New Criteria to Characterize the Waste Heat Recovery

Waste heat recovery is an actual goal. The best way to valorize waste heat is to use it directly with the appropriate level of temperature. If the temperature level is insufficient, many reverse machine configurations are available in order to obtain the appropriate conditions (the most known are heat pumps and heat transformers). Finally, the remaining unused heat could be converted to any noble form of energy (mechanical, electrical essentially). We propose here to examine, with a new point of view, the thermomechanical conversion limit of waste heat. This limit corresponds to adiabatic conversion for an endo-reversible Carnot engine, with a perfect thermal contact at the atmospheric sink (supposed infinite). The Carnot–Chambadal model version is applied to latent and sensible heat recovery cases. The results associated with these two cases differ fundamentally. Comments are provided on the two studied cases, and new criteria to characterize the corresponding waste heat recovery are proposed.

Time-Fractional Heat Conduction in Two Joint Half-Planes

The heat conduction equations with Caputo fractional derivative are considered in two joint half-planes under the conditions of perfect thermal contact. The fundamental solution to the Cauchy problem as well as the fundamental solution to the source problem are examined. The Fourier and Laplace transforms are employed. The Fourier transforms are inverted analytically, whereas the Laplace transform is inverted numerically using the Gaver–Stehfest method. We give a graphical representation of the numerical results.

Near-surface temperatures in the Dome Summit South (Law Dome, East Antarctica) borehole

Firn temperatures at the Dome Summit South drill site, East Antarctica, are simulated by driving a thermal model of the ice sheet with observed instrumental records over the period 1960-96. The model incorporates firn density and thermal properties to reproduce measured borehole temperatures as shallow as 5 m below the surface, where the seasonal temperature wave is readily apparent. The study shows that ice-sheet temperatures are approximately 0.8°C cooler than mean 4 m air temperatures. It also finds that non-conductive processes such as ventilation and radiation can be simulated at this site by assuming perfect thermal contact between the top ∼1 m of firn and the atmosphere on monthly time-scales.

Heat Conduction Through a Flat Punch

An elastic half plane is indented by a perfectly conducting rigid flat punch, which is maintained at a different temperature from the half plane. It is found that, depending on the magnitude and direction of the total heat flux, one of the following states occurs: separation at the punch corners, perfect thermal contact throughout the punch face, or an imperfect contact region at the center with adjacent perfect contact regions.