This article presents the current and future situation of heat consumption in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The predicted growth of thermal loads until 2030 is shown in the example of Karaganda city. Therefore, the task of creating and implementing automated heat points into the system of heat-supply complexes of cities of the Republic of Kazakhstan is relevant. The article considers the concept of measurement and processing of information in district heating supply systems based on variable cycles of the interrogation of parameters of heat supply at the heat points. As a result of the conducted research, a microcontroller SMART-system for the implementation of rational modes of heat supply used in the process of obtaining and processing information on heat-consumption parameters and making control decisions regarding variable cycles of heat-supply-parameter interrogation at heat points was developed and implemented. The results of the study have been successfully tested on the facilities equipped with automated heat points.

7075-T6 Al and AZ31B Mg dissimilar alloys were friction stir lap welded with or without a Zn filler, and the effect of heat input on the joint quality was systematically studied. The experimental and finite element simulation results displayed that the formation characteristics and microstructures of the joint with or without the Zn filler were significantly affected by the heat input. The tensile shear load of joint with or without the Zn filler increased first and then decreased with the decrease of the welding speed from 200 to 50 mm/min. Moreover, the peak temperature in the stir zone was significantly decreased by the Zn filler addition, and the high temperature zone narrowed along the plate thickness direction. These changes of heat input made that longer mixing region boundary length and larger effective lap width were attained as the Zn filler was used. In addition, due to the replacement of Al-Mg intermetallic compounds (IMCs) by Al-Mg-Zn and Mg-Zn IMCs which were less harmful to the joint, the tensile shear load of the joint with the Zn filler was obviously enhanced compared to that of the joint without the Zn filler at each welding speed. The maximum tensile shear load of 7.2 kN was obtained at the welding speed of 100 mm/min.

The objective of the study was to analyse the theoretical model of development, ‘smart slow city’, based on two concepts of development of modern cities, i.e. ‘smart city’ and ‘slow city’. Conclusions mainly rely on the performed reference literature studies, which allowed for a synthetic presentation of the characteristics of the two discussed models of development, which are the basis for characterizing the hybrid model of the ‘smart slow city’. The comparison of city development models was made on the basis of the following characteristics: the genesis of the city development idea, the rate of changes and the model of life related to it, key city development factors, the main objective of changes, key actors, activity areas, specialization, scale of urban centres, city image, level of development policy, significance of cooperation etc.

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is used, amongst the others, in geothermal facilities, in waste heat recovery or in domestic combined heat and power (CHP) generation. The paper presents optimization of an idealized ORC equivalent of the Carnot cycle with non-zero temperature difference in heat exchangers and with energy dissipation caused by the viscous fluid flow. In this analysis the amount of heat outgoing from the ORC is given. Such a case corresponds to the application of an ORC in domestic CHP. This assumption is different from the most of ORC models where the incoming amount of heat is given.