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Phase change materials (PCM) are used in many industrial and residential applications for their advantageous characteristic of high capacity of latent thermal storage by means of an isothermal process. In this context, it is very useful to have predictive mathematical models for the analysis of the thermal performance and for the thermal design of these layers. In this work, an experimental validation of an analytical model that resolves the steady periodic heat transfer problem in a finite layer of PCM is presented. The experimental investigation was conducted employing a PCM with thermophysical and thermochemical behavior very close to those hypothesized in the formulation of the analytical model. For the evaluation of the thermophysical properties of the PCM sample used, an experimental procedure created by the authors was employed. In all tests realized in a sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal periodic regime, the comparison between the measured and calculated trends of the temperature at different sample heights and of the surface heat fluxes show an excellent agreement. Moreover, also having verified the analytical total stored energy, the analytical model constitutes a valid instrument for the evaluation of the latent and sensible contribution and the trend in time of the position of the bi-phase interface. Peer Reviewed

This paper presents a comprehensive review of all correlations and experimental studies available in the literature to determine the heat transfer coefficient of supercritical CO2 flowing in heat exchangers. The different applications in which it is used are also reviewed and discussed. The correlations obtained from extensive experimental measurements are presented for different geometries (horizontal, vertical and inclined tubes, closed-loop circular pipes, and mini-channels) and dimensions. The review shows that there is a lack of a unique universal correlation for each geometry, suggesting the need for more work in this area. The work partially funded by the Spanish government (ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R (MINECO/FEDER) and ENE2015-64117-C5-3-R (MINECO/FEDER)). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (2014 SGR 123). This project has received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) under Grant agreement N°PIRSES-GA-2013-610692 (INNOSTORAGE) and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 657466 (INPATH-TES), and the funds received by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Alvaro de Gracia would like to thank Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad de España for Grant Juan de la Cierva, FJCI-2014-19940.

Worldwide, the penetrations of photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage systems are increased in power systems. Due to the intermittent nature of PVs, these sustainable power systems require efficient managing and prediction techniques to ensure economic and secure operations. In this paper, a comprehensive dynamic economic dispatch (DED) framework is proposed that includes fuel-based generators, PV, and energy storage devices in sustainable power systems, considering various profiles of PV (clear and cloudy). The DED model aims at minimizing the total fuel cost of power generation stations while considering various constraints of generation stations, the power system, PV, and energy storage systems. An improved optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the DED optimization problem for a sustainable power system. In particular, a mutation mechanism is combined with a salp–swarm algorithm (SSA) to enhance the exploitation of the search space so that it provides a better population to get the optimal global solution. In addition, we propose a DED handling strategy that involves the use of PV power and load forecasting models based on deep learning techniques. The improved SSA algorithm is validated by ten benchmark problems and applied to the DED optimization problem for a hybrid power system that includes 40 thermal generators and PV and energy storage systems. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed framework with different penetrations of PV.

Printed circuit boards constitute the basis of most electronic devices and are mainly fabricated of thin copper films bounded to fiber epoxy laminates, such as FR4. Vibrational stress can induce device failure, and hence, studies addressing their modal properties have important applications. In this paper, cantilever samples made of bare copper bounded to FR4 have been studied to analyze, for the first time, the vibration behavior of specimens with different aspect ratios, with and without central holes of different diameters. Natural frequencies and damping ratios were determined experimentally and analytically using a finite element method for four groups of samples with a very good correspondence between both methods. The fundamental resonance frequency of all the specimens was found to be less than 40 Hz and the influence of a central hole was not significant to affect the modal properties.

Currently, the pyrolysis process is an important technology for the final treatment of plastic waste worldwide. For this reason, knowing in detail the chemical process and the thermodynamics that accompany cracking reactions is of utmost importance. The present study aims to determine the thermodynamic parameters of the degradation process of conventional thermoplastics (polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) from the study of their chemical kinetics by thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Non-isothermal thermogravimetry was performed at three heating rates from room temperature to 550 °C with an inert nitrogen atmosphere with a flow of 20 mL min−1. Once the TG data is obtained, an analysis is carried out with the isoconversional models of Friedman (FR), Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS), and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa (FWO) in order to determine the one that best fits the experimental data, and with this, the calculation of the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor is performed. The validation of the model was carried out using the correlation factor, determining that the KAS model is the one that best adjusts for the post-consumer thermoplastic degradation process at the three heating rates. With the use of the kinetic parameters, the variation of the Gibbs free energy is determined in each of the cases, where it is necessary that for structures containing aromatic groups a lower energy is presented, which implies a relative ease of degradation compared to the linear structures.

Abstract The use of membrane contactor technology is well-known in the process industry and can be employed in many important fields; such as separation and absorption processes, membrane distillation, pervaporation, biotechnology, food industries etc. In recent years, research has been carried out regarding the use of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems. The use of membrane contactors makes it realizable to design compact components with improved heat and mass transfer. Heat and mass transfer performance of the components is significantly enhanced due to the higher area to volume ratio available. Membrane based absorber and desorber allow the reduction in size of the absorption refrigeration systems to a great extent and thus absorption refrigeration technology can be used in transport and small scale applications. In this paper, the applications of membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems are reviewed. The application of membrane contactors in the components of absorption refrigeration systems, the configurations of refrigeration cycles that employ membrane contactors and the characteristics of the membrane contactors used in absorption refrigeration systems are all reviewed in detail. Information is collected on the choice of working fluid mixture to be used in absorption refrigeration systems that use membrane based components and the compatibility of working fluid mixtures with the membrane contactor material is discussed. The significance and limitations of using membrane contactors in absorption refrigeration systems is included in this paper.