Conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) plants typically have a very high levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) compared with coal-fired power stations. To generate 1 kWh of electrical energy from a conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant without a storage application, costs the utility approximately R3,08 (Salvatore, 2014), whereas it costs R0,711 to generate the same amount of energy by means of a highly efficient supercritical coal-fired power station, taking carbon tax into consideration. This high LCOE associated with linear Fresnel CSP technology is primarily due to the massive capital investment required per kW installed to construct such a plant along with the relatively low-capacity factors, because of the uncontrollable solar irradiation. It is expected that the LCOE of a hybrid plant in which a concentrating solar thermal (CST) station is integrated with a large-scale supercritical coal-fired power station, will be higher than that of a conventional supercritical coal-fired power station, but much less than that of a conventional CSP plant. The main aim of this study is to calculate and then compare the LCOE of a conventional supercritical coal-fired power station with that of such a station integrated with a linear Fresnel CST field. When the thermal energy generated in the receiver of a CST plant is converted into electrical energy by using the highly efficient regenerative Rankine cycle of a large-scale coal-fired power station, the total capital cost of the solar side of the integrated system will be reduced significantly, compared with the two stations operating independently of one another for common steam turbines, electrical generators and transformers, and transmission lines will be utilised for the integrated plants. The results obtained from the thermodynamic models indicate that if an additional heat exchanger integration option for a 90 MW (peak thermal) fuel-saver solar-augmentation scenario, where an annual average direct normal irradiation limit of 2 141 kWh/m2 is considered, one can expect to produce approximately 4,6 GWh more electricity to the national grid annually than with a normal coal-fired station. This increase in net electricity output is mainly due to the compounded lowered auxiliary power consumption during high solar-irradiation conditions. It is also found that the total annual thermal energy input required from burning pulverised coal is reduced by 110,5 GWh, when approximately 176,5 GWh of solar energy is injected into the coal-fired power station’s regenerative Rankine cycle for the duration of a year. Of the total thermal energy supplied by the solar field, approximately 54,6 GWh is eventually converted into electrical energy. Approximately 22 kT less coal will be required, which will result in 38,7 kT less CO2 emissions and about 7,6 kT less ash production. This electricity generated from the thermal energy supplied by the solar field will produce approximately R8,188m in additional revenue annually from the trade of renewable energy certificates, while the reduced coal consumption will result in an annual fuel saving of about R6,189m. By emitting less CO2 into the atmosphere, the annual carbon tax bill will be reduced by R1,856m, and by supplying additional energy to the national grid, an additional income of approximately R3,037m will be due to the power station. The annual operating and maintenance cost increase resulting from the additional 171 000 m2 solar field, will be in the region of R9,71m. The cost of generating 1 kWh with the solar-augmented coal-fired power plant will only be 0,34 cents more expensive at R0,714/kWh than it would be to generate the same energy with a normal supercritical coal-fired power station. If one considers that a typical conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant (without storage) has an LCOE of R3,08, the conclusion can be drawn that it is much more attractive to generate electricity from thermal power supplied by a solar field, by utilising the highly efficient large-scale components of a supercritical coal-fired power station, rather than to generate electricity from a conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Conventional concentrating solar power (CSP) plants typically have a very high levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) compared with coal-fired power stations. To generate 1 kWh of electrical energy from a conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant without a storage application, costs the utility approximately R3,08 (Salvatore, 2014), whereas it costs R0,711 to generate the same amount of energy by means of a highly efficient supercritical coal-fired power station, taking carbon tax into consideration. This high LCOE associated with linear Fresnel CSP technology is primarily due to the massive capital investment required per kW installed to construct such a plant along with the relatively low-capacity factors, because of the uncontrollable solar irradiation. It is expected that the LCOE of a hybrid plant in which a concentrating solar thermal (CST) station is integrated with a large-scale supercritical coal-fired power station, will be higher than that of a conventional supercritical coal-fired power station, but much less than that of a conventional CSP plant. The main aim of this study is to calculate and then compare the LCOE of a conventional supercritical coal-fired power station with that of such a station integrated with a linear Fresnel CST field. When the thermal energy generated in the receiver of a CST plant is converted into electrical energy by using the highly efficient regenerative Rankine cycle of a large-scale coal-fired power station, the total capital cost of the solar side of the integrated system will be reduced significantly, compared with the two stations operating independently of one another for common steam turbines, electrical generators and transformers, and transmission lines will be utilised for the integrated plants. The results obtained from the thermodynamic models indicate that if an additional heat exchanger integration option for a 90 MW (peak thermal) fuel-saver solar-augmentation scenario, where an annual average direct normal irradiation limit of 2 141 kWh/m2 is considered, one can expect to produce approximately 4,6 GWh more electricity to the national grid annually than with a normal coal-fired station. This increase in net electricity output is mainly due to the compounded lowered auxiliary power consumption during high solar-irradiation conditions. It is also found that the total annual thermal energy input required from burning pulverised coal is reduced by 110,5 GWh, when approximately 176,5 GWh of solar energy is injected into the coal-fired power station’s regenerative Rankine cycle for the duration of a year. Of the total thermal energy supplied by the solar field, approximately 54,6 GWh is eventually converted into electrical energy. Approximately 22 kT less coal will be required, which will result in 38,7 kT less CO2 emissions and about 7,6 kT less ash production. This electricity generated from the thermal energy supplied by the solar field will produce approximately R8,188m in additional revenue annually from the trade of renewable energy certificates, while the reduced coal consumption will result in an annual fuel saving of about R6,189m. By emitting less CO2 into the atmosphere, the annual carbon tax bill will be reduced by R1,856m, and by supplying additional energy to the national grid, an additional income of approximately R3,037m will be due to the power station. The annual operating and maintenance cost increase resulting from the additional 171 000 m2 solar field, will be in the region of R9,71m. The cost of generating 1 kWh with the solar-augmented coal-fired power plant will only be 0,34 cents more expensive at R0,714/kWh than it would be to generate the same energy with a normal supercritical coal-fired power station. If one considers that a typical conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant (without storage) has an LCOE of R3,08, the conclusion can be drawn that it is much more attractive to generate electricity from thermal power supplied by a solar field, by utilising the highly efficient large-scale components of a supercritical coal-fired power station, rather than to generate electricity from a conventional linear Fresnel CSP plant. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Tiriamojo darbo tikslas – ištirti spindulinio dujinio šildytuvo darbo režimo parametrus. Dujinis spindulinis šildymas yra ekonomiška, nekenksminga ir labai paprasta šildymo sistema. Tokia šildymo sistema naudojama patalpose su blogu sandarumu, taip pat kur yra dideli aukščiai. Tirtas ,,U‘‘ formos spindulinis dujinis šildytuvas. Tyrinėtos šiluminės savybės spindulinio šildytuvo paviršiaus, kaitimo savybės vamzdžio skirtinguose šildytuvo pjūviuose, vamzdžio įšilimo trukmė, galia šildytuvo, dujų sunaudotas kiekis. Spindulinis dujinis šildymas Lietuvoje mažai ištirtas. / Purpose of work: the research working mode of processed „U“ form radial gas–fired heater. The gas-fired heating is an economical, ecological, harmless and very simply heating system. Such heating system is used in the accommodations with high sealing and there are big height. Were processeded „U“ form radial gas–fired heater. Were explored heating dynamics of radial heater culvert surface, dynamics changing of culvert temperature in characteristic heater operating length section, duration till culvert heats to operating temperature, capacity of processed heater, the gas amount. The radial heating in Lithuanian is few processed and very heavy to do concrete conclusion.

Os sistemas prediais de aquecimento de água são responsáveis por uma parcela significativa no consumo de energia do país, sendo que a eficiência do uso desta energia está relacionada com a qualidade dos projetos e de alternativas construtivas que possibilitam racionalizar o uso dos recursos naturais. Com a tendência de incorporação da medição individualizada de água e do aquecimento solar, algumas concepções de projetos hidráulicos foram alteradas, entre elas, a introdução de sistemas centrais coletivos de aquecimento de água no setor residencial. Porém, os métodos de dimensionamento destes sistemas são restritos à determinação do estado estático da infraestrutura e dos equipamentos envolvidos. Conhecendo as características de uso da população é possível introduzir sistemas de monitoração e gestão que alterem o dimensionamento das centrais de aquecimento, conforme a demanda instantânea, gerando reduções de perdas térmicas. Este trabalho consiste em analisar as variáveis de um sistema predial de aquecimento central a gás e o impacto na implantação de sistemas de monitoração e gestão. / The building systems of water heating are responsible for a significant parcel of energy consumption in country, and the efficiency of use of this energy is related to the quality of projects and constructive alternatives that allow rationalizing the use of natural resources. With the trend of incorporating the measurement of individual water and solar heating, some conceptions of hydraulic projects were changed including the introduction of collective central heating water in the residential sector. However, the methods of these systems are restricted to the determination of the static state of infrastructure and equipment involved. Knowing the characteristics of populations use is possible to introduce systems of monitoring and management to change the design of central heating as the instant demand, causing reductions in thermal losses.

Os sistemas prediais de aquecimento de água são responsáveis por uma parcela significativa no consumo de energia do país, sendo que a eficiência do uso desta energia está relacionada com a qualidade dos projetos e de alternativas construtivas que possibilitam racionalizar o uso dos recursos naturais. Com a tendência de incorporação da medição individualizada de água e do aquecimento solar, algumas concepções de projetos hidráulicos foram alteradas, entre elas, a introdução de sistemas centrais coletivos de aquecimento de água no setor residencial. Porém, os métodos de dimensionamento destes sistemas são restritos à determinação do estado estático da infraestrutura e dos equipamentos envolvidos. Conhecendo as características de uso da população é possível introduzir sistemas de monitoração e gestão que alterem o dimensionamento das centrais de aquecimento, conforme a demanda instantânea, gerando reduções de perdas térmicas. Este trabalho consiste em analisar as variáveis de um sistema predial de aquecimento central a gás e o impacto na implantação de sistemas de monitoração e gestão. / The building systems of water heating are responsible for a significant parcel of energy consumption in country, and the efficiency of use of this energy is related to the quality of projects and constructive alternatives that allow rationalizing the use of natural resources. With the trend of incorporating the measurement of individual water and solar heating, some conceptions of hydraulic projects were changed including the introduction of collective central heating water in the residential sector. However, the methods of these systems are restricted to the determination of the static state of infrastructure and equipment involved. Knowing the characteristics of populations use is possible to introduce systems of monitoring and management to change the design of central heating as the instant demand, causing reductions in thermal losses.

This projects aims to develop design automation in product development. Design automation causes increase in producibility and decrease in product cost and manufacturing lead time. The study at hand is proposed to provide a new method and to introduce procedure to the design of wiring pattern for a car seat heater for Kongsberg Automotive, KA. KA is a Norwegian company and a global provider of engineering, design, and manufacture for seat comfort, driver and motion control systems, fluid assemblies, and industrial driver interface products. The method that currently is used in the company to create a wiring pattern is neither sufficient enough nor automated. In order to design the wiring pattern, at first procedure is handled by the designer. Secondly, car seat heater 2D layout is imported and then, the dimensions of the elements are defined as constraints. Then VBA codes are opened and the program is run. The result will be a wiring pattern in different 2D layouts. To make the design process easier, we have modeled five different layouts; wiring pattern of one element, two elements, three elements, five elements (with two back sides) and one element trapezoidal 2D layout. The algorithm written in VBA (Visual basic for application) creates the pattern according to the dimensions of the elements which are used as inputs to define constrained parameters. The created macros are simple to use and easy to modify, independent from the programming knowledge. The user is only responsible with parameter input and running the program. The solution gives wiring pattern for a car seat heater.

<p>This master thesis is about investigation a power efficient anti-moisture device thatcan be implemented in electronic enclosures in severe climatic environments.First, some of the existing knowledge and previous works were introduced. Then arelevant theoretical background including three main approaches in humiditymanagement are described, comparison between the enclosure heaters and localheaters, some psychrometics concepts that have been used in the project, heattransfer fundamentals, environmental test basics, some humidity and temperaturesensing techniques, computational fluid dynamics, programmable logic controlfundamentals, comparison PLCs with microcontrollers was provided.A series experiments have been performed in order to find the power efficient andmost effective anti-moisture method. Based on the analysis of the experiment data,the local heater system has been designed. CFD assisted parametric study of thelocal heater has been performed in order to find the best feasible design includingthe size and location. The local heater has been built based on the results ofparametric study. Different materials have been tested in laboratory in order tofind the proper material for final prototype of heater. The implemented localheater has been integrated with programmable logic control device. The controlalgorithm has been developed for activation/deactivation of local heater. The logiccontrolled PCB local heater has been experimentally evaluated.In the end the results achieved from environmental test have been presented andanalyzed. Some conclusions on the results and also future work have been discussed.</p>

Understanding and control of the flow structures in metallic fluids is important for the development of optimal crystal growth processes. One of the techniques used to control flow structures is the application of a rotating magnetic field (RMF) in the plane perpendicular to the growth direction, which induces two magnetic body force components; one in the radial direction and the other one in the circumferential direction. These two body force components alter the fluid flow in the growth system, leading to enhanced mixing, flatter growth interface, and more homogeneous crystal composition. The application of RFM was therefore considered in three separate projects: 1) the zone refining of cadmium and tellurium, 2) the synthesis of cadmium telluride (CdTe) by the travelling heater method (THM), and 3) the THM growth of gallium antimonide (GaSb). In the zone refining of tellurium, the objective was to enhance the transport of selenium in the melt since the selenium segregation coefficient is close to unity. A magnetic field with intensity of 0.6 mT and frequency of 100 Hz was selected based on the results of earlier numerical simulations. Due to the very low electrical conductivity of tellurium, the numerical simulations predicted a very small effect of RMF on selenium transport. The designed zone refining experiments for the tellurium system have verified this numerical simulation result. On the other hand, cadmium is an electric conductor, and thus the numerical simulations predicted a notable effect of RMF. However, experiments on the cadmium system could not be carried out because of the instability of molten zones caused by cadmium’s very high thermal conductivity. The commercial synthesis of CdTe is presently done by THM, which produces materials with much better stoichiometry than other techniques, but very slow process speeds make THM very costly. An application of RMF was considered in order to improve the speed of the process. A 1.3 mT, 0.5 Hz field was applied during the THM synthesis of CdTe. Under the experimental conditions employed, the examination of samples has shown that the application of RMF did not increase the maximum synthesis speed. The use of higher intensity RMF was not possible with the present system, but it is thought that higher fields might worsen the mixing of Cd and Te to produce non-stoichiometry. The objective of the third project was to carry out preliminary THM growth experiments for GaSb under RMF in order to prepare a basis for future THM growth experiments aimed at reducing the cost of THM by using higher growth rates and smaller seeds with tapered ampoules. The substantially redesigned THM furnace permits rotation of the growth ampoule, better control of the experimental environment, and a stronger temperature gradient at the growth interface. Two crystals have been grown at 25 mm diameter with and without the application of a magnetic field of 0.6-mT intensity and 100-Hz frequency. These preliminary experiments have shown that the system can be used for the planned THM experiments; however, further experiments are required to attribute any effect to RMF.

Domestic solar hot water units, if properly designed, are capable of providing all hot water needs in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way. Despite 50 years of development, commercial technology has not yet achieved substantial market penetration compared to mainstream electric and gas options. Therefore, alternate designs are warranted if they can offer similar or greater performance for a comparable cost to conventional units. This study proved that such alternatives are possible by designing and testing two novel solar hot water systems (SHWS). The first system used compound parabolic collector (CPC) panels to concentrate solar energy and produce steam. The steam moved from a rooftop downward into a heat exchange pipe within a ground level water tank, heating the water, condensing and falling into a receptacle. The operation was entirely passive, since the condensate was pulled up due to the partial vacuum that occurred after system cooling. Efficiencies of up to 40% were obtained. The second system used an air heater panel. Air was circulated in open and closed loop configuration (air recycling) by means of a fan/blower motor and was forced across a compact heat exchanger coupled to a water tank. This produced a natural thermosiphon flow heating the water. Air recycling mode provided higher system efficiencies: 34% vs. 27%. The concurrent development of an analytical model that reasonably predicted heat transfer dynamics of these systems allowed 1) performance optimisation for specific input/starting operating conditions and 2) virtual design improvements. The merit of this model lay in its acceptable accuracy in spite of its simplicity. By optimising for operating conditions and parameter design, both systems are capable of providing over 30 MJ of useful domestic hot water on clear days, which equates roughly to an increase of 35°C in a 200 L water tank. This will satisfy, on average, daily hot water requirements for a 4-person household, particularly in low-latitude regions (eg. Queensland). Preliminary costing for these systems puts them on par with conventional units, with the passive, remotely coupled, low maintenance, CPC SHWS comparable to higher end models. The air heater SHWS, by contrast, was much more economical and easier to build and handle, but at the trade-off cost of 1) the need for an active system, 2) increased maintenance and running costs and 3) the requirement for a temperature control mechanism that would protect the panel body by dumping hot air trapped inside if stagnation were to occur.

Les électrodes transparentes sont des éléments essentiels pour de nombreux dispositifs tels que les cellules solaires, les OLEDs, les écrans tactiles ou les films chauffants transparents. Au regard de la croissance forte du marché des dispositifs flexibles, le remplacement de l’ITO, matériau de référence dans l’industrie, s’avère nécessaire. Les réseaux percolants à base de nanofils(NF) métalliques sont une alternative de choix pour ce qui est des performances optoélectroniques, du coût et de la flexibilité. En particulier, les NF d’argent, fortement étudiés ces dernières années, offrent probablement le meilleur potentiel. L’objectif de cette thèse est de développer de nouvelles électrodes transparentes à NF avec un métal de substitution. Le cuivre est un candidat intéressant car à conductivité électrique équivalente, son prix est environ cent fois moins élevé que celui de l’argent. Dans ce manuscrit, différentes voies de synthèse des nanofils de cuivre (CuNF) sont abordées. Des électrodes sont fabriquées à partir de ces nanofils, notamment par impression, et des études sont rapportées sur l’évaluation de leurs performances. L’étude de la stabilité des électrodes à CuNF sous différents stress environnementaux (air sec, soleil, humidité) a été effectuée et met en évidence la stabilité moindre des NF de cuivre par rapport aux NF d’argent. Pour pallier cela, deux stratégies de protection des réseaux de nanofils ont été mises en place à base, soit d’une couche encapsulante sur le réseau, soit d’un système coeur-coquille à l’échelle du NF. La stabilité de ces systèmes a été mesurée lors du fonctionnement de ces électrodes lorsqu’elles sont utilisées pour la fabrication de films chauffants transparents. / Transparent electrodes are implanted in a lot of devices such as solar cell, OLED, touch screen or transparent film heater. Market trends toward flexible devices lead replacement of the well known brittle ITO. Metallic nanowire (NW) based percolative networks are a promising alternative in terms of performances, cost and flexibility. Indeed, the widely reported silver NWs exhibited really high optoelectrical performances. The objective of this thesis is to develop new NW based transparent electrodes with other metal. Among metals, copper is the most promising because of its high conductivity and its price one hundred times cheaper. In that manuscript, we detail different synthesis of copper nanowire (CuNW), their printing to get the related performances. Then ageing under environmental stresses (dry air, sun and humidity) will be studied. Stability of CuNW into networks is very low compared to silver, to improve stability of CuNW two strategies based on capping layer on top of CunW and on core-shell nanostructure will be presented. Operating stability into transparent film heater will also be reported.