Numerical study on methane/air combustion characteristics in a heat-recirculating micro combustor embedded with porous media

Micro-combustor is a portable power device that can provide energy efficiently, heat recirculating is considered to be an important factor affecting the combustion process. For enhancing the heat recirculating and improving the combustion stability, we proposed a heat-recirculating micro-combustor embedded with porous media, and the numerical simulation was carried out by CFD software. In this paper, the effect of porous media materials, thickness and inlet conditions (equivalence ratio, inlet velocity) on the temperature distribution and exhaust species in the micro combustor are investigated. The results showed that compared with the micro combustor without embedded porous media (MCNPM), micro-combustor embedded with porous media (MCEPM) can improve the temperature uniformity distribution in the radial direction and strengthen the preheating capacity. However, it is found that the embedding thickness of porous media should be reasonably arranged. Setting the thickness of porous media to 15 mm, the combustor can obtain excellent comprehensive capacity of steady combustion and heat recirculating. Compared the thermal performance of Al₂O₃, SiC, and ZrO₂ porous media materials, indicating that SiC due to its strong thermal conductivity, its combustion stabilization and heat recirculating capacity are obviously better than that of Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂. With the porous media embedded in the micro combustor, the combustion has a tempering limit of more than 10 m/s, and the flame is blown out of the porous media area over 100 m/s. The reasonable equivalence ratio of CH₄/air combustion should be controlled within the range of 0.1–0.5, and “super-enthalpy combustion” can be realized.     

Dual effect synergistically triggered Ce:(Y,Tb)3(Al,Mn)5O12 transparent ceramics enabling a high color-rendering index and excellent thermal stability for white LEDs

Ce:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ transparent ceramics (TCs) with appropriate emission light proportion and high thermal stability are significant to construct white light emitting diode devices with excellent chromaticity parameters. In this work, strategies of controlling crystal-field splitting around Ce³⁺ ion and doping orange-red emitting ion, were adopted to fabricate Ce:(Y,Tb)₃(Al,Mn)₅O₁₂ TCs via vacuum sintering technique. Notably, 85.4 % of the room-temperature luminescence intensity of the TC was retained at 150 °C, and the color rendering index was as high as 79.8. Furthermore, a 12 nm red shift and a 16.2 % increase of full width at half maximum were achieved owing to the synergistic effects of Tb³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions. By combining TCs with a 460 nm blue chip, a warm white light with a low correlated color temperature of 4155 K was acquired. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of Tb³⁺ ion and the energy transfer between Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were verified in prepared TCs.     

Hydrogen Production from Catalytic Steam Reforming of Bio-Oils: A Critical Review

In the future, hydrogen will be an important energy carrier and industrial raw material. Catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils is a promising and economically viable technology for hydrogen production. However, during the reforming process, the catalysts are rapidly deactivated due to coke formation and sintering. Thus, maintaining the activity and stability of catalysts is the key issue in this process. Optimized operation conditions could extend the catalyst lifetime by affecting the coke morphology or promoting coke gasification. This article summarizes the recent developments in the field of catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils, focusing on the operation conditions, the properties of the catalysts, and the effects of the catalyst supports. The expected insights into the catalytic steam reforming of bio-oils will provide further guidance for hydrogen production from bio-oils.     

Output feedback controller for polytopic systems exploiting the direct searching of the design space

This paper deals with the problem of designing a robust static output feedback controller for polytopic systems. The current research that tackled this problem is mainly based on LMI method, which is conservative by nature. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed, which considers the design space of the controller parameters and iteratively partitions the space to small simplexes. Then, by assessing the stability in each simplex, the solution space for design parameters is directly determined. It has been theoretically proved that, if there exists a feasible solution in the design space, the algorithm can find it. To validate the result of the proposed approach, comparative simulation examples are given to illustrate the performance of the design methodology as compared to those of previous approaches.     

A review on ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys

As a solid state joining process, ultrasonic spot welding has been proven to be a promising technique for joining copper alloys. However, challenges still remain in employing ultrasonic spot welding to join copper alloys. This article comprehensively reviews the current state of ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys with a number of critical issues including materials flow, plastic deformation, temperature distribution, vibration, relative motion, vertical displacement, interface friction coefficient, online monitoring technique, coupled with the macrostructure and microstructure, the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity. In addition, the future trends in this field are provided.     

Remarkably enhanced energy storage properties of lead-free Ba0.53Sr0.47TiO3 thin films capacitors by optimizing bottom electrode thickness

The lead-free Ba_0.53Sr_0.47TiO₃ (BST) thin films buffered with La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃ (LSMO) bottom electrode of different thicknesses were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition method on a (001) SrTiO₃ substrate. It was found that the roughness of electrode decreases and substrate stress relaxes gradually with the increase of LSMO thickness, which is beneficial for weakening local high electric field and achieving higher E_b. Therefore, the recoverable energy density (W_rec) of BST films can be greatly improved up to 67.3 %, that is, from 30.6 J/cm³ for the LSMO thickness of 30 nm up to 51.2 J/cm³ for the LSMO thickness of 140 nm after optimizing the LSMO thickness. Furthermore, the thin film capacitor with a 140 nm LSMO bottom electrode shows an outstanding thermal stability from 20 °C to 160 °C and superior fatigue resistance after 10⁸ electrical cycles with only a slightly decrease of W_rec below 1.6 % and 3.7 %, respectively. Our work demonstrates that optimizing bottom electrodes thickness is a promising way for enhancing energy storage properties of thin-film capacitors.     

Characteristics of tiger nut milk: effects of milling

A standard method for the extraction of tiger nut milk has been introduced. It has been shown that, although milling duration improves the yield of tiger nut milk solids and its nutrient composition, there is a quantifiable loss of nutrient in the pressing residue during milk extraction. Milling duration improved the colloidal stability of the milk against creaming during 16 h of storage. A higher milling intensity resulted in the aggregation of biological polymers which resulted in colloidal destabilisation. Milling improved the lightness and stability and reduced browning rate of the tiger nut milk during storage. This report is important for the production of tiger nut milk of consistent and comparable characteristics. Milling has been introduced as a processing method for the qualitative and quantitative modulation of the properties of tiger nut milk. It is recommended to develop further strategies to improve the colloidal stability of tiger nut milk as a beverage.