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The paper presents a preliminary technical-economic comparison between a 3 kV DC railway and the use of trains with on-board storage systems. Numerical simulations have been carried out on a real railway line, which presents an electrified section at 3 kV DC and a non-electrified section, currently covered by diesel-powered trains. Different types of ESS have been analyzed, implementing the models in Matlab/Simulink environment. A preparatory economic investigation has been carried out.

To study the heating performance of a solar-assisted cold-water phase-change-energy heat pump system, its heating performance under series and parallel connections is simulated for a community in Harbin, the influence of ice thickness on the different operation modes is analyzed, and the economy of the system is calculated for series and parallel connections in this paper. The results show that the water supply temperature is higher and more uniform in the parallel operation, and more terminal heat is supplied; the ice thickness has more of an influence on the series connection compared to the parallel connection; and the dynamic payback period is 6.72 years for the series connection and 7.28 years for the parallel connection. This case study can serve as a guide for practical engineering application projects and act as a reference for heating and economic data for the promotion of this heat pump system.

Oil shale is a kind of potential alternative energy source for petroleum and has attracted the attention of energy researchers all over the world. Borehole hydraulic mining has more prominent advantages than both conventional open-pit mining and underground mining. It is very important to attempt to use the borehole hydraulic mining method to exploit underground oil shale. The nozzle is the key component of borehole hydraulic mining and reasonable mining parameters are also crucial in exploiting underground oil shale efficiently. The straight cone nozzle and the oil shale of Huadian area will be taken as the research objects. The self-developed, multifunctional, experimental device can test both the jet’s performance as well as the breaking of oil shale by the high-pressure water jet using the straight cone nozzle and varying structural parameters. Comprehensive analysis of the results of an orthogonal experimental design, including range analysis and variance analysis, demonstrate the optimal structural parameters of a straight cone nozzle as follows: the outlet diameter is 4 mm, the length to diameter ratio is 2.5, and the contraction angle is 60°. In addition, in order to maximize the efficiency of borehole hydraulic mining for Huadian oil shale, the non-submerged jet should be placed parallel to the oil shale bedding. These results can provide scientific and valuable references for borehole hydraulic mining of oil shale.

This paper presents a one-dimensional finite-volume model of an unglazed photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) solar collector. The unit consists of a conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) collector coupled with a suitable heat exchanger. In particular, the collector includes a roll bond heat exchanger and it is not equipped with back and frame insulation. The system is discretized along the flow direction (longitudinal) of the cogenerative collector. For each finite-volume element of the discretized computational domain, mass and energy balances are implemented. The collector geometry and materials parameters are taken from a commercially available device. An on-field experimental investigation is performed in order to validate the proposed model. The model is used to evaluate both electrical and thermodynamic parameters for each element of the domain and for fixed operating conditions. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is also performed in order to investigate the energetic performance of the cogenerative collector as a function of the main design/environmental parameters.

Vehicle speed prediction plays a critical role in energy management strategy (EMS). Based on the adaptive particle swarm optimization–least squares support vector machine (APSO-LSSVM) algorithm with BP neural network (BPNN), a novel closed-loop vehicle speed prediction system is proposed. The database of a vehicle internet platform was adopted to construct a speed prediction model based on the APSO-LSSVM algorithm. Furthermore, a BPNN is established according to the local high-precision nonlinear fitting relationship between the predicted value and error so as to correct the prediction value. Then, the results are returned to the APSO-LSSVM model for calculating the minimum fitness function, thus obtaining a closed-loop prediction system. Finally, equivalent fuel consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) based EMS was performed. According to the simulation results, the RMSE performance is 0.831 km/h within 5 s, which is over 20% higher than other performances. Additionally, the training time is 15 min within 5 s, which is advantageous over BPNN. Furthermore, fuel consumption increases by 6.95% compared with the dynamic-programming algorithm and decreased by 5.6%~10.9% compared with the low accuracy of speed prediction. Overall, the proposed method is crucial for optimizing EMS as it is not only effective in improving prediction accuracy but also capable of reducing training time.

This paper deals with wave energy conversion in shallow water, analyzing the performance of two different oscillating-body systems. The first one is a heaving float, which is a system known in the literature. The second one is obtained by coupling the heaving float with a surging paddle. In order to check the different behaviors of the multibody system and the single-body heaving float, physical models of the two systems have been tested in a wave flume, by placing them at various water depths along a sloping bottom. The systems have been tested with monochromatic waves. For each water depth, several tests have been performed varying the geometrical and mechanical parameters of the two systems, in order to find their best configurations. It has been found that the multibody system is more energetic when the float and the paddle are close to each other. Capture width ratio has been found to significantly vary with water depth for both systems: in particular, capture width ratio of the heaving float (also within the multibody system) increases as water depth increases, while capture width ratio of the paddle (within the multibody system) increases as water depth decreases. At the end, the capture width ratio of the multibody system is almost always higher than that of the heaving float, and it increases as water depth increases on average; however, the multibody advantage over single body is significant for water depth less than the characteristic dimension of the system, and decreases as water depth increases.

Overtopping-type wave power conversion devices represent one of the most promising technology to combine reliability and competitively priced electricity supplies from waves. While satisfactory hydraulic and structural performance have been achieved, the selection of the hydraulic turbines and their regulation is a complex process due to the very low head and a variable flow rate in the overtopping breakwater set-ups. Based on the experience acquired on the first Overtopping BReakwater for Energy Conversion (OBREC) prototype, operating since 2016, an activity has been carried out to select the most appropriate turbine dimension and control strategy for such applications. An example of this multivariable approach is provided and illustrated through a case study in the San Antonio Port, along the central coast of Chile. In this site the deployment of a breakwater equipped with OBREC modules is specifically investigated. Axial-flow turbines of different runner diameter are compared, proposing the optimal ramp height and turbine control strategy for maximizing system energy production. The energy production ranges from 20.5 MWh/y for the smallest runner diameter to a maximum of 34.8 MWh/y for the largest runner diameter.