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First Degrees in Engineering by Course Units

Monday 2nd June 2014

10:00-12:30

DEN438 Renewable Energy Sources

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO READ THE CONTENTS OF THIS QUESTION PAPER UNTIL
INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY AN INVIGILATOR.
Answer FOUR out of FIVE questions for 25 marks each.
Only the first FOUR answered questions will be marked. Clearly cross out any questions you do
not want marked.
ONLY NON-PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATORS ARE PERMITTED IN THIS EXAMINATION.
PLEASE STATE ON YOUR ANSWER BOOK THE NAME AND TYPE OF MACHINE USED.
COMPLETE ALL ROUGH WORKINGS IN THE ANSWER BOOK AND CROSS THROUGH ANY
WORK THAT IS NOT TO BE ASSESSED.
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ACADEMIC REGULATIONS STATE THAT POSSESSION OF
UNAUTHORISED MATERIAL AT ANY TIME WHEN A STUDENT IS UNDER EXAMINATION
CONDITIONS IS AN ASSESSMENT OFFENCE AND CAN LEAD TO EXPULSION FROM
QMUL.
PLEASE CHECK NOW TO ENSURE YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY NOTES, MOBILE PHONES OR
UNATHORISED ELECTRONIC DEVICES ON YOUR PERSON. IF YOU HAVE ANY THEN
PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND AND GIVE THEM TO AN INVIGILATOR IMMEDIATELY.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IF YOU ARE FOUND TO HAVE HIDDEN UNAUTHORISED
MATERIAL ELSEWHERE, INCLUDING TOILETS AND CLOAKROOMS IT WILL BE TREATED
AS BEING FOUND IN YOUR POSSESSION. UNAUTHORISED MATERIAL FOUND ON YOUR
MOBILE PHONE OR OTHER ELECTRONIC DEVICES WILL BE CONSIDERED THE SAME AS
BEING IN POSSESSION OF PAPER NOTES. MOBILE PHONES CAUSING A DISRUPTION IS
ALSO AN ASSESSMENT OFFENCE.
EXAM PAPERS CANNOT BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAM ROOM
Examiners
Dr HS Wang
Dr S Dunn

Queen Mary, University of London, 2014

Page 2

DEN438 (2014)

Question 1
a)

Discuss the different types of biomass feeds and analyse their advantages and
disadvantages for energy production.
[8 marks]

b)

Outline two different conversion processes for the transformation of biomass feeds
into biofuels.
[12 marks]

c)

Comment on the environmental, economic and social impacts due to the use of
biomass.
[5 marks]

DEN438 (2014)

Page 3

Question 2
a)

Draw a basic p-n junction, and explain how the diagram can be used to describe
how a p-n junction satisfies the requirements of a photovoltaic that Becquerels
systems did not?
[12 marks]

b)

Define AM 1.5 related to photovoltaic system.

[5 marks]

c)

What loss mechanisms contribute to a drop in performance of a photovoltaic?

[8 marks]

Turn over

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DEN438 (2014)

Question 3
a)

Discuss how to reduce energy demand by appropriately selecting room air

temperature and relative humidity of an air-conditioned building.
[5 marks]

b)

Discuss how to use EnergyPlus to guide the retrofitting of an existing building in

order to improve the energy performance.
[5 marks]

c)

Discuss how to properly size an air conditioning system according to the heating
and cooling loads throughout a year in order to reduce energy consumption and
carbon emission.
[5 marks]

d)

Outline how to incorporate natural ventilation throughout a year in order to reduce

energy consumption for an air-conditioned building.
[5 marks]

e)

Outline how to integrate solar energy into the design of a building to reduce energy
demand. Describe the operating principle of the design, including diagrams where
appropriate.
[5 marks]

DEN438 (2014)

Page 5

Question 4
a)

Draw a diagram of a ground source heat pump for space cooling and heating.
[6 marks]

b)

Assume that the working fluid, refrigerant R134a, undergoes in the heat pump an
ideal thermodynamics cycle consisting of four processes:
i)

R134a evaporates at constant temperature of 10 oC in the evaporator to the

saturation vapour state.

ii)

It is adiabatically compressed by the compressor to a high temperature and

high pressure vapour state.

iii)

It is cooled and condensed in the condenser at constant pressure (the

condensation temperature is 50 oC) to the saturation liquid state.

iv)

It expands in the expansion valve through a constant enthalpy process to the

evaporation temperature.

The mass flow rate of R134a is 10 g/s. Show the vapour compression cycle on the
pressure P enthalpy h diagram below.
[7 marks]

Question 4b continues on the next page

Turn over

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DEN438 (2014)

Question 4b continued

c)

Calculate the heating rate by the condenser, the cooling rate by the evaporator and
the work by the compressor.
[6 marks]

f)

Define the Coefficient of Performance (COP) for the cooling and heating modes.
[6 marks]

DEN438 (2014)

Page 7

Question 5
a)

Energy supply from renewable energies does not often meet the energy demand.
Discuss a solution to this problem to balance supply and demand and include
diagrams where appropriate.
[6 marks]

b)

A wind turbine with blades of 20 m diameter operates in wind with an average

velocity of 15 m/s. Calculate the maxmum power output. Assume the density of air
is 1.2 kg/m3 and the power coefficient of the wind turbine is 0.5.
[6 marks]

c)

For a solar thermal collector, its thermal efficiency can be calculated by

T TA
UL C

where is the transmittance, is the absorptance, UL is the overall heat transfer

coefficient, TC is the temperature of the absorber plate, TA is the temperature of the
surrounding, G is the solar radiation flux. Define the threshold radiation.
[7 marks]

d)

Outline and discuss a tidal energy harvest system and include diagrams where
appropriate.
[6 marks]

End of Paper