8009 results about "Heat losses" patented technology

A method and system can provide building energy performance metrics that can help identify specific zones within a building which may have energy efficiency problems. The method and system can collect data from: indoor temperature sensors and humidity sensors present in each zone of a building; one or more temperature sensors and humidity sensors present outside of the building; one or more utility meters; and one or more HVAC devices. This data from the sensors can be aggregated and formed into a first profile. The energy efficiency calculation system can analyze the first profile to provide various energy performance metrics which can include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency ratios for air conditioners, the R-value or thermal resistance of the building, an amount of heat loss for the building, energy consumption by the building, current HVAC performance parameters, and utility usage comparisons.

An air fryer system is disclosed which comprises a base having a heating source and an air source located therein, both sources being supplied power for operation by an AC power cord. A cooking chamber is defined within the base and a cooking drawer fits securely within the cooking chamber to substantially seal the chamber against heat loss during use. A handled food basket which detachably secures to the cooking drawer is configured to facilitate even distribution of heated air within the cooking chamber. A digital, touch screen user interface attached to a surface of the base is electronically coupled to a controller for powering on the fryer system and setting cooking conditions. The preferred system also includes infrared heating, time and temperature controls, and an automatic safety shutoff mechanism.

A method of disinfection of a dead-ended fluid line in a medical instrument such as a dialysis machine is described. The method comprises introducing a heated fluid into the fluid line, allowing the fluid to remain in the line for an experimentally determined optimal dwell period, removing the fluid from the fluid line, and then repeating the cycle for a time period sufficient to achieve a disinfection of the fluid line. The optimum dwell period and frequency for exchanging the heated fluid is determined so that the heated fluid is left resident in the line to exert a cidal effect but not so long that the it cools to the point of being ineffective, nor changed so frequently that that the time spent with no hot water resident in the line begins to detract (e.g., unduly prolong) the disinfection process. A representative cycle is introducing water at a temperature of about 85 degrees C, allowing it to reside in the fluid line for about 10 seconds, withdrawing the water, and then reintroducing water at 85 degrees C. The process continues for 1-2 hours. Variation from the representative cycle will be expected based on parameters such as the degree to which disinfection is to be achieved, the length and diameter of the fluid line, the temperature of the fluid, the ambient temperature, the presence of elements in the fluid line that contribute to heat loss, the material used for fluid line tubing, and whether the fluid comprises water or a disinfection solution such as a dilute citric acid solution. The optimum dwell period and frequency of the cycles can be determined experimentally from the teachings described herein.

An air fryer system is disclosed which comprises a base having a heating source and an air source located therein, both sources being supplied power for operation by an AC power cord. A cooking chamber is defined within the base and a cooking drawer fits securely within the cooking chamber to substantially seal the chamber against heat loss during use. A handled food basket which detachably secures to the cooking drawer is configured to facilitate even distribution of heated air within the cooking chamber. A digital, touch screen user interface attached to a surface of the base is electronically coupled to a controller for powering on the fryer system and setting cooking conditions. The preferred system also includes infrared heating, time and temperature controls, and an automatic safety shutoff mechanism.

A system for delivering a humidified gas to a patient is disclosed. The system includes a supply tube having a first supply tube end and a second supply tube end. The supply tube has a first inner diameter. The system also includes an apparatus for delivering heated and humidified gas to the first end of the supply tube and a single lumen having a first lumen end and a second lumen end. The single lumen has a second inner diameter, smaller than the first diameter. The first lumen end is in fluid flow communication with the second supply tube end. The system also includes a nasal cannula in fluid flow communication with the second lumen end. A method of delivering heated and humidified gas to a patient is also disclosed.

The invention relates to a reclaiming system and a process for low-temperature methanol washing integrated Claus sulfur of coal gas and natural gas. The system is additionally provided with a Claus tail gas washing tower and uses sulfur-free methanol saturated by CO2 from a CO2 product tower as a washing agent, and the washed liquid returns to an H2S concentrating tower; through combination of heating, gas stripping and pressure adjustment, concentration of H2S in acid gas washed by methanol is adjusted flexibly; at the same time, the system is additionally provided with a tail gas pre-heater before hydrogenation reaction to compensate heat loss of a hydrogenation reaction system. The process mainly comprises the following steps: removing H2S-CO2 gas, condensing H2S, reclaiming Claus sulfur, hydrogenising and reducing the gas, selectively absorbing and desulfurizing saturated cold methanol. The process has the advantages that the process can efficiently, flexibly, safely and energy-conservatively treat carbonyl gas with different pressures, temperatures, water content and sulfur concentration; and total sulfur reclamation ratio can reach more than 99.9 percent. The concentration of the H2S in emptied tail gas is below 25 mg/Nm3, so the H2S gas can meet the requirement of environmental protection, and can be exhausted directly without being burnt.

The invention discloses intelligent dimming glass comprises a first glass base plate and a second glass base plate which are stacked at the top and the bottom, a first conductive layer, an electrochromic layer, an electrolyte layer, an iron storage layer and a second conductive layer are sequentially arranged between the first glass base plate and the second glass base plate; one ends of the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are respectively connected with an anode and a cathode; and the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are conductive films having infrared reflection performance, and the surfaces of the conductive films are coated with active carbon fibers. Compared with the prior art, the intelligent dimming glass has the characteristics of infrared reflection effect, high electrochromic efficiency, lower required external voltage and the like, can not only reduce indoor heat losses and realize the purpose of saving energy sources, but also prolong the service life of the intelligent dimming glass, thereby meeting the requirements of daily life and architectural decoration of people.

A temperature regulation device for a fluid-containing receptacle and use thereof. The device preferably includes a temperature regulation means for maintaining the fluidic contents of the receptacle at a desired temperature (e.g., a relatively lower temperature, a relatively higher temperature, etc.) and an insulation means for retarding heat loss from the receptacle. In a preferred embodiment, the temperature regulation means is provided as a thermoelectric module.

The present invention is directed to a multifunctional waterproof/vapor barrier fabric for use in industrial, medical, outdoor apparel (hunting, fishing, skiing, mountaineering, etc.) and military applications. The invention combines functional elements that are especially suited for the above applications. The fabric comprises a lining with wicking and antimicrobial properties, a vapor barrier film or coating with low Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate (M.V.T.R.), and a woven or knit face fabric enhanced with a hydrophobic face coating. The fabric performs admirably in various uses due in part to the use of hydrophobic adhesive, film and coatings, which renders the fabric subject to negligible moisture gain. The durability and water proof properties of the fabric are enhanced due to the impermeable low M.V.T.R design. The fabric of the present invention incorporates a unique combination of properties that addresses issues commonly associated with vapor barrier fabrics. The invention provides a waterproof/barrier fabric that is desirable to wear in direct contact with the skin to prevent evaporative heat loss in cool or cold conditions. The fabric is also effective when worn over one or more layers of other clothing. The fabric is particularly effective because it is capable of use as a base layer and waterproof shell, which helps to minimize the number of layers of clothing needed in cold weather.

The invention relates to fuel cell systems with improved thermal efficiency. The systems include a fuel cell that generates electrical energy using hydrogen and a fuel processor that produces hydrogen from a fuel. Some heat efficient systems described herein include a thermal catalyst that generates heat when the catalyst interacts with a heating medium. The heat is used to heat the fuel cell. The thermal catalyst may be disposed in, proximity to the fuel cell, or remote from the fuel cell and a heat transfer pipe conducts heat from the catalyst to the fuel cell. Another thermally efficient embodiment uses a recuperator to transfer heat generated in the fuel cell system to incoming fuel. A fuel cell package may also include a multi-layer insulation arrangement to decrease heat loss from the fuel cell and fuel processor, which both typically operate at elevated temperatures.

There is disclosed a wafer processing apparatus having optimized electrode patterns for its resistive heating element. The optimized electrode pattern is designed to compensate for the heat loss around contact areas, electrical connections, and through-holes, etc., by generating more heat near or around those areas, providing maximum temperature uniformity. In another embodiment of the optimized design of the invention, the resistance of heating element closely matches the impedance of the power supply for higher efficiency, especially when higher operating temperature or higher electrical power is required.

A magnetic cooling apparatus including a plurality of magnetic regenerators including a plurality of magnetocaloric materials to emit heat when magnetized and to absorb heat when demagnetized. The magnetic regenerators are rotatably disposed on a circumference having a predetermined radius, at least one coil is disposed on the circumference and coupled to the magnetic regenerators, and a plurality of permanent magnets is provided inside and outside the circumference to generate a magnetic field to magnetize or demagnetize the magnetic regenerators. The at least one coil interacts with the magnetic field generated by the permanent magnets to rotate the magnetic regenerators. The coil interacting with the magnetic field to magnetize or demagnetize the magnetic regenerators is coupled to the magnetic regenerators such that the magnetic regenerators reciprocate or rotate, thereby minimizing a size of the magnetic cooling apparatus, relative to the use of a motor. In addition, a member to switch a channel of a heat transfer fluid directly performs heat transfer between the heat transfer fluid and an external fluid, thereby minimizing heat loss.

DCMD and VMD systems and methods for use in desalination applications are provided. The DCMD and VMD systems employ coated porous hydrophobic hollow fiber membranes. The coatings advantageously function to essentially eliminate pore wetting of the membrane, while permitting substantially unimpeded water vapor permeance through the fiber walls. The DCMD and VMD membranes are characterized by larger fiber bore diameters and wall thicknesses. The membranes substantially reduce the loss of brine sensible heat, e.g., heat loss via conductive heat flux through the membrane wall and the vapor space and, in exemplary embodiments, the brine-side heat transfer coefficient is dramatically enhanced by horizontal/vertical cross flow of brine over the outside surface of the coated fibers. Superior water vapor fluxes are achieved with the systems and methods.

A fuel reformer suited for mounting on a vehicle is provided. A raw material gas containing methanol and water is vaporized at a vaporization section 30. The vaporized gas flows horizontally to a reforming section 60 with monolithic catalyst 70. The reforming section is divided into two sides, a front side 62 and a rear side 64, with an interconnecting pipe 66 bent at 180 degrees, for connecting the front and rear sides. By making the material gas flow horizontally, even when the reformer is mounted to a vehicle which has a larger space in its horizontal direction than in its vertical direction, especially a small passenger car, the contact time period between gas and catalyst can be extended. By bending the reforming section by 180 degrees, the size of the reformer can be reduced so that the reformer is suited for mounting on a vehicle having limited space. Because the vaporization section 30 and the CO reducing section 80 can be placed adjacent to each other, by using heat generated at the CO reducing section, the heat loss during pre-heating of the methanol and water can be reduced.

There are provided a solid oxide fuel cell system comprising (a) a solid oxide fuel cell stack, (b) a preliminary reformer for removing hydrocarbons having two or more carbon atoms from a hydrocarbon fuel by converting the hydrocarbons having two or more carbon atoms into methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide, and (c) an integrated heat exchanger for catalytic combustion for heating either air or fuel, or both the air and fuel, to be guided to the solid oxide fuel cell stack, by use of a combustion gas formed by combusting discharged fuel with the use of discharged air, wherein component equipment described above are disposed in an adiabatic vessel and the integrated heat exchanger for catalytic combustion for use in the solid oxide fuel cell system. With the invention, an advantage of the preliminary reformer in combination with that of the integrated heat exchanger for catalytic combustion can be obtained, and heat loss of the SOFC system is eliminated or reduced as much as possible. In addition, with the integrated heat exchanger for catalytic combustion according to the invention, since air and/or fuel, to be fed to the SOFC stack, can be heated by controlling the maximum temperature achieved thereof, it is quite useful as an heat exchanger for an SOFC with operation temperature on the order of 850° C. or lower, particularly, for a supported membrane type SOFC, and further, the same is quite useful in making up an SOFC system because an inexpensive material can be used as a constituent material of a component equipment of the system, the system in whole can be reduced in size, and so forth.

A method and apparatus, in one example, relates to a system and method for the generation of very low-tar, high-energy synthesis gas from a large variety of carbonaceous feedstock, including those with higher moisture levels than conventional gasifiers. The system comprises a gasification reactor wherein a portion of the energy of the output syngas of the reactor is used to heat the gasification zone of the reactor via an annular space surrounding the gasification zone of the gasifier, to maintain a temperature condition above 800° C. The maintenance of a long, quasi-uniform high-temperature gasification zone reduces the amount of input air or oxygen, reduces bridging within the gasifier, cracks pyrolysis oils, increases the conversion of char, minimizes heat losses from the bed, and converts moisture within the packed bed into a gasification medium. This results in a very low tar synthesis gas with less nitrogen dilution and higher energy content than conventional gasifiers. The reduction in bridging reduces operating costs.

The invention discloses an energy-saving heat supply system with a function of reducing the temperature of heat supply return water, and belongs to the field of improvement of energy utilization efficiency. Heat exchange can be repeatedly carried out on heat sources by multistage heat exchangers, multistage absorption heat exchange units, multistage compression heat pumps and an ice making type refrigerator, accordingly, the heat supply areas can be enlarged, and the energy utilization efficiency can be improved. The energy-saving heat supply system has the advantages that the temperature of the return water of heat supply primary pipe networks can be reduced and reach 0 DEG C, the return water contains 10% of ice particles, accordingly, route heat loss of the return water of the heat supply primary pipe networks can be reduced, the temperature difference of the return water of the heat supply primary pipe networks can be increased and reaches 118 DEG C from the original 60 DEG C, the flow rate of circulating water of the heat supply primary pipe networks can be lowered, energy consumption of circulating pumps can be reduced, heat supply flow rates of a user side can be greatly increased, the delivery efficiency of the pipe networks can be improved, the heat supply scale can be expanded, waste heat of a cooling tower can be recycled, and the like.