More carrot than stick: Encouraging computer programming in thermal design projects

Students will do almost anything to avoid using thermal-property tables. In this paper, Matlab-based thermal-property software is described as an enticement for students to do computer programming in the design of thermal systems. Downloaded shareware was used for steam properties in a steam-cycle project, and an air-property package was developed for use with a gas-turbine project. Although the use of computer programming required considerable effort by both instructor and students, most students did gain a better appreciation of the utility of writing computer programs as part of engineering design. Student evaluations of the course were not significantly affected compared to semesters in which computer programming was not encouraged

Product Design

Product design is a comprehensive process related to the creation of new products, and the ability to design and develop efficient products are key to success in today’s dynamic global market. Written by experts in the field, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the product design process and its applications in various fields, particularly engineering. Over seven chapters, the authors explore such topics as development of new product design methodologies, implementation of effective methods for integrated products, development of more visualized environments for task-based conceptual design methods, and development of engineering design tools based on 3D photogrammetry, among others

Simulation verification techniques study. Subsystem simulation validation techniques

Techniques for validation of software modules which simulate spacecraft onboard systems are discussed. An overview of the simulation software hierarchy for a shuttle mission simulator is provided. A set of guidelines for the identification of subsystem/module performance parameters and critical performance parameters are presented. Various sources of reference data to serve as standards of performance for simulation validation are identified. Environment, crew station, vehicle configuration, and vehicle dynamics simulation software are briefly discussed from the point of view of their interfaces with subsystem simulation modules. A detailed presentation of results in the area of vehicle subsystems simulation modules is included. A list of references, conclusions and recommendations are also given

Feasibility study of an Integrated Program for Aerospace-vehicle Design (IPAD) system. Volume 2: Characterization of the IPAD system, phase 1, task 1

The aircraft design process is discussed along with the degree of participation of the various engineering disciplines considered in this feasibility study

Improving computational efficiency of numerical modelling of horizontal ground source heat pump systems for accommodating complex and realistic atmospheric processes

Modelling horizontal ground loops for a horizontal ground source heat pump (HGSHP) system is complex and computationally expensive. The computation precision is highly reliant on the prescription of an undisturbed ground temperature in the unsaturated ground as well as realistic and accurate atmospheric processes at the ground surface boundary. Conventionally, modelling of such a system would include direct application of the atmospheric processes at the soil-atmosphere boundary and solve it in a single-stage approach. However, low efficiency is found for large spatial domain and long-term transient problems as the boundary processes need to be solved and expressed in terms of primary model variables at each simulation time-step. This paper proposes an equivalent two-stage modelling approach, for the first time, based on an advanced coupled thermal-hydraulic (TH) model to improve computation efficiency while maintaining adequate accuracy. In this approach, firstly, the model is solved for an intact ground that is imposed by complex atmospheric processes, e.g., rainfall, solar radiation, humidity, evaporation, etc. at the soil-atmosphere boundary, and the spatial and temporal variations of the primary model variables are recorded. Afterwards, the recorded data are incorporated in the simulator, as model inputs, for the same ground including a HGSHP system. Predicted results from both 2D and 3D simulations show that the ground temperatures calculated by the proposed two-stage approach are in good agreement with that of the traditional single-stage approach. However, the two-stage approach is computationally robust. For the presented 2D and 3D simulations, it required only 32% and 37% of the time of the single-stage approach, respectively, while maintaining great accuracy. This demonstrates the utility of the proposed two-stage approach for modelling complex scenarios of realistic HGSHP systems installed in a large spatial domain and for long-term operation

Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Both New and Rehabilitated

Buildings are one of the main causes of the emission of greenhouse gases in the world. Europe alone is responsible for more than 30% of emissions, or about 900 million tons of CO2 per year. Heating and air conditioning are the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions in buildings. Most buildings currently in use were built with poor energy efficiency criteria or, depending on the country and the date of construction, none at all. Therefore, regardless of whether construction regulations are becoming stricter, the real challenge nowadays is the energy rehabilitation of existing buildings. It is currently a priority to reduce (or, ideally, eliminate) the waste of energy in buildings and, at the same time, supply the necessary energy through renewable sources. The first can be achieved by improving the architectural design, construction methods, and materials used, as well as the efficiency of the facilities and systems; the second can be achieved through the integration of renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.) in buildings. In any case, regardless of whether the energy used is renewable or not, the efficiency must always be taken into account. The most profitable and clean energy is that which is not consumed

Investigation of a novel solar assisted heat recovery heat pump system for building space heating and hot water supply

With the rapid increment of energy consumption worldwide, the caused environmental contamination and global warming desperately necessitate the further development of renewable energy technologies. This study aims at presenting an in-depth investigation of a novel solar-assisted heat recovery heat pump (SAHR-HP) system for heating, cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) supply to resolve some barriers of the existing solar-assisted heat pump (SAHP) technologies, which include (1) performance reduction on the rear collectors of a solar collectors array; (2) poor performance at low ambient temperature; (3) long responding time due to the huge volume of the heat storage and exchange unit (HSEU); and (4) weak of strong complementarity between solar collector and heat pump. According to the barriers, the novel SAHR-HP system incorporates (1) a new designed mini-channel solar thermal collector with three inlets and outlets that can be connected with other solar collectors flexibly; (2) a solar collectors array with a novel multiple-throughout-flow connection method that can simultaneously increase the overall solar thermal efficiency and reduce the flowing resistance; (2) a novel vapour injection heat recovery air source heat pump (VIHRASHP) that can use both the exhausted air and the ambient air, thus leading a considerable performance increase of the heat pump in cold weather; (3) a novel fastresponding double-layered HSEU that can significantly shorten the response time.The study combined theoretical analysis and experimental and simulative investigation, including the following elements; a critical literature review, optimal preliminary design, theoretical analysis, the development of simulation models, prototype construction, laboratory-controlled and field testing, validation and performance optimisation of the simulation models, energy performance, economic performance and environmental influence analysis. The proposed SAHR-HP system has a COP from 3 to 8 according to the weather conditions. The multiple-throughout-flowing connection can improve solar thermal efficiency of a solar collectors array by 10% when compared with that of the conventional one-to-one connection. The novel HSEU can decrease the responding time to 20mins compared with the 3 hours of the conventional HSEU with the same heat storage volume. Particularly, the VIHR-ASHP can save about 23% of electricity consumption as compared with a conventional ASHP at normal operation conditions of condensation temperature of 45°C and an ambient temperature of -10°C. A lower ambient temperature will increase its advantages over conventional air source heat pump and vapor injection heat pump. The integral test results indicated that the SAHRHP system can perform in perfect union with the coordinative operation between different parts of the system under any environmental conditions. The energy performance and the economic and environmental analysis illustrated that this system could efficiently provide enough energy for space heating, cooling and DHW with high energy performance in cold climatic regions, such as Chongqing, Taiyuan and Urumqi. Compared with the coal-driven system, the novel system has a cost payback period of 13.8 years, 12.37 years, and 17.85 years in Chongqing, Taiyuan, and Urumqi and a life- cycle net cost saving of nearly 16145.84RMB, 20317.82RMB, and 9002RMB. Furthermore, the system reduces the emission of many other harmful substances, i.e., dust, SO2 and NOx, and is therefore a desirable approach for environment sustainability and clean air. Besides, the results can be extended to most cold areas worldwide, i.e., The UK and the European countries.The research results are expected to configure feasible solutions for future SAHP technologies. The wide promotion of these core technologies worldwide could significantly reduce the consumption of fossil fuel and the associated carbon footprint in a built-up environment, thus providing a more ecological environment

Undergraduate Student Catalog 2011-2012

The contents of this document highlight the central pillars of Qatar University’s mission, namely the provision of high-quality education and the pursuit of an active role in the development of Qatari society. The courses described here have been designed, reviewed and assessed to meet the highest educational standards, with a strong focus on the knowledge- and skill-bases needed for a graduate to be competitive in today’s labor market or in higher education pursuits

Optimal heat pump integration in industrial processes

Among the options for industrial waste heat recovery and reuse which are currently discussed, heat pumping receives far less attention than other technologies (e.g. organic rankine cycles). This, in particular, can be linked to a lack of comprehensive methods for optimal design of industrial heat pump and refrigeration systems, which must take into account technical insights, mathematical principles and state-of-the-art features. Such methods could serve in a twofold manner: (1) in providing a foundation for analysis of heat pump economic and energetic saving potentials in different industries, and further (2) in giving directions for experimentalists and equipment manufacturers to adapt and develop heat pump equipment to better fit the process needs. This work presents a novel heat pump synthesis method embedded in a computational framework to provide a basis for such analysis. The superstructure-based approach is solved in a decomposition solution strategy based on mathematical programming. Heat pump features are incorporated in a comprehensive way while considering technical limitations and providing a set of solutions to allow expert-based decision making at the final stage. Benchmarking is completed by applying the method on a set of literature cases which yields improved-cost solutions between 5% and 30% compared to those reported previously. An extended version of one case is presented considering fluid selection, heat exchanger network (HEN) cost estimations, and technical constraints. The extended case highlights a trade-off between energy efficiency and system complexity expressed in number of compression stages, gas- and sub-cooling. This is especially evident when comparing the solutions with 3 and 5 compression stages causing an increase of the COP from 2.9 to 3.1 at 3% increase in total annualized costs (TAC)