Tianjin University's special prize entry (Photo from Tianjin Daily)
On August 4, Tianjin University (TJU) students won the special prize on the final of the 15th National University Student Social Practice and Science Contest on Energy Saving and Emission Reduction of “Liubai Guangnian Cup”themed of “Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction, Green Energy” held in Tianjin.
Tianjin University’s winning entry was “‘Alcohol Warming Car Driving’: A Methanol Porous Media Burner Used as Auxiliary Heat Source for Electric Vehicles” designed by the Tianjin University undergraduate team. This work is aimed to solve the problem of insufficient battery life of electric vehicles in cold weather. Using methanol clean fuel, with porous media combustion technology as the core, a methanol porous media burner is designed as an auxiliary heat source for electric vehicles, which can ensure the normal working temperature of the battery and provide heat under the cold weather, greatly saving battery power and improving the battery life. Compared with the traditional diesel auxiliary heat source, its thermal efficiency is increased by about 10%, and the pollutant emission is significantly reduced, which can effectively help the promotion of electric vehicles in China.
A total of 247 works from 117 universities across the country entered the final, including Tsinghua University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, and Tianjin University, which is a record high. Nearly 100 reviewers in the final from more than 50 universities were invited, including Academician He Yaling of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Academician Chen Xuedong of China National Machinery Industry Corporation, Academician Zhao Tianshou of Southern University of Science and Technology, Academician Jiang Peixue of Tsinghua University, Academician Xuan Yimin of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Academician Jin Donghan of Tianjin University. In the end, 10 works from 10 colleges and universities won the special prizes, and 138 works from 65 colleges and universities won the first prizes.
This event was organized by Tianjin University and co-organized by Liubai Guangnian Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd. It's an important measure taken by the Ministry of Education to implement the “National Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction”. Since this event was launched in March, a total of 623 colleges and universities have signed up for this competition, including 13 overseas colleges and universities, and submitted 6,218 valid works, increasing by 19.6% year on year. Among them, scientific and technological works account for 86.4%, a year-on-year increase of 17.1% to 5,373; social practice and survey reports account for 13.6%, a year-on-year increase of 38.1% to 845. The number of participants exceeds 46,139.
The "National University Student Social Practice and Science Contest on Energy Saving and Emission Reduction" is sponsored by the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and organized by the Steering Committee for Guidance in Teaching of Energy and Power Disciplines in Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education. The competition fully embodies the theme of "energy saving, emission reduction, green energy", closely centering on the national energy and environmental policies, and integrating the major national needs.
By Dong Jia’ao
Editor: Sun Xiaofang
