The main goal of today’s car designers is to minimize fuel consumption in all possible ways at the same time maintaining the vehicle’s performance as usual. The goal of this work is to study the effect of adding a vortex generator (VG) on the aerodynamics of the vehicle and fuel economy. Both theoretical and experimental works were carried out and the outcomes of the numerical simulations are contrasted with those of the experimental results. A utility vehicle model with a scale ratio of 1:15 was used as a test model. Experimental research has been done on the fluctuation of the coefficient of pressure, dynamic pressure, and coefficients of lift and drag with and without VG on the roof of a utility vehicle. The delta-shaped VG was put to the test both numerically and experimentally. At a velocity of 2.42 m/s, it is observed that the addition of VG can raise the pressure coefficient by about 17%. When compared to the vehicle model without vortex generators, the velocity profile of the ccomputational fluid dynamics analysis shows that at the back end of the vehicle, the wake has been minimized with VG.

The paper presents the first off-grid system designed to supply electricity to the equipment mounted on components of the district heating network in district heating chambers. The proposed off-grid system is equipped, among other things, with a turbine and a generator intended for electricity production. On-grid power supply is a common way of providing electricity with strictly defined, known and verified operating parameters. For off-grid power supply, however, there are no documented testing results showing such parameters. This paper presents selected results of tests and measurements carried out during the operation of an off-grid supply system powering the equipment installed in a district heating chamber. The values of voltage obtained from a turbine-driven generator are analysed in detail. The analysis results can be used as the basis for further works aiming to optimize the off-grid system of electricity supply to devices installed in district heating chambers.

The design of suitable thermophysical properties of reinforced ice as well as employing the novel material in feasible ways represent key aspects towards alternative building sustainability. In this overview research studies dealing with reinforced ice structures have been presented with an emphasis on construction parameters and reinforcement materials of the structures. The main focus of the study is directed to the identification of the main issues related to the construction of reinforced ice structures as well as the environmental and economic impact of such structures. Obtained research data shows that the compressive, tensile, and bending strength of reinforced ice can be increased up to 6 times compared to plain ice. The application of reinforcement materials decreases creep rate, enhances ductility, and reduces brittle behaviour of ice. Assessed reinforced ice structures were mainly found to be environmentally friendly and economically viable. However, in most of the analysed studies construction parameters and physical properties were not defined precisely. The conducted overview indicates the necessity for more comprehensive and more accurate data regarding reinforced ice construction, applied methods, and processes, and preparation of ice composites in general.

Improvement in the exegetic efficiency of a solar air heater (SAH) can be done by enhancing the rate of heat transfer. In this work, the exergetic efficiency optimization of an artificially roughened solar air heater having an inverted L-shape rib has been performed. The numerical analysis of the exergetic performance of the solar air heater was carried out at a constant heat flux of 1000 W/m2. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of different relative roughness pitch (7.14–17.86) on the exergy losses, under the Reynolds number range of 3000 to 18 000. The roughness parameter of this geometry has been optimized and found to be among functional operating parameters like average solar intensity and temperature rise across the collector. The optimized value of relative roughness pitch is 17.86 at the isolation of 1000 W/m ², and the parameter of temperature rise ranges from 0.005 to 0.04.

Conventional fuels are the primary source of pollution. Switching towards clean energy becomes increasingly necessary for sustainable development. Electric vehicles are the most suitable alternative for the future of the automobile industry. The battery, being the power source, is the critical element of electric vehicles. However, its charging and discharging rates have always been a question. The discharge rate depends upon various factors such as vehicle load, temperature gradient, surface inclination, terrain, tyre pressure, and vehicle speed. In this work, a 20 Ah, 13S-8P configured lithium-ion battery, developed specifically for a supermileage custom vehicle, is used for experimentation. The abovementioned factors have been analyzed to check the vehicle’s overall performance in different operating conditions, and their effects have been investigated against the battery’s discharge rate. It has been observed that the discharge rate remains unaffected by the considered temperature difference. However, overheating the battery results in thermal runaway, damaging and reducing its life. Increasing the number of brakes to 15, the impact on the discharge rate is marginal; however, if the number of brakes increases beyond 21, a doubling trend in voltage drops was observed. Thus, a smoother drive at a slow-varying velocity is preferred. Experiments for different load conditions and varying terrains show a rise in discharge with increasing load, low discharge for concrete, and the largest discharge for rocky terrain.

The numerical simulation of the heat transfer in the flow channels of the minichannel heat exchanger was carried out. The applied model was validated on the experimental stand of an air heat pump. The influence of louver heights was investigated in the range from 0 mm (plain fin) to 7 mm (maximum height). The set of simulations was prepared in Ansys CFX. The research was carried out in a range of air inlet velocities from 1 to 5 m/s. The values of the Reynolds number achieved in the experimental tests ranged from 93 to 486. The dimensionless factors, the Colburn factor and friction factor, were calculated to evaluate heat transfer and pressure loss, respectively. The effectiveness of each louver height was evaluated using the parameter that relates to the heat transfer and the pressure drop in the airflow. The highest value of effectiveness (1.53) was achieved by the louver height of 7 mm for the Reynolds number of around 290.

In this work, we propose a new method for manufacturing busbars in photovoltaic modules for different solar cell generations, focusing on 1st and 3rd generations. The method is based on high-pressure spray coating using nanometric metallic powder. Our focus is primarily on optimizing conductive paths for applications involving conductive layers used in 3rd generation solar cells, such as quantum dot solar cell, dye-sensitized solar cell, and silicon-based solar cells on glass-glass architecture for buildingintegrated photovoltaic. The advantages of the proposed method include the possibility of reducing the material quantity in the conductive paths and creating various shapes on the surface, including bent substrates.
This paper examines the influence of the proposed high-pressure spraying technique using metallic particles on the morphology of the resulting conductive paths, interface characteristics, and electrical parameters. Conductive paths were created on four different layers commonly used in photovoltaic systems, including transparent conductive oxide, Cu, Ti, and atomic layer deposition processed Al ₂O ₃. The use of high-pressure technology enables the production of conductive layers with strong adhesion to the substrate and precise control of the spatial parameters of conductive paths. Furthermore, the temperature recorded during the deposition process does not exceed 385 K, making this technique suitable for various types of substrates, including glass and silicon. Additionally, the produced layers exhibit low resistance, measuring less than 0.3Ω . Finally, the mechanical resistance, as determined through tearing tests, as well as environmental and time stability, have been confirmed for the produced paths.

The paper is of practical importance and describes the construction of a test rig and the measurement method for determining the relative emissivity coefficient of thermosensitive thin polymer coatings. Polymers are high-molecular chemical compounds that produce chains of repeating elements called ‘mers’. The polymers can be natural and artificial. The former ones form the building material for living organisms, the latter – for plastics. In this work, the words plastics and polymers are used as synonyms. Some plastics are thermosensitive materials with specific physical and chemical properties. The calorimetric method mentioned in the title consists of two steps. The first stage, described here, involves very accurately measuring the emissivity of black paint with the highest possible relative emissivity coefficient, which covers the surface of the heater and the inner surface of the chamber. In the second step, the thermosensitive polymer will be placed on the inner surface of the chamber, while black paint with a known emissivity coefficient will remain on the heater. Such a way of determining the properties of thermosensitive polymers will increase the error of the method itself, but at the same time will avoid melting of the polymer coating. During the tests, the results of which are presented in this work, the emissivity coefficient of the black paint was obtained in the range of 0.958–0.965.

Solar air heater is regarded as the most common and popular solar thermal system and has a wide range of applications, from residential to industrial. Solar air heater is not viable because of the low convective heat transfer coefficient at the absorber plate which contributes to decreasing the thermal efficiency. Artificial coarseness on the plain surface is the most effective method to enhance heat transfer with a moderate rate of friction factor of flowing air in the design of solar air heater duct. The different parameters and different artificial coarseness are responsible to alter the flow structure and heat transfer rate. Over the years different artificial roughness and how its geometry affects the performance of solar air heater have been thoroughly studied. Various investigators report the correlations between heat transfer and friction factors. In the present study, a comparison of several artificial coarseness geometries and methods with a view to enhancing the performance of solar air heater has been made. A brief outline has also been presented for future research.

The paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of the integration of a cryogenic air separation unit into a negative CO ₂ emission gas power plant. The power cycle utilizes sewage sludge as fuel so this system fits into the innovative idea of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. A cryogenic air separation unit integrated with the power plant was simulated in professional plant engineering and thermodynamic process analysis software. Two cases of the thermodynamic cycle have been studied, namely with the exhaust bleed for fuel treatment and without it. The results of calculations indicate that the net efficiencies of the negative CO ₂ emission gas power plant reach 27.05% (combustion in 95.0% pure oxygen) and 24.57% (combustion in 99.5% pure oxygen) with the bleed. The efficiencies of the cycle without the bleed are 29.26% and 27.0% for combustion in 95.0% pure oxygen and 99.5% pure oxygen, respectively. For the mentioned cycle, the calculated energy penalty of oxygen production was 0.235 MWh/kgO ₂ for the lower purity value. However, for higher purity namely 99.5%, the energy penalty of oxygen production for the thermodynamic cycle including the bleed and excluding the bleed was indicated 0.346 and 0.347 MWh/kgO ₂, respectively. Additionally, the analysis of the oxygen purity impact on the carbon dioxide purity at the end of the carbon capture and storage installation shows that for the case with the bleed, CO ₂ purities are 93.8% and 97.6%, and excluding the bleed they are 93.8% and 97.8%, for the mentioned oxygen purities respectively. Insertion of the cryogenic oxygen production installation is required as the considered gas power plant uses oxy-combustion to facilitate carbon capture and storage method.

The present work is aimed at geometrical optimization and optical analysis of a small-sized parabolic trough collector (PTC). Improving the performance of parabolic trough collectors can greatly justify the use of solar energy. An optimized curvature geometry, the location of the absorber tube, and the heat flux distribution along the circumference of the absorber tube are major features in the geometric optimization and optical modelling of parabolic trough collectors. Rim angle, aperture width, the diameter of the absorber tube, receiver position, and the optimum value of heat flux are the major parameters considered in this work for geometrical and optical analysis. The Monte Carlo ray tracing method has been adopted for analysis. The non-uniform heat flux distribution profile obtained from optical analysis of the proposed parabolic trough collector has been compared with the profile available in the literature, and good agreement has been obtained, which proves the feasibility and reliability of the model and method used for this study. An experimental new small-sized parabolic trough collector has been fabricated for the optimized rim angle of 90 deg after a successful laser light feasibility test. The effect of the absorber tube position along the optical axis on the heat flux profile was analysed and found to be substantial. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of the parabolic trough collector using the software applied has been discussed separately.

The present work comprises a numerical analysis using the Ansys program to solve the problem of combined free-forced convection around a circular cylinder located in a horizontal lid-driven trapezoidal enclosure. The enclosure is filled with water. The upper moving wall and lower fixed wall are cold at a constant temperature, whereas the inclined walls are adiabatically insulated. The uniformly heated cylinder is located at different positions in the cavity. The study covers three values of Richardson number (0.01, 1, and 10). The results show that the streamlines and isotherms in the enclosure, the Nusselt number and friction factor in the moving wall, hot wall and bottom wall are strongly dependent on the position of the inner hot cylinder. The results are validated with previous work, and the comparison gives good agreement.

For the sake of exploring the thermodynamic characteristics of hybrid ceramic bearings with metal inner rings in the application process, we established the mathematical model of bearings with metal inner rings based on the thermodynamics of bearings. The heat of the bearings, inner and outer raceway, and the deformation of bearings were calculated by the thermodynamic model. We used the bearing life testing machine to test the bearing load and speed. The consequences indicate that the temperature stability time of a hybrid ceramic bearing with the metal inner ring is about 6 hours after loading, and its temperature is about 1–2°C higher than that of a metal bearing. Under the condition of a certain speed, the stable temperature of bearing operation improves with the enlargement of the load. Under the condition of a certain load, the bearing temperature also improves with the enlargement of bearing speed. The overall temperature trend of the bearing outer ring is unanimous with the overall temperature value calculated by the model. The maximum error is between 2.2 and 2.4°C. The thermodynamic analysis of hybrid bearings with metal inner rings is conducive to a better study of the effect of bearing material characteristics on bearing performance.

The paper presents the investigation of the optimum design parameters of a solar air heater (SAH) having wire ribs as artificial roughness by using the Taguchi method. The solar air heater has arc shape roughness geometry with apex upstream flow on the absorber plate. The objective of this paper is to obtain a set of parameters that deliver maximum thermo-hydraulic performance. For this objective, a new parameter the thermo-hydraulic improvement parameter ( ^ηTHIP), has been introduced. For the present analysis, the effects of Reynolds number (Re), relative roughness pitch ( P/e), angle of attack ( α), and relative roughness height ( e/Dh), denoted by A, B, C, and D, respectively, have been considered. An ( L ₁₈ = 6 ¹ · 3 ²) orthogonal array (OA) was chosen as an experimental plan for applying the Taguchi method. The set of control factors for the solar air heater SAH which delivers the maximum Nusselt number (Nu), and minimum friction factor ( fr) – are A ₆B ₂C ₂, and A ₁B ₁C ₃ respectively. To obtain the maximum THIP the experimental set-up requires only one single run using the parameter A ₆B ₂C ₂, hence there is no need to run it all 54 times.

The paper presents the methodology of designing a system for accumulating waste heat from industrial processes. The research aimed to analyse the fluid’s movement in the heat accumulator to unify the temperature field in the volume of water constituting the heat buffer. Using the computer program Ansys Fluent, a series of computational fluid dynamics simulations of the process of charging the heat storage with water at 60°C, 70°C, and 80°C was carried out. The selected temperatures correspond to the temperature range of unmanaged waste heat. In the presented solution, heat storage is loaded with water from the cooling systems of industrial equipment to store excess heat and use it at a later time. The results of numerical calculations were used to analyse the velocity and temperature fields in the selected structure of the modular heat storage. A novelty in the presented solution is the use of smaller modular heat storage units that allow any configuration of the heat storage system. This solution makes it possible to create heat storage with the required heat capacity.