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Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems

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A special issue of Entropy (ISSN 1099-4300). This special issue belongs to the section "Thermodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2020) | Viewed by 39352

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Eliodoro Chiavazzo

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Guest Editor

Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Interests: thermodynamic approaches for simplification of multi-scale dynamical systems; nanotechnology; molecular dynamics simulations; applied engineering thermodynamics; fluid dynamics; application of thermodynamics in ecology and biology; heat transfer

Dr. Adriano Sciacovelli

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Guest Editor

School of Chemical Engineering, Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Interests: thermal energy storage components and materials; manufacturing of storage materials; thermo-mechanical energy storage; numerical modelling and optimization of energy systems; waste heat & cold recovery; energy efficiency in industrial processes

Dr. Andrea Frazzica

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Guest Editor

Institute of Advanced Technologies for Energy, Italian National Council Research (CNR), 98126 Messina, Italy
Interests: development and characterization of materials and components for thermal energy storage and conversion; detailed models of heat and mass transfer in porous media; development of renewable heating and cooling solutions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We look forward to submissions of both critical overviews and original papers on the broad topic of thermodynamic approaches for describing modern systems of engineering relevance. Since its foundation, thermodynamics has provided indispensable tools for drawing the boundaries of possible energy transformations. Those tools have been important in advancing our knowledge on natural processes. Interestingly enough, this has also contributed to the design of better engineering systems. Today, with the rapid development in nanoscience and nanotechnology, we are witnessing an explosion in our degree of freedoms in manufacturing and manipulating components with unusual behavior, as well as in synthetizing new materials endowed with exceptional properties. This opens up a plethora of new opportunities for improving engineering systems, and clearly needs fundamental guidance to correctly identify limitations, possibilities, and challenges. The aim of this Special Issue is to invite scientists to share recent advancements in both foundations and applications of thermodynamics shedding light on the above new opportunities. Examples include (although are not limited to) technologies for renewable energy collection, storage, and use; (bio–)chemical reactions for energy applications; advanced energy materials. More generally, reports on the use of thermodynamics at any scale, from material to device up to system scale for analyzing physical phenomena, which may have an impact on engineering, will be considered.

Prof. Dr. Eliodoro Chiavazzo
Dr. Adriano Sciacovelli
Dr. Andrea Frazzica
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Engineering thermodynamics
Thermal engineering
Nanotechnology
Energy storage
Renewable energy

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 4969 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamic Evaluation and Sensitivity Analysis of a Novel Compressed Air Energy Storage System Incorporated with a Coal-Fired Power Plant

by Peiyuan Pan, Meiyan Zhang, Weike Peng, Heng Chen, Gang Xu and Tong Liu

Entropy 2020, 22(11), 1316; https://doi.org/10.3390/e22111316 - 18 Nov 2020

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3152

Abstract

A novel compressed air energy storage (CAES) system has been developed, which is innovatively integrated with a coal-fired power plant based on its feedwater heating system. In the hybrid design, the compression heat of the CAES system is transferred to the feedwater of the coal power plant, and the compressed air before the expanders is heated by the feedwater taken from the coal power plant. Furthermore, the exhaust air of the expanders is employed to warm partial feedwater of the coal power plant. Via the suggested integration, the thermal energy storage equipment for a regular CAES system can be eliminated and the performance of the CAES system can be improved. Based on a 350 MW supercritical coal power plant, the proposed concept was thermodynamically evaluated, and the results indicate that the round-trip efficiency and exergy efficiency of the new CAES system can reach 64.08% and 70.01%, respectively. Besides, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the effects of ambient temperature, air storage pressure, expander inlet temperature, and coal power load on the performance of the CAES system. The above work proves that the novel design is efficient under various conditions, providing important insights into the development of CAES technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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18 pages, 5556 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Thermodynamic Analysis of Working Fluids for a New “Heat from Cold” Cycle

by Ilya Girnik, Mikhail Tokarev and Yuri Aristov

Entropy 2020, 22(8), 808; https://doi.org/10.3390/e22080808 - 23 Jul 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2484

Abstract

Adsorptive Heat Transformation systems are at the interface between thermal and chemical engineering. Their study and development need a thorough thermodynamic analysis aimed at the smart choice of adsorbent-adsorptive pair and its fitting with a particular heat transformation cycle. This paper addresses such an analysis for a new “Heat from Cold” cycle proposed for amplification of the ambient heat in cold countries. A comparison of four working fluids is made in terms of the useful heat per cycle and the temperature lift. The useful heat increases in the row water > ammonia ≥ methanol > hydrofluorocarbon R32. A threshold mass of exchanged adsorbate, below which the useful heat equals zero, raises in the same sequence. The most promising adsorbents for this cycle are activated carbons Maxsorb III and SRD 1352/2. For all the adsorptives studied, a linear relationship F = A·ΔT is found between the Dubinin adsorption potential and the driving temperature difference ΔT between the two natural thermal baths. It allows the maximum temperature lift during the heat generation stage to be assessed. Thus, a larger ΔT-value promotes the removal of the more strongly bound adsorbate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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19 pages, 2450 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamic Analysis of a Hybrid Trigenerative Compressed Air Energy Storage System with Solar Thermal Energy

by Xiaotao Chen, Xiaodai Xue, Yang Si, Chengkui Liu, Laijun Chen, Yongqing Guo and Shengwei Mei

Entropy 2020, 22(7), 764; https://doi.org/10.3390/e22070764 - 13 Jul 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2845

Abstract

The comprehensive utilization technology of combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems is the leading edge of renewable and sustainable energy research. In this paper, we propose a novel CCHP system based on a hybrid trigenerative compressed air energy storage system (HT-CAES), which can meet various forms of energy demand. A comprehensive thermodynamic model of the HT-CAES has been carried out, and a thermodynamic performance analysis with energy and exergy methods has been done. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis and assessment capacity for CHP is investigated by the critical parameters effected on the performance of the HT-CAES. The results indicate that round-trip efficiency, electricity storage efficiency, and exergy efficiency can reach 73%, 53.6%, and 50.6%, respectively. Therefore, the system proposed in this paper has high efficiency and flexibility to jointly supply multiple energy to meet demands, so it has broad prospects in regions with abundant solar energy resource. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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20 pages, 2279 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential Exergy Storage Capacity of Salt Caverns in the Cheshire Basin Using Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage

by Mark Dooner and Jihong Wang

Entropy 2019, 21(11), 1065; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21111065 - 30 Oct 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3694

Abstract

As the number of renewable energy sources connected to the grid has increased, the need to address the intermittency of these sources becomes essential. One solution to this problem is to install energy storage technologies on the grid to provide a buffer between supply and demand. One such energy storage technology is Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), which is suited to large-scale, long-term energy storage. Large scale CAES requires underground storage caverns, such as the salt caverns situated in the Cheshire Basin, UK. This study uses cavern data from the Cheshire Basin as a basis for performing an energy and exergy analysis of 10 simulated CAES systems to determine the exergy storage potential of the caverns in the Cheshire Basin and the associated work and power input and output. The analysis revealed that a full charge of all 10 caverns could store 25.32 GWh of exergy, which can be converted to 23.19 GWh of work, which requires 43.27 GWh of work to produce, giving a round trip efficiency of around 54%. This corresponds to an input power of 670.07 GW and an output power of 402.74 GW. The Cheshire Basin could support around 100 such CAES plants, giving a potential total exergy storage capacity of 2.53 TWh and a power output of 40 TW. This is a significant amount of storage which could be used to support the UK grid. The total exergy destroyed during a full charge, store, and discharge cycle for each cavern ranged from 299.02 MWh to 1600.00 MWh. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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23 pages, 5018 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Analysis of the Domestic Micro-Cogeneration Potential for an ORC System Adapted to a Solar Domestic Hot Water System

by Daniel Leal-Chavez, Ricardo Beltran-Chacon, Paola Cardenas-Terrazas, Saúl Islas and Nicolás Velázquez

Entropy 2019, 21(9), 911; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21090911 - 19 Sep 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4031

Abstract

This paper proposes the configuration of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) coupled to a solar domestic hot water system (SDHWS) with the purpose of analyzing the cogeneration capacity of the system. A simulation of the SDHWS was conducted at different temperatures, observing its performance to determine the amounts of useable heat generated by the solar collector; thus, from an energy balance point of view, the amount of heat that may be used by the ORC could be determined. The working fluid that would be suitable for the temperatures and pressures in the system was selected. The best fluid for the given conditions of superheated vapor at 120 °C and 604 kPa and a condensation temperature of 60 °C and 115 kPa was acetone. The main parameters for the expander thermodynamic design that may be used by the ORC were obtained, with the possibility of generating 443 kWh of annual electric energy with 6.65% global efficiency of solar to electric power, or an overall efficiency of the cogeneration system of 56.35% with a solar collector of 2.84 m². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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11 pages, 445 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficiency Bounds for Minimally Nonlinear Irreversible Heat Engines with Broken Time-Reversal Symmetry

by Qin Liu, Wei Li, Min Zhang, Jizhou He and Jianhui Wang

Entropy 2019, 21(7), 717; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21070717 - 23 Jul 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3326

Abstract

We study the minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engines in which the time-reversal symmetry for the systems may be broken. The expressions for the power and the efficiency are derived, in which the effects of the nonlinear terms due to dissipations are included. We show that, as within the linear responses, the minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engines can enable attainment of Carnot efficiency at positive power. We also find that the Curzon-Ahlborn limit imposed on the efficiency at maximum power can be overcome if the time-reversal symmetry is broken. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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30 pages, 511 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamics and Stability of Non-Equilibrium Steady States in Open Systems

by Miroslav Bulíček, Josef Málek and Vít Průša

Entropy 2019, 21(7), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21070704 - 18 Jul 2019

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4641

Abstract

Thermodynamical arguments are known to be useful in the construction of physically motivated Lyapunov functionals for nonlinear stability analysis of spatially homogeneous equilibrium states in thermodynamically isolated systems. Unfortunately, the limitation to isolated systems is essential, and standard arguments are not applicable even for some very simple thermodynamically open systems. On the other hand, the nonlinear stability of thermodynamically open systems is usually investigated using the so-called energy method. The mathematical quantity that is referred to as the “energy” is, however, in most cases not linked to the energy in the physical sense of the word. Consequently, it would seem that genuine thermo-dynamical concepts are of no use in the nonlinear stability analysis of thermodynamically open systems. We show that this is not the case. In particular, we propose a construction that in the case of a simple heat conduction problem leads to a physically well-motivated Lyapunov type functional, which effectively replaces the artificial Lyapunov functional used in the standard energy method. The proposed construction seems to be general enough to be applied in complex thermomechanical settings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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17 pages, 4859 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of a 300 kW Organic Rankine Cycle Unit with Radial Turbine for Low-Grade Waste Heat Recovery

by Ruijie Wang, Guohua Kuang, Lei Zhu, Shucheng Wang and Jingquan Zhao

Entropy 2019, 21(6), 619; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21060619 - 23 Jun 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5283

Abstract

The performance of a 300 kW organic Rankine cycle (ORC) prototype was experimentally investigated for low-grade waste heat recovery in industry. The prototype employed a specially developed single-stage radial turbine that was integrated with a semi-hermetic three-phase asynchronous generator. R245fa was selected as the working fluid and hot water was adopted to imitate the low-grade waste heat source. Under approximately constant cooling source operating conditions, variations of the ORC performance with diverse operating parameters of the heat source (including temperature and volume flow rate) were evaluated. Results revealed that the gross generating efficiency and electric power output could be improved by using a higher heat source temperature and volume flow rate. In the present experimental research, the maximum electric power output of 301 kW was achieved when the heat source temperature was 121 °C. The corresponding turbine isentropic efficiency and gross generating efficiency were up to 88.6% and 9.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the gross generating efficiency accounted for 40% of the ideal Carnot efficiency. The maximum electric power output yielded the optimum gross generating efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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21 pages, 10899 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From Entropy Generation to Exergy Efficiency at Varying Reference Environment Temperature: Case Study of an Air Handling Unit

by Giedrė Streckienė, Vytautas Martinaitis and Juozas Bielskus

Entropy 2019, 21(4), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21040361 - 3 Apr 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4286

Abstract

The continuous energy transformation processes in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems of buildings are responsible for 36% of global final energy consumption. Tighter thermal insulation requirements for buildings have significantly reduced heat transfer losses. Unfortunately, this has little effect on energy demand for ventilation. On the basis of the First and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the concepts of entropy and exergy are applied to the analysis of ventilation air handling unit (AHU) with a heat pump, in this paper. This study aims to develop a consistent approach for this purpose, taking into account the variations of reference temperature and temperatures of working fluids. An analytical investigation on entropy generation and exergy analysis are used, when exergy is determined by calculating coenthalpies and evaluating exergy flows and their directions. The results show that each component of the AHU has its individual character of generated entropy, destroyed exergy, and exergy efficiency variation. However, the evaporator of the heat pump and fans have unabated quantities of exergy destruction. The exergy efficiency of AHU decreases from 45–55% to 12–15% when outdoor air temperature is within the range of −30 to +10 °C, respectively. This helps to determine the conditions and components of improving the exergy efficiency of the AHU at variable real-world local climate conditions. The presented methodological approach could be used in the dynamic modelling software and contribute to a wider application of the Second Law of Thermodynamics in practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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16 pages, 2636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermodynamic Analysis of a Hybrid Power System Combining Kalina Cycle with Liquid Air Energy Storage

by Tong Zhang, Xuelin Zhang, Xiaodai Xue, Guohua Wang and Shengwei Mei

Entropy 2019, 21(3), 220; https://doi.org/10.3390/e21030220 - 26 Feb 2019

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 4526

Abstract

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) is a promising energy storage technology in consuming renewable energy and electricity grid management. In the baseline LAES (B-LAES), the compression heat is only utilized in heating the inlet air of turbines, and a large amount of compression heat is surplus, leading to a low round-trip efficiency (RTE). In this paper, an integrated energy system based on LAES and the Kalina cycle (KC), called KC-LAES, is proposed and analyzed. In the proposed system, the surplus compression heat is utilized to drive a KC system to generate additional electricity in the discharging process. An energetic model is developed to evaluate the performance of the KC and the KC-LAES. In the analysis of the KC subsystem, the calculation results show that the evaporating temperature has less influence on the performance of the KC-LAES system than the B-LAES system, and the optimal working fluid concentration and operating pressure are 85% and 12 MPa, respectively. For the KC-LAES, the calculation results indicate that the introduction of the KC notably improves the compression heat utilization ratio of the LAES, thereby improving the RTE. With a liquefaction pressure value of eight MPa and an expansion pressure value of four MPa, the RTE of the KC-LAES is 57.18%, while that of the B-LAES is 52.16%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermodynamic Approaches in Modern Engineering Systems)

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