Comparison of Dehumidification Performance of Counter and Cross-flow type Liquid desiccant Dehumidifiers

In HVAC systems, a liquid desiccant system has attracted research attentions due to its advantages on removing latent loads in a conditioned building with less energy consumption. The dehumidifier is the key component in a liquid desiccant system, whose heat and mass transfer performance directly affects the whole dehumidification performance. The coupled heat and mass transfer performance is affected not only by the properties of packing material and inlet conditions of air and desiccant solution, but also by the flow direction between air and desiccant solution. This paper experimentally investigates the dehumidification performance of the counter-flow type and cross-flow type liquid desiccant system under the same system operation conditions. In this study, Lithium chloride aqueous solution is used as a desiccant solution and Celdek structure packing is used. The enthalpy efficiency and moisture efficiency were adopted as the dehumidification performance indices. To investigate the impact of air and solution conditions on the two indices, five parameters were measured: liquid to gas ratio, the inlet air temperature and humidity ratio and solution temperature and concentration. As a result, the effects of flow directions between air and solution on the dehumidification process in various conditions were analysed. In additions, the correlations for predicting the performance of the two type of liquid desiccant system are proposed, which are good agreement with the experiment results and existing models

A Novel On-chip Three-dimensional Micromachined Calorimeter with Fully Enclosed and Suspended Thin-film Chamber for Thermal Characterization of Liquid Samples

A microfabricated calorimeter (μ-calorimeter) with an enclosed reaction chamber is presented. The 3D micromachined reaction chamber is capable of analyzing liquid samples with volume of 200 nl. The thin film low-stress silicon nitride membrane is used to reduce thermal mass of the calorimeter and increase the sensitivity of system. The μ-calorimeter has been designed to perform DC and AC calorimetry, thermal wave analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The μ-calorimeter fabricated with an integrated heater and a temperature sensor on opposite sides of the reaction chamber allows to perform thermal diffusivity and specific heat measurements on liquid samples with same device. Measurement results for diffusivity and heat capacitance using time delay method and thermal wave analysis are presented

Empirical Validation of Heat Transfer Performance Simulation of Graphite/PCM Concrete Materials for Thermally Activated Building System

To increase the heat capacity in lightweight construction materials, a phase change material (PCM) can be introduced to building elements. A thermally activated building system (TABS) with graphite/PCM concrete hollow core slab is suggested as an energy-efficient technology to shift and reduce the peak thermal load in buildings. An evaluation of heat storage and dissipation characteristics of TABS in graphite/PCM concrete has been conducted using dynamic simulations, but empirical validation is necessary to acceptably predict the thermal behavior of graphite/PCM concrete. This study aimed to validate the thermal behavior of graphite/PCM concrete through a three-dimensional transient heat transfer simulation. The simulation results were compared to experimental results from previous studies of concrete and graphite/PCM concrete. The overall thermal behavior for both materials was found to be similar to experiment results. Limitations in the simulation modeling, which included determination of the indoor heat transfer coefficient, assumption of constant thermal conductivity with temperature, and assumption of specimen homogeneity, led to slight differences between the measured and simulated results

Glucose repression of the Escherichia coli sdhCDAB operon, revisited: regulation by the CRP·cAMP complex

Expression of the Escherichia coli sdhCDAB operon encoding the succinate dehydrogenase complex is regulated in response to growth conditions, such as anaerobiosis and carbon sources. An anaerobic repression of sdhCDAB is known to be mediated by the ArcB/A two-component system and the global Fnr anaerobic regulator. While the cAMP receptor protein (CRP) and Cra (formerly FruR) are known as key mediators of catabolite repression, they have been excluded from the glucose repression of the sdhCDAB operon. Although the glucose repression of sdhCDAB was reported to involve a mechanism dependent on the ptsG expression, the molecular mechanism underlying the glucose repression has never been clarified. In this study, we re-examined the mechanism of the sdhCDAB repression by glucose and found that CRP directly regulates expression of the sdhCDAB operon and that the glucose repression of this operon occurs in a cAMP-dependent manner. The levels of phosphorylated enzyme IIA(Glc) and intracellular cAMP on various carbon sources were proportional to the expression levels of sdhC-lacZ. Disruption of crp or cya completely abolished the glucose repression of sdhC-lacZ expression. Together with data showing correlation between the intracellular cAMP concentrations and the sdhC-lacZ expression levels in several mutants and wild type, in vitro transcription assays suggest that the decrease in the CRP·cAMP level in the presence of glucose is the major determinant of the glucose repression of the sdhCDAB operon

Carbon nanotube diode fabricated by contact engineering with self-assembled molecules

The authors report the construction of carbon nanotube Schottky diodes by covering a selectively exposed area of the electrode with self-assembling molecules. Two self-assembling molecules with different polarities, 2-aminoethanethiol and 3-mercaptopropionic acid, were used to modify the Fermi level lineup at the selected contact. The devices showed p -type behavior with symmetric I-V showing clear rectifying behavior after treatment of one contact with 2-aminoethanethiol. Their experiment, in conjunction with the results of ab initio electronic structure calculations, suggests that the diode action stems from the asymmetric Fermi level lineup between the bare and engineered contacts.open131