Thermoacoustic refrigerator uses acoustic power to transport heat from a low-temperature source to a high-temperature source. The increasing interest in thermoacoustic technology is caused due to its simplicity, reliability as well as application of environmentally friendly working fluids. A typical thermoacoustic refrigerator consists of a resonator, a stack of parallel plates, two heat exchangers and a source of acoustic wave. The article presents the influence of the stack position in the resonance tube and the acoustic frequency on the performance of thermoacoustic refrigerator with a standing wave driven by a loudspeaker, which is measured in terms of the temperature difference between the stack edges. The results from experiments, conducted for the stack with the plate spacing 0.3 mm and the length 50 mm, acoustic frequencies varying between 100 and 400 Hz and air as a working fluid are consistent with the theory presented in this paper. The experiments confirmed that the temperature difference for the stack with determined plate spacing depends on the acoustic frequency and the stack position. The maximum values were achieved for resonance frequencies and the stack position between the pressure and velocity node.

A thermoacoustic heat engine (TAHE) converts heat into acoustic power with no moving parts. It exhibits several advantages over traditional engines, such as simple design, stable functionality, and environment-friendly working gas. In order to further improve the performance of TAHE, stack parameters need to be optimized. Stack’s position, length and plate spacing are the three main parameters that have been investigated in this study. Stack’s position dictates both the efficiency and the maximum produced acoustic power of the heat engine. Positioning the stack closer to the pressure anti-node might ensure high efficiency on the expense of the maximum produced acoustic power. It is noticed that the TAHE efficiency can further be improved by spacing the plates of the stack at a value of 2.4 of the thermal penetration depth, δ_k. Changes in the stack length will not affect the efficiency much as long as the temperature gradient across the stack, as a ratio of the critical temperature gradient Γ; is more than 1. Upon interpreting the effect of these variations, attempts are made towards reaching the engine’s most powerful operating point.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA 2018), air quality in Poland is one of the worst in Europe. There are several sources of air pollution, but the condition of the air in Poland is primarily the result of the so-called low-stack emissions from the household sector. The main reason for the emission of pollutants is the combustion of low-quality fuels (mainly low-quality coal) and waste, and the use of obsolete heating boilers with low efficiency and without appropriate filters. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of measures aimed at reducing low-stack emissions from the household sector (boiler replacement, change of fuel type, and thermal insulation of buildings), resulting from environmental regulations, on the improvement of energy efficiency and the emission of pollutants from the household sector in Poland. Stochastic energy and mass balance models for a hypothetical household, which were used to assess the impact of remedial actions on the energy efficiency and emission of pollutants, have been developed. The annual energy consumption and emissions of pollutants were estimated for hypothetical households before and after the implementation of a given remedial action. The calculations, using the Monte Carlo simulation, were carried out for several thousand hypothetical households, for which the values of the technical parameters (type of residential building, residential building area, unitary energy demand for heating, type of heat source) were randomly drawn from probability distributions developed on the basis of the analysis of the domestic structure of households. The model takes the coefficients of correlation between the explanatory variables in the model into account. The obtained results were multiplied so that the number of hypothetical households was equal to 14.1 million, i.e. the real number of households in Poland. The obtained results allowed for identifying the potential for reducing the emission of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, dust, and nitrogen oxides, and improving the energy efficiency as a result of the proposed and implemented measures, aimed at reducing low-stack emission, resulting from the policy.

The potential for emissions of gaseous pollutants is 94% for CO, 49% for NOx, 90% for dust, and 87% for SO2. The potential for improving the energy efficiency in households is around 42%.

This article presents the main stages and challenges in modelling and designing of modern ultrasonic welding and cutting systems. First, the key components of such a system, such as an ultrasonic stack (con- sisting of a high power ultrasonic transducer and a sonotrode) and a digitally controlled ultrasonic power supply with precise control of the output power, have been considered. Next, a concept of measurement system for verification and validation of mathematical models of ultrasonic stacks and its components has been presented. Finally, a method of ultrasonic stack e-diagnosis based on ultrasonic transducer electrical impedance measurement during welding and cutting process has been described

The effective utilisation of monitoring data of the coal mine is the core of realising intelligent mine. The complex and challenging underground environment, coupled with unstable sensors, can result in “dirty” data in monitoring information. A reliable data cleaning method is necessary to figure out how to extract high-quality information from large monitoring data sets while minimising data redundancy. Based on this, a cleaning method for sensor monitoring data based on stacked denoising autoencoders (SDAE) is proposed. The sample data of the ventilation system under normal conditions are trained by the SDAE algorithm and the upper limit of reconstruction errors is obtained by Kernel density estimation (KDE). The Apriori algorithm is used to study the correlation between monitoring data time series. By comparing reconstruction errors and error duration of test data with the upper limit of reconstruction error and tolerance time, cooperating with the correlation rule, the “dirty” data is resolved. The method is tested in the Dongshan coal mine. The experimental results show that the proposed method can not only identify the dirty data but retain the faulty information. The research provides effective basic data for fault diagnosis and disaster warning.

This paper presents the issue of the vertical extension of buildings, mainly residential, as an element of sustainable housing policy of European cities. This type of construction project allows for the acquisition of additional residential space, using the existing technical infrastructure, and also not deepening the effect of urban sprawl. Vertical extensions allow for the construction of new apartments in urban areas, being one of the forms of densifying the existing buildings. The study reviews research on the subject of vertical building extensions, trying to answer the research questions posed: how and with the use of which building analysis tools it is possible to improve the process of vertical extension, so that it can become an actual element of the housing policy of cities. Three original studies were selected for the analysis: from Germany, Belgium and England, which met the criteria set by this study, presenting a universal scheme of action for vertical extensions, not treating them as incidental, individual construction intervention, and treating vertical extensions as an element of systemic action for the acquisition of new apartments. The selected studies are carried out in countries economically and culturally similar to Poland, which was also one of the selection criteria. The study is also to be a voice in the discussion on the possibility of the vertical extension of residential buildings as an element of housing policy in Poland.

This paper discusses the transient characteristics of the planar type SOFC cell stack, of which the standard output is 300 W. The transient response of the voltage to the manipulation of an electric current was investigated. The effects of the response and of the operating condition determined by the operating temperature of the stack were studied by mapping a current-voltage (I-V) correlation. The current-based fuel control (CBFC) was adopted for keeping the fuel utilization factor at constant while the value of the electric current was ramped at the constant rate. The present experimental study shows that the transient characteristics of the cell voltage are determined by primarily the operating temperature caused by the manipulation of the current. Particularly, the slope of the I-V curve and the overshoot found on the voltage was remarkably influenced by the operating temperature. The different values of the fuel utilization factor influence the height of the settled voltages. The CBFC has significance in determining the slope of the I-V characteristic, but the different values of the fuel utilization factor does not affect the slope as the operating temperature does. The CBFC essentially does not alter the amplitude of the overshoot on the voltage response, since this is dominated by the operating temperature and its change is caused by manipulating the current.

The aim of this work was to achieve a deeper understanding of the heat transfer in a microtubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (mSOFC) stack based on the results obtained by means of a Computational Fluid Dynamics tool. Stack performance predictions were based on simulations for a 16 anodesupported mSOFCs sub-stack, which was a component of the overall stack containing 64 fuel cells. The emphasis of the paper was put on steady-state modelling, which enabled identification of heat transfer between the fuel cells and air flow cooling the stack and estimation of the influence of stack heat losses. Analysis of processes for different heat losses and the impact of the mSOFC reaction heat flux profile on the temperature distribution in the mSOFC stack were carried out. Both radiative and convective heat transfer were taken into account in the analysis. Two different levels of the inlet air velocity and three different values of the heat losses were considered. Good agreement of the CFD model results with experimental data allowed to predict the operation trends, which will be a reliable tool for optimisation of the working setup and ensure sufficient cooling of the mSOFC stack.

The paper addresses the issues of quantification and understanding of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) based on numerical modelling carried out under four European, EU, research projects from the 7FP within the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, FCH JU, activities. It is a short review of the main projects’ achievements. The goal was to develop numerical analyses at a single cell and stack level. This information was integrated into a system model that was capable of predicting fuel cell phenomena and their effect on the system behaviour. Numerical results were analysed and favourably compared to experimental results obtained from the project partners. At the single SOFC level, a static model of the SOFC cell was developed to calculate output voltage and current density as functions of fuel utilisation, operational pressure and temperature. At the stack level, by improving fuel cell configuration inside the stack and optimising the operation conditions, thermal stresses were decreased and the lifetime of fuel cell systems increased. At the system level, different layouts have been evaluated at the steady-state and by dynamic simulations. Results showed that increasing the operation temperature and pressure improves the overall performance, while changes of the inlet gas compositions improve fuel cell performance.