细水雾作用下气体射流火焰熄灭的临界条件

设计了开放空间条件下细水雾扑灭气体射流火的模拟实验,发现可燃气体流率大小和火焰上升力大小都直接影响了灭火成功与否,进而通过理论分析和计算分别得出了细水雾灭射流火的临界条件,细水雾的吸热功率大于11%～15%射流火的火源功率时可实现灭火,射流上升力与细水雾下压力的比值小于1.0～2.8时细水雾也能够通过克服火焰上升力进而实现灭火,实验结果也显示,相同气体流率情况下气体射流上升力与细水雾下压力的比值越大则灭火时间越长.     

受限空间中细水雾灭火的准稳态模型

通过受限空间中大量细水雾灭火实验，总结出预测细水雾系统灭火效果的准稳态模型。该模型是针对细水雾扑灭有障碍火的情况而发展的，火焰的熄灭主要是由于燃料燃烧耗氧和细水雾汽化稀释造成氧气浓度的降低而导致的，忽略了细水雾与火焰的直接作用，模型基于能量守衡，要求输入以下参数：火源功率、受限空间的几何结构、通风口面积和细水雾施加流量，通过模型预测出稳态时受限空间的温度和氧气浓度，进而可以确定临界火源的尺度(功率大小)，同时能准确预测较大功率范围火的熄灭时间。     

细水雾与液体燃料火焰相互作用的小尺度实验研究及简化模型

细水雾灭火技术是可以替代哈龙灭火剂的绿色灭火技术。以此为工程背景,开展了细水雾与液体燃料火焰相互作用的小尺度实验研究,结果表明:预燃时间、喷雾气压、细水雾气源种类等参数对灭火过程有重要影响。细水雾抑制熄灭液体燃料火焰的主要机理是燃料表面冷却效应。建立的液体燃料平均温度零维简化模型与实验结果吻合较好。     

细水雾熄灭K类火灾的全尺寸模拟实验

利用ISO 9705全尺寸多功能热释放速率测试仪在开放空间研究了细水雾作用下K类火灾的发展过程,实验中对细水雾作用下食用油火的温度、热释放速率及烟气的主要特性参数变化规律进行了测量与研究,分析了预燃时间对灭火有效性的影响,系统地阐述了细水雾作用下K类火灾关键特性参数的变化规律．实验发现,细水雾可以有效地抑制K类火灾的发展,在其作用下火焰温度及热释放速率快速降低,并可以有效地冲刷烟气,降低一氧化碳及二氧化碳的浓度,提高氧气的浓度及火场能见度．同时利用稳定火源热释放速率模型计算了K类火灾发展阶段的热释放速率,与实验测量结果比较发现,模型可准确地预测K类火灾发展阶段的热释放速率的变化规律．     

自然通风房间内油池面积变化对细水雾灭火效果影响的数值模拟

采用大涡模拟、混合物分数模拟和欧拉一拉格朗日粒子运动描述法研究了不同油池面积条件下自然通风房间内细水雾与油池火焰作用过程，分析了加入水雾对着火房间速度场和温度场的影响，推导出油池火焰根部空气卷吸速率与油池尺寸的关系，探讨了细水雾在火羽流的不同区域内的灭火机理。模拟结果表明：加入水雾不仅降低了着火房间热烟气层温度，而且显著影响了房间内速度场，在间歇火焰区和浮力羽流区以及热烟气层主要发挥细水雾的蒸发冷却作用，在恒定火焰区则是蒸发冷却和隔氧窒息共同作用，油池火根部的空气卷吸速率与油池边长的四次方成正比。     

细水雾抑制淬火油池火的小尺度实验

通过小尺度模拟实验对两种不同喷头所产生的细水雾抑制熄灭淬火油池火的研究发现,细水雾施加之初对淬火油池火有明显的强化作用,粒径和速度较大的细水雾强化燃烧的程度较大但持续的时间较短,且粒径和速度较大的细水雾抑制熄灭淬火油池火的效率较高.实验观测和分析表明,粒径和速度较小的细水雾主要通过卷吸空气强化燃烧,其灭火机理主要是火焰冷却和燃料表面冷却,粒径和速度较大的细水雾则主要通过共沸强化燃烧,其灭火机理主要是燃料表面冷却.     

受限空间内细水雾抑制熄灭火焰过程中一氧化碳的生成率

细水雾抑制熄灭火焰过程中一氧化碳的浓度是评价细水雾灭火系统安全可靠性的一个重要参数.本文通过受限空间内细水雾抑制熄灭障碍火的模拟实验研究,发现细水雾抑制熄灭火焰过程中一氧化碳生成率存在两种控制模式,即燃料控制模式和细水雾流量控制模式.实验结果表明,在燃料控制模式下,一氧化碳生成率随着燃料流量的增大而增大;在细水雾控制模式下,一氧化碳生成率随着细水雾流量的增大而增大.为了获得两种控制模式的临界转变条件,对燃料控制模式和细水雾控制模式的临界工况进行水蒸气含量分析.通过理论分析,得到一氧化碳生成率控制模式转变的水蒸气含量临界范围与 Suh and Atryeya 理论基本一致,即空气中水蒸气质量分数达到25%~65.5%时,水蒸气对火焰的作用从化学作用转为物理作用,一氧化碳生成率控制模式开始转变     

细水雾抑制熄灭固体火的机理

利用三维激光粒子动态分析仪对细水雾喷嘴的雾场特性进行了测量,选择两种典型固体可燃物作为燃料,研究细水雾抑制熄灭固体火的过程,重点考察细水雾扑灭固体火的灭火机理.实验结果表明,细水雾扑灭固体火主要依赖细水雾对燃料表面的冷却吸热.相同灭火条件下,表面碳化型固体比非碳化型固体可燃物更容易被细水雾扑灭,但是前者在明火熄灭后,表面及内部残余炭仍能够维持较长的氧化燃烧,因此需要用更多的冷却时间来阻止复燃.细水雾通量对固体灭火时间的影响满足边际效用递减规律,并存在一个最佳值,即可利用最小细水雾通量获得最大灭火效率.     

细水雾与油雾火焰相互作用的实验及数值模拟研究

开展了细水雾抑制熄灭燃油油雾火的实验研究,并在试验研究的基础上,利用大型计算流体力学商业软件模拟研究细水雾与油雾火焰的相互作用。研究表明,细水雾熄灭油雾火的机理是降低可燃物与氧气混合浓度比和动力学效应、火焰冷却与衰减热辐射。在细水雾与油雾火焰相互作用动态过程中模拟计算与实验有一定程度的吻合;模拟计算表明细水雾有效灭火的前提是快速穿透火焰。     

超细水雾抑制受限空间木材燃烧的实验研究

基于木材是火灾中常见的可燃物之一,通过搭建超细水雾抑制受限空间木材燃烧的小尺寸实验平台,研究了超细水雾抑制受限空间木材燃烧的有效性及影响因素.施加超细水雾后,木材的热释放速率和O2的下降速率增大,CO2的生成量增大到固定值时逐渐趋于平稳,这表明超细水雾可以有效降低木材的热释放速率,抑制木材的燃烧.超细水雾抑制木材燃烧的效果依赖于雾通量、预燃时间、施加时间等因素.雾通量充足时预燃时间越长,火焰越容易熄灭;雾通量不足时,超细水雾无法抑制木材的燃烧;预燃时间一定时,雾通量越大,超细水雾抑制木材火焰的效果越好;雾通量和预燃时间一定时,施加超细水雾的时间越长,木材表面越不易有阴燃现象,抑制木材火焰的效果越好.     

Natural-gas fueled spark-ignition (SI) and compression-ignition (CI) engine performance and emissions

Natural gas is a fossil fuel that has been used and investigated extensively for use in spark-ignition (SI) and compression-ignition (CI) engines. Compared with conventional gasoline engines, SI engines using natural gas can run at higher compression ratios, thus producing higher thermal efficiencies but also increased nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions, while producing lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂), unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO). These engines also produce relatively less power than gasoline-fueled engines because of the convergence of one or more of three factors: a reduction in volumetric efficiency due to natural-gas injection in the intake manifold; the lower stoichiometric fuel/air ratio of natural gas compared to gasoline; and the lower equivalence ratio at which these engines may be run in order to reduce NO_x emissions. High NO_x emissions, especially at high loads, reduce with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). However, EGR rates above a maximum value result in misfire and erratic engine operation. Hydrogen gas addition increases this EGR threshold significantly. In addition, hydrogen increases the flame speed of the natural gas-hydrogen mixture. Power levels can be increased with supercharging or turbocharging and intercooling. Natural gas is used to power CI engines via the dual-fuel mode, where a high-cetane fuel is injected along with the natural gas in order to provide a source of ignition for the charge. Thermal efficiency levels compared with normal diesel-fueled CI-engine operation are generally maintained with dual-fuel operation, and smoke levels are reduced significantly. At the same time, lower NO_x and CO₂ emissions, as well as higher HC and CO emissions compared with normal CI-engine operation at low and intermediate loads are recorded. These trends are caused by the low charge temperature and increased ignition delay, resulting in low combustion temperatures. Another factor is insufficient penetration and distribution of the pilot fuel in the charge, resulting in a lack of ignition centers. EGR admission at low and intermediate loads increases combustion temperatures, lowering unburned HC and CO emissions. Larger pilot fuel quantities at these load levels and hydrogen gas addition can also help increase combustion efficiency. Power output is lower at certain conditions than diesel-fueled engines, for reasons similar to those affecting power output of SI engines. In both cases the power output can be maintained with direct injection. Overall, natural gas can be used in both engine types; however further refinement and optimization of engines and fuel-injection systems is needed.     

Decomposition of limestone in a solar reactor

The thermal decomposition of limestone has been selected as a model reaction for developing and testing an atmospheric open solar reactor. The reactor consists of a cyclone gas/particle separator which has been modified to let the concentrated solar energy enter through a windowless aperture. The reacting particles are directly exposed to the solar irradiation. Experimentation with a 60 kW reactor prototype was conducted at PSI's 90m² parabolic solar concentrator, in a continuous mode of operation. A counter-current flow heat exchanger was employed to preheat the reactants. Eighty five percent degree of calcination was obtained for cement raw material and 15% of the solar input was converted into chemical energy (enthalpy).The technical feasibility of the solar thermal decomposition of limestone was experimentally demonstrated. The use of solar energy as a source for high-temperature process heat offers the potential of reducing significantly the CO₂ emissions from lime producing plants. Such a solar thermochemical process can find application in sunny rural areas for avoiding deforestation.     

Biohydrogen production by Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 wild-type and mutants under different conditions: Light, nickel, propane, carbon dioxide and nitrogen

Increasing awareness of environmental problems caused by the current use of fossil fuel-based energy, has led to the search for alternatives. Hydrogen is a good alternative and the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 is naturally able to produce molecular hydrogen, photosynthetically from water and light. However, this H₂ is rapidly consumed by the uptake hydrogenase.This study evaluated the hydrogen production of Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 wild-type and mutants: hupL⁻ (deficient in the uptake hydrogenase), hoxH⁻ (deficient in the bidirectional hydrogenase) and hupL⁻/hoxH⁻ (deficient in both hydrogenases) on several experimental conditions, such as gas atmosphere (argon and propane with or without N₂ and/or CO₂ addition), light intensity (54 and 152 ??Em⁻²s⁻¹), light regime (continuous and light/dark cycles 16 h/8 h) and nickel concentrations in the culture medium.In every assay, the hupL⁻ and hupL⁻/hoxH⁻ mutants stood out over wild-type cells and the hoxH⁻ mutant. Nevertheless, the hupL⁻ mutant showed the best hydrogen production except in an argon atmosphere under 16 h light/8 h dark cycles at 54 ??Em⁻²s⁻¹ in the light period, with 1 ??M of NiCl₂ supplementation in the culture medium, and under a propane atmosphere.In all strains, higher light intensity leads to higher hydrogen production and if there is a daily 1% of CO₂ addition in the gas atmosphere, hydrogen production could increase 5.8 times, related to the great increase in heterocysts differentiation (5 times more, approximately), whereas nickel supplementation in the culture medium was not shown to increase hydrogen production. The daily incorporation of 1% of CO₂ plus 1% of N₂ did not affect positively hydrogen production rate.     

Investigation of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of La–Fe–B system hydrogen-storage alloys

La–Fe–B hydrogen-storage alloys were prepared using a vacuum induction-quenching furnace with a rotating copper wheel. The thermodynamic and kinetic properties of the La–Fe–B hydrogen-storage alloys were investigated in this work. The P–C–I curves of the La–Fe–B alloys were measured over a H₂ pressure range of 10⁻³ MPa to 2.0 MPa at temperatures of 313, 328, 343 and 353 K. The P–C–I curves revealed that the maximum hydrogen-storage capacity of the alloys exceeded 1.23 wt% at a pressure of approximately 1.0 MPa and temperature of 313 K. The standard enthalpy of formation ΔH and standard entropy of formation ΔS for the alloys' hydrides, obtained according to the van't Hoff equation, were consistent with their application as anode materials in alkaline media. The alloys also exhibited good absorption/desorption kinetics at room temperature.     

The Solar Office in context

The goal of sustainability in buildings can only hope to be realised if buildings are designed to both conserve and generate energy. The Solar Office at Doxford International is designed to minimise the use of energy while its external fabric is designed to replace such energy that is used. The recently completed building is now subject of a comprehensive monitoring programme. The programme covers both the performance of the 73 kW_p photovoltaic installation and the environmental conditions within the building as a whole. Hour by hour findings are posted on a dedicated web site. Photovoltaics could have the same impact on building form and layout as the invention of the passenger lift at the end of the last century.     

Hydrogen recovery from the photovoltaic electroflocculation-flotation process for harvesting Chlorella pyrenoidosa microalgae

In this paper, an integrated process using photovoltaic power to harvest microalgae by electro-flocculation (EF) and hydrogen recovery is presented. It is mainly favorable in regions with high solar radiation. The electro-flocculation efficiency (EFE) of Chlorella pyrenoidosa microalgae was investigated using various types of electrodes (aluminum, iron, zinc, copper and a non-sacrificial electrode of carbon). The best results regarding the EFE, and biomass contamination were achieved with aluminum and carbon electrodes where the electrical energy demand of the process for harvesting 1 kg of algae biomass was 0.28 and 0.34 kWh, respectively, while the energy yield of harvested hydrogen was 0.052 and 0.005 kWh kg^?1, respectively. The highest harvesting efficiency of 95.83 ± 0.87% was obtained with the aluminum electrode.The experimental hydrogen yields obtained were comparable with those calculated from theory. With a low net energy demand, microalgae EF may be a useful and low-cost technology.     

Electrochemical behavior of Mg–Li,Mg–Li–Al and Mg–Li–Al–Ce in sodium chloride solution

Mg–Li, Mg–Li–Al and Mg–Li–Al–Ce alloys were prepared and their electrochemical behavior in 0.7 M NaCl solutions was investigated by means of potentiodynamic polarization, potentiostatic current–time and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements as well as by scanning electron microscopy examination. The effect of gallium oxide as an electrolyte additive on the potentiostatic discharge performance of these magnesium alloys was studied. The discharge activities and utilization efficiencies of these alloys increase in the order: Mg–Li < Mg–Li–Al < Mg–Li–Al–Ce, both in the absence and presence of Ga₂O₃. These alloys are more active than commercial magnesium alloy AZ31. The addition of Ga₂O₃ into NaCl electrolyte solution improved the discharging currents of the alloys by more than 4%, and enhanced the utilization efficiencies of the alloys by more than 6%. It also shortened the transition time for the discharge current to reach to a steady value. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements showed that the polarization resistance of the alloys decreases in the following order: Mg–Li > Mg–Li–Al > Mg–Li–Al–Ce. Mg–Li–Al–Ce exhibited the best performance in term of activity, utilization efficiency and activation time.     

Aerodynamic performance effects of leading-edge geometry in gas-turbine blades

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the advantages of the direct surface-curvature distribution blade-design method, originally proposed by Korakianitis, for the leading-edge design of turbine blades, and by extension for other types of airfoil shapes. The leading edge shape is critical in the blade design process, and it is quite difficult to completely control with inverse, semi-inverse or other direct-design methods. The blade-design method is briefly reviewed, and then the effort is concentrated on smoothly blending the leading edge shape (circle or ellipse, etc.) with the main part of the blade surface, in a manner that avoids leading-edge flow-disturbance and flow-separation regions. Specifically in the leading edge region we return to the second-order (parabolic) construction line coupled with a revised smoothing equation between the leading-edge shape and the main part of the blade. The Hodson–Dominy blade has been used as an example to show the ability of this blade-design method to remove leading-edge separation bubbles in gas turbine blades and other airfoil shapes that have very sharp changes in curvature near the leading edge. An additional gas turbine blade example has been used to illustrate the ability of this method to design leading edge shapes that avoid leading-edge separation bubbles at off-design conditions. This gas turbine blade example has inlet flow angle 0°, outlet flow angle −64.3°, and tangential lift coefficient 1.045, in a region of parameters where the leading edge shape is critical for the overall blade performance. Computed results at incidences of −10°,   −5°,   +5°,   +10° are used to illustrate the complete removal of leading edge flow-disturbance regions, thus minimizing the possibility of leading-edge separation bubbles, while concurrently minimizing the stagnation pressure drop from inlet to outlet. These results using two difficult example cases of leading edge geometries illustrate the superiority and utility of this blade-design method when compared with other direct or inverse blade-design methods.     

Temperature dependence of the enthalpy of formation of metal hydrides characterized by an excess volume

A universal framework to calculate the temperature dependence of the excess enthalpy present in regions characterized by an excess volume is calculated for metals and metal hydrides. At high temperatures, the different contributions from the pressure–volume, heat capacity, entropy and work associated with the thermal expansion are studied separately and their magnitudes and signs are compared. It is found that the pressure–volume contribution opposes and dominates the other three contributions at both high temperature and excess volume, and it is thus found that this contribution becomes the leading temperature dependent contribution to the enthalpy of a material. The conditions under which a temperature change will reduce the enthalpy of formation of metal hydrides are also given and the Mg/MgH₂ system is studied as an example. Excluding the heat capacity contribution, an increase in temperature tends to offset the effect of the excess volume on the enthalpy of formation. It is also demonstrated that the impact of temperature will be more favorable to a reduction of the enthalpy of formation if a large fraction of the metal hydride is in a state of small excess volume compared to a small fraction of the hydride in a state of high excess volume.     

The effect of electrode infiltration on the performance of tubular solid oxide fuel cells under electrolysis and fuel cell modes

The electrochemical performance of two different anode supported tubular cells (50:50 wt% NiO:YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) or 34:66 vol.% Ni:YSZ) as the fuel electrode and YSZ as the electrolyte) under SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) and SOEC (solid oxide electrolysis cell) modes were studied in this research. LSM (La_0.80Sr_0.20MnO_3−δ) was infiltrated into a thin porous YSZ layer to form the oxygen electrode of both cells and, in addition, SDC (Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9) was infiltrated into the fuel electrode of one of the cells. The microstructure of the infiltrated fuel cells showed a suitable distribution of fine LSM and SDC particles (50–100 nm) near the interface of electrodes and electrolyte and throughout the bulk of the electrodes. The results show that SDC infiltration not only enhances the electrochemical reaction in SOFC mode but improves the performance even more in SOEC mode. In addition, LSM infiltrated electrodes also boost the SOEC performance in comparison with standard LSM–YSZ composite electrodes, due to the well-dispersed LSM nanoparticles (favouring the electrochemical reactions) within the YSZ porous matrix.