Pump Technology Research Articles

The Geobattery Concept: A Geothermal Circular Heat Network for the Sustainable Development of Near Surface Low Enthalpy Geothermal Energy to Decarbonise Heating

Decarbonisation of heating represents a major challenge in efforts to reach Net Zero carbon emissions, especially for countries that rely heavily on the combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels to meet heating demand such as the United Kingdom. In this paper we explore the use of near surface low enthalpy geothermal energy accessed via commercial and domestic heat pump technology. These resources may become increasingly important in decarbonisation efforts but, while they are renewable, their sustainability is contingent on appropriate management. Here, we introduce a new geothermal circular heat network concept, known as a “geobattery,” which redistributes recyclable heat from emitters to users via elevated permeability pathways in the subsurface and offers a platform to manage shallow geothermal resources. If successfully implemented the concept has the potential to provide low carbon, resilient, low-cost heating that is sustainable both in terms of heat pump performance and the shallow geothermal resource. We demonstrate the concept based on the cooling requirements of a case study data centre with existing high energy use and the potential to inject the generated heat into elevated permeability pathways in the shallow subsurface. We show that thermal recharge under these conditions has the potential to arrest subsurface temperature declines associated with closely spaced borehole heat exchangers, ensure the long-term sustainability of shallow geothermal resources for generations to come, and play an important role in the decarbonisation of heating.

Working fluid selection for heat pumps in solar district heating systems

In the context of the global energy transition, solar energy holds a promising potential as an energy source for a sustainable heat supply. Solar thermal collector in combination with heat pump technology utilizing electricity from renewable sources, such as photovoltaic, opens the possibility for the transformation of many existing residential areas into zero-emissions districts. However, according to the EU F-Gas Regulation No. 517/2014, the use of many commercial working fluids with high GWP is restricted in future refrigeration systems. Here, we present the results of current research on existing heat pump applications in Germany with a heating capacity over 20 kW, and then we evaluate possible refrigerants for a typical heat-pump-based solar district heating system with a tank store in the scenario of a residential area in Germany considering two different heat pump configurations: system A (two-stage compression with an open-flash-economizer) with nine candidate refrigerants, and system B (low-temperature-cycle and high-temperature-cycle in series) with 90 pairs of refrigerants as candidates. Two criteria – the coefficient of performance for heating COPh and the volumetric flow rate of the suction gas V̇Sg – were applied to assess optimal working fluids. The simulation results demonstrate a trade-off between low GWP and good safety properties (nonflammability, nontoxicity). Based on the simulation results, we also discuss the corresponding restrictions and necessary precautions for the application of our refrigerant candidates considering safety issues and potential environmental effects. For the heat-pump-based solar district heating system (referred to in the following as “HP-SDH system”) in this exemplary residential area, the commercially available refrigerant R1234ze(E) exhibits the best combination of thermodynamic, environmental and safety properties; it is mildly flammable, and its application must comply with the safety and environmental requirements of the relevant German and European regulations.

Research and Application of Ultra-long Horizontal Distance Concrete Pumping and Pouring Technology

Research and Application of Ultra-long Horizontal Distance Concrete Pumping and Pouring Technology

Development of an ambulatory extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system: From concept to clinical use

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a modality of life support for patients suffering from respiratory and/or cardiac failure. With the advances in membrane oxygenation and pump technology in the last two decades, ECMO has become safer and more durable for clinical use. Along with its overall use, there has been an increase in patients who require long-term ECMO support; either awaiting lung recovery or transplantation. Many of them are awake, participating in physical rehabilitation, and even ambulating while supported on ECMO. While the broader ECMO experience is applied to bed-restricted and mechanically ventilated patients, contemporary studies demonstrated that the artificial respiration provided by ECMO is compatible with freedom from adjunctive mechanical ventilation, ambulation, and exercise. With this in mind, our group set out to develop a novel ambulatory ECMO system to facilitate ambulation in patients supported on ECMO. This paper gives a brief overview of the development of this system, focusing on the journey from a laboratory concept to approval for clinical use by the Food and Drug Administration.

Sand management and erosion prediction in subsea multiphase pumps

Over the past ten years, subsea multiphase pumping has accomplished extraordinary technology breakthroughs. The drivers are the oil and gas companies’ requirements for deeper and more remote subsea production satellites along with producing more challenging fluids. The multiphase pump (MPP) technology has kept evolving, breaking records in terms of shaft power, design pressure, differential pressure, and high viscosity capabilities. In addition, the current reliability data shows 86.5% probability of 5 years failure-free operation. Today, a main challenge is the ability to withstand sand erosion. A subsea MPP is placed on the seafloor to increase the production from subsea oil and gas wells, normally without any upstream separator or sand control system. The inevitable sand production is directed through the pump and transported further to the topside arrival separator. The MPP considered in this paper is a dynamic helico-axial pump with rotational speeds typically ranging up to 4,600 rpm and 3.5 MW. Obviously, both pump vendor and operator have made significant efforts to make the MPP as robust as possible. The first part of this paper describes how sand production is mitigated and controlled in a subsea oil and gas production system, but also how an accidental sand event can nevertheless happen. In the second part, the various wear mechanisms of MPP components are explained based on operational experience and wear tests. Finally, it presents the comparison of the wear observed on the Moho pump retrieved from the field with the wear rate and pattern predicted by the in-house MPP wear prediction model.

Coupled Heat Power Operation of Smart Buildings via Modular Pumped Hydro Storage

Abstract In the United States, building sector is responsible for around 40% of total energy consumption and contributes about 40% of carbon emissions since 2012. Within the past several years, various optimization models and control strategies have been studied to improve buildings’ energy efficiency and reduce operational expenses under the constraints of satisfying occupants’ comfort requirements. However, the majority of these studies consider building electricity demand and thermal load being satisfied by unidirectional electricity flow from the power grid or on-site renewable energy generation to electrical and thermal home appliances. Opportunities for leveraging low-grade heat for electricity have largely been overlooked due to impracticality at small scale. In 2016, a modular pumped hydro storage technology was invented in Oak Ridge National Laboratory, named Ground Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES). In GLIDES, employing high-efficiency hydraulic machinery instead of gas compressor/turbine, liquid is pumped to compress gas inside high-pressure vessel creating head on ground level. This unique design eliminates the geographical limitation associated with the existing state-of-the-art energy storage technologies. It is easy to be scaled for building level, community level, and grid level applications. By using this novel hydro-pneumatic storage technology, opportunities for leveraging low-grade heat in building can be economical. In this research, the potential of utilizing low-grade thermal energy to augment electricity generation of GLIDES is investigated. Since GLIDES relies on gas expansion in the discharge process and the gas temperature drops during this nonisothermal process, available thermal energy, e.g., from thermal storage, combined cooling, heat and power system (CCHP), can be utilized by GLIDES to counter the cooling effect of the expansion process and elevate the gas temperature and pressure and boost the roundtrip efficiency. Several groups of comparison experiments have been conducted, and the experimental results show that a maximum 12.9% cost saving could be achieved with unlimited heat source for GLIDES, and a moderate 3.8% cost improvement can be expected when operated coordinately with CCHP and thermal energy storage in a smart building.

Recent Updates to Clinical Practice Guidelines for Diabetes Mellitus.

Guidelines for the management of patients with diabetes have become an important part of clinical practice that improve the quality of care and help establish evidence-based medicine in this field. With rapidly accumulating evidence on various aspects of diabetes care, including landmark clinical trials of treatment agents and newer technologies, timely updates of the guidelines capture the most current state of the field and present a consensus. As a leading academic society, the Korean Diabetes Association publishes practice guidelines biennially and the American Diabetes Association does so annually. In this review, we summarize the key changes suggested in the most recent guidelines. Some of the important updates include treatment algorithms emphasizing comorbid conditions such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease in the selection of anti-diabetic agents; wider application of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), insulin pump technologies and indices derived from CGM such as time in range; more active screening of subjects at high-risk of diabetes; and more detailed individualization in diabetes care. Although there are both similarities and differences among guidelines and some uncertainty remains, these updates provide a good approach for many clinical practitioners who are battling with diabetes.

Nano-LC: An updated review.

Low-flow chromatography has a rich history of innovation but has yet to reach widespread implementation in bioanalytical applications. Improvements in pump technology, microfluidic connections, and nano-electrospray sources for MS have laid the groundwork for broader application, and innovation in this space has accelerated in recent years. This article reviews the instrumentation used for nano-flow LC, the types of columns employed, and strategies for multidimensionality of separations, which are key to the future state of the technique to the high-throughput needs of modern bioanalysis. An update of the current applications where nano-LC is widely used, such as proteomics and metabolomics, is discussed. But the trend toward biopharmaceutical development of increasingly complex, targeted, and potent therapeutics for the safe treatment of disease drives the need for ultimate selectivity and sensitivity of our analytical platforms for targeted quantitation in a regulated space. The selectivity needs are best addressed by mass spectrometric detection, especially at high resolutions, and exquisite sensitivity is provided by nano-electrospray ionization as the technology continues to evolve into an accessible, robust, and easy-to-use platform.

Pump Technology Interchange—As Embraced by Dr. S. Gopalakrishnan, Vice President, Technology of Flowserve Pump Division

Abstract Himself a major technical team player in a for-profit corporation, the stance adopted by Dr. S. Gopalakrishnan vis à vis the wider engineering community is examined and found to be instructive for technology leadership in general. First, in the context of his particular experience, are highlighted the mutual benefits of a corporation maintaining relationships with universities. Then come the similar advantages of his participation in professional societies and symposia and the attendant contributions to the open literature, including the competitive drive for doing so. Such activity fortuitously led him to the more direct relationships with competitors that characterize a research consortium of manufacturers in the same industry.

Performance analysis on parallel condensing air-source heat pump water heater system

Based on the technology of heat pumps, a parallel condensing air-source heat pumps water heater systems providing domestic hot water is proposed to improve the energy efficiency of common ASHPWH system. Considering the climate in southern China, two operating modes of system are designed to adapt to the different water temperature conditions. the simulation model was built to analyzed the factors affecting system performance. Taking Changsha, China as an example, the COP and the energy consumption of system in each month are analyzed. We can find that the parallel condensing air-sources heat pumps water heater system can effectively disperse the total heating quantity by steps heating; the average COP in summer mode increases from 5.42 to 6.44, approaching 19.00%; the average COP in winter mode increases from 4.05 to 5.45, approaching 34.68%. The system has excellent energy-saving effect especially in winter.

Navigating Diabetes Online Communities in Clinical Practice.

This purpose of this study was to conduct a rapid review and environmental scan of diabetes online communities (DOCs) to highlight the clinical impact of DOC engagement and provide guidance to health care providers for navigating and prescribing DOCs. This two-phase review included a rapid review of clinical outcomes and an assessment of DOC content. We conducted a literature search for studies evaluating DOC use and glucometric (glycated hemoglobin [A1C], time-in-range, hypoglycemia), behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes. The environmental scan of current DOC sites established key features, including available platforms, target population, content areas, and reach. Twelve papers were included-eight reported DOC use within a context of do-it-yourself (DIY) noncommercial, opensource hybrid closed loop systems community and four were non-DYI related. In latter, all studies were cross-sectional, describing patient-reported outcomes. Two studies reported A1C lowering with DOC use, two DOC use was associated with high self-efficacy, one showed association with higher self-care levels, and one showed higher quality of life scores when compared with population norms. All DIY studies showed improvement in glucometrics after initiation of sensor augmented pump technology with DOC support. Of 54 DOC sites reviewed in the environmental scan, 29 were included. Diabetes online community sites were heterogenous in social media platform and type of diabetes targeted. Diabetes online communities have the potential to improve clinical, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes. Randomized control trials and/or longitudinal prospective studies evaluating outcomes are needed to further examine the potential benefits of DOC use. Diabetes online communities are diverse and span a variety of social media platforms, providing clinicians opportunities to individualize recommendations for DOC use.

Application and Analysis of Air-Source Heat Pump Heat Supply System in Cold Areas

With the establishment of 3060 double carbon target, higher requirements are put forward for clean energy heating of new buildings in China. Among them, air source heat pump has entered the public’s field of vision with its characteristics of cleanness, environmental protection and high operating efficiency. With the development of heat pump technology, air-source heat pump can run stably at -25°C, and Zhangjiakou, which is located in a cold area, can also use air-source heat pump as the heat source of office buildings. At the same time, the economic analysis shows that the building heating cost of air source heat pump heating system is more economical and energy-saving than that of new central heating system.

Carbon and energy cost impacts of electrification of space heating with heat pumps in the US

In order to meet climate goals, it will be necessary to significantly reduce the greenhouse gases emitted by homes. A key factor in the US is to reduce the on-site combustion of fossil fuels for heating end-uses and to replace this with use of electric heat pump technologies connected to a low-carbon grid. The replacement of natural gas furnaces with electric heat pumps is a key home decarbonization strategy. However, the potential for space heating electrification to reduce greenhouse gas emissions depends on the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) content of the electricity used by the heat pump. This varies considerably depending on the source of electricity, with large state to state variability. Furthermore, household energy costs are likely to be impacted by the electrification of space heating, because retail energy prices for both natural gas and electricity in each state vary by factors of seven and four, respectively. Contractors, energy programs, government and building code officials, as well as consumers need clear indications of the likely CO2e and energy cost impacts of proposed electrification projects, because these will affect decarbonization choices and rationales around scaled heating electrification. Government and utility programs also need to be aware of the likely outcomes of any supported/incentivized measures. In this paper, we investigate these effects by looking at new metrics to analyze the change in CO2e emitted and the cost to meet home heating loads when switching from a natural gas furnace to a heat pump for the contiguous 48 states of the mainland US.

Stroke epidemiology and outcomes in the modern era of left ventricular assist devices.

The care for the patients with end-stage heart failure has been revolutionized by the introduction of durable left ventricular assist devices, providing a substantial improvement in patient survival and quality of life and an alternative to heart transplantation. The newest devices have lower instances of mechanical dysfunction and associated pump thrombosis. Despite these improvements in complications, the use of continuous flow assist devices is still associated with high rates of thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications, most notably stroke in approximately 10% of continuous flow assist devices patients per year. With the newest HeartMate 3 devices, there have been lower observed rates of stroke, which has in part been achieved by both improvements in pump technology and knowledge of the risk factors for stroke and neurological complications. The therapeutic options available to clinicians to reduce the risk of stroke, including management of hypertension and antithrombotics, will be reviewed in this manuscript.

An energetic, economic and environmental evaluation of a dual-source heat pump water heater – A case study in Beijing

Heat pump technology plays an important role in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality in the building section. This goal requires a large-scale adoption and diffusion of heat pump to achieve scale effects. Most researches concerning heat pump technology mainly focus on the technical optimization. However, the economic and environmental benefits are the key factors determining whether technology is adopted by users. In order to identify the favorable scenarios to use heat pump technology and encourage users to adopt heat pump technology, an energetic, economic and environmental evaluation approach from the life cycle perspective of heat pump retrofit project is proposed in this work. Then, by conducting a case study of a retrofit project that replaced gas boiler (GB) with Air-Flue gas Dual-Source Heat Pump (AFDSHP), the research finds that: (1) Coefficient of performance (COP) and energy price are the main factor determine the economic feasibility of heat pump retrofit project, and the energy costs of heat pump are less than gas boiler when electricity-gas price ratio meets PePng<1COP∙qngqe; (2) Because COP of heat pump can rarely reach 6 in actual operation, the retrofit project is economically feasible when the electricity-gas price ratio is below 0.45 in this case; (3) Under China’s average carbon trading prices in 2020, 0.064 RMB/kg, encouraging user to adopt heat pump technology by carbon trading mechanism can achieve the same effect as government subsidies; (4) Replacing gas boiler with heat pump can reduce carbon emission only when carbon emission coefficient of power generation meets fe<fng∙qe∙COPqng, which is to prevent the carbon emission leaking from the energy end-user to the power generation sector and to prevent an increase of carbon emission. This paper offers recommendations to policy makers about developing appropriate incentive policies, and provides decision criteria to users about adoption of heat pump technology.

DSMC simulations of neutral gas flow in the DTT particle exhaust system

Divertor Tokamak Test Facility (DTT) is a new European superconducting tokamak, currently under final design, addressed to investigate alternative power exhaust solutions for DEMO. Although the divertor system is not finalized yet, the machine and port geometry set limitations on the divertor pumping system operational space. A numerical study of neutral gas dynamics in the divertor region is performed based on the DSMC method by applying the DIVGAS code. The study includes both single-null (SN) and double-null (DN) divertor configurations. For both configurations, the SolEdge2D–EIRENE plasma simulations have been performed for a deuterium plasma with neon seeding and the extracted information about the neutral particles on the predefined interfaces is imposed as incoming boundary conditions for DIVGAS simulations. In the SN case, two plasma puffing scenarios and three candidate pumping port arrangements have been considered. The divertor dome influence on the pumped fluxes can reach 50%. An increase of the capture coefficient six times leads to a decrease in the pressure at the pumping openings by a factor of about 4.5–7. The influence of the size of the lower vertical opening has been studied showing that the enlarged vertical port may establish as the main pumping opening. In the DN case, when the pumping is performed from both lower and upper divertor the overall pumped fluxes at the upper divertor are always higher than the corresponding ones for the lower divertor by a factor of 2–2.5, mainly due to the difference in the pumping areas. In both SN and DN cases, the neutrals outflux toward the X-point dominates the particle transport in the private flux region. The operational space provided by this first assessment is relatively stable against modified classical divertor geometries and allows a more thorough assessment of the pumping technology of the DTT fusion device in the future.

Characterization and performance enhancement of electrical submersible pump (ESP) using artificial intelligence (AI)

Electrical submersible pump (ESP) technology is the first choice of artificial lift for the operators both in offshore and onshore to increase the rate of production in all types of reservoirs. Even though, the ESP was designed, engineered and fabricated to withstand in harsh subsurface natural and man-made environment such as corrosion, high temperature and extreme pressure but it fails under these circumstances without any prerequisite signal. Even the monitoring systems in place failed to notify the failure of ESP. These ESP failures cut off the production and revenue circulation in the firm. The cost required for the repair and replacement of the ESP is also high and is time consuming. The prevention of ESP failures using machine learning technique is discussed.

Thermal performance of ground heat exchanger under winter conditions

The use of buried pipe ground source heat pump technology can provide a green and environmentally friendly solution for the winter bridge snow melting project. However, the factors affecting the heat transfer efficiency of buried pipes in winter conditions are still unclear. For the single U-bend buried pipe heat exchanger, numerical calculations were preformed to study the effects of different inlet temperatures, backfill material ratio, hole depth, and spacing on the heat extraction capacity and the surrounding soil temperature distribution. Combined with an actual bridge heating project, three single heat exchanger models with different buried depths and three heat exchanger group models with different spacing were established. The results show that when the system runs for 48 hours, the heat transfer power at 2 ℃ will increase by about 82% compared with that at 8 ℃. Reducing the content of bentonite in the backfill is beneficial to heat transfer. As the heat exchanger depth increases, the heat extraction capacity per linear meter decreases. The expansion of the heat exchanger spacing can reduce the thermal interference effect between each other. When running 8 hours, the heat transfer power at an interval of 4 m is increased by 5.4% compared with that at the interval of 3 m, and the heat transfer power at an interval of 5 m is increased by 1.9% compared with that at the interval of 4 m.

Hitting the hotspots – Targeted deployment of air source heat pump technology to deliver clean air communities and climate progress: A case study of Ireland

Electrification of residential heating and investment in building energy efficiency are central pillars of many national strategies to reduce carbon emissions from the built environment sector. Ireland has a strong dependence on oil use for central heating and a substantial share of homes still using solid fuels. The current national strategy calls for the retrofitting of 400,000 home heating systems with heat pumps by 2030, principally replacing oil fired heating systems. Displacing natural gas, oil and solid fuel boilers with heat pumps will have a favourable impact on climate outcomes. However, the impact on air pollutant outcomes is far more favourable when solid fuels are replaced, and the positive impact on ambient air quality is much enhanced where concentrated clusters of solid-fuel use are targeted. This research spatially analyses emissions and air pollutant concentration outcomes for both targeted and non-targeted deployments of heat pumps and shows that a focused deployment of just 3% of the national heat pump target on solid-fuel homes could offer similar progress on climate goals but with a substantial impact in terms of reducing air pollution hot spots. For the Irish residential heating season (October–March), the targeted solid fuel scenario delivers average PM 2.5 concentration decreases of 20–34%. This paper shows that these targeted communities are often in areas of relative deprivation, and as such, direct support for fabric retrofitting and heat pump technology installation offers the potential to simultaneously advance climate, air and just transition policy ambitions. • Retrofitting ASHPs in Ireland will reduce residential air and climate emissions. • Identified residential air pollution hotspots are associated with solid fuel use. • A targeted strategy for just 3% of the national 400,000 ASHP target is assessed. • The targeting can deliver PM2.5 concentration reductions of 20–34% in hotspots.

Performance Study of Coupling Municipal Wastewater with a Second Lithium Bromide Absorption Heat Pump for Heating

Nowadays, promoting the development of new energy sources is an important way to achieve the goal of "double carbon", both in the building sector and in industry, the large amount of sewage and waste water discharged is rich in thermal energy, and the rational use of this thermal energy will bring changes to our living standards. With more and more types of heat pumps and improvements in heat pump technology, the utilisation of the thermal energy from municipal wastewater is gradually increasing. This paper investigates the performance of coupling municipal wastewater with a second lithium bromide absorption heat pump for heating, analyses the indirect use of municipal wastewater sources for heat extraction, and develops a dynamic simulation model for the second lithium bromide absorption heat pump, resulting in a 34% energy saving compared to other heating methods by coupling municipal wastewater sources with this heat pump system.