Increasing energy demands and environmental problems require innovative systems for electrical and thermal energy production. In this scenario, the development of small scale energy systems has become an interesting alternative to the conventional large scale centralized plants. Among these alternatives, small scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants based on Stirling Engines (SE) have attracted the interest among research and industry due to the potential advantages that offers. These include low maintenance, low noise during operation, a theoretically high electrical efficiency, and principally the fuel flexibility that the system offers. However, actual engine performances present very low electrical efficiencies and consequently few successful prototypes reached commercial maturity at elevated costs.Considering this situation, this thesis presents a numerical thermodynamic study for micro scale CHP-SE systems. The study is divided in two parts: The first part covers the engine analysis; and the second part studies the thermodynamic performance of the overall CHP-SE system. For the engine analysis a detailed thermodynamic model suitable for the simulation of different engine configurations was developed. The model capability to predict the engine performance was validated with experimental data obtained from two different engines: The GPU-3 Stirling engine studied by Lewis Research Centre; and the Genoa engine studied on the experimental rig built at the Energy Department at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The second part of the research complemented the study with the analysis of the overall CHP-SE system. This included numerical simulations of the different CHP components and the sensitivity analysis for selected design parameters.The complete study permitted to assess the different operational and design configurations for the engine and the CHP components. These improvements could be implemented for test field evaluations and thus foster the development of more efficient SE-CHP systems. In addition, the detailed thermodynamic-design methodology for the SE-CHP systems was established and the numerical tool for the design assessment was developed. / <p>QC 20150327</p>

The work was concerned with experimental study of the turbulent flame development process of alcohol fuels, namely ethanol and butanol, in an optically accessed spark ignition research engine. The fuels were evaluated in a single cylinder engine equipped with full-bore overhead optical access operated at typical stoichiometric part-load conditions with images captured using high-speed natural light imaging techniques (or chemiluminescence). The differences in flame development between the fuels was analysed to understand better the impact of high and low alcohol content fuels on combustion. Advanced image analysis, in conjunction with Ricardo WAVE simulation, allowed for the conclusion that the faster burning exhibited by ethanol was the result of the marginally higher laminar burning velocity providing a faster laminar burn phase and accelerating the flame into the turbulent spectrum thus reducing bulk flame distortion and better in-cylinder pressure development. Such physical reactions are often over-looked in the face of chemical differences between fuels. A further study into the variation of maximum in-cylinder pressure values was conducted focussing on iso-octane and ethanol. This study identified two phenomena, namely “saw-toothing” and “creep” in which cluster of cycles feed into one another. From this it became clear that the presence of high pressure during the exhaust process had a large influence on the following cycles. This is another often overlooked phenomenon of direct cycle-to-cycle variation whereby incylinder pressures during blowdown can dictate the duration, load or stability output of the following cycle. Finally the work investigated the impact on flame development of alcohol fuels when the overlap duration was altered. While the engine produced counterintuitive figures of residual gas, ethanol was confirmed as having greater synergy with EGR by displaying less impacted combustion durations c.f. iso-octane. Care should be taken however when analysing these results due to the unique valve configuration of the engine.

This study deals with the thermodynamic analysis of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) hybrid system to determine its efficiencies, irreversibilities and performance.The analysis includes a performance investigation of a typical molten carbonate fuel cell stack, an industrial MCFC hybrid system, and an MCFC hybrid system deployed by Enbridge. A parametric study is performed to examine the effects of varying operating conditions on the performance of the system. Furthermore, thermodynamic irreversibilities in each component are determined and an optimization of the fuel cell is conducted. Finally, a simplified and novel method is used for the cost analysis of the Enbridge MCFC hybrid system.An exergy analysis of the hybrid MCFC systems demonstrates that overall efficiencies of up to 60 % are achievable. The maximum exergy destruction was found in components in which chemical reactions occur. In addition, the turboexpander is one of the major contributors to the overall exergy destruction of the system. The cost analysis of the Enbridge system illustrates that by merging the importance of “green” energy and rising costs of carbon offsets, this new technology could be a promising solution and substitute for future energy supply. / UOIT

Yes / Despite the fact of being intensive energy consumption, MSF is a mature technology that characterised by a high production capacity of high-quality water. The multistage flash (MSF) desalination process is one of the prominent thermal desalination used in the industry of seawater desalination to produce high quantity and high quality of freshwater. However, this process consumes large amount of energy and faces thermal limitations due to its high degree of exergy destruction at several units of the process. Therefore, the research of MSF is still existed to elevate the performance indicators and to resolve the concern of high energy consumption. To rectify these limitations, it is important to determine the units responsible in dissipating energy. This study aims to model an industrial MSF process validated against real data and then investigate the exergy destruction and thermodynamic limitations of the process. As a case study, Azzour MSF seawater desalination plant, located in Al Khiran in Kuwait is under the focus. A comprehensive model is developed by analysing several published models. Specifically, the calculation of exergy destruction has embedded both physical and chemical exergies that identified as a strong point of the model developed. As expected, the highest exergy destruction (55.5%) occurs within the heat recovery section followed by the brine heater with exergy destruction of 28.26% of the total exergy destruction. This study identifies the sections of the industrial process that cause the highest energy losses.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemical Engineering / James H. Edgar / The sublimation recondensation crystal growth of aluminum nitride, titanium nitride, and yttrium nitride were explored experimentally and theoretically. Single crystals of these nitrides are potentially suitable as substrates for AlGaInN epitaxial layers, which are employed in ultraviolet optoelectronics including UV light-emitting diodes and laser diodes, and high power high frequency electronic device applications. A thermodynamic analysis was applied to the sublimation crystal growth of aluminum nitride to predict impurities transport (oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen) and to study the aspects of impurities incorporation for different growth conditions. A source purification procedure was established to minimize the impurity concentration and avoid degradation of the crystal’s properties. More than 98% of the oxygen, 99.9% of hydrogen and 90% of carbon originally in the source was removed. The AlN crystal growth process was explored in two ways: self-seeded growth with spontaneous nucleation directly on the crucible lid or foil, and seeded growth on SiC and AlN. The oxygen concentration was 2 ~ 4 x 1018cm-3, as measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy in the crystals produced by self-seeded growth. Crystals grown from AlN seeds have visible grain size expansion. The initial AlN growth on SiC at a low temperature range (1400°C ~1600°C) was examined to understand the factors controlling nucleation. Crystals were obtained from c-plane on-axis and off-axis, Si-face and C-face, as well as m-plane SiC seeds. In all cases, crystal growth was fastest perpendicular to the c-axis. The growth rate dependence on temperature and pressure was determined for TiN and YN crystals, and their activation energies were 775.8±29.8kJ/mol and 467.1±21.7kJ/mol respectively. The orientation relationship of TiN (001) || W (001) with TiN [100] || W [110], a 45o angle between TiN [100] and W [100], was seen for TiN crystals deposited on both (001) textured tungsten and randomly orientated tungsten. Xray diffraction confirmed that the YN crystals were rock-salt structure, with a lattice constant of 4.88Å. Cubic yttria was detected in YN sample from the oxidation upon its exposed to air for limited time by XRD, while non-cubic yttria was detected in YN sample for exposures more than one hour by Raman spectra.

Utilization of renewable energy sources, as an approach to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have been globally popular in the last few decades. Among renewable energy sources, pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) has been scrutinized by scientists since the mid 70's. However, even today, the existing river-sea PRO systems can only marginally meet the generally approved criterion of 5 W/m2 power density, a threshold for an economically feasible PRO system. As an approach to increase the performance of PRO systems, multi-staging of PRO modules are investigated. A mathematical model of the scaled up PRO process is proposed with consideration for internal and external concentration polarization, reverse salt flux, and spatial variations along the membrane. A thermodynamic model is also developed with consideration for entropy generation and losses in the process. It predicts the percentile of each work loss source compared to the net work in the system. Several confi gurations of dual stage PRO system are presented and compared to single stage PRO. The comparison is based on three proposed target functions of power density (PD), specifi c energy (SE), and work per drawn freshwater (Wdrawn). Applied hydraulic pressures and flow rates of draw and feed solutions are optimized for maximizing the target functions. The results indicate that overall performance of the system could be improved by up to 8 % with a dual stage PRO in the case of SE. The system performance is not improved by depressurizing the draw solution before the second module in cases of SE and Wdrawn. The thermodynamic analysis demonstrate the contribution of each work loss and justify the reason of diminishing the net work over the losses. The effect of membrane area and membrane characteristics on the SE target function is also investigated. The distribution of membrane area in each module depends on the selected con figuration and inlet draw solution. In the dual stage systems, the SE value increases up to 14% by improving the membrane characteristics. Reducing the salt rejection coefficient (B) is the most e ective membrane characteristic in our con figurations. Replacing seawater with RO brine in draw solution results in a signifi cant improvement in SE values. / Graduate

<p>The detection and quantitation of protein-ligand binding interactions is important not only for understanding biological functions but also for the characterization of novel protein ligands. Because protein ligands can range from small molecules to other proteins, general techniques that can detect and quantitate the many classes of protein-ligand interactions are especially attractive. Additionally, the ability to detect and quantify protein-ligand interactions in complex biological mixtures would more accurately represent the protein-ligand interactions that occur in vivo, where differential protein expression and protein complexes can significantly affect a protein's ability to bind to a ligand of interest.</p><p> The work in this dissertation is focused on the development of new methodologies for the detection and measurement of protein-ligand interactions in complex mixtures using multiplex analyses. Methodologies for two types of multiplexed analyses of protein-ligand binding interactions are investigated here. The first type of multiplex analysis involves characterizing the binding of one protein target to many potential ligands, and the second type involves characterizing the binding of one ligand to many proteins. The described methodologies are derived from the SUPREX (stability of unpurified proteins from rates of H/D exchange) and SPROX (stability of proteins from rates of oxidation) techniques, which are chemical modification strategies that measure thermodynamic stabilities of proteins using a relationship between a protein's folding equilibrium and the extent of chemical modification. These two techniques were utilized in the development and application of several different experimental strategies designed to multiplex the analysis of protein-ligand interactions.</p><p> The first strategy that was developed involved a pooled compound approach for making SUPREX-based measurements of multiple ligands binding to a target protein. Screening rates of 6 s/ligand were demonstrated in a high-throughput screening project that involved the screening of two chemical libraries against human cyclophilin A (CypA), a protein commonly overexpressed in types of cancer. This study identified eight novel ligands to CypA with micromolar dissociation constants. Second, an affinity-based protein purification strategy was developed for the detection and quantitation of specific protein-ligand binding interactions in the context of complex protein mixtures. It involved performing SPROX in cell lysates and selecting the protein of interest using immunoprecipitation or affinity tag purification. A third strategy developed here involved a SPROX-based stable isotope labeling method for measuring protein-ligand interactions in multi-protein mixtures. This strategy was used in a proof-of-principle experiment designed to detect and quantify the indirect binding between yeast cyclophilin and calcineurin in a multi-component protein mixture. Finally, a quantitative proteomics platform was developed for the detection and quantitation of protein-ligand binding interactions on the proteomic scale. The platform was used to profile interactions of the proteins in a yeast cell lysate to several ligands, including the bioactive small molecules resveratrol and manassantin A, the cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), and two proteins, phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk1) and pyruvate kinase (Pyk1). The above approaches should have broad application for use as discovery tools in the development of new therapeutic agents.</p> / Dissertation

The scope of this thesis was to study thermodynamics of lead oxide and cobalt oxide as the chemical looping agent for oxygen. Furthermore, the theoretical results were verified experimentally. Ellingham diagrams were constructed for the selected oxides. Then, detailed thermodynamic analysis was conducted for stability analysis at different temperatures and pressures. Equilibrium product compositions for various reactions involving these oxides were calculated via Gibbs free energy minimization analysis. Finally, it was shown that cobalt, lead and their oxide forms can be used for syngas production. In the experimental part PbOx, CoOx, Pt-doped CoOx and Pt-doped cobalt alumina, and mixed lead cobalt oxides were synthesized. In addition, technical grade cobalt oxide and lead rods were also used. XRD analysis indicated that Co3O4, Pb2O3 and &alpha / -PbO were the main crystal structures. Oxygen evolution from mixed oxides was monitored by TPD in a home built system. Re-oxidation of the reduced metals was successfully conducted using CO2 and H2O as oxidizing agents. Oxygen TPD studies indicated that oxygen evolution rates and amounts were higher and started at lower temperatures when two oxides were together. These observations were consistent with the predictions obtained from thermodynamics. In a series packed bed reactor, evolved oxygen from the mixed oxides were used to react with coal packed upstream of the oxides. It was found that coal oxidation can be achieved around 400oC and 600oC by using Pb/Co=3 (wt./wt.) looping media with almost no CO2 formation. It was also found that desired product selectivity (CO) can be increased by controlling reactive agent (O2) concentration in reaction environment.

Orientador: Jorge Isaias Llagostera Beltran / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T17:53:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lopes_FernandodeOliveira_M.pdf: 4254683 bytes, checksum: 3714a253c99b8967319409a00b69058a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um programa computacional para modelagem inicial de compressores axiais de vários estágios pertencentes ao conjunto de turbinas a gás. O desenvolvimento do programa se baseia na metodologia adotada por Saravanamutto et al. (2001), faz uso da Primeira Lei da Termodinâmica para cálculo de potência consumida pelo compressor e da Segunda Lei da Termodinâmica para determinar o grau de irreversibilidade do sistema. O programa calcula a quantidade de estágios necessária para uma dada relação de pressão, a quantidade de palhetas por estágio e outros dados construtivos do compressor. O trabalho analisa a eficiência global de uma turbina a gás, avalia rendimento utilizando diferentes tipos combustíveis, estuda a influência da temperatura de entrada do ar no compressor, temperatura de entrada dos gases na turbina, e eficiência isentrópica do compressor e da turbina. Fatores que geram instabilidade no compressor são discutidos e algumas sugestões são apresentadas para evitar que compressores operem fora das condições iniciais. O trabalho apresenta procedimentos claros e detalhados para o préprojeto de um compressor de fluxo axial. Finalmente, o trabalho apresenta uma breve discussão sobre eficiência exergética de máquinas térmicas / Abstract: This work presents the developing of a computational program for designing axial compressors that hold multistage belonged gas turbine. The developing of the program is based on methodology adopted by Saravanamutto et al.(2001), it makes use of the First Law of Thermodynamic to calculate the power required by the axial compressor e the Second Law to calculate the level of irreversibilities. Beside of this the program presents the numbers of stages required for a given pressure ratio, the amount of blades per stage and other building parameters has been included to make a better analyze about the equipment. The work contains thermal efficiency analyzes of a gas turbines, where parameters such as fuels, temperature intlet turbine, environmental conditions, efficiency of the compressor and turbine are included. Other factors such as unstable conditions are discussed and solutions to avoid that axial compressors running in off design conditions. In summary the work provides a global view about thermal machines and how their parameters can influence both in the thermal and exergetic efficiency / Mestrado / Termica e Fluidos / Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

The ever-growing demand for cyber-physical infrastructures has significantly affected worldwide energy consumption and environmental sustainability over the past two decades. Although the average heat load of the computing infrastructures has increased, the supportive capacity of cooling infrastructures requires further improvement. Consequently, energy-efficient cooling architectures, real-time load management, and waste heat utilization strategies have gained attention in the data center (DC) industry. In this dissertation, essential aspects of cooling system modularization, workload management, and waste-heat utilization were addressed. At first, benefits of several legacy and modular DCs were assessed from the viewpoint of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. A computational fluid dynamics simulation-informed thermodynamic energy-exergy formulation captured equipment-level inefficiencies for various cooling architectures and scenarios. Furthermore, underlying reasons and possible strategies to reduce dominant exergy loss components were suggested. Subsequently, strategies to manage cooling parameters and IT workload were developed for the DCs with rack-based and row-based cooling systems. The goal of these management schemes was to fulfill either single or multiple objectives such as energy, exergy, and computing efficiencies. Thermal models coupled to optimization problems revealed the non-trivial tradeoffs across various objective functions and operation parameters. Furthermore, the scalability of the proposed approach for a larger DC was demonstrated. Finally, a waste heat management strategy was developed for new-age infrastructures containing both air- and liquid-cooled servers, one of the critical issues in the DC industry. Exhaust hot water from liquid-cooled servers was used to drive an adsorption chiller, which in turn produced chilled water required for the air-handler units of the air-cooled system. This strategy significantly reduced the energy consumption of existing compression chillers. Furthermore, economic and environmental assessments were performed to discuss the feasibility of this solution for the DC community. The work also investigated the potential tradeoffs between waste heat recovery and computing efficiencies. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)