Comparative design study of a diesel exhaust gas heat exchanger for truck applications with conventional and state of the art heat transfer enhancements

The exhaust gas of heavy duty diesel engines can provide an important heat source that may be used in a number of ways to provide additional power and improve overall engine efficiency. The sizing of a heat exchanger that can manage the heat load and still be of reasonable size and weight without excessive pressure drop is of significant importance especially for truck applications. This is the subject of the present work. To approach the problem, a total of five different configurations are investigated and a comparison of conventional and state of the art heat transfer enhancement technologies is included. Two groups of configurations are examined: (a) a classical shell and tube heat exchanger using staggered cross-flow tube bundles with smooth circular tubes, finned tubes and tubes with dimpled surfaces and (b) a cross-flow plate heat exchanger, initially with finned surfaces on the exhaust gas side and then with 10 ppi and 40 ppi metal foam material substituting for the fins. Calculations were performed, using established heat exchanger design methodologies and recently published data from the literature to size the aforementioned configurations. The solutions provided reduce the overall heat exchanger size, with the plate and fin type consisting of plain fins presenting the minimum pressure drop (up to 98% reduction compared to the other configurations), and the 40 ppi metal foam being the most compact in terms of size and weight. Durability of the solutions is another issue which will be examined in a future investigation. However, coupling of the exhaust heat exchanger after a particulate trap appears to be the most promising solution to avoid clogging from soot accumulation

Differential White Blood Cell Count and Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional and Prospective Studies

Objective: Biological evidence suggests that inflammation might induce type 2 diabetes (T2D), and epidemiological studies have shown an association between higher white blood cell count (WBC) and T2D. However, the association has not been systematically investigated.Research Design and Methods: Studies were identified through computer-based and manual searches. Previously unreported studies were sought through correspondence. 20 studies were identified (8,647 T2D cases and 85,040 non-cases). Estimates of the association of WBC with T2D were combined using random effects meta-analysis; sources of heterogeneity as well as presence of publication bias were explored.Results: The combined relative risk (RR) comparing the top to bottom tertile of the WBC count was 1.61 (95% CI: 1.45; 1.79, p = 1.5*10(-18)). Substantial heterogeneity was present (I-2 = 83%). For granulocytes the RR was 1.38 (95% CI: 1.17; 1.64, p = 1.5*10(-4)), for lymphocytes 1.26 (95% CI: 1.02; 1.56, p = 0.029), and for monocytes 0.93 (95% CI: 0.68; 1.28, p = 0.67) comparing top to bottom tertile. In cross-sectional studies, RR was 1.74 (95% CI: 1.49; 2.02, p = 7.7*10(-13)), while in cohort studies it was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.22; 1.79, p = 7.7*10(-5)). We assessed the impact of confounding in EPIC-Norfolk study and found that the age and sex adjusted HR of 2.19 (95% CI: 1.74; 2.75) was attenuated to 1.82 (95% CI: 1.45; 2.29) after further accounting for smoking, T2D family history, physical activity, education, BMI and waist circumference.Conclusions: A raised WBC is associated with higher risk of T2D. The presence of publication bias and failure to control for all potential confounders in all studies means the observed association is likely an overestimate

Revealing Anisotropic Spinel Formation on Pristine Li- and Mn-Rich Layered Oxide Surface and Its Impact on Cathode Performance

Surface properties of cathode particles play important roles in the transport of ions and electrons and they may ultimately dominate cathode's performance and stability in lithium-ion batteries. Through the use of carefully prepared Li1.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13O2 crystal samples with six distinct morphologies, surface transition-metal redox activities and crystal structural transformation are investigated as a function of surface area and surface crystalline orientation. Complementary depth-profiled core-level spectroscopy, namely, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, are applied in the study, presenting a fine example of combining advanced diagnostic techniques with a well-defined model system of battery materials. The present study reports the following findings: (1) a thin layer of defective spinel with reduced transition metals, similar to what is reported on cycled conventional secondary particles in the literature, is found on pristine oxide surface even before cycling, and (2) surface crystal structure and chemical composition of both pristine and cycled particles are facet dependent. Oxide structural and cycling stabilities improve with maximum expression of surface facets stable against transition-metal reduction. The intricate relationships among morphology, surface reactivity and structural transformation, electrochemical performance, and stability of the cathode materials are revealed

Correction to: Revealing Anisotropic Spinel Formation on Pristine Li- and Mn-Rich Layered Oxide Surface and Its Impact on Cathode Performance (Advanced Energy Materials, (2017), 7, 11, (1602010), 10.1002/aenm.201602010)

Adv. Energy Mater. 2017, 7, 1602010 In the originally published article, the red circle in Figure b showed the wrong spot. The corrected Figure b along with the corrected figure caption is shown below. The authors apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. (Figure presented.) a) HAADF STEM image collected on the S-Poly crystal sample, b) SAED pattern collected from the particle shown in (a), c) simulated SAED pattern corresponding to the combination of C2/m and a spinel structure, and d) dark field image taken with the reflection shown in red in (b)

Synthesis and Characterizations of (In0.90Sn0.05Ni0.05)(2)O-3 Nanoparticles Using Solid State Reaction Method

ITO (In0.95Sn0.05)(2)O-3 and Ni doped ITO (In0.90Sn0.05Ni0.05)(2)O-3 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by solid state reaction method and subjected to study their structural, optical and magnetic properties. The NPs had a size distribution in the range of 40 nm and were identified as the bcc cubic In2O3 by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Optical properties of the samples were studies using UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. Magnetic measurements were carried out at room temperature and at 100 K using vibrating sample magnetometer and found that the ITO nanoparticles were ferromagnetic in nature at room temperature. The strength of the magnetization decreased in ITO nanoparticles when the magnetic measurements carried out at 100 K