43 research outputs found

    A method for obtaining the preventive maintenance interval in the absence of failure time data

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    One of the ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other polluting gases caused by ships is to improve their maintenance operations through their life cycle. The maintenance manager usually does not modify the preventive intervals that the equipment manufacturer has designed to reduce the failure. Conditions of use and maintenance often change from design conditions. In these cases, continuing using the manufacturer's preventive intervals can lead to non-optimal management situations. This article proposes a new method to calculate the preventive interval when the hours of failure of the assets are unavailable. Two scenarios were created to test the effectiveness and usefulness of this new method, one without the failure hours and the other with the failure hours corresponding to a bypass valve installed in the engine of a maritime transport surveillance vessel. In an easy and fast way, the proposed method allows the maintenance manager to calculate the preventive interval of equipment that does not have installed an instrument for measuring operating hours installed

    Dynamic Corrosion Test Using LiNO3 Containing Molten Salt for CSP Applications

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    Low melting point thermal energy storage (TES) materials have been proposed in the last years to reduce the storage cost in concentrating solar power (CSP) technology. One of the most interesting additive due to the enhancement in thermal properties is lithium nitrate. However, there is a lack of dynamic corrosion tests to simulate real operation conditions in CSP plants. In this work, we present a dynamic reactor set up where a mixture of 30 wt.% LiNO3 + 57 wt.% KNO3 + 13 wt.%. NaNO3 is moved through a mechanical stirrer obtaining a lineal speed of 0.30 m/s. A commercial carbon steel A516 was tested as container material at 390 °C during 1000 h. Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 were obtained as the main corrosion products by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) with a metallographic corrosion rate of 0.015 mm/year.The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group (GREiA 2017 SGR 1537). GREiA is certified agent TECNIO in the category of technology developers from the Government of Catalonia

    High temperature corrosion behavior on molten nitrate salt-based nanofluids for CSP plants

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    Recently, a number of theoretical and experimental studies have been performed to understand the effect of nanoparticles on thermal properties and heat transfer performance but there is a lack regarding their corrosion properties. In this work, an extended corrosion characterization (at central tower plant storage temperature (565 °C)) has been carried out in two different grades of solar salt (industrial and refined purity) doped with the addition of 1 wt% Al2O3 nanoparticles or 1 wt% SiO2 nanoparticles. Corrosion rates were determined in commercial stainless steel commonly used in CSP technology (347SS) by gravimetric tests, measuring the weight gain during 1000 h, identifying the corrosion products by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The lowest corrosion rate (0.007 mm/year) was obtained in the refined solar salt with the addition of 1 wt% Al2O3 nanoparticles. A protective layer was formed in the steel-salt interphase, identified through XRD as Al2O3.The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by CONICYT/FONDAP 15110019 “Solar Energy Research Center” SERC-Chile. The authors wish to acknowledge the Univer- sity of the Basque Country UPV/EHU for supporting the PhD of Belen Munoz-Sanchez (Zabalduz program) and her research stay at the Universidad de Antofagasta

    Optimisation of Maintenance Policies Based on Right-Censored Failure Data Using a Semi-Markovian Approach

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    This paper exposes the existing problems for optimal industrial preventive maintenance intervals when decisions are made with right-censored data obtained from a network of sensors or other sources. A methodology based on the use of the z transform and a semi-Markovian approach is presented to solve these problems and obtain a much more consistent mathematical solution. This methodology is applied to a real case study of the maintenance of large marine engines of vessels dedicated to coastal surveillance in Spain to illustrate its usefulness. It is shown that the use of right-censored failure data significantly decreases the value of the optimal preventive interval calculated by the model. In addition, that optimal preventive interval increases as we consider older failure data. In sum, applying the proposed methodology, the maintenance manager can modify the preventive maintenance interval, obtaining a noticeable economic improvement. The results obtained are relevant, regardless of the number of data considered, provided that data are available with a duration of at least 75% of the value of the preventive interval.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN). España RTI2018-094614-B-I00 (SMASHING

    The influence of mixing water on the thermophysical properties of nanofluids based on solar salt and silica nanoparticles

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    The use of nanofluids (NFs) based on Solar Salt (SS) and nanoparticles (NPs), either as Thermal Energy Storage (TES) material or as Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF), is attracting great interest in recent years. Many authors [1,3] have reported important improvements on the thermophysical properties (specific heat capacity cp,thermal conductivity k) of NFs based on SS and ceramic NPs. These improvements would lead to important savings and better performance of TES facilities on new Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants due to lower quantities of material required and smaller storage tanks. To achieve these advantageous features in the final NFs, it is essential to avoid NP agglomeration during their preparation. Different synthesis procedures have been reported: mixing of solid NPs within a SS solution by means of ultrasounds [1-3], direct mixing of solid NPs and molten salt [4]. In this work, NFs based on SS and 1% by wt. of silica NPs were synthetized from a SS-water solution and a commercial water-silica NF called Ludox HS 30% (Sigma-Aldrich). The influence of the mixing water volume (MW) on the cp of NFs was evaluated. With this aim, the cp of these samples was measured by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) both in the solid and the liquid state. In addition, the distribution of sizes was measured during the whole preparation process by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Further information about sizes and uniformity of the final NFs was obtained from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns of the SS and final NF were performed.Basque Government's ETORTEK 201

    Preparation of nanofluids based on solar salt and boehmite nanoparticles: Characterization of starting materials

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    A nanofluid composed of Solar Salt (SS) and boehmite nanoparticles (A) in a concentration of 1% by weight, is proposed as thermal storage medium for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants. A wide characterization of the raw materials has been done, focused on their thermal stability and the nanoparticle primary size and shape among other properties such as its specific heat and crystalline structure. Some features of the final nanofluids have been also investigated: thermal stability, nanoparticle sizes and their distribution and specific heat. The showed results confirm that these materials are thermally stable in the working temperature range both individually and combined. In addition, the synthesis procedure implemented is effective to keep the nanoparticle sizes in the nanometric range (<100 nm). These findings mean the first step to carry on research and characterization of this nanofluid.Basque Government's ETORTEK 201

    Safeguard plan management for heritage buildings: development of a spatial information system

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    This paper explains the methodology and criteria used in the development of a new tool for the management of a safeguard plan for historic buildings in Avila, which is a Spanish World Heritage City. As a result of a first approximation, there are many requirements to take into account: completeness, interactivity, ease of use, modularity, and low costs. Due to the characteristics of the information (spatially located, heterogenic, and provided in different formats) we consider it indispensable to create a spatial information system that is qualifiedfor organizing all available multimedia digital information (2-D images, panoramas, graphics, text documents, and music). While the mainobjective of this study is to provide a simple tool for the management of historic and artistic heritage in the form of a safeguard plan, the features of the tool created here open up new possibilities for other uses in the future

    3D Digital Surveying and Modelling of Cave Geometry: Application to Paleolithic Rock Art

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    3D digital surveying and modelling of cave geometry represents a relevant approach for research, management and preservation of our cultural and geological legacy. In this paper, a multi-sensor approach based on a terrestrial laser scanner, a high-resolution digital camera and a total station is presented. Two emblematic caves of Paleolithic human occupation and situated in northern Spain, “Las Caldas” and “Peña de Candamo”, have been chosen to put in practise this approach. As a result, an integral and multi-scalable 3D model is generated which may allow other scientists, pre-historians, geologists…, to work on two different levels, integrating different Paleolithic Art datasets: (1) a basic level based on the accurate and metric support provided by the laser scanner; and (2) a advanced level using the range and image-based modelling
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