The multi-family residential building sector is the least energy efficient in the United States, thus allowing for ample opportunities for significant cost-effective energy and carbon savings. In the present study, we propose a district solar borehole thermal solar energy storage (BTES) system for both retrofit and new construction for a multi-family residence in the Midwestern United States, where the climate is moderately cold with very warm summers. Actual apartment interval power and water demand data was mined and used to estimate unit level hourly space and water heating demands, which was subsequently used to design a cost-optimal BTES system. Using a dynamic simulation model to predict the system performance over a 25-year period, a parametric study was conducted that varied the sizes of the BTES system and the solar collector array. A life-cycle cost analysis concluded that is it possible for an optimally-sized system to achieve an internal rate of return (IRR) of 11%, while reducing apartment-wide energy and carbon consumption by 46%. Both a stand-alone and solar-assisted ground-source heat pump system were designed and simulated for comparison to the BTES system, and found to be less economically favorable than the solar BTES system. Thus, the promise for district-scale adoption of BTES in multi-family residences is established, particularly for new buildings.

A novel geothermal heat pump (GHP) system with an integrated low- to moderate-temperature salt hydrate phase change material (PCM) storage tank for buildings in cold climates is proposed in this study. The purpose of the PCM storage tank is to dampen peak heating loads and to remove annual ground thermal load imbalances on the ground heat exchanger (GHX) to assist in achieving an optimally-sized GHX. As heat is extracted from the closed-loop system by heat pumps in heating mode, a significant portion of this heat is used to solidify a salt hydrate PCM. This heat of fusion is later released back into the heat transfer fluid, storing it in the PCM tank and GHX for later diurnal and seasonal use. To examine the merits of the proposed concept, electric utility meter data on 15-minute time intervals were mined from an actual apartment building and used to estimate space heating, cooling, and hot water heating loads. Those data were used in an hourly, dynamic 20-year life-cycle simulation model in TRNSYS to design an optimum combination of GHX and PCM storage, where each component was sized to balance the annual ground thermal loads. The system simulation results show significant potential for GHX size reduction with a PCM storage tank, but the system is quite sensitive to the PCM melt temperature due to significant hysteretic nature of the salt hydrate PCM heating and cooling curves. We also find that there is no unique optimum unless other factors are considered such as installation cost and physical constraints; many combinations of GHX size and PCM mass are capable of achieving the design goal with similar annual electric energy consumption. For the cases examined here, a PCM melt temperature of 27 °C yields the most favorable economic results, and a preliminary economic analysis suggests that with typical drilling cost and PCM tank cost values, the GHX size can be reduced by over 50 %.

The purpose of this paper is to minimize the total cost of raw material inventory for

water desalination and bottling plant resulting in a more profitable approach in

accordance with the production needs. The classical application of Economic Order

Quantity is used to support this paper and in order to reduce the costs related to

inventory. For this purpose, this method generates a minimum total inventory cost by

finding when ordering cost and carrying cost are equal. From this result, the inventory

level and the number of raw material demand become more economically suitable with

the production needs. It is because this method applies two types of cost, carrying cost

and ordering cost that make the total inventory cost more productive. So, this method

can be used to get the most economical total inventory cost and reduce storage cost

swelling. And hence, decreasing costs means that more profit is achieved.

Analytical study associated with liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) has been investigated by using scattering and non-scattering mathematical radiation models. In the nonscattering model, the radiative transfer equation (RTE) was solved together with the continuity equations of mixture components under local thermodynamic equilibrium. A MATLAB code was used to solve these equations. This application employed a numerical integration to compute the temperature distribution within the bubble and the transient wall heat flux. First, in Rayleigh nonscattering model the particle size was 0.01 µm [6], and according to Mie theory principle, the absorption coefficient for small particle –size distribution was estimated (k = 10 m-1 was used) from reference [7] at complex refractive index of UO2 at λ = 600 µm and x = 0.0785. A MATLAB code was used to solve the radiative heat equation (RTE) in spherical coordinates. The mixture is in local thermodynamic equilibrium inside the bubble which has a black body surface boundary. The mixture in the bubble contains three components: the non-condensable gas Xenon, Uranium dioxide vapor, and fog. To simulate fuel bubble’s geometry as realistically as possible, according to experimental observation, the energy equation in a spherical coordinate system has been solved with the radiative flux heat transfer equation (RTE) to obtain the effect of fuel bubble’s geometry on the transient radiative heat flux and to predict the transient temperature iv distribution in the participating medium during a hypothetical core disruptive accident (HCDA) for liquid metal fast breeding reactor (LMFBR) for FAST. The transient temperature distribution in fog region was used to predict the amount of condensable UO2 vapor. The conclusion that can be drawn from the present study, is that the Fuel Aerosol Simulant Test (FAST) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a larger margin of safety since the bubble rising time is greater than the bubble collapse time. Second in the scattering model, the spherical harmonics method was used to solve the radiative heat transfer equation (RTE) in spherical coordinates, and the particle size was 0.07 µm [6]. The scattering coefficient of UO2 particles (σ = 1.24 m-1 ), was calculated using Mie theory at the same number of stable nuclei N (2.9 E15 nuclei/m3 ) that resulted from the absorption coefficient k = 0.082 m-1 [7]. The P1 approximation method was used to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) in spherical coordinates of participating medium confined between two concentric spheres. The surfaces of the spheres are assumed to be gray, diffusely emitting and diffusely reflecting boundaries, and isothermal boundary conditions were assumed at these surfaces. Marsak’s boundary condition was used to compute the net radiative heat flux, q(τ), and the incident radiation, G(τ), to analyze and interpret CVD experiments data that were conducted in the FAST facility at ORNL [8] and Fast Flux Test Facility reactor (FFTF) at ANL. From this study, it can be concluded that there is greater margin of safety when the bubble rise time is a greater than the bubble collapse time since the bubble collapses (UO2 condenses) before it can reach the top of the vessel. In addition, the work transfer by itself can’t completely eliminate the super-heated vapor, as the bubble contains noncondensable species which hinder condensation. However, it is reasonable to assume that work transfer could decrease the amount of UO2 vapor contained in the bubble as it reached the covergas [63].

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The metallurgical influence of niobium (Nb) on an annealed high manganese (Mn) steel is still an active issue of discussion between automobile companies and steel manufacturers. Some controversy exists in the literature concerning the influence of Nb solubility on microstructure and thereby on mechanical properties. The influence of Nb-solubility on microstructure of Fe30Mn alloy steel was investigated experimentally and by computational materials modeling. Nb was added in 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 1% additions and the alloy samples were annealed at 1200oC for 2, 5, 10, 30 and 60 minutes. The microstructure was investigated using an optical microscope, TEM and SEM-EDX and precipitates were chemically tested. Niobium solubility in Fe30Mn austenite was theoretically studied based on Gladman assumptions and was also examined by Thermo-Calc analysis. The result of this work is a comparison between the microstructure analysis and theoretical studies, and it has been found that Nb was soluble in Fe30Mn austenite phase and has had a solute drag effect where Nb(C,N) and NbN precipitates were seen and the effect was pinning effect 

ABSTRACT

Massive amounts of solid olive mill residues (olive-waste cake) generated

every year and disposed of in the environment. Thus, the present work aims

to study the preparation of activated carbon (AC) from Libyan Olive-Waste

Cakes as a natural source. The solid olive mill residue was carbonized at

200 C0 and chemically activated with 25% Zncl2 and 25% Zncl2 + 25%

H2SO4 . The prepared AC was used to reduce total hardness in groundwater.

The results showed that the addition of H2SO4 increased the treatment

efficiency of AC leading to decrease the total hardness concentration.

Several parameters affecting the efficiency of AC were investigated

including pH, initial concentration of AC, and contact time. The achieved

results showed that the optimum values were at pH: 3, AC initial

concentration: 2.5 g/L, and contact time 120 min. At these conditions the

maximum reduction of hardness was 75%. According to these results the

olive- waste cake can be considered as an effective natural source of

activated Carbon.

Power transformers, which perform the function of transforming the voltage levels, are one of the most important electrical equipments that are used in power transmission systems. Hence, it is mandatory to perform power transformermaintenance; as they are normally scattered geographically, it is impractical to do periodical monitoring due to insufficient manpower. As the reason above, transformer failure may occur which causes the transformer from network unexpectedly power shutdown. To overcome this shutdown from transformer failure of the adapter, a system for transformer monitoring and self- protection was proposed in case the maintenance is delayed. In this paper, the temperature and humidity within the transformer were monitored, in addition to monitoring the rate of loading on the transformer. By using the internet of things (IoT), a self-protection system is designed and implemented for thetransformer. Where, if the transformer is not serviced quickly, the transformer will separate loads of low-importance (workshops, Homes,….) and it will keep the loads of high importance (hospitals,…) .and if the transformer is unable to feed the loads of high importance, in this case the transformer will separates all loads and stay in no-load status where the transformer monitor its parameters by itself, if all parameters of the transformer return to the normal level, the transformer automatically returns the loads in order of priority. All these components have been grouped and combined into one device. In addition the device is powered using an AC-DC adapter by an external power source.