Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Solar Chimney Applications in Buildings
A solar chimney is a renewable energy system used to enhance the natural ventilation in a building based on solar and wind energy. It is one of the most representative solar-assisted passive ventilation systems attached to the building envelope. It performs exceptionally in enhancing natural ventilation and improving thermal comfort under certain climate conditions. The ventilation enhancement of solar chimneys has been widely studied numerically and experimentally. The assessment of solar chimney systems based on buoyancy ventilation relies heavily on the natural environment, experimental environment, and performance prediction methods, bringing great difficulties to quantitative analysis and parameterization research. With the increase in volume and complexity of modern building structures, current studies of solar chimneys have not yet obtained a unified design strategy and corresponding guidance. Meanwhile, combining a solar chimney with other passive ventilation systems has attracted much attention. The solar chimney-based integrated passive-assisted ventilation systems prolong the service life of an independent system and strengthen the ventilation ability for indoor cooling and heating. However, the progress is still slow regarding expanded applications and related research of solar chimneys in large volume and multi-layer buildings, and contradictory conclusions appear due to the inherent complexity of the system.
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  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Ejectors
Ejectors are broadly of two types based on geometric construction, constant area mixing (CAM) and constant pressure mixing (CPM). Eamesproposed a new design with constant rate of momentum change, which has the advantage of both CAM and CPM. Computational and experimental studies show better overall performance of ejectors with increases in critical condensing temperatures and higher entrainment ratios.
  • 3.4K
  • 19 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Floating Wind Turbines
Globally, the wind resource in deep water (depths > 60 m) is very abundant. Due to the abundance of potential at these depths, the wind turbines will need the design of a floating platform because the wind turbines that are currently in operation are mostly fixed at the bottom and are dependent upon conventional concrete with a gravity base that is not feasible at these depths. A balance among the two varying principles (i.e., the requirement for a stable foundation for the wind turbine’s control and operation and the nature of the substructure being innate, to respond to environmental forces) is required for the design of the floating platform for wind energy. The absence of rigid foundations results in an additional six degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the platform of floating turbines; three translational (surge X, sway Y, and heave Z) and three rotational (roll RotX, pitch RotY, and yaw RotZ). For the platforms of onshore wind turbines and bottom-mounted offshore wind turbines, the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) can be modeled with six degrees of freedom; three translational (horizontal forces in X and Y and vertical force in Z) and three rotational (rocking moments in X and Y and a torsional moment in Z) respectively.
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  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Hydrometallurgy of Lithium Batteries
Spent lithium batteries can cause pollution to the soil and seriously threaten the safety and property of people. They contain valuable metals, such as cobalt and lithium, which are nonrenewable resources, and their recycling and treatment have important economic, strategic, and environmental benefits. The hydrometallurgy process uses reagents such as hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid (H3PO4), organic acids, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to extract and separate the cathode metals, usually operating below 100 °C, and can recover lithium in addition to the other transition metals.
  • 3.4K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Bio-Oil
Bio-oil is a the liquid phase obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass. The composition and amount of bio-oil generated depend not only on the type of the biomass but also on the conditions under which pyrolysis is performed. Most fossil fuels can be replaced by bio-oil-derived products. Thus, bio-oil can be used directly or co-fed along with fossil fuels in boilers, transformed into fuel for car engines by hydrodeoxygenation or even used as a more suitable source for hydrogen production than biomass. On the other hand, due to its rich composition in compounds resulting from the pyrolysis of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, bio-oil co-acts as a source of various value-added chemicals such as aromatic compounds.
  • 3.4K
  • 12 May 2021
Topic Review
List of ASTM International Standards
This is a list of ASTM International standards. Standard designations usually consist of a letter prefix and a sequentially assigned number. This may optionally be followed by a dash and the last two digits of the year in which the standard was adopted. Prefix letters correspond to the following subjects: This list may include either current or withdrawn standards. A withdrawn standard has been discontinued by its sponsoring committee. A standard may be withdrawn with or without replacement.
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  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
ZED Depth Sensors
The ZED depth sensor is considered as one of the world's fastest depth camera. It is composed of stereo cameras  with dual 4 mega-pixel RGB sensors. 
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  • 09 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Atmospheric Reentry
Atmospheric reentry is the process by which vehicles that are outside the atmosphere of a planet can enter that atmosphere and reach the planetary surface intact. Vehicles that undergo this process include spacecraft from orbit, as well as suborbital ICBM reentry vehicles. Typically this process requires special methods to protect against aerodynamic heating. Various advanced technologies have been developed to enable atmospheric reentry and flight at extreme velocities.
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  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Biodiesel from Castor Oil
An attractive alternative to the use of fossil fuels is biodiesel, which can be obtained from a variety of feedstock through different transesterification systems such as ultrasound, microwave, biological, chemical, among others. The efficient and cost-effective biodiesel production depends on several parameters such as free fatty acid content in the feedstock, transesterification reaction efficiency, alcohol: oil ratio, catalysts type, and several parameters during the production process. However, biodiesel production from vegetable oils is under development, causing the final price of biodiesel to be higher than diesel derived from petroleum. An alternative to decrease the production costs will be the use of economical feedstocks and simple production processes. Castor oil is an excellent raw material in terms of price and quality, but especially this non-edible vegetable oil does not have any issues or compromise food security. Recently, the use of castor oil has attracted attention for producing and optimizing biodiesel production, due to the high content of ricinoleic fatty acid and the possibility to esterify with only methanol, which assures low production costs. Additionally, biodiesel from castor oil has different advantages over conventional diesel. Some of them are biodegradable, non-toxic, renewable, they can be used alone, low greenhouse gas emission, among others. This review discusses and analyzes different transesterification processes, technologies, as well as different technical aspects during biodiesel production using castor oil as a feedstock.
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  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Passive Constant Flow Regulators
Passive flow control regulators, also known as passive flow control or autoregulated or pressure-compensated valves, deliver, without external control and energy consumption, a constant flow rate regardless of pressure variations.
  • 3.4K
  • 22 Dec 2020
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