• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.105-111
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• 2020

The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and the Kalina cycle system (KCS) are being considered as the most feasible and promising ways to recover the low-grade finite heat sources. This paper presents a comparative exergetical performance analysis for ORC and Kalina cycle using ammonia-water mixture as the working fluid for the recovery of low-grade heat. Effects of the system parameters such as working fluid selection, turbine inlet pressure, and mass fraction of ammonia on the exergetical performance are parametrically investigated. KCS gives lower lower exergy destruction ratio at evaporator and higher second-law efficiency than ORC. The maximum exergy efficiency of ORC is higher than KCS.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.147-166
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• 2020

Industrial cooling towers are often ageing infrastructure that is expensive to maintain and operate. A novel approach is introduced in which a heat pump circuit is incorporated to reduce the load upon the towers by extracting low-grade energy from the stream sent to the towers and repurposing in on-site processing operations. To demonstrate the concept, a model was constructed, which uses industrial data on cooling towers linked to a smelter's sulphuric acid plant, to allow direct economic and environmental impact comparison between different heat recovery and repurposing scenarios. The model's results showed that implementing a heat pump system would significantly decrease annual operating costs and achieve a payback period of 3 years. In addition, overall CO₂ emissions could be reduced by 42% (430,000 kg/year) and a 5% heat load reduction on the cooling towers achieved. The concept is significant as the outcomes introduce a new way for energy intensive industrial sectors, such as mineral processing, to reduce energy consumption and improve long-term sustainable performance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.1140-1151
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• 2023

Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuel is emerging advanced fuel material for the future nuclear reactors. The fuel pellet in the FCM fuel is composed of matrix and a large number of TRistructural-ISOtopic (TRISO) fuel particles which are randomly dispersed in the SiC matrix. The minimum layer thickness in a TRISO fuel particle is on the order of 10^-5 m, and the length of the FCM pellet is on the order of 10^-2 m. Hence, the heat transfer in the FCM pellet is a multi-scale phenomenon. In this study, three multi-scale heat conduction models including the Multi-region Layered (ML) model, Multi-region Non-layered (MN) model and Homogeneous model for FCM pellet were constructed. In the ML model, the random distributed TRISO fuel particles and coating layers are completely built. While the TRISO fuel particles with coating layers are homogenized in the MN model and the whole fuel pellet is taken as the homogenous material in the Homogeneous model. Taking the results by the ML model as the benchmark, the abilities of the MN model and Homogenous model to predict the maximum and average temperature were discussed. It was found that the MN model and the Homogenous model greatly underestimate the temperature of TRISO fuel particles. The reason is mainly that the conventional equivalent thermal conductivity (ETC) models do not take the internal heat source into account and are not suitable for the TRISO fuel particle. Then the improved ETCs considering internal heat source were derived. With the improved ETCs, the MN model is able to capture the peak temperature as well as the average temperature at a wide range of the linear powers (165 W/cm~ 415 W/cm) and the packing fractions (20%-50%). With the improved ETCs, the Homogenous model is better to predict the average temperature at different linear powers and packing fractions, and able to predict the peak temperature at high packing fractions (45%-50%).

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.637-645
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• 2020

In this paper, entransy analysis is carried out for combined heat and power (CHP) generation system driven by low-grade heat source compared with energy and exergy analyses. The system consists of a regenerative organic rankine cycle (ORC) and an additional process heater in a series circuit. Special attention is paid to the effects of the turbine inlet pressure, source temperature, and the working fluid on the thermodynamic performance of the system. Results showed that the work efficiency of entransy is higher than that of energy but lower than that of exergy, wheress the process heat efficiency of entransy is lower than that of energy but higher than that of exergy. Entrance analysis showed the potential to complement the exergy analysis in the optimal design of the energy system.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2021

In this paper, entransy analysis is carried out for combined heat and power (CHP) generation system driven by low-grade heat source compared with energy and exergy analyses. The system consists of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and an additional process heater in a parallel circuit. Special attention is paid to the effects of the source temperature, turbine inlet pressure, and the working fluid on the thermodynamic performance of the system. Results showed that the work efficiency of entransy is higher than that of energy but lower than that of exergy, wheress the process heat efficiency of entransy is lower than that of energy but higher than that of exergy. Entrancy analysis showed the potential to complement the exergy analysis in the optimal design of the energy system.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.621-628
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• 2019

The use of the ammonia-water zeotropic mixture as a working fluid in the power generating system has been considered as a proven technology for efficient recovery of low-grade heat sources. This paper presents a thermodynamic performance analysis for ammonia-water evaporator using low-grade heat source, based on the exergy and entransy which has been recently introduced as a physical quantity to describe the heat transfer ability of an object. In the analysis, effects of the ammonia mass fraction and source temperature of the binary mixture are investigated on the system performance such as heat transfer, effectiveness, exergy destruction, entransy dissipation, and entransy dissipation based thermal resistance. The results show that the ammonia mass concentration and the source temperature have significant effects on the thermodynamic system performance of the ammonia-water evaporator.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.112-118
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• 1990

Characteristics of heat transfer in a smooth and finned tube located vertically in atmospheric fluidized bed combustor which uses low grade anthracite coals was studied. Experiments to investigate the characteristics of heat transfer between smooth and finned tube are carried out and the results depend on particle size, fluidizing air velocity and bed temperature are summarized. It is found that heat transfer coefficient of the smooth and finned tube increases with decrease in particle diameter and increase in bed temperature. Furthermore, it is noted that heat transfer coefficient increase at the first with increase in the velocity of fluidizing air and tends to decrease at a certain fluidizing air velocity. The increase of heat transfer coefficient for the finned tube is appeared to be increased in 30% compared to that for the smooth tube.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.623-628
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• 2009

Desiccant based air conditioning system offers a promising alternative to conventional one using vapour compression refrigeration for energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction. It is a heat driven cycle which has high potential for the use of low grade heat source such as the waste heat from the cogeneration plant or the solar thermal energy. In this study, the cooling performance of a desiccant cooling system incorporating a regenerative evaporative cooler was characterized in various operation conditions through numerical simulation. The cooling capacity and COP were evaluated at various outdoor conditions, regeneration temperatures, and supply flow rates. Based on the performance characteristics, the optimal control scheme was discussed to minimize the cooling cost at part load condition.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.242-249
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• 2020

The Kalina cycle (KC) is considered as one of the most efficient systems for recovery of low grade heat. Recently, Kalina based power and cooling cogeneration cycles (KPCCCs) have been suggested and attracted much attention. This paper presents an energy and exergy analysis of a recently suggested KPCCC with flexible loads. The cycle consists of a KC (KCS-11) and an aqua-ammonia absorption refrigeration cycle. By adjusting the splitting ratios, the cycle can be operated with four modes of pure Kalina cycle, pure absorption cooling cycle, Kalina-cooling parallel cycle, and Kalina-cooling series cycle. The effects of system variables and the operating modes on the energetic and exergetic performances of the system are parametrically investigated. Results show that the system has great potential for efficient utilization of low-grade heat source by adjusting loads of power and cooling.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.620-626
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• 2023

Energy harvesting technology, which converts wasted energy sources in everyday life into usable electric energy, is gaining attention as a solution to the challenges of charging and managing batteries for the driving of IoT sensors, which are one of the key technologies in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Hybrid energy harvesting technology involves integrating two or more energy harvesting technologies to generate electric energy from multiple energy conversion mechanisms. In this study, a hybrid energy harvesting device called TMPPEG (thermo-magneto-piezoelectric-pyroelectric energy generator), which utilizes low-grade waste heat, was developed by incorporating PVDF polymer piezoelectric components and optimizing the system. The variations in piezoelectric output and thermoelectric output were examined based on the spacing of the clamps, and it was found that the device exhibited the highest energy output when the clamp spacing was 2 mm. The voltage and energy output characteristics of the TMPPEG were evaluated, demonstrating its potential as an efficient hybrid energy harvesting component that effectively harnesses low-grade waste heat.