Thermal stability of linear siloxanes and their mixtures

The working fluid thermal stability is one of the crucial features of an effective organic Rankine cycle. Hexamethyldisiloxane (MM -C6H18OSi2) and octamethyltrisiloxane (MDM -C8H24O2Si3) are siloxane fluids currently exploited in high temperature organic Rankine cycles. However, data about their thermal stability are scarce or absent in literature. This manuscript presents a study of their behavior and decomposition at operating temperatures in the range 270 - 420 degrees C. The assessment of thermal stability can be performed with several methods, which are either based on pressure anomalous variation in isothermal stresses or on the deviation of the saturation curves experimentally obtained before and after the fluid is thermally stressed. An enhanced method is proposed here, based on chemical analysis of both vapor and liquid phases of the sample before and after it is subjected to thermal stress. A comparison of the pre-and post-stress vapor-liquid equilibrium curve complements the analysis. Results proved a higher stability for MM than for MDM. Moreover, due to the current interest in applying mixtures in organic Rankine cycles, an equimolar mixture of MM and MDM was also tested, which exhibit a behavior that appears to be different from the simple superimposition of pure fluid ones

Mechanistic investigation of the reduction of NOx over Pt-and Rh-based LNT catalysts

The influence of the noble metals (Pt vs. Rh) on the NOx storage reduction performances of lean NOx trap catalysts is here investigated by transient micro-reactor flow experiments. The study indicates a different behavior during the storage in that the Rh-based catalyst showed higher storage capacity at high temperature as compared to the Pt-containing sample, while the opposite is seen at low temperatures. It is suggested that the higher storage capacity of the Rh-containing sample at high temperature is related to the higher dispersion of Rh as compared to Pt, while the lower storage capacity of Rh-Ba/Al2O3 at low temperature is related to its poor oxidizing properties. The noble metals also affect the catalyst behavior upon reduction of the stored NOx, by decreasing the threshold temperature for the reduction of the stored NOx. The Pt-based catalyst promotes the reduction of the adsorbed NOx at lower temperatures if compared to the Rh-containing sample, due to its superior reducibility. However, Rh-based material shows higher reactivity in the NH3 decomposition significantly enhancing N2 selectivity. Moreover, formation of small amounts of N2O is observed on both Pt- and Rh-based catalyst samples only during the reduction of highly reactive NOx stored at 150 °C, where NOx is likely in the form of nitrites

Design and commissioning of a thermal stability test-rig for mixtures as working fluids for ORC applications

Abstract A novel test-rig for studying the thermal stability of mixtures as working fluids for ORC applications was designed and commissioned at the Laboratory of Compressible-fluid dynamics for Renewable Energy Applications (CREA) of Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the University of Brescia. The set-up is a standard one, in which a vessel containing the fluid under scrutiny is placed in a vertical oven for ~ 100 hours at a constant temperature T = Tstress. During the test, the pressure P is monitored to detect thermal decomposition of the fluid. After the test, the vessel is placed in a controlled thermal bath, where the pressure is measured at different value of the temperature T, with

Experimental evidence of planar channeling in a periodically bent crystal

The usage of a Crystalline Undulator (CU) has been identified as a promising solution for generating powerful and monochromatic $\gamma$-rays. A CU was fabricated at SSL through the grooving method, i.e., by the manufacturing of a series of periodical grooves on the major surfaces of a crystal. The CU was extensively characterized both morphologically via optical interferometry at SSL and structurally via X-ray diffraction at ESRF. Then, it was finally tested for channeling with a 400 GeV/c proton beam at CERN. The experimental results were compared to Monte Carlo simulations. Evidence of planar channeling in the CU was firmly observed. Finally, the emission spectrum of the positron beam interacting with the CU was simulated for possible usage in currently existing facilities

Steering efficiency of a ultrarelativistic proton beam in a thin bent crystal

Crystals with small thickness along the beam exhibit top performance for steering particle beams through planar channeling. For such crystals, the effect of nuclear dechanneling plays an important role because it affects their efficiency. We addressed the problem through experimental work carried out with 400 GeV/c protons at fixed-target facilities of CERN-SPS. The dependence of efficiency vs. curvature radius has been investigated and compared favourably to the results of modeling. A realistic estimate of the performance of a crystal designed for LHC energy including nuclear dechanneling has been achieved

Gamma-radiation as a Signature of Ultra Peripheral Ion Collisions at LHC energies

We study the peripheral ion collisions at LHC energies in which a nucleus is excited to the discrete state and then emits $\gamma$-rays. Large nuclear Lorenz factor allows to observe the high energy photons up to a few ten GeV and in the region of angles of a few hundred micro-radians around the beam direction. These photons can be used for tagging the events with particle production in the central rapidity region in the ultra-peripheral collisions. For that it is necessary to have an electromagnetic detector in front of the zero degree calorimeter in the LHC experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 6 Postscript figure

Single decay-lepton angular distributions in polarized e+e- --> t tbar and simple angular asymmetries as a measure of CP-violating top dipole couplings

In the presence of an electric dipole coupling of t-tbar to a photon, and an analogous "weak" dipole coupling to the Z, CP violation in the process e+e- --> t tbar results in modified polarization of the top and anti-top. This polarization can be analyzed by studying the angular distributions of decay charged leptons when the top or anti-top decays leptonically. Analytic expressions are presented for these distributions when either t or tbar decays leptonically, including O(alpha_s) QCD corrections in the soft-gluon approximation. The angular distributions are insensitive to anomalous interactions in top decay. Two types of simple CP-violating polar-angle asymmetries and two azimuthal asymmetries, which do not need the full reconstruction of the t or tbar, are studied. Independent 90% CL limits that may be obtained on the real and imaginary parts of the electric and weak dipole couplings at a linear collider operating at sqrt{s}=500 GeV with integrated luminosity 500 fb^{-1} and also at sqrt{s}=1000 GeV with integrated luminosity 1000 fb^{-1} have been evaluated. The effect of longitudinal electron and/or positron beam polarizations has been included.Comment: 26 pages, latex, figures included as latex files, version appearing in Pramana - Journal of Physics, minor corrections and note added in proo

Single and Multiple Volume Reflections of Ultra-Relativistic Electrons in a Bent Crystal as Tools for Intense Production of Electromagnetic Radiation

Electromagnetic radiation emitted by ultrarelativistic volume-reflected and multi-volume-reflected electrons in a bent crystal is very intense and takes place over a broad angular range of the incident beam. Such radiation results to be nearly independent from the particles trajectory and charge. This paper describes the possible applications these features allow, from the production of a gamma or a positron source to the crystal-assisted collimation of future linear e+/e− colliders and crystal-based electromagnetic calorimeters

Anomalous Couplings in e^+ e^- --> W^+ W^- gamma at LEP2 and NLC

We present sensitivity limits on the coefficients of a dimension-6 effective Lagrangian that parametrizes the possible effects of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Our results are based on the study of the process $e^+ e^- \to W^+ W^- \gamma$ at LEP2 and NLC energies. In our calculations, we include all the new anomalous interactions, involving vector and Higgs bosons, and take into account the Standard Model irreducible background. We analyse the impact of these new interactions on the total cross section, including the effects of the initial electron and final W polarizations. We then focus on the operators that will not be constrained by the $e^+ e^- \to W^+ W^-$ process, obtaining limits based on the photon energy distribution.Comment: 20 pages + 12 figures, RevTex. Version to be published in Phys. Rev.