A set of pragmatic experimental investigations were initially undertaken using three straight flues attached to glass doored solid fuel appliances. Each system was built to satisfy existing regulatory requirements and instrumented with type K thermocouples at fixed locations within each flue. The fire gas temperatures were analysed for periods of steady state operation. It was concluded that ex...

Qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses presented in this article suggest that the massive fires caused by the crash of the planes into the World Trade Center Towers and the spillage of large amounts of jet fuel inside the buildings played a major role in their quick collapse on September 11, 2001. It is argued that the WTC fires, while unprecedented in form, magnitude and extent, resembled ...

Fuel cells will undoubtedly find widespread use in this new millennium in the conversion of chemical to electrical energy, as they offer very high efficiencies and have unique scalability in electricity-generation applications. The solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is one of the most exciting of these energy technologies; it is an all-ceramic device that operates at temperatures in the range 500-1,0...

Automotive ancillary loads have a significant impact on the fuel economy of both conventional and advanced vehicles. Improving the delivery methods for conditioned air is an effective way to increase thermal comfort at little energy cost, resulting in reduced airconditioning needs and fuel use. Automotive seats are well suited for effective delivery of conditioned air due to their large contact...

Passenger vehicles fueled by hydrocarbons or alcohols and powered by proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells address world air quality and fuel supply concerns while avoiding hydrogen infrastructure and on-board storage problems. Reduction of the carbon monoxide concentration in the on-board fuel processor’s hydrogen-rich gas by the preferential oxidizer (PrOx) under dynamic conditions is cru...

We tested the value of ethanol fuel as a killing solution in terms of sampling efficiency (species richness and accumulated abundance) and DNA preservation of Ensifera ground-dwelling specimens. Sampling efficiency was evaluated comparing abundance and species richness of pitfall sampling using 100% ethanol fuel, with two alternative killing solutions. We evaluated the DNA preservation efficien...

Waste incineration fly ash and bone powder could be successfully recycled to calcium phosphate hydrogel, a type of fast proton conductor. The electric conductivity of the crystallized hydrogel from them was compared with that from calcium carbonate reagent. It was found that the conductivity of the hydrogel from bone powder is almost equal to that from calcium carbonate reagent, which is higher...

In situ X-ray diffraction was used to study the interactions of the PNNL G18 fuel cell sealing glasses with the oxides that form on candidate interconnect alloys and with the ebrite alloy. Experiments under 4% hydrogen and air at temperatures up to 1000 °C showed that both sealants react rapidly with alumina and chromia, but not with NiO. The crystallization of the high-CTE phase BaCrO4 was not...

The success of migration of small passerine birds depends largely on effective refueling at stopover sites. In our previous studies, we found that hypothermia facilitates accumulation of fuel at the beginning of a stopover. Later we found that blackcaps, Sylvia atricapilla, might further reduce their energy expenditure by huddling while at rest. Here, we report experimental results supporting o...