MECH 3504 - Thermofluid

Laboratory
Energy Conversion and Storage

Lecture 8
2020-03-02
Global energy supply and demand
All values are in Quad Btu (quadrillion
Btu)
(1 quadrillion Btu = 1 × 10  Btu = 0.95
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All End-
Electricit Resident Commerc Industria Transporta × 1015 kJ)
Source Total Use
y ial ial l tion
Sectors
Oil 196.7 6.7 8.5 3.9 69.7 106.7 188.8
Natural
130.7 44.0 20.6 8.8 53.2 4.1 86.6
gas
Coal 159.8 90.5 4.3 1.6 63.5 0.0 69.4
Nuclear 26.9 26.9 — — — — —
Electricit
— — 21.0 16.8 35.1 1.6 74.5
y
Renewab
74.9 55.5 1.3 0.2 17.9 — 19.4
les
Total 589.0 223.6 55.7 31.3 239.4 112.4 438.8

M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala

“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
2
Energy”
Energy demand by end-use
More than half of the global
energy is used by the industrial
sector (54.6%)

Followed by the transportation

sector with 25.6 percent

Energy use is expected to

increase worldwide, driven
mainly by industry

Growth will mostly take place in

developing countries

M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala

“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
3
Energy”
Energy supply by “fuel” type
All end uses Electricity production only

M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala

“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
4
Energy”
Challenges with the current energy mix
Total global energy supply in
2017 was 5.6 × 1017 kJ
Fossil fuels accounted for
82.7 percent (27.1% coal,
33.4% oil, 22.2% natural
gas) of this total energy
production
Renewable energy was
responsible for only 12.7%
Renewable energy was
responsible for 23.1% of
electricity production
M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala
“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
5
Energy”
Challenges with the current energy mix
Fortunately renewables are
the fastest growing energy
source
This is led predominantly
by solar and wind
Enabled by cost reductions
of these technologies
The projected growth in
renewables for the United
States is shown to the right

M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala

“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
6
Energy”
Key takeaways
Currently we rely heavily on fossil fuels
The majority of energy demand is for the industrial and
transportation sectors
Electricity currently constitutes a fairly small share of the
total energy demand
In order to better make use of renewable energy
resources, it is important to understand the global
energy balance

M. Kanoğlu, Y. A. Çengel, J. M. Cimbala

“Fundamentals and Applications of Renewable
7
Energy”
 Earth’s energy budget

"The NASA Earth's Ene

rgy Budget Poster"
. NASA

8
Energy conversion roadmap
Renewable
Each box represents an energy resource, a form of energy, or an end use Non-renewable

Each connector represents an energy conversion process End use

Residual
Sunlight Residual heat Lunar gravity
matter

Geo- and
Water energy Wind energy Biomass Solar energy Nuclear energy Tidal energy
ocean- thermal

Heat, fuel, Heat, fuel, Heat, Heat,

Electricity Wave energy Electricity Fossil fuels Electricity
electricity electricity electricity electricity

Heat, fuel,
Electricity
electricity

Can you describe the energy conversion process for each connector?
What type of “engine” is used to perform this conversion?
Can you estimate the efficiency of each energy conversion process?

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Resources vs. carriers vs. technologies
It is important to know the difference between energy resources, energy
carriers, and energy technologies
In popular culture these lines are blurred making it difficult to make
objective assessments
Energy resource: fundamentally there are four (sunlight, residual heat,
residual matter, lunar gravity)
But usually we break it down further: an energy resource is the form of energy
that is directly harvested from the natural environment (e.g. oil, natural gas,
wind, solar energy, etc.)
Energy carrier: a way of moving energy around (electricity, fuel, heat)
Energy carriers (also called energy vectors) are not energy resources, and are not
– on their own – renewable or non-renewable (e.g. electricity, hydrogen)
Energy technology: used to harness an energy resource, or convert energy
into one form or another

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Renewable vs. green vs. sustainable energy
Renewable: the energy resource is continually
replenished without depletion within a human timescale
(~50 years)

Green: the energy resource has no significant adverse

effects on the environment

Sustainable: a sustainable energy resource should be

renewable, green, and economically viable

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Limits to energy conversion
What fundamental limits do we need to follow when
determining energy efficiencies?

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Challenges of renewables
Intermittency
Large scale energy storage is needed
A reliable electricity grid that can accommodate flux is required

Cost
Reductions in cost of renewable generation and storage are
needed to assure widespread adoption

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If you are interested in energy
If you are interested in learning more, there will be new
course…

MECH 4203 Energy Conversion & Storage

Technical elective for next winter (4th year)

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Assessing energy technologies – tips and tricks
Explain the physical mechanism of the energy conversion process
1. Define the system boundary
2. Consider the forms of input energy and output energy
3. What are the intermediate forms of energy inside the system
4. Link all of these together to describe the full energy conversion process
What is the theoretical limit of efficiency for this technology/process?
−Consider again the forms of the input and output energy
−Recalling thermodynamics, consider three general conversion processes:
1. Work to work: this can proceed at 100% efficiency in theory
2. Heat to heat: this can proceed at 100% efficiency in theory, as long as the output is at a lower temperature than the
input
3. Heat to work: when carried out in a cycle, this is limited to the Carnot efficiency
ηCarnot = 1 − TL/TH
−For a general conversion process, the efficiency must not violate the laws of thermodynamics (most
importantly the first and second law)
What is a typical real efficiency for this technology?
−Real efficiencies are always lower than the theoretical limits due to: irreversibilities, non-equilibrium
processes, entropy generation, and energy losses
−The energy conversion process may also be limited by additional limits, over-and-above the
thermodynamic limits set above (those can be seen as an ultimate upper limit)

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Assessing energy technologies – tips and tricks

What are some instruments that you have used in this class that
might relate to this technology?
−Recall the quantities that you have measured in your labs: temperature,
pressure, flow rate, voltage, current
−Which of these are applicable to the energy conversion process?
How would you measure the efficiency of this technology process?
1. Define the efficiency for your process
− In general, efficiency is defined as the ratio of useful output to input: η = output/input
− From first law output = input − losses, so: η = (input − losses)/input = 1 −
losses/input
2. Determine how you would measure the numerator and denominator
based on your tools in the questions above
3. Clearly describe your method for measuring then calculating the
efficiency (remember efficiency can almost never be directly measured)

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Assessing energy technologies – tips and tricks

How does this technology fit into the energy conversion roadmap?
−Think back to the overall energy conversion process and the fundamental
source of the energy
−If the technology does not directly fit into the map (e.g. an energy storage
technology), can you link it to a place on the map where it might be used?
Is this technology renewable/sustainable/green?
−To determine if renewable: consider the source of all energy flows to the
system; in order to be renewable, all of the energy sources must be
renewable
−To determine if green: consider the impact of all inputs and outputs; if
there are no significant adverse environmental impacts, the technology is
green
−To determine sustainability: the above two conditions must be met, and
the technology must to practically and economically viable

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Coupled Thermofluid Systems
In real-life industrial systems, there are many processes
occurring simultaneously
It is rare that we have a system where one phenomena is
completely isolated
Usually we have many different phenomena happening at
once (thermodynamics, fluid flow, heat transfer, phase
change, chemical reaction, etc.)
For example, in the energy systems we looked at, energy is
often transformed from one form to another using different
devices, machines, and conversion processes
Can you think of a system where we have many different
phenomena happening at once?
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Coupled
thermofluid
systems can
be complex
We often use
Piping and
Instrumentati
on Diagrams
(PnID or P&ID)
to describe
them
How do we model complex experimental
systems?
When setting up an experiment or equipment, it is often
very useful to have a computer “model” of that system
This will help design the experiment or equipment
Essentially the model allows us to predict what the
experiment will do without needing to first build and run
the experiment
For complex thermofluid systems, the Simscape package
in Matlab Simulink provides a simple way to model
complex thermofluid systems in an intuitive way
Let’s take a quick look at Simscape together…

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