Oscillating-flow regenerator test rig: Woven screen and metal felt results

We present correlating expressions, in terms of Reynolds or Peclet numbers, for friction factors, Nusselt numbers, enhanced axial conduction ratios, and overall heat flux ratios in four porous regenerator samples representative of stirling cycle regenerators: two woven screen samples and two random wire samples. Error estimates and comparison of data with others suggest our correlations are reliable, but we need to test more samples over a range of porosities before our results will become generally useful

Mathematical modelling of cylindrical chimney effect in solar dryer

A simple mathematical model of a solar chimney is proposed for the solar dryer. The physical model was made with a cylindrical channel. Outer surface of the chimney is provided with black paint which absorbing solar radiation to heat up the air inside the chimney. Openings provided at the bottom and top of the chimney allow moist air to enter from the drying chamber and leave the channel. Steady state heat transfer equations were set determining the heat transfer coefficient and the air flow in the chimney. The thermal performance of the solar chimney as determined from the surfaces, air temperatures, and air mass flow rate are presented

Oscillating-Flow Regenerator Test Rig: Hardware and Theory With Derived Correlations for Screens and Felts

A number of wire mesh and metal felt test samples, with a range of porosities, yield generic correlations for friction factor, Nusselt number, enhanced axial conduction ratio, and overall heat flux ratio. This information is directed primarily toward stirling cycle regenerator modelers, but will be of use to anyone seeking to better model fluid flow through these porous materials. Behind these results lies an oscillating-flow test rig, which measures pumping dissipation and thermal energy transport in sample matrices, and several stages of data-reduction software, which correlate instantaneous values for the above dimensionless groups. Within the software, theoretical model reduces instantaneous quantifies from cycle-averaged measurables using standard parameter estimation techniques

Building a Cross-Institutional Infrastructure for Technical Services: The OhioLINK CollaboraTeS Project

Academic libraries in the 21st century must forge new cross-institutional service models based on the knowledge and expertise gained by years of building the shared bibliographic environment. Specific tools, such as cross-institutional best practices, must be developed. OhioLINK’s Database Management and Standards Committee (DMSC) is building the infrastructure that will enable OhioLINK libraries to look across institutional boundaries for inspiration and opportunities. In the spring of 2009 DMSC surveyed OhioLINK libraries to inventory cataloging and technical services expertise. The results are in and are available for use on a day-to-day basis by OhioLINK libraries. OhioLINK’s CollaboraTeS Project facilitates cross-institutional projects by providing information on which libraries are willing to assist others, barter or trade for assistance, or contract for assistance, skills or work. The project will include supportive best practices documents including boilerplate contracts, project specification patterns, cost models and sample memorandums of understanding. The researchers will present what they discovered and provide an update on the status of CollaboraTeS. Ohio academic libraries will become more aware of resources available to them via the CollaboraTeS project, and other libraries will be encouraged to consider the model

If You Build it, Will They Come? Building the Collaborative Infrastructure and the OhioLINK CollaboraTeS Toolbox

This research examines how libraries are collaborating, why libraries collaborate, and seeks the environmental conditions that foster successful cross-institutional collaborations. The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) Consortium’s CollaboraTeS Project is examined, to inventory expertise and needs within the OhioLINK community and the members’ willingness to share, barter or contract their expertise with other OhioLINK institutions. This is followed by an examination of a sample of North American collaborative projects to identify environmental conditions that foster collaborations in North American libraries. A brief survey within the OhioLINK environment was then conducted that validated anecdotal evidence that the CollaboraTeS Toolbox has not been used as much as was intended. The OhioLINK environment was then assessed using the environmental factors discussed in the second phase of the research, and it was evident that only two of the factors were present within the OhioLINK environment that were identified as fostering collaboration. More research is suggested into inventories of expertise and into identifying and building the environmental conditions that foster cross-institutional library collaborations

If You Build it, Will They Come? Building the Collaborative Infrastructure and the OhioLINK CollaboraTeS Toolbox

This research examines how libraries are collaborating, why libraries collaborate, and seeks the environmental conditions that foster successful cross-institutional collaborations. The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) Consortium’s CollaboraTeS Project is examined, to inventory expertise and needs within the OhioLINK community and the members’ willingness to share, barter or contract their expertise with other OhioLINK institutions. This is followed by an examination of a sample of North American collaborative projects to identify environmental conditions that foster collaborations in North American libraries. A brief survey within the OhioLINK environment was then conducted that validated anecdotal evidence that the CollaboraTeS Toolbox has not been used as much as was intended. The OhioLINK environment was then assessed using the environmental factors discussed in the second phase of the research, and it was evident that only two of the factors were present within the OhioLINK environment that were identified as fostering collaboration. More research is suggested into inventories of expertise and into identifying and building the environmental conditions that foster cross-institutional library collaborations