temperature fluctuations and shocks during refrigeration on pork and salmon quality

Refrigeration is considered a prime technology for preserving meat products.Temperature alterations are commonly ignored by industry during refrigeration,which have impacts on product quality.Thus,we conducted research on pork loin and salmon fllets that were preserved for o,5,9,12,and 15 d,where different temperature fluctuations and shocks were established on 4℃.Data revealed that several meat parameters such as total volatile basic nitrogen,total viable count,and lipid oxidation were significantly changed in the±2 C fluctuations group compared with the constant temperature group.Additionally,both the temperature fluctuations and shocks groups had accelerated myofibril protein degrad-ation,while desmin expression and species richness/diversity of bacteria were significantly reduced in the±2℃fluctuations group compared with the constant temperature group.Briefly,temperature fluctuations and shocks accelerated the destruction of muscle structural integrity.Furthermore,both conditions accelerated meat spoilage by progressively expanding the water-loss channels,which can reduce meat edibility.This study provides a new theoretical basis for the proper use of refrigerated temperatures for storing meat products.

An Application of Nonlinear Autoregressive(NARX)Model to Predict Adsorbent Bed Temperature of Solar Adsorption Refrigeration System

In any solar adsorption refrigeration system,there are three major components:a solar collector adsorbent bed,a condenser and an evaporator.All of those components operate at different temperature levels.A solar collector with a tubular adsorbent configuration is proposed and numerically investigated.In this study,a nonlinear auto-regressive model with exogenous input is applied for the prediction of adsorbent bed temperature during the heating and desorption period.The developed neuronal model uses the MATLAB Network toolbox to obtain a better configuration network,applying multilayer feed-forward,the TANSIG transfer function,and the back-propagation learning algorithm.The input parameters are ambient temperature and the uncontrolled natural factor of solar radiation.The output network contains a variable representing the adsorbent bed temperature.The values obtained from the network model were compared with the experimental data,and the prediction performance of the network model was examined using various performance parameters.The mean square error(MSE)and the statistical coefficient of determination(R2)values are excellent numerical criteria for evaluating the performance of a prediction tool.A well-trained neural network model produces small MSE and higher R2 values.In the current study,the adsorbent bed temperature results obtained from a neural network with a two neuron in hidden layer and the number of the tapped time-delays d=9 provided a reasonable degree of accuracy:MSE=1.0121 and R2=0.99864 and the index of agreement was 0.9988.This network model,based on a high-performance algorithm,provided reliable and high-precision results concerning the predictable temperature of the adsorbent bed.

换热器面积对双蒸发温度空调系统性能影响的模拟研究

建立了双蒸发温度空调系统仿真模型来研究改变换热器面积对系统性能的影响。搭建了双蒸发温度空调系统实验台,在实验工况下改变压缩机频率(30~120 Hz)和送风量(400~1 000 m^(3)/h),得到空调机组总制冷量Q_(c)、总显热制冷量Q_(s)和显热比SHR,验证了所建模型精度。在模型中改变换热器面积(48盘管、60盘管、72盘管)进行系统运行调节范围的研究。结果表明:随着换热器面积的增加,系统Q_(c)、Q_(s)和SHR的调节范围在整体扩大,最大增幅分别为5.0%、13.8%、11.8%。当送风量为1 000 m^(3)/h,压缩机频率为30 Hz,换热器面积从48盘管增至60盘管、72盘管时,Q_(s)的增幅分别为9.8%和13.8%,表明换热器面积增至60盘管时Q_(s)增长效果显著,再增加换热器面积,Q_(s)虽有所增大但增幅放缓。最后提出一种以所需制冷量为目标,依据环境温湿度调节范围设计换热器面积的方法。

基于不同流动时间占比的紧凑式室温磁制冷系统实验研究

磁制冷因高效、环保、结构简单等特点,正有望成为替代传统蒸气制冷的新型室温制冷技术之一.当前针对单一影响因子对磁制冷样机的影响作用规律研究较为丰富,但对磁场-流场时序中流动时间占比工况的研究较少,且影响规律尚不明晰.本文以前期研制的紧凑型室温磁制冷系统为基础,在固定的磁场时序情况下开展不同流动时间占比的实验研究,探索制冷温跨、制冷量、压降及性能系数与流动时间占比之间的关联.以磁场时序1:4:1:4与频率0.45 Hz的工况为例,开展了固定磁场时序的不同流动时间占比(100%,80%,60%)的实验研究.结果表明:1)小利用系数和高流动时间的组合可获得较大温跨,大利用系数和高流动时间占比的组合可获得较大冷量,其中当利用系数为0.42、流动时间占比为100%时,获得最大无负荷制冷温跨26.2 K;2)对比研究了利用系数与流动时间占比对回热器压降及性能系数的影响,流动时间占比的增大和利用系数的减小均会造成流体速度的减小,会使压降进一步减小,性能系数进一步增大.本研究阐明了制冷温跨、制冷量、压降及性能系数与流动时间占比之间的影响规律,为进一步提升室温磁制冷机的性能奠定基础.

不同热端温度对低温热电制冷试验箱制冷性能的影响

为优化低温热电制冷试验箱的制冷效率及降低其冷热端温差,理论计算了热电制冷片热端温度为56.18℃和27.31℃时电流、电压、冷热端温差对试验箱制冷性能的影响。建立了三维数学传热模型,模拟了3种热电制冷片布置方式对制冷箱温度分布的影响。结果表明:当热端温度由56.18℃降至27.31℃时,低温热电制冷试验箱的制冷量由150.2 W降至139.5 W,制冷系数由4.41降至3.09,冷凝温度由-22.30℃降至-41.90℃。可见,热电制冷片热端温度的降低能够获得更低的冷凝温度,较高的热端温度拥有较好的制冷性能。