<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <rss version="2.0">
      <channel xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
        <title>Frontiers in Thermal Engineering | Thermal System Design section | New and Recent Articles</title>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/thermal-engineering/sections/thermal-system-design</link>
        <description>RSS Feed for Thermal System Design section in the Frontiers in Thermal Engineering journal | New and Recent Articles</description>
        <language>en-us</language>
        <generator>Frontiers Feed Generator,version:1</generator>
        <pubDate>2026-05-14T01:15:33.237+00:00</pubDate>
        <ttl>60</ttl>
        <item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2025.1561295</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2025.1561295</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Experimental analysis of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit enhanced by branched fins]]></title>
        <pubdate>2025-05-23T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Shiva Pandiri</author><author>Jacob Murphy</author><author>Kamran Fouladi</author><author>Saeed Tiari</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The global shift towards renewable energy to replace fossil fuels has led to exploring thermal energy storage techniques employing phase change materials (PCM), known as latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES). Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind have limitations due to their unpredictable nature and thus require adequate storage during times of intermittency. PCMs offer a high energy storage density, however, their thermal performance is limited by their low thermal conductivity. This is leading researchers to investigate passive heat transfer enhancement techniques, such as nanoparticle dispersion, porous matrices, heat pipes, and fins, to improve heat transfer within PCMs. Recent studies have primarily focused on the numerical analysis of branched fins, leaving a significant gap in experimental validation. This study addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive experimental evaluation of the thermal performance of a LHTES system enhanced by branched fins, The performance of various fin configurations is compared during both charging and discharging processes. The present study takes a novel approach in comparing performance of radial fins, Y-fins, and snowflake fins in two sets of cases: four-fin and six-fin arrangements, which are compared to a baseline of a zero-fin configuration. All four-fin arrangements contain the same volume of copper, and all six-fin arrangements contain more copper than the four-fin arrangements. The fin configurations are compared based on charging and discharging times and the system energy response. The comparisons indicate that all branched fins configurations resulted in significant reductions in charging and discharging times compared to the benchmark. For four-fin arrangements, radial fins show a decrease of 81.52% and 63.45%, Y-fins show a reduction of 85.97% and 73.64% and snowflake fins show a reduction of 86.3% and 73.2% in charging and discharging times, respectively. For six-fin arrangements, radial fins show a reduction of 89.76% and 76.87%, Y-fins show a reduction of 91.63% and 83.03%, and snowflake fins show a reduction of 91.61% and 86.14% reduction in charging and discharging times, respectively.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2023.1282028</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2023.1282028</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Integration of carbon capture in a pulp mill—effect of strategic development towards better biomass resource utilization]]></title>
        <pubdate>2023-11-01T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Henrik Skoglund</author><author>Chao Fu</author><author>Simon Harvey</author><author>Elin Svensson</author>
        <description><![CDATA[The pulp and paper industry has an important role in the industrial transition towards net zero or negative emissions, given its renewable biomass-based feedstock and energy supply. In particular, pulp and paper mills have large existing sources of biogenic CO2, with a high potential to contribute to carbon dioxide removal through carbon capture and storage (CCS). To effectively navigate anticipated changes in feedstock and energy markets, there is a need for a better understanding of how different technology pathways for the pulp and paper industry interact with one another, for instance, how enhanced valorization of biomass side streams may affect the potential for carbon capture. This paper aims to investigate the effect of combining carbon capture with lignin extraction in a chemical pulp mill. Pinch analysis is used to study how the targets for heat recovery, fuel usage and electricity generation, are affected by different mill and capture configurations. Based on these results, the effect on carbon flows is evaluated. The results show that when carbon capture technology is implemented and fuel use is minimized at the case-study mill, there is still enough heat available from the recovery boilers to supply the process needs without requiring usage of a utility boiler. However, when carbon capture is combined with lignin extraction, the heat production of the recovery boilers is no longer sufficient to cover the process demands, and additional heat from a utility boiler is required. However, this case implies that some of the carbon leaves the mill embedded in the extracted lignin product, which can be expected to have a higher value than captured carbon dioxide. When back-pressure electricity production was maximized for the different mill configurations, a very high fuel-to-electricity efficiency could be achieved, but since the CO2 emissions from the utility boiler were not assumed to be captured, this would lead to more carbon being emitted compared to the capture scenarios with minimized fuel use.]]></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2022.945841</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2022.945841</link>
        <title><![CDATA[Specialty Grand Challenge for Thermal System Design]]></title>
        <pubdate>2022-06-20T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Specialty Grand Challenge</category>
        <author>Jin-Kuk Kim</author>
        <description></description>
      </item><item>
        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2022.861882</guid>
        <link>https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fther.2022.861882</link>
        <title><![CDATA[e-Site Analysis: Process Design of Site Utility Systems With Electrification for Process Industries]]></title>
        <pubdate>2022-04-12T00:00:00Z</pubdate>
        <category>Original Research</category>
        <author>Jin-Kuk Kim</author>
        <description><![CDATA[A new design methodology for the process synthesis of electrified energy systems, e-site analysis, for the application of process industries, is presented, which allows the systematic selection of electrified units in process levels and provides design guidelines for the configuration of site utility systems. Different characteristics associated with the use of power-to-heat technologies for thermal heating, compared with traditional heat supply from the combustion of fossil fuels, are discussed in the context of process design and site-wide utility management. The new design framework is developed for the transformation of conventional steam-based utility systems to electricity-based ones. The applicability of the proposed design method and its benefits from carbon-neutral energy generation is demonstrated with a case study, which clearly illustrates the impact of electrification on the design and operation of site utility systems in process industries.]]></description>
      </item>
      </channel>
    </rss>