Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Thermal energy measurement'

Conducting polymers (CP) have received great attention in both academic and industrial areas in recent years. They exhibit unique characteristics (electrical conductivity, solution processability, light weight and flexibility) which make them promising candidates for being used in many electronic applications. Recently, there is a renewed interest to consider those materials for thermoelectric generators that is for energy harvesting purposes. Therefore, it is of great importance to have in depth understanding of their thermal and electrical characteristics. In this diploma work, the thermal conductivity of PEDOT:PSS is investigated by applying 3-omega technique which is accounted for a transient method of measuring thermal conductivity and specific heat. To validate the measurement setup, two benchmark substrates with known properties are explored and the results for thermal conductivity are nicely in agreement with their actual values with a reasonable error percentage. All measurements are carried out inside a Cryogenic probe station with vacuum condition. Then a bulk scale of PEDOT:PSS with sufficient thickness is made and investigated. Although, it is a great challenge to make a thick layer of this polymer since it needs to be both solid state and has as smooth surface as possible for further gold deposition. The results display a thermal conductivity range between 0.20 and 0.25 (W.m-1.K-1) at room temperature which is a nice approximation of what has been reported so far. The discrepancy is mainly due to some uncertainty about the exact value of temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of the heater and also heat losses especially in case of heaters with larger surface area. Moreover, thermal conductivity of PEDOT:PSS is studied over a wide temperature band ranging from 223 - 373 K.

A Thermal conductivity probe fo rhigh temperature(HT-TCP) has been built and tested. Its design and construction procedure are adapted from the ambient temperature ther- mal conductivity probe(AT-TCP) due to the good performance softhislast.The construction procedure and the preliminary tests are accurately described.The probe contains a PtwireasheaterandatypeKthermocouple(K-TC)as temperature sensor, and its size are so small (diameter0.6mmandlength60mm) to guaranteea length to diameter ratioofabout100.Calibration tests with glycerolfor temperatures between 0C and 60C have shown a good Agreement with literature data,within3%.First tests on aternarysalt(18%inmassof NaNO3, 52% KNO3, and30% LiNO3) at120C and 150C , have given good results:an Agreement was found with the Thermal conduc- tivity of the standard solar salt(60% NaNO3, 40% KNO3), even if the data for this last have been extrapolated,being it solidat those temperatures. Unfortunately, at the higher temperaturetested(200C), the viscosityof the salt highly decreases,and free convection starts, making the measurements unreliable. A numerica linvestigation of the performance of the storage and evolution of the ther- mocline for theOPTSFull scaleconguration and for the OPTSsystem of theEnea Casaccia facility is carriedon.The full scale conguration has a tankheightinthe order of12m,because this choice allow stop operate the systeminnatural convection regime forlow charge fraction softh e storage.In order to obtainnumerical results in a time scalesuitable with computer resources and activities, the adoption of anaxisym- metric simplication of the geometriesis pursuit. The code OpenFOAMversion2.2.0 is used to perform the simulations. Code and model settings together with the adopted computational grids,initia land boundary conditionsare described in the following sec- tions. A summary of the simulation results is then given. A steady-state numerical investigation of the MSHeatExchanger prototype developed in ENEA Casaccia is presented.This component is realized to perform the heat exchange between moltensalts(aternarymixture ) and adiathermicoil and with a moderate tem- peraturegap(38C). In order to optimize the heate xchangereciency and toobtain the greatest contact are a between uids the pipe line series of diathermicoil is designed with anhelical geometry.The moltensaltsside is aconvectionalcy lindricalgeome- try with the Greater diameter in the region where pipe line series are located while the other portion of the heater has a diameter lower than the length of the cylinder.The codeOpenFOAMversion2.2.0 is use d to perform the simulations for the discharging phase. Code and model settings together with the adopted computational grids, initial and boundary conditions are described in the following sections and summary of the simulation results is then given.

QUB est une méthode d'essai de caractérisation thermique in situ dynamique qui a le potentiel d'être menée sur une courte durée d'une à deux nuits. La robustesse de la méthode QUB avec l'incertitude du niveau de puissance (pendant la phase de chauffage QUB), l'incertitude du coefficient de transfert de chaleur global à l'état d'équilibre, H_ref, et les températures extérieures en fonction des saisons doivent être établies pour les bâtiments réels. Un modèle dynamique d'état-espace est développé dans cette thèse pour simuler des expériences QUB. La modélisation espace-état consiste à générer un circuit thermique pour chaque composant du bâtiment (murs, fenestration, système de ventilation, etc.). Les circuits thermiques sont ensuite assemblés pour générer un seul circuit pour l'ensemble du bâtiment. Le modèle d'espace d'état développé, est validé à l'aide des caractéristiques thermiques et des données mesurées d'une maison à grande échelle (la maison jumelle) fournies par l'annexe 58 de l'IEA EBC. Les simulations numériques des expériences QUB sur une maison montrent que la méthode ne présente que de légères variations avec une incertitude de puissance; par exemple, une erreur de 30% de la puissance optimale peut provoquer une erreur à moins de 3% de la valeur de référence. Une analyse d'erreur a posteriori est effectuée en simulant des expériences QUB dans des situations où l'enveloppe réelle a des caractéristiques différentes de celles supposées dans la conception de l'expérience pour la méthode QUB. Ces résultats sont ensuite comparés à des erreurs a priori, une situation dans laquelle des expériences QUB sont effectuées avec la connaissance de l'enveloppe réelle. L'analyse des erreurs montre qu'avec une erreur de 50% du coefficient de transfert de chaleur global (c'est-à-dire une situation d'isolation de paroi manquante), la méthode QUB entraîne une erreur accrue de seulement 3¬¬%. La précision de la méthode QUB a également été testée avec la variation du rayonnement solaire. Les résultats QUB les jours nuageux montrent une variation moindre par rapport aux jours ensoleillés. Il a été démontré que le transfert de chaleur des radiations solaires retardées pénétrant à travers les murs du bâtiment a un effet sur l'évolution de la température au cours de l'expérience QUB. Cela peut entraîner une augmentation de l'erreur dans la méthode QUB. Les expériences QUB sont simulées pendant l'été et l'hiver pour déterminer l'impact des saisons sur la précision de la méthode. La saison d'hiver montre des résultats plus robustes que les mois d'été. Les mois d'été montrent une plus grande variation des résultats. Il est vérifié que la grande variation est due à une petite différence de température entre les conditions intérieures et extérieures pendant certaines des nuits d'été. Les expériences en saison estivale peuvent être améliorées en augmentant la température de consigne avant l'expérience QUB
QUB is a dynamic in-situ thermal characterization test method that has the potential to be conducted in a short duration of one to two nights. The robustness of QUB method with uncertainty in power level (during QUB heating phase), uncertainty in overall heat transfer coefficient at steady state, H_ref, and the outdoor temperatures a function of seasons needs to be established for real buildings.A dynamic state-space model is developed in this thesis to simulate QUB experiments. The state-space modelling involves generating a thermal circuit for each component of the building (walls, fenestration, ventilation system, etc.). The thermal circuits are then assembled to generate a single circuit for the entire building. The state-space model developed, is validated using thermal characteristics and measured data of a full-scale house (the twin house) provided by IEA EBC Annex 58. The numerical simulations of the QUB experiments on a house show that the method has only slight variation with uncertainty in power; for example, 30% error in optimum power can cause an error within 3 % of the reference value. A posteriori error analysis is performed by simulating QUB experiments in situations in which the real envelope has different characteristics than those assumed in the design of the experiment for QUB method. These results are then compared with a priori errors, a situation in which QUB experiments are performed with the knowledge of the real envelope. The error analysis shows that with 50 % error in the overall heat transfer coefficient (i.e. missing wall insulation situation), the QUB method results in an increased error of only 3¬¬ %. The precision of QUB method was tested also with the variation of solar radiation. QUB results on cloudy days show lesser variation as compared to sunny days. It was shown that the heat transfer from the delayed solar radiations entering through the walls of the building has an effect on the temperature evolution during the QUB experiment. This can lead to an increased error in QUB method. The QUB experiments are simulated during summer and winter to determine the impact of seasons on the accuracy of the method. The winter season shows more robust results as compared to summer months. The summer months show larger variation of results. It is verified that the large variation are due to small temperature difference between indoor and outdoor conditions during some of the summer nights. The experiments in summer season can be improved by increasing the set point temperature before the QUB experiment

Questa tesi di dottorato presenta lo sviluppo e la validazione di alcuni sistemi innovativi ed a basso costo per il monitoraggio ed il controllo di ambienti interni. I sistemi presentati in questo documento trovano le loro origini nel Comfort Eye, un sistema di misura del comfort termoigrometrico già presentato in letteratura. Questo dispositivo è in grado di misurare in maniera innovativa alcune tra le più rilevanti grandezze ambientali, riuscendo ad ottenere dei valori in real-time del comfort per più punti dell’ambiente in esame, secondo la norma ISO 7726. Partendo da questo punto, è stato progettato e testato un nuovo prototipo di Comfort Eye, cercando di migliorare le prestazioni di misura e le funzionalità. Attraverso l’analisi delle prestazioni dei singoli sensori adottati e seguendo le linee guida della GUM (Guide to the expression of Uncertainty in Measurement), si è calcolata un’accuratezza del sistema nella misura del PMV pari a ±0.1. La seconda parte della tesi riguarda un nuovo sistema di controllo del riscaldamento ambienti utilizzando come variabile controllata le misure di comfort provenienti dal Comfort Eye. Questo sistema è stato progettato e validato con dei test in un ambiente reale di tipo ufficio, raggiungendo un risparmio energetico del 20%. La terza ed ultima parte di questo documento mostra un’altra potenziale applicazione del Comfort Eye e cioè un sistema di rilevazione di persone e sorgenti calde per ambienti interni, con avanzate potenzialità di localizzazione. Il sistema è stato sviluppato e testato in un ambiente di tipo ufficio, mostrando un’accuratezza per la detection di persone del 70%.
This PhD dissertation summarizes the development and validation of innovative low cost systems for monitoring and controlling indoor environments. The systems explained in this document have their roots in the first version of Comfort Eye, an innovative thermal comfort measurement system, which is already documented in literature. This device can measure several environmental parameters in the room to obtain a real-time comfort assessment in multiple points of the space, according to ISO 7726 standard. Starting at this point, in the first part a new prototype of the monitoring system has been developed and tested highlighting improved features and measurement performances. Through single sensors calibration and uncertainty models from the GUM (Guide to the expression of Uncertainty in Measurement), the rated accuracy of the prototype in PMV measurement is ±0.1. The second part of the thesis is regarding an innovative subzonal HVAC control system, using the comfort data provided by Comfort Eye as controlled variable. That system has been designed and validated through some tests in an office-type environment, achieving an energy saving of 20%. The third and last part of this document finally shows another potential application of the Comfort Eye sensor: a people detection system for indoor ambient, with advanced counting and locating capabilities, has been tested inside office environment. The first attempt of validation shows an accuracy of 70% in detecting people.

Approximately 30% of the UK s housing stock is comprised of older, solid wall buildings. Solid walls have no cavity and were built without insulation; therefore these buildings have high heat loss, can be uncomfortable for occupants throughout the winter and require an above-average amount of energy to heat. Solid wall buildings can be made more energy efficient by retrofitting internal wall insulation (IWI). However, there is little empirical evidence on how much energy can be saved by insulating solid wall buildings and there are concerns that internal wall insulation could lead to overheating in the summer. This thesis reports measured results obtained from a unique facility comprised of a matched pair of unoccupied, solid wall, semi-detached houses. In the winter of 2015 one house of the pair was fitted with internal wall insulation then both houses had their thermal performance measured to see how differently they behaved. Measuring the thermal performance was the process of measuring the wall U-values, the whole house heat transfer coefficient and the whole house airtightness of the original and insulated houses. Both houses were then monitored in the winter of 2015, monitoring was the process of measuring the houses energy demand while using synthetic occupancy to create normal occupancy conditions. In the summer of 2015 indoor temperatures were monitored in the houses to assess overheating. The monitoring was done firstly to see how differently an insulated and an uninsulated house perform under normal operating conditions: with the blinds open through the day and the windows closed. Secondly, a mitigation strategy was applied to reduce high indoor operative temperatures in the houses, which involved closing the blinds in the day to reduce solar gains and opening the windows at night to purge warm air from the houses. The original solid walls were measured to have U-values of 1.72 W/m2K, while with internal wall insulation the walls had U-values of 0.21 W/m2K, a reduction of 88%. The house without IWI had a heat transfer coefficient of 238 W/K; this was reduced by 39% to 144 W/K by installing IWI. The monitored data from winter was extrapolated into yearly energy demand; the internally insulated house used 52% less gas than before retrofit. The measured U-values, whole house heat loss and energy demand were all compared to those produced from RdSAP models. The house was found to be more energy efficient than expected in its original state and to continue to use less energy than modelled once insulated. This has important implications for potential carbon savings and calculating pay-back times for retrofit measures. In summer, operative temperatures in the living room and main bedroom were observed to be higher, by 2.2 oC and 1.5 oC respectively, in the internally insulated house in comparison to the uninsulated house. Both of these rooms overheated according to CIBSE TM52 criteria; however the tests were conducted during an exceptionally warm period of weather. With the simple mitigation strategy applied the indoor operative temperature in the internally insulated house was reduced to a similar level as observed in the uninsulated house. This demonstrates that any increased overheating risk due to the installation of internal wall insulation can be mitigated through the use of simple, low cost mitigation measures. This research contributes field-measured evidence gathered under realistic controlled conditions to show that internal wall insulation can significantly reduce the energy demand of a solid wall house; this in turn can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and could help alleviate fuel poverty. Further to this it has been demonstrated that in this archetype and location IWI would cause overheating only in unusually hot weather and that indoor temperatures can be reduced to those found in an uninsulated house through the use of a simple and low cost mitigation strategy. It is concluded that IWI can provide a comfortable indoor environment, and that overheating should not be considered a barrier to the uptake of IWI in the UK.

More accurate knowledge of gamma-ray heating in nuclear reactors has beenlisted as a high priority request by the NEA [23]. In response to this the SpecTrometerfor Exotic Fission Fragments (STEFF), a 2-velocity, 2-energy spectrometer assembledby the Manchester Fission Group has been used to take measurements ofprompt gamma-rays from thermal fission of U-235. Through the procedures discussed,the average total gamma-ray energy and average multiplicity were determined to be8.40 +/- 0.26 MeV and 7.74 +/- 0.12, respectively. The single energy spectrum for eachindividual detector has been determined as well as the total energy distribution. A new parallel plate avalanche counter has been tested for its potential to improvethe timing resolution of the current STEFF stop detector. The timing resolution ofthe new detector is found to be 337 ps, an improvement of 75 % on the previous stopdetector. The pulse shapes created by a fission fragment in an ionisation chamber havebeen investigated. The relationship with fragment atomic number has been tested byemploying the Lohengrin spectrometer to separate fragments by mass so that theirindividual pulse shapes can be studied. Evaluation work has been performed at the NNL, Cumbria, under the supervisionof Dr Robert Mills. Experimental data determined from the spontaneous fission ofCf-252 has been extracted and evaluation techniques performed upon it so that thedata can be considered for inclusion within an evaluated nuclear database.

Polymer extrusion is an energy intensive process whereby the simultaneous action of viscous shear and thermal conduction are used to convert solid polymer to a melt which can be formed into a shape. To optimise efficiency, a homogeneous melt is required with minimum consumption of process energy. In this work, in-process monitoring techniques have been used to characterise the thermal dynamics of the single screw extrusion process with real-time quantification of energy consumption. Thermocouple grid sensors were used to measure radial melt temperatures across the melt flow at the entrance to the extruder die. Moreover, an infrared sensor flush mounted at the end of the extruder barrel was used to measure non-invasive melt temperature profiles across the width of the screw channel in the metering section of the extruder screw. Both techniques were found to provide useful information concerning the thermal dynamics of the extrusion process; in particular this application of infrared thermometry could prove useful for industrial extrusion process monitoring applications. Extruder screw geometry and extrusion variables should ideally be tailored to suit the properties of individual polymers but in practise this is rarely achieved due the lack of understanding. Here, LDPE, LLDPE, three grades of HDPE, PS, PP and PET were extruded using three geometries of extruder screws at several set temperatures and screw rotation speeds. Extrusion data showed that polymer rheology had a significant effect on the thermal efficiency on the extrusion process. In particular, melt viscosity was found to have a significant effect on specific energy consumption and thermal homogeneity of the melt. Extruder screw geometry, set extrusion temperature and screw rotation speed were also found to have a direct effect on energy consumption and melt consistency. Single flighted extruder screws exhibited poorer temperature homogeneity and larger fluctuations than a barrier flighted screw with a spiral mixer. These results highlighted the importance of careful selection of processing conditions and extruder screw geometry on melt homogeneity and process efficiency. Extruder scale was found to have a significant influence on thermal characteristics due to changes in surface area of the screw, barrel and heaters which consequently affect the effectiveness of the melting process and extrusion process energy demand. In this thesis, the thermal and energy characteristics of two single screw extruders were compared to examine the effect of extruder scale and processing conditions on measured melt temperature and energy consumption. Extrusion thermal dynamics were shown to be highly dependent upon extruder scale whilst specific energy consumption compared more favourably, enabling prediction of a process window from lab to industrial scale within which energy efficiency can be optimised. Overall, this detailed experimental study has helped to improve understanding of the single screw extrusion process, in terms of thermal stability and energy consumption. It is hoped that the findings will allow those working in this field to make more informed decisions regarding set conditions, screw geometry and extruder scale, in order to improve the efficiency of the extrusion process.

Today’s telecommunication cabinets use Electro Magnetic Compliance (EMC) screens in order to reduce electromagnetic noise that can cause some miss functions in electronic equipment. Many radio base stations (RBSs) use a 90-degree building architecture: the flow inlet is perpendicular to the EMC screen, which creates a complex flow, with a 90-degree air turn, expansions, compressions, perforated plates and PCBs. It is of great interest to study how the EMC screen interacts with the rest of components and analyze the total pressure drop and how much the flow pattern changes due to the placement of the screen. Velocity, pressure and temperature measurements as well as flow pattern visualizations have been carried out to gain good insight into the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a subrack model of an RBS. Furthermore, these measurements have been very useful for validating detailed CFD models and evaluating several turbulence models. Nowadays, industrial competition has caused a substantial decrease in the time-to-market of products. This fact makes the use of compact models in the first stages of the design process of vital importance. Accurate and fast compact models can to a great extent decrease the time for design, and thus for production. Hence, to determine the correlations between the pressure drop and flow pattern on the PCBs as a function of the geometry and the Reynolds number, based on a detailed CFD parametric study, was one objective. Furthermore, the development of a compact model using a porous media approach (using two directional-loss coefficients) has been accomplished. Two correlations of these directional loss coefficients were found as a function of the geometry and Reynolds number.
QC 20100630

Recently, remarkable advances have been made in the understanding of micro/nanoscale energy transport, opening new opportunities in various areas such as thermal management, data storage, and energy conversion. This dissertation focuses on thermally-sensed nanotopography using a heated silicon microcantilever and near-field thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion system. A heated microcantilever is a functionalized atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever that has a small resistive heater integrated at the free end. Besides its capability of increasing the heater temperature over 1,000 K, the resistance of a heated cantilever is a very sensitive function of temperature, suggesting that the heated cantilever can be used as a highly sensitive thermal metrology tool. The first part of the dissertation discusses the thermal characterization of the heated microcantilever for its usage as a thermal sensor in various conditions. Particularly, the use of heated cantilevers for tapping-mode topography imaging will be presented, along with the recent experimental results on the thermal interaction between the cantilever and substrate. In the second part of the dissertation, the so-called near-field TPV device is introduced. This new type of energy conversion system utilizes the significant enhancement of radiative energy transport due to photon tunneling and surface polaritons. Investigation of surface and bulk polaritons in a multilayered structure reveals that radiative properties are significantly affected by polariton excitations. The dissertation then addresses the rigorous performance analysis of the near-field TPV system and a novel design of a near-field TPV device.

Today’s buildings are responsible for 40% of the world’s energy use and also a substantial share of the Global Warming Potential (GWP). In Sweden, about 21% of the energy use can be related to the heat losses through the climatic envelope. The “Million Program” (Swedish: Miljonprogrammet) is a common name for about one million housing units, erected between 1965 and 1974 and many of these buildings suffer from poor energy performance. An important aim of this study was to access the possibilities of using Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs) in buildings with emphasis on the use of VIPs for improving the thermal efficiency of the “Million Program” buildings. The VIPs have a thermal resistance of about 8-10 times better than conventional insulations and offer unique opportunities to reduce the thickness of the thermal insulation. This thesis is divided into three main subjects. The first subject aims to investigate new alternative VIP cores that may reduce the market price of VIPs. Three newly developed nanoporous silica were tested using different steady-state and transient methods. A new self-designed device, connected to a Transient Plane Source (TPS) instrument was used to determine the thermal conductivity of granular powders at different gaseous pressure combined with different mechanical loads. The conclusion was that the TPS technique is less suitable for conducting thermal conductivity measurements on low-density nanoporous silica powders. However, deviations in the results are minimal for densities above a limit at which the pure conduction becomes dominant compared to heat transfer by radiation. The second subject of this work was to propose a new and robust VIP mounting system, with minimized thermal bridges, for improving the thermal efficiency of the “Million Program” buildings. On the basis of the parametric analysis and dynamic simulations, a new VIP mounting system was proposed and evaluated through full scale measurements in a climatic chamber. The in situ measurements showed that the suggested new VIP technical solution, consisting of 20mm thick VIPs, can improve the thermal transmittance of the wall, up to a level of 56%. An improved thermal transmittance of the wall at centre-of-panel coordinate of 0.118 to 0.132 W m-2K-1 and a measured centre-of-panel thermal conductivity (λcentre-of-panel) of 7 mW m-1K-1 were reached. Furthermore, this thesis includes a new approach to measure the thermal bridge impacts due to the VIP joints and laminates, through conducting infrared thermography investigations. An effective thermal conductivity of 10.9 mW m-1K-1 was measured. The higher measured centre-of-panel and effective thermal conductivities than the published centre-of-panel thermal conductivity of 4.2 mW m-1K-1 from the VIP manufacturer, suggest that the real thermal performance of VIPs, when are mounted in construction, is comparatively worse than of the measured performance in the laboratory. An effective thermal conductivity of 10.9 mW m-1K-1 will, however, provide an excellent thermal performance to the construction. The third subject of this thesis aims to assess the environmental impacts of production and operation of VIP-insulated buildings, since there is a lack of life cycle analysis of whole buildings with vacuum panels. It was concluded that VIPs have a greater environmental impact than conventional insulation, in all categories except Ozone Depilation Potential. The VIPs have a measurable influence on the total Global Warming Potential and Primary Energy use of the buildings when both production and operation are taken into account. However, the environmental effect of using VIPs is positive when compared to the GWP of a standard building (a reduction of 6%) while the PE is increased by 20%. It was concluded that further promotion of VIPs will benefit from reduced energy use or alternative energy sources in the production of VIP cores while the use of alternative cores and recycling of VIP cores may also help reduce the environmental impact. Also, a sensitivity analysis of this study showed that the choice of VIPs has a significant effect on the environmental impacts, allowing for a reduction of the total PE of a building by 12% and the GWP can be reduced as much as 11% when considering both production and operation of 50 yes. Finally, it’s possible to conclude that the VIPs are very competitive alternative for insulating buildings from the Swedish “Million Program”. Nevertheless, further investigations require for minimizing the measurable environmental impacts that acquired in this LCA study for the VIP-insulated buildings.
Dagens byggnader ansvarar för omkring 40% av världens energianvändning och  står också för en väsentlig del av utsläppen av växthusgaser. I Sverige kan ca 21 % av energianvändningen relateras till förluster genom klimatskalet. Miljonprogrammet är ett namn för omkring en miljon bostäder som byggdes mellan 1965 och 1974, och många av dessa byggnader har en dålig energiprestanda efter dagens mått. Huvudsyftet med denna studie har varit att utforska möjligheterna att använda vakuumisoleringspaneler (VIP:ar) i byggnader med viss fokus på tillämpning i Miljonprogrammets byggnader. Med en värmeledningsförmåga som är ca 8 - 10 gånger bättre än för traditionell isolering erbjuder VIP:arna unika möjligheter till förbättrad termisk prestanda med minimal isolerings tjocklek. Denna avhandling hade tre huvudsyften. Det första var att undersöka nya alternativ för kärnmaterial som bland annat kan reducera kostnaden vid produktion av VIP:ar. Tre nyutvecklade nanoporösa kiselpulver har testats med olika stationära och transienta metoder. En inom projektet utvecklad testbädd som kan anslutas till TPS instrument (Transient Plane Source sensor), har använts för att mäta värmeledningsförmågan hos kärnmaterial för VIP:ar, vid varierande gastryck och olika mekaniska laster. Slutsatsen blev att transienta metoder är mindre lämpliga för utföra mätningar av värmeledningsförmåga för nanoporösa kiselpulver låg densitet. Avvikelsen i resultaten är dock minimal för densiteter ovan en gräns då värmeledningen genom fasta material blir dominerande jämfört med värmeöverföring genom strålning. Det andra syftet har varit att föreslå ett nytt monteringssystem för VIP:ar som kan användas för att förbättra energieffektiviteten i byggnader som är typiska för Miljonprogrammet. Genom parametrisk analys och dynamiska simuleringar har vi kommit fram till ett förslag på ett nytt monteringssystem för VIP:ar som har utvärderats genom fullskaleförsök i klimatkammare. Resultaten från fullskaleförsöken visar att den nya tekniska lösningen förbättrar väggens U-värde med upp till 56 %. En förbättrad värmegenomgångskoefficienten för väggen i mitten av en VIP blev mellan 0.118 till 0,132 W m-2K-1 och värmeledningstalet centre-av-panel 7 mW m-1K-1 uppnåddes. Detta arbete innehåller dessutom en ny metod för att mäta köldbryggor i anslutningar med hjälp av infraröd termografi. En effektiv värmeledningsförmåga för 10.9 mW m-1K-1 uppnåddes. Resultaten tyder även på att den verkliga termiska prestandan av VIP:ar i konstruktioner är något sämre än mätvärden för paneler i laboratorium. En effektiv värmeledningsförmåga av 10.9 mW m-1K-1 ger dock väggkonstruktionen en utmärkt termisk prestanda. Det tredje syftet har varit att bedöma miljöpåverkan av en VIP-isolerad byggnad, från produktion till drift, eftersom en livscykelanalys av hela byggnader som är isolerade med vakuumisoleringspaneler inte har gjorts tidigare. Slutsatsen var att VIP:ar har en större miljöpåverkan än traditionell isolering, i alla kategorier förutom ozonnedbrytande potential. VIP:ar har en mätbar påverkan på de totala utsläppen av växthusgaser och primärenergianvändningen i byggnader när både produktion och drift beaktas. Miljöpåverkan av de använda VIP:arna är dock positiv jämfört med GWP av en standardbyggnad (en minskning med 6 %) medan primärenergianvändningen ökade med 20 %. Slutsatsen var att ytterligare användning av VIP:ar gynnas av reducerad energiförbrukning och alternativa energikällor i produktionen av nanoporösa kiselpulver medan användningen av alternativa kärnmaterial och återvinning av VIP kärnor kan hjälpa till att minska miljöpåverkan. En känslighetsanalys visade att valet av VIP:ar har en betydande inverkan på miljöpåverkan, vilket ger möjlighet att reducera den totala användningen av primärenergi i en byggnad med 12 % och utsläppen av växthusgaser kan vara minska, så mycket som 11 % när det gäller både produktion och drift under 50 år. Avslutningsvis är det möjligt att dra slutsatsen att VIP:ar är ett mycket konkurrenskraftigt alternativ för att isolera byggnader som är typiska för Miljonprogrammet. Dock krävs ytterligare undersökningar för att minimera de mätbara miljöeffekter som förvärvats i denna LCA-studie för VIP-isolerade byggnader.

QC 20151109

Simulations of heat and moisture conditions in a retrofit wall construction with Vacuum Insulation Panels
Textural and thermal conductivity properties of a low density mesoporous silica material
A study of the thermal conductivity of granular silica materials for VIPs at different levels of gaseous pressure and external loads
Evaluation of the thermal conductivity of a new nanoporous silica material for VIPs – trends of thermal conductivity versus density
A comparative study of the environmental impact of Swedish residential buildings with vacuum insulation panels
ETICS with VIPs for improving buildings from the Swedish million unit program “Miljonprogrammet”

Le secteur du bâtiment, responsable de plus de 40% de consommation d’énergie globale et un tiers des émissions de gaz à effet de serre mondial, est un des centres de préoccupations autour des sujets liés au changement climatique et l’indépendance énergétique. Le travail de recherche a exigé l’apport de connaissances supplémentaires et la création d’outils spécifiques orientés sur l’optimisation globale du management énergétique des bâtiments de type tertiaire. Une problématique industrielle est associée à ces enjeux de transitions énergétique et écologique, à savoir le frein observé à la mise en place de plans d’actions de rénovation. En effet, pour des opérations d’optimisation ou de rénovation de petites-moyennes envergures, les coûts initiaux d’études et de métrologie représentent plus de 50% de leur coût global. Cette mise de fonds induit un retour sur investissement très long. Face à ce paramètre financier prohibitif, beaucoup d’entreprises sont réticentes à mettre en place ce type d’action. L’objectif opérationnel a donc été de proposer une solution permettant de réduire drastiquement ces coûts préliminaires.Les aspects abordés dans la thèse sont : l’état de l’art du fonctionnement du bâtiment et des enjeux associés, la création d’un outil de collecte et de remontée des données de fonctionnement et de performance du bâtiment grâce à un réseau de mesure in-situ dédié, concomitant à l’élaboration d’un modèle thermique simplifié adjoint facilitant la compréhension de son comportement, puis l’identification de ses paramètres "observables" de conception et de fonctionnement par méthode inverse, et enfin le calcul de sa consommation énergétique optimale grâce à une méthode d’optimisation. Plus spécifiquement, l’approche sera orientée vers le développement d’outils pour promouvoir un accès facilité à la réduction des consommations unitaires auprès des entreprises au niveau national et l’intégration d’une intelligence pour l’optimisation énergétique des éléments climatiques du bâtiment ou son usage, ou encore une interface ergonomique homme-machine permettant un management efficace de son fonctionnement. Dans les faits, le problème observé est holistique et ne peut pas être pris en compte de manière sectorielle. Il est impératif d’y intégrer tous les processus impliqués dans le bâtiment et son usage (aspect comportemental des usagers). L’approche utilisée a été orientée afin de prendre en compte ultérieurement des paramètres autres que strictement énergétique, tel que les coûts ou le confort
The building field is responsible of about 40% of global energy consumption and a third of world greenhouse gas emissions. It is a main concern subject in climate change issues and fossil fuel independency. The aim of the PhD work is to bring more knowledge about thermal modeling and to create specific tools which are capable of globally optimize the office building energy management. The industrial purpose is associated with its area of expertise, which is advice in energy and ecologic transition. It concerns the difficulty to implement a retrofit action planning. Indeed, for small or middle retrofit actions, the initial study and metrology costs represent over 50% of the overall cost. This down payment induces a long return of investment. Faced with this prohibitive financial parameter, a lot of companies are reluctant to implement this type of actions. The proposed purpose is a solution that drastically reduces preliminary costs. The aspects addressed in this thesis are: the building operation state of art and its associated issues, the creation of reporting and collecting data tool of building operation and performance thanks to a dedicated in-situ measurement network, concomitant with the development of a simplified adjoin thermal model. It facilitates the understanding of its behavior. Then the final aspect are the two steps of optimization. The first is the observable building design and operation parameters with an inverse method, the second is the calculation of optimal energy consumptions. The approach is specifically oriented through the development of tools allowing a facilitated access to energy reduction action for national companies. This should assist the integration of an intelligence for energy optimization for building climatics and thermal equipments or usage. The result could be a new ergonomic man-machine interface for stock building effective management. In the facts, the problem is holistic and cannot be handle sectorally. It is imperative to integrate all the process involved in the building and its use (user behavior). The approach have been oriented to take later into account other parameters than strictly energy, as costs of comfort

Dans le cadre de la recherche de solutions visant à réduire les consommations d’énergie liées au rafraîchissement des bâtiments, une plateforme d’essais a été mise en place en 2012 à l’I2M et installée sur le site de l’IUT de l’Université de Bordeaux. Cette plateforme est issue d’un prototype de bâtiment BEPos, dénommée Sumbiosi, réalisée par un consortium rassemblé autour du campus de Bordeaux dans le cadre de sa participation à la compétition interuniversitaire du Solar Decathlon Europe 2012. Elle a notamment été conçue de façon à favoriser le stockage passif d’énergie diurne en hiver et le déstockage semi-passif d’énergie nocturne en été. Deux éléments principaux permettent a priori ces fonctions de stockage et déstockage passifs d’énergie : une dalle de forte masse thermique située du côté de la façade Sud vitrée du bâtiment, et des protections solaires et ouvertures pilotables sur les façades Sud, Nord et en lanterneau du bâtiment ; ces dernières assurent les trois principes fondamentaux en ventilation naturelle qui ont lieu grâce aux effets du tirage thermique et de la force du vent. L’objet des travaux menés actuellement ont pour objectif initial d’appréhender qualitativement le stockage-déstockage d’énergie dans la dalle, celle-ci étant soumise à des échanges radiatifs (extérieur et d’intérieur) et convectifs (générés par convection naturelle, forcée ou mixte). Ils visent par la suite à caractériser précisément et quantitativement le couplage entre ce stockage-déstockage, et les circulations d’air et apports radiatifs constatés. La mise en place d’une modélisation, reliant l’ensemble de ces paramètres est envisagée, dans le but d’avancer vers une loi de pilotage de ces éléments mobiles amenant à des conditions de confort internes au bâtiment optimales. Cette dernière doit nous permettre de montrer qu’un choix adéquat de stratégie de ventilation permet une minimisation de consommations électrique en évitant autant que possible le recours à la climatisation. Pour atteindre cet objectif, la démarche scientifique adoptée a consisté à mettre en évidence le rôle de la dalle en béton dans stockage/déstockage d’énergie thermique, sous l’effet de différents scénarii de ventilation naturelle de la plateforme. Cette dalle a été instrumentée, de façon discrète sur l’ensemble de sa surface, en termes de capteurs de flux de chaleur (Peltier et Captec), de températures (thermocouples T), et de la vitesse d’air proche de la dalle. Les premiers résultats, obtenus en période estivale, mettent clairement en évidence le couplage entre les phénomènes de stockage et déstockage d’énergie quotidiens et le cycle météorologique correspondant, ceci pour divers scénarii de pilotage des éléments mobiles de l’enveloppe du bâtiment (persiennes, ouvertures)
As part of the search for solutions to reduce the energy consumption related to the refreshment of buildings, a test platform was set up in 2012 at the I2M and installed on the IUT site of the " University of Bordeaux. This platform is the result of a prototype of a PEHs building called Sumbiosi, carried out by a consortium gathered around the Bordeaux campus as part of its participation in the inter-university competition of the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012. It was conceived in such a way as to favor the passive storage of diurnal energy in winter and the semi-passive destocking of nighttime energy in summer. Two main elements allow a priori these functions of passive storage and retrieval of energy: a slab of high thermal mass located on the side of the glazed south facade of the building, and solar protections and openings controllable on the facades South, North and skylight of the building ; the latter provide the three fundamental principles of natural ventilation, which take place through the effects of thermal draft and wind force. The object of the work currently carried out has the initial objective of qualitatively understanding the storage and de-stocking of energy in the slab, the latter being subjected to radiative (external and internal) and convective exchanges (generated by natural convection, forced or mixed). They are intended to characterize precisely and quantitatively the coupling between this storage and release, and the circulations of air and radiative contributions observed. The implementation of a modeling, linking all these parameters is envisaged, with the aim of advancing towards a law controlling these mobile elements leading to optimum internal comfort conditions for building. The latter must enable us to show that an adequate choice of ventilation strategy allows a minimization of electrical consumption by avoiding the use of air conditioning as much as possible. To achieve this objective, the scientific approach adopted consisted in highlighting the role of the concrete slab in the storage / destocking of thermal energy, under the effect of different scenarios of natural ventilation of the platform. This slab was instrumented, discretely over its entire surface, in terms of heat flux sensors (Peltier and Captec), temperatures (T thermocouples), and air speed close to the slab. The first results, obtained during the summer period, clearly show the coupling between the phenomena of daily energy storage and destocking and the corresponding meteorological cycle for various scenarios controlling the moving elements of the building envelope (shutters, openings)

Description du bilan energetique du recepteur solaire. Un modele numerique valide par des essais, permet d'evaluer les pertes conductives. D'autres essais permettent de chiffrer les pertes convectives selon la temperature de la paroi. Metrologie des phenomenes radiatifs

This thesis's main objective is to conduct a comparison study between measured values and simulated results of a demonstrator, of the intelligent home energy management (iHEM) project. The comparison helps to validate the simulation. TRNSYS software is used for the design. In this study, only the thermal energy side of the project is considered. In which system-level (both domestic hot water (DHW), space heating (SH)) and component level (solar collector, gas boiler) are considered as the parameters to compare. An attempt is made to optimize both system-level and component-level simulation outputs with measured values by adopting measured boundary conditions as simulation inputs.During the comparison, the DHW loop simulation design is modified. The measured data were given as input files for simulation, replacing the estimated values used before. This is done to optimize the simulation output with measured data. In the space heating loop (SH), the simulated building model’s parameters were changed to optimize the SH demand. After the system-level validation and optimization, the component level comparison is carried out. For this, the simulation output of solar thermal collectors and gas boiler are compared with measured values. The solar collector loop in the simulation is modified to optimize the simulated results. The seasonal and yearly efficiencies of the collector have been calculated. Solar supply fraction and gas boiler supply fraction is also determined. For the comparison, graphs are plotted for three different weeks, representing the spring, summer, and winter months of 2018.The final optimized simulation output of DHW demand is 7% less than the measured value. Even after optimizing the Space heating loop (SH), the simulated building demand is 17% more heat than the demonstrator building. The simulation's solar collector output is optimized close to the measured values. The simulated gas boiler produces 19% more than the demonstrator system to meet excess SH demand in the simulation (including losses). The overall yearly collector efficiency calculated for measured and simulated values are 58% and 50%, respectively. The estimated solar collector supply fraction and gas bo

This work presents the development of a novel and non-invasive method that measures fluid flow rate and temperature in pipes. While current non-invasive flow meters are able to measure pipe flow rate, they cannot simultaneously measure the internal temperature of the fluid flow, which limits their widespread application. Moreover, devices that are able to determine flow temperature are primarily intrusive and require constant maintenance, which can shut down operation, resulting in downtime and economic loss. Consequently, non-invasive flow rate and temperature measurement systems are becoming increasingly attractive for a variety of operations, including for use in leak detection, energy metering, energy optimization, and oil and gas production, to name a few. In this work, a new solution method and parameter estimation scheme are developed and deployed to non-invasively determine fluid flow rate and temperature in a pipe. This new method is utilized in conjunction with a sensor-based apparatus--"namely, the Combined Heat Flux and Temperature Sensor (CHFT+), which employs simultaneous heat flux and temperature measurements for non-invasive thermal interrogation (NITI). In this work, the CHFT+ sensor embodiment is referred to as the British Thermal Unit (BTU) Meter. The fluid's flow rate and temperature are determined by estimating the fluid's convection heat transfer coefficient and the sensor-pipe thermal contact resistance. The new solution method and parameter estimation scheme were validated using both simulated and experimental data. The experimental data was validated for accuracy using a commercially available FR1118P10 Inline Flowmeter by Sotera Systems (Fort Wayne, IN) and a ThermaGate sensor by ThermaSENSE Corp. (Roanoke, VA). This study's experimental results displayed excellent agreement with values estimated from the aforementioned methods. Once tested in conjunction with the non-invasive BTU Meter, the proposed solution and parameter estimation scheme displayed an excellent level of validity and reliability in the results. Given the proposed BTU Meter's non-invasive design and experimental results, the developed solution and parameter estimation scheme shows promise for use in a variety of different residential, commercial, and industrial applications.
MS

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) är en gruvdriftskoncern med järnmalmsbrytning som huvudsaklig verksamhet. En av produkterna tas fram genom att raffinera järnmalm till pellets vilket är en efterfrågad produkt vid ståltillverkning.   Vid sintring av råkulor till pellets är temperaturen väsentlig för att få så hög oxidation som möjligt av magnetit till hematit och för att få rätt fasthet. För att reglera värmen bör temperaturen mätas bland råkulorna eftersom det är kulornas temperatur som är det viktiga.                                   Projektet går ut på att undersöka möjligheterna att mäta temperatur bland råkulor på gratevagnar som åker genom en pelletsugn med ett permanent mätsystem. Här ställs höga krav på mätsystemet på grund av miljö, portabilitet och drifttid. Miljöanalyser gjordes för att ta reda på vilken påfrestning ett mätsystem bör klara av. Förslag om placering av mätutrustning framtogs genom kartläggning av miljön. En värmeundersökning utfördes av vad hög värme har för påverkan på elektroniska komponenter som kan behövas till ett mätsystem. Det gjordes även en undersökning över vilka komponenter som kan klara av den värme ett mätsystem kan bli utsatt för. Utifrån detta kunde ett prototypmätsystem konstrueras för att mäta temperaturen där ett mätsystem kan placeras på en gratevagn samt för att skapa möjlighet för mätningar med termoelement i bädd. Mätsystemet skapades med trådlös kommunikation, möjlighet till loggning av data och med möjlighet att ansluta tre termoelement av typ S. Olika typer av trådlös kommunikation utvärderades för att se vad som kan vara mest lämpat med tanke på miljö, räckvidd, strålning och strömförbrukning. Strömförsörjning undersöktes för att hitta den mest lämpade strömförsörjningen med längst drifttid och högst funktionalitet. En utredning gjordes för att hitta monteringsmöjligheter av ett mätsystem på en gratevagn. Värmeavskärmning och isolering undersöktes för att få ner temperaturen i kapslingen och för elektroniken i ett mätsystem. Några olika temperaturgivare granskades för att hitta en som klarar av att mäta temperaturer upp till 1500°C och som fysiskt kan monteras på en gratevagn.
Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB) is a mining group with iron ore mining as the main business. One of the products is produced by refining iron ore to iron pellets, which is a quality and environmentally clever product  in steel production.                                     When iron pellets are produced by roasting green pellets the temperature is very important. The goal is to get as much oxidation as possible from hematite to magnetite and to get correct mechanical properties. To control the process it’s important to know the temperature of the green pellets specifically and not the surrounding mechanical structure, ceramics lining in the furnace and the influence from radiation.   The goal of the project is to examine possibilities to measure temperature with a permanent measurement system of green pellets which are transported on grate cars trough pellet plant. The measurement system has to meet some requirements of environment, portability and operating time. Analysis of the environment has been made to get specification of what a measurement system has to withstand. Proposition about assembly location has been investigated by analysis of the environment. A thermal analysis has been made of electronic components, especially electronic components that can be used in a measurement system. A analysis has also been made of which electronic components that are suited for a measurement system and can withstand the heat. A development measurement system has been developed from the results of the analysis. The system has been constructed to measure the temperature of what a system can be exposed of on a grate car. This with wireless and data-logging support and future measurements possibilities with three thermocouples of type S.   Wireless data transfer was examined to see what type is most suited for the task with knowledge of environment, transmission range, radiation and power consumption. Power sources was examined to find a power source with longest working time and highest functionality. Heat insulation and reflective materials has been investigated with the goal to get the temperature in the system enclosure as low as possible. Some different types of temperature sensors that can measure temperatures up to 1500°C and which can be mounted on a grate car has been evaluated.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Esta dissertação desenvolveu-se de forma articulada com o projeto de PeD LIGH-ANEEL, coordenado pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Metrologia (PósMQI), Projeto Ref. PeD 003/2008, intitulado Racionalização do uso de energia e aplicação da termoacumulação como estratégia para proposição de tarifa diferenciada voltada a clientes comerciais de alto consumo. A dissertação teve como objetivo o desenvolvimento e validação de um algoritmo para identificação de clientes potenciais ao uso da tecnologia de termoacumulação. O trabalho orientou-se no contexto da crescente demanda por energia imposta ao setor elétrico pela expansão da economia, notadamente em horários de alta demanda. A motivação deste trabalho, atendendo aos interesses do PósMQI na área de energia, é oferecer uma ferramenta de auxílio à decisão para o planejamento energético das concessionárias. Como resultado obteve-se o mapeamento das curvas de cargas, obtidas por meio do sistema computacional desenvolvido (SIMCAR). Este sistema (amigável) permite enquadrar os clientes potenciais, segundo características de consumo estruturadas em três categorias indicativas do uso da termoacumulação: muito potencial, potencial e já modula. Dentre as conclusões, o algoritmo desenvolvido mostrou-se ferramenta eficaz de auxílio ao planejamento energético e a termoacumulação uma alternativa sustentável para adequação da matriz energética do país, podendo gerar economias de até 40 porcento.
An algorithm to measure and detect potential thermo-accumulation customers among the clients of a distributing utility was proposed in this work. Such algorithm uses statistical methods for the treatment of missing data and is applied to the measured hourly demands of medium and high voltage customers of the utility. Basically, the thermo-accumulation technique can be defined as a strategy to shift load from peak hours to off-peak hours. The algorithm allows the construction of load curves from the observed load series after the removal of outliers and/or missing values. From the profile of such curves, the algorithm produces the classification of the clients into three possible categories: higly potential, just potential and non potential (i.e. an already modulated client). Also important to mention this dissertation, is part of an R&D project developed for a brazilian southern utility. A friendly computer system named SIMCAR, developed in Visual Basic, implemented the proposed algorithm. As a final word, in surveys conducted with users of this technology, it was mentioned that the savings on energy consumption can be as high as 40 per cent.

This study presents air distribution systems that are based on confluent jets; this system can be of interest for the establishment of indoor environments, to fulfill the goals of indoor climate and energy-efficient usage. The main objective of this study is to provide deeper understanding of the flow field development of a supply device that is designed based on wall confluent jets and to investigate the ventilation performance by experimental and numerical methods. In this study, the supply device can be described as an array of round jets on a flat surface attached to a side wall. Multiple round jets that issue from supply device apertures are combined at a certain distance downstream from the device and behave as a united jet or so-called confluent jets. Multiple round jets that are generated from the supply device move downward and are attached to the wall at the primary region, due to the Coanda effect, and then they become wall confluent jets until the floor wall is reached. A wall jet in a secondary region is formed along the floor after the stagnation region. The characteristics of the flow field and the ventilation performance of conventional wall confluent jets and modified wall confluent jets supply devices are investigated experimentally in an office test room. The study of the modified wall confluent jets is intended to improve the efficiency of the conventional one while maintaining acceptable thermal comfort in an office environment. The results show that the modified wall confluent jets supply device can provide acceptable thermal comfort for the occupant with lower airflow rate compared to the conventional wall confluent jets supply device. Numerical predictions using three turbulence models (renormalization group (RNG k– ε), realizable (Re k– ε), and shear stress transport (SST k– ω) are evaluated by measurement results. The computational box and nozzle plate models are used to model the inlet boundary conditions of the nozzle device. In the isothermal study, the wall confluent jets in the primary region and the wall jet in the secondary region, when predicted by the three turbulence models, are in good agreement with the measurements. The non-isothermal validation studies show that the SST k– ω model is slightly better at predicting the wall confluent jets than the other two models. The SST k– ω model is used to investigate the effects of the nozzle diameter, number of nozzles, nozzle array configuration, and inlet discharge height on the ventilation performance of the proposed wall confluent jets supply device. The nozzle diameter and number of nozzles play important roles in determining the airflow pattern, temperature field, and draught distribution. Increased temperature stratification and less draught distribution are achieved by increasing the nozzle diameter and number of nozzles. The supply device with smaller nozzle diameters and fewer nozzles yields rather uniform temperature distribution due to the dominant effect of mixing. The flow behavior is nearly independent of the inlet discharge height for the studied range. The proposed wall confluent jets supply device is compared with a mixing supply device, impinging supply device and displacement supply device. The results show that the proposed wall confluent jets supply device has the combined behavior of both mixing and stratification principles. The proposed wall confluent jets supply device provides better overall ventilation performance than the mixing and displacement supply devices used in this study. This study covers also another application of confluent jets that is based on impinging technology. The supply device under consideration has an array of round jets on a curve. Multiple jets issue from the supply device aperture, in which the supply device is positioned vertically and the jets are directed against a target wall. The flow behavior and ventilation performance of the impinging confluent jets supply device is studied experimentally in an industrial premise. The results show that the impinging confluent jets supply device maintains acceptable thermal comfort in the occupied zone by creating well-distributed airflow during cold and hot seasons.

Envelopes with low thermal performance are common characteristics in European historic buildings resulting in insufficient thermal comfort and higher energy use compared to modern buildings. There are different types of applications for the European historic buildings such as historic churches, historic museums, historic theatres, etc. In historic buildings refurbished to offices, it is vital to improve thermal comfort for the staff. Improving thermal comfort should not increase, preferably reduce, energy use in the building. The overall aim in this research is to explore how to improve thermal comfort in historic buildings without increasing, preferably reducing, energy use with the application of non-intrusive methods. This is done in form of a case study in Sweden. Thermal comfort issues in the case study building are determined through a field study. The methods include field measurements with thermal comfort equipment, data logging on BMS, and evaluating the occupant’s perception of a summer and a winter period indoor environment using a standardized questionnaire. According to questionnaire and thermal comfort measurements results, it is revealed that the summer period has the most dissatisfied occupants, while winter thermal comfort is satisfactory – but not exceptionally good. Accordingly, natural heat sinks could be used in form of NV, as a non/intrusive method, in order to improve thermal comfort in the building. For the historic building equipped with mechanical ventilation, NV strategy has the potential to both improve thermal comfort and reduce the total electricity use for cooling (i.e. electricity use in the cooling machine + the electricity use in the ventilation unit’s fans). It could decrease the percentage of exceedance hours in offices by up to 33% and reduce the total electricity use for cooling by up to 40%. The optimal (maximum) NV rate (i.e. the potential of NV strategy) is dependent on the thermal mass capacity of the building, the available NV cooling potential (dependent on the ambient air temperature), COP value of the cooling machine, the SFP model of the fans (low SFP value for high NV rate is optimal), and the offices’ door scheme (open or closed doors).

En Europe, le secteur du bâtiment est le plus énergivore et représente environ 40 % de l’énergie totale consommée. A court terme, la façon la plus efficace de baisser cette consommation est de réduire les déperditions thermiques à travers l’enveloppe du bâtiment en augmentant son isolation thermique, tout en minimisant la perte de surface habitable. Dans ce contexte, les travaux de thèse portent sur l’étude et la mise au point pour pré-industrialisation de matériaux super-isolants composites à base d'aérogel de silice. Le matériau composite étudié fait partie de la famille des blankets aérogels et est obtenu via un procédé de séchage ambiant innovant. Grâce à leur faible conductivité thermique et leurs propriétés mécaniques renforcées, les blankets aérogels sont d’un grand intérêt pour l’isolation thermique qui nécessite de fines épaisseurs d’isolants. Les travaux de thèse visent dans un premier temps à effectuer une analyse des propriétés thermophysiques des blankets aérogels étudiés à la sortie du moule de fabrication et vis-à-vis de leur mise en œuvre lorsqu’ils sont soumis à différentes sollicitations (mécaniques, hygriques ...). Des travaux de modélisation du transfert de chaleur dans le blanket aérogel sont développés afin d’étudier les relations entre le transfert thermique et les paramètres morphologiques du matériau. Dans un second temps, les travaux de thèse portent sur l’étude des performances à attendre d’un système d’isolation basé sur le blanket aérogel mis en œuvre sur un bâtiment, à la fois par l’analyse du comportement thermique d’une cellule test en climat réel, ainsi que par la conduite de simulations numériques de bâtiments prenant en compte plusieurs techniques constructives, configurations de murs, et ce, pour plusieurs climats européens. Les résultats obtenus montrent que les blankets aérogels étudiés ont une très faible conductivité thermique –0,016 W.m-1.K-1– et ont un fort potentiel d’application dans l’isolation thermique du bâtiment
Buildings are the largest energy end-use sector and account for about 40 % of the total final energy consumption in the EU-28. A short-term strategy to efficiently reduce this consumption is to decrease thermal losses through the building envelope by improving its thermal insulation, while minimizing the reduction of the available indoor living space. In this context, the thesis deals with the study and development for pre-industrialization of super-insulating composite materials based on silica aerogel. The studied material is part of the aerogel blanket family and is obtained by an innovative ambient drying process. With a very low thermal conductivity and reinforced mechanical properties, aerogel blankets are of great interest for applications where they can offer a cost advantage due to a space-saving effect. Firstly, the thesis work aims at performing analyses of the thermo-physical properties of the studied aerogel blankets at the exit of the molding and drying processes, and during application, when they are subjected to different environmental stresses (mechanical, hygric …). Heat transfer modeling is developed to study the relationship between the morphological parameters of the material and thermal transfer within it. Secondly, the thesis work focuses on the study of the expected performances of an insulating system based on the aerogel blanket, by the study of the thermal behavior of an experimental building monitored under actual climate, as well as the use of whole building energy numerical simulations taking into account several constructive techniques, different wall configurations, for various European climates. The results obtained show that the aerogel blankets studied have a thermal conductivity as low as 0.016 W.m-1.K-1 and have promising applications for building thermal insulation needs

Les systèmes de récupération d'énergie sont prometteurs pour l'auto-alimentation des dispositifs intégrés. Les matériaux pyroélectriques couplant un changement de température à un changement de polarisation électrique peuvent être utilisés pour la conversion de l'énergie thermique en énergie électrique sans nécessité de maintien de gradients thermiques qui constitue un inconvénient majeur dans les modules thermoélectriques compacts. Dans cette thèse, le PbZro.52Tio.48O3 (PZT) et le BaxSr1-xTiUO3 (x = l et x = 0.7) à fort coefficients pyroélectriques, sont choisis, élaborés en couches minces épitaxiées, caractérisés pour étudier leur potentiel de récupération d'énergie thermique. Ce travail comporte deux aspects : le premier consiste au développement et l'optimisation des conditions de croissance des hétérostructures intégrées et épitaxiées sur silicium. Le deuxième est focalisé sur l'étude des propriétés fonctionnelles (ferroélectriques, diélectriques et pyroélectriques) et à l' estimation du pouvoir de récupération d'énergie principalement des couches de PZT. Une corrélation entre ces deux aspects est ainsi présente. Un changement de la structure cristalline est montré sur les empilements intégrés sur Si, en comparaison avec des structures équivalentes réalisées sur substrat de STO. L'impact de ceci a été directement constaté sur les propriétés fonctionnelles des couches hétéroépitaxiées de PZT. Ainsi une anisotropie importante de ces propriétés a pu être mise en évidence, en complétant cette étude par des mesures dans le plan a l'aide de peignes interdigités. Ces observations ont été cohérentes avec les mesures de la diffraction des rayons X en fonction de la température. Par ailleurs, les différentes méthodes et configurations de mesures du coefficient pyroélectrique sur PZT ont permis une meilleure compréhension du phénomène et la distinction des diverses contributions existantes. La mesure statique indirecte issue de la variation de la polarisation rémanente en fonction de la température renseigne sur l'effet pyroélectrique intrinsèque (et secondaire). Cependant les mesures dynamiques du courant pyroélectrique pendant un changement de la température contiennent toutes les contributions pyroélectriques et non pyroélectriques, comme les effets extrinsèques et le courant de relaxation. Des mesures pyroélectriques dynamiques sous champ électrique, se rapprochant des conditions de cycles de récupération d'énergie thermique, ont permis de montrer que des courants de conduction apparaissaient même pour des bonnes couches de PZT diélectriques épaisses. Ces courants masquent les courants pyroélectriques et rendent l'application de générateur électrique par cycles thermodynamiques sous champ électrique rédhibitoire. Des composants passifs n'utilisant pas ou peu de champs électriques tels que des capteurs devront plutôt être envisagées
Due to the wasted heat in ever more compact microelectronic devices, the harvesting of thermal energy has become interesting for self-powering small devices. Consequently, pyroelectric materials witch couple a change in temperature to a change in electrical polarization may be used for the conversion of the thermal energy to an electric energy without necessity of maintaining thermal gradients that is a main drawback in compact devices with thermoelectric materials. In this thesis, PbZro.52Tio.48O3 (PZT) and BaxSr1-xTiUO3 (x = l and x = 0.7), with high pyroelectric coefficients are chosen, elaborated in thin epitaxial layers, characterized structurally and electrically to study their potential for thermal energy harvesting. This work has two aspects: the first consists in the development and optimization of the growth conditions of epitaxial heterostructures integrated on Si. The second one focuses on the study of the functional properties ( ferroelectric, dielectric and pyroelectric) and the estimation of the energy harvesting efficiency mainly of PZT layers. A correlation between these two aspects is then done. A change in the crystal structure is shown on the Si-integrated stacks in comparison with equivalent structures grown on STO substrate. This structural behavior impacts directly the functional properties of the heteroepitaxial layers of PZT. Th us, an important anisotropy of these properties was demonstrated and completed by a study of the in plane properties using measurements by interdigital capacitors. These observations were consistent with measurements of X - ray diffraction as a function of temperature. Otherwise, different methods and configurations of pyroelectric coefficient measurements on PZT have allowed a better understanding of the phenomenon and the distinction of the various existing contributions. The indirect static measurement resulting from the variation of the remnant polarization as a function of the temperature gives the intrinsic (and secondary) pyroelectric contributions. However, the dynamic measurements of the pyroelectric current during a change of the temperature contain all the pyroelectric and non-pyroelectric contributions, such as the extrinsic effects and the relaxation current . Dynamic pyroelectric measurements under an electric field are near to the conditions of thermal energy harvesting cycles. Conduction currents appeared, even for good layers of thick dielectric PZT, and mask the pyroelectric currents. This makes the application of electric generator by thermodynamic cycles under electric field prohibitive. Passive components using low or no electrical field such as sensors should be considered

碩士
國立臺灣大學
機械工程學研究所
107
When the world began to promote energy conservation issues, the energy-saving benefits of air-conditioning systems are valued by many countries. The proportion of power consumption for energy dissipation is huge. Taiwan is hot in summer. The demand for air conditioning is great, which not only cost a lot, but also cause greatly environmental burden with carbon emissions. If it can directly use solar energy as a source of heat for air conditioners and use shallow geothermal energy to cooling, this way will greatly reduce power consumption and make air conditioners more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. This study use different parameters way to explore the performance of adsorption chillers combined with solar thermal energy and shallow geothermal energy . The COP of the adsorption chiller achieve 0.51 under the operating conditions, of 70 °C regenerative temperature, 22°C cooling water temperature, and 13~15 °C cold water temperature. Under the average radiation amount is about 860 W/m2, the thermal efficiency of the solar collector is about 0.6 and the overall system performance coefficient is about 0.31. It is estimated that use shallow geothermal energy instead of cooling tower system can save 44.6 m3 of water in summer. And it uses less 1.08 kW than cooling tower system.

The following report investigates district cooling systems. This form of technology provides an alternative means of providing cooling. In a traditional cooling system each building would include cooling equipment to serve only that building. District cooling differs in that water is chilled at one location and pumped to two or more buildings. District cooling has many benefits over traditional cooling systems. This report, however, aims to determine the economic benefits (if any) of district cooling systems. The location chosen as a model for this study was the University of Natal (Durban) campus. This campus currently operates a district cooling system serving six buildings. This study is hypothetical in nature, as the cooling system is already finalized and operational. The aim of this dissertation is to answer the question of which would be the more attractive alternative if the University were in a position of having to install a completely cooling system. One of the most important steps in this process is the calculation of cooling loads. The cooling load was estimated for each of the buildings associated with the district cooling system. The LOADEST software package was used to derive these cooling loads. The accuracy of LOADEST software was also validated in this study. The bulk of this report is composed of the preliminary work required to obtain capital and operating costs for cooling systems, including validation of cooling load calculation software. It was felt that this prelimiinary work justified inclusion in the final report to provide accurate representation of the steps taken before any economic evaluation could be reached. The capital and operating costs of the district cooling system and a more traditional system were compared. It was found that the district cooling system reduces operating costs significantly, although it's capital cost is higher than the traditional system against which it was compared.
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

No
Polymer extrusion is an energy intensive process, which is often run at less than optimal conditions. The extrusion process consists of gradual melting of solid polymer by thermal conduction and viscous shearing between a rotating screw and a barrel; as such it is highly dependent upon the frictional, thermal and rheological properties of the polymer. Extruder screw geometry and extrusion variables should ideally be tailored to suit the properties of individual polymers, but in practice this is rarely achieved due to the lack of understanding of the process. Here, in-process monitoring techniques have been used to characterise the thermal dynamics of the extrusion process. Novel thermocouple grid sensors have been used to measure melt temperature fields within flowing polymer melts at the entrance to an extruder die in conjunction with infra-red thermometers and real-time quantification of energy consumption. A commercial grade of polyethylene has been examined using three extruder screw geometries at different extrusion operating conditions to understand the process efficiency. Extruder screw geometry, screw rotation speed and set temperature were found to have a significant effect on the thermal homogeneity of the melt and process energy consumed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermal conductivity measurements are made on a variety of systems in order to probe low energy quasiparticle excitations. In particular, thermal conductivity measurements were made on the iron based superconducting material LaFePO at temperatures from 60 mK to 1 K and in fields from 0 T to 5 T in order to shed light on the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter. A substantial non-zero electronic contribution to the thermal conductivity is observed and interpreted as sub-gap electronic quasiparticles which is clear evidence for a nodal gap symmetry. A high scattering rate and non-T3 temperature dependence of the conductivity is evidence against the d-wave scenario. However, the field dependence does seem to suggest that the anisotropic s+- picture is a likely candidate for the order parameter, although more theoretical work is required to confirm this. Thermal conductivity measurements were also made on the spin-ice system Ho2Ti2O7 between 50 mK and 1.4 K in applied magnetic fields from 0 T to 8 T in an attempt to observe the much debated magnetic monopole-like quasiparticles. An applied magnetic field of 8 T was applied along to [111] direction as to fully polarize the magnetic moments in order to extract the phonon contribution of the thermal conductivity. The low field thermal conductivity reveals evidence for an additional heat transfer mechanism that also scatters phonons which is magnetic in nature. This is taken to be evidence for the existence of monopole-like excitations out of the spin-ice ground state and is described by existing Debye-Huckel theory. Thermal transport was used in conjunction with charge conductivity to study the unconventional quantum critical point (QCP) in the heavy-Fermion superconductor beta-YbAlB4 at temperatures down to 60 mK and in fields up to 2 T. The results show that the Wiedemann-Franz law (WFL) is obeyed down to the lowest measured temperatures indicating that the Landau quasiparticles remain intact near the QCP. A small suppression of the Wiedemann-Franz ratio (L/L0 = kappa / sigma T L0) is seen at finite temperatures (T < 1 K) with minimal dependence on magnetic field. Comparing with other similar quantum critical systems, it becomes apparent that inelastic scattering events have little effect on the transport and are mainly field independent in beta-YbAlB4. An overview of the design for a new thermal conductivity mount is also presented. The design hinges around the idea of building the experiment mount into a small copper box rather than on an open frame. Not only does this provide mechanical stability for safe transportation, it also reduces the noise caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the sample thermometers by more than a factor of ten over the old wire frame design.

abstract: The presence of huge amounts of waste heat and the constant demand for electric energy makes this an appreciable research topic, yet at present there is no commercially viable technology to harness the inherent energy resource provided by the temperature differential between the inside and outside of buildings. In a newly developed technology, electricity is generated from the temperature gradient between building walls through a Seebeck effect. A 3D-printed triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure is sandwiched in copper electrodes with copper (I) sulphate (Cu2SO4) electrolyte to mimic a thermogalvanic cell. Previous studies mainly concentrated on mechanical properties and the electric power generation ability of these structures; however, the goal of this study is to estimate the thermal resistance of the 3D-printed TPMS experimentally. This investigation elucidates their thermal resistances which in turn helps to appreciate the power output associated in the thermogalvanic structure. Schwarz P, Gyroid, IWP, and Split P geometries were considered for the experiment with electrolyte in the thermogalvanic brick. Among these TPMS structures, Split P was found more thermally resistive than the others with a thermal resistance of 0.012 m2 K W-1. The thermal resistances of Schwarz D and Gyroid structures were also assessed experimentally without electrolyte and the results are compared to numerical predictions in a previous Mater's thesis.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2020