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An analytical model of holmium-doped fiber laser is used to calculate optimal fiber length, pump wavelength and signal wavelength under in-band pumping conditions while considering fiber losses. The calculations show the advantages of a new type of pedestal-cladding-pumped fiber.

Aerosol particles like dust involved in the air can pass through the respiratory tract and can be deposited there. The long-term deposition of fine solid particles in the lower airways can stimulate lung diseases. In contrary, for the healing of certain lung diseases, the delivering of medicament’s to the lower airways is important. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) enables to simulate the flow field and the particles deposition in the lungs. By this method, it is possible to identify the probability of reaching particles into the lower airways through the tracheo-bronchial tree. In this paper, the flow field in the child lungs (5-year-old) in a constant sedentary breathing regime was simulated using the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) with the LES Smagorinsky turbulence model. To verify the calculated velocities by LBM in OpenLB software, the finite volume RANS simulation in Star-CCM+ was performed. The results showed the good agreement in the upper part of the airways. Some discrepancies were found in the lower part. Nevertheless, LBM and OpenLB were proven to be a capable tool to solve the air flow through the respiratory tract and will be used for particle deposition.

The pension funds show us the alternative to the unfunded systems. This is the reason for long-terming attention. Disadvantages of funds financing include problems as indexation, inflation, or administrative and investment costs, which are decreasing the future profit for pensionary and efficiency of pension funds. This study aims to describe and analyse the administrative and investment costs and the determinants that affect these costs. The method of literary research and search of professional studies focused on empirical analysis of administrative and investment costs is used. Furthermore, the method of analysis and synthesis is used. The result of this study is an indication of the content and significance of costs and the definition of the main determinants influencing these costs. A prerequisite for the quality functioning of pension funds is the organization of the labor market and a high share of active participants. Determinants that increase costs include the number of participants in pension funds and total assets, the guarantee of income by the pension fund, and some investment instruments. Based on a search of empirical studies, the existence of economies of scale was confirmed. The limit of the study is the comparison of several countries where different legislation operates.

The aim of the paper is to assemble a simulator for evaluation of thermal comfort in car cabins in order to give a feedback to the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system. The HW (hardware) part of simulator is formed by thermal manikin Newton and RH (relative humidity), velocity and temperature probes. The SW (software) part consists of the Thermal Comfort Analyser (using ISO 14505-2) and Virtual Testing Stand of Car Cabin defining the heat loads of car cabin. Simulator can provide recommendation for the climate control how to improve thermal comfort in cabin by distribution and directing of air flow, and also by amount of ventilation power to keep optimal temperature inside a cabin. The methods of evaluation of thermal comfort were verified by tests with 10 test subjects for summer (summer clothing, ambient air temperature 30 °C, HVAC setup: +24 °C auto) and winter conditions (winter clothing, ambient air temperature -5 °C, HVAC setup: +18 °C auto). The tests confirmed the validity of the thermal comfort evaluation using the thermal manikin and ISO 14505-2.

Cabin HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air-conditioning) systems have become an essential part of personal vehicles as demands for comfortable transport are still rising. In fact, 85 % of the car trips in Europe are shorter than 18 km and last only up to 30 minutes. Under such conditions, the HVAC unit cannot often ensure desired cabin environment and passengers are prone to experience thermal stress. For this reason, additional comfort systems, such as heated or ventilated seats, are available on the market. However, there is no straightforward method to evaluate thermal comfort at the contact surfaces nowadays. The aim of this work is to summarise information about heated and ventilated seats. These technologies use electrical heating and fan driven air to contact area in order to achieve enhanced comfort. It is also expected, that such measures may contribute to lower energy consumption. Yet, in real conditions it is almost impossible to measure the airflow through the ventilated seat directly. Therefore, there is a need for an approach that would correlate measurable physical phenomena with thermal comfort. For this reason, a method that exploits a measurement of temperatures and humidity at the contact area is proposed. Preliminary results that correlate comfort with measurable physical phenomena are demonstrated.

Thermal environment in a vehicular cabin significantly influence drivers’ fatigue and passengers’ thermal comfort. This environment is traditionally managed by HVAC cabin system that distributes air and modifies its properties. In order to simulate cabin thermal behaviour, amount of the air led through car vents must be determined. The aim of this study was to develop methodology to measure airflow from the vents, and consequently calculate corresponding air distribution coefficients. Three climatic cases were selected to match European winter, summer, and spring / fall conditions. Experiments were conducted on a test vehicle in a climatic chamber. The car HVAC system was set to automatic control mode, and the measurements were executed after the system stabilisation—each case was independently measured three times. To be able to evaluate precision of the method, the airflow was determined at the system inlet (HVAC suction) and outlet (each vent), and the total airflow values were compared. The airflow was calculated by determining a mean value of the air velocity multiplied by an area of inlet / outlet cross-section. Hot-wire anemometry was involved to measure the air velocity. Regarding the summer case, total airflow entering the cabin was around 57 l s-1 with 60 % of the air entering the cabin through dashboard vents; no air was supplied to the feet compartment. The remaining cases had the same total airflow of around 42 l s-1, and the air distribution was focused mainly on feet and windows. The inlet and outlet airflow values show a good match with a maximum mass differential of 8.3 %.

The aim of this study was to identify a set of operating points of a fan built in ventilation system of our test car. These operating points are given by the fan pressure characteristics and are defined by a pressure drop of the HVAC system (air ducts and vents) and volumetric flow rate of ventilation air. To cover a wide range of pressure drops situations, four cases of vent flaps setup were examined: (1) all vents opened, (2) only central vents closed (3) only central vents opened and (4) all vents closed. To cover a different volumetric flows, the each case was measured at least for four different speeds of fan defined by the fan voltage. It was observed that the pressure difference of the fan is proportional to the fan voltage and strongly depends on the throttling of the air distribution system by the settings of the vents flaps. In case of our test car we identified correlations between volumetric flow rate of ventilation air, fan pressure difference and fan voltage. These correlations will facilitate and reduce time costs of the following experiments with this test car.

The amount of air supplied by ventilation system (HVAC system) of a car into a cabin is one of the main parameters for the correct simulation and prediction of a car cabin heat load. This amount is not based only on the current setting of the HVAC system, but also on the actual operating conditions and speed of the car. The authors therefore carried out experiments in the cabin of a passenger car in real traffic, while observing the amount of air on the speed of the car and setting of flap in mixing chamber. In a subsequent analysis the authors defined dependence of the airflow rate supplied by HVAC system on the speed of the car. Obtained empirical formulas were then used as a part of the code which calculates the data for the HVAC boundary conditions in the simulation of the car cabin environment.

In the paper, the authors refer to development a heat balance model to predict car climate and power heat load. Model is developed in Modelica language using Dymola as interpreter. It is a dynamical system, which describes a heat exchange between car cabin and ambient. Inside a car cabin, there is considered heat exchange between air zone, interior and air-conditioning system. It is considered 1D heat transfer with a heat accumulation and a relative movement Sun respect to the car cabin, whilst car is moving. Measurements of the real operating conditions of gave us data for model calibration. The model was calibrated for Škoda Felicia parking-summer scenarios.