Department of Mechanical engineering
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Item A comprehensive review on composite phase change materials for sustainable thermal energy solutions: Advances and barriers(Elsevier, 2025-10) Bhattacharyya, SuvanjanComposite Phase Change Materials (CPCMs) have gained significant attention for their potential in thermal energy storage (TES) due to their high latent heat capacity. These materials offer a promising solution for addressing global energy challenges, especially in renewable energy applications. This review summarizes recent advances in CPCMs, discusses existing challenges, and suggests future research directions. While phase change materials (PCMs) are key for thermal management due to their high energy density, they face limitations such as low thermal conductivity, leakage during phase transitions, and poor stability. To address these issues, additives like nanoparticles, expanded graphite, and polymers have been incorporated into CPCMs, improving thermal conductivity, stability, and energy storage efficiency. Research has shown that carbon-based nanomaterials can enhance thermal conductivity by up to 137% and improve thermal cycling durability. Innovative CPCM formulations, such as eutectic mixtures and hybrid composites, help overcome phase stability and leakage issues. Microencapsulation has also made strides, enhancing PCM containment and functionality, with dual-layer encapsulated CPCMs maintaining latent heat efficiency for over 200 cycles with minimal degradation. Nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes further reinforce thermal properties. CPCMs are widely used in solar thermal systems, building temperature regulation, and industrial waste heat recovery. In concentrated solar power systems, CPCMs have shown outstanding thermal storage capabilities and efficiencies, with some surpassing 90% solar-to-thermal conversion. Despite these advances, challenges remain, including high production costs, material degradation, and environmental concerns. Future research should focus on improving stabilization, scalability, and eco-friendly materials. The review concludes by highlighting research gaps and the potential of integrating CPCMs with smart technologies for dynamic thermal management, underscoring the need for cross-disciplinary strategies to optimize CPCM performance for broader adoption.Item Prospects of open cathode fuel cells in future powertrains(Springer, 2025-08) Verma, SaketFuel cell technology shows great potential as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional internal combustion engines. Conventional internal combustion engines only manage efficiencies of 20–30%, whereas fuel cells can attain efficiencies of up to 40–60%. In contrast to internal combustion engines (IC engines), which release pollutants into the air and worsen global warming, fuel cells only release water (or vapour) in the exhaust. Despite the fast advancements in fuel cell technology, it still lags IC engines in terms of maturity and encounters challenges such as low life, high costs, unreliability, and a lack of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. Furthermore, fuel cell vehicles are expensive because of the high price of fuel cell stacks and hydrogen storage systems. Therefore, improving fuel cell performance and reducing costs are of utmost importance to fully utilize its potential and make it practical in future powertrains. A noteworthy advancement in clean energy technologies is open cathode fuel cells that generate power reliably and in an eco-friendly manner. There is no longer a requirement for compressed oxygen or air supply systems in open cathode fuel cells, as they offer an exposed cathode surface that allows direct access to ambient air, in contrast to typical closed cathode designs. Open cathode fuel cells are a promising alternative for several renewable energy applications due to their dependence on natural convection for oxygen delivery, which simplifies the system structure and reduces complexity. Moreover, open cathode fuel cells are more efficient at converting energy and provide more power when operated at higher temperatures. Their exceptional power density and efficiency make them ideal for transportation and distributed power generation, among other uses. However, there are still uncertainties that prevent this technology from being widely used, such as managing humidity, temperature, and durability in exposed locations. This chapter provides an overview of open cathode fuel cell technology, including its background, current uses, and potential future developments. In addition, it outlines a strategy for optimizing and characterizing the performance of open cathode fuel cells using a simplified electrochemical–thermodynamic modelling approach.Item Performance evaluation of natural refrigerant pairs R744/R717 and R744/R290 in cascade systems with IHX and economizer configurations for individual quick freezers(Springer, 2025-07) Dasgupta, Mani SankarThis study presents a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of two different sub cooling arrangements in natural refrigerant cascade systems (CRS) R744/R717 and R744/R290 having solitary evaporator maintained at −45°C, which is an individual quick freezer (IQF) for seafood application. The assessed sub-cooling configurations, denoted as CRSI and CRSE, involve specific arrangements: CRSI incorporates an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) within the high-temperature circuit (HTC), whereas CRSE integrates an economizer arrangement within a screw compressor in the HTC. Performance comparisons are drawn with a conventional R404A system under an ambient temperature of 40°C. The polytropic compressor equations are employed to model system performance under design conditions. The cooling load data from a seafood processing unit in Kochi, Kerala, India is utilized. It is found that for both R744/R717 and R744/R290 CRSs, the CRSE configuration shows a higher COP compared to the CRSI configuration. The CRSE setup with R744/R717 refrigerant had the best cooling COP of 1.06, while the second highest COP is found for CRSE R744/R290, reaching 1.03. The COP improvement obtained is 50.5 and 46.7% over the conventional R404A system. The heat recovery potential of the proposed CRSs is lower than the R404A system. R744/R717 in CRSI configuration have higher heat recovery potential than other CRSs. However, the overall (combined heating cooling) COP of R744/R717 in the CRSE configuration was found to be the highest and is 43% higher than the R404A system. The annual energy consumption (AEC) and total equivalent warming impact (TEWI) are also compared and it is found that adoption of R744/R717 CRSE can lower the AEC and TEWI in an IQF application by 33.6 and 68.8% respectively. Further, the economic analysis of the systems shows that although the CRS systems require a higher initial investment, the same can be mitigated by lower operating costs and reduced environmental penalty costs.Item Thermal Energy Storage Properties of Hybrid Nanocomposite–Embedded Phase Change Material for Sustainable Buildings(Scientific net, 2014) Parameshwaran, R.The thermal properties of the new copper–titania hybrid nanocomposite embedded organic ester phase change material (HNPCM) were analyzed experimentally. The surface functionalized hybrid nanocomposite (HyNC) embedded into the PCM has effectively created the densely packed network of thermal interfaces in the PCM matrix layers. The experimental results suggest that, the incorporation of the HyNC has enabled the HNPCM to exhibit improved thermal conductivity (0.347 W/m K), congruent phase transition temperature (freezing: 33.53ᵒC, melting: 35.32 ᵒC), high latent heat capacity (freezing: 109.05 kJ/kg, melting: 109.14 kJ/kg) and considerable reduction in (freezing time: 21.2%, melting time: 29.2%). The improved thermal properties being achieved facilitate the HNPCM to be considered as a viable thermal storage material for high performance and sustainable building cooling and heating applications.Item Experimental Study on PCM-Based External Wall Cladding for Energy Efficient Buildings(Springer, 2020-01) Parameshwaran, R.The present work reports the experimental investigation of the phase change material (PCM) incorporated into the external wall claddings for achieving energy conservation in building through a passive cooling application. Three types of wall claddings of size 458 mm × 458 mm (1.5 ft × 1.5 ft) in dimension were developed in this experimental study. Lauric acid was utilized as the PCM to be incorporated into the wall claddings. Experimental results suggest that the lauric acid exhibited good latent heat potential, congruent phase change processes, and was thermally stable within operating temperature ranges. Furthermore, it was concluded that out of three cladding types being tested, the percentage drop of air temperature was more in composite wall cladding and the percentage drop of heat flux was more in aluminum box cladding with PCM and coarse aggregate. In total, the cladding incorporated with the PCM was found to be the potential candidate for the enhancement of energy efficiency in building through passive thermal storage and cooling load reduction.Item Nanomaterial-Based PCM Composites for Thermal Energy Storage in Buildings(Springer, 2016-02) Parameshwaran, R.Energy efficiency in buildings is a vital factor to be addressed in every stages of development of building envelopes, since buildings consume almost one-third to one-quarter of energy being produced globally. In the spectrum of techniques available to cater the building cooling and heating load demands, there has been a continuous quest toward latent thermal energy storage (LTES) systems for achieving energy redistribution requirements in buildings. The interesting fact about the LTES systems relies on the phase change materials (PCMs) being used to store and release heat energy depending upon the thermal load demand. A step ahead, the utilization of nanomaterials paves the way for accomplishing enhanced thermal performance of such PCMs on a long run. This chapter is exclusively dedicated to provide better understanding of a variety of nanomaterial-based PCM composites for thermal energy storage and energy efficiency in buildings. This is an ever-growing as well as emerging field of interest to wide scientific and engineering communities globally. The nucleus of this chapter is focused on the enhancement of thermal energy storage capabilities of NanoPCM composites which would contribute for achieving improved energy efficiency in buildings.Item Energy conservative air conditioning system using silver nano-based PCM thermal storage for modern buildings(Elsevier, 2014-02) Parameshwaran, R.This work aims at improving the thermal performance and energy efficiency of chilled water based variable air volume air conditioning system integrated with the silver nanoparticles embedded latent thermal energy storage system. The latent thermal energy storage air conditioning system incorporated with the demand controlled ventilation and the economizer cycle ventilation schemes were experimentally investigated for the year-round building air conditioning application. Phase change material embedded with silver nanoparticles enabled it to exhibit improved heat transfer mechanisms in charging and discharging cycles. Experimental results suggest that the proposed air conditioning system achieved an on-peak and per day average energy savings potential of 36–58% and 24–51%, respectively, for year round operation while compared to the conventional air conditioning system. Similarly, while compared with a basically similar variable air volume air conditioning system, the proposed air conditioning system yielded 7.5–18.6% and 7.9–17.8% of on-peak and per day average energy conservative potential, respectively. Furthermore, test results infer that the combined effects produced by the silver nanoparticles embedded latent thermal energy storage system with the ventilation techniques augmented the overall thermal performance of the system. In total, the combined air conditioning system would be beneficial in terms of accomplishing good thermal comfort, acceptable indoor air quality and energy redistribution needs in buildings without sacrificing energy efficiency.Item Energy Farming—A Green Solution for Indian Cement Industry(Springer, 2020-10) Soni, Manoj KumarCement sector in India is playing an important role in overall development and infrastructure. Coal is the main fuel for the manufacture of cement in India, given the high cost and inadequate availability of oil and gas. Another fuel required to operate the cement plant is diesel. It is required for drilling machine (in mines for blasting), for earth moving machines and in clinker production process for diesel generator to generate emergency power, kiln initial light up, various material handling vehicles, etc. Lot of research is being done to reduce coal consumption in cement plant by replacing the coal through alternative fuels like shredded tyre chips, plastic waste, refused derived fuel (RDF) from MSW, agrowaste, etc. Research for reducing the energy consumption is also in advance stage where Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has made the scheme for Mandatory Energy Audit of cement plants. Cement industry still has not focused on saving of diesel consumption as the consumption of diesel is less as compared to main fuel (Coal). However, it is well relevant to specify here the rise in diesel cost in India in last five years is alarming for the cement industry. This paper highlights the saving in diesel cost by introducing energy farming (EF) concept in place of green belt area which is statuary requirement for obtaining environmental clearance for cement plant and mines area.Item Implementation of a cyber-physical cooling storage station in a learning factory(Elsevier, 2019) Sangwan, Kuldip SinghLearning factories are established means for learning production and process-engineering relevant topics and improving holistic system understanding. Learning factories integrate real-world applications into small-scaled factories to teach students, employees or researchers. Connecting the physical world with virtual (cyber) models to develop cyber-physical systems has become attractive due to low cost, high performance IT infrastructure. However, learning factories and cyber-physical systems have been rarely combined. In this paper, a cyber-physical cooling storage station is presented, which is integrated into an existing learning factory and its potential for engineering education is analysed. In addition, an innovative visualisation enables user interaction for learners. This system allows learners to experience the interaction of thermodynamic processes, industrial sensors and industrial automation to deepen their knowledge in laboratory exercises.Item Multi-objective optimization for energy efficient machining with high productivity and quality for a turning process(Elsevier, 2019) Sangwan, Kuldip SinghThe global competition and rising concerns over the environmental issues have forced the manufacturing industry to balance the energy consumption, production rate and product quality. This requires the power consumption to be reduced and the production rate to be maximized in accordance with the required quality of the product. The required quality, dictated by the surface finish, is based on the customer preferences, the functional requirements of the product and the product itself. In machining context, these quantities mainly depend upon the choice of process parameters. This study is an attempt to obtain a suitable combination of the turning parameters to optimize material removal rate (MRR) and power for different targeted values of surface roughness. The predictive model has been developed using response surface methodology (RSM). Model fitness and adequacy have been confirmed with analysis of variance (ANOVA).