Modelling the Influence of Climate on the Performance of the Organic Rankine Cycle for Industrial Waste Heat Recovery

Paper is published using the open access gold route Dr Korolija is now working at UCL Energy Institute, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN [email protected] paper describes a study of the relative influences of different system design decisions upon the performance of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) used to generate electricity from foundry waste heat. The design choices included concern the working fluid, whether to use a regenerator and the type of condenser. The novelty of the research lies in its inclusion of the influence of both the ORC location and the auxiliary electricity used by the pumps and fans in the ORC power system. Working fluids suitable for high temperature applications are compared, including three cyclic siloxanes, four linear siloxanes and three aromatic fluids. The ORC is modelled from first principles and simulation runs carried out using weather data for 106 European locations and a heat input profile that was derived from empirical data. The impact of design decisions upon ORC nominal efficiency is reported followed by the impact upon annual system efficiency in which variations in heat input and the condition of outdoor air over a year are considered. The main conclusion is that the location can have a significant impact upon the efficiency of ORC systems due to the influence of climate upon the condenser and auxiliary electricity requirements

"It happened, what's the problem?" and "A guide through the problem" - A model for consideration of ecological issues in chemistry education

In order to improve the ability to apply knowledge of chemistry (acquired in the existing educational system) in real life, the model for consideration of ecological issues was developed and applied in high school. The model consists of a continuous text "It Happened, What's the Problem?" and a test with non-continuous text "A Guide Through the Problem", which were prepared for consideration of the problem of eutrophication. All results obtained (average achievement of 70.9 +/- 14.3 %) showed that the application of the model enabled: understanding of an ecological problem based on scientific representations of the term eutrophication given in the continuous text, realization that pollution of the environment may be directly related to modern life, application of acquired knowledge of chemistry to observe and understand the cause and effect of eutrophication in the environment, to draw a scientific conclusion, and understanding the importance of science and technology discoveries for solving ecological problems. In addition, the model contributed to the development of student's environmental literacy (ecological knowledge and cognitive skills), ability to think critically, and provided possibilities for classroom knowledge to become applicable in real life

PEN: a low energy test of lepton universality

Allowed charged $\pi$ meson decays are characterized by simple dynamics, few available decay channels, mainly into leptons, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections. In that sense, pion decays represent a veritable triumph of the standard model (SM) of elementary particles and interactions. This relative theoretical simplicity makes charged pion decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries and the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for studying pion structure and chiral dynamics. Even after considerable recent improvements, experimental precision is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for pion decays. We review the current state of experimental study of the pion electronic decay $\pi^+ \to e^+\nu_e(\gamma)$, or $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$, where the $(\gamma)$ indicates inclusion and explicit treatment of radiative decay events. We briefly review the limits on non-SM processes arising from the present level of experimental precision in $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$ decays. Focusing on the PEN experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland, we examine the prospects for further improvement in the near term.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; paper presented at the XIII International Conference on Heavy Quarks and Leptons, 22-27 May 2016, Blacksburg, Virginia, US

Reconstruction of 3D models of cast sculptures using close-range photogrammetry

This paper presents the possibilities of application of close-range photogrammetry, based on the Structure-from- Motion (SfM) approach, in 3D model’s reconstruction of bronze cast sculptures. Special attention was dedicated to the analysis of image processing strategy, and its impact on the 3D model reconstruction quality. For the purpose of analysis a bust of Nikola Tesla, placed in front of the Faculty of Technical Sciences University of Novi Sad was used. Experimental results indicate that the strategy employing multi-group photo processing provides substantial reductions in processing time while providing satisfactory results in 3D reconstruction

PEN experiment: a precise measurement of the pi+ -> e+ nu decay branching fraction

A new measurement of $B_{\pi e2}$, the $\pi^+ \to e^+\nu(\gamma)$ decay branching ratio, is currently under way at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The present experimental result on $B_{\pi e2}$ constitutes the most accurate test of lepton universality available. The accuracy, however, still lags behind the theoretical precision by over an order of magnitude. Because of the large helicity suppression of the $\pi_{e2}$ decay, its branching ratio is susceptible to significant contributions from new physics, making this decay a particularly suitable subject of study.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, talk given at the Tenth Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2009), La Jolla/San Diego, CA, 26-31 May 2009; to appear in Proceedings to be published by the American Institute of Physic