Refrigerator – Heat Pump Model Approach for Process Start Up of Renewable Energy (RE) Projects

A theoretical model to rethink on process start - up of renewable energy (RE) projects based on; entropy concept (refer: http://sdsanbhatcurriculumvitae.blogspot.in/2016/09/appropriate-technology-overview_27.html) and theme ‘Sustainable energy sources for Earth’ was identified with the intention to propose this solution and offset the “Problem: Impending severe weaknesses and threats witnessed in ongoing RE projects especially in India" as from SWOT analysis and Pestel Analysis conducted by the Government of India briefly highlighted below;

Need for proposing a Working Model for RE start up projects

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Renewable Energy sector in India:

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESS
Conducive policy and regulatory framework at central level	Absence of conducive policy and regulatory framework in some states
Good resource potential	High cost of certain technologies
Growing technology maturity in certain sectors such as grid connected wind power	Current acceptability of end users
Emergence of indigenous manufacturers and developers	Inconvenience of use of certain renewable energy based applications vis-à-vis conventional means
Ability of renewable energy technologies to offer off grid / decentralized energy solutions	Quality and therefore reliability of equipment – particularly for decentralized applications
	Lack of availability of adequately skilled, technical manpower
	Lack of adequate transmission infrastructure in states for evacuation of renewable power
	Lack of implementation infrastructure
	General lack of awareness of end-users
	Lack of adequate distribution & service network

PESTEL Analysis of External Factors:

FACTORS	OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS
Political	Conducive policy and regulatory framework for Renewable Energy, domestically	Non availability of financial resources for supporting RE
	Availability of funds for renewable energy	Political support at the state Government level/institutions vary widely
	Regulatory developments in grid and market integration of RE
	Growing private sector interest in RE	Lack of interest to support such resources by other ministeries
Economic	Increasing price of oil	Continuation of high subsidies for diesel, kerosene, cooking gas
	Increasing energy demand-supply gap	Readiness of financial institutions to take on associated start-up risks
	Increasing pressure on availability of conventional fuel sources such as coal
	Several regions in the country with no access to grid power	Ability to maintain cost competitiveness vis-à-vis international markets
	Possibility of significant reduction in costs of solar technologies
Socio-Cultural	Significant potential of employability	Resistance from local community/end-users towards use of certain technologies (eg. waste to energy)
Technological	Technology break-through in solar	Inadequate transmission system capacity
	New technology breakthrough – for example, second generation biofuel technology breakthrough	Infrastructure bottlenecks
	Development of storage technology
Environmental	Decreasing domestic coal allocations
	Increasing awareness of climate change concerns
Legal	Conducive legal framework – Electricity Act, National Energy Policy, National Tariff Policy	Decentralised existence of renewable energy sources and some are labour intensive processes
	National Action Plan on Climate Change
	Kyoto Protocol and new Global Climate protocol

Source: Strategic plan for New and Renewable Energy sector for the period 2011-17, February 2011, by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India, pp 31, 34, 44, 45

Basis for the proposed model

Significance of the Clausius statement of the 2^nd law of thermodynamics:

Heat always flows from a body at a higher temperature to a body at a lower temperature. The reverse process never occurs spontaneously. Clausius statement of the second law gives: ‘It is impossible to construct a device which, operating in a cycle, will produce no effect other than the transfer of heat from a cooler to a hotter body. Heat cannot flow of itself from a body at lower temperature to a body at a higher temperature. Some work must be expended to achieve this.

Refrigerator and Heat Pump:

A refrigerator is a device which, operating in a cycle, maintains a body at a temperature lower than the temperature of the surroundings. Let the body A in Fig1. be maintained at t₂, which is lower than the ambient temperature t₁. Even though A is insulated, there will always be heat leakage Q₂ into the body from the surroundings by virtue of the temperature difference.

In order to maintain, body A at the constant temperature t₂, heat has to be removed from the body at the same rate at which heat is leaking into the body. This heat is discharged into the atmosphere which is at t₁, with the expenditure of work W in a device operating in a cycle. The device is then called a refrigerator. In a refrigerator cycle, attention is concentrated on the body A. Q₂ and W are of primary interest. Just like efficiency in a heat engine cycle, there is a performance parameter in a refrigerator cycle, called the coefficient of performance, COP, which is defined as;

COP = Desired effect / Work effect = Q₂ / W

[COP]_ref. = Q₂ / Q₁ – Q₂                                                                                      (I)

A heat pump is a device which, operating in a cycle, maintains a body, say B as shown in Fig.2, at a temperature higher than the temperature of the surroundings. By virtue of the temperature difference, there will be heat leakage Q₁ from the body to the surroundings. The body will be maintained at the constant temperature t₁, if heat is discharged into the body at the same rate at which heat leaks out of the body. The heat is extracted from the low temperature reservoir, which is nothing but the atmosphere, and discharged into the higher temperature body B, with the expenditure of work W in a cycle device called a heat pump. In a heat pump, attention is confined to the high temperature body B. Here, Q₁ and W are of primary interest and the COP is defined as;

COP = Desired effect / Work effect = Q₁ / W

[COP]_H.P = Q₁ / Q₁ – Q₂                                                                                     (II)

From equations (I) and (II), it is found that,

[COP]_H.P = [COP]_ref. + 1                                                                                 (III)

The COP of a heat pump is greater than the COP of a refrigerator by unity. At steady state, the electrical energy W supplied to an electric heater is dissipated as heat to the space, but when supplied to a heat pump dissipates Q₁ (>W) giving a thermal advantage.

For heat to flow from a cooler to a hotter body, W cannot be zero and hence the COP (both for refrigerator and heat pump) cannot be infinity.                                    Therefore, W > 0 and COP < ∞

Source: Engineering Thermodynamics, by P.K Nag, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, pp-89 to 91.

Drawings

But, how to bridge the gap between planning at National/International level and Action to achieve success in these RE Plans. Because inspite of the plans, measures, regulations, etc. taken at the National/World level, still SWOT/Pestle Analysis shows the existence of Weaknesses awaiting to be converted into Strengths as also converting Threats to Opportunities, considering the time that has elapsed between the 1^st Planning Commission to till date. Hence, the following proposal is presented via. drawings as given below.

Available Model Drawings:

Proposed Model Drawing for Process Start-Up of RE Projects:

This model was proposed in the application for patent as it was found that regulations alone would never cut down the commercial fuel usage and RE promotional policies would only remain on paper as the ground reality would ever be a big ‘NO’to any changes in the day to day activities among people in any part of the world.   

Conclusion

To help restructure RE Projects through socio – techno - economically; 

i.                Regulating the use of conventional energy sources to generate the required ‘W’ as seed capital and then,

ii.                 Switch gradually to renewable energy sources,

after applying the basic natural laws of thermodynamics to the existing processes as on date today and as shown in the proposed model above.

Claims

As per the supporting drawings and complete specifications of the proposed Process Model to be referred for the process start – up of Renewable Energy (RE) Projects, I claim;

“All the natural/artificial theoretical and/or practical outcomes which are obvious and true occurrence/s, may it be socio and/or techno and/or economically significant and/or insignificant respectively, the such outcomes as they being based on the natural laws of thermodynamics”   

Converting Agricultural Waste (Bagasse) into Charcoal Briquettes (Alternate Cooking Fuel) Through Unused/Unusable Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Cylinders Employing a Frugal Engineering Approach

I have been presently replying to proposals seeked on technical/social issues via. online media challenges. It was on one such occasion - although I was late to submit the proposal that I had come across the seeker inviting ideation proposals for high - value alternative uses towards substandard cylinders, so that they could be recycled and removed from the LPG distribution channels thereby save lives and promote clean energy uptake. The existence of such large number of aging cylinders no doubt constituted a worrying safety hazard due to lack of maintenance that could put large populations in danger and ultimately could hinder the growth of a successful LPG market.

However, the key issue that was needed to be tackled as per the challenge, was the existence of millions of old LPG cylinders in circulation that did not comply with safety regulations and hence constituted a major risk hazard. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, there were millions of cylinders that have been in use for over 10 years which may only have had a single if any safety check. A good proportion which still in good condition, might just need a minor repair (valve seal), be repainted and then recertified but all of the remaining needed to be removed from circulation. So, why not think of other creative and alternative uses for such cylinders instead of just recycling the steel? What would be the best financial option? Could it be the most environmental friendly solution? Could it provide jobs for people in Africa or help tackle poverty and inequality? The challenge was therefore to find out the best financial, social and environmental solution for dealing with this large number of old cylinders.

The given below post on my patent proposal could be thought of as a confluence of my post on ‘Composite fuel briquettes : Converting agricultural waste (Bagasse) into Charcoal’ and above mentioned challenge. The relative benefit from recycling the aged cylinders or use an oil drum for the kiln or fabricate the kiln from the available aged cylinders was evaluated as per the challenge posed and is given below to share amongst one and all this frugal approach in as same as in the applied wordings for the grant of patent - some not so necessary details have been omitted, refer Note given.

Abstract: From as is available sources, LPG is considered a leading candidate for the developing countries as source of safe and a clean source of energy in comparison with other commercial and also renewable energy sources. Access to safe, clean and reliable sources of energy has a significant impact on health, quality of life, education and economic productivity. Particularly in the developing world, access to such type of energy has the potential to change the landscape in terms of poverty, exclusion, gender inequality and no less important, global warming. A key issue that needs to be tackled however, is the existence of large number of old unusable LPG cylinders in circulation that have been in use for so many years which may only have had a single if any safety check. A good proportion may still be in good condition and might just need a minor repair, to be repainted and then recertified, but all of the remaining must be removed from circulation. Another key issue to ponder would be the vast number of unused LPG cylinders due to the advent of piped gas systems that are becoming more prominent more so at the major metros/cities at least in the Indian sub-continent. So, are there other creative and alternative uses for these cylinders instead of the conventional recycling of such steel in a smelting furnace and as posed by the following questions?

                    1.    What would be the best financial option?

                    2.     Could a most environmental friendly solution be obtained?

               3.    Could jobs be provided for the people in developing countries or help tackle their poverty and inequality problems?

Challenge lies therefore to find out the best financial, social and environmental solution for dealing with this large number of unusable/unused cylinders and achieve significant benefits for marginalised and impoverished communities in the developing countries such that the problems of the poorest are solved and the said solution also supports development outcomes i.e. they support the new upcoming efforts worldwide to harness renewable energy resources for future energy needs at least at such rural community level/s.

The application for grant of patent therefore lies in proposing a frugal innovation approach to bridge the gap between the availability of large numbers of unused/unusable LPG cylinders (readily available materials) through which such a known, in practice labour oriented technology (with available local labour and their simple machines/devices/tools) could develop and tap in to the opportunity of creating self employment at least at the rural level/s in the manufacturing of such alternate cooking fuel.

Detailed descriptions and/or specifications: Today, the global community has a sustainability problem which is growing in urgency.  Wood for example without a doubt has always been the primary cooking fuel in rural areas world over, but at the same time, the latter have almost been deforested. As a result, most rural families have been forced to buy kerosene, LPG, etc. most likely those imported from other urban areas.  For the poorest regions in the rural sector, such imported fuels, with their inflated prices, are simply not a viable option even today. While the forests have been straining under the demand for wood, a largely untapped fuel resource has always existed in the form of agricultural wastes. While these wastes would not directly be suitable for use as household cooking fuels, they could be transformed into a clean-burning charcoal fuel through simple conversion processes. With the intention to present the intended patent proposal that could be incorporated to the already available in – practice simple conversion processes, such processes have been described in detail from as is available in cited sources to highlight the simplicity retained in the processes after due implementation of the proposal not to mention the increase in functional versatility. Even though the description concentrates on the conversion of only bagassse, many other types of agricultural wastes could also be converted into charcoal briquettes by employing similar techniques. Some of the benefits of using bagasse, as an alternative cooking fuel are described as follows:

•Charcoal is a smokeless fuel, unlike wood.

•Instead of burning agricultural wastes in the fields, using the wastes as a fuel source slows the advance of deforestation.

•Charcoal is viewed as an advanced fuel because of its clean-burning nature and it can be stored for long periods of time without degradation. 

Micro- enterprise/s have existed at the rural level/s, designed around this simple conversion processes for the production of charcoal derived from agricultural waste. Any entrepreneur, including sugarcane farmers, could create bagasse charcoal briquettes and sell them in a local marketplace for personal income. In this way, more money would stay within the community rather than being exported for conventional fuels.  By turning something that was previously unused into a means by which to earn income, the wealth of individual entrepreneurs and of the country in general increases. Today, the need for an alternative cooking fuel option in light of the rise in deforestation still exists. The subsequent sections in this description will first highlight the already in – practice solution to meet the above need and then proceed further to incorporating the unusable/unused LPG cylinders for the same, pivoted around the frugal innovation approach.

(From sources:

1.  Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith et al, 2003, MIT-USA

2.  https://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CharcoalProcess_DoIt.pdf

3.  http://www.researchgate.net/publication/41407970_Briquetting_of_charcoal_from_sugar-cane_bagasse_fly_ash_%28SCBFA%29_as_an_alternative_fuel)

The Process: How to Convert Sugarcane Waste into Charcoal Briquettes:

A. Sugarcane Waste: After sugarcane is pressed to extract the sugar contained within the plant, a large amount of fibrous waste remains.  This waste is known as bagasse. When bagasse is burned in its raw state, heat and thick yellow smoke are produced that makes raw bagasse an unsuitable indoor cooking fuel and it therefore must undergo a process by which the raw fibrous waste is converted into charcoal briquettes.  However, all of the bagasse must be extremely dry before process starts.

B.  Process Overview:

   

(From source: Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith et al, 2003, MIT-USA)

C1.  The Oil Drum Kiln:

(From sources;

          1.     https://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CharcoalProcess_DoIt.pdf

2.     Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith, Andrew Levin, Arthur Musah and Rachana Oza, December 22, 2003, MIT- Massachusetts, USA)

C2. The Binder:

 (From sources;

          1.     https://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CharcoalProcess_DoIt.pdf

2.     Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith, Andrew Levin, Arthur Musah and Rachana Oza, December 22, 2003, MIT- Massachusetts, USA)

D. Hand forming vs. Machine forming of Charcoal Briquettes:

 (From sources;

          1.     https://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CharcoalProcess_DoIt.pdf

2.     Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith, Andrew Levin, Arthur Musah and Rachana Oza, December 22, 2003, MIT- Massachusetts, USA)

My Patent Proposal:

As mentioned before, in order to complete the first step of the process – converting dry bagasse into charcoal fines (i.e. charcoal dust) – a kiln of some sort is required so that bagasse could be heated to a high temperature in a low-oxygen environment. That this kiln could be fabricated through readily available material resources is the key focal point for patency. Here, the proposal is based on economy grounds through generating rural employment and aid government efforts to cut down use of conventional energy sources in areas deemed as possible, say at least at the rural areas by deploying the millions of unusable/unused LPG cylinders post the re - fabrication as per need for reasons such as;

i) Those cylinders being old are likely to pose safety hazards on human beings, animals and properties and hence if put out of circulation then some material would be readily available for the required kiln fabrication.

ii) Those cylinders still in circulation but could be rendered as unused due to the advent of piped gas systems in at least the major metros/cities, then again readily available material could be put into the kiln fabrication.

The government if should stand to provide such material for kiln fabrication/readily fabricated kilns to such rural entrepreneurial ventures, could even be thought of as government sponsored indirect Seed Capital to such ventures encouraging alternative energy usages; which fund the government would have obtained had the cylinders been melted in a furnace. By providing readily available material, material cost would be saved at the end user (i.e. entrepreneur). This is because estimating and costing experience have shown that material cost was about 25% to 65% of the total production cost. Thus, materials constitute a high proportion of sales price and play a vital role in determining the cost of an article. All out efforts should therefore be made to have proper material costing and exercise control over material cost for a successful enterprise. Figure 6. depicts how the unusable/unused LPG cylinders would provide the ideal raw material to fabricate the kiln in as is available condition or otherwise. The dome shape top could serve as a cover and the bottom could serve as a base to hold the bagasse. The dome ends and the cylinder ends could be opened out and flanged to provide a fairly air-tight seal when the cylinder needs to be covered by the dome. The second step of preparing the charcoal bagasse briquettes with correct composition of charcoal fines and binder also represents a skill oriented task same as much as that of fabricating the kiln above and hence both are suitable to support research and development in climate technologies for developing programmes to generate self employment and promote clean renewable energy usage.

 

Note: The Figure 2 to Figure 5 pertain to the carbonization process using oil drum kiln. It could be referred from the mentioned sources above.

Comparative factors revision for levering my proposal:

Evaluation	Alternatives for availing the kiln for the said entrepreneurial ventures
	Melt the LPG cylinders (A)	Buy the drum and retrofit (B)	Provided with the LPG cylinder (C)
Cost Factors	Ratings (*)
Search/Marketing	*	*	NA
Transportation	*	*	NA
Material	NA	*	NA
Fabrication/Labor for:
1.Measuring/marking operations,	NA	*	*
2.  Cutting operations,	NA	*	*
3.  Cleaning/anti-corrosive application operations,	NA	*	*
4.  Folding/bending operations,	NA	NA	*
5.  Drilling/press works,	NA	*	*
6.  Rolling operations,	NA	NA	*
7.  Joining operations,	NA	NA	*
8 Stiffening operations/methods	NA	NA	*
9.  Joint inspection methods,	NA	*	*
Other expenses	NA	*	*
TOTAL (X)	02	09	10
Conclusion Factors	Ratings (√)
Cost feasibility	√	NA	√
Generate rural employment	NA	NA	√
Encourage alternate energy usage	NA	√	√
TOTAL (Y)	01	01	03
GRAND TOTAL	02+01=03	09+01=10	10+03=13
Suitability of alternatives based on weightage for above rating factors.	My Patent Proposal as in column (C) for utilizing the unusable/unused LPG cylinders to fabricate the kiln and as shown in the figures 6a), 6b), 6bi), 6bii) and 6biii).

 

(From sources:

1. Mechanical Estimating and Costing, T. R Banga, S. C Sharma, 16th Edition, Khanna  Publishers

2. Kenyon Pitman, Basic Fabrication and Welding Engineering, 1st edition, Pitman Publ., 1979, pp. 157 – 180 

3. FJM Smith, Basic Fabrication and Welding Engineering, 1st edition, Longman Publ., 1975, pp. 258 – 264, 270 – 271

4. Hazra and Choudhari, Workshop Technology, Vol 1 & 2, 11th edition, Media Promoters & Publ., 1997)

Bibliography:

[1]D.S Chahal. “Food, Feed & Fuel from Biomass”, reprint    1991, pp.23.

[2]N.H. Ravindranath, K. Usha Rao, Bhaskar Natranjan. “Renewable     Energy &    Environment”, 2nd reprint 2000 pp.106, 242.

[3]L.A Ekal, S.H Pawar. “Advances in renewable energy   technologies”, 1^st reprint pp.35, 194.

[4]S. Rao, Dr. B.B. Parulekar. “Energy Technology”, 2nd edition, 1997.

[5]G.D Rai. “Energy Resources”, 3rd edition, 1999.

[6]Fuel from the Fields - A Guide to Converting Agricultural Waste into Charcoal Briquettes, Amy Smith, Andrew Levin, Arthur Musah and Rachana Oza, December 22, 2003, MIT- Massachusetts, USA

[7]Mechanical Estimating and Costing, T. R Banga, S. C Sharma, 16^th Edition, Khanna  Publishers

[8]Kenyon Pitman, Basic Fabrication and Welding Engineering, 1st edition,  Pitman Publ., 1979, pp. 157 – 180 

[9]FJM Smith, Basic Fabrication and Welding Engineering, 1st edition, Longman Publ., 1975, pp. 258 – 264, 270 – 271

[10]Hazra and Choudhari, Workshop Technology, Vol 1 & 2, 11th edition, Media Promoters & Publ., 1997

Websites:

[1]http://164.100.24.208/Is/committeeR/Food/27.pdf

[2]http://bioproductsbioenergy.gov/pdfs/bcota/abstracts/30/z130.pdf

[3]http:// Polystyrene#Environmental impact

[4]http://www.springerlink.com/index/232k30g002472824.pdf

[5]http://www.vsisugar.com

[6]https://d-lab.mit.edu/sites/default/files/CharcoalProcess_DoIt.pdf [8]http://www.researchgate.net/publication/41407970_Briquetting_of_charcoal_from_sugar-cane_bagasse_fly_ash_%28SCBFA%29_as_an_

alternative_fuel

Claims: I claim all the fabrication processes as listed below; conducted by an individual with the relevant tools, devices, machines due to need (as per the title or relevant to it) accomplishment by the said individual or all the fabrication processes conducted by an individual with the relevant tools, devices, machines due to need (as per the title or relevant to it) accomplishment under the hierarchical directions of any other individual/s who may possess the authority/s to do so in their own personal capacity/s or may be representing any such enterprise/s or relevant enterprise/s in any capacity/s and the enterprise/s which may be in a proprietorship/partnership/corporation/public limited company or any ordinary/special type of ownership, they working singly or collectively for the need (as per the title or relevant to it) accomplishment by them in context with the said frugal engineering approach, be it by any of the traditional natural/artificial materials or any of the modern natural/artificial materials or combination of both involved during fabrication of the kiln from the unusable/unused LPG cylinders; be it any of the traditional known/unknown manual methods or any of the known/unknown modern machine methods or a combination of both to fabricate the kiln from the unusable/unused LPG cylinders in order to convert any such Agricultural Wastes (as described for Bagasse in the Detailed Descriptions and/or Specifications; Page 1 of 12 to 12 of 12) into Charcoal Briquettes (of any form/weight/type of such alternate cooking fuel) and when such an outcome becomes possible not only theoretically but also in practice by;

     1.     Measuring/marking operations,

     2.     Cutting operations,

     3.     Cleaning/anti-corrosive application operations,

     4.     Folding/bending operations,

     5.     Drilling/press works,

     6.     Rolling operations,

     7.     Joining operations,

     8.     Stiffening operations/methods and

     9.     Joint inspection methods, etc.