Search results for "Lean"
showing 10 items of 3611 documents
Long-term performance and life cycle assessment of energy piles in three different climatic conditions
2020
Abstract The main purpose behind the use of energy piles is to enable the exploitation of geothermal energy for meeting the heating/cooling demands of buildings in an efficient and environment-friendly manner. However, the long-term performance of energy piles in different climatic conditions, along with their actual environmental impacts, has not been fully assessed. In this paper, the results of a finite element model taking into consideration the heating and cooling demands of a reference building, and the intermittent operation of a ground source heat pump, are revealed to examine the long-term performance of energy piles. Furthermore, a life cycle assessment model is implemented to com…
The adoption of green energy technologies: The role of policies in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland
2017
We contribute to the existing research about policy-induced technology adoption in several ways. First, we suggest a new survey design to measure the energy-related policy environment. Second, we simultaneously estimate the policy effects for the adoption propensity and the adoption intensity simultaneously and, third, we compare the policy effects in the three countries, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Based on a representative sample of firms for all three countries we find that policies essentially promote the adoption of technologies and they are practically ineffective for the intensity, which poses a great challenge to future policy designs. Voluntary agreements or demand-related f…
Sewage sludge as cheap alternative to microalgae as feedstock of catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction processes
2019
Abstract Production of biocrude through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of sewage sludge (SS) and Chlorella vulgaris was investigated. NiMo/Al2O3 (KF 851), CoMo/Al2O3 (KF 1022) and activated carbon felt, tested as catalysts at 598 K for 30 min, did not change the biocrude yield but significantly improved its quality. Quantitative sulfur removal and lower oxygen content were found in biocrude when KF 851 and KF 1022 were used with C. vulgaris. The same catalysts decreased O/C and S/C ratio of the biocrude from SS. The highest HHV (38.19 MJ/kg) and H/C ratio (1.65) and the lowest O/C (0.11) of the biocrude from SS were obtained with the cheaper activated carbon felt. A new product phase, prob…
Modelling IR Spectra of Sulfonated Polyether Ether Ketone (SPEEK) Membranes for Fuel Cells
2020
Authors acknowledge support from LSC project No 2014/666 ERDF and students ( ) support from project 2DP/2.1.1.1.0/14/APIA/VIAA/009.
District heating networks: enhancement of the efficiency
2019
International audience; During the decades the district heating's (DH) advantages (more cost-efficient heat generation and reduced air pollution) overcompensated the additional costs of transmission and distribution of the centrally produced thermal energy to consumers. Rapid increase in the efficiency of low-power heaters, development of separated low heat density areas in cities reduce the competitiveness of the large centralized DH systems in comparison with the distributed cluster-size networks and even local heating. Reduction of transmission costs, enhancement of the network efficiency by optimization of the design of the DH networks become a critical issue. The methodology for determ…
Modeling of an active torsion bar automotive suspension for ride comfort and energy analysis in standard road profiles
2019
Abstract Chassis technology is evolving towards active suspension, in which actuators can provide forces to each wheel individually. This overcomes the traditional trade-off between comfort and handling, at the expense of increased complexity and electric consumption. To reduce power demand, regenerative solutions capable of harvesting a certain amount of energy otherwise dissipated in vehicle suspensions and to enhance vehicle dynamics for improving ride comfort and road safety at the same time have been researched. In this paper, an active suspension based on a torsion bar is modeled and analyzed under the excitation from standardized road profiles according to the ISO 8608 norm. A skyhoo…
Interdisciplinary design methodology for systems of mechatronic systems focus on highly dynamic environmental applications
2017
This paper discusses a series of research challenges in the design of systems of mechatronic systems. A focus is given to environmental mechatronic applications within the chain “Renewable energy production — Smart grids — Electric vehicles”. For the considered mechatronic systems, the main design targets are formulated, the relations to state and parameter estimation, disturbance observation and rejection as well as control algorithms are highlighted. Finally, the study introduces an interdisciplinary design approach based on the intersectoral transfer of knowledge and collaborative experimental activities.
Using infrared thermography in order to compare laser and hybrid (laser plus MIG) welding processes
2009
International audience; In order to deepen the understanding of the differences between laser and laser-arc hybrid welding, comparisons were undertaken using thermography. The experiments were carried out for a T assembly of aluminium alloy plates. Modelling, based on the finite element method approach, was realized using IR temperature measurements and seam geometry. For a value of the power supply, depicted as a surface source in the hybrid case, agreement was found between simulated and measured temperatures. The arc power supply efficiency value is similar to the usually used value.
Innovative method to estimate state of charge of the hydride hydrogen tank: application of fuel cell electric vehicles
2021
International audience; Significant attention has been paid to metal hydrides (MH) as an environmentally friendly and safe way to store hydrogen. This technology has considerable potential for the application of embedded hydrogen storage in fuel cell electric vehicles, but its widespread application faces a major problem in terms of estimating the remaining hydrogen amount in the tank. In this work, a new method is proposed for estimating the state of charge (SoC) of the hydrogen hydride tank (HHT) by application of piezoelectric material. The idea is to cover the entire inner wall of the metal-hydride tank with a layer of piezoelectric material. During the process of hydrogen absorption, t…
Energy harvesting using piezoelectric transducers for suspension systems
2020
Abstract Energy harvesting by using functional materials in suspension systems bear potential to win-back certain (even if low) amounts of vibrational energy, otherwise dissipated via the conventional (passive) dampers. Piezoelectric (PE) ceramics are functional materials that can be used for transforming mechanical energy into electrical and vice versa. In this paper, we study the capabilities and efficiency of energy harvesting (EH) with PE transducers under two different kinds of external excitation: i) Periodic and ii) stochastic. An appropriate nonlinear lumped parameter electromechanical model (LPEM) is brought into the two-port network notation. Laboratory experiments were conducted …