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Thermally Driven Systems

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2016) | Viewed by 14740

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Guest Editor
NewRail - Newcastle Centre for Railway Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE17RU, UK
Interests: thermal power systems; refrigeration; combined cycles; internal combustion engines; finite time thermodynamics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Decarbonising the energy economy has been a goal of governments for several decades, from all regions of the world. The recent Climate Change Summit in Paris set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. This must be achieved, however, without impacting adversely on economic growth and wellbeing.

This Special Issue of Energies is focused on highlighting research activities directed to reducing carbon emissions and promoting energy efficiency through the use of alternative energy sources, energy recovery and novel thermodynamic cycles. Of particular interest will be articles based on heat driven refrigeration and power generation systems associated with heat storage and energy recovery, co-generation - tri-generation cycles and new and renewable energy. Conventional analysis of such cycles will be welcome as will optimization studies based upon exergy and finite time. These thermal systems would find application in locations requiring a power mix of electricity, heating and cooling, such as retail outlets, airports, offices, and residential buildings.

Prof. Dr. Brian Agnew
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • co-generation
  • refrigeration
  • energy storage
  • organic Rankine cycles
  • energy recovery
  • waste heat
  • solar energy

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

9450 KiB  
Article
Laboratory Experiment and Numerical Analysis of a New Type of Solar Tower Efficiently Generating a Thermal Updraft
by Yuji Ohya, Masaki Wataka, Koichi Watanabe and Takanori Uchida
Energies 2016, 9(12), 1077; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9121077 - 16 Dec 2016
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6153
Abstract
A new type of solar tower was developed through laboratory experiments and numerical analyses. The solar tower mainly consists of three components. The transparent collector area is an aboveground glass roof, with increasing height toward the center. Attached to the center of the [...] Read more.
A new type of solar tower was developed through laboratory experiments and numerical analyses. The solar tower mainly consists of three components. The transparent collector area is an aboveground glass roof, with increasing height toward the center. Attached to the center of the inside of the collector is a vertical tower within which a wind turbine is mounted at the lower entry to the tower. When solar radiation heats the ground through the glass roof, ascending warm air is guided to the center and into the tower. A solar tower that can generate electricity using a simple structure that enables easy and less costly maintenance has considerable advantages. However, conversion efficiency from sunshine energy to mechanical turbine energy is very low. Aiming to improve this efficiency, the research project developed a diffuser-type tower instead of a cylindrical tower, and investigated a suitable diffuser shape for practical use. After changing the tower height and diffuser open angle, with a temperature difference between the ambient air aloft and within the collector, various diffuser tower shapes were tested by laboratory experiments and numerical analyses. As a result, it was found that a diffuser tower with a semi-open angle of 4° is an optimal shape, producing the fastest updraft at each temperature difference in both the laboratory experiments and numerical analyses. The relationships between thermal updraft speed and temperature difference and/or tower height were confirmed. It was found that the thermal updraft velocity is proportional to the square root of the tower height and/or temperature difference. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermally Driven Systems)
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5357 KiB  
Article
Two Dimensional Thermal-Hydraulic Analysis for a Packed Bed Regenerator Used in a Reheating Furnace
by Chien-Nan Lin, Jiin-Yuh Jang and Yi-Shiun Lai
Energies 2016, 9(12), 995; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9120995 - 25 Nov 2016
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4123
Abstract
Packed bed is widely used for different industries and technologies, such as heat exchangers, heat recovery, thermal energy storage and chemical reactors. In modern steel industry, packed bed regenerator is widely utilized in the reheating furnace to increase the furnace efficiency. This study [...] Read more.
Packed bed is widely used for different industries and technologies, such as heat exchangers, heat recovery, thermal energy storage and chemical reactors. In modern steel industry, packed bed regenerator is widely utilized in the reheating furnace to increase the furnace efficiency. This study established a two dimensional numerical model to simulate a packed bed used in regenerative furnaces. The physical properties of fluids and packed stuffing (such as density, thermal conductivity, and specific heat) are considered as functions of temperature to adapt the large temperature variation in operation. The transient temperature profiles of the flue gas, packed bed, and air during the heating and regeneration period are examined for various switching time (30, 60, 120, and 240 s). The results reveal that, during the heating period, the spanwise averaged heat transfer coefficient is decreased along the longitudinal downstream direction, while during the regeneration period, the opposite trend is true. Moreover, the regenerator thermal effectiveness is decreased by increasing the switching time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermally Driven Systems)
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2532 KiB  
Article
Definition and Experimental Validation of a Simplified Model for a Microgrid Thermal Network and its Integration into Energy Management Systems
by Andrea Bonfiglio, Massimo Brignone, Federico Delfino, Alessandro Nilberto and Renato Procopio
Energies 2016, 9(11), 914; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9110914 - 4 Nov 2016
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3933
Abstract
The present paper aims at defining a simplified but effective model of a thermal network that links the thermal power generation with the resulting temperature time profile in a heated or refrigerated environment. For this purpose, an equivalent electric circuit is proposed together [...] Read more.
The present paper aims at defining a simplified but effective model of a thermal network that links the thermal power generation with the resulting temperature time profile in a heated or refrigerated environment. For this purpose, an equivalent electric circuit is proposed together with an experimental procedure to evaluate its input parameters. The paper also highlights the simplicity of implementation of the proposed model into a microgrid Energy Management System. This allows the optimal operation of the thermal network to be achieved on the basis of available data (desired temperature profile) instead of a less realistic basis (such as the desired thermal power profile). The validation of the proposed model is performed on the Savona Campus Smart Polygeneration Microgrid (SPM) with the following steps: (i) identification of the parameters involved in the equivalent circuit (performed by minimizing the difference between the temperature profile, as calculated with the proposed model, and the measured one in a set of training days); (ii) test of the model accuracy on a set of testing days (comparing the measured temperature profiles with the calculated ones); (iii) implementation of the model into an Energy Management System in order to optimize the thermal generation starting from a desired temperature hourly profile. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermally Driven Systems)
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