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Heating the passenger cabin of electric vehicles at low temperatures consumes a large amount of battery power, resulting in a significant reduction in cruising range. On-board thermal energy storage is an effective way to improve the cruising range of electric vehicles in winter. Miscibility gap alloy is a new type of shape-stabilized composite phase change material, which has the advantages of high energy storage density, high thermal conductivity, low cost, and good safety. Therefore, using it to heat electric vehicles can increase their cruising range, prolong battery life, and reduce cost. In this paper, the concept of a compact on-board solid-state thermal battery based on miscibility gap alloy is proposed for the first time, and the heat charging, thermal insulation and heat discharging performance of the design are analysed based on numerical simulations. The results show that the thermal battery can reach a heat storage density of 553.8 Wh/L, and the average heat discharging power can reach 1.326 kW. The results of this paper can provide guidance for the engineering development of miscibility gap alloy-based solid-state thermal batteries.

In the current work, the coupled mathematical models for decarburization, fluid flow model and inclusion collision-aggregation model were solved to investigate the spatial distribution of carbon, inclusion’s collision-aggregation and removal in a single snorkel vacuum refining furnace (SSF). The numerical results show that the turbulence kinetic energy of ladle in SSF is much greater than that in RH, which can shrink the dead zone and prompt the mixing in the ladle. The overall decarburization reaction rate can be described as a first-order reaction. On the condition of the same gas flow rate, the volumetric mass transfer coefficient for decarburization in SSF is almost twenty times bigger than that in RH, which leads to a much greater decarburization rate in SSF. The spatial distribution of carbon mass fraction in SSF is quite different from that in RH. There is the greater mass fraction of carbon at the recirculation zone under up-snorkel in RH, but this phenomenon disappears in SSF. The inclusion removal can be simplified as the mass transfer between liquid steel to slag, refractory wall and bubble surface. And the overall inclusion removal rate can be regarded as a first-order reaction. The volumetric mass transfer coefficient for inclusion removal in SSF is about three times as that in RH, the inclusion removal rate in SSF is greater than that in RH. The inclusions with different size have different removal rates in SSF. For inclusion flotation after deoxidization, the treatment time in SSF is less than that in RH.

In cold climates, a large portion of the battery power in an electric vehicle is used to provide heat to the cabin, which can result in a significant reduction in mileage. In order to address this issue, a compact thermal energy storage system based on aluminum silicon alloy was proposed, and expected to be used in electric vehicles as the heat supplier, in which the output temperature and heat power are fully adjustable according to the heat demand. The charge/discharge characteristics and thermal insulation performance of the system have been studied. The energy density of the heat storage tank is 225 Wh/kg or 179 Wh/L. It can supply heat for more than 3 h under the discharge power of 1.5 kW, and the heat utilization rate is higher than 80%. Compared with using the battery power for cabin heating, this device is economically favorable due to the high energy storage density and low cost. Therefore, the proposed TES heating system in this work provides a promising solution to save battery power for extending the cruising range at low temperatures.

Two kinds of vitamin B12 waste water from a pharmaceutical factory were treated separately by methods of combining micro-electrolysis with physiochemical and O3 oxidation. Effects of the reaction conditions on the removal rate of color were investigated. Results showed that the color removal rate of vitamin B12 waste water, which was treated by combined micro-electrolysis and physiochemical treatment reached 71.25%, while the color removal rate of the other waste water which treated by O3 oxidation reached 68.80%. The decolorizing treatment of those different natures of vitamin B12 waste water effectively provides a useful reference for this kind of waste water.

Refrigerated vehicle plays an essential role in the cold-chain applications. It directly affects the quality and shelf life of specialized perishable goods. However, the cold energy dissipation caused by natural convection through an open door during partial unloading breaks the isothermal cold environment and notably elevates the air temperature inside the refrigerated container. This temperature rise is harmful to the remaining food. In this study, an air curtain was introduced near the container doorway to attempt to reduce the cold energy dissipation caused by partial unloading. A numerical model was established to explore the effects of the key parameters of the air curtain such as the airflow rate, nozzle width, and jet angle on the air flow and temperature evolution inside the refrigerated container after the door is opened. The numerical results show that the key parameters need to be tailored to form a stable and effective air curtain for preventing the internal cold energy loss or external hot air invasion. An effective and stable air curtain was formed to make the inner air temperature increase only by about 3 °C from the initial temperature of 5 °C after the door was opened, when the jet velocity was set to 2 m/s, the nozzle width was set as 7.5 cm, and the jet angle was set between 0 deg and 15 deg. This work can offer significant guidance for the introduction of an effective air curtain in a refrigerated vehicle to avoid the failure of cold-chain transportation.