The absorption heat transformer (AHT) is a promising system for recovering waste heat. It can effectively recover about 50% of the waste heat and reuse it in industrial processes. However, there exists a need for identifying suitable working fluid combinations and for evaluating their relative...

Low concentration methane, emitted from coal mines, landfill, animal waste, etc. into the atmosphere, is not only a greenhouse gas, but also a waste energy source if not utilised. Methane is 23 times more potent than CO2 in terms of trapping heat in the atmosphere over a timeframe of...

A ternary mixture of R124/R142b/R600a, named HTR01, for moderately high temperature heat pumps, was developed. Tests of material compatibility and oil miscibility showed that the mixture could be used with a R22 compressor in an HTR01 heat-pump system. A 2.92 kW moderately high temperature water...

Stainless steel mesh (SSM) with four opening sizes (20–80M) were investigated as matrixes of activated carbon air–cathodes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The highest power density of 2151±109mWm−2 (at 5.54±0.14Am−2) was obtained using 40M, with a value 45% higher than 1485±18mWm−2...

If buildings can change “clothes” according to seasons like human being, the energy consumption for their space heating or cooling will be saved greatly. For this purpose, the thermophysical properties of building external wall should be self-adjusted according to outdoor temperature. In...

Due to its large apparent specific heat during the phase change period, microencapsulated phase change material slurry (MPCMS) has been suggested as a medium for heat transfer. In this paper, the convective heat transfer characteristics of MPCMS flowing in a circular tube were experimentally and...

Lightweight envelopes are widely used in modern buildings but they lack sufficient thermal capacity for passive solar utilization. An attractive solution to increase the building thermal capacity is to incorporate phase change material (PCM) into the building envelope. In this paper, a...

Effect of shape-stabilized phase change material (SSPCM) plates combined with night ventilation in summer is investigated numerically. A building in Beijing without active air-conditioning is considered for analysis, which includes SSPCM plates as inner linings of walls and the ceiling. Unsteady...

Thermal characteristics of shape-stabilized phase change material (SSPCM) wallboard with sinusoidal temperature wave on the outer surface were investigated numerically and compared with traditional building materials such as brick, foam concrete and expanded polystyrene (EPS). One-dimensional...