Reducing institutional barriers to solar energy through the use of cooperatively-owned solar energy systems
Despite the conceptual attractiveness of solar energy systems for space-heating applications, the market penetration rate of solar systems remains low. The physical, economic, and institutional barriers to acceptance that cause this disappointing performance are closely related to the present political, social, and economic structure, and so are proving difficult and time-consuming to lower. However, aggregating small solar systems into larger cooperative ventures can avoid many of these barriers altogether. This “product-fit” approach could greatly increase the diffusion rate of solar energy systems into the economy, thereby replacing fossil-fuel uses sooner and to a greater extent than previously expected.
Solar Collection Systems: The Rationale.
Many articles on solar energy utilization describe the mechanical and storage systems or the collector installation. Rarely, if ever, do they dwell on how and why the designer has employed certain energy collection methods. To a newcomer in solar systems design this can be quite frustrating. This article attempts to provide the would-be solar system designer with a few of the reasons behind the devices found in liquid-media solar collection systems. Once the rationale for the equipment is understood, the designer can apply greater ingenuity to system design.
Computer-Aided System of Virtual Testing of Gas Turbine Engines
The article describes the concept of a virtual lab that includes subsystem of gas turbine engine simulation, subsystem of experiment planning, subsystem of measurement errors simulation, subsystem of simulator identification and others. The basis for virtual lab development is the computer-aided system of thermogasdynamic research and analysis “ASTRA”. The features of gas turbine engine transient modes simulator are described. The principal difference between the simulators of transient and stationary modes of gas turbine engines is that the energy balance of the compressor and turbine becomes not applicable. The computer-aided system of virtual gas turbine engine testing was created using the developed transient modes simulator. This system solves the tasks of operational (throttling, speed, climatic, altitude) characteristics calculation, analysis of transient dynamics and selection of optimal control laws. Besides, the system of virtual gas turbine engine testing is a clear demonstration of gas turbine engine working process and the regularities of engine elements collaboration. The interface of the system of virtual gas turbine engine testing is described in the article and some screenshots of the interface elements are provided. The developed system of virtual gas turbine engine testing provides means for reducing the laboriousness of gas turbine engines testing. Besides, the implementation of this system in the learning process allows the diversification of lab works and therefore improve the quality of training.