Zeotropic mixtures exhibit a temperature glide between the dew and bubble points during condensation. This glide has the potential to increase system efficiency when matched to the thermal sink in power generation, chemical processing, and heating and cooling systems. To understand the coupled heat and mass transfer mechanisms during phase change of high-glide zeotropic mixtures, a comprehensive investigation of the condensation of ammonia and ammonia/water mixtures in small diameter channels was performed. Condensation heat transfer and pressure drop experiments were conducted with ammonia and ammonia/water mixtures. Experiments on ammonia were conducted for varying tube diameters (0.98 < D < 2.16 mm), mass fluxes (75 < G < 225 kg m⁻² s⁻¹) and saturation conditions (30 < Tsat < 60°C). Zeotropic ammonia/water experiments were conducted for multiple tube diameters (0.98 < D < 2.16 mm), mass fluxes (50 < G < 200 kgm⁻² s⁻¹) and bulk ammonia mass fraction (xbulk = 0.8, 0.9, and > 0.96). An experimental methodology and data analysis procedure for evaluating the local condensation heat duty (for incremental ∆q), condensation transfer coefficient (for pure ammonia), apparent heat transfer coefficient (for zeotropic ammonia/water mixtures), and frictional pressure gradient with low uncertainties was developed. A new heat transfer model for condensation of ammonia in mini/microchannels was developed. Using the insights derived from the pure ammonia work, an improved zeotropic condenser design method for high-temperature-glide mixtures in small diameter channels, based on the non-equilibrium film theory, was introduced. The key features of the improved model were the consideration of annular and non-annular flow effects on liquid film transport, including condensate and vapor sensible cooling contributions, and accounting for mini/microchannel effects through the new liquid film correlation. By understanding the behavior of these mixtures in microchannel geometries, highly efficient, compact thermal conversion devices can be developed.

<p>Radiative cooling is an approach that utilizes the material reflectance in solar spectrum to reflect solar irradiation and emit the energy to deep space (2.7K) through the transparent portion in atmosphere (8-13μm). Therefore, radiative cooling is a passive cooling method that can generate a large reduction in energy consumption in the cooling sector. Scientists have been researching on the best solution for passive radiative cooling, including the utilization of multi-layer techniques with a metallic base layer. However, the current solutions are usually not cost effective and thus limited in the commercial applications. We initially started with the experiment on single-layer cooling paints embedded with TiO₂nanoparticles, and we were able to achieve a partial daytime radiative cooling effect of 60Wm^-2 Built upon our lab’s success of full-daytime sub-ambient cooling based on BaSO₄-acrylic paints, we experiment with colored cooling paints based on BaSO₄ nanoparticles instead of TiO₂ nanoparticles. Our results show much enhanced solar reflectance while matching the color, indicating the potential for colored cooling paints, although outdoor tests have not shown significant temperature drop compared to commercial colored paints yet. At the same time, we also explore creatures with shells in nature for possible solutions. Seashells are collected and the microstructures and radiative properties are characterized. The results provide insights into bio-inspired radiative cooling solutions.</p>

A simplified model is developed to predict the heat and mass transfer between air and fallingilm liquid desiccant during dehumidification in a parallel-plate absorber. Compared to the second-order partial differential equations that describe fluid motion, first-order, non-coupled, ordinary differential equations are used to estimate the heat and mass transferred and explicit equations are derived from conservation principles to determine the exiting conditions of the absorber for different flow arrangements. The model uses a control volume approach that accounts for the change in desiccant film thickness and property values. The model agreed with a more complicated parallel flow model in literature. Using existing experimental data for a counterflow arrangement the model was validated over the range of input variables at the level of 8% for varying inlet desiccant flow rates and 10% for varying inlet air mass flow rates when an experimentally determined mass transfer coefficient was used in the model.

Abstract Reformer, the most important link of fuel cell, is the main set to create the hydrogen. After the fuel passes through the catalytic reaction by reformer, will produce hydrogen and chemical substances, the hydrogen will become the energy to support fuel cell. At the present day, the technology of PEM fuel cell and traditional fuel reformer has already existed, only need to reduce the volume, cost and to promote the efficiency. Catalytic layer, with the construction of microchannel, makes the adequate impact to gas and catalyst to promote the efficiency. This research uses the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) to simulate the fluid field and heat-mass transfer of microchannel, to discuss the function influence to the different parameter such as velocity, temperature, channel length, and channel height. The result displays, with the same inlet speed and temperature, by the increasing of the channel length, the amount of hydrogen will raise and residual methanol will reduce. When the channel length is more than 500£gm, the produce rate of hydrogen will not be a big change. If fix the channel length at 500£gm, under the different inlet temperature, while the maximum concentration at inlet, the speed of hydrogen at inlet is not the same. The best inlet speed will increase with the higher temperature. When fix the channel length at 500£gm, raising the altitude to 500£gm, the hydrogen product will not increase, on the contrary, it¡¦ll go down. Keywords¡GFuel cell reformer¡BMicorchannel of hat and mass transfer¡BNumerical simulations

Research is performed to assess the potential of surface moisture evaporative cooling from composite plates as a means of reducing the external temperature of military aircraft. To assess the feasibility of evaporative cooling for this application, a simplified theoretical model of the phenomenon is formulated. The model consists of a flat composite plate at an initial uniform temperature, T0. The plate also possesses an initial moisture (molecular water) content, M0. The plate is oriented vertically and at t=0 s, one surface is exposed to a free stream of air at an elevated temperature. The other surface is exposed to stagnant air at the same temperature as the plate’s initial temperature. The equations associated with energy and mass transport for the model are developed from the conservation laws per the continuum mechanics hypothesis. Constitutive equations and assumptions are introduced to express the two nonlinear partial differential equations in terms of the temperature, T, and the partial density of molecular water, &#961;w. These equations are approximated using a weak form Galerkin finite element formulation and the &#945;–family of time approximation. An algorithm and accompanying computer program written in the Matlab programming language are presented for solving the nonlinear algebraic equations at successive time steps. The Matlab program is used to generate results for plates possessing a variety of initial moisture concentrations, M0, and diffusion coefficients, D. Surface temperature profiles, over time, of moisture bearing specimens are compared with the temperature profiles of dry composite plates. It is evident from the results that M0 and D affect the surface temperature of a moist plate. Surface temperature profiles are shown to decrease with increasing M0 and/or D. In particular, dry and moist specimens are shown to differ in final temperatures by as much as 30°C over a 900 s interval when M0 = 30% and D is on the order of 10–8m2/s (T0 = 25°C, h = 60 W/m2°C, T&#8734; = 90°C).

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Garimella, Srinivas; Committee Member: Fuller, Tom; Committee Member: Jeter, Sheldon; Committee Member: Lieuwen, Tim; Committee Member: Wepfer, William. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

The mass and thermal transport in porous media play an important role in many engineering and geological processes. The hydrodynamic and thermal effects are two interesting aspects arising in the research of porous media. This thesis is concerned with numerical investigations of double-diffusive natural convective heat and mass transfer in saturated porous cavities with Soret and Dufour effects. An in-house FORTRAN code, named ALFARHANY, was developed for this study. The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer (generalized) model with the Boussinesq approximation is used to solve the governing equations. In general, for high porosity (more than 0.6), Darcy law is not valid and the effects of inertia and viscosity force should be taken into account. Therefore, the generalized model is extremely suitable in describing all kinds of fluid flow in a porous medium. The numerical model adopted is based on the finite volume approach and the pressure velocity coupling is treated using the SIMPLE/SIMPLER algorithm as well as the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method was employed to solve the energy and species equations. Firstly, the model validation is accomplished through a comparison of the numerical solution with the reliable experimental, analytical/computational studies available in the literature. Additionally, transient conjugate natural convective heat transfer in two-dimensional porous square domain with finite wall thickness is investigated numerically. After that the effect of variable thermal conductivity and porosity investigated numerically for steady conjugate double-diffusive natural convective heat and mass transfer in two-dimensional variable porosity layer sandwiched between two walls. Then the work is extended to include the geometric effects. The results presented for two different studies (square and rectangular cavities) with the effect of inclination angle. Finally, the work is extended to include the Soret and Dufour effects on double-diffusive natural convection heat and mass transfer in a square porous cavity. In general, the results are presented over wide range of non-dimensional parameters including: the modified Rayleigh number (100 ≤ Ra* ≤ 1000), the Darcy number (10-6 ≤ Da ≤ 10-2), the Lewis number (0.1 ≤ Le ≤ 20), the buoyancy ratio (-5 ≤ N ≤ 5), the thermal conductivity ratio (0.1 ≤ Kr ≤ 10), the ratio of wall thickness to its height (0.1 ≤ D ≤ 0.4), the Soret parameter (-5 ≤ Sr ≤ 5), and the Dufour parameter (-2 ≤ Df ≤ 2).

Casting is a substantial part of modern manufacturing and production, typically used in the production of aluminum alloys. The high pressure die casting process is extremely suitable for mass production. Due to the high volume, wasted time and resources during the production cycle become more significant. Aluminum die castings require the die to be at elevated temperatures to produce acceptable castings. When the inner surfaces of a die are cold, the outer shell of the casting will cool too rapidly, and solidification of the outer shell occurs before the aluminum has time to uniformly fill the cavities. Therefore, without the die being within the proper temperature range, the castings produced will have significant issues in porosity and casting incompleteness. Furthermore, stresses are introduced to the casting surfaces when warm-up shots are used to raise the temperature prior to production. In the present work, research is conducted on designing a heating method for a casting die used in the manufacturing of an automotive transmission intermediate plate. An electric, short wave infrared heating system is simple and effective for the purpose. By utilizing an electric infrared heater in combination with a flat mirror reflector, the aluminum high pressure die casting die was heated to 300 ◦C surface temperature within 30 minutes. Further research can be done to optimize heat flux distribution and minimize energy consumption.

Flow accelerated corrosion is a piping degradation mechanism that results in pipe wall thinning due to the dissolution of the magnetite oxide layer on carbon steel surfaces to the bulk flow. The rate limiting process of flow accelerated corrosion in piping system is the diffusion-controlled mass transfer. The surface roughness develops due to the mass transfer and can subsequently have a significant effect on the mass transfer. The naturally developing surface roughness in many dissolving surfaces, including carbon steel pipes, is a densely packed array of saucer shaped depression called scallops, which can have several length scales. Heretofore, the developing roughness on soluble walls has not been quantified, mainly due to the lack of a reliable measurement methodology. The overall objective of this research is to investigate the developing roughness and the corresponding mass transfer on soluble walls in different piping geometries. A wall dissolving method using gypsum test sections dissolving to water in a closed flow loop was used to mimic the mass transfer in carbon steel pipes due to a similar Schmidt number of 1200. A novel non-destructive measurement technique using X-ray CT scans was developed to measure the development of surface roughness and the corresponding mass transfer. The method was validated by performing experiments using straight pipe test sections and comparing against traditional measurements method using ultrasonic sensors, coordinate measurement machine and laser scans. The time evolution of surface roughness and the corresponding mass transfer were measured in pipe test sections at Reynolds number of 50,000, 100,000 and 200,000. The roughness scallops were observed to initiate locally and then develop until the surface is spatially saturated. The surface roughness was characterized by the RMS height, peak-to-valley height, integral length scale, density and spacing of the scallops. Two time periods of roughness development were identified: an initial period of slower growth in the roughness height followed by a relatively higher growth rate that corresponded to the period before and after the surface saturates with the scallops. The mass transfer enhancement due to the roughness in each of these time periods was also found to be different, with a higher increase in the first period followed by a slower increase once the streamwise spacing was approximately constant. Both the height and spacing of the roughness elements was found to affect the mass transfer enhancement. A new correlation is proposed for the mass transfer enhancement as a function of the height-to-spacing ratio of roughness, with a weak dependence on Reynolds number. The measurement methodology was extended to study the mass transfer and developing roughness in a complex S-shaped back to back bend at Reynolds number of 200,000. The mass transfer in bend geometry can be enhanced by both the local flow due to the geometry effect and the developing roughness. Two high mass transfer regions were identified: at the intrados of the first and second bends. The height-to-spacing ratio of the roughness was found to increase more rapidly in these high mass transfer regions. An additional one-time experiment was performed at a Reynolds number of 300,000. A higher surface roughness with smaller values of spacing-to-height ratio was found in the regions with high mass transfer. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)