Research Fields and Orientations

Distributed energy systems, solar thermal utilization, poly-cogeneration systems and greenhouse gas emission control technology.

Scientific research instruments and equipment

Established the Research and Development Center of Distributed Energy Technology (an R&D platform of National Energy Administration), and a parabolic trough experiment platform with initiative control at off-design DNI.

Major Achievements of 2014

The 973 Project "Fundamental Research on Hybrid Distributed CCHP Energy Systems with Multi-Energy Input" was approved and accepted. During the project, we published 392 academic papers and 10 scholarly books; applied for 92 patents for inventions; and developed the national standards for the energy efficiency ratios of distributed energy systems. The project acceptance record took first place among the seven items of the energy field.

We re-evaluated the functionality of concentrated solar energy and fuels, and derived equations for setting appropriate energy levels in the hybridization of concentrated solar energy and fuel. Methods were proposed for "energy efficiency/conservation at the source" and "energy storage at the source". Fuel conversion principle prototypes were developed for mid and low-temperature concentrated solar heat. Distributed power generation systems based on solar thermochemical processes were developed. We also proposed and established a theoretical framework for a high-temperature thermochemical membrane reactor in literature for the first time, and are building the first high concentration solar simulator in China.

Organization and Personnel

One professor and one assistant professor were added to the lab’s research team in 2014, increasing the number of full-time employees from 25 to 26. The research team includes 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 8 professors, 7 associate professors, 9 assistant professors, 2 postdoctoral scholars, and 23 graduate students.

Professor JIN Hongguang is the associate editor of Applied Energy, editorial board member of Energy-The Int. J, Energy Conversion and Management, Int. J. Green Energy, Chinese Science Bulletin, and the associate editor-in-chief of Journal of Engineering Thermophysics. Professor ZHANG Na served as an editorial board member and guest editor for Energy-The Int. J, and executive editor of Journal of Engineering Thermophysics. Professor HAO Yong served as guest editor for Energy. Associate professor HAN Wei served as guest editor for Energy Conversion and Management. Associate professor LIU Qibin served as guest editor for Energy and Buildings.

Transfer and Industrialization of Technological Achievements

Was an important participant in completing the design of a 10MW solar-coal hybrid system, and expects to establish the first demonstration 10MW solar-coal hybrid power plant in China in 2016. A principle prototype 100 kW-level solar thermochemical hybrid power generation system was also developed.

Patents and paper

In 2014, the laboratory published 112 academic papers, including 53 indexed by Science Citation Index (SCI), 22 indexed by Engineering Index (EI), and 16 international conference papers; participated in editing 2 monographs; was granted/applied for 36 patents, including 11 granted patents for invention, and 2 patents for utility models; 2 people gave international invited talks.

International Cooperation and Exchanges

As international academic committee members, we participated in organizing several international conferences, such as Int. Conf. on Applied Energy, Int. Green Energy Conf. and ECOS2014. We invited Associate Professor TONG Jianhua from Colorado School of Mines for an academic visit and exchange. Collaborative research with California Institute of Technology was the first to accurately measure the water-splitting thermodynamic properties of 0-20 mol% Zr-doped ceria in solar thermochemical processes, and jointly developed the first graphical-interface thermodynamics software for high-temperature solar thermochemistry.

Dean: JIN Hongguang           Tel: 86-10-82543032          E-mail: hgjin@iet.cn

Deputy dean: ZHANG Na     Tel: 86-10-82543058          E-mail: zhangna@iet.cn

                       HAO Yong       Tel: 86-10-82543150          E-mail: haoyong@iet.cn