Articles publicats (Enginyeria Industrial i de l’Edificació)

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    Development of a bio-inspired TES tank for heat transfer enhancement in latent heat thermal energy storage systems
    (MDPI, 2024) Cabeza, Luisa F.; Mani Kala, Saranprabhu; Zsembinszki, Gabriel; Vérez, David; Risco Amigó, Santiago; Borri, Emiliano
    Thermal energy storage (TES) systems play a very important part in addressing the energy crisis. Therefore, numerous researchers are striving to improve the efficiency of TES tanks. The TES technology has the potential to reach new heights when the biological behavior of nature is incorporated into the design of TES tanks. By mimicking the branched vein pattern observed in plants and animals, the heat transfer fluid (HTF) tube of a TES tank can enhance the heat transfer surface area, hence improving its thermal efficiency without the need to add other enhancements of heat transfer methods. Accordingly, in this study, a unique additive-manufacturing-based bio-inspired TES tank was designed, developed, and tested. A customized testing setup was used to assess the bio-inspired TES tank's thermal performance. A comparison was made between the bio-inspired TES tank and a conventional shell-and-tube TES tank. The latent TES system's thermal performance was significantly enhanced by the biomimetic approach for the design of a TES tank, even before the optimization of its design. The results showed that, compared to the shell-and-tube TES tank, the bio-inspired TES tank had a higher discharging rate and needed 52% less time to release the stored heat.
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    Life Cycle Assessment Comparison between an Earthbag Building and a Conventional Sahrawi Cement Blocks Building
    (MDPI, 2024) Carrobé, Ariadna; Castell, Albert; Martorell, Ingrid
    Growing environmental awareness has prompted a resurgence in traditional building techniques that rely on natural or recycled materials since many believe that structures made from these resources are ecologically friendly. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for construction materials offers valuable insights into the impacts produced during their production and construction processes. This study aims to assess the environmental impacts of two different constructions—an Earthbag Building (EB) and a conventional Sahrawi Cement Blocks Building (CBB). It also determines whether it is more environmentally beneficial to construct traditionally, utilizing local materials and aligning with the principles of the circular economy, which is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Europe. This study specifically examines a cradle-to-gate LCA, using the software Simapro v. 9.4.0.1. Results show that in 21 out of the 22 impact categories analyzed, the CBB performs worse, in some cases presenting an impact of 70% higher than the EB. The highest impact is obtained for fine particulate matter formation and Global Warming related to Human Health categories, whilst impact categories related to water consumption and eutrophication obtained an impact of less than 0.001 for both constructions.
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    Contribution of buildings climate change mitigation options to sustainable development
    (Elsevier, 2024) Mirasgedis, Sebastian; Cabeza, Luisa F.; Vérez, David
    Buildings are responsible for a big part of total GHG emissions; therefore, their climate change mitigation potential is high. But research shows that mitigation actions in the sector can have significant social and economic values beyond reduction of energy consumption and the associated GHG emissions. This paper summarizes these multiple impacts of mitigation actions in buildings, which are related to microeconomic and macroeconomic effects, health impacts, environmental benefits, better management of natural resources, impacts on social wellbeing, and energy security implications, and assesses their interactions (synergies and trade-offs) with the UN SDGs. The findings of our analysis show that climate change mitigation actions in buildings enable the achievement of 4 SDGs, reinforce 7 others, and are inextricably linked to the achievement of 5 SDGs, namely SDG3: good health and well-being, SDG7: affordable and clean energy, SDG8: decent work and economic growth, SDG11: sustainable cities and communities, and SDG13: climate action. On the other hand, trade-offs were identified for 9 SDGs, with rather minor implications, which can be further eliminated with the implementation of appropriate policies.
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    Thermal energy storage for direct steam generation concentrating solar power plants: Concept and materials selection
    (Elsevier, 2024) Prieto, Cristina; Cabeza, Luisa F.; Pavón Moreno, M. Carmen; Palomo, Elena
    Direct steam generation (DSG) concentrating solar power (CSP) plants uses water as heat transfer fluid, and it is a technology available today. It has many advantages, but its deployment is limited due to the lack of an adequate long-term thermal energy storage (TES) system. This paper presents a new TES concept for DSG CSP plants. This system is based on three blocks, a saturated block based on phase change materials, an overheating block that elevates the vapor temperature of a heat transfer fluid to the desired values, and a preheating block that increases the temperature difference between a cold tank and a hot tank of a non-phase change thermal storage material. After a deep selection and characterization process, the material to be used is LiOH/KOH, since although it has the disadvantage of high corrosion, the identified advantages overcome it as an ideal PCM for this process.
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    Incorporating citizen science to enhance public awareness in smart cities: The case study of Balaguer
    (MDPI, 2024) Cabeza, Luisa F.; Teixidó Cairol, Mercè; Guarino, Francesco; Rincione, Roberta; Díaz Llobet, Manel; Gil Iranzo, Rosa María; Cellura, Maurizio; Mateu Piñol, Carles
    The concept of a smart city is becoming increasingly popular to improve citizens' quality of life. Institutions are also committed to enhancing the sustainability of cities by implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper presents a Balaguer case study investigating energy demand monitoring, decreasing energy demand, and citizen acceptance in a municipality district. The study collected data from three sources: (1) quantitative data coming from on-site sensors; (2) quantitative data from a simulation of the area; and (3) qualitative data from questionnaires developed with a totem located in the city center. This study shows the importance of citizen science in contributing towards the increased awareness of energy demand, renewable energy, and climate change. But it also shows how citizen science can improve research quality involving the municipality authorities. This study also was instrumental in contributing to the increase in awareness among municipality authorities and capacity building on the topic. This activity may also contribute towards the implementation of actions to reduce the energy demand in public buildings and helping them in deploying policies to decrease energy demand in buildings, increase the use of renewable energy, and increase awareness among citizens. The government will use the information gathered to develop policies for citizen improvement.