Way Of Energy Supply Research Articles

Investigation of the process of vacuum freeze drying of bacterial concentrates for the meat industry with cryogenic freezing

The research results of the nutritional value of the products manufactured are presented in the article. The main directions of bacterial concentrates application in the meat industry were determined. The analysis of starter cultures was given. The range of products manu-factured with bacterial concentrates was analyzed. It was shown that the introduction of innovative technologies will enable dynamic development of both large and small enterprises, which will create prerequisites for the growth of the Russian market of meat products. Economic efficiency of the studied substances treatment methods was proved. The relevance of the development of technology of pro-duction of dry bacterial concentrates with cryogenic freezing was proved. An integrated approach to the development of competitive domestic technologies and equipment for cryofreezing and sublimation dehydration by the use of granulation for the intensification of the internal heat and mass transfer, reducing specific energy consumption through the use of a combined cold supply system was pro-posed. Results of the study of the kinetics of the freezing process with the traditional method and cryofreezing are given in the paper. Rational parameters of the cryofreezing process were proposed. The optimum composition of cryoprotective medium was recommended. The research of the process of bacterial concentrate vacuum sublimation dehydration in the layer and granular form were conducted. The research confirmed that the use of the cryofreezing and granulation can increase the number of viable microorganisms in the bacterial concentrate and reduce the drying time. Rational vacuum sublimation dehydration modes were proposed. Methods of reduc-ing the defects of the processed products and improvement of the efficiency of production facilities were specified. Quality indicators of dried bacterial concentrates were given. The results obtained allow to carry out engineering calculations and designing of the equipment for cryofreezing and vacuum sublimation units with different ways of energy supply.

Повышение топливной экономичности маневрового тепловоза при применении электронной системы управления впрыском топлива

When creating a new rolling stock or during its modernization it is important preliminarily to properly assess its operational efficiency, depending on the technical improvements. Changing the way of energy supply of traction is very important - for example, hybrid engines or two/three power units is used instead of one. The article proposes a new approach to the problem of assessing the effectiveness of operational work of shunting locomotives. Shunting operation is represented as the sum of random single modes, in which the processes in the power plant can be modeled with any degree of accuracy. Summation of performance indicators in individual modes according to the characteristics of random processes allows obtaining an overall assessment of technical and economic indicators of the locomotive in operation. The paper shows results of comparative assessment of the fuel economy of a diesel locomotive ChME3 in operating set of equipment and with installed electronic fuel injection control system (ESUVT. 02), obtained by modeling the working processes of the power plant and auxiliary equipment shunting locomotives in operation modes. Executed calculations show that in the operation of diesel locomotive ChME3 equipped with ESUVT. 02 system saves up to 10.2 % of fuel, particularly by reducing fuel consumption at idle. Application of a new methodology for assessing technical and economic indicators of locomotives in operation allows, in addition to fuel consumption, evaluating a number of other indicators.

Increased use of biomass in combined heat and power production: health impacts due to PM2.5 emissions

Background: Combined heat and power production (CHP) is an efficient way of energy supply widely used in Finnish population centers. EU´s climate policies recommend increased use of biomass in energy production in order to reduce CO2 emissions. However, health impacts on general population may vary depending on the fuel due to differences in fine particle (PM2.5) emissions. Aims: Here we compared two scenarios of fuel use, business as usual (BAU) and increased biomass use (IBU), in Haapaniemi CHP power plant (total fuel power 404 MW) of the city of Kuopio, Finland. According BAU fuels are peat 84%, heavy oil 12% and biomass 4%, whereas according IBU the fuels are peat 49.5%, heavy oil 1% and biomass 49.5%. Methods: The annual amounts of energy produced per fuel were calculated using an on-line city-level energy balance tool adjusted for Kuopio (http://en.opasnet.org/w/Energy_balance_in_Kuopio). Respective PM2.5 emissions were calculated using appropriate emission factors for CHP plants of this size. The attributable all-cause deaths due to PM2.5 emissions were calculated for Finnish population using an appropriate intake fraction. Results: Annual PM2.5 emissions were 64 t (12-116) and 59 t (9-110) for BAU and IBU, respectively, causing 0.12 (0.02-0.22) and 0.11 (0.02-0.21) attributable deaths in Finland, respectively. In addition, actual PM2.5 emissions for year 2010 (42.4 t; fuels as in BAU) and an estimate for 2014 (19.8 t; fuels as in IBU) were used in an independent estimation of health impact, giving the result of 0.08 and 0.04 attributable all-cause deaths in Finland, respectively. Conclusions: Increasing the use of biomass from 4% to 49.5% of total fuel amount in Haapaniemi CHP plant may slightly reduce PM2.5 emissions. The used on-line energy balance tool gives comparable results to the actual measured values. From health point of view – when considering all-cause mortality due to PM2.5 emissions - replacing peat with biomass in large CHP plants seems neutral.

Steatosis does not impair liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

Hepatic steatosis is a key feature of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). While storage of lipid droplet-bound triglycerides in simple steatosis is physiologically inert, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is associated with hepatocyte damage and apoptosis. Mitochondrial oxidation of free fatty acids (FFA), derived from lipid droplets and hepatocellular uptake, is a rapid and effective way of energy supply for proliferating cells and FFA esterification provides substrates for lipid synthesis and cell proliferation. Thus, we investigated whether simple steatosis induced by western diet (WD) improves liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy (PHx). WD feeding for 6 weeks caused simple steatosis with hepatic lipid droplet and triglyceride accumulation accompanied by induction of fatty acid transport proteins (FATP), death receptors (DR), pro- and anti-apoptotic genes, hepatocyte growth factor (Hgf) as well as increased serum leptin levels in a mouse model. After PHx, liver cell proliferation was higher in WD-fed mice and associated with FATP and Hgf induction. In addition, Erk1/2 (extracellular-related MAP kinase 1/2) dephosphorylation observed in standard diet (SD) mice was reduced in WD animals. PHx in steatotic livers did not affect hepatocyte apoptosis, despite DR upregulation. WD-induced steatosis enhances liver cell proliferation, which is accompanied by increased Hgf and leptin signaling as well as Erk1/2 phosphorylation. Induction of mild steatosis may therefore be beneficial for surgical outcome of hepatectomies.

Research on ISFLA-Based Optimal Control Strategy for the Coordinated Charging of EV Battery Swap Station

As an important component of the smart grid, electric vehicles (EVs) could be a good measure against energy shortages and environmental pollution. A main way of energy supply to EVs is to swap battery from the swap station. Based on the characteristics of EV battery swap station, the coordinated charging optimal control strategy is investigated to smooth the load fluctuation. Shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA) is an optimization method inspired by the memetic evolution of a group of frogs when seeking food. An improved shuffled frog leaping algorithm (ISFLA) with the reflecting method to deal with the boundary constraint is proposed to obtain the solution of the optimal control strategy for coordinated charging. Based on the daily load of a certain area, the numerical simulations including the comparison of PSO and ISFLA are carried out and the results show that the presented ISFLA can effectively lower the peak-valley difference and smooth the load profile with the faster convergence rate and higher convergence precision.