Computational modelling of heat transfer in an annular porous medium solar energy absorber with the p1-radiative differential approximation

We study the steady, laminar thermal convection flow in a participating, absorbing-emitting fluid-saturated porous medium occupying a cylindrical annulus with significant thermal radiation effects as a simulation of a solar energy absorber system. The dimensionless incompressible, viscous conservation equations for mass, axial momentum, radial momentum, heat conservation and radiative transfer equation are presented with appropriate boundary conditions in an axisymmetric (X, R) coordinate system. The Traugott P1-Differential radiative transfer model is used which reduces the general integro-differential equation for radiation heat transfer to a partial differential equation. The Darcy-Forcheimmer isotropic porous medium drag force model is employed to simulate resistance effects of the solar porous medium with constant permeability in both the radial (R) and axial (X) direction. A numerical finite difference (FTCS) scheme is used to compute the velocity (U,V), temperature () and dimensionless zero moment of intensity (I0) distributions for the effects of conduction-radiation parameter (N), Darcy parameter (Da), Forchheimer parameter (Fs), Rayleigh buoyancy number (Ra), aspect ratio (A) and Prandtl number (Pr). The computations have shown that increasing aspect ratio increases both axial and radial velocities and elevates the radiative moment of intensity. Increasing Darcy number accelerates both axial and radial flow whereas increasing Forchheimer number decelerates the axial and radial flow. Higher values of optical thickness induce a weak deceleration in the radial flow whereas they increase both axial flow velocity and temperature. Increasing optical thickness also reduces radial radiative moment of intensity at intermediate axial coordinate values but enhances them at low and high axial coordinate values. Extensive validation is conducted with the network thermo-electric simulation program RAD-SPICE. The model finds important applications in solar energy porous wafer absorber systems, crystal growth technologies and also chemical engineering thermal technologies

Reduced-Order Equivalent-Circuit Models Of Thermal Systems Including Thermal Radiation

We established a general, automatic, and versatile procedure to derive an equivalent circuit for a thermal system using temperature data obtained from FE simulations. The EC topology was deduced from the FE mesh using a robust and general graph-partitioning algorithm. The method was shown to yield models that are independent of the boundary conditions for complicated 3D thermal systems such as an electronic chip. The results are strongly correlated with the geometry, and the EC can be extended to yield variable medium-order models. Moreover, a variety of heat sources and boundary conditions can be accommodated, and the EC models are inherently modular. A reliable method to compute thermal resistors connecting different regions was developed. It appropriately averages several estimates of a thermal resistance where each estimate is obtained using data obtained under different boundary or heating conditions. The concept of fictitious heat sources was used to increase the number of simulation datasets. The method was shown to yield models that are independent of the BCs for complicated 2-D thermal systems such as a 2D cavity. A reliable method to compute thermal resistors connecting different regions was developed. In general, the number of regions required for getting an accurate reduced-order model depends on the complexity of the system to be modeled. We have extended the reduced-order modeling procedure to include a view-factor based thermal radiation heat transfer model by including voltage controlled current sources in the equivalent circuit

Numerical investigation of radiative optically-dense transient magnetized reactive transport phenomena with cross diffusion, dissipation and wall mass flux effects

High temperature electromagnetic materials fabrication systems in chemical engineering require ever more sophisticated theoretical and computational models for describing multiple, simultaneous thermophysical effects. Motivated by this application, the present article addresses transient magnetohydrodynamic heat and mass transfer in chemically-reacting fluid flow from an impulsively-started vertical perforated sheet. Thermal radiation flux, internal heat generation (heat source), Joule magnetic heating (Ohmic dissipation), thermo-diffusive and diffuso-thermal (i.e. cross-diffusion) effects and also viscous dissipation are incorporated in the mathematical model. To facilitate numerical solutions of the coupled, nonlinear boundary value problem, non-similar transformations are employed and the partial differential conservation equations are normalized into a dimensionless system of momentum, energy and concentration equations with associated boundary thermal conditions. An implicit finite difference method (FDM) is utilized to solve the unsteady equations. Verification of the FDM solutions for dimensionless velocity, temperature and concentration functions is achieved with a variational finite element method code (MAGNETO-FEM) and also a network simulation method code (MAG-PSPICE). The influence of the emerging thermo-physical parameters on transient velocity, temperature, concentration, wall shear stress, Nusselt number and Sherwood number is elaborated. The flow is accelerated with increasing thermal radiative flux, Eckert number, heat generation and Soret number whereas the flow is decelerated with greater wall suction, heat absorption, magnetic field and Prandtl number. Temperatures are also observed to be elevated with magnetic parameter, radiation heat transfer, Dufour number, heat generation (source) and Eckert number with the contrary effects computed for increasing suction parameter or Prandtl number. The species concentration is enhanced with Soret number and generative chemical reaction whereas it is depressed with greater wall suction, Schimidt number and destructive chemical reaction paramete

Numerical tool for the inverse estimation of the heat capacity temperature-dependent using Pspice

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.In this paper a variant of the Sequential Function Specification Method has been used together with Network Simulation Method as the numerical method to solve an inverse problem associated with the determination of the heat capacity. It has been developed a software application for estimation the temperature dependence of heat capacity using the Qt platform and programming language Visual C++. A set of temperatures measured at different points of the medium (obtained by means the numerical solution of the direct problem) and a random error affected by a normal distribution are used for evaluation of the classical functional that compares these temperatures with the temperatures obtained numerically at each step , and so an iterative least-squares approach function is obtained (heat capacity) by straight sections (piecewise function). No prior information is used for the functional forms of the unknown specific heat, because this problem is considered a function estimation problem. A special device that generates a piecewise temperature-dependent function is required in conjunction with a programming routine. The Network Simulation Method is the numerical method used, with a design of the network model easy and has very few electric devices. The software developed is used to run the network so that no mathematical manipulations are required. The effect of different parameters over the numerical solution has been studied. The results confirm that it is possible to estimate the heat capacity (or specific heat when the density is known) using experimental temperature history and a procedure inverse based in an iterative process.dc201

Design and Simulation of Micro-Bolometer in MEMS Technology

Tato diplomová práce zkoumá problematiku detektoru infračerveného záření nazývaného bolometr. Cílem je pokrok v detekci infračerveného záření použitím odlišné absorpční vrstvy modifikovanou karbonovými nanotrubicemi. V teoretické části jsou uvedeny základní fyzikální pojmy z problematiky teplotního managmentu a základních fyzikálních vztahů bolometru. Design bolometru je představen a popsán. Teplotně mechanické simulace předvídají chování bolometru při detekci infračerveného záření. PSpice model je vytvořen a kombinuje termální a elektrické vlastnosti čipu bolometru. Dále je uveden proces výroby bolometru, které je detailně popsán.This master thesis studies the infrared detector called bolometer. The task is to improve the infrared detection by using different type of absorption layer modified by the carbon nanotubes. In theoretical part there are basic terms of thermal engineering and basics definitions of bolometer physics. The bolometer design is presented and described. The thermal mechanical simulations are evaluating the operation behavior. PSpice model of bolometer is created combing the thermal and electrical properties of the bolometer chip. The fabrication process is then presented and detailed described.

Modeling and simulation of magnetic components in electric circuits

This thesis demonstrates how by using a variety of model constructions and parameter extraction techniques, a range of magnetic component models can be developed for a wide range of application areas, with different levels of accuracy appropriate for the simulation required. Novel parameter extraction and model optimization methods are developed, including the innovative use of Genetic Algorithms and Metrics, to ensure the accuracy of the material models used. Multiple domain modeling, including the magnetic, thermal and magnetic aspects are applied in integrated simulations to ensure correct and complete dynamic behaviour under a range of environmental conditions. Improvements to the original Jiles-Atherton theory to more accurately model loop closure and dynamic thermal behaviour are proposed, developed and tested against measured results. Magnetic Component modeling techniques are reviewed and applied in practical examples to evaluate the effectiveness of lumped models, 1D and 2D Finite Element Analysis models and coupling Finite Element Analysis with Circuit Simulation. An original approach, linking SPICE with a Finite Element Analysis solver is presented and evaluated. Practical test cases illustrate the effectiveness of the models used in a variety of contexts. A Passive Fault Current Limiter (FCL) was investigated using a saturable inductor with a magnet offset, and the comparison between measured and simulated results allows accurate prediction of the behaviour of the device. A series of broadband hybrid transformers for ADSL were built, tested, modeled and simulated. Results show clearly how the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Inter Modulation Distortion (IMD) and Insertion Loss (IL) can be accurately predicted using simulation.A new implementation of ADSL transformers using a planar magnetic structure is presented, with results presented that compare favourably with current wire wound techniques. The inclusion of transformer models in complete ADSL hybrid simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the models in the context of a complete electrical system in predicting the overall circuit performance

Research on the propagation efficiency of ultrasonic guided waves in the rail

Ultrasonic guided waves (UGW) technique has the advantages of low detection frequency, long detection distance, strong anti-electromagnetic interference ability, and large coverage. Hence it has potential advantages in real-time detection of breakages in the rail. Based on the research background of UGW-based broken rail detection, this paper focuses on the characteristics optimization of piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers (PUTs) to improve the propagation efficiency of UGW in the rail. Due to the influence of energy attenuation, multimodal, dispersion, and on-site noise when the UGW propagates in the rail, the amplitude of the received UGW signal is low and the signal-to-noise ratio is poor. Therefore, this thesis mainly systematically studies the characteristics optimization of PUTs from the aspects of impedance matching, driving circuit optimization, and excitation signal optimization. The main work is as follows: 1. To deeply study of the electromechanical characteristics of longitudinal vibration sandwich piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer (referred to as PUTs), the PSpice equivalent circuit models of a piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer and the PSpice equivalent circuit model of a pitch-catch setup are established based on one-dimensional wave and transmission line theory. The PSpice model of the PUT and the PSpice model of the pitch-catch setup are analyzed from the time and frequency domains, respectively, and the accuracy of the built PSpice models is verified through some experiments. It is shown that the PSpice model of a PUT established above is highly scalable and can be combined with amplifiers, driving circuits, diodes. 2. With the aim of solving the problem of impedance mismatch between the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer and the driving circuit and the rail surface, the effect of the impedance matching on the electromechanical properties of the piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer was studied from the electrical and acoustic ends, respectively. From the electrical side, the effects of different electrical impedance matching networks on the electromechanical characteristics of PUTs are studied in both time and frequency domains. It is shown that in the two LC impedance matching networks, the matching network formed by the series inductance and parallel capacitance is better. From the acoustic side, an experimental method is used to study the effect of acoustic impedance matching on the transient characteristics of PUTs. It is concluded that when the epoxy resin is doped with 10% tungsten powder and the coating thickness is 8 mm, the acoustic impedance matching effect is better. 3. To overcome the problems of the existing driving circuits that the excitation voltage is not high enough, the extra high voltage DC voltage is required and the impedance matching is not considered, this thesis proposed a high voltage pulse driving circuit based on the full-bridge topology. The driving circuit takes into account the suppression of overshoot and oscillation when the power MOSFET is turned off, and at the same time conducts the impedance matching and tailing absorption of the excitation signal for PUTs. The suppression of overshoot and oscillation adopts the RC snubber circuit, and the tailing absorption is accomplished by a bleeder resistor and a bidirectional thyristor. The correctness and effectiveness of the proposed high-voltage pulse driving circuit are verified through experiments. It was also found that the combined use of electrical impedance matching and absorption circuits can effectively improve the energy conversion efficiency of PUTs. 4. To obtain the optimal performance of PUTs, the excitation signal of PUTs is optimized in terms of excitation signal frequency and excitation coding. First of all, to solve the problem of PUTs with having a resonance frequency shift after loading, this thesis proposes an optimal excitation frequency tracking method based on a digital band-pass tracking filtering. Then its correctness and stability are verified through some field experiments. Secondly, to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the UGW signal, it is proposed to apply the Barker code excitation method to the broken rail detection, and use the pulse compression technique at the receiving end to realize the rapid recognition of the signal characteristics. Finally, for the case where the pulse-compressed signal produces undesirable peak sidelobes due to the effects of bandwidth, multipath, and noise, an adaptive peak detection algorithm based on the Hilbert transform combined with a digital bandpass tracking filter and a triangle filter. The accuracy and effectiveness of the above-mentioned Barker code excitation method and the adaptive peak detection algorithm are verified through experiments. The study in this thesis presents a feasible solution for improving the propagation efficiency of UGW in the rails and at the same time provides theoretical guidance for the large-scale application of the real-time broken rail detection system based on UGW

The 2nd NASA Aerospace Pyrotechnic Systems Workshop

This NASA Conference Publication contains the proceedings of the Second NASA Aerospace Pyrotechnics Systems Workshop held at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 8-9, 1994. The papers are grouped by sessions: (1) Session 1 - Laser Initiation and Laser Systems; (2) Session 2 - Electric Initiation; (3) Session 3 - Mechanisms & Explosively Actuated Devices; (4) Session 4 - Analytical Methods and Studies; and (5) Session 5 - Miscellaneous. A sixth session, a panel discussion and open forum, concluded the workshop