On-board Refrigeration Research Articles

B-018 Design and Development of MASTM Diabetes Max Controls, Ready-to-Use Plastic Tube Format

Abstract Background The Thermo Scientific™ MAS™ Controls are assayed controls to monitor assay performance within clinical laboratory settings. The user can compare observed results of controls with their expected ranges as a means of assuring consistent performance of both reagent and instrument. The objective of developing MAS™ Ready-to-Use Tube Controls is to provide MAS™ controls in a new automation-friendly plastic tube format, as an alternative to the current glass vials. Diabetes Max Control is the first MAS™ product designed and developed in this ready-to-use format to be placed directly on the analyzer. The new format will increase efficiency and allow for on-board refrigerated storage, and it is expected to reduce material loss and contamination. It contains Hemoglobin A1c formulated in whole blood matrix to mimic patient specimens. In this presentation we summarize the Feasibility, Development, Verification, and Validation results of MAS™ Diabetes Max Controls. Methods The performance was assessed by conducting the following studies for MAS™ Diabetes Max Tube Controls. The analyte Hemoglobin A1c was measured in functional studies to evaluate and verify the product performance. Other studies were also designed and performed to assess the product usability. Results MAS™ Diabetes Max Control results demonstrated comparable performance and Fit/Form/Function criterion on specified platforms, particularly the TOSOH™ platform. All feasibility studies provided very promising results passing per protocol criterion. Design Verification and Validation studies ensured product integrity and passed specifications for proposed claims. Process Validation is in progress with data being collected for both Value Assignments and Real Time Stability. Conclusions MAS™ Diabetes Max Controls provided in ready-to-use tubes met the design specification criteria. We believe that MAS™ Diabetes Max Controls will contribute to the increased efficiency of core lab workflow by allowing the analyzer(s) to aspirate controls directly from the tube and allow for control storage in an on-board refrigeration unit.

A-114 Mas™ Omni·Core™ Controls, Ready-to-use Tube Format

Abstract Background The Thermo Fisher Scientific™ MAS™ Controls* are assayed controls to monitor assay performance within clinical laboratory settings. The user can compare observed results of controls with their expected ranges as a means of assuring consistent performance of both reagent and instrument. The objective of developing MAS™ Ready-to-Use Tube Controls is to provide MAS™ controls in a new automation-friendly plastic tube format, as an alternative to the current glass vials. The MAS™ controls contained in the plastic tubes are intended to be used by core labs to be placed directly onto the analyzers, eliminating the need to aliquot into sample cups or other primary tubes. In this presentation we summarize the results of MAS™ Omni·CORE™ in the new Ready-to-Use Tube Controls configuration. Methods The purpose of these studies is to verify material compatibility and acceptable product performance of MAS™ Omni·CORE™ in the new Ready-to-Use Tube Controls configuration. The controls were also assessed for Fit/Form/Function on various platforms from manufacturers such as Siemens, Roche, Abbott, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Beckman. Results The MAS™ Omni·CORE™ Ready-to-Use Control results demonstrated comparable performance and Fit/Form/Function criterion of the specified platforms. Torque/Leak, Cap Characterization, and Plastic Interaction studies yielded passing results per protocol criterion. The In-Use (CO2) study demonstrated acceptable “time-on-platform” performance of 9 h in 2–8°C (4 h at 25°C). The Extractables/Leachables study demonstrated passing results for all claimed analytes, with minor exceptions. All light sensitive analytes yielded passing results during the Light Transmission study. Conclusion To conclude, the MAS™ Omni·CORE™ Ready-to-Use Controls will contribute to the increased efficiency of core lab workflow by allowing the analyzer(s) to aspirate controls directly from the tube and allow for control storage in an on-board refrigeration unit after use. *Availability of product in each country depends on local regulatory marketing authorization status.

Effect of liner thermal properties and liner pre-cooling on the thermal management of fast-filling of hydrogen tanks

In transportation applications, filling high pressurised hydrogen tanks within a few minutes implies a fast and large temperature increase that can compromise the structural integrity of the storage system and the safety of the process. Common approaches to control this temperature increase mainly involve hydrogen pre-cooling using complex and energy-demanding refrigeration systems. This study proposes and assesses alternative and energy efficient thermal management strategies for fast filling of hydrogen tanks including the modification of the liner's thermal properties and the use of existing on-board refrigeration systems. The analysis is performed by means of a Computational Fluid Dynamics model validated against experimental observations. Results show that proposed solutions provide a robust and efficient alternative to hydrogen pre-cooling, potentially simplifying the hydrogen supply system, reducing its associated energy demand, maintaining the hydrogen temperature below admissible limits and increasing the state of charge of the tank.

Natural Refrigerant on Board Marine Vessels

The paper deals with the topic of refrigerants, their historical evolution, applied legislation and trends in maritime affairs. Regarding the Environmental care paper considers the impact of refrigerants of refrigeration systems, both on stationary plants on land and on plants on board. New regulations of the European Union, and IMO maritime organization, require the reduction and complete abolition of harmful synthetic refrigerants and the introduction of new refrigerants that will have a significant economic and environmental impact. The trend is the introduction of natural refrigerants as a replacement for existing environmentally unacceptable ones. On-board refrigeration systems introduce natural refrigerants such as ammonia and carbon dioxide into applications that require lower refrigeration temperatures. Absorption cooling plants are introduced into air conditioning applications on board the ship. They work with water/lithium bromide (H2O/LiBr) mixtures, thus increasing the efficiency of the plant and reducing the impact on the environment.

On the elastocaloric effect in CuAlBe shape memory alloys: A quantitative phase-field modeling approach

The reversible stress-induced phase transformation in shape memory alloys (SMAs) is a dissipative process during which heat is absorbed or released. The inherent temperature variations inside the material has an elastocaloric effect (eCE) with appealing applications in solid-state cooling technology such as compact and efficient on-board refrigeration system for eletronic devices. In this manuscript, we conduct the first study of eCE of CuAlBe SMAs utilizing phase-field modeling. For an applied stress of 500 MPa, the results for polycrystalline Cu-Al11-2Be (at. %) show a minimum adiabatic unloading temperature change of −10 K over a pseudoelastic window of 40 K. In the absence of plastic deformation, the material demonstrates good reproducibility of the eCE over a few loading–unloading cycles. The presence of plastic deformation is found to cause functional fatigue that deteriorates the cooling capacity; however, the coefficient of performance only decreases from 9.04 to 8.03, which is still a very good value. These results place CuAlBe as a frontrunner SMA for solid-state cooling compared to the expensive NiTi.

Ammonia/ionic liquid based double-effect vapor absorption refrigeration cycles driven by waste heat for cooling in fishing vessels

To use high-temperature waste heat generated by diesel engines for onboard refrigeration of fishing vessels, an ammonia-based double-effect vapor absorption refrigeration cycle is proposed. Non-volatile ionic liquids are applied as absorbents in the double-effect absorption system. In comparison to systems using ammonia/water fluid, the complexity of the system can be reduced by preventing the use of rectification sections. In this study, a multi-scale method is implemented to study the proposed system, including molecular simulations (the Monte Carlo method) for computing vapor-liquid equilibrium properties at high temperatures and pressures, thermodynamic modeling of the double-effect absorption cycles, and system evaluations by considering practical integration. The Monte Carlo simulations provide reasonable vapor-liquid equilibrium predictions. 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate is found to be the best performing candidate among the investigated commercialized ionic liquids. In the proposed cycle, the best working fluid achieves a coefficient of performance of 1.1 at a cooling temperature of −5 °C, which is slightly higher than that obtained with generator-absorber cycles. Integrated with the exhaust gas from diesel engines, the cooling capacity of the system is sufficient to operate two refrigeration seawater plants for most of the engine operating modes in high-latitude areas. Thereby, the carbon emission of onboard refrigeration of the considered fishing vessel could be reduced by 1633.5 tons per year compared to the current practice. Diagrams of vapor pressures and enthalpies of the studied working fluids are provided as appendices.

Experimental investigation on binary ammonia–water and ternary ammonia–water–lithium bromide mixture-based absorption refrigeration systems for fishing ships

Heat recovery of marine engine exhaust gas is an effective way of improving the onboard fuel economy and environmental compliance of fishing ships. Among such heat recovery techniques, the absorption refrigeration cycle shows potential as it can convert the exhaust thermal energy into refrigeration output and meet the onboard refrigeration requirement. However, the severe operating conditions on the shipboard poses a great challenge for its application. This paper presents an experimental investigation of an absorption refrigeration system for the heat recovery of marine engine exhaust gas. To overcome the adverse effect of the severe onboard condition on the rectification process of the absorption refrigeration system, a ternary ammonia–water–lithium bromide mixture is selected as the working fluid. A prototype of the absorption system is designed and an experimental investigation is conducted. Then, the performances of both the ternary ammonia–water–lithium bromide-based system and binary ammonia–water-based system are compared. The results show that the rectifier heat exchange area can be reduced by approximately 16% under the experimental working condition. Furthermore, the ternary system operates at a relatively lower pressure, with a refrigeration temperature of less than −15.0 °C, which is higher compared to the temperature of less than −23.6 °C associated with the binary system. Nevertheless, the ternary system achieves a remarkably higher cooling capacity. Moreover, by using the ternary ammonia–water–lithium bromide mixture, the heat loss of the prototype is reduced while the coefficient of performance and electric coefficient of performance are increased, indicating that the ternary system has a higher energy conversion efficiency.

Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator with slit-type heat exchangers for HTS superconducting motor

A cryogenic refrigeration system is one of the indispensable components for cooling superconducting motor or generator. Among various configurations of cryogenic refrigeration system, the on-board refrigeration system is considered to be attractive for compactness and small heat leak. In order to turn this concept into reality, we focus on two essential points; development of the specific structure for on-board refrigeration and optimal design of the refrigerator. Since the on-board refrigeration system should not create unbalanced vibration, the inline Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator is considered as a good candidate and more concrete and efficient structure is developed under the design constraints. The dynamic absorber is used to maintain the dynamic stability of the single acting linear compressor. To increase thermal Carnot efficiency with the on-board Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator, slit-type heat exchangers are implemented and flow straighteners are carefully designed by the three-dimensional CFD simulation. The overall configuration of the Stirling-type pulse tube refrigerator is designed and fabricated by the optimal process. The present on-board refrigerator has the cooling capacity of 7 W at 59.5 K with the Carnot efficiency of 10.9%. According to these experimental results, the pulse tube refrigerator as the on-board refrigeration system possesses a sufficient thermal efficiency despite the restricted design configuration. The on-board refrigeration is considered as a useful method for cooling HTS superconducting motor.

Experimental Results and Analysis for Adsorption Ice-Making System with Consolidated Adsorbent

An adsorption ice-making machine has been built with a single consolidated adsorber and activated carbon-methanol pair. A consolidated adsorbent block made of activated carbon mixed with a binder with good heat transfer properties has been developed and implemented in the adsorber. The design is focused on the adsorber consisting of copper finned tubes and carbon blocks. Experimental tests have been performed suitable for ice making. This paper describes the experimental results of such an ice-maker operating with an intermittent cycle and a cycle time of 35 minutes. The thermal conditions used to test the cycle are: 115°C heat source, 22°C heat sink, the evaporator temperature corresponding to the chilled ethylene glycol temperature is −7°C. At this evaporating pressure, the mass transfer resistance controls the adsorption process. Test results show that the COP reaches 0.07 whereas the SCP (specific cooling power) is 11 W kg−1 activated carbon. A two-bed adsorptive prototype ice-making machine operating with a heat and mass recovery cycle has also been made for onboard adsorption refrigeration in fishing boats. Good performances have been achieved due to improved mass transfer and the new ice maker can produce 18–20 kg h−1 of flake ice at mean temperature of −7°C.

２１世紀へ伝えたい超伝導応用技術 ７ 超電導リニア開発裏話

The development of a superconducting Maglev system in Japan was started more than 30 years ago. Since 1997, the running tests have been successfully continued on the Yamanashi test line. A manned run in 1999 attained a speed of 552km/h, The Yamanashi test results proved a remarkable stability of the onboard superconducting magnet system, In these 30 years, we have encountered many difficult problems during this development. In this paper, the history of the Maglev development will be introduced with focus on these problems, especially in regard to the superconducting magnets and onboard refrigerators.

Development of a modified superconducting magnet for Maglev vehicles

In superconducting magnets for magnetically levitated transport system's (Maglev) vehicles, mechanical loss occurs due to the vibration caused by electromagnetic forces during the train's operation. The heat load including the mechanical loss needs to be reduced within the capability of the onboard refrigerator. It is necessary that the vibration phenomena of the superconducting magnet during the train operation are made clear for the reduction of the mechanical loss. As an important part of the development, it was confirmed that the vibration analysis is accurate enough in comparison with the measured results in running tests on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line. Moreover, for commercial use, superconducting magnets should be operated with no supply of either liquid helium or liquid nitrogen. To meet the requirement, we have been developing a new type on-board Gifford-McMahon refrigeration (GM refrigerator application) system.

浮上式鉄道用超伝導磁石の４Ｋ／８０Ｋ両用ＧＭ冷凍システムの開発 窒素自然循環方式熱シールド板の冷却特性

An onboard refrigeration system is one of the most important components in the superconducting magnetically levitated system (Maglev system). In the superconducting magnet, liquid helium and nitrogen are used to cool the superconducting coils and the radiation shields. At the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line, the operation of the superconducting magnet without a supplement of liquid helium has been achieved by the onboard 4K Gifford-McMahon/Joule-Thomson (GM/JT) refrigerators. As for the liquid nitrogen, it is supplied to the radiation shields periodically. Our final target for an onboard refrigeration system for commercial use is to operate magnets with no supplementation of cryogen. That is, the operations of magnets should not depend on a helium liquefaction plant or a liquid nitrogen supplying system in the train depot, except for occasions of the magnet's precooling or when the vehicle is being overhauled. To meet these requirements, we have been developing a new type of onboard GM refrigeration (GM refrigerator application) system that features a combination of a 4K/80K multiple-operating type of GM refrigerator and a self-circulated cooling-type radiation shield. The nitrogen self-circulated cooling-type radiation shield plate was demonstrated by using the radiation shield plate mock-up.

５５０ｋｍ／ｈを達成した山梨リニア実験線車両の超伝導磁石システム

The superconducting magnet levitation railway system will make its debut as a new high-speed mass transport system in the 21st century. In conjunction with the Central Japan Railway Company, the Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) started test running of the system in April 1997 on the Yamanashi Test Line. Eight months thereafter, or in December 1997, the test vehicles recorded the world's highest speed of 550km/h, which had been the first target of the development. Various tests related to the system are successfully being promoted to verify the high technical level attained so far. This paper outlines the developmental processes of the superconducting magnet, on-board refrigeration system, and other cryogenic systems; reports the results and operation during the past year; and introduces some of the key technologies that led to the unprecedented speed of 550km/h.

Transforming transformers [superconducting windings

Use of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) windings may soon turn power transformers into compact high-performers on good terms with the environment. The potential for HTS transformers is being examined in major design and hardware development programs by several teams of engineers and scientists worldwide. The team to which the authors belong is led by Waukesha Electric Systems. The Waukesha-led team has conducted a series of reference designs concentrating mostly on a 30-MVA, 138-kV/13.8-kV transformer rating. This rating is representative of a medium power transformer class foreseen as comprising about half of all US power transformer sales in the next two decades. Two of these designed are compared with a 30-MVA conventional oil-filled transformer typical of this class. Each uses a different commercially successful and reliable type of refrigeration. Since reliable operation is paramount, both transformers are designed to have a several-day on-board refrigeration reserve that lets them operate continuously with no interruption of service to customers.

Superconducting linear synchronous motor for urban transport system

The authors describe a superconducting linear synchronous motor (SLSM) for a high capacity urban transport system (10/sup 6/ passengers/day/line) able to climb a hill grade of 12%. The motor is composed of 26 poles installed below one wagon and is sufficient for traction of six wagons of 330 passengers each. The pole coil is a segmented race-track type 23 cm long, 140 cm wide, and 11.2 cm high. The conductor is composed of 14 transposed NbTi wires /spl phi/ 0.7 mm each, 5.04 mm/spl times/1.20 mm cross-section and Cu/SC ratio of 1.35. The current leads are made of high-T/sub c/ superconductor (melt textured growth YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/). These leads allow a pool cooling cryostat (2400 and of LHe) without an on-board refrigerator, and with one year holding time. The quench protection is made with cross-quench heater resistance placed within each coil. The limiting factor is the critical field of the NbTi and its substitution by Nb/sub 3/Sn should reduce the cost by a factor of 40%. Final cost of the SLSM is expected to be in the US$600,000 range. Due to the low speed (100 km/h), the suspension is made on conventional bus type tyres. >

The superconducting magnet for the Maglev transport system

Magnetically levitated vehicles (Maglev) using superconducting magnets have been under development in Japan for the past 23 years. The superconducting magnets for the Maglev system are used in a special environment compared to other applications. They have to work stably subject to both mechanical and electromagnetic disturbances. The brief history of the Maglev development in Japan, the planning of new test line, the superconducting magnet's stability and the on-board refrigeration system are be presented.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Superconducting magnet and on-board refrigeration system on Japanese MAGLEV vehicle

Running tests on the Miyazaki test track are repeatedly carried out to speeds over 300 km/h using the magnetically levitated (MAGLEV) vehicle MLU002. The development of the MAGLEV system for the new test line has already started, and a new superconducting magnet for it has been manufactured. An onboard refrigerator is installed in the superconducting magnet to keep the liquid-helium temperature without the loss of liquid helium. The helium gas produced when energizing or deenergizing the magnet is stored in onboard gas helium tanks temporarily. The onboard refrigerator is connected directly to the liquid-helium tank of the magnet. Thus, the stored helium gas can be reliquefied easily by the onboard refrigerator. In order to minimize the volume of the helium gas produced when energizing and deenergizing the magnet, the power leads of the magnet, superconducting coils and persistent current switches have been improved. The energization and deenergization of the magnet can be finished in 1 to 2 min.

Superconducting magnetic levitation train project in Japan

The superconducting magnetic levitated train of Japanese National Railways at Miyazaki achieved its experimental target speed of 500 km/hr by reaching the world record of 517 km/hr in December 1979. The development project of high speed linear motor propulsion train levitated by superconducting magnet, Maglev, was started in 1970 by constructing a new mass-transportation system in the 1980's. The test track in Miyazaki was constructed in 1977 with an inverted T-shape guideway of about 7 km, and vehicles were tested. Now a part of the guideway was changed to a U shape in 1980 and experiments of a new vehicle of a 2 or 3 car make-up with on-board refrigerators and capacity of carrying 2 persons were undertaken. It is expected that these tests will be finalized with a demonstration track of 40 km in the near future. 3 refs.