In order to gain a knowledge of the heat emitted from a variety of sources at the blind heading of an underground gold mine, the present study conducts an in situ measurement study in a blind heading within the load haul dumps (LHDs) that are operating. The measurements can provide a reliable data basis for the setting of numerical simulations. The results demonstrate that the distances between the forcing outlet and the mining face (denoted as Zm), as well as the heat generation from LHDs (denoted as QL), has brought significant impacts on the airflow velocity, relative humidity, and temperature distributions in the blind heading. Setting Zm to 5 m could achieve a relative optimal cooling performance, also indicating that when the LHD is fully operating in the mining face, employing the pure forcing system has a limited effect on the temperature decrease of the blind heading. According to the numerical simulations, a better cooling performance can be achieved based on the near-forcing... [more]

Although corporate capability has been recognized as a key factor affecting corporate acquisition performance, the role of R&D capability in acquisition performance has not been fully explained. The aim of this paper was to research the impact of internal R&D on acquisition performance according to a sample of 215 acquisitions of Chinese listed pharmaceutical companies from 2012 to 2016. First, it was found that R&D has a significant negative effect on acquisition performance. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the acquisition motive and the ownership of the acquiring firm have a moderating effect on the relationship between R&D and acquisition performance. Compared to non-technical acquisitions, the negative effect of internal R&D on acquisition performance was reduced for technical acquisitions. Compared with non-state-owned-enterprise acquisition, the negative effect of internal R&D on the acquisition performance of state-owned enterprises was weakened. Our study enriches the resear... [more]

In indirect inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the prediction of gas pressures and mass flow rates in the hohlraum is critical for fielding the hohlraum film and the support tent. To this end, it is desirable to understand the gas filling and evacuation process through the microcapillary fill tube and the support tent. In this work, a unified flow simulation of the filling and evacuation processes through the microcapillary fill tube and the support tent in an ICF hohlraum was conducted to study the gas pressure and mass flow rate in the hohlraum. The effects of the support tent size and the microcapillary fill tube size on the critical pressure variation and pressure difference across the hole on the support tent are examined. The results indicate that an increase in the diameter of the hole and the hole number leads to a smaller pressure difference across the hole on the support tent. If the diameter of the hole on the support tent is larger than 0.06 mm, the critical pressure variat... [more]

The boundary-layer equations for mass and heat energy transfer with entropy generation are analyzed for the two-dimensional viscoelastic second-grade nanofluid thin film flow in the presence of a uniform magnetic field (MHD) over a vertical stretching sheet. Different factors, such as the thermophoresis effect, Brownian motion, and concentration gradients, are considered in the nanofluid model. The basic time-dependent equations of the nanofluid flow are modeled and transformed to the ordinary differential equations system by using similarity variables. Then the reduced system of equations is treated with the Homotopy Analysis Method to achieve the desire goal. The convergence of the method is prescribed by a numerical survey. The results obtained are more efficient than the available results for the boundary-layer equations, which is the beauty of the Homotopy Analysis Method, and shows the consistency, reliability, and accuracy of our obtained results. The effects of various paramete... [more]

This Special Issue on “Membrane Materials, Performance and Processes” of Processes provides a collection of interdisciplinary work representative of the current development in the fields ofmembrane science and technology [...]

Capillary imbibition in unsaturated rocks is important for the exploitation of tight reservoirs, such as oil and gas reservoirs. However, the physical properties of natural rocks tend to be relatively uneven, mainly in the heterogeneity of material composition and pore space. Reservoir heterogeneity is an important factor affecting the exploitation of oil fields and other reservoirs, which can be evaluated by the pore structure tortuosity fractal dimension DT of rock. The greater the value of DT, the stronger the heterogeneity of sandstone. Two types of sandstone with high and low permeability were selected to study the effect of heterogeneity on the imbibition behavior by using high-resolution X-ray imaging and neutron radiography. Quantitative results of the wetting front position for each specimen were extracted from the neutron images. The wetting front advanced linearly with the power index of time t1/(2DT). Different values of DT were selected to estimate and discuss the effect o... [more]

The thermal behavior of a canned motor also depends on the losses and the cooling capability, and these losses cause an increase in the temperature of the stator winding. This paper focuses on the modeling and simulation of the thermal fields of the large canned induction motor by different calculation methods of water friction loss. The values of water friction losses are set as heat sources in the corresponding clearance of water at different positions along the duct and are calculated by the analytical method, loss separation test method, and by assuming the values that may be larger than the experimental results and at zero. Based on Finite volume method (FVM), 3D turbulent flow and heat transfer equations of the canned motor are solve numerically to obtain the temperature distributions of different parts of the motor. The analysis results of water friction loss are compared with the measurements, obtained from the total losses using the loss separation method. The results show tha... [more]

The fluid flows through both the fractures and pores in deep-seated rock masses, which is of special importance for the performance of underground facilities such as groundwater use and nuclear waste disposal [...]

With the continuous increment of photovoltaic (PV) energy connection into a power grid, the accuracy of control parameters of PV power generation systems becomes the key to the stable operation of the power grid. At present, parameter identification based on an intelligent algorithm is a common means to obtain control parameters. However, most of the data used for identification are simulation data and the identified parameters are difficult to use in practical engineering. Therefore, aiming at the acquisition of low voltage ride through (LVRT) control parameters of PV unit, a method of identification of LVRT parameters of the PV unit is proposed, which combines sensitivity analysis with field measurement. In this paper, the test scheme of the required data is put forward through sensitivity analysis of the identified parameters, and the intelligent algorithm is used to identify the low voltage traverse parameters of the data. Finally, the optimal value is extracted from the identifica... [more]

An innovative computationally efficient method for the simultaneous determination of top dead centre (TDC) offset and pressure offset is presented. It is based on characteristic deviations of the rate of heat release (ROHR) that are specific for both offsets in compression phase and expansion phase after the end of combustion. These characteristic deviations of the ROHR are derived from first principles and they were also confirmed through manual shifts of the pressure trace. The ROHR is calculated based on the first law of thermodynamics using an in-cylinder pressure trace, engine geometrical parameters and operating point specific parameters. The method can be applied in off-line analyses using an averaged pressure trace or in on-line analyses using a single pressure trace. In both application areas the method simultaneously determines the TDC position and the pressure offset within a single processing of the pressure trace, whereas a second refinement step can be performed for obtai... [more]

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are one of the most widespread forms of geothermal energy technology. They utilise the near-constant temperature of the ground below the frost line to achieve energy-efficiencies two or three times that of conventional air-conditioners, consequently allowing a significant offset in electricity demand for space heating and cooling. Relatively mature GSHP markets are established in Europe and North America. GSHP implementation in Australia, however, is limited, due to high capital price, uncertainties regarding optimum designs for the Australian climate, and limited consumer confidence in the technology. Existing GSHP design standards developed in the Northern Hemisphere are likely to lead to suboptimal performance in Australia where demand might be much more cooling-dominated. There is an urgent need to develop Australia’s own GSHP system optimisation principles on top of the industry standards to provide confidence to bring the GSHP market out of its in... [more]

Partial shading (PS) is an unavoidable condition which significantly reduces the efficiency and stability of a photovoltaic (PV) system. With PS, the system usually exhibits multiple-peak output power characteristics, but single-peak is also possible under special PS conditions. In fact it is shown that the partial shading condition (PSC) is the necessary but not sufficient condition for multiple-peak. Based on circuit analysis, this paper shows that the number of peak points can be determined by short-circuit currents and maximum-power point currents of all the arrays in series. Then the principle is established based on which the number of the peak points is to be determined. Furthermore, based on the dynamic characteristic of solar array, this paper establishes the rule for determination of the relative position of the global maximum power point (GMPP). In order to track the GMPP within an appropriate period, a reliable technique and the corresponding computer algorithm are develope... [more]

The editors of Energies would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2016.[...]

Waveform distortions are an important issue in distribution systems. In particular, the assessment of very wide spectra, that include also components in the 2⁻150 kHz range, has recently become an issue of great interest. This is due to the increasing presence of high-spectral emission devices like end-user devices and distributed generation systems. This study proposed a new sliding-window wavelet-modified estimation of signal parameters by rotational invariance technique (ESPRIT) method, particularly suitable for the spectral analysis of waveforms that have very wide spectra. The method is very accurate and requires reduced computational effort. It can be applied successfully to detect spectral components in the range of 0⁻150 kHz introduced both by distributed power plants, such as wind and photovoltaic generation systems, and by end-user equipment connected to grids through static converters, such as fluorescent lamps.

The cost and power consumption of DC power amplifiers are much greater than that of AC power converters. Compared to a motorized spindle supported with DC magnetic bearings, a motorized spindle supported with AC magnetic bearings is inexpensive and more efficient. This paper studies a five-degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) motorized spindle supported with AC hybrid magnetic bearings (HMBs). Most models of suspension forces, except a “switching model”, are quite accurate, but only in a particular operating area and not in regional coverage. If a “switching model” is applied to a 5-DOF motorized spindle, the real-time performance of the control system can be significantly decreased due to the large amount of data processing for both displacement and current. In order to solve this defect, experiments based on the “switching model” are performed, and the resulting data are analyzed. Using the data analysis results, a “full prediction model” based on the operating state is proposed to improve rea... [more]

Ice flashover threatens the security and reliability of power transmission. However, the ice flashover mechanism of insulators remains poorly understood. This study analyses water droplet freezing and ion distribution in ice layer under alternating electric field. It also investigates ion migration during icing process of insulator string under alternating electric field and its effects on insulator flashover. Results showed that the average freezing time of water droplets was related to electric field strength. The extent of ion migration during freezing decreased with increasing electric field strength. The maximal melting water conductivity of the ice layer and icicle of the insulator formed under energized condition was higher than the corresponding freezing water conductivity but lower than that under non-energized condition. Furthermore, the hanging location of each insulator significantly affected the melting water conductivity of the ice layer. The surface conductivity of the i... [more]

The energy performance and radial force of a mixed flow pump with symmetrical and unsymmetrical tip clearance are investigated in this paper. As the tip clearance increases, the pump head and efficiency both decrease. The center of the radial force on the principal axis is located at the coordinate origin when the tip clearance is symmetrical, and moves to the third quadrant when the tip clearance is unsymmetrical. Analysis results show that the total radial force on the principal axis is closely related to the fluctuation of mass flow rate in each single flow channel. Unsteady simulations show that the dominant frequencies of radial force on the hub and blade correspond to the blade number, vane number, or double blade number because of the rotor stator interaction. The radial force on the blade pressure side decreases with the tip clearance increase because of leakage flow. The unsymmetrical tip clearances in an impeller induce uneven leakage flow rate and then result in unsymmetrica... [more]

This paper proposes and implements the concept of wireless DC motor drives, which can achieve the abilities of selective driving and controllable speed. Due to different resonant frequencies of the multiple energy receivers of the associated DC motor drives, the transmitter can be purposely tuned to the specified resonant frequency which matches with the specified receiver, hence driving the specified motor selectively. In the meantime, the burst fire control is used to regulate the operating speed of the motor working at the resonant frequency, hence retaining the maximum power transmission efficiency. Both finite element analysis and experimentation are given to verify the validity of the proposed wireless DC motor drive system. For exemplification, three different resonant frequencies, namely 60 kHz, 100 kHz and 140 kHz, are selected to energize three DC motors. Under the burst fire control method, the speed of each motor can be regulated separately and the wireless power transfer (... [more]

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study on the effects of an acoustic field induced by Hartmann Resonance Tube (HRT) on droplet deformation behavior. The characteristics of the acoustic field generated by HRT are investigated. Results show that the acoustic frequency decreases with the increase of the resonator length, the sound pressure level (SPL) increases with the increase of nozzle pressure ratio (NPR), and it is also noted that increasing resonator length can cause SPL to decrease, which has rarely been reported in published literature. Further theoretical analysis reveals that the resonance frequency of a droplet has several modes, and when the acoustic frequency equals the droplet’s frequency, heightened droplet responses are observed with the maximum amplitude of the shape oscillation. The experimental results for different resonator cavity lengths, nozzle pressure ratios and droplet diameters confirm the non-linear nature of this problem, and this conclusion... [more]

Wireless power transfer using a magnetic field through inductive coupling is steadily entering the market in a broad range of applications. However, for certain applications, capacitive wireless power transfer using electric coupling might be preferable. In order to obtain a maximum power transfer efficiency, an optimal compensation network must be designed at the input and output ports of the capacitive wireless link. In this work, the conjugate image theory is applied to determine this optimal network as a function of the characteristics of the capacitive wireless link, as well for the series as for the parallel topology. The results are compared with the inductive power transfer system. Introduction of a new concept, the coupling function, enables the description of the compensation network of both an inductive and a capacitive system in two elegant equations, valid for the series and the parallel topology. This approach allows better understanding of the fundamentals of the wireles... [more]

In order to explore the catastrophic evolution process for karst cave water inrush in large buried depth and high water pressure tunnels, a model test system was developed, and a similar fluid−solid coupled material was found. A model of the catastrophic evolution of water inrush was developed based on the Xiema Tunnel, and the experimental section was simulated using the finite element method. By analyzing the interaction between groundwater and the surrounding rocks during tunnel excavation, the law of occurrence of water inrush disaster was summarized. The water inrush process of a karst cave containing high-pressure water was divided into three stages: the production of a water flowing fracture, the expansion of the water flowing fracture, and the connection of the water flowing fracture. The main cause of water inrush in karst caves is the penetration and weakening of high-pressure water on the surrounding rock. This effect is becoming more and more obvious as tunnel excavation pr... [more]

The traditional effective variance weighted least squares algorithms for solving CMB (Chemical Mass Balance) models have the following drawbacks: When there is collinearity among the sources or the number of species is less than the number of sources, then some negative value of contribution will appear in the results of the source apportionment or the algorithm does not converge to calculation. In this paper, a novel robust algorithm based on enhanced sampling Monte Carlo simulation and effective variance weighted least squares (ESMC-CMB) is proposed, which overcomes the above weaknesses. In the following practical instances for source apportionment, when nine species and nine sources, with no collinearity among them, are selected, EPA-CMB8.2 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-CMB8.2), NKCMB1.0 (NanKai University, China-CMB1.0) and ESMC-CMB can obtain similar results. When the source raise dust is added to the source profiles, or nine sources and eight species are selected, EPA-CMB... [more]

Traditional industries span multiple sectors, such as coal, iron and steel, textile, machinery, chemical engineering, shipbuilding, and construction materials [...]

A microwave irradiation probe was newly developed for downsizing microwave applicators and the overall microwave heating apparatus. The key component of the proposed probe is a tapered section composed of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and alumina. Insertion of the tapered section between the input port and the applicator vessel realizes impedance matching to the microwave power source and reduces the reflected power from the applicator. The proposed microwave probe for a cylindrical applicator was designed using 3D electromagnetic simulations. The permittivity data of two liquid samples—ultrapure water and 2 M NaOH solution—were measured and taken into simulations. The conductivity of the NaOH solution was estimated from the measurement results. The measured reflection ratio of the fabricated applicator was in good accordance with the simulated one. The frequency ranges in which the measured reflection ratio was less than 10% were from 1.45 GHz to 2.7 GHz when using water and from 1.6... [more]

Air-core-liquid-ring (ACLR) atomizers present a specific type of internal mixing pneumatic atomizers, which can be used for efficient atomization of high viscous liquids. Generally, atomization efficiency is considered as a correlation between energy input and resulting droplet size. In pneumatic atomization, air-to-liquid ratio by mass (ALR) is commonly used as reference parameter of energy input. However, the pressure energy of the atomization gas is not considered in the calculation of ALR. In internal mixing ACLR atomizers, it can be assumed that this energy contributes to liquid disintegration by expansion of the gas core after exiting the atomizer. This leads to the hypothesis that droplet sizes decrease with increasing gas pressure at constant ALR. Therefore, the use of volumetric energy density (EV) as a reference parameter of energy input was investigated at different gas pressures between 0.4 and 0.8 MPa. Furthermore, scale up-related influences on the atomization efficiency... [more]