Water waves scattering by cylindrical dual porous floating breakwaters connected with a rectangular porous box and floating over an undulated seabed

Meccanica - In this paper, the water waves scattering by a new type of floating porous breakwater is investigated numerically under the assumption of two-dimensional linearized wave-structure...     

Characterization of form-stable phase-change material for solar photovoltaic cooling

Solar PV panel cooling is essential to achieve maximum efficiency of PV modules. Phase-change material (PCM) is one of the prominent options to cool the panel and reduce the temperature, since PCMs have low thermal conductivity. Expanded graphite particles are used to enrich the structure and stability as well as to increase the thermal properties. In the present research work, polyethylene glycol (PEG) 1000 is used as a base material and expanded graphite for inclusive particle. A novel form-stable PEG1000/EG composite PCM mixture is prepared, using impregnation and dispersion method. Expanded graphite and PEG1000/EG sample phase compositions are investigated, using X-ray diffraction technique. No new peak is identified in the composite PCM sample. The surface morphology and structure of EG and PEG1000/EG are investigated, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Chemical stability analysis is done by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermal properties of the prepared composite PCMs are analysed by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and KD2 pro analyser. Results show that addition of EG in various propositions (5%, 10% and 15%) enhances the thermal conductivity of PCM samples from 0.3654 to 1.7866 W mK^?1, while melting point and latent heat of fusion of PCM samples are getting reduced. TGA thermographs are used to investigate the thermal stability of the composite PCM samples. TGA curves show that loss of mass happens above the operating temperature, and it is varied with different mass ratios of EG. Characterization of the prepared composite PCM samples is compared and found that PEG1000-85%/EG-15% is the best form-stable PCM, suitable for cooling the solar PV panel as well as to improve the electrical efficiency coupled with a decrease of temperature in the range of 35 °C to 40 °C.

     

New quaternary phosphonium salt as multi-site phase-transfer catalyst for various alkylation reactions

The present work describes the C-alkylation reactions of fluorene and curcumin catalyzed by a new phosphonium salt, benzene-1,3,5-triyltris(methylene))tris(triphenylphosphonium)bromide, as a multi-site phase-transfer catalyst (MPTC). The catalytic efficiencies were found to be quite effective for di- and tetra-alkylation reactions with very excellent yields under mild base and low concentrations of the catalyst. The synthesized MPTC 3 have privileged catalytic activity compared to commercially available single-site phase-transfer catalysts.