Performance of the hydrogen fuel cell system in a compact special vehicle is mainly influenced by the thermal characteristics of heat release through air flow with electrochemical mechanisms. In this study, numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate air flow and heat transfer characteristics near the fuel cell system for various operating conditions. The cooling characteristics around the radiator system depend on air flow generated by vehicle movement, and the effects of vehicle-induced air flow on the velocity and temperature distributions within the heat release system were examined. These results showed that there are quite complicated air flow around the radiator and fan near the fuel cell system in the vehicle cargo area, and its efficient flow field resulted in cooling performance improvement with driving speed. Hence overall heat release characteristics of the hydrogen fuel cell system are strongly associated with various air flow behavior formed around the compact special vehicle including cargo area.
Aerial work platforms (AWPs) are specialized vehicles designed for tasks at elevated heights, and are widely used in various environments such as construction sites, road maintenance, and high-altitude operations. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted to investigate the airflow field, drag force, and torque characteristics around an AWP. The simulation results showed that the overall airflow velocity decreased as it passed over the vehicle and boom, while it increased locally between the vehicle and the boom, and beneath the work platform. The drag force and torque acting on each component were highly sensitive to changes in boom angle due to variations in airflow. As the boom angle increased, the drag force increased by approximately 20 times, and the torque by up to 108 times. These findings provide fundamental data for establishing design criteria to enhance the structural stability and aerodynamic performance of aerial work platforms.
Toilet liquid-type cleaners utilize operating technology that employs buoyancy mechanism to inject uniform amount of cleaning solution. Flow characteristics of velocity and pressure distributions in the flow field of toilet flush cleaner injection device have been analyzed with CFD method. The flow rate decreases near the inlet of the system, where it contacts the container of the cleaning liquid bottle. It then increases near the injection device stopper and decreases again as it moves toward the system outlet The height of the cleaning solution decreases from 12 cm to 3 cm when using the spray device, the average outlet velocity decreases by approximately 73%. The solution level difference increases from 1.616 cm to 3.216 cm, the inlet velocity decreases by approximately 4.1%~5.6%. These predicted results can be widely applied as basic conceptual design data for highly efficient toilet flush cleaner injection device.
Aerial work platform truck is used in various ways depending on the surrounding environment, of city roads, farming areas, and industrial sites. Air flow, drag force and torque in surroundig the flow field of AWP have been analyzed with CFD method. The overall air flow rate decreases as the AWP passes and increases between the vehicle and the boom, at the boom connections, and at the bottom of the work platform. The drag force and torque on the boom, workspace, and the combined boom and workspace are largely affected by air flow velocity. The boom's drag and torque are approximately 2.2 and 1.3 times greater than those of the work platform, respectively. These predicted results can be widely applied as basic conceptual design data for highly efficient aerial work platform truck.
In this study, power generation characteristics based on water flow dynamics in a pipe system with a mobile firefighting robot were analyzed using 3D CAD modeling and computational fluid dynamics(CFD) simulations. The water flow field which is significantly affected by applied pressure, generates mechanical torque at the turbine blades, enabling power generation. The inlet pressure of the flow field was set to approximately 6 to 12 bar, and the flow characteristics such as velocity, pressure, and mass flow rate, along with power generation characteristics, were analyzed under various turbine rotational velocities. It was observed that higher inlet pressures resulted in increased torque and mechanical power output at the turbine blades. This research is expected to serve as a fundamental design and data reference to improve the performance of firefighting robots at fire sites.
The Climate chamber system is an essential facility for aerodynamic performance development of commercial vehicles to investigate air flow field characteristics in different climatic conditions. In particular, the analysis of airflow fields within the chamber system is an essential consideration for optimal design. In this study, the pressure characteristics and velocity uniformity in the test section area were predicted with blower impeller rotational speed using CFD. The velocity uniformity is affected by the distance from the blower nozzle outlet, reaching up to 72.7% at 695 RPM. The pressure differential between 300 RPM and 740 RPM shows an approximate difference of 2651 Pa, with a high-pressure distribution observed along the right side wall of the blower. These results are expected to be used as design data applicable for improving the performance of environmental chamber systems.
Air flow field characteristics in a compact chamber system are indispensable for the efficient development of vehicle aerodynamic performance. In this study, air flow and velocity uniformity in the chamber system were numerically analyzed using the CFD method. Air flows at a uniform velocity from the outlet of the blower, passes fast through the heat exchanger with partial pressure difference, and then moves into the blower inlet. Overall pressure drop through the fan gradually increases with the flow rate. The uniformity varies along the test section, decreasing by 5-10% with distance from the nozzle. These predicted results can be widely used as basic conceptual design data for an efficient vehicle chamber system.
Air blower has been widely used in many industrial fields such as wind tunnel and large ventilation systems. Its performance is affected by operating conditions and system geometry of inpeller and duct, and these design parameter optimization is essential for the effective development. CFD analysis is carried out to investigate the air flow field characteristics with outlet total pressure in a blower system. Intake air into the impeller blade through the inlet is compressed, and then gradually discharged from the outlet with ascending total pressure, and predicted results are compared with test data. Especially this overall pressure difference in the blower system severely depends on the flow rate. These results are expected to be used as applicable design data for blower performance improvement.
Application areas of floating marine structure systems have been increased with the development of power generation systems using renewable energy. Hence it is necessary to analyze the behavior of these floating systems for efficient design and operation. In this study, a computational analysis was performed to predict the characteristics of mooring lines load variation connected to a floating marine structure with waves. Pressure on the floating body and mooring lines load were analyzed with wave direction and height. The floating body stability severely decreased for 90° of the wave incident direction, and maximum load of the mooring lines increased with the height. These results are expected to be applicable for optimal design of the marine floating system.
Numerical analysis has been carried out to predict the thermal characteristics for a LED lens in mold core system. These thermal characteristics inside the lens are largely affected by geometry, material, and initial conditions of the mold core and lens system. Local temperature and heat flux variation inside the lens are compared for several initial temperatures. Maximum temperature inside the lens was decreased rapidly from the beginning of cooling process up to about 10 seconds. There was also large variation of the heat flux at the upper and lower surfaces of the lens with initial temperature distribution. And the heat flux from the thin lower surface of the lens was relatively higher than the opposite-side thick region. In addition, overall heat transfer rate from the lens through the mold core has similar transient distribution from the beginning. These results can be applied as basic heat transfer data for the LED lens design and manufacturing process in the mold core system.
Structural characteristics have been analyzed for gear system in a commercial iron bending machine which is widely used at many building construction sites. This complicated gear system in the bending machine is fundamental power transfer unit from electrical motors, and it is composed of various configuration structure including various spur and helical gear assembly. Main structural characteristics of the gear system such as stress and deformation distributions are predicted with numerical simulation of FEM method for various operating conditions of torque and rotation speed. Results show that there is large deformation in lower region of driving gear, and high stress near those contact area which is greatly affected by motor torque. These results can be applied for the design improvement of efficient gear system in the iron bar bending machine.
Experimental analysis has been carried out on double glazed glass of a commercial vehicle to analyze thermal characteristics for various air flow conditions. This double glazed glass has an important effect on the blocking performance of heat transfer with the vehicle's moving speed and ambient thermodynamic conditions. Calculated thermal resistances and heat transmission coefficient through the glass were compared with measured air indoor and outdoor temperatures including the glass surfaces using an experimental apparatus. The thermal resistance through the glass was increased with the indoor air temperature while overall heat transmission coefficient was decreased due to the convective heat transfer effect. As indoor air became warmer, the effect of air flow velocity on the heat transmission coefficient was reduced significantly. It is expected that these results can be used as applicable design data for the development of the double glazed glass system for many commercial vehicles.