Yan-Jun Bi

The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate energy regeneration and conversion technologies based on mechanical–electric–hydraulic hybrid energy storage systems in vehicles. There has been renewed interest in hydraulic storage systems since evidence has been presented that shows that they have the distinct advantages of high energy output and energy recuperation compared to electrical energy recovery systems, which are widely applied in electric vehicles; however, they are known to be high-cost, with a complicated structure and not zero carbon. In this paper, we first review recent research on hydraulic energy regeneration and conversion technologies. Secondly, as the main part of this paper, the latest technological progress and breakthroughs of the mechanical–electric–hydraulic hybrid energy storage systems in vehicles—which are divided into four categories: passenger, minibus and bus, commercial vehicle and special vehicle—are analyzed and discussed in depth. In addition, the current research status of energy management techniques is presented and summarized. Finally, prospects and challenges are suggested and explained. It is evident from the literature review that the mechanical–electric–hydraulic hybrid systems perform excellently in vehicles. Clearly, this review will be helpful to understand, explore and define the hydraulic vehicle of the future concerning energy optimization and environmental friendliness.

Masks are essential and effective small protective devices used to protect the general public against infections such as COVID-19. However, available systematic reviews and summaries on the filtration performance of masks are lacking. Therefore, in order to investigate the filtration performance of masks, filtration mechanisms, mask characteristics, and the relationships between influencing factors and protective performance were first analyzed through mask evaluations. The summary of filtration mechanisms and mask characteristics provides readers with a clear and easy-to-understand theoretical cognition. Then, a detailed analysis of influencing factors and the relationships between the influencing factors and filtration performance is presented in. The influence of the aerosol size and type on filtration performance is nonlinear and nonconstant, and filtration efficiency decreases with an increase in the gas flow rate; moreover, fitness plays a decisive role in the protective effects of masks. It is recommended that the public should wear surgical masks to prevent COVID-19 infection in low-risk and non-densely populated areas. Future research should focus on fitness tests, and the formulation of standards should also be accelerated. This paper provides a systematic review that will be helpful for the design of masks and public health in the future.

A proper operating temperature range and an acceptable temperature uniformity are extremely essential for the efficient and safe operation of the Li-ion battery array, which is an important power source of space stations. The single-phase fluid loop is one of the effective approaches for the thermal management of the battery. Due to the limitation that once the structure of the cold plate (CP) is determined, it is difficult to adjust the cooling ability of different locations of the CP dynamically, this may lead to a large temperature difference of the battery array that is attached to the different locations of the CP. This paper presents a micro-channel CP integrated with a thermoelectric heat pump (THP) in order to achieve the dynamic adjustment of the cooling ability of different locations of the CP. The THP functions to balance the heat transfer within the CP, which transports the heat of the high-temperature region to the low-temperature region by regulating the THP current, where a better temperature uniformity of the CP can be achieved. A lumped-parameter model for the proposed system is established to examine the effects of the thermal load and electric current on the dynamic thermal characteristics. In addition, three different thermal control algorithms (basic PID, fuzzy-PID, and BP-PID) are explored to examine the CP’s temperature uniformity performance by adapting the electric current of the THP. The results demonstrate that the temperature difference of the focused CP can be declined by 1.8 K with the assistance of the THP. The proposed fuzzy-PID controller and BP-PID controller present much better performances than that provided by the basic PID controller in terms of overshoot, response time, and steady state error. Such an innovative arrangement will enhance the CP’s dynamic cooling ability distribution effectively, and thus improve the temperature uniformity and operating reliability of the Li-ion space battery array further.