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Use of Brazed Plate Heat Exchangers in Solar Heating Applications

Do you know about brazed plate heat exchanger? It is like a normal type of other plate heat exchanger, but the way the metals or materials are joined is the main difference. It can't be mechanically dismantled or opened. The metals are actually brazed and/or soldered together.

Owing to its advantages, brazed plate heat exchangers have become extremely popular in domestic heating applications. Especially in domestic solar heating setups owing to it low cost, low maintenance and high efficiency.

One of the most important factors in determining the viability of a solar heater is its heat transfer efficiency. In simple terms, a good solar heater is one, which is able to transfer maximum amount of heat from the captured sunlight to the inner loop. A brazed plate heat exchanger is ideally suited for this purpose since it occupies much less space, is far more efficient and cost effective than other heat exchangers and is easy to maintain and clean.

Brazed plate heat exchangers in combination with domestic solar panels can be used for:

1. Supplying hot water
2. Heating radiant floors
3. Heating radiant walls
4. Heating water in swimming pools and spas

In all of these applications, solar energy is trapped by a solar panel that transfers the heat to the outer loop. This heat is then collected by a brazed plate heat exchanger where heat is transferred from the outer loop (from the panel) to the inner loop. The heated liquid of the inner loop can now be circulated through a water heater to heat water for domestic supply or passed through radiant walls and/or floors for domestic heating or passed through a swimming pool or spa for heating the water.

Brazed plate heat exchangers can easily handle high temperatures and pressures associated with the latest solar system designs and also keep the domestic water loop in complete isolation with the solar loop. This ensures complete safety of the system as well as long life.

To have better comprehension, it is better to visualize the brazed plate heat exchanger in this video... See also heat exchanger tubing.





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This article is contributed by a friend who call himself - Heat treansfer pro. He just started a blog titled brazedplateheatexchangers.blogspot.com. He can be contacted at cbeta200283@mail.ru.

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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 11:59 AM, ,

Renewable Energy Project Videos

Ever thought of a renewable energy projects? My research is involving a renewable energy reaction, but I'm not revealing it right now until I complete my Ph.D. haha.... But, here are some videos of some student projects that are quite interesting...maybe it can give you some ideas and inspiration...Check it out...

Student Project

Students at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering develop renewable energy projects for a summer course. The course, directed by Dr. Mahendra Sunkara, is the first project for the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship. Students were asked to develop systems using a variety of different backgrounds, from chemical engineering to physics.






Solar Tower - renewable energy green global warming


EnviroMission Limited (www.enviromission.com.au) produced this 5 minute video on the pilot plant in Spain. It is an older video (2000) but gives a decent understanding of the solar tower concept.

EnviroMission, Ltd. (US Market: EVOMY, Australian Exchange: EVM) is a renewable energy developer of sustainable "green" energy solutions for the energy market. EnviroMission aims to be one of Australia's leading producers of clean renewable energy. EnviroMission holds the proprietary rights to Solar Tower technology, a large-scale renewable energy technology based on simple fundamentals of physics -- hot air rises. Solar Tower technology has the potential to offer competitive renewable energy with equal reliability to fossil fuel generators.

A single 200MW Solar Tower power station will provide enough electricity to power around 400,000 households. The energy output will represent an annual saving of more than 1,960,000 tonnes of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the environment when compared to brown coal emissions in Victoria. The greenhouse savings equate to the removal of approximately 500,000 cars from the road. The Australian Solar Tower project consists of six distinct phases, the first two of which (project optimization and pre-feasibility commercialization) have already been completed. The third phase (final feasibility), paving the way for the implementation of the next three phases (final design, construction, and commercial operation).




Mauritius Heading towards Renewable Energy


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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 2:07 AM, ,

International Conference on Process Engineering and Advanced Materials 2010 (ICPEAM2010)

For those researchers who are hunger to present, publish and show case their work, here is a fantastic conference where you can submit them to - The International Conference on Process Engineering and Advanced Materials 2010 (ICPEAM2010). For me, yes, I'm thinking of submitting a paper to this conference and I'm working on it. I have also discuss this matter with my supervisor... :)

What is ICPEAM201?







The ICPEAM2010 under the World Engineering, Science & Technology Congress (ESTCON2010) will be held on 15th to 17th June , 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In conjunction with this conference, we are also announcing the 24th Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers (SOMChE 2010). ICPEAM2010/SOMChE 2010 is organized by the Chemical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP).

Objectives

The objective of this conference is to provide an international forum to present and discuss recent progress in both fundamentals and applications for a wide range of interdisciplinary domains which include material science and engineering, nanotechnology, environmental technologies, process system engineering, reaction and separation engineering, etc.

Materials and Processes in Harmony: Recipe for Sustainable Development

The papers contributed to this conference will cover experimental works, theoretical modeling/simulations, novel approaches in materials synthesis, characterization techniques and applications.

Authors are invited to contribute papers that include but not limited to the following scope:

• Ionic Liquids
• Bio-fuels
• Environment
• Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
• Reactor Technology
• Advanced Material Development
• Advanced Process Control
• Process System Engineering
• Process Safety
• Separation
• Biotechnology

All papers will be peer-reviewed and selected for publication in Journal of Applied Sciences, Asia-Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering (on Resource Planning and Conservation) and International Journal of Environmental Engineering.

Authors are invited to submit full papers of maximum six (6) pages describing original, previously unpublished and complete work, addressing state-of-the-art research and development in the above areas. Guidelines for online submission and other information are available at the conference website http://www.utp.edu.my/icpeam2010.

I'm trying to prepare a paper to be submitted for this conference. The due date to submit your paper is 31st January 2010. Yes, I know, it's just around the corner...it maybe too late but just work on your paper and try to send it to the organizers as soon as you can. Who knows maybe they can still accept your paper?

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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 1:49 AM, ,

My Career Progress...

The new year 2010 just arrived but then suddenly January is almost going to end. I'm now in my early second semester for my Ph.D studies and things are heating up. I've just prepared my Ph.D proposal and submitted it to my supervisor. It's now with her for checking.

Ph.D Proposal + Journal Review Paper

At the time, I'm also working on a review paper for my first journal paper. It's very tough. It's not easy reading a lot of technical papers relating to my own research. But, I need to do it. This review paper will be my first international indexed journal paper and I hope it will further boost my spirit and motivation to complete my Ph.D as soon as humanly possible.

Experimental Rig Set-Up

At the same time, I'm also preparing my experimental rig. According to a colleague, it's better for me if I can set up a centralize control system to control all electrical and instrumentation in my experimental rig. Yeah...why not...that's cool... And for that reason, we are going to KL tomorrow to attend a seminar from National Instrument to learn more detail on the control equipment hardware and software. I hope something beneficial and conclusive will be obtained tomorrow. I need to set up my experimental rig as fast as possible.

Quartz Tube Issue

I ordered a set of quartz tube from a local supplier who is importing the quartz tube from London. Unfortunately the quartz tube have not yet arrived. This is not good... At the same time, a company I dealth with from Singapore is offering me quartz tube according to my specification. The bad thing is they quote me such an expansive price. I'm in huge dillema whether to buy or not the quartz tube. My budget is really tiny and I need to spend well, other wise I will run out of money to carry out my research.

Matlab training for Post Graduate Society

Thanks to my fellow friend Nabeel from Iraq who is currently doing his masters in his 3rd semester. He volunteered to conduct a matlab training for us. I'll be confirming few details on the training possibly tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If God wills, we'll be having the training next week. Only 15 students will be accepted to participate in this 3 days matlab training. I'm definitely attending this training. It is imperative for my thermodynamic analysis study for my reaction, which is going to be projected to fulfil my second journal paper.

Consultation

My headache is not yet over when it comes to the consultancy project i'm currently handling now. I thought everything was almost completed but then suddenly some issue arises, and some modification needs to be done. Yep, it's delayed again. Nevermine, we'll settle it once and for all.

IEM Training Log Book

Last week I received my log book which was checked by IEM representative from Chemical Engineering Division. Luckily the report was ok. Why? I said this because the envelop where the report was in has already torn and was really in bad shape. I can't imagine if something bad happen to my report, then 2 years of my recent engineering experiences are thrown away. Morale: Prepare a back-up of the report incase the report when missing somewhere somehow.

However, the one thing that is nice to see in my report is the comment made by the checker engineer... He recommended me to submit the report for my 3rd year in mid 2010. Why...this is because i've been sending back dated report for my log book. In other words, last year (2009) I submitted my report for 2008. In 2008, I submitted report for 2007. How come this happen...? Basically, the information conveyed was not clear when I enrolled as an IEM member. They say that after registering, I can back date my training experiences. Yes, I can, but the checker engineer at the end of the year will only check for 1 year training experiences only. That's when everything mess up. I did not know about this. Maybe I did not check properly. Haha....It's ok...

IEM project paper

Anyhow anyway, my mentor advised me to use my phd project as the main component to be reported in my final project paper for my professional interview assessment later. I must say that I totallt agree with him. That means, I need to work very hard and efficient for my phd studies. You know what is this...? It's simply killing 2 birds with one stone...Fuhhh....

How about you? Anything interesting you wanna share...? I would love to read you experiences as well...

Before that, check out this video from national instrument Labview...


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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:06 PM, ,

5 Firefox Extensions to Help With Your Dissertation

Beginning your dissertation is a frightening thought. You’ve got months of research and writing ahead of you. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But, by keeping your eyes on the prize and your work organized, you can make researching and writing your dissertation less of a chore and more of an adventure in learning.

One of the things you should do before you even begin is get your resources and tools in order. There are so many tools available on the web and on software applications you’ll be using that can help you speed up your research, keep it organized and keep your writing on track. Following are some great, yet very simple add ons you can use with Mozilla’s Firefox application to help you with researching and writing your dissertation.

1. Zotero – this add on is designed for researchers. It was created by George Mason University and is a free, open source add on. The application enables users to collect, manage, and cite research from all types of sources from the browser. It can manage your bibliography and references for your dissertation. When you’re using a major research website such as Google Scholar, Google Books, or many others, Zotero detects that a book or article is being used and will save the full reference information to a local file with just a mouse click. You can then add notes or other information yourself through the interface. You will then later be able to export the data you’ve accumulated in Zotero as a formatted bibliography. You can also summarize the information contained in your Zotero file as an HTML report.

2. Similar Web – This extension is useful for researchers because it recommends web pages similar to the one you’re viewing. When looking for information on a particular subject, you’ll automatically find several websites that might be able to help you.

3. Google Notebook – This extension allows you to save and organize clips of information when you’re doing online research. The tool allows a user to write notes, clip text and images, and save links from pages during a browser session. The information is saved to an online notebook, of sorts, with sharing and collaboration features. Notebooks can be made "public", or visible to others, and can also be used to collaborate with a list of users publicly or privately.

4. Scrapbook – Scrapbook is a Firefox extension created by the Tokyo Institute of Technology. It allows enhanced bookmarking, page saving and scrapbooking capabilities on web pages that is useful for anyone doing research. It is similar in many ways to Zotero, but is not as robust.

5. All in One Sidebar – This is an extension that allows user interface similar to that you would find in the Opera Browser. Users get extended sidebar functionality to help keep track of websites visited and information obtained.

Take the time to organize your tools before you even begin researching. As you can see, these applications can help you move much more quickly as you begin researching your dissertation on the web. You’ll find that these simple Firefox extensions help you find information more quickly and organize it better for use in your dissertation.

This post was brought to you by guess blogger, Phyllis Zerkle, who blogs about how to choose among the best masters degree programs.

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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 12:19 PM, ,

How I back up my data

In my previous entry, yesterday, I already listed down several of my targets for 2010. Most of them need full commitment from me especially for the preparation of my final project paper report for my professional engineer assessment next year as well as my PhD studies. These reports and study really meant to me and that is why I need to have reliable back up for all the collectable data in my computer.

I recalled 8 years ago, when I did my masters degree; I used 1 laptop and another personal computer at my lab to back up my thesis. I wasn’t that IT savvy and that was the only method I adopted to back up my precious softcopy information. I cannot afford to repeat or practice that again now as my work load is increasing and I don’t regard that method as a professional way to back up my files.

For that purpose and to be more efficient, there are two options for me, either save a copy to my pendrive/flash drive/external hard disc or burn it into CD/DVD. Between these two, I prefer to choose the second option. Normally, without doubt, I use Verbatim products because this brand is well known as top quality blank DVD R or CD R media manufacturer. You can find many good responses from users, regarding Verbatim CD-R at numerous review sites on the internet. Though it's a quality brand, but the price is not really expensive as you can have it as low as $0.19 per disk. Just compare this with a price of pendrive/flash drive or external hard disc. When it matters, I will buy Verbatim DVD-R if need huge capacity. Maybe the other reasons why I prefer Verbatim brand because they are subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation which is a recognized world leader in chemical and computer industries. Chemical people will always look after anything relate to chemical right. Heh!

Actually, I just want to share with you the importance of having a back up for whatever work we’ve done on the computer. We don’t know and can’t expect anything bad that may happen in the future that may affect our valuable soft copy documents. At least we won’t get the headache and pressure if our computer/laptop suddenly down due to virus infection or stolen. Four years ago, a friend of mine nearly got insane when his three years PhD work including his draft thesis inside his laptop vanished as his house was robbed. He almost had to start all over again but luckily he has back-up some of his work in some CD. Hence, it is better to prepare cheap, efficient and effective way to back up our data.

How about you guys? Anything you want to share how you back up your data?

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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 2:50 AM, ,

Happy New Year. GoodBye 2009

Happy Prosperous New Year to Chemical Engineering World readers... :)

2009 has left us and 2010 are welcoming us. How was your 2009? Was it good?

For me, similar as other years, I experienced a lot of things in 2009. It has been a prosperous year for me in chemical engineering context. OK, let me just list down some of the highlights of myself in 2009 without any particular sequence:



That was to name a few of the activities or highlights of my chemical engineering career for 2009. As for 2010, I'm planning several targets too. Here are some of them:


How about you? Do you want to share your plans or targets for 2010? I would like to read your goals for this new year. Please write it down in the comment section.

Again... I wish all of you a happy new year and may you achieve success in your career/studies... :)

Oh... here is a video I would like to share with you. It shows how a female engineer works in a plant. She share her experiences. Though it's a brief video, but I believe this video is good for present female engineer to view.... Check it out.



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posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:21 PM, ,

The Author

zyz

I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!


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