The ASME Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Conference 2015 held in Brussels, Belgium this year was the third consecutive conference of its kind and takes place every two years. A total of 214 submissions for presentation were received for this conference of which 142 were accepted, 53 of them in poster presentations. The conference attracted more…
Research aim 1-4 – heat transfer performance data Heat transfer test rig design and data (critical step 1-4-1/2-2-1) A test rig design for heat exchanger performance investigation has been completed and now undergoing review with our industry partner. The rig will use a temporary heat resource and has been configured to allow testing in two…
HERA is currently working on assessing the fire performance of a typical New Zealand light steel frame floor of a multi-storey building with the aim to provide input into the fire section of the resulting design guide. As the first part of the research, an overseas experimentally-tested floor slab has been investigated numerically by advanced…
Announced in the Budget on the 21st May was an item around the establishment of independent regional research institutes. The intent being that the Government would provide funding towards the establishment of a number of institutes to be located in regional areas and not in the three large centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The…
This month, we update you on our research themes of Heat Transfer and Materials/Fluids undertaken in the AGGAT programme. One of the Research Aims under Materials and Fluids is RA1-3 – Geothermal Fluid Scaling and Corrosion, led by AGGAT team member Dr. Sadiq Zarrouk (University of Auckland). The other theme of Heat Transfer has two Research…
The Aotea Event Centre was a well selected venue to the second Steel Innovations Conference during Metals Week held on the 1 – 4 September. First launched in 2013, the biannual Steel Innovations Conference provides a forum for structural engineers, steel industry representatives, academics and students to share the latest knowledge in the design and…
Scotland has around the same population as New Zealand and like New Zealand, the metal fabrication industry has benefited from oil and gas, especially those located close to the oilfields of the North Sea. A large amount of fabrication was needed during the establishment phase of the industry, then ongoing upgrades, maintenance and expansions. With…
HERA members can you help? An essential objective of the AGGAT program under this research aim is the installation of a materials test rig on a geothermal site to investigate field-based geothermal scaling and corrosion. The data gathered in turn will accumulate into an industry owned information database to base future decisions on in terms…
HERA member EHL provided the basis for US energy innovator Northwest Energy Innovations’ wave energy device, which was successfully deployed at the US Navy Wave Energy Test Site (WETS) near Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. The device, called Azura, will be deployed for 12 months of grid-connected testing as part of a rigorous programme to commercialise…
Temperature-time (T-t) curves and temperature contour plots due to the ISO 834 standard fire loading curve for typical New Zealand composite floors have been calculated and presented in tabulated format. The temperatures in 10 minute intervals up to the requested fire resistance rating have been reported for the slab top face and along the thinnest…
Representatives from the Geothermal New Zealand group met earlier this month in Auckland to follow up on outcomes from the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) held in Melbourne recently. Mike Allen (Executive Director Geothermal NZ) chaired the meeting of about 25 attendees to lead through a busy agenda of items which included international geothermal updates and…
Research Aim 1-1 – Expert Design Tool A major objective of the Above Ground Geothermal and Allied Technologies (AGGAT) Research Programme is to make the assessment of heat resources potential for energy generation (geothermal / waste heat) easier for heavy engineering member companies involved in the clean energy space. This objective is being addressed through…