The effect of ventilation bars on the porosity of a sinter bed charged on a sinter machine was investigated. The behavior of the sinter feed was calculated by discrete element method (DEM) simulation. By taking into account the adhesion force, the sinter feed in the wet state was represented and the simulation parameters were determined to reproduce the experimental values of the angle of repose. The porosity of the sinter bed was calculated, and the mechanism of the formation of the packing structure and the cause of the distribution of porosity in each region were clarified. As a result, it is shown that in the case of shear flow, the higher the powder pressure during flow, the higher the porosity.

City bus transport electrification has a strong potential of improving city air quality, reducing noise pollution and increasing passenger satisfaction. Since the city bus operation is rather deterministic and intermittent, the driving range- and charging-related concerns may be effectively overcome by means of fast charging at end stations and/or slow charging in depot. In order to support decision making processes, a simulation tool for planning of city bus transport electrification has been developed and it is presented in this paper. The tool is designed to use real/recorded driving cycles and techno-economic data, in order to calculate the optimal type and number of e-buses and chargers, and predict the total cost of ownership including investment and exploitation cost. The paper focuses on computationally efficient e-bus fleet simulation including powertrain control and charging management aspects, which is illustrated through main results of a pilot study of bus transport electr... [more]

This manuscript presents the simulation tests of an aerospace penetrator conducted to check the device’s validity and functionality. For this work, the numerical model was created on the basis of engineering data, the laboratory model of the tube reluctance actuator was created on the basis of the numerical model, and a set of simulations were executed on the basis of both presented. Moreover, the mathematical model was supplemented by precise boundary conditions. The main goal was the analysis of the introduced device’s properties by comparing them to experimental values. Three different variants were taken into account to check the construction functionality and to study the most important parameters, e.g., the hammer displacement, hammer velocity, eddy currents and overall electromagnetic properties of the penetrator’s hammer displacement. The high-end values of the applied components were derived on the basis of the results and are presented in the summary of the concluded work. An... [more]

Torrefied empty fruit bunch (EFB) co-firing is a promising technology to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants. However, co-firing can influence the combustion and heat transfer characteristics in a coal boiler. In order to study the feasibility of co-firing application of torrefied EFB (T-EFB) in boilers, the combustion characteristics, gas emissions and heat flux distribution were analyzed, respectively. First, the kinetic parameters of T-EFB devolatilization and char oxidation were obtained by experimental analysis. Second, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was applied to the actual 500 MWe boiler simulation to further evaluate the differences in the co-firing performance parameters (combustion characteristics and emissions) of the T-EFB and the heat transfer characteristics within the boiler. Numerical results show that T-EFB co-firing can improve the ignition characteristics of pulverized coal, reduce the formation of unburned particles. When the blending rat... [more]

The paper presents the study of an anti-lock braking system (ABS) that has been complemented by a fuzzy controller. The fuzzy controller was used to improve the braking performance of the vehicle, particularly in critical situations, for example, when braking a vehicle on wet road. The controller for the ABS was designed in the MATLAB/Simulink program. The designed controller was simulated on a medium-size vehicle model. During testing, three braking systems were simulated on the vehicle model. We compared the performance of a braking system without an ABS, a system with a threshold-based conventional ABS, and a braking system with the proposed ABS with a fuzzy controller. These three braking systems were simulation tested during braking the vehicle on a dry straight road and on a road with combined road adhesion. A maneuverability test was conducted, where the vehicle had to avoid an obstacle while braking. The results of each test are provided at the end of the paper.

The building sector contributes approximately one third of the total energy consumption worldwide. A large part of this energy is used for the heating and cooling of buildings, which can be drastically reduced by use of energy-efficient glazing. In this study, we performed building energy simulations on a prototypical residential building, and compared commercially available static (low-e, solar IR blocking) to newly developed adaptive thermochromic glazing systems for various climate regions. The modeling results show that static energy-efficient glazing is mainly optimized for either hot climates, where low solar heat gain can reduce cooling demands drastically, or cold climates, where low-e properties have a huge influence on heating demands. For intermediate climates, we demonstrate that adaptive thermochromic glazing in combination with a low-e coating is perfectly suited. The newly developed thermochromic glazing can lead to annual energy consumption improvement of up to 22% in c... [more]

Air quality and energy consumption are among the top ten environmental priorities in seaports as stated by the European Sea Ports Organization. Globally, it is estimated that 15% of energy consumption can be attributed to refrigeration and air conditioning systems in fishing activities. There is a real need to understand energy usage in fishery ports to help identify areas of improvements, with a view to optimize energy usage and minimize carbon emissions. In this study, we elaborate on ways in which a simulation capability can be developed at the community level with a fishery port, using a real-world case study seaport in Milford Heaven (Wales, UK). This simulation-based strategy is used to investigate the potential of renewable energy, including local solar farms, to meet the local power demand. This has informed the development of a simulation-based optimization strategy meant to explore how smart energy communities can be formed at the port level by integrating the smart grid with... [more]

Volatility in energy markets has made the purchase of battery electric vehicles (BEV) or hybrid vehicles (HEVs) attractive versus internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). However, the total cost of ownership (TCO) and true environmental effects, are difficult to assess. This study provides a publicly available, user-driven simulation that estimates the consumer and environmental costs for various vehicle purchase options, supporting policymaker, producer, and consumer information requirements. It appears to be the first to provide a publicly available, user interactive simulation that compares two purchase options simultaneously. It is likely that the first paper to simulate the effects of solar recharging of electric vehicles (EV) on both cost-benefit for the consumer and environmental benefit (e.g., carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, non-methane organic gasses, particulate matter, and formaldehyde) simultaneously, demonstrating how, as an example, solar-based charging of BEVs an... [more]

In this study, the performance evaluation of an adsorption chiller (AD) system with three different adsorbents—silica-gel, aluminum fumarate, and FAM-Z01—was conducted to investigate the effects of adsorption isotherms and physical properties on the system’s performance. In addition, the performance evaluation of the AD system for a low inlet hot-water temperature of 60 °C was performed to estimate the performance of the system when operated by low quality waste heat or sustainable energy sources. For the simulation work, a two-bed type AD system is considered, and silica-gel, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and ferro-aluminophosphate (FAPO, FAM-Z01) were employed as adsorbents. The simulation results were well matched with the laboratory-scale experimental results and the maximum coefficient of performance (COP) difference was 7%. The cooling capacity and COP of the AD system were investigated at different operating conditions to discuss the influences of the adsorbents on the system... [more]

Currently, the oil industry deals with the challenge of produced-water proper disposal, and the membrane-separation technology appears as an important tool on the treatment of these waters. In this sense, this work developed a mathematical model for simulating the oil/water separation by a ceramic membrane. The aim was to investigate the thermal aspects of the separation process via computational fluid dynamic, using the Ansys CFX® 15 software (15, Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA). Oil concentration, pressure, and velocity distributions, as well as permeation velocity, are presented and analyzed. It was verified that the mathematical model was capable of accurately representing the studied phenomena and that temperature strongly influences the flow behavior.

This paper aims at the optimal designing of a stand-alone microgrid (PV/wind/battery/diesel) system, which can be utilized to meet the demand load requirements of a small residential area in Kasuga City, Fukuoka. The simulation part is developed to estimate the electrical power generated by each component, taking into account the variation of the weather parameters, such as wind, solar irradiation, and ambient temperature. The optimal system design is then based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method to find the optimal configuration of the proposed system, using the least-cost perspective approach.

In recent decades, many EU and national regulations have been issued in order to increase the energy efficiency in different sectors and, consequently, to reduce environmental pollution. In the building sector, energy efficiency interventions are usually based on the use of innovative insulated materials and on the installation of cogeneration and tri-generation units, as well as solar technologies. New and retrofitted buildings are more and more commonly being called “smart buildings”, since they are characterized by the installation of electric and thermal power generation units, energy storage systems, and flexible loads; the presence of such technologies determines the necessity of installing Building Energy Management Systems (BEMSs), which are used to optimally manage their operation. The present paper proposes a BEMS for a smart building, equipped with plants based on renewables (photovoltaics, solar thermal panels, and geothermal heat pump), where the heating and cooling demand... [more]

This contribution is focused on the fuel economy improvement of the Miller cycle under part-load characteristics on a supercharged DI (Direct Injection) gasoline engine. Firstly, based on the engine bench test, the effects with the Miller cycle application under 3000 rpm were studied. The results show that the Miller cycle has different extents of improvement on pumping loss, combustion and friction loss. For low, medium and high loads, the brake thermal efficiency of the baseline engine is increased by 2.8%, 2.5% and 2.6%, respectively. Besides, the baseline variable valve timing (VVT) is optimized by the test. Subsequently, the 1D CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model of the Miller cycle engine after the test optimization at the working condition of 3000 rpm and BMEP (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) = 10 bar was established, and the influence of the combined change of intake and exhaust valve timing on Miller cycle was studied by simulation. The results show that as the effect of t... [more]

Characterizing the mechanical behavior of rocks plays a crucial role to optimize the fracturing process in unconventional reservoirs. However, due to the intrinsic anisotropy and heterogeneity in unconventional resources, fracture process prediction remains the most significant challenge for sustainable and economic hydrocarbon production. During the deformation tracking under compression, deploying conventional methods (strain gauge, extensometer, etc.) is insufficient to measure the deformation since the physical attachment of the device is restricted to the size of the sample, monitoring limited point-wise deformation, producing difficulties in data retrieval, and a tendency to lose track in failure points, etc. Where conventional methods are limited, the application of digital image correlation (DIC) provides detailed and additional information of strain evolution and fracture patterns under loading. DIC is an image-based optical method that records an object with a camera and moni... [more]

Decarbonization of energy-intensive systems (e.g., heat and power generation, iron, and steel production, petrochemical processes, cement production, etc.) is an important task for the development of a low carbon economy. In this respect, carbon capture technologies will play an important role in the decarbonization of fossil-based industrial processes. The most significant techno-economic and environmental performance indicators of various fossil-based industrial applications decarbonized by two reactive gas-liquid (chemical scrubbing) and gas-solid CO2 capture systems are calculated, compared, and discussed in the present work. As decarbonization technologies, the gas-liquid chemical absorption and more innovative calcium looping systems were employed. The integrated assessment uses various elements, e.g., conceptual design of decarbonized plants, computer-aided tools for process design and integration, evaluation of main plant performance indexes based on industrial and simulation r... [more]

In large-scale arable farming, multiple sequential operations involving multiple machines must be carried out simultaneously due to restrictions of short time windows. However, the coordination and planning of multiple sequential operations is a nontrivial task for farmers, since each operation may have its own set of operational features, e.g., operating width and turning radius. Taking the two sequential operations—hoeing cultivation and seeding—as an example, the seeder has double the width of the hoeing cultivator, and the seeder must remain idle while waiting for the hoeing cultivator to finish two rows before it can commence its seeding operation. A flow-shop working mode can coordinate multiple machines in multiple operations within a field when different operations have different implement widths. To this end, an auto-steering-based collaborative operating system for fleet management (FMCOS) was developed to realize an in-field flow-shop working mode, which is often adopted by... [more]

In the recent era, hydrogen has gained immense consideration as a clean-energy carrier. Its storage is, however, still the main hurdle in the implementation of a hydrogen-based clean economy. Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) are a potential option for hydrogen storage in ambient conditions, and can contribute to the clean-fuel concept in the future. In the present work, a parametric and simulation study was carried out for the storage and release of hydrogen for the methylcyclohexane toluene system. In particular, the methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction is investigated over six potential catalysts for the temperature range of 300−450 °C and a pressure range of 1−3 bar to select the best catalyst under optimum operating conditions. Moreover, the effects of hydrogen addition in the feed mixture, and byproduct yield, are also studied as functions of operating conditions. The best catalyst selected for the process is 1 wt. % Pt/γ-Al2O3. The optimum operating conditions selec... [more]

The performance of ground-coupled heat pump systems (GCHPs) operating under significant groundwater flow can be difficult to predict due to advective heat transfer in the subsurface. This is the case of the Carignan-Salières elementary school located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River near Montréal, Canada. The building is heated and cooled with a GCHP system including 31 boreholes subject to varying groundwater flow conditions due to the proximity of an active quarry being irregularly dewatered. A study with the objective of predicting the borehole temperatures in order to anticipate potential operational problems was conducted, which provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact of groundwater flow. For this purpose, a numerical model was calibrated using a full-scale heat injection test and then run under different scenarios for a period of twenty years. The heat exchange capacity of the GCHP system is clearly enhanced by advection when the Darcy flux changes from 6 × 10−... [more]

A novel thermodynamic cycle for adsorption heat pumps and chillers is presented. It shows a significant improvement of the internal heat recovery between the adsorption and the desorption half cycle. A stratified thermal storage, which allows for a temperature-based extraction and insertion of storage fluid, is hydraulically coupled with a single adsorber. The benefit is an increased efficiency by reusing the released heat of adsorption for regeneration of the adsorber and by rendering possible low driving temperature differences. For investigating the second law of this cycle, a dynamic model is employed. The transient behavior of the system and the respective losses because of driving temperature differences at the heat exchangers and losses due to mixing within the storage and to the surroundings are depicted in this one-dimensional model. The model is suitable both for analyzing this advanced cycle as well as for comparisons with other cycles.

Common kinetic parameters were obtained for leached and non-leached samples of vine wood biomass. Both samples were considered to have different proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin compositions as a result of the leaching process. The two samples were analyzed in terms of pyrolysis kinetic parameters using non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis. Furthermore, the classic Friedman isoconversional method, a deconvolution procedure using the Fraser−Suzuki function, and a modified Friedman method from a previous study on the delay in conversion degree were satisfactorily applied. The observed difference when the deconvolution technique was applied suggests that the classic Friedman method is not adequate for studying the pyrolysis of individual vine wood biomass components. However, this issue was solved by studying the delay in conversion degree of both biomasses and calculating the kinetic parameters using the resulting information. This procedure was found to be useful... [more]

Over the years, numerous investigations have established the gerotor fundamentals. This work aims to provide a complete review of the literature from the last decade, focusing on the articles published in the past five years on gerotor technology in hydraulic machines. The report gives a catalogue of guidelines based on the trochoidal-envelope definition, a background analysis, the worldwide distribution of articles in each continent and country and the most frequently used keywords in the field. The paper identifies state-of-the-art research, and reports on current mainstream ideas. From the historical background, this literature review reports the current approaches in gerotor pumps (geometry and performance approaches, modeling and numerical simulations), orbital motors and new concepts. The report will serve as a guide and a directory for novel engineers working with gerotor technology in hydraulic machines. Another intention of this paper is to disseminate the works of the researc... [more]

Wind turbines installed in cold-climate regions are prone to the risks of ice accumulation which affects their aeroelastic behavior. The studies carried out on this topic so far considered icing in a few sections of the blade, mostly located in the outer part of the blade, and their influence on the loads and power production of the turbine are only analyzed. The knowledge about the influence of icing in different locations of the blade and asymmetrical icing of the blades on loads, power, and vibration behavior of the turbine is still not matured. To improve this knowledge, multiple simulation cases are needed to run with different ice accumulations on the blade considering structural and aerodynamic property changes due to ice. Such simulations can be easily run by automating the ice shape creation on aerofoil sections and two-dimensional (2-D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of those sections. The current work proposes such methodology and it is illustrated on the Nation... [more]

The hydraulic heightening system is the core component of the shearer, and its stable operation directly affects the safety and reliability of the equipment, so it is of great significance to realize an efficient and accurate fault diagnosis. This paper proposes a fault diagnosis method combining a rough set and radial basis function neural network (RS-RBFNN). Firstly, the RS is used to discretize the original fault data set and attribute reduction, remove the redundant information, and mine the implicit knowledge and potential rules. Then, the topology structure of the RBFNN is determined. The mapping relationship is established between the fault symptom and category. The fault diagnosis is carried out with Python language. Finally, the method is compared with two diagnostic methods including a back propagation neural network (BPNN) and RBFNN. The research results show that the RS-RBFNN has the highest fault diagnosis accuracy, with an average of 98.68%, which verifies the effectivene... [more]

One preliminary key step for developing an offshore wind farm is identifying favorable sites. The process of sitting involves multiple requirements and constraints, and therefore, its feasible implementation requires either approximating assumptions or an optimization method that is capable of handling non-linear relationships and heterogeneous factors. A new optimization method is proposed to address this problem that efficiently and accurately combines essential technical criteria, such as wind speed, water depth, and distance from shore, to identify favorable areas for offshore wind farm development through a user-friendly data-driven tool. Appropriate ranks and weighting factors are carefully selected to obtain realistic results. The proposed methodology is applied in the central Aegean Sea, which has a high offshore wind energy potential. The application of the proposed optimization method reveals large areas suitable for developing floating wind energy structures. The algorithm m... [more]

The paper presents the methodology that should be used to optimize hybrid power system configurations, i.e., the chosen microgrid scenario. The methodology was developed with the aim of evaluating the different production capacities of a system and comparing them with alternative connections to the main grid. It has a step-by-step structure and includes part of the steps performed by simulations in a computer program. It provides us with not only a basic but also a representative idea of an actual microgrid configuration, which is further used as support in the system’s design. An algorithm has been developed to check the energy flows and correct the selling price. The program HOMER Pro is used as the program support in performing the hybrid optimization simulation. In the analysis, it was found that the maximum share of generation from renewable energy sources in relation to the power grid is 143%, while the share of renewable energy sources in the generated energy is 65.3%. Greenhous... [more]