Haoxuan Wu , Zhengyu Du , Shiji Song , Guichuan Yin , Erguang Huo , Mengna Bai
{"title":"Bioinspired waste corncob-derived evaporator for stable solar evaporation","authors":"Haoxuan Wu , Zhengyu Du , Shiji Song , Guichuan Yin , Erguang Huo , Mengna Bai","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127394","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Solar-driven interfacial water evaporation is a promising and sustainable freshwater collection strategy. However, the preparation of solar evaporators that simultaneously possess excellent salt resistance, evaporation performance and scalability is challenging. Here, inspired by stomas and chloroplast of plant leave, a bionic corncob-derived solar evaporator (1.2 % CuO@ppyCb) loaded with CuO and polypyrrole was designed for efficient desalination. The evaporator achieved average evaporation rates of 2.538, 1.247 and 2.027 kg m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> respectively in deionized water, simulated sewage and 3.5 wt% seawater under one sun irradiation. In a 10-hour outdoor evaporation experiment in 3.5 wt% seawater, the average evaporation rate of this evaporator was as high as 2.712 kg m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>. Furthermore, the research has proved that this evaporator has excellent salt resistance. This study represented a new path for the design of solar evaporators, which have excellent evaporation performance in different sea areas around the world and will contribute to solving the global freshwater crisis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127394"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experimental investigation of an innovative water-based photovoltaic/thermal module in moderate climate of Cracow, Poland","authors":"Mehmet Ali Yildirim, Artur Cebula","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Renewable energy sources in energy production have become imperative as the world transitions toward a greener future. The growing demand for sustainable and efficient energy has led to the emergence of photovoltaic/thermal systems as a promising approach to enhance solar energy utilization. These hybrid systems simultaneously convert solar energy into electrical and thermal energy offering advantages over stand-alone photovoltaic and solar-thermal systems. However, many photovoltaic/thermal system designs reported in the literature suffer from complex structures, low efficiencies, and limited practicality for real-world deployment. This paper proposes a novel water-based photovoltaic/thermal module that integrates a highly efficient cooling system with a photovoltaic module. An experimental analysis of the proposed system was conducted in a town located 60 km from Cracow, Poland. The outdoor experiments showed that at an inlet mass flow rate and temperature were 360 kg/h and at an inlet temperature of 16.3 °C, the photovoltaic/thermal module reached the maximum thermal efficiency of 98.0 % under solar irradiance of 875 W/m<sup>2</sup> and an ambient temperature of 29 °C. The integrated cooling system reduced the rear surface temperature of the photovoltaic module by 54.3 °C. A theoretical model of the system was also developed and validated using the experimental data. A case study on domestic hot water supply for a single-family house demonstrated the practical applicability of the system. Results drawn prove that the designed photovoltaic/thermal system can contribute substantially to decarbonization and green energy transition for commercial and residential buildings where available space is scarce.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127366"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A bionic lotus-leaf-shaped evaporator with zonal wettability and high salt resistance","authors":"Junyan Wang, Sai Zhang, Qiao Lan, Jian Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127367","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127367","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interfacial solar vapor generation (ISVG) is a promising and environmentally friendly desalination strategy to solve the global water crisis. However, producing a long-lasting evaporative system, which has effective salt resistance, heat management and solar energy utilization, remains a major challenge. Here, we propose a lotus-leaf-shaped carbon/cotton fabric-based evaporator with drainage strips (L-CCF/D). The lotus-leaf-shaped invert cone structure of the evaporator is designed to effectively localize heat to reduce heat losses and increase the times of light reflection to improve the utilization of solar energy. The drainage strips are introduced to form a zonal wettability to avoid salt crystals deposition, and draw out highly concentrated brine for long-lasted application. The designed evaporator has the evaporation rate of 2.45 kg m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> in deionized water at a light intensity of 1 kW m<sup>−2</sup>, and also shows long-term stability in highly concentrated brine, which has the average evaporation rate of 2.17 kg m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> in 10 wt% NaCl solution for 6 h. The evaporator has a fresh water yield of 8.05 kg m<sup>−2</sup> in the outdoor experiment. This unique design with drainage strips ensures the long-term stability of the evaporator in actual seawater applications, providing a broad application prospect for solar water treatment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127367"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Giulietti , E. Giacomazzi , C. Stringola , C. Romano
{"title":"Online characterization of the dynamical state of industrial combustion systems","authors":"E. Giulietti , E. Giacomazzi , C. Stringola , C. Romano","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.126927","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.126927","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although investigated for many years, real-time monitoring of combustion dynamics is still an important issue in modern gas turbine operation. In this article, attention is focused on two quantities, radiant energy and pressure, sampled in an industrial combustion system. Based on such quantities, and with the aim of selecting the best operational index to detect instability precursors, different strategies are here defined and compared. Upon the obtained results, the adopted monitoring and signal analysis strategy reveals promising as an online practical method to detect combustion instabilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 126927"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Changzhi Yan , Zhen Zeng , Xingxiao Tao , Wenzhe Zhang , Chengshuo Guan , Kai Sun , Zhizhao Che , Tianyou Wang
{"title":"Coupling study of large-scale commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cell with novel convergent-divergent flow field and multiple coolant flow fields","authors":"Changzhi Yan , Zhen Zeng , Xingxiao Tao , Wenzhe Zhang , Chengshuo Guan , Kai Sun , Zhizhao Che , Tianyou Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Effective thermal management is particularly pivotal for the commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The previous researches on coolant flow field design are always limited by scale and lack the coupling investigation with the novel gas channels, leading to the neglect of the unique temperature distribution and heat transfer characteristics in large-scale. Hence, the three-dimensional multiphase models are developed by proposing a novel convergent–divergent flow field and introducing two cooling layouts with five different coolant channel structures. The results indicate that the novel structure of the convergent–divergent pattern not only improves the net output power density by 23.65 %, but also is more conducive to removing waste heat and better temperature uniformity. The temperature difference between the membrane electrode assembly and the coolant determines the cooling capacity based on the different factors. The ability of flow fluctuation induction demonstrates the significant advantage under the limited coolant mass flow rate. Compared to layout 1, layout 2 can approximately reduce the max temperature by 5 K, improve temperature uniformity by 55 % and enhance thermal-economic index by 17. This study can provide innovative guidance for the coupling design and optimization of next-generation high power density proton exchange membrane fuel cell with novel gas channel structure and coolant flow field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127363"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Haohan Sha , Haiming Yu , Qingxu Ma , Yalong Yang , Yu Feng , Siyi Luo
{"title":"Investigation of lifelong learning methods with elastic weight consolidation (EWC) for low-temperature ORC scroll expander modeling","authors":"Haohan Sha , Haiming Yu , Qingxu Ma , Yalong Yang , Yu Feng , Siyi Luo","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127359","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127359","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study applied a lifelong learning method, elastic weight consolidation (EWC), to enhance the memory stability and plasticity of deep learning models for organic Rankine cycle (ORC) expander modeling. We conducted multiple experiments using a low-temperature ORC power system with a scroll expander. Three deep-learning models were developed to predict the power output, exhaust temperature, and flow rate. Six task sequences consisting of combinations of three tasks were generated. Joint training (JT), fine-tuning (FT), and EWC were evaluated using these task sequences. The overall performance of the EWC and FT methods on model plasticity was close to that of the JT method across all three predictions (e.g., the largest MSE difference was only 61 for power prediction), but the performance of them on model memory stability was inferior to that of JT. Compared with the FT method, the EWC method showed good improvement, limited improvement, and no improvement in model memory stability for power, exhaust temperature, and flow rate prediction, respectively. In terms of MSE, the average performance increased by 18% for power prediction, but reduced by 76% for flow rate prediction. The effects of dataset sizes on the performance of lifelong learning were also evaluated. The performance of the EWC and FT methods stabilized when the dataset size reached approximately 300, which means that there is a threshold of dataset sizes for EWC practical application. The study results advance the application of deep learning modeling and offer insights into using EWC for scroll expander modeling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127359"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Deyue Qin , Jianxiang Xu , Meijia Sun , Baokuan Li
{"title":"Effect of oxygen-enriched concentration on heat-mass transfer in an industrial-scale smelting reduction vessel","authors":"Deyue Qin , Jianxiang Xu , Meijia Sun , Baokuan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127326","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127326","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Assessing the impact of oxygen enrichment in the smelt reduction vessel is crucial, as improving heat and mass transfer efficiency is essential for optimizing production. A three-dimensional mathematical model employing a coupled Lagrangian and Eulerian approach has been developed to simulate key processes, including reduction reactions of ore powder, devolatilization of pulverized coal, post-combustion, and other reactions across three zones. The predicted results align closely with actual production data, confirming the model’s reliability and predictive accuracy. The effects of various oxygen concentrations (35 %, 50 %, 75 %, and 100 %) on critical parameters such as concentration of flue gas, temperature of flue gas, post-combustion ratio, production rate of pig iron, and coal rate were examined. Increasing the oxygen concentration led to an expansion of oxygen volume at the lance outlet by factors of 1.15, 2.46, and 2.51, compared to the baseline 35 % oxygen concentration. The post-combustion ratio notably increased from 0.576 to 0.596, 0.636, and 0.674, respectively. Under oxygen-only conditions, the average post-combustion core temperature rose by 11.1 %, reaching 2280.71 K, indirectly reducing coal consumption by 0.33 t per ton of hot metal (0.33 t/tHM). Elevated oxygen concentrations enhanced heat and mass transfer, as well as production metrics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127326"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muran He , Wei Bai , Lifeng Liu , Bo Wu , Jiangfeng Dong , Chunhuan Luo , Yufan Yang , Chunting Zhou , Xiaoran Lv , Changchang Yang , Qingquan Su
{"title":"Thermodynamic performance of fuel cell-absorption refrigeration coupling system based on novel low-temperature working pairs","authors":"Muran He , Wei Bai , Lifeng Liu , Bo Wu , Jiangfeng Dong , Chunhuan Luo , Yufan Yang , Chunting Zhou , Xiaoran Lv , Changchang Yang , Qingquan Su","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127351","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127351","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Thermal management of low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (LT-PEMFCs) remains a major challenge in hydrogen energy applications. A coupled system of LT-PEMFC combing with absorption heat pump using a novel hydrofluoroolefin (HFO)-based working pair was proposed in this study to recover the low-temperature waste heat of the hydrogen stack below 353.15 K. Based on the measured thermophysical properties, the thermodynamic performance of the coupled system was evaluated under various operating conditions. Results show that HFO-based working pairs (R1233zd(Z)/TEGDME and R1336mzz(Z)/TEGDME) exhibit lower driven temperatures, enabling the utilization of waste heat below 348.15 K without risks of crystallization or corrosion. Notably, R1233zd(Z)/TEGDME exhibits superior waste heat recovery performance. The cooling capacity of R1233zd(Z)/TEGDME is enhanced by 10 %, the coefficient of performance of the AHP system is improved by 12 %, and the exergy efficiency is also correspondingly increased in comparison with R1336mzz(Z)/TEGDME. The coupled system using R1233zd(Z)/TEGDME is able to effectively recover low-grade heat (348.15–368.15 K) for refrigeration at temperatures ranging from 268.84 K to 289.86 K. Under typical operating conditions, the coupled system achieves a comprehensive coefficient of performance of 0.7, which is about 55 % larger over the efficiency of LT-PEMFC. These organic working pairs provide an innovative solution for fuel cell thermal management by utilizing the low-grade waste heat.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127351"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Enbo Zhang, Xu Zhang, Jiaqi Feng, Kunpeng Zhao, Bofeng Bai
{"title":"Potential of scallop bionic damper seal to improve rotor axial force and thermal management in compact turbomachinery unit","authors":"Enbo Zhang, Xu Zhang, Jiaqi Feng, Kunpeng Zhao, Bofeng Bai","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127355","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127355","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For the radial turbomachinery, the aerodynamic loads acting on the impeller cause axial forces on the rotor system, which may lead to bearings overload failure. To reduce the axial force, a compact design with the compressor and turbine impellers coaxially opposed has been proposed, but the problem of bearing overheating still exists. In this research, a balance piston is designed for a compact Turbine-Compressor (T-C) unit, and the scallop bionic damper seal (SDS) is developed as the piston seal. The high-pressure fluid flows through the clearance between the balance piston and the SDS, creating the differential pressure to balance axial force. The throttled leakage flow facilitates the reduction of downstream bearing temperatures for improved thermal management of the T-C unit. The potential of this novel design to improve the axial force and thermal management of the T-C unit under different operating conditions is experimentally investigated. The results indicate that the balance piston can effectively improve the axial force under the start-up and speed-up, variable and design condition, and off-design condition of the T-C unit. Under inlet pressures of 4–6 MPa, the leakage flow from the SDS facilitates the lower downstream bearing temperatures. The relative cooling capacity is defined to analyze the SDS and balance piston to improve the thermal management of the T-C unit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127355"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144518844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yue Zhang , Jingchen Feng , Kuo Wang , Zerong Guo , Mingzhi Li , Wulong Fan , Xinming Qian
{"title":"Numerical study on the evolution of two-phase flow and pressure response of boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion","authors":"Yue Zhang , Jingchen Feng , Kuo Wang , Zerong Guo , Mingzhi Li , Wulong Fan , Xinming Qian","doi":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127356","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.127356","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents a numerical investigation of evolution of gas-liquid two-phase flow and temperature distribution during the initial stage of the Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE). Motivated by the need to prevent catastrophic industrial accidents caused by BLEVE’s rapid pressure transients and thermal shocks, this study focuses on the critical milliseconds after vessel failure through the VOF computational fluid dynamics model. The results indicate that following the vessel failure, the initial temperature distribution demonstrated the characteristic of a lower temperature at the initial two-phase interface. The low-temperature region gradually enlarged as the two-phase flow developed and expanded rapidly. At the same time, a “liquid hammer” effect formed, impacting the top wall of the vessel, which caused a significant pressure rebound. Moreover, this paper studied the effect of the initial pressure, the filling rate and the opening diameter separately on the typical parameters of pressure response, such as the stagnation time, the pressure recovery ratio and so on. The results indicate that the pressure recovery ratio increased with the increasing of initial pressure, and as the filling rate rose, the pressure recovery ratio initially increased, then stabilized, and subsequently increased again. Additionally, the pressure recovery ratio decreased with the increasing opening diameter. This study provides some basic references for accident prevention of BLEVE and industrial safety design.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8201,"journal":{"name":"Applied Thermal Engineering","volume":"278 ","pages":"Article 127356"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}