Experimental measurement technique for the assessment of the fuel crossover diffusion coefficient in the membrane electrode assembly of a direct methanol fuel cell

Since the cross-over still seems to be the main issue of the direct methanol fuel cells, an experimental evaluation of the diffusive cross-over is performed. Even if the relationship of the rate through the membrane is the sum of the three terms of diffusive, osmotic and drag, the diffusive component is also present at open circuit lowering the Open Circuit Voltage of the single cell up to 50 % with respect to the Nernst potential. The goal of the research is to develop a direct measurement technique of the crossover that can provide the effective values of the parameters that characterize the membrane electrode assembly. The experimental set up consists in the pressure, flow and temperature control and acquisition using Labview. A sensitive analysis for three values of temperatures at 60°C, 65°C and 70°C is performed for first. Then, a small overpressure was generated in the cathode side by a valve located at the cathode outlet. A set of pressure were analysed for 0, 30 and 90 mbar of overpressure at the cathode. The tested fuel cell has a commercial Nafion 117 membrane and carbon paper gas diffusion layers 700 cm2 large. Preliminary results show that the differential concentration term seems to be significantly larger than the osmotic term. The diffusion coefficients are useful for fuel cell modelling and for the calibration of the operating conditions in the sensor less DMFC systems

An efficient composite membrane to improve the performance of PEM reversible fuel cells

The aim of this study is to develop composite Nafion/GO membranes, varying GO loading, to be used in a Unitized reversible fuel cell comparing its performance with the baseline Nafion. Water uptake, ion exchange capacity (IEC), tensile strength, and SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis are discussed. The SEM analysis revealed how the GO is homogeneously disposed into the Nafion matrix. The addition of GO improves the membrane tensile strength while reducing the elongation ratio. Water uptake, IEC enhance with the increasing of GO content. Regarding fuel cell mode, the performance is analysed using a polarization curve on a MEA with an effective area of 9 cm2. The composite membrane demonstrated higher mechanical strength, enhanced water uptake so higher performance in fuel cell mode. Despite the power absorbed from the electrolysis is higher when using a composite membrane, the beneficial effect in FC mode resulted in a slightly higher round trip efficiency. The GO-Nafion membrane was not able to maintain its performance with increasing the operating time, so potentially leading to a lower lifetime than the Nafion bare

Market-pull policies to promote renewable energy: a quantitative assessment of tendering implementation

Policymakers ideally select the support mechanism that better foments renewable energy production at the lowest cost to comply with international climate agreements. Currently, tendering is the fastest rising scheme. Yet a quantitative assessment of its performance in the literature is missing. We assess the effect of the introduction of auctions in accelerating the addition of renewable capacity through three econometric models: fixed-effects multivariate regression, statistical matching and synthetic control. The dataset includes 20 developed countries, spanning from 2004 to 2014, and both macroeconomic and policy drivers. Results show that tendering has the strongest effects to promote net renewable capacity comparing to other mechanisms like feed-in tariffs. Countries implementing tendering on average have a higher addition of net capacity of renewables in the order of 1000-2000 MW annually. The positive effect of tenders is clearer when analyzing with synthetic controls the case of Italy: while tendering enhances the deployment of renewables, policy instability jeopardizes the sustainability of tendering’s impact.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Redundant hydraulic secondary flight control systems behavior in failure conditions

The flight control systems, designed in order to assure the necessary safety level even in failure conditions, are generally characterized by a proper redundant layout. The redundancies must be designed in order to assure an adequate system behavior when some failures are present; in fact an incorrect layout may cause serious shortcomings concerning the response when some component is not operational. Therefore the usual correct design activities request the complete analysis of the system behavior in failure condition. The work analyses the response of a redundant secondary flight control hydraulic servo-mechanism equipped with some proper equalization devices, when some of the most probable and representative failures are present. It must be noted that the redundancy layout, designed in order to assure the necessary safety level even in failure conditions, may behave improperly during normal operations, if the system architecture is unsuitable, when manufacturing defects are present. The improper behavior, generally consisting of force fighting or speed fighting caused by different offsets or asymmetries between the two sections of the system, may be usually overcome by means of a suitable equalization device. Therefore, the system behavior during and following the failure transient greatly depends on both its redundancy architecture and related equalization device. The above mentioned problems have been studied by means of an appropriate physical-mathematical model of a typical electro-hydraulic servo-mechanism prepared to the purpose, performing a certain number of simulations of representative actuations in which different types of failures are accurately modeled. In the opinion of the authors, this paper concerns a topic quite neglected but important in the technical literature. At the best of the authors’ knowledge, no specific scientific work in this field is available, excepting some industrial technical reports

Effects of wall curvature on the dynamics of an impinging jet and resulting heat transfer

The effects of wall curvature on the dynamics of a round subsonic jet impinging on a concave surface are investigated for the first time by direct numerical solution of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Impinging jets on curved surfaces are of interest in several applications, such as the impingement cooling of gas turbine blades. The simulation is performed at Reynolds and Mach numbers respectively equal to 3, 300 and 0.8. The impingement wall is kept at a constant temperature, 80 K higher than that of the jet at the inlet. The nozzle-to-plate distance (measured along the jet axis) is set to 5D, with D the nozzle diameter. In order to highlight the curvature effects, the present results are compared to a previous study of jet impinging on a flat plate. The specific influence of wall curvature is investigated through a frequency analysis based on discrete Fourier transform and dynamic mode decomposition. We found that the peak frequencies of the heat transfer also dominate the dynamics of primary vortices in the free jet region and secondary vortices produced by the interaction of primary vortices and the target plate. These frequencies are approximately 30% lower than those found in the reference study of impinging jet on a flat plate. Imperceptible differences were instead found in the time-averaged integral heat transfer

Direct numerical simulation of an oblique jet in a particle-laden crossflow

Jet in crossflow is a classic fluid dynamics problem widely studied in the last decades because of the big quantity of natural and industrial processes in which it is encountered (Mahesh in Annu Rev Fluid Mech 45(1):379–407, 2013 [6]). The present study focuses on the interaction between solid suspended particles and gas turbines film cooling that is a commonly used coolant technique aiming at generating a protective film of cold fluid around the blade profile. Effective cooling systems are crucial to increase turbine inlet gas temperature and to protect turbine blade surfaces from the huge thermal stress generated

Large-eddy simulation of the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performance of a ventilation fan

There are controversial requirements involved in developing numerical methodologies in order to compute the flow in industrial fans. The full resolution of turbulence spectrum in such high-Reynolds number flow configurations entails unreasonably expensive computational costs. The authors applied the study to a large unidirectional axial flow fan unit for tunnel ventilation to operate in the forward direction under ambient conditions. This delivered cooling air to the tunnel under routine operation, or hot gases at 400∘C under emergency conditions in the event of a tunnel fire. The simulations were carried out using the open source code OpenFOAM, within which they implemented a very large eddy simulation (VLES) based on one-equation SGS model to solve a transport equation for the modelled (subgrid) turbulent kinetic energy. This subgrid turbulence model improvement is a remedial strategy in VLES of high-Reynolds number industrial flows which are able to tackle the turbulence spectrum's well-known insufficient resolution. The VLES of the industrial fan permits detecting the unsteady topology of the rotor flow. This paper explores the evolution of secondary flow phenomena and speculates on its influence on the actual load capability when operating at peak-pressure condition. Predicted noise emissions, in terms of sound pressure level spectra, are also compared with experimental results and found to agree within the uncertainty of the measurements

transcriptional regulation of nuclear genes controlling plastid differentiation in tomato

ABSTRACTSeveral mechanisms which control transcription of genes encoding plastidial proteins in tomato are overviewed: light, the circadian clock, photooxidative stress and tissue-specific factors. Protein factors binding promoters of genes responding to such stimuli are described, as well as their abundance during the various phases of the light-dark cycle. Finally, the structure and regulation of a novel class of genes encoding plastidial enzymes, controlling carotenoid biosynthesis, are describe

Water washing of axial flow compressors: Numerical study on the fate of injected droplets

In turbomachinery applications blade fouling represents a main cause of performance degradation. Among the different techniques currently available, online water washing is one of the most effective in removing deposit from the blades. Since this kind of washing is applied when the machine is close to design conditions, injected droplets are strongly accelerated when they reach the rotor blades and the understanding of their interaction with the blades is not straightforward. Moreover, undesirable phenomena like blades erosion or liquid film formation can occur. The present study aims at assessing droplets dragging from the injection system placed at the compressor inlet till the first stage rotor blades, with a focus on droplets impact locations, on the washing process and the associated risk of erosion. 3D numerical simulations of the whole compressor geometry (up to the first rotor stage) are performed by using Ansys Fluent to account for the asymmetric distribution of the sprays around of the machine struts, IGV and rotor blades. The simulations are carried out by adopting the k-ϵ realizable turbulence model with standard wall functions, coupled with the discretephase model to track injected droplets motion. Droplets-wall interaction is also accounted for by adopting the Stanton-Rutland model which define a droplet impact outcome depending on the impact conditions. The induced erosion is evaluated by adopting an erosion model previously developed by some of the authors and implemented in Fluent through the use of a User Defined Function (UDF). Two sets of simulations are performed, by considering the rotor still and rotating, representative of off-line and on-line water washing conditions, respectively. In the rotating simulation, the Multiple Reference Frame Model is used. The obtained results demonstrate that the washing process differs substantially between the fixed and the rotating case. Moreover, to quantify the water washing effectiveness and the erosion risk, new indices were introduced and computed for the main components of the machine. These indices can be considered as useful prescriptions in the optimization process of water washing systems