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The main goal of this thesis project is to identify interesting concepts related to cooling of electrical motors and generators which could be evaluated using suitable computer simulation tools. As the project proceeded it was decided to focus on investigating how the air from a fan flows along the finned frame of a general purpose low voltage electrical machine, how the heat is transferred between the frame and the cooling air and what the temperature distribution looks like. It was also investigated if it is possible to make improvements in the effectiveness of the cooling without adding additional coolers. This investigation focused on varying the fin design and evaluating the resulting temperature distribution. Due to the complex nature of the simulations a segment, and not the full frame, was considered. Simulation model validation was performed through comparing air speed measurements that were performed on two different machines with the corresponding simulated air speed. The validation showed that good agreement between simulated and measured air speeds are obtained. The conclusion from the simulations is that slight modifications to the current fin design could increase the cooling effect of the finned surface. The air velocity measurements also indicate that the cooling of the machines surface could potentially be improved by small changes in the exterior of the frame. / Målet med detta examensarbete var att identifiera intressanta koncept relaterade till kylning av elektriska maskiner och generatorer, som kunde utvärderas med lämplig programvara för datorsimuleringar. Under projektets gång så bestämdes det att fokusera på hur luften från en fläkt flödar längs med en generell lågspänningsmaskin, hur värmen överförs från ramen till den omgivande luften och hur temperaturfördelningen ser ut. Det undersöktes även om det var möjligt att förbättra effektiviteten av kylningen utan att ansluta extra kylanordningar. Undersökningarna fokuserades på olika fendesigner och dess påverkan på värmefördelningen. På grund av simuleringarnas komplexitet så har simuleringarna endast utförts på ett segment istället för hela maskinen. Validering av simuleringarna utfördes genom att jämföra de simulerade lufthastigheterna med verklig lufthastighet som mättes på två maskiner i testmiljö. Valideringen visade att simuleringarna överensstämmer väl med de mätningar som utfördes. Slutsatsen utifrån simuleringarna är att mindre förändringar av fenornas nuvarande design kan förbättra fenornas kylningsförmåga. Mätningarna av lufthastigheten ger även indikationer på att kylningen av maskinens utsida eventuellt kan förbättras genom små förändringar av ramens exteriör.

Bubble nucleation at subcooled flow boiling condition in a horizontal annular channel with a square cross section by the use of high-speed camera is investigated. The channel represents a scaled-down version of a single rod of CANDU reactor core. The experiments were performed by the use of water at pressures between 1-3 atm, constant heat flux of 0.124 MW/m2, liquid bulk subcooling of 32-1oC and mean flow velocities of 0.3-0.4 m/s. Bubble lift-off diameters were obtained from direct high speed videography. The developed model for the bubble lift-off diameter was obtained by analyzing the forces acting on a bubble. Furthermore, a model for the bubble growth rate constant was suggested. The proposed model was then compared to experimental data and it has shown a good agreement with the experimental data. Additionally, the effects of liquid bulk subcooling, liquid pressure and mean flow velocity on bubble lift-off diameter were investigated.

The use of sunlight has always been a major goal in the design and operation of commercial buildings to minimize electrical consumption of artificial lighting systems. Glazing systems designed to allow optimal visible light transmission also allow significant unwanted direct solar heat gain caused by infrared light. Conversely, glazing systems that are designed to reflect unwanted direct solar heat gain significantly reduce the transmittance of visible light through windows. The goal of this research was to characterize the performance of water as gap-fill for double-glazing units in eliminating the compromises that exist in current glazing systems with respect to light and heat transmittance. An in situ test approach and computer simulations were conducted to measure the performance of water-filled glazing units against air-filled glazing units. The thermal transmittance and solar heat gain coefficient values obtained from both the field experiments and computer simulations, glazing units with air-fill proved better than the glazing units with non-flowing water-fill. However, the high convective coefficient and the high thermal mass of the water can be used to its advantage when it is allowed to flow at peak temperatures, thus, maintaining lower temperature swings indoor. This can lead to a reduction of about 50-70% direct solar heat and still maintain high visibility.

According to IPCC reports, the greenhouse gas CO2 is responsible for global climate change. Studies show that CO2 concentration reached a level of 400 ppm in 2013, or 40 % above pre-industrial levels. The contribution of CO2 from industrial activity to increasing global CO2 concentrations is widely accepted and points to the need to reduce the emission of this greenhouse gas.One possible combustion technology that shows promise for reducing CO2 emissions is chemical looping combustion (CLC). It is an oxy-fuel technology, but has the advantages of in situ oxygen separation, low NOx emissions and low cost of CO2 emission abatement; it entails the use of an oxygen carrier (OC) to provide oxygen for combusting fuels. OC development is an important task in CLC. Iron based OCs have attracted most research attention in recent years, mainly due to their inexpensive and non-toxic nature. Bi-metal oxide OCs usually impart better CLC performance than mono-metal oxide OCs, one example of which is the introduction of CeO2 as a partially reducible material capable of generating oxygen vacancies that lead to oxygen storage and transfer. In this study, CeO2 was used as an additive to a Fe2O3-based OC and its effect on physical properties, such as morphology, surface area and mechanical strength, was analyzed in detail. The reactivity of OCs is studied using TGA-MS and a bench scale CLC setup. The results show that the reduction reaction at the surface is independent of whether CeO2 is present or not, but after the surface oxygen had been consumed, the OC with CeO2 provided faster oxygen transfer rates from the bulk to the surface to produce better average reaction rates. The OCs after reduction and oxidation were analyzed using XRD and Raman spectroscopy; based on these analytical data, a model for the promoting role of CeO2 is discussed. Furthermore, the reaction kinetics of the OCs were also studied using shrinking core model, the kinetics parameters were obtained and compared. Scale-up of laboratory-scale CLC reactors is another important task necessary to develop an understanding of the potential and efficiencies of CLC. In this study, scaling laws were used as a guide to design and then build two different-sized CLC reactors. Testing of the reactors involved a focus on chemical similarities. Comparisons of the performance of both reactors showed good consistency, thereby validating the scale modeling method and the scale laws for CLC reactors.

In the past decades, a great variety of model fitting and model free (isoconversional) methods have been developed for extracting kinetic parameters for solid state reactions from thermally stimulated experimental data (TGA, DSC, DTA etc.). However, these methods have met with significant controversies about their methodologies. Firstly, model-fitting methods have been strongly criticized because almost any reaction mechanism can be used to fit the experimental data satisfactorily with drastic variations of the kinetic parameters, and no good criterion exists to tell which mechanism is the best choice. Secondly, previous model free methods originated from the isoconversional principle, which is often called the basic assumption; previous studies comparing the accuracy of model free methods have not paid attention to the influence of the principle on model free methods and, therefore, their conclusions are problematic. This work gives, firstly, a critical study of previous methods for evaluating kinetic parameters of solid state reactions and a critical analysis of the isoconversional principle of model free methods. Then an analysis is given of the invariant kinetic parameters method and recommends an incremental version of it. Based on the incremental method and model free method, a comprehensive method is proposed that predicts the degree of the dependences of activation energy on heating programs, and obtains reliable kinetic parameters. In addition, this work also compares the accuracy of previous methods and gives recommendations to apply them to kinetic studies.

A challenge for fire researchers is obtaining data from those fires that are most dangerous and costly. While it is feasible to instrument test beds, test plots, and small prescribed burns for research, it is uncommon to successfully instrument an active wildland fire. With a focus on very specific facets of wildland fire, researchers have created many unique models utilizing matchsticks, cardboard, liquid fuel, excelsior, plywood, live fuels, dead fuels, and wood cribs of different packing densities. Such scale models, however, only serve as valid substitutes for the full-scale system when all functional relations of the scale model are made similar to corresponding relations of the original phenomena. The field of study of large wildland fires therefore was in need of a framework that researchers could use to relate the results from many previous experiments to full-scale wildland fires; this framework was developed during the research for this dissertation. This further work developing laws for instability scaling in wildland settings was founded on the established work in dynamic similitude of G.I. Taylor, H. C. Hottel, F. A. Williams, R. I. Emori, K. Saito and Y. Iguchi. Additionally, in this work, a new dynamic flame parameter was incorporated into the scaling laws for fires that had not previously been assessed and proved to provide additional, important insight into flame spread. The new dynamic parameter enabled improved St-Fr correlations and was established for a wide range of fire sizes and fuel types.

Two-phase heat transfer in mini/micro-channels is capable of meeting the high cooling demands of modern high heat flux applications. The phase change process ensures better temperature uniformity and control for local hot spots. Furthermore, these compact channels could be helpful in reducing the required charge and material inventories.Environmental concerns—mainly ozone depletion and global warming—have instigated a search for new alternatives in refrigeration industry. While new compounds are being developed to address stringent legislative demands, natural alternatives are also coming into prominence. A limited number of investigators have reported on thermal performance of such alternatives. The current study is therefore focused on saturated flow boiling heat transfer, pressure drop and dryout characteristics for three low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants (R152a, R600a and R1234yf) in a vertical mini-channel.In this study experiments were carried out by uniformly heating a test section (stainless steel tube with 1.60 mm inside diameter and 245 mm heated length) at 27 and 32 oC saturation temperature with 50-500 kg/m2s mass velocities. The effects of various parameters of interest (like heat flux, mass flux, system pressure, vapor quality, operating media) on flow boiling heat transfer, frictional pressure drop and dryout characteristics were recorded. R134a, which has been widely used in several applications, is utilized as a reference case for comparison of thermal performance in this study.Experimental results for saturated boiling heat transfer showed strong influence of heat flux and system pressure with insignificant contributions from mass flux and vapor quality. Two phase frictional pressure drop increased with mass flux, vapor quality and with reduced operating pressure. The dryout heat flux remained unaffected with variation in saturation temperature, critical vapor quality in most cases was about 85%. The experimental results (boiling heat transfer, two-phase pressure drop and dryout heat flux) were compared with well-known macro and micro-scale correlations from the literature. / <p>QC 20141124</p>

The present study is the first investigation of falling-film evaporation over horizontal rectangular tubes. This geometry is representative of the external profile of microchannel tubes. Incorporating these designs into shell-and-tube heat exchangers has the potential to provide compact, high-performance components for a wide range of applications. This fluid flow was investigated experimentally, targeting three areas: measurements of heat transfer coefficients, quantification of flow characteristics, and the performance of flow distributors. Falling-film evaporation experiments were conducted using water on a rectangular test section with dimensions of 203 × 1.42 × 27.4 mm (length × width × height), measuring heat transfer coefficients over a range of saturation temperatures, test section spacings, heat fluxes, and film Reynolds numbers. This was supported by a flow visualization study that quantified droplet and wave parameters using image analysis of high speed videos. Finally, the performance of eight liquid distributors, which are used to establish falling-film flows, was quantified and the size of the generated droplets and jets was measured. Three models were developed to predict the flow regime, wetted tube area, and heat transfer coefficient. The flow regime model is based on a thermodynamic analysis, while the wetted tube area is found with a hydrodynamic model based on idealized flow assumptions. Finally, the heat transfer model relies on a relationship with the classic Nusselt (1916) film theory. Each of these models demonstrated good agreement with the experimental data, as well as trends in the literature. The increased understanding of falling-film evaporation gained in this study will enable the accurate design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with microchannel tubes.