Mohammad Ahmad Hamdan

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Mohammad Ahmad Hamdan

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Research

Enhancement of Solar Water Disinfection Using Nano catalysts

Authors : Mohammad Ahmad Hamdan, Razan Al Louz, Ahmad Al Aboushi, Eman Abdelhafez

Abstract : Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a simple and low-cost method of increasing water quality. However, it takes about 6 hours of exposure to solar radiation. The elimination of harmful pathogenic germs from drinking water can be accelerated using a combination of sun disinfection and nanotechnology. In this study, a hybrid water purification technique using solar water disinfection, Titanium Oxide (TiO2), and natural mineral clays was investigated. TiO2, natural kaolin clay nanoparticles, and a mixture of TiO2 and natural clay were added to contaminated wastewater containers at different concentrations. After that, the containers were exposed to sunlight for different time intervals. Samples were then collected from all tests to measure the total counts of Total Coliform and Escherichia coli (E.coli) using the IDEXX system. The results showed that the addition of TiO2 and natural kaolin clay to wastewater with solar water disinfection reduced the total count of the pathogenic microorganisms and decreased the time needed time for the disinfection process compared to using solar energy alone. The results also showed that the optimum concentration of the TiO2, which yielded the shortest purification time and lowest levels of pathogenic microorganisms, was 0.006 g/ml. In contrast, the most effective concentration of natural clay was 0.0015 g/ml. Moreover, the results showed that the optimum concentration of the mixture of TiO2 and natural clay, which speeds up the purification time and lowest the level of pathogenic microorganisms was 0.006 g/ml for TiO2 and 1.2 g/ml for the natural clay

Keywords : Nanotechnology, water treatment, solar energy, solar water disinfection

Finned PV Natural Cooling Using Water-Based TiO2 Nanofluid

Authors : Ahmad Al Aboushi, Eman Abdelhafez and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : The efficiency of PV (photovoltaic) modules is highly dependent on the operating temperature. The objective of this work is to enhance the performance of PV by passive cooling using aluminum fins that have been nanocoated (like those on an automobile radiator). A rise in the cell temperature of the module PV leads to a decrease in its performance. As a result, an effective cooling mechanism is required. In this work, the performance of the PV module has been improved using natural convection, which was achieved by placing three similar PV modules next to each other in order to test them simultaneously. The first panel will be the base panel and will be used for comparison purposes. An automotive radiator (with aluminum fins) was firmly fixed onto the rear of the other two PV modules, and the fins of the third PV panel had titanium oxide (TiO2) water-based nanofluid applied to them. The power produced by the PV modules, as well as their rear side temperatures, were recorded every 30 min over four months. A temperature reduction of 4.0 °C was attained when TiO2 water-based nanofluid was sprayed onto the panel’s finned rear side. This was followed by the scenario where the rear side was only finned, with a temperature drop of 1.0 °C. As a result of the temperature reduction, the percentage of power produced by the coated-finned PV and the finned PV increased by 5.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively. This caused an increase in PV efficiency of 1.1 percent for coated-finned panels and

Keywords : PV; Solar Energy; Finned PV; Nanoparticles; Titanium Oxide

Enrichment of the Usage of Solar Purification of Water by Employing Hybrid Nanofluid Mixtures

Authors : Sonia Darabee, Mohammad Hamdan, Hadi Daghari and Salman Ajib

Abstract : In terms of human needs, water has traditionally been regarded as the most significant bioresource. However, there are still limitations on the quality and mobility of drinking water. Renewable energy technologies are at the forefront of research to bridge the gap between conventional fuels and renewable energy systems. Currently, the main objective is to speed up the solar water disinfection process of contaminated water when hybrid nanofluid mixtures are added. Five hybrid nanofluid mixtures containing different amounts of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were used in this study, focusing on how they affected the solar disinfection of polluted water. Five hybrid nanofluid mixtures of different volumes and volume concentrations were used for this purpose; each one was introduced into a contaminated water-contained glass container with a volume of 500 mL. Additionally, a sixth container, used exclusively for comparison, was filled with tainted water. All containers were installed next to each other and exposed to solar radiation for simultaneous measures under identical metrological conditions. During the experimental time, and after exposure to sun radiation for one, two, and three hours, samples were taken from each bottle. to gauge the toll of Total coliforms and E. coli by using the IDEXX setup. It was found that adding a hybrid nanofluid mixture of any composition speeds up the disinfection process. Additionally, it was found that the optimal concentration of the hybrid nanofluid mixture to cut down the Total Coliform was with a volume concentration of 250 mL of Al2O3 and 250 mL of TiO2, while that to cut down the E. coli count was 400 mL of Al2O3 and 100 mL of TiO2. Finally, it may be concluded that among all hybrid mixtures used, the hybrid nanofluid with a volume concentration of 250 mL of Al2O3 and 250 mL of TiO2 is the most efficient in the solar water disinfection process.

Keywords : Solar Energy; Water; Solar Disinfection; Nanotechnology; Contaminated Water; Hybrid Nanofluids

Utilization of mono and hybrid nanofluids in solar thermal collectors

Authors : Osama Ayadi, Otabeh Al–Oran, Mohammad Hamdan, Tareq Salameh, Afif Akel Hasan, Adel Juaidi, Ramez Abdallah, Mustafa Jaradat

Abstract : Solar thermal collectors are among the most utilized solar energy technologies to overcome the increasing fuel consumption and environmental issues. According to bibliometric research, recently investigations are focusing on different approaches to enhance solar thermal collectors' performance. These efforts include the improvement of the thermal properties of the heat transfer fluids, which can be reached by adding nanoparticle materials as mono or hybrid ones into the basic working fluids. This book chapter provides a comprehensive review of the application of hybrid nanofluids in the main solar thermal collectors: flat plate, evacuated tube, and concentrating collectors. According to the surveyed literature, the enhancement obtained on the thermal properties of the working fluids using hybrid nanofluids lead to improve the performance and the efficiency of all types of solar collectors. The improvement level is affected by several factors: nanoparticle concentrations, nanoparticles type, fluid base, and the application type. Economic feasibility studies are required to evaluate the cost-to-benefit ratio of using these nanoparticles. Furthermore, the long-term stability of these nanofluids must be investigated.

Keywords : Evacuated tube; Exergy efficiency; Flat plate; Hybrid nanofluid; Mono nanofluid; Parabolic trough collector; Thermal efficiency; Thermal performance

Bifacial Photovoltaic (PV) Systems Performance Enhancement Using a Selective Surface Reflector

Authors : Hadeel Al-Sallal and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : Albedo enhancement is one of the techniques used to maximize the additional bifacial gain in energy. In this work, the potential of albedo enhancement under a tilt-roof mounted bifacial system is investigated by utilizing nanotechnology in a state-of-the-art surface reflector. For this purpose, we report on field data from a test bifacial system consisting of 24 same-size PV modules distributed among three sets, each consisting of eight modules. The first set of modules is mono facial, the second set is bifacial modules without a nano-modified reflector, and the third set is bifacial modules with the nano-modified reflector. In addition, the energy production of these sets was estimated theoretically under different sets of albedo and tilt angle values. Measurements and software simulations for the same sets were conducted and subsequently compared. This nano-modified reflector has resulted in a 36.56% increase in the original albedo value and a 2.8% boost in energy production. In this study, results suggest that bifacial modules with enhanced albedo are expected to produce 51.32% more than the original surface set for an entire year. Consequently, it may be concluded that albedo enhancement using selective reflectors could be an effective approach to significantly boost the extra gained energy from bifacial in the long term.

Keywords : Photovoltaic; Bifacial Modules; Simulation; Bifacial Gain; Nanotechnology; Cool Roof Paint

The Effect of Storing Produced PV Power on the National Grid

Authors : Heba Abutayeh, Mohammad Hamdan, and Eman Abdelhafez

Abstract : The dramatic increase in renewable sources employment and the new trend to eliminate carbon emissions are the main reasons for using energy storage to overcome the fluctuation of Photovoltaic (PV) output. This paper aims to study the ability of PV solar system, to provide a significant fraction of utility systems energy demand in Jordan. MATLAB software was used to simulate algorithms in order to estimate the storage properties of Energy Capacity (EC), Power Capacity (PC), and Capacity Ratio (CR). These properties are mainly affected by the size of the PV system and the flexibility (ff) of the grid. The hourly generation data from the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) were investigated to determine the most efficient way to feed PV-generated power into the grid. It was found that for flexibilities (ff) values of 0.7, 0.8, and 1, the No-Dump (ND) PV system, which is the largest PV system that could deliver all its annual production to the grid without any need of spillage of the PV system size were 566.3MW, 998.4MW and 1.6 GW respectively. Also, the relation between Energy Capacity of storage (EC) and Power Capacity (PC) was investigated, it was found that if storage installed with EC and PC equal to 24 GWh (almost 45% of average daily demand) and 3 GW (which is less than the peak hour demand) at ff=0.8, the penetration of PV energy will increase by 42% of annual demand compared with almost 10% without storage. Furthermore, if ff is increased to 1 in parallel to installing storage with energy capacity and power capacity equal to 52.7 GWh and 4.7GW, respectively, the PV penetration will increase to reach 68% of the annual demand compared to 16% without storage.

Keywords :

Study of climatology parameters on COVID-19 outbreak in Jordan

Authors : Mohammad Hamdan, Loai Dabbour, and Eman Abdelhafez

Abstract : To control the spread of COVID-19 disease and reduce its mortality, an early and precise diagnose of this disease is of significant importance. Emerging research data show that the current COVID-19 pandemic may be affected by environmental conditions. Therefore, the impact of weather parameters on COVID-19 distribution should be explored to predict its development in the next few months. This research aims to study the association between the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in the three major cities of Jordan; Amman, Zarqa, and Irbid and climate indicators to include the average daily temperature (°C), wind speed (m/s), relative humidity (%), pressure (kPa), and the concentration of four pollutants (CO, NO2, PM10, and SO2). The data were obtained from the World Air Quality Project website and the Jordanian Ministry of Environment. A total of 305 samples for each city was used to conduct the data analysis using multiple linear regression and a feedforward artificial neural network. It was concluded that the multiple linear regression and feedforward artificial neural network could forecast the COVID-19 confirmed cases in the case studies; Amman, Irbid, and Zarqa. Finally, global sensitivity analysis using Sobol analysis indicated that pressure in Amman and Zarqa and the concentration of NO2 in Irbid has a high rate of positive cases that supports the virus's spread.

Keywords : COVID-19; Air pollution; Regression analysis; Sensitivity test; Climate indicators

Performance Enhancement of a Photovoltaic Module by Passive Cooling Using Water-Based Aluminum Oxide Nano-Fluid

Authors : Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : The performance of a PV (photovoltaic) module relies heavily on the operating temperature. The aim of the current study was to improve PV performance by passive cooling with nano-coated aluminum fins attached to the backside of the photovoltaic panels. Four identical PV panels were installed side by side for simultaneous measurements. The first one (B) is a basic PV that was used for comparison purposes, the second one (N) PV, which is coated with water-based Al2O3 nano-fluid, the third is finned PV (F), with fins being attached to its backside and the Al2O3 nano-fluid coated fins are attached to the backside of the fourth PV (FN). The hourly electrical generated power by each PV, I-V, and I_V curves for each PV were recorded and stored using I-V Checker. In addition, the backside temperature of each PV and the ambient temperature were measured on an hourly basis using K-type thermocouples; the measured temperature values were stored in a data logger. It was found that the (FN) PV gave the best performance compared to the base unit, with an increase in the generated power by 5.77%, followed by the nano-coated (N) PV with an increase of 2.14% and finally the finned (F) PV with an increase of 0.74%. Furthermore, the PV with the nano-coated fins exhibits the lower temperature 31°C, followed by the nano-coated PV, and finally the fined PV, with the backside average temperature of the basic unit being 39°C.

Keywords : PV cooling; nanotechnology; PV performance; fined PV

The impact of optical liquid filters on PV panel performance

Authors : Mohammad Hamdan and Eman Abdelhafez

Abstract : The goal of this research is to investigate the effect of utilizing selective liquids as absorption filters to prevent PV module overheating by blocking the undesirable part of the spectrum (long wavelength) while allowing the beneficial part of the spectrum (visible light and near infrared) to pass through. The fluids were evaluated on two different panels, and their results were compared to those of a control panel. In this work, two liquids were used and tested: copper sulfate solution (CuSO4·5H2O) and distilled water as absorption filter; each was arranged in such a way that it flows evenly over the surface of a PV module through a cavity mounted on the top side of the PV module. In addition, a standard PV panel was employed as a comparison. The average power produced by the PV when pure was used as an optical filter is 31.3%, while it was 11.3% when copper sulfate solution was used compared with base unit. Furthermore, the cooling effect of pure water on the PV was more efficient than that of copper sulfate solution, with an average PV temperature drop of 15% compared with 7.5% when copper sulfate is used compared with the base unit panel’s performance improved by an average of 31.3% when distilled water was used as the absorption filter, compared to the reference panel’s performance, while the copper sulfate solution improved the panel’s performance by an average of 11.3% compared to the reference panel’s performance.

Keywords : Optical liquid filter; PV; Copper Sulfate Solution

How Students, in an Air Conditioning and Heating Course, Assess the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the ABET Student Learning Outcomes

Authors : Nabeel Abu Shaban, Eman Abdelhafez and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : The COVID-19 pandemic has forced almost all universities in the world to switch from face-to-face to an online teaching format. In response to this sudden transition, the Mechanical Engineering department at the Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan had to adapt to this change within two weeks in mid-March 2020. In addition, the department had to comply with the strict ABET accreditation regulations, among which is the indirect assessment of each course by the students each semester. They judge to what degree ABET-mandated student learning outcomes (SO) are actually met in any course designated to deliver the outcomes. Another ABET accreditation regulation is direct assessment, which is conducted by the instructor and relies on an instructor’s own evaluation of tasks designated for certain student learning outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine if, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students’ assessments changed significantly, in accordance with the ABET mandate, by using statistical analyses of students’ responses on an online completed survey. An independent samples t-test was used to evaluate the statistical importance of the observed differences. The SO coverage rates were quite high during the pandemic, although, generally, somewhat lower than their pre-pandemic equivalents. In this study, the Air Conditioning and Heating (ACH) course was selected to compare direct and indirect student learning outcomes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, our findings revealed a positive effect on SO performance during the COVID-19 pandemic and due to e-learning teaching.

Keywords : Distance Learning; Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); COVID-19 pandemic; Air Conditioning and Heating course

Aluminium Alloys Nanostructures Produced by Accumulative Roll Bonding (ARB)

Authors : Yazan M. Almaetah, Khaleel N. Abushgair, Mohammad A. Hamdan

Abstract : The accumulative roll-bonding process (ARB) is one of the severe plastic deformation methods. It aims at producing nano/ultra-fine-grained materials along with enhancements in the mechanical properties. In this work, ARB was performed on commercially cheap and available aluminium alloys in Jordan`s local market; AL-2024-O and AL-1100-Oalloys. Four bonding cycles were applied to promote grain refinement at room temperature with no pre/post heat treatment. In ARB processes, the thickness is reduced by 50% in each pass. A new stacking technique has been performed at the alternate layers depending on the friction of its scratched edges. After the production of samples and the investigation of mechanical properties through micro hardness test, tensile test was accomplished at room temperature after each cycle with the aim of determining whether ARB increases the mechanical properties of both aluminium alloys besides identifying the instance were material experiences high ultimate tensile strength. Information about the texture, microstructure and average crystalline size of the samples was obtained using SEM and XRD. The hardness test shows improvements for AL-2024-O/1100-O for each cycle and reported 125 HV and 80 HV respectively after four rolling cycles. The highest UTS was recorded for AL-2024-O and 1100-O on the 4th pass and reported 370 MPa and 170MPa respectively. It was also found out that the percentage elongation decreased due to a decrease in ductility after undergoing the ARB process. Moreover, after four rolling cycles, the average grain size for AL-2024/1100 decreased to 39.6 nm and 59.9 nm respectively.

Keywords : Severe plastic deformations, Accumulative roll bonding, Nanostructures, Aluminium alloys

Effect of Climatology Parameters on Air Pollution During COVID-19 Pandemic in Jordan

Authors : Loai Dabbour, Eman Abdelhafez and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : This study aims to explore the real-time impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on measured air pollution in the three largest cities of Jordan (Amman, Irbid and Zarqa). It is hypothesized that a sharp decrease in the emitted amounts of particulate matter (PM10), CO, NO2 and SO2 during COVID-19 pandemic will be obtained, this corresponds with the reduced traffic due to mandated business closures. To achieve this exploration a paired sample t-test is used to compare the concentration of these four pollutants in the three cities over the period from 15 March to 30 June during the years from 2016 to 2020. It is found that there is a significant difference between the emitted concentrations mean values of CO, PM10, SO2 and NO2 during the period of study. This was indicated by the values of p for each species, which was less than 5 % for all these pollutants. The maximum reduction in SO2 and NO2 concentration during the lockdown period was in Zarqa. Irbid city witnessed the highest percentage reduction in CO and PM10. Furthermore, the correlation test, independent variable importance of multilayer perceptron and global sensitivity analysis using Sobol analysis showed that metrological data (Humidity, wind speed, average temperature and pressure) have a direct relationship with concentrations of CO, PM10, SO2 and NO2 in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa before and after COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords : COVID-19; Air quality; Air pollution; Paired sample t-test; Correlation test; Sobol sensitivity test; Multilayer perceptron

Correlation Between Weather and COVID-19 Pandemic in Jordan

Authors : Eman Abdelhafez and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : This study aims to correlate weather variables with COVID-19 active cases by using Artificial neuÂral network (ANN) method. Three types of Artificial Neural Network namely;Elman, NARX, and Feed-forward networks, were designed and tested using MATLAB software. The COVID-19 active cases in Jordan data was obtained from the Ministry of Health in Jordan, while that of the weather data was obtained from Jordan Metrological Department. Both data were used in the development process of the models to approximate and estimate the actual performance of proposed models. The obtained reÂsults from training part were used to validate the ANN results. The performance of the three models was compared was decided based on the three statisÂtics of metrology variables (R, RMSE, and MBE). Using the average daily temperature and wind speed as the input indicators to the network proÂvided, it was found that Elman model exhibits the best performance and most accurate coefficient of correlation (R) and hence the most accurate correlaÂtion between weather variables and COVID-19 ac-tive cases in Jordan. while the predictive capability of Feedforward and NARX models were the least.

Keywords : COVID-19, Coronavirus, weather data, Artificial Neural Network.

Air quality assessment and forecasting using neural network model

Authors : Mohammad A. Hamdan, Mohammad Faisal Bani Ata, Ahmad Sakhrieh

Abstract : Air pollution is a major obstacle faced by all countries and impact the environment, public health, socioeconomics, and, agriculture. In this study, air pollutants in the city of Amman were presented and analyzed. Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous (NARX) model was used to forecast daily average pollutants’ levels in Amman, Jordan. The model was built using MATLAB software. The model utilized a Marquardt–Levenberg learning algorithm. Its performance was presented using different indices, R2 (Coefficient of Determination), R (Coefficient of Correlation), NMSE (Normalized Mean Square Error), and Plots representing network predictions vs original data. Air pollutants historical measurements were obtained from 4 of the Ministry of Environment (MoEnv) air quality monitoring stations in Amman. Meteorological data representing three years (2015, 2016, and 2017) were used as predictors to train the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) while the data of the year 2018 were used to test it. The results showed good performance when forecasting SO2, O3, CO, and NO2, and acceptable performance when forecasting Particulate Matter (PM10) at the given 4 locations

Keywords : ANN; Forecasting; Air Pollutants; MATLAB

Enhancement of Solar Water Desalination Using Copper and Aluminum Oxide Nanoparticles

Authors : Mohammad A. Hamdan, Anas M. Al Momani, Osama Ayadi, Ahmad H. Sakhrieh , and Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro

Abstract : In this research, two identical solar stills were designed and constructed to investigate the effect of adding copper and aluminum oxide nanoparticles on the quantity of water produced by solar desalination. The two solar stills were installed side by side, and measurements were recorded simultaneously from both stills. The nanoparticles were added to one still, each at one time but with different concentrations, while the other contained only water. Data acquisition and a weather station were used to record the glass, water, and ambient temperatures in addition to the hourly solar radiation. It was found that the addition of nanoparticles increases the amount of condensate. The most efficient concentrations were found to be 0.4% of Al2O3 and 0.6% of CuO. At these concentrations, an increase in the efficiency of the still equals 7.8%, and 9.62% was recorded. Furthermore, it was found that CuO has a more pronounced effect on the condensate than Al2O3 at all concentrations except at 0.4% concentration

Keywords : Solar Still; Water Desalination; Nanofluids; Solar Energy

Enhancement of PV Performance Using Optical Solar Spectrum Splitting

Authors : Mohammad Hamdan and Amani K Brawiesh

Abstract : The mismatch between the spectral response of PV cells and the available solar radiation results in conversion losses which increase its temperature and hence decreases its photoelectric efficiency. Employing spectral beam splitting by using optical filters for pass or reflect the wanted parts of the solar radiation spectrum for the PV operation may represent a promising solution. This work aims to assess the effect of using “Short pass Filter” and “UV Hot Mirror” as an optical filter on the performance of PV cells. This was achieved by installing three small identical PV modules, each of 1 W. The first panel was the standard one that was used for comparison purposes, the second panel was fitted by a short pass optical filter, such that all incident solar radiation is and only useful portion of the solar spectrum will reach the PV. The solar radiation that reaches the third panel was filtered by UV hot mirror that reflects ultraviolet and visible light. It was found that the short pass filtered panel and the hot filtered Panel caused a drop in the temperature by 6°C and 10°C, respectively. The average efficiency of the reference panel is 6.9% while it is for the short pass filtered panel 7.1% and 12% for the Hot UV Filtered Panel. Comparing the obtained results with previous results, it may be concluded that this solar splitting method is a promising one to be used to enhance the PV performance.

Keywords : Short pass filter; UV mirror; PV performance; solar spectrum splitting

Water Disinfection by Solar Energy

Authors : Ahmad Aboushi, Mohammad Hamdan, Eman Abdelhafez, Esra’a Turk, Jwan Ibbini & Nabeel Abu Shaban

Abstract : This work was conducted to investigate the effect of augmentation of incident solar radiation (UV portion of the spectrum) on speeding up of the disinfection of contaminated water. The experiments were conducted using three treatment units, the first unit is a base unit, which is simply a transparent bottle contains the contaminated water; the second unit is the same as the base one, but flat mirror (FM) is located below this unit to reflect solar radiation back to the unit. A concave mirror (CM) is used with the third unit to concentrate the reflected solar radiation onto the unit. Both mirrors were used to reflect and redirect the incident UV radiation onto the units and hence the incident UV is augmented. The efficiency of each unit was indicated by its potential to decrease the amounts of Total coliform, E. coli and P. aeruginosa, all of which were measured using the IDEXX unit. The measurements of these contaminates were conducted on an hourly basis. The contaminated water was taken from a sewage treatment unit located at AL-Zaytoonah University of Jordan in Amman. It was found that the disinfection unit with the FM was the most efficient one in water disinfection, such that after 150 min of exposure time of the unit to solar radiation the counts of total coliform, E. coli and Aeruginosa were reduced by 96.8%, 99.6%, 96%, respectively. This was followed by the CM fitted unit, such that and after 150 min of exposure time, the total counts of total coliform, E. coli, and Aeruginosa were reduced by 96%, 99.2%, 95%, respectively. Finally, the base unit was the least efficient, such that total counts of total coliform, E. coli, and Aeruginosa were reduced by 95.9%, 97.2%, 90%, respectively, under same exposure time of the solar radiation. Comparing the obtained results with previous results, it may be concluded that this solar water disinfection method, which is based on the augmentation of the UV portion of the solar spectrum, is a promising one to be used to disinfect contaminated.

Keywords : Water disinfection; solar energy; IDEXX system; mirror; E. Coli; total coliform; Aeruginosa

Impact of Passive Techniques on Thermal Behavior of Emergency Shelters

Authors : Mohammad A. Hamdan, Fedaa Tawfiq Abd-Alhamid and Loai Dabbour

Abstract : Due to emergency situations, many people are living under degraded conditions as displaced persons and refugees. Unfortunately, shelters commonly used in humanitarian context do not ensure comfortable conditions for their occupants. This study investigates the impact of utilizing passive climatization techniques on the indoor thermal comfort of the occupants in refugee settlements under Jordan’s climate using the Design Builder software. Several passive techniques were simulated, including orientation, floor, wall and roof insulation, and natural ventilation. The simulation results indicated that the thermal comfort has improved when using the aforementioned techniques by 9.72% offering 23% comfort hours throughout the year.

Keywords : passive techniques; thermal behavior; emergency shelters

The effect of weather data on the spread of COVID-19 in Jordan

Authors : Eman Abdelhafez, Loai Dabbour and Mohammad Hamdan

Abstract : This study aims to analyze the correlation between the daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Jordan and metrological parameters including the average daily temperature (°C), maximum ambient temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), wind speed (m/s), pressure (kPa), and average daily solar radiation (W/m2). This covers the first and the second waves in Jordan. The data were obtained from both the Jordanian Ministry of health and the Jordan Metrological Department. In this work, the Spearman correlation test was used for data analysis, since the normality assumption was not fulfilled. It was found that the most effective weather parameters on the active cases of COVID-19 in the initial wave transmission was the average daily solar radiation (r = − 0.503; p = 0.000), while all other tests for other parameters failed. In the second wave of COVID-19 transmission, it was found that the most effective weather parameter on the active cases of COVID-19 was the maximum temperature (r = 0.394; p = 0.028). This was followed by wind speed (r = 0.477; p = 0.007), pressure (r = − 0.429; p = 0.016), and average daily solar radiation (r = − 0.757; p = 0.000). Furthermore, the independent variable importance of multilayer perceptron showed that wind speed has a direct relationship with active cases. Conversely, areas characterized by low values of pressure and daily solar radiation exposure have a high rate of infection. Finally, a global sensitivity analysis using Sobol analysis showed that daily solar radiation has a high rate of active cases that support the virus’ survival in both wave transmissions.

Keywords : COVID-19; Coronavirus; Weather data; Correlation test; Sensitivity analysis; Multilayer Perceptron

Cooling Solar Cells Using ZnO Nanoparticles As A Down-Shifter

Authors : Huda H. Bazzari, Khaleel N. Abushgair , Mohammad A. Hamdan And Hashem S. Alkhaldi

Abstract : Down-shifting material is used to enhance the overall efficiency of the photovoltaic solar cell by reducing the energy of incident photons and then cooling down the temperature of the photovoltaic solar cells. This experimental work focused on studying the effect of ZnO nanoparticles as a downshifting material on reducing the temperature of the photovoltaic cells. Readings of temperature and voltage-which were collected on different days in summer July showed a good effect of ZnO nanoparticles on solar cell temperature. Where there was a significant decrease in cell temperature of up to 4.5°C, in addition an increase in voltage of about 1.5 V.

Keywords : Down-Shifting, Nanoparticles, Photovoltaic, ZnO, Cooling, Solar Cell, Efficiency

Performance enhancement of a photovoltaic thermal (PVT) and ground source heat pump system

Authors : Mohammad Abu-Rumman, Mohammad Hamdan, Osama Ayadi

Abstract : A new system consisting of photovoltaic thermal-ground source heat pump (PV/T-GSHP) was proposed as a solution for electricity shortage and high electricity consumption in heating buildings in Jordan. The performances of the photovoltaic system and the ground source heat pump system were studied without coupling as in real life and with coupling in a hybrid system using TRNSYS software. The results show that this PV/T-GSHP hybrid system can reduce the photovoltaic panels' temperature by more than 20 °C, and improve the efficiency of electricity production by 9.5 %, simultaneously. And in heating season the average coefficient of performance of the heat pumps increased from 4.6 to 6.2 with a decreament in electricity consumption by 25.7 %. The life cycle cost of the hybrid system decreased by 3.9 % and the net present value inceased by 13.2 % compared to the two systems separated. The model of the PV/T-GSHP system was established using TRNSYS software, an optimmization was made to select the photovoltaic modules' temperature at which cooling starts, followed by technical and economical studies on both systems separated and coupled in a hybrid system. This hybrid system can provide guidance for future related project.

Keywords : Renewable energy; Ground-source heat pump; Solar photovoltaic/thermal; TRNSYS Hybrid system

Thermodynamic analysis of a biomass-fired lab-scale power plant

Authors : Jamil Al Asfar, Ahmad AlShwawra, Nabeel AbuShabanb, Mohammad Alrbai, Bashar R.Qawasmeh, Ahmad Sakhrieh, Mohammad A.Hamdan, and Omar Odeh

Abstract : In this study, thermodynamic analysis and environmental impact of a lab-scale biomass-fired open cycle power plant have been performed. The performance of the plant including combustion and generated power efficiencies was studied based on first and second laws of thermodynamics. The combustion temperature and mass fraction of pollutants resulted from direct burning of biomass were also estimated theoretically using a mathematical model developed by the authors. It was found that the measured temperature of combustion of biomass mixture reached 818 °C, which agrees with theoretical result. The estimated energy and exergy efficiencies of the plant were 12 and 16.4%. The heat addition process in the boiler through the burner was the major source of irreversibility in the lab-scale plant; due to non-adiabatic heat transfer in the un-insulated burner where most exergy destruction and energy loss took place. The environmental impact of biomass combustion showed insignificant contents of sulfur and nitrogen oxides pollutants, which enhances the use of biomass as alternative fuel.

Keywords : Thermodynamic analysis; Biomass; Combustion; Environmental impact; Power plant

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