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At least 487 records · Page 27

Apparatus and method for intrachannel defouling of a heat exchanger using induction heaters

An apparatus comprising a heat exchanger and one or more induction heating elements is disclosed. The heat exchanger comprises a coolant side conduit and a process side conduit, the process side conduit being susceptible to fouling by at least partial desublimation, condensation, crystallization, deposition, or combinations thereof of a fouling component of a circulating process fluid. An electrically conductive first metal is disposed adjacent to the process side conduit. The one or more induction heating elements are disposed proximate to the heat exchanger. The one or more induction heating elements are connected to a source of electrical current. When the electrical current flows through the induction heating elements, eddy currents are induced in the first metal, heating the first metal such that the fouling component sublimates, melts, absorbs, or a combination thereof into the circulating process fluid.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Disclosed embodiments concern a membrane electrode assembly or a proton exchange membrane fuel cell comprising a phosphoric acid-doped polymeric membrane comprising a cationic functional group, such as an assembly or fuel cell having an ion exchange capacity of 0.8 to 3 mmol/gram and an operating temperature range of from 80° C. to 220° C. The cationic functional group can be any suitable functional group, such as ammonium, imidazolium, guanidinium, phosphazenium, sulfonium, oxonium, and phosphonium, with working embodiments typically using quaternary ammonium cationic functional groups tethered to the polymeric core. The polymeric material may be any suitable polymeric material, such as a material selected from polyaryl polymers, polyarylamides, polyimides, polystyrenes, polysulfones, polyethers, polyether sulfones, polyketones, polyetherketones, polyarylethers, polyolefins, and polynitriles. The membrane electrode assembly or a proton exchange membrane fuel cell can be used in any application now known or hereafter developed, such as a vehicle or a stationary power device.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Heat exchanger

A heat exchanger that includes first and second headers, a first flow conduit fluidly connecting the first and second headers to allow for a flow of a first fluid through the heat exchanger, the first flow conduit being bounded by a first generally planar wall section extending between the first and second headers, a second flow conduit to allow for a flow of the second fluid through the heat exchanger, the second flow conduit being bounded by a second generally planar wall section spaced apart from the first generally planar wall section to define a gap therebetween, and a thermally conductive structure arranged within the gap and joined to the first and second generally planar wall sections to transfer heat therebetween. The thermally conductive structure is isolated from the first fluid by the first generally planar wall section and from the second fluid by the second generally planar wall section.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Recent Experiences Calculating g-functions for Use in Simulation of Ground Heat Exchangers

Temperature response functions, known as g-functions, are a computationally efficient method for simulating ground heat exchangers (GHEs), used with ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems, either as part of a whole-building energy simulation or as part of a dedicated ground heat exchanger design tool. In fact, at present, they are the only feasible way to simulate a ground-source heat pump system in a whole-building energy simulation. This paper summarizes recent developments in the field and recent experience using a new open-source g-function calculation tool known as pygfunction (Cimmino 2018a, 2018b). This experience includes accuracy, computation time, memory requirements and sensitivity to boundary conditions. With larger ground heat exchangers, e.g. in excess of 100 boreholes, the computational time and memory requirements can create challenges.

Spitler, Jeffery↗

Alkaline anion exchange membranes derived from diphenylethylene and co-monomer feedstock

The anion exchange membranes exhibit enhanced chemical stability and ion conductivity when compared with traditional styrene-based alkaline anion exchange membranes. A copolymer backbone is polymerized from a reaction medium that includes a diphenylalkylene and an alkadiene. The copolymer includes a plurality of pendant phenyl groups. The diphenyl groups on the polymer backbone are functionalized with one or more haloalkylated precursor substrates. The terminal halide from the precursor substrate can then be substituted with a desired ionic group. The diphenylethylene-based alkaline anion exchange membranes lack the .alpha.-hydrogens sharing tertiary carbons with phenyl groups from polystyrene or styrene-based precursor polymers, resulting in higher chemical stability. The ionic groups are also apart from each other by about 3 to 6 carbons in the polymer backbone, enhancing ion conductivity. These membrane are advantageous for use in fuel cells, electrolyzers employing hydrogen, ion separations, etc.

Lee, Sangwoo↗

Development of New g-function Data for Simulating a Novel Shallow Bore Ground Heat Exchanger

Geothermal heat pump (GHP), which is also referred as ground source heat pump, is the most energy-efficient technology for space heating and cooling. However, the application of GHP is hindered by its high initial cost, of which approximately 30% is for the ground heat exchanger (GHE). In recent years, researchers have developed different types of shallow bore ground heat exchangers (SBGHE) intending to reduce the cost of drilling. The ability to predict the thermal response of an SBGHE is critical for sizing SBGHE. While g-functions have been commonly used for predicting the thermal response of conventional vertical bore ground heat exchangers (VBGHE), they cannot be directly used for predicting the performance of SBGHE because they did not account for the impacts of the seasonal variation of the soil temperature along with the depth of an SBGHE. In addition, an SBGHE has a larger thermal mass within the borehole than the VBGHE due to the larger borehole diameter of SBGHE. This study develops new g-function data pairs for a new design of SBGHE, which is named Underground Thermal Battery (UTB). Impacts of the seasonal variation of soil temperature on the thermal response of UTB were accounted for by superposing a time-dependent soil temperature onto the g-functions calculated with a numerical model that assumes constant undisturbed soil temperature. The TOUGH program was used to predict the thermal response of several configurations involving multiple UTBs. The results indicate that the proposed methodology is appropriate to generate g-functions for the UTB, and the g-function value of UTB is much lower than that of VBGHE in the time range of 15 min to 1 year due to the large thermal mass and convection heat transfer within the UTB.

Shi, Liang↗

Monocoque shell and tube heat exchanger

A heat exchanger with a monocoque structure transfers heat between a first fluid and a second fluid. The heat exchanger in has a plurality of tubes through which the first fluid may flow in a direction, each of the plurality of tubes has a first mouth end, an N opposing second mouth end and a waist region between the first mouth end and the second mouth end. The heat exchanger also has one or more interconnected fluid channels through which the second fluid may flow, the one or more fluid channels lay generally in a plane, the plurality of tubes and the one or more fluid channels interleave such that heat may be transferred between the plurality of tubes and the one or more fluid channels, and the direction of flow of the first fluid is generally perpendicular to the plane of the one or more fluid channels.

Keolian, Robert M.↗

Metal hydride heat exchanger and method of use

A heat exchanger incorporates a metal hydride heat exchanger and mitigates the fluid mixing process, and thus greatly improves the heat transfer efficiency and heat recovery processes. The metal hydride heat exchanger has a container for the metal hydride that has a large aspect ratio. A plurality of high aspect container for the metal hydride may be coupled with a manifold.

Bahar, Bamdad↗

Heat exchanger

A heat exchanger includes a shell housing a plurality of tubes and defining an exhaust fluid flow path within a first volume enclosed by the shell. The outer surfaces of the plurality of tubes are in fluid communication with the exhaust fluid flow path. The heat exchanger includes a cap attached to a first end of the shell and defining a second volume. A header is configured to separate the first volume from the second volume, flex with thermal expansion, and define tube inlet and outlet positions. The tube inlets and outlets are in fluid communication with a source fluid flow path, and each tube is substantially U-shaped and defines a flow path of the source fluid within the exhaust fluid flow path. The heat exchanger includes at least one longitudinal flow baffle within the shell configured to reduce an amount of exhaust fluid that may bypass the tubes.

Borghese, Joseph↗

Fluidized-bed heat exchanger for conversion of thermal energy to electricity

The present disclosure describes heat exchangers for converting thermal energy stored in solid particles to electricity. Electro-thermal energy storage converts off-peak electricity into heat for thermal energy storage, which may be converted back to electricity, for example during peak-hour power generation. The heat exchanger for converting thermal energy stored in solid particles to electricity enables the conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy for redistribution to the grid. In some embodiments, pressurized fluidized-bed heat exchangers may achieve efficient conversion of thermal energy to electricity by providing direct contact of the solid particles with a gas stream.

Ma, Zhiwen↗

Measurements of the Neutron Magnetic Form Factor and the Two-Photon Exchange Contribution to the Electron-Neutron Elastic Scattering Cross Section

The Super BigBite Spectrometer (SBS) program in Experimental Hall A of Jefferson Lab is a series of high-precision, large ?2 , electromagnetic form factor experiments. GMn and nTPE were the first two experiments of the SBS program and ran from Oc?tober 2021 through February 2022. Both experiments detect neutron-tagged ?(?, ???) and proton-tagged ?(?, ???) quasi-elastic electrons scattering from a deuterium tar?get. The GMn experiment is a measurement of the magnetic form factor of the neutron, ?? ?, via the ratio method over a ?2 range of 3.5 to 13.5 (GeV/c)2 . The nTPE experiment ran in-parallel with the GMn experiment and shared an overlap?ping kinematic point with GMn. nTPE extends the GMn experiment to assess the differences between Rosenbluth Slop and the single-photon exchange approximation. The nTPE experiment had two kinematic settings corresponding to different electron scatting angles at a fixed ?2 of 4.5 (GeV/c)? . Comparisons of nucleon form factor ratio measurements acquired through polarization transfer and LT separation reveal discrepancies as ?2 increases. Two-photon exchange is strongly favored as the reason for this discrepancy. ?? ? has been extracted at two kinematic settings corresponding to ?2 values of 3.0 and 4.5 (GeV/c)2 . Additionally, I will present an assessment of the differences between Rosenbluth Separation and single-photon exchange measure?ments.

Boyd III, John Alan↗

Alkaline anion exchange membranes derived from diphenylethylene and co-monomer feedstock

The anion exchange membranes exhibit enhanced chemical stability and ion conductivity when compared with traditional styrene-based alkaline anion exchange membranes. A copolymer backbone is polymerized from a reaction medium that includes a diphenylalkylene and an alkadiene. The copolymer includes a plurality of pendant phenyl groups. The diphenyl groups on the polymer backbone are functionalized with one or more haloalkylated precursor substrates. The terminal halide from the precursor substrate can then be substituted with a desired ionic group. The diphenylethylene-based alkaline anion exchange membranes lack the α-hydrogens sharing tertiary carbons with phenyl groups from polystyrene or styrene-based precursor polymers, resulting in higher chemical stability. The ionic groups are also apart from each other by about 3 to 6 carbons in the polymer backbone, enhancing ion conductivity. These membrane are advantageous for use in fuel cells, electrolyzers employing hydrogen, ion separations, etc.

Lee, Sangwoo↗

Selectable inlet for aircraft propulsion system heat exchanger

A propulsion system for an aircraft includes a propulsor rotor, an engine core, a housing, a flowpath and a heat exchange system. The engine core is configured to power rotation of the propulsor rotor. The housing includes an inner structure and an outer structure. The outer structure is radially outboard of and axially overlaps the inner structure. The flowpath is downstream of the propulsor rotor and radially between the inner structure and the outer structure. The heat exchange system includes a duct, an exterior orifice, an interior orifice, a flow regulator and a heat exchanger disposed within the duct. The exterior orifice is formed by the outer structure and disposed along an exterior of the housing. The interior orifice is formed by the outer structure and disposed along the flowpath. The flow regulator is configured to selectively fluidly couple the exterior orifice and the interior orifice to the duct.

Sobanski, Jon E.↗

The importance of maldistribution matching for thermal performance of compact heat exchangers

Compact heat exchangers have gained increased attention in recent years, particularly in demanding applications where high temperatures, high pressures, and/or high power densities are required. For decades, the heat exchanger (HX) community believes that flow maldistribution is a key factor for HX effectiveness, that is, reducing the degree of flow maldistribution (MALD) can help increase the HX effectiveness. Therefore, significant efforts have been devoted in the past to optimizing the header geometry to minimize flow maldistribution. This work was initially motivated by this, and the original goal was to figure out a HX header design with the lowest maldistribution. However, by systematically constructing a comprehensive maldistribution matrix, the analysis revealed that the HX effectiveness is not actually determined by the MALD, but instead dominated by the degree of maldistribution mismatch (MISM). This conclusion was also theoretically generalized, which indicated that matching of the local heat capacity rate is key for achieving maximum performance. The MISM provides a local means of tracking this information, while the MALD only provides a global approximation of the maldistribution itself. With this new perspective, flow maldistribution needs not necessarily be avoided, but instead matched between two fluid streams, to improve the HX performance. We demonstrated that by carefully designing the header geometry to match the velocity profiles of the two fluids in a 2 MW PCHE with molten salt and supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as the heat transfer fluids, the HX could achieve a higher effectiveness even when the maldistribution increased. Finally, a technoeconomic study using a CSP system as an example revealed that the use of this new HX design paradigm could result in CSP capital cost savings as large as 16.6%.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

A high-performance lung-inspired ceramic 3D-printed heat exchanger for high-temperature energy-efficient systems

The thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency of next-generation supercritical carbon dioxide and concentrated solar power plants is significantly augmented by operating at temperatures exceeding 1000 °C if durable, compact, high-temperature heat exchangers (HXs) are developed. Whereas metal 3D-printed HXs fail to operate under extreme temperature conditions, ceramic 3D-printed HXs are deemed promising candidates for high-temperature, highly oxidizing environments. Ceramic 3D-printed HXs, however, exhibit a high gas permeability issue through hot and cold separating walls due to an excessive non-volatile photopolymer content utilized. Here, in this work, a novel leak-free lung-inspired ceramic 3D-printed HX employing a highly complex heat transfer topology is introduced for high-temperature energy-efficient systems. The high permeability issue of ceramic 3D-printed HXs is fully eliminated through a uniform zinc-based coating. It was determined that the effective thermal conductivity of the sintered ceramic heat exchangers is affected by the coated layer. The high-temperature thermal and hydraulic characteristics of the lung-inspired ceramic 3D-printed HX are comprehensively examined and compared against a millichannel 3D-printed HX module. Experimental results indicated that the lung-inspired 3D-printed ceramic HX significantly outperforms its millichannel counterpart. The lung-inspired HX shows a volume-based power density of 8.2 MW/m3 at a hot-side inlet air temperature of 700°C, a 71 % improvement compared with that of the millichannel HX. More importantly, the higher thermal duty of the lung-inspired 3D-printed HX is realized at a lower normalized pressure drop penalty of 510 Pa/W, 22 % lower than that of the millichannel ceramic HX. This study accelerates the advancement of high-performance ceramic 3D-printed HXs with complex topologies for high-temperature energy-efficient systems and/or corrosive environments.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Current Status on the Manufacturing of Nanomaterials for Proton Exchange Membrane Energy Systems by Vapor-Based Processes

Development of novel technologies for catalyst synthesis and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabrication is of primary importance for further improvement of the performance and economics of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWEs). While the traditional manufacturing methods are time-consuming, energy intensive, and require many processing steps, the new vapor-based methods provide many benefits including the development of improved catalysts and catalyst supports, deposition of uniform thin films, reduction of catalyst loading, and minimizing the number of manufacturing steps. Recent publications in the field identified spray pyrolysis, reactive spray deposition technology, chemical vapor deposition, and atomic layer deposition as advanced vapor-based catalyst synthesis and deposition methods used for fabrication of MEAs for PEMFCs and PEMWEs. Here, the MEAs fabricated via vapor-based processes have shown significant performance improvements in comparison to the state-of-the-art MEAs, which are attributed to better catalyst distribution, improved catalyst supports, and controlled, uniform catalyst layer microstructures. This review provides an overview of the vapor-based synthesis and deposition methods currently being used for the development of PEM-based devices. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods are critically compared and discussed while the outlook for future development is provided.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Tunable Anion Exchange Membrane Conductivity and Permselectivity via Non-Covalent, Hydrogen Bond Cross-Linking

Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) are a key component of electrochemical processes that purify water, generate clean energy, and treat waste. Most conventional polymer IEMs are covalently cross-linked, which results in a challenging tradeoff relationship between two desirable properties-high permselectivity and high conductivity-in which one property cannot be changed without negatively affecting the other. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, in this work we synthesized a series of anion exchange membranes containing non-covalent cross-links formed by a hydrogen bond donor (methacrylic acid) and a hydrogen bond acceptor (dimethylacrylamide). Here we show that these monomers act synergistically to improve both membrane permselectivity and conductivity relative to a control membrane without non-covalent cross-links. Furthermore, we show that the hydrogen bond donor and acceptor loading can be used to tune permselectivity and conductivity relatively independently of one another, escaping the tradeoff observed in conventional membranes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Theoretical prediction of magnetic exchange coupling constants from broken-symmetry coupled cluster calculations

Exchange coupling constants ( J ) are fundamental to the understanding of spin spectra of magnetic systems. In this study, we investigate the broken-symmetry (BS) approaches of Noodleman and Yamaguchi in conjunction with coupled cluster (CC) methods to obtain exchange couplings. J values calculated from CC in this fashion converge smoothly toward the full configuration interaction result with increasing level of CC excitation. We compare this BS-CC scheme to the complementary equation-of-motion CC approach on a selection of bridged molecular cases and give results from a few other methodologies for context.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗