Investigation on the performance of air source heat pump system with new environment friendly refrigerants for a low carbon building

Energy is an important development factor. It is consumed in different format from different sources in daily human activities. Solar energy, as the most fundamental renewable energy resource, serves in a clean, domestic and environmentally friendly way with minimum impact on surroundings. Due to the ability of transferring heat from low temperature to high temperature, heat pump systems can make great use of natural resources and waste heat resources for the purpose of space heating. Based upon this theoretical principle, this paper presents an investigation on the performance of air source heat pump (ASHP) system with new environment friendly refrigerants, such as R1233zd(E), R1234YF, R1234ze(Z) and R1234ze(E). At the same time, some conventional refrigerants (R134a, R245fa and R123) have been investigated as well for results comparison. A MATLAB program has been developed with the assistance of the database of CoolProp. The results show that the use of some selected environment friendly refrigerants in air source heat pump system for building application alongside other refrigeration applications in strongly recommended

Theoretical investigation of soil-based thermal energy storage system for greenhouses

In this short communication, a novel thermal energy storage system for greenhouses is presented. The novel system is based on directly heating a particular mass of soil through the solar power and utilizing the energy stored in critical months such as November, December, January and February. The target mass of soil is placed beneath the greenhouse with a height of 2m and the boundaries are well-insulated via vacuum insulation panels to provide adiabatic conditions yielding to no heat loss from the edges. Through electric heaters placed inside the target mass of soil, thermal energy is stored inside the soil via the power coming from photovoltaic (PV) panels fixed on the roof of the greenhouse. A specific thin film PV glazing technology called heat insulation solar glass (HISG) is preferred for the power input to the greenhouse. As the first aim of the research, heating demand of the greenhouse is determined for each month. Temperature difference and overall heat transfer coefficient between indoor and outdoor environment are considered to be independent variables in the analyses. Secondly, soil-based thermal energy storage system is introduced and its potential contribution to the heating demand is discussed. The preliminary results indicate that the soil mass is a dominant parameter in soil temperature and hence the thermal energy storage capacity. For a soil mass of 250 tonne, around 600K soil temperature is achieved by the end of year, which is very remarkable

Floating PVs in Terms of Power Generation, Environmental Aspects, Market Potential, and Challenges

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordLimited reserves of fossil fuels, rising environmental concerns, and a remarkable increase in electricity demand have led to the necessity of harnessing solar energy on a large scale. For this purpose, there has been a noticeable stimulation into photovoltaic power plants (PVPPs) over the last three decades, but the land requirement for PVPPs is still a handicap in many countries since valuable lands are considered for other purposes such as agriculture and livestock. For effective conservation of valuable lands and water resources, PVPPs are preferred to be installed on various water bodies such as oceans, seas, lagoons, lakes, rivers, dams, canals, wastewater treatment plants, irrigation ponds, fish farms, wineries, reservoirs, etc. PV systems on water bodies are called floating PVPPs, and they have outstanding advantages compared with land-based PVPPs including better energy generation owing to passive cooling effects, higher system efficiency and reliability, and lower dirt and dust accumulation on PV modules thus lower operating costs. There are also some significant environmental features provided by floating PVs. Shading effects due to PV coverage reduce water losses arising from evaporation. Moreover, algae growth is limited because of mitigated solar radiation, which yields better water quality. This review presents more insight on floating PVPPs in terms of several aspects such as electricity generation, system efficiency, reliability and sustainability, experimental applications and facilities in operation, water and carbon saving as well as challenges

Influence of the fabrication accuracy of hot-embossed PCL scaffolds on cell growths

Polycaprolactone (PCL) is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer widely used for the realization of 3D scaffold for tissue engineering applications. The hot embossing technique (HE) allows the obtainment of PCL scaffolds with a regular array of micro pillars on their surface. The main drawback affecting this kind of micro fabrication process is that such structural superficial details can be damaged when detaching the replica from the mold. Therefore, the present study has focused on the optimization of the HE processes through the development of an analytical model for the prediction of the demolding force as a function of temperature. This model allowed calculating the minimum demolding force to obtain regular micropillars without defects. We demonstrated that the results obtained by the analytical model agree with the experimental data. To address the importance of controlling accurately the fabricated microstructures, we seeded on the PCL scaffolds human stromal cell line (HS-5) and monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) to evaluate how the presence of regular or deformed pillars affect cells viability. In vitro viability results, scanning electron and fluorescence microscope imaging analysis show that the HS-5 preferentially grows on regular microstructured surfaces, while the THP-1 on irregular microstructured ones

Trabectedin triggers direct and NK-mediated cytotoxicity in multiple myeloma

Background: Genomic instability is a feature of multiple myeloma (MM), and impairment in DNA damaging response (DDR) has an established role in disease pathobiology. Indeed, a deregulation of DNA repair pathways may contribute to genomic instability, to the establishment of drug resistance to genotoxic agents, and to the escape from immune surveillance. On these bases, we evaluated the role of different DDR pathways in MM and investigated, for the first time, the direct and immune-mediated anti-MM activity of the nucleotide excision repair (NER)-dependent agent trabectedin. Methods: Gene-expression profiling (GEP) was carried out with HTA2.0 Affymetrix array. Evaluation of apoptosis, cell cycle, and changes in cytokine production and release have been performed in 2D and 3D Matrigel-spheroid models through flow cytometry on MM cell lines and patients-derived primary MM cells exposed to increasing nanomolar concentrations of trabectedin. DNA-damage response has been evaluated through Western blot, immunofluorescence, and DNA fragmentation assay. Trabectedin-induced activation of NK has been assessed by CD107a degranulation. miRNAs quantification has been done through RT-PCR. Results: By comparing GEP meta-analysis of normal and MM plasma cells (PCs), we observed an enrichment in DNA NER genes in poor prognosis MM. Trabectedin triggered apoptosis in primary MM cells and MM cell lines in both 2D and 3D in vitro assays. Moreover, trabectedin induced DDR activation, cellular stress with ROS production, and cell cycle arrest. Additionally, a significant reduction of MCP1 cytokine and VEGF-A in U266-monocytes co-cultures was observed, confirming the impairment of MM-promoting milieu. Drug-induced cell stress in MM cells led to upregulation of NK activating receptors ligands (i.e., NKG2D), which translated into increased NK activation and degranulation. Mechanistically, this effect was linked to trabectedin-induced inhibition of NKG2D-ligands negative regulators IRF4 and IKZF1, as well as to miR-17 family downregulation in MM cells. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings indicate a pleiotropic activity of NER-targeting agent trabectedin, which appears a promising candidate for novel anti-MM therapeutic strategies

Toward cost-effective and energy-efficient heat recovery systems in buildings: Thermal performance monitoring

Recent studies show that it is possible to reduce heating or cooling demand of a building as using heat recovery systems. Heat recovery technology is basically utilised to mitigate the heat loss, and hence energy consumption due to HVAC. Within the scope of this study, thermal comfort analyses of a test house integrated with a novel polycarbonate heat exchanger are conducted. At pre and post-retrofit case, temperature, relative humidity and CO2 measurements are carried out for a test period of one week. The results indicate that the internal CO2 concentration is not at desirable range due to lack of ventilation in the test house at the pre-retrofit case. However, following the integration of the novel ventilation system into the test house, CO2 concentration is found to be varying notably from 350 to 400 ppm which corresponds to the actual comfort conditions for indoor environments. It is also concluded from the results that the average relative humidity inside the test house at the post-retrofit case is found to be 57%, which is in the desired range whereas it is considerably high before retrofitting. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Vacuum glazing for highly insulating windows: Recent developments and future prospects

A comprehensive review of vacuum glazing technology from state-of-the-art developments to future prospects has been presented. The review has been conducted in a thematic way in order to allow an easier comparison, discussion and evaluation of the findings. First, a thorough overview of historical development of vacuum glazing has been given. Then, numerous experimental, theoretical, numerical and simulation works on the scope have been evaluated and the characteristic results from the said works have been analyzed. Commercial vacuum glazing products in market have been assessed in terms of several performance parameters such as overall heat transfer coefficient, visible light transmittance, solar heat gain coefficient and cost. Techno-economic and environmental aspects of vacuum glazing technology have also been discussed. It can be concluded from the results that overall heat transfer coefficient of a vacuum glazing can be reduced up to 0.20 W/m2K through optimized integrations with low-e coatings. The incomparable U-value range of vacuum glazing enables significant mitigation in energy consumption levels and greenhouse gas emissions. Retrofitting 25.6 million homes in the UK with vacuum glazing can provide a carbon abatement of about 40 million tonnes a year, which is very promising. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd

The impact of internal aerogel retrofitting on the thermal bridges of residential buildings: An experimental and statistical research

In this research, internal thermal superinsulation in residential buildings is experimentally and statistically evaluated in terms of potential thermal bridging effects. As a consequence of significant deviations in thermal resistance values in buildings at post-retrofit, large amounts of heat losses occur through non-insulated building elements such as separating walls. Therefore, it is of vital importance to determine the level of energy loss due to such thermal bridges through an internal thermal superinsulation retrofit conducted in a typical UK building. 20 mm thick fibre-silica opaque aerogel blanket is implemented internally on the walls of a test bedroom, and the heat flux from the separating wall is measured and compared for the cases of pre and post-retrofit. The results reveal that the average amount of heat loss through the non-insulated separating wall at the post-retrofit is 5.86 W/m2, whereas it is only 0.66 W/m2 at the pre-retrofit. The results are also verified through a statistical model, which is presented for the first time in literature. The novel model is capable of providing information about potential energy loss from non-insulated walls as a function of location. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Solar Pond Window Technology for Energy-Efficient Retrofitting of Buildings: An Experimental and Numerical Investigation

Windows are responsible for an important proportion of heat loss from building envelope due to inadequate insulative characteristics of traditional glazing products. In this respect, advanced glazing solutions are of vital importance to mitigate energy demand of buildings, thus to reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, in this research, a novel glazing technology called solar pond window is introduced, and it is numerically and experimentally investigated for different design configurations. The optimum design of this novel glazing covers four 5-mm-thick glass panes, two 20-mm-thick water layers, and one 20-mm-thick Krypton layer in the middle. The average heat transfer coefficient (U-value) of the optimum case is found to be about 0.40 W/m 2 K. If air is used as insulative gas in the interlayer, the U-value of the glazing is determined to be around 0.90 W/m 2 K, which is still competitive with the U-value range of argon-filled triple-glazed windows with low-e coatings. The fabrication cost of the optimum design of solar pond window is around €120/m 2. Overall, solar pond window technology is a cost-effective and energy-efficient glazing, which has a great potential to be the future of fenestration products as well as being capable of meeting the latest building fabric standards. © 2016, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

A novel roof type heat recovery panel for low-carbon buildings: An experimental investigation

Energy saving and its efficient utilization is of prime interest in today's world due to the limited energy resources and growing significance of environmental issues. Despite the intensive efforts to narrow the gap between conventional energy sources (wood, coal, gas, oil, etc.) and renewables, renewable energy resources currently supply only about 14% of total world energy demand. In this regard, energy management and optimization are considered compulsory as much as the clean energy generation. Recent works indicate that the buildings play a significant role on global energy consumption. They are responsible for about 40% of global energy demand. Among the different building types, domestic buildings have the largest share with 63% and most of energy is utilized for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in those buildings. Energy consumption levels of buildings can be notably reduced through waste heat recovery in HVAC systems. There are several attempts in literature addressing the possibility of decreasing energy consumption of buildings via waste heat recovery technologies. The heat recovery technologies are cost effective and user friendly applications. The use of heat recovery systems aims at mitigating the energy consumption for HVAC applications as well as the greenhouse gas emissions, and hence decreasing the adverse effects of global warming on the Earth. It is well-documented in literature that the heat recovery systems are very promising for domestic applications. In this paper, experimental results of a novel heat recovery system developed for low-carbon buildings are presented. The proposed heat recovery system consists of a plate-type heat exchanger, blower fans and ducts. The parallel-flow arrangement is used to run the system. The system is designed as under roof application. The aim of the system is to recover waste heat and to preheat fresh air using stale air. The experiments of the system are carried out in winter season in Kent, UK. The study aims to investigate the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system as well as the heat recovery efficiency. The results show that the heat recovery efficiency of the proposed system is around 89% while the COP is 4.5. The proposed system can be used in both winter and summer conditions without requiring additional work. Its labor cost is extremely low, so it is cost-effective and user friendly. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved