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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2021) | Viewed by 27913

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Issa Chaer

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Guest Editor

London South Bank Univ, Sch Built Environment & Architecture, Centre for Civil & Building Service Engn, 103 Borough Rd, London SE1 0AA, UK
Interests: energy conversion; energy management; co- and tri-generation systems; refrigeration; alternative and renewable technologies; life cycle assessment; heat transfer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of the Energies journal on the topic of “Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies”.

Cooling and heating technologies have long been at the heart of many industrial, commercial, and residential applications, including energy generation, heat recovery and industrial manufacturing, food and pharmaceutical processing and preservation, transport, and air-conditioning of buildings. Many of these applications still utilize conventional technologies that contribute significantly to the prevailing environmental impacts of the sector, through both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, as we have to make the transition to a low carbon economy, there are sizable environmental and economic benefits from developing efficient low carbon heating and cooling technologies that are fit for the future and at the same time reduce energy use and carbon emission.

This Special Issue will be the first multidisciplinary edition that brings together cutting-edge original research into alternative and emerging cooling and heat technologies on all levels of maturity and comprehensive review papers discussing the engineering and technical merits of these technologies in supporting a low carbon economy while being fit for current and future use. The main topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

Advances in conventional cooling/heating systems;
Advances in heat pump technologies;
Advances in hybrid renewable and cooling/heating technologies;
Advances in alternative heating and cooling technologies;
Advances in absorption/adsorption technologies;
Advances in emerging solid-state heating and cooling technologies;
Advances thermal storage technologies;
Advances in thermal network technologies;
Advances in heat recovery to power technologies;
Thermal control technologies and part load performance—demand response/control;
Network impacts, LCA/environmental impacts;
Hydrogen vs. heat pump for residential use;
System specification guidelines;
Impacts, LCA/environmental impacts;
Thermal energy recovery.

Each submission will undergo a formal peer review process. Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously. Please respond to this invitation at your earliest opportunity.

Dr. Issa Chaer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Energy conversion
Heat pumps
Chiller
Elastocaloric
Thermoelectric (Peltier)
Thermoacoustic
Magnetocaloric
Barocaloric
Hydrogen
Exergy
Stirling cycle
Refrigerant/GWP
Part load control
Climate change
Thermal systems
Smart cities
LCA
Solid-state technologies
Air cycle
CO2 systems
Absorption/adsorption
Waste heat to power
Waste heat recovery
Fluid source heat pumps
Hydrogen systems

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

12 pages, 3207 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Prediction of Stirling-Cycle-Based Heat Pump Performance and Environmental Footprint with Exergy Analysis and LCA

by Umara Khan, Ron Zevenhoven, Lydia Stougie and Tor-Martin Tveit

Energies 2021, 14(24), 8478; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248478 - 15 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3226

Abstract

The use of Stirling-cycle-based heat pumps in high-temperature applications and waste heat recovery at an industrial scale is of increasing interest due to the promising role in producing thermal energy with zero CO₂ emissions. This paper analyzes one such technology as developed by Olvondo Technology and installed at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in Sweden. In this application, the heat pump used roughly equal amounts of waste heat and electricity and generated 500 kW of steam at 10 bar. To develop and widen the use of a high-performance high-temperature heat pump that is both economically and environmentally viable and attractive, various analysis tools such as exergy analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) can be combined. The total cumulative exergy loss (TCExL) method used in this study determines total exergy losses caused throughout the life cycle of the heat pump. Moreover, an LCA study using SimaPro was conducted, which provides insight into the different emissions and the overall environmental footprint resulting from the construction, operation (for example, 1, 8, and 15 years), and decommissioning phases of the heat pump. The combined results were compared with those of a fossil fuel oil boiler (OB), a bio-oil boiler (BOB), a natural gas-fired boiler (NGB), and a biogas boiler (BGB). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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20 pages, 2213 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Study on Optimum IUPAC Adsorption Isotherm Models Employing Sensitivity of Parameters for Rigorous Adsorption System Performance Evaluation

by Md. Matiar Rahman, Abu Zar Shafiullah, Animesh Pal, Md. Amirul Islam, Israt Jahan and Bidyut Baran Saha

Energies 2021, 14(22), 7478; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14227478 - 09 Nov 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8356

Abstract

Adsorption cooling technologies driven by low-grade thermal or solar power are used as an energy-efficient alternative to conventional refrigeration and air conditioning systems. Explicit understanding of the adsorption cycles requires precise determination of the performance parameters, replication of the experimental data, and the rigorous study of the adsorption heat transformation method. Hence, the optimum adsorption isotherms model must be identified. Scientists often face difficulties in selecting the suitable isotherm model as there are many models for a particular form of adsorption isotherm. The present study introduces a novel approach for choosing the optimal models for each type of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) classified adsorption isotherm using robust statistical methods. First, the box-and-whisker plots of error identification are employed. Tóth for Type-I(a) and Type-I(b), modified BET for Type-II, GAB for Type-III, Universal for Type-IV(a), and Type-IV(b), Sun Chakrabarty for Type-V, and Yahia et al. for Type-VI were found lower than the other candidate models in box-and-whisker plot. The optimality of our selected models was further verified using analysis of variance (ANOVA), pairwise Tukey honest significant difference (HSD) test, Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum test, and pairwise Wilcoxon rank-sum test. In short, rigorous statistical analysis was performed to identify the best model for each type of isotherm by minimizing error. Moreover, specific cooling effect (SCE) of Maxsorb III/ethanol and silica gel/water pairs were determined. Results showed that Tóth is the optimal isotherm model for the studied pairs, and the SCE values obtained from the model agree well with experimental data. The optimum isotherm model is indispensable for the precise designing of the next generation adsorption cooling cycles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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26 pages, 3752 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Absorption Power and Cooling Combined Cycle with an Aqueous Salt Solution as a Working Fluid and a Technically Feasible Configuration

by Vaclav Novotny, David J. Szucs, Jan Špale, Hung-Yin Tsai and Michal Kolovratnik

Energies 2021, 14(12), 3715; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123715 - 21 Jun 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2498

Abstract

Combined systems for power production and thermally activated cooling have a high potential for improving the efficiency and utilisation of thermal systems. In this regard, various configurations have been proposed and are comprehensively reviewed. They are primarily based on absorption systems and the implementation of multiple levels of complexity and flexibility. The configuration of the absorption power and cooling combined cycle proposed herein has wide commercial applicability owing to its simplicity. The configuration of the components is not new. However, the utilisation of aqueous salt solutions, the comparison with ammonia chiller and with absorption power cycles, the focus on parameters that are important for real-life applications, and the comparison of the performances for constant heat input and waste heat recovery are novel. The proposed cycle is also compared with a system based on the organic Rankine cycle and vapour compression cycle. An investigation of its performance proves that the system is suitable for a given range of boundary conditions from a thermodynamic standpoint, as well as in terms of system complexity and technical feasibility. New possibilities with regard to added power production have the potential to improve the economics and promote the use of absorption chiller systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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25 pages, 20460 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parametric Investigation of a Ground Source CO₂ Heat Pump for Space Heating

by Evangelos Bellos and Christos Tzivanidis

Energies 2021, 14(12), 3563; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123563 - 15 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1616

Abstract

The objective of the present study is the parametric investigation of a ground source heat pump for space heating purposes with boreholes. The working fluid in the heat pump is CO₂, and the geothermal field includes boreholes with vertical heat exchangers (U-tube). This study is conducted with a developed model in Engineering Equation Solver which is validated with data from the literature. Ten different parameters are investigated and more specifically five parameters about the heat pump cycle and five parameters for the geothermal unit. The heat pump’s examined parameters are the high pressure, the heat exchanger effectiveness, the temperature level in the heater outlet, the flow rate of the geothermal fluid in the evaporator and the heat exchanger thermal transmittance in the evaporator. The other examined parameters about the geothermal unit are the ground mean temperature, the grout thermal conductivity, the inner diameter of the U-tube, the number of the boreholes and the length of every borehole. In the nominal design, it is found that the system’s coefficient of performance is 4.175, the heating production is 10 kW, the electricity consumption is 2.625 kW, and the heat input from the geothermal field is 10.23 kW. The overall resistance of the borehole per length is 0.08211 mK/W, while there are 4 boreholes with borehole length at 50 m. The parametric analysis shows the influence of the ten examined parameters on the system’s performance and on the geothermal system characteristics. This work can be used as a reference study for the design and the investigation of future geothermal-driven CO₂ heat pumps. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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18 pages, 4817 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Method of Regulating the Cooling Capacity of a Cooling System with CO₂

by Artur Bieniek, Jan Kuchmacz, Karol Sztekler, Lukasz Mika and Ewelina Radomska

Energies 2021, 14(7), 1922; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14071922 - 31 Mar 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1816

Abstract

New guidelines set by international organizations for refrigeration companies cause that natural working fluids such as carbon dioxide are increasingly used in new refrigeration systems. Carbon dioxide (R-744) is used in freezing, cooling, or air conditioning installations, in which the cooling load fluctuates hourly. To adapt the cooling capacity of the evaporator to the current cooling load of the cooled space, a number of control elements are used. The paper proposes a new method of regulating the cooling capacity for a one-stage refrigeration cycle with the R-744 refrigerant and an internal heat exchanger (IHX). The proposed method involves using an additional evaporator and combines the possibility of regulating the cooling capacity with the possibility of energy efficiency ratio (EER) improvement. The energy analysis of the proposed method of regulating the cooling capacity was performed and the results were compared with the control method. The control method was using the compressor hot gas bypass valve which allows the flow of hot vapor refrigerant to the suction side. The energy analysis was carried out for both subcritical and supercritical cycles using the energy equations. For each of the considered methods, the characteristics of the change in the EER as a function of the reduction of the cooling capacity in both supercritical and subcritical cycles were determined. It was found that when the cooling capacity decreased by 50%, the hot gas bypass regulating method was around 30% less efficient compared to the proposed additional evaporator regulating method. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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Review

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16 pages, 1871 KiB

Open AccessReview

Review of Intelligent Control Systems for Natural Ventilation as Passive Cooling Strategy for UK Buildings and Similar Climatic Conditions

by Esmail Mahmoudi Saber, Issa Chaer, Aaron Gillich and Bukola Grace Ekpeti

Energies 2021, 14(15), 4388; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14154388 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3719

Abstract

Natural ventilation is gaining more attention from architects and engineers as an alternative way of cooling and ventilating indoor spaces. Based on building types, it could save between 13 and 40% of the building cooling energy use. However, this needs to be implemented and operated with a well-designed and integrated control system to avoid triggering discomfort for occupants. This paper seeks to review, discuss, and contribute to existing knowledge on the application of control systems and optimisation theories of naturally ventilated buildings to produce the best performance. The study finally presents an outstanding theoretical context and practical implementation for researchers seeking to explore the use of intelligent controls for optimal output in the pursuit to help solve intricate control problems in the building industry and suggests advanced control systems such as fuzzy logic control as an effective control strategy for an integrated control of ventilation, heating and cooling systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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24 pages, 2442 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Recent Advances in Emerging Alternative Heating and Cooling Technologies

by Mubarak Ismail, Metkel Yebiyo and Issa Chaer

Energies 2021, 14(2), 502; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020502 - 19 Jan 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4833

Abstract

The heating and cooling industry underpins everything we do, e.g., manufacturing, commercial and residential applications. Many of these applications invariably use mechanical refrigeration technologies, consequently contributing significantly to the environmental impacts of the refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump (RACHP) industry both through direct and indirect emissions of CO₂. To reduce these emissions, research and development worldwide aim to improve the performance of conventional systems and the development of new refrigeration technologies of potentially much lower environmental impacts. As we transition to a low carbon economy, there are sizable environmental and economic benefits from developing and using efficient, innovative, low carbon heating and cooling technologies that reduce energy use and carbon emissions. This paper provides an up-to-date and comprehensive critical review and evaluation of recent advances in emerging alternative heating and cooling technologies that have the potential to reduce the environmental impacts of refrigeration in the RACHP sector. The paper highlights the basic working principle of operation, its main applications, the challenges and opportunities in penetrating the market. The paper also highlights further research and development needed to accelerate the development and adoption of these alternative refrigeration technologies by the sector. Most of the technologies reviewed have a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3–4, except electrocaloric technology which is less ready compared to its counterparts with a TRL of 1–2 at this stage. Furthermore, most technologies have capacities ranging between a few kilowatts to a maximum of 7 kW with a coefficient of performance COP between 1 and 10 reported in the literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Alternative and Emerging Cooling and Heating Technologies)

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