Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sustainable Cities and Society

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scs

Research on climate zoning indicators for operating environment of T

liquefied natural gas ambient air vaporizer
Xinghao Tiana, Wenling Jiaoa,*, Lemei Rena, Shanshan Liub, Tianjie Liua
a
School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin, 15000, China
b
School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining, 221000, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: LNG must be gasified to gaseous natural gas by heating and returned to the required temperature before it can be
LNG used. The heat transfer performance and gasification capacity of ambient air vaporizer (AAV) are related to the
Ambient air vaporizer temporal and spatial characteristics of the climatic environment. The purpose of this paper is to establish the
Heat transfer climate zoning indicators for operating environment of AAV for the first time, and to provide reference for the
Climatic zoning
application of AAV in different regions. The T8-80 and AAV degree days (CDD T8-80) were first proposed by
Indicator
CDD T8-80
establishing the integral heat transfer model of AAV. Based on the comprehensive consideration of the thermal
load characteristics and heat transfer performance of AAV, a climate zoning indicator system for AAV was
established. It includes AAV degree days, average daily temperature in coldest month and average daily relative
humidity in winter. Globally, we selected four cities and one country to discuss the application of indicators. The
results show that: the heat transfer performance of AAV is closely related to the environment; T8-80 and AAV
degree days played a major role in the climate zoning of AAV operation; the indicators are applicable in the
world and have good application effect.

1. Introduction cold energy utilization technology of large-scale coastal LNG receiving

Energy is vital for all kinds of production activities (Saidi, Rahman,
& Amamri, 2017). After the enactment of Kyoto Protocol (Li, Mu, & Gui,
2014), reducing the greenhouse gases that stem from energy production
is one of the most vital technological challenges that the world cur-
rently faces (Reynolds, Rezgui, & Hippolyte, 2017). As a cleaner-
burning fossil fuel, natural gas (NG) plays an important role in meeting
the world’s ever-increasing energy demand (Kasumu, Li, & Coleman,
2018). Coal-to-gas conversion is the main feature of energy transfor-
mation in the world's major economies. For transportation over long
distances, typically above 3500 km, liquefied natural gas (LNG) has
been the leading option for economical, technical, safety-related, and
political reasons (Dutta, Karimi, & Farooq, 2018). In 2018, the apparent
consumption of natural gas in China for the whole year was 280.3
billion cubic meters, which is 18.1 % higher than last year. And the
consumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) accounts for about 30 %.
LNG is made from natural gas after compression and deep cooling to
−162℃. This cryogenic liquid mixture must be heated and vaporized to
a suitable temperature of gaseous natural gas when it’s put into use. The
clean and efficient LNG gasification technologies mainly include the
stations and the air-temperature gasification technology of small inland
LNG gasification stations. Reducing the energy consumption of LNG
gasification in small LNG gasification stations is a necessary pre-
requisite for promoting LNG applications.
Ambient air vaporizer (AAV) uses ambient air as a heat source and is
the core equipment of a small LNG gasification station. The heat
transfer performance of AAV is closely related to the climatic en-
vironment. The climate difference in different regions and climate
change in the same region have great influence on its operation effect.
As a matter of fact, climatic zoning is used in many areas of economic
activity. The correct definition of climatic zones helps to increase
agricultural productivity, use appropriate building materials, and de-
sign houses with the maximum energy efficiency, among other uses
(Verichev & Carpio, 2018). In-depth study of heat and mass transfer
theory in LNG air-temperature gasification process and establishment of
climate zoning for AAV’s operating environment are the basic guar-
antee for AAV’s efficient operation. The study of climate zoning in-
dicators for AAV's operating environment is a necessary transition.
The heat and mass transfer mechanism of AAV is very complicated,
involving flow boiling heat transfer in the tube, cryogenic frosting

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wljiao@163.com (W. Jiao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102186
Received 22 April 2019; Received in revised form 13 February 2020; Accepted 5 April 2020
Available online 05 May 2020
2210-6707/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Tian, et al.
outside the tube and fluid-solid coupling heat transfer at the tube wall
(Liu & Jiao, 2017). Since 2006, some scholars have carried out research
on the heat transfer process of AAV. Jeong selected a specific structure
of AAV and conducted an experimental study of the effects of seasonal
changes on its heat transfer characteristics (Jeong, 2006). Based on the
frost layer structure with fractal characteristics, the surface frost model
of finned tube was established by Shuping Chen et al. (Chen, Lai, & Yin,
2010). Shanshan Liu et al. Liu, Jiao, and Wang (2016) used the com-
bination of theoretical modeling and experimental testing to study the
overall heat transfer characteristics of AAV, thus revealed the extreme
gasification efficiency of AAV. There are few researches on fluid solid
coupled heat transfer of AAV, and similar researches are more in the
field of sewage scaling, but sewage scaling hardly involves the problem
of ultra-low temperature (Shen, Wang, Zhao, Jiang, & Yao, 2018; Wang
et al., 2019).
The theory of AAV’s operating climate zoning was first publicly
presented by the American scholar Bernert Bernert (1998) at the 17th
International Cryogenic Engineering Conference in 1998. At the con-
ference, he pointed out that the design of AAV structures used in warm
tropics should consider some of the climatic factors unique to the cli-
matic zone. D Patel (Patel, Mak, & Rivera, 2013) defined the equatorial
region as a warm climate zone, in which a single AAV can assume the
gasification load. The remaining areas were defined as cold climate
zones. Ho-Yeon Kim et al. Kim, Kim, and Han (2015) analyzed the
growth of the cryogenic frost layer under Korean climatic conditions
and the maximum continuous working time of AAV.
As can be seen from the previous studies, the research in the field of
AAV started late, resulting in fewer research results on heat transfer
characteristics and less results in climate zoning research (Biao,
Divyamaan, & Utikar, 2018). It is precisely because of the lack of cor-
rect understanding of the heat transfer mechanism and the guidance of
reasonable climate division in practical applications, AAV’s frosting
phenomenon is very serious and heat transfer performance is seriously
deteriorated. This leads to many outstanding problems such as low ef-
ficiency of the LNG process, high energy consumption in the reheating
process, and waste of equipment investment (Xu, Chen, & Fan, 2016).
Based on the research of AAV’s heat transfer characteristics, the
relationship between environmental parameters and AAV’s operational
performance was first discussed. From two aspects of AAV’s climate
correlation and AAV’s heat load characteristics, we have established the
climate zoning indicators of the AAV’s operating environment. Different
from defining indicators directly, or selecting indicators based on ex-
perience, we clearly gave the sources and establishment methods of
indicators from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Besides, we
have selected cities and regions around the world to discuss the ap-
plication of indicators. Meanwhile, we gave some suggestions and ideas
for the future study of climate zoning. The research route of the paper is
shown in the Fig. 1.
2. Materials and methods
On initial screening, the climatic zoning indicators of AAV should be
considered as comprehensively as possible.Afterwards, indicators need
to be streamlined to prevent interference with calculations and as-
sessments.
During the initial screening process, there are two main factors to
consider. On the one hand, the indicators should be able to reflect the
characteristics of AAV's thermal load, main embodying the gasification
characteristics of LNG. On the other hand, they should be able to reflect
the relationship between AAV's heat transfer performance and regional
climate, embodying the utilization of AAV to environmental conditions.
2.1. AAV’s overall heat transfer model
In order to discuss the relationship between the heat transfer of AAV
and environmental climate conditions, AAV’s overall heat transfer
2
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
model should be established first. The heat transfer process is complex,
therefore in the model some appropriate assumptions were made as
follows: we assume the frost layer growth to be a one-dimensional
steady-state process; the physical parameters are uniformly distributed
in the thickness direction; the frost layer is a uniform porous medium;
the thermophysical properties of the fin tube material remain constant;
the velocity of ambient air, the radiation and the phase transition time
of water vapor are neglected in frosting process.
The formation of frost layer on AAV’s outer surface is a phase
change process of water vapor in the air on the cryogenic wall surface.
During the process, the water vapor near the tube wall is super-
saturated. The convective mass of water vapor is the growth rate of
frost mass, which meets the conservation of mass (Yang, Lee, & Song,
2006). In terms of energy conservation, the sum of natural convection
heat transfer and latent heat of vaporization released by frosting is
equal to the heat conduction between frost layer and tube wall (Jhee,
Lee, & Kim, 2002). The frosted mass conservation equation and energy
conservation equation can be expressed as:
mf = hm (ρv, a − ρv, f ) (1)
Ts − T0
λf = hf (Ta − Tsur ) + Isv mf
δf (2)
where mf is the mass of water vapor entering the frost layer per unit
area and time; hm is the surface convection mass transfer coefficient; ρv,a
is the distant water vapor density; ρv,f is the nearby water vapor density;
λf is the sparse thermal conductivity of frost layer; Ts is the temperature
of frost’s surface; T0 is the temperature of cold wall surface of finned
tube; δf is the thickness of frost layer; hf is the surface heat transfer
coefficient between frost layer and air; Ta is the temperature of the
ambient air; Isv is the gas-solid phase change enthalpy of water vapor.
Furthermore, we introduced the frost layer physical property para-
meter correlation (Mago & Sherif, 2005), which is combined with the
mass conservation equation and the energy conservation equation to
form a closed equations. We used a numerical method to solve the
closed equations. As a result, we can solve the variation of the thickness
and the thermal conductivity of the frost layer with time under certain
wall temperature and air parameters.
In addition to the frosting process on the tube wall, the heat transfer
processes on the air side and inside the tube need to be taken into ac-
count. Firstly, the composite heat transfer coefficient on the air side is
considered as the sum of the natural convection heat transfer coefficient
on the vertical wall and the heat transfer coefficient on the radiated
surface (Li, Jiao, & Wang, 2015). The composite heat transfer process
on the air side can be expressed as:
2
0.387Ra1 6
Nu = ⎧0.825 + ⎫
⎨
⎩ [1 + (0.492 Pr)9 16]8 27 ⎬
⎭ (3)
Nu·λa
hc =
L (4)
εf σb (Ta4 − T04 )
hr =
Ta − To (5)
ha = hc + hr (6)
where Nu is Nusselt criterion; Ra is Rayleigh criterion; Pr is Prandtl
criterion; λa is the thermal conductivity of air; L is the installation
height of finned tube; hc is the convection heat transfer coefficient be-
tween air and fin surface; hr is the radiation heat transfer coefficient; εf
is the radiation heat transfer emissivity; σb is the Stefan Boltzmann
constant; ha is the composite heat transfer coefficient between finned
tube and air.
When the finned tube is frosted, the comprehensive heat transfer
coefficient includes two parts, one of which is the heat transfer of the
frost layer, the other is the heat transfer between the frost layer surface
and the air. It can be expressed as:
X. Tian, et al.
Fig. 1. Structure of the study.
1 1
ho =
1/ hf + δf / λ f (7)
hf = ξha (8)
Where ξ is the coefficient that enhances heat transfer due to the rough
surface of the frost layer; h0 is the the heat transfer coefficient between
the finned tube and the air after frosting.
Secondly, when the LNG in tube is lower than the bubble point
temperature, it was considered to be a single-phase liquid segment, and
when it is higher than the dew-point temperature, it was considered to
be a single-phase gas segment. These two phases were calculated using
the rough convective forced convective heat transfer criterion correla-
tion (Chen, 1966). It can be expressed as
St × Pr2/3 = f /8 (9)
where St is Stanton criterion; f is the coefficient of friction between fluid
and tube wall.
When the LNG in tube is higher than the bubble point temperature
and lower than the dew-point temperature, it was considered to be a
two-phase segment. The Klimenko boiling heat transfer model has high
accuracy in the calculation of boiling heat transfer in low temperature
fluids (Klimenko, 1990), so it was selected to calculate the two-phase
LNG boiling heat transfer process. There are many formulas in the
model, which were not listed one by one, please refer to the reference
(Klimenko, 1990).
Thirdly, the heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and the inner
wall was calculated by solving the Nusselt criterion of the single-phase
section and the two-phase section separately. The calculation process
can be expressed as:
Nuλ
hin =
l (10)
where hin is the heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and the inner
wall; l is the shaped size of finned tube; λ is the thermal conductivity of
LNG.
Finally, the overall heat transfer coefficient of AAV can be expressed
as:
3
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
K= 1 din d 1
+ ln d o +
hin 2λw in ηβo ho (11)
where hin is the convective heat transfer coefficient of LNG flow boiling;
din is the internal diameter of AAV fin tube; λw is the thermal con-
ductivity of AAV metal material; do is the external diameter of AAV fin
tube; ho is the surface heat transfer coefficient between fin tube and
ambient air; βo is the ratio of outer surface area to inner surface area of
AAV fin tube; η is the heat transfer efficiency of fin tube. Thereinto, η
can be easily calculated based on Klimenko model (Klimenko, 1990).
2.2. Calculation method of AAV’s heat transfer model
AAV is composed of several fin tubes, in which the heat transfer of a
single fin tube is affected by the adjacent tubes. To simplify the cal-
culation, the heat transfer interaction between tube bundles was ne-
glected, and the AAV’s heat transfer process was averaged onto a single
tube in a large space. It should be pointed out that the error of sim-
plified calculation is not large. This was demonstrated in recent studies
that showed that the average total heat transfer coefficient of a typical
fin tube bundles is about 9.6 % lower than that of a single tube in a
large space (Liu, Jiao, & Ren, 2016). When the study of heat transfer
model of tube bundle is more mature, the coefficient can be corrected in
our calculation model. Finally, we used Matlab to program the AAV’s
overall heat transfer model, and simulated the gasification heat transfer
process of LNG.
As the input parameters of the simulation process, we selected the
typical structure of the best-selling AAV products and the gas source of
Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Gas Field. Fig. 2 shows the structure of QQNG-
2000/1.2 AAV, including 10 tubes installed in 8-way. The specific
structural parameters are as follows: the one-way height is 6 m; the
total length of single tube is 48 m; the outer diameter of tube is 32 mm;
the inner diameter of tube is 28 mm; the distance between the tube
bundles is 250 mm; all tubes are equipped with 12 fin.; the height of
single fin is 80 mm and the thickness is 4 mm. Table 1 shows mole
fraction of natural gas components in Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia gas field.
As we all know, the heat transfer performance of all gasifiers is
negatively related to the flow rate of internal fluid. When evaluating the
heat transfer performance of a gasifier, it should be analyzed and
X. Tian, et al.
Fig. 2. QQNG-2000/1.2 AAV design structure diagram.
Table 1
Mole fraction of natural gas components in Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia gas field.
Components CH4 C2H6 C3H8 iC4H10 nC4H10 N2
Mole fraction (%) 95.1 0.52 0.07 0.91 0.02 3.38
calculated at its rated flow rate or maximum flow rate. The maximum
gasification flow means the maximum thermal load and the most un-
favorable heat exchange condition. Therefore, we chose the rated flow
of a typical gasifier and set the calculated flow to 2000 Nm3/h.
The environmental indexes in the model include two parameters:
temperature and relative humidity. Their changes were taken into ac-
count. Since the outlet temperature of gasified natural gas is generally
no less than 5℃, the ambient temperature should be higher than 5℃ in
the calculation process. When considering the influence of relative
humidity on the AAV’s heat transfer, a very low temperature of 10℃
was set as a fixed value. When considering the influence of temperature
change on the heat transfer of AAV, a very high relative humidity of 80
% was set as the fixed value. Both 10℃ and 80 % relative humidity are
extremely unfavorable heat transfer conditions in the natural environ-
ment.
The calculation process adopts transient calculation, and the time
step is set to 0.1 s. Through the transient calculation of control variables
to different parameters, we can quantitatively analyze the influence of
the environmental differences on AAV’s heat transfer performance.
2.3. AAV’s thermal load characteristics
In the world, there are three main uses of LNG: urban main gas
source, auxiliary gas source and peak shaving gas source (Alam, Alam,
& Reza, 2017; Reineberg, 2017). In addition, the transitional gas source
4
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
and the standby gas source can be attributed to the urban main gas
source under the specific accident conditions. AAV can be used in the
gasification process of LNG for various purposes, according to the local
gas source and environmental conditions (Wei, 2014; Yi & Shaoping,
2012). The thermal load characteristic of AAV is the LNG consumption
characteristic of the stations using AAV.
Almost all countries are facing the problem of seasonal imbalance of
natural gas demand (Wang, Chen, & Ding, 2004). Natural gas demand
has a peak in winter and a trough in summer (Welch, Smith, & Rix,
1971). The main reason is that there are a large number of natural gas
heating users in winter (Yijun, 2010). As the ambient temperature be-
comes lower, the heating demand becomes stronger and the gas supply
situation becomes more intense.
First of all, if LNG is the main gas source of the city, the con-
sumption characteristics of LNG conform to the gas consumption
characteristics of common natural gas source. In this case, the gasifi-
cation load of LNG in winter is the highest in the whole year. At the
same time, AAV has the largest heat load and is in the most unfavorable
operating condition. Secondly, if LNG is used as auxiliary gas source, it
belongs to a part of the main gas source of the city. In this case, the
gasification load of LNG will inevitably change with the demand
characteristics of main gas source. Therefore, LNG will meet the max-
imum gasification load in winter. Finally, if LNG is used as peak shaving
gas source, it will only be enabled when the demand for natural gas is
high. With the decrease of temperature, the peak of natural gas con-
sumption comes in winter. At the same time, LNG begins to gasify.
LNG for various uses must have peak gas consumption, which is in
line with the general characteristics of seasonal demand fluctuation of
natural gas. For the LNG gasification station with AAV, the thermal load
characteristics of AAV also meet the fluctuation characteristics of LNG
gasification volume. In summary, the AAV heat load reaches its max-
imum in winter. It also means that AAV is facing the most unfavorable
X. Tian, et al.
heat transfer condition.
2.4. Calculation data and simplification method of preliminary indicators
Through discussion of AAV’s heat load characteristics and heat
transfer characteristics, we can obtain preliminary climate indicators
for zoning. The initial indicators are very comprehensive, but they also
mean bloated and fussy. We need to use public meteorological data for
calculations and use clustering methods to simplify.
Based on the resolution 40 (CG-12) of the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), WMO has reached an agreement on the world
weather monitoring plan to exchange meteorological data with each
other. WMO member countries can obtain data for research free and
unrestricted. From the global historical climatology network database
(GHCND), we can find the historical meteorological data of 29,726
meteorological stations. Considering the comprehensiveness of climate
data, we selected China from the northeast, Australia from the south-
east, the United States from the northwest and Brazil from the south-
west as the data sources. From the file named ish-history in GHCND, we
obtained meteorological data of four countries in 2019 for analysis.
Through data analysis, four representative cities with more compre-
hensive data were selected in each country. They are Beijing in China,
Saint Johnsburg in the United States, Hobart in Australia and
Guaratieta in Brazil.
Based on historical meteorological data, we can calculate the se-
lected indexes. In order to simplify the index system, we used the R-type
clustering method to cluster the results. R-type clustering or Q-type
clustering are often used for dimensionality reduction. Among them, R-
type clustering analysis is specially for variable analysis, which is sui-
table for the selected indicators.
The first step of R-cluster analysis is to standardize the variable
data. Then, the correlation coefficient matrix is constructed by calcu-
lating the correlation coefficient between variables. Finally, the matrix
is used to calculate gradually until all kinds of variables are classified
into one class. According to the calculation results, the cluster analysis
tree is drawn. The formula to be used can be expressed as:
Xij − X¯j
Yij =
Sj (12)
n in winter, daily average temperature in coldest month, daily average
∑t = 1 (Yti − Y¯i )(Ytj − Y¯j )
Rij = n n
∑t = 1 (Yti − Y¯i )2 ∑t = 1 (Ytj − Y¯j )2 (13)
n
1 mainly considered the switching period of AAV. As the frosting time
Y¯i = ∑ Yti
n t=1 (14)
where Yij is the standardized data; Xij is the raw data; X̄j is the average
value of the data value of the jth variable; Sj is the standard deviation of
the data value of the jth variable; Rij is the correlation coefficient of the
ith variable and the j variable.
3. Results
3.1. Correlation between AAV’s heat transfer performance and climate
Based on the overall heat transfer model of AAV, the correlation
between AAV heat transfer performance and climate can be discussed.
Fig. 3 plots the relationship between environmental parameters and
AAV operation switching period. As mentioned earlier, we chose the
rated flow as a fixed calculated flow. The maximum flow means the
maximum load, which can reflect the real heat transfer performance of
AAV. Based on the principle of control variables, we quantitatively
explored the relationship between AAV’s performance and climate
parameters by changing the two parameters of temperature and relative
humidity.
Both temperature and relative humidity will affect the heat transfer
5
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
performance of AAV. The lower the temperature, the greater the re-
lative humidity, the worse the gasification of LNG. Further, ambient air
temperature is the most important factor affecting the performance of
AAV.
Under the fixed condition of higher humidity, the higher the am-
bient temperature is, the higher the AAV’s outlet temperature is. In
other words, if the minimum value of AAV outlet temperature is re-
quired, the higher the ambient temperature is, the longer the con-
tinuous operation time of AAV is.
When the ambient air temperature is 10℃ and the relative humidity
is 60 %, AAV needs to run for about 5 h to reduce the outlet gas tem-
perature to 5℃. Similarly, when we set the relative humidity to 80 %
and that AAV needs to run for 8 h to reduce the outlet natural gas
temperature to 5℃, the ambient air temperature can be solved to a
minimum of 14℃.
If we specify the outlet temperature of AAV and the duration of
single continuous operation, it is also equivalent to the limitation of
ambient temperature and humidity. Since the change of relative hu-
midity has little effect, we can assume a fixed humidity value and only
discuss the temperature. It can be concluded that when the outlet
temperature and single continuous operation time of AAV are fixed, the
ambient temperature must meet an approximate fixed value.
3.2. Preliminary screening of indicators
Through quantitative analysis of climate correlation of AAV’s heat
transfer performance and qualitative discussion of AAV’s heat load
characteristics, we can preliminarily screen the indicators.
The screening of climate zoning indicators based on AAV thermal
load characteristics mainly considered the application of LNG. As
mentioned before, LNG will reach the maximum load in winter in all
main uses. Accordingly, the heat load of AAV will also have a high peak
in winter, which is in an unfavorable heat transfer condition. In the
northern hemisphere, the coldest month is January. In the southern
hemisphere, the coldest month is July. Since the heat transfer perfor-
mance of AAV is also linked to relative humidity, we also considered
the relative humidity levels in winter and throughout the year in each
region. Hence, the screening results of climate zoning indicators based
on AV thermal load characteristics included daily average temperature
relative humidity in winter and in the whole year.
The screening of climate zoning indicators based on the relationship
between AAV's heat transfer performance and environmental climate
prolongs, the temperature of the exported natural gas rapidly drops to
meet the requirements for gas network access. Generally speaking, in
order to prevent pipeline facilities from being cold and brittle under the
influence of low temperature, the gasified natural gas needs to be re-
heated to raise its temperature to more than 5℃ and then sent to the
pipeline network. Therefore, the export temperature of natural gas is
not less than 5℃ as the measure index of AAV switching operation. In
the actual research, we found that AAV usually switches once every 8 h.
The 8-h switching period is not only greater than the peak hours of
natural gas demand in most regions, but also does not cause waste of
manpower and idle equipment due to frequent switching.
As described in Section 3.1, when operating at rated load, AAV of
any structure can operate for up to 8 h under certain environmental
conditions. We set the relative humidity in the certain environmental
conditions to 80 % and recorded the temperature as T8−80. It must also
be mentioned that the rated load and 80 % relative humidity are the
most disadvantageous conditions for AAV operation. Referring to the
concept of cooling degree days (CDD) (Moustris, Nastos, & Bartzokas,
2014), we defined AAV cooling degree days as CDD T8−80. CDDT8−80
can be obtained by accumulating the annual average outdoor daily
temperature above T8−80. As a climate zoning indicator, it can directly
reflect the degree of climate friendliness to AAV in a region. In the
X. Tian, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186

Fig. 3. Relationship curve between environmental parameters and AAV operation switching period (Q = 2000Nm3/h).

calculation of Section 3.1, the value of T8−80 is 14℃. Therefore, the
CDD T8−80 was recorded as CDD14 for the subsequent calculations. The
calculation formula of CDD T8−80 can be expressed as:
365
CDD T8 − 80 = ∑ ti − T8−80
i=1 (15)
where ti is the daily average temperature on the i-th day of the year.
After comprehensive screening and analysis, we preliminarily put
forward five climate indicators as climate zoning indicators for oper-
ating environment of AAV. They are CDDT8−80, coldest month daily
average temperature, winter daily average temperature, winter daily
average relative humidity and annual daily average relative humidity.
3.3. Simplification of indicator system
After the preliminary screening, we need to simplify the index
system with the data and calculation methods described in Section 2.4.
We selected meteorological data of four cities in 2019. These four cities
are distributed in the northeast, Southeast, northwest and southwest
hemispheres, and they are very representative in terms of geographical
conditions.
We first summarized the meteorological data of four cities, and then
calculated the correlation coefficient matrix according to the R-cluster
method. The results are shown in Table 2. As shown in the table, the
correlation coefficient between the daily average temperature in winter
and the daily average temperature in coldest month is 0.985, indicating
that the two terms are very similar and related. In addition, the cor-
relation coefficient between annual average relative humidity and
winter average relative humidity is 0.864, which is also relatively high.
It can be considered that the two indicators are very relevant.
Furthermore, we used SPSS software to make R-type clustering tree.
Fig. 4 shows the clustering results. Draw a vertical line from the right
side of the tree view, and the vertical line will in turn intersect with the
existing horizontal line in the view. The number of intersection points is
the number of clusters. The variables connected on the left side of the
intersection line are those contained in the corresponding category.
Based on this method, we can simply view the clustering results. Con-
sidering the high independence of CDD T8−80, the primary indexes are
suitable to be divided into three categories. Finally, we selected CDD
T8−80, daily average relative humidity in winter and daily average
temperature in coldest month as the climate zoning indicators for AAV.
It is worth noting that in the process of index selection and estab-
lishment, we selected representative meteorological data for calculation
in the world, so the final three indexes are applicable to all countries
and regions.
4. Discussions
As is known to all, in order to improve the application effect of AAV,
two aspects should be studied. On the one hand, it is necessary to
clearly describe the heat transfer mechanism of AAV and establish an
accurate heat transfer model; on the other hand, it is necessary to de-
sign and apply AAV in different regions with the help of climate in-
dicators. In the almost blank research area, we have clearly established
a set of climate zoning indicators for AAV through qualitative and
quantitative methods. The indicator system can comprehensively re-
present the applicability of AAV in the area. It is the first step to es-
tablish climate zoning and it is also the quantitative feature of climate
zoning.
In fact, the above-mentioned climate zoning indexes are not estab-
lished to directly calculate or optimize the heat transfer performance of
AAV. In the application process of the index, the object of calculation is
the climatic parameters of the application area. The calculation results
of the three indicators represent the friendliness of environment and
climate in the application of AAV. It is worth noting that all climate
divisions, both architectural and plant, are complex and comprehen-
sive. A limited number of climate indicators can only represent the
relevance between regional environment and research objects to a

Table 2
Correlation matrix of primary indicators.
correlation coefficient winter coldest month daily average CDDT8-80 annual daily average relative winter daily average relative
daily average temperature humidity humidity
temperature

winter daily average temperature 1.000 0.985 0.611 0.433 0.410

coldest month daily average 0.985 1.000 0.681 0.452 0.387
temperature
CDDT8-80 0.611 0.681 1.000 0.559 0.572
annual daily average relative 0.433 0.452 0.559 1.000 0.864
humidity
winter daily average relative 0.410 0.387 0.572 0.864 1.000
humidity

6
X. Tian, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186

Fig. 4. R-type clustering tree of primary indexes.

certain extent. equipment is similar, the value of T8−80 will not be affected.
In order to compare, we searched some articles about climate Thirdly, our calculation sets extremely strict input conditions. These
zoning in agriculture and architecture for analysis. In the study of measures include the maximum gasification load and extremely high
agricultural climate index, the statistical method is often used to ana- daily relative humidity. The calculated value of T8−80 is much larger
lyze the meteorological parameters directly. The main methods used than the actual situation.
are clustering and correlation analysis, which is consistent with some of When faced with general engineering application problems, re-
our research methods. Most of these studies do not analyze the growth calculation is unnecessary. Of course, if faced with extremely strict
characteristics of crops. The obtained climate indicators are often scientific research problems, the value of T8−80 can be recalculated
highly dependent on regional climate data and have low applicability in with reference to the aforementioned theories and methods.
other regions (Song, Chen, & Chen, 2009; Xu, Gao, & Zhu, 2019). In the
field of building climate zoning, some zoning indicators are directly
proposed based on life and industry experience (Verichev, Zamorano, & 4.2. Analysis on the application of the indicators in cities
Carpio, 2019). The author studies the classification methods of these
indexes and discusses the differences between the new partition and the For cities that have not yet established AAV’s climate zoning, we can
existing partition. There are still some zoning indicators in the study try to use three indicators to evaluate the local environment, so as to
that have been established in the industry or other studies but have not obtain suggestions on scheme design or equipment selection. In order to
been applied in the studied areas and working conditions. Some authors further illustrate the use of the new indicators, we still selected four
creatively use clustering and statistical methods to create partitions (Li, cities around the world for example.
Geng, Yuan, Wang, & Zhang, 2018; Reza & Roshan et al., 2019). As shown in Table 3, the three indicators quantitatively show
Different from the previous studies, we have tried to carry out the whether the area has good climatic conditions for AAV application.
work of climate zoning for the first time in the field of AAV and put First of all, there is no significant difference between the average re-
forward new indicators. In the research process, the clustering method lative humidity of the four cities in winter, which is between 60 % and
used in the process of index reduction is similar, but it focuses more on 70 %. This humidity level will not cause too much trouble for frosting,
the source and establishment of index. Most of the indicators of climate so it does not need to be considered separately. Among them, Beijing
regionalization research are based on simple experience or existing in and Saint Johnsburg are close in latitude, located in the northeast of
other fields. The biggest difference is that our research work clearly China and the United States respectively. Their average daily tem-
shows the idea and method of establishing a climate zoning index for perature of the coldest month and CDD T8−80 are very close. The heat
equipment with strong environmental correlation. transfer condition of about -10℃ indicates that the energy consumption
In order to improve the application effect of AAV, there is still a lot type reheater must be equipped for AAV at the peak load in winter. The
of work to be done in climate zoning. In order to provide reference for regenerator should be always on in winter. The CDD T8−80 is about
the follow-up study, we discussed some problems about the application 500, which means that there are few opportunities for the two cities to
of indicators. operate AAV independently and continuously throughout the year, and
the regenerator needs to be opened frequently. For the application of
AAV, the climate conditions in these two cities are relatively poor, the
4.1. Universality of T8−80 value energy consumption is relatively high, and it needs to be additionally
equipped with high load regenerators. Hobart is located in the south-
As mentioned before, we set T8−80 to 14℃ by calculation. Generally ernmost part of Australia, with an average daily temperature of 9.7℃ in
speaking, this value doesn’t need additional correction or calculation.
There are three reasons: Table 3
Firstly, most of AAV's structures are similar through our field re- Climate zoning indicators of AAV in representative cities.
search. The equipment model used in our calculation process is widely
Beijing Saint Johnsburg Hobart Guaratieta
used in the industry. In the case of higher designed gasification capa-
city, multiple equipment of the above models are often used for linkage. Longitude 116.20 −72.02–72.02 147.33 −45.20
In this case, it can be considered as multiple independent equipment for (°)
design. Latitude 39.56 44.42 −42.89 −22.78
(°)
Secondly, according to our previous research, the thermal resistance
Coldest month daily average −12.6 −9.9 9.7 19.9
of frost layer and convective heat transfer between frost and air account temperature
for more than 90 % of the total thermal resistance of AAV (Lemei, Ren, (℃)
Jiao, & Tian, 2019; Liu, Jiao, & Ren, 2016). In addition, another pre- CDDT8−80 510.0 525.0 823.0 3780.0
vious article showed that the average total heat transfer coefficient of a (℃·d)
Winter daily average relative 57.1 65.7 72.2 69.2
typical fin tube bundles is about 9.6 % lower than that of a single tube
humidity
in a large space (Liu, Jiao, Ren, Ren et al., 2016). Therefore, the dif- (%)
ference of AAV structure has little effect on heat transfer. When the

7
X. Tian, et al. Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186

Fig. 5. Spatial distribution of AAV climatic zoning indicators.

8
X. Tian, et al.
the coldest month. The AAV occasionally needs a reheater for linkage
when it is applied in winter. The CDD T8−80 is 823, indicating that AAV
can operate independently most of the time. Finally, Guaratieta is lo-
cated in the south of Brazil, close to the Tropic of cancer. Its climate
indicators are very friendly to AAV. The average daily temperature of
the coldest month is still higher than 14℃, while the CDD T8−80 has
reached an astonishing 3780℃·d. It shows that AAV has extremely ex-
cellent application conditions in Guaratieta, which can meet the needs
of 8 -h independent switching operation throughout the year. There is
no need to configure the regenerator, on the one hand, it will save in-
vestment, on the other hand, it will hardly produce any additional
energy consumption and save operation cost.
4.3. Analysis on the application of indicators in the region
For regions trying to establish climate zoning, we can use three
indicators for statistical analysis and calculation, first try to establish a
single indicator distribution map and carry out climate zoning. Then,
the single index climate zoning map is used for fusion. Finally, a
comprehensive climate zoning map can be established after several
verifications and corrections. Taking China as an example, we tried to
make a single index partition map by using statistical means. We used
the method of multiple regression analysis and trend surface difference
to study the interpolation of three climate indexes and established the
spatial estimation model.
(16)
CDD14 = 6042.1 − 17.05X − 65.539Y − 0.64318H
ATC = 61.2761 − 0.168X − 1.2337Y − 0.0035H (17)
ARHW = 1.0631 − 0.0014X − 0.0056Y − 0.0001H (18)
where X is longitude; Y is latitude; H is altitude; ATC is the coldest
month daily average temperature; ARHW is the winter daily average
relative humidity.
Through the spatial estimation model, we draw the distribution map
of each index in China. According to the distribution of these indicators
in China, we simply divided the regions and discussed them separately.
As shown in Fig. 5, the distribution of winter average relative humidity
in China is divided into two regions. The application of AAV in A area a
is likely to face the risk of severe frost and cold fog. The distribution of
CDD T8−80 in China is divided into three regions. CDD T8−80 in area A
is generally 500℃·d or above, and there are more opportunities for AAV
to operate independently. The southern part of area A has a good
temperature level throughout the year. When AAV is applied in areas B
and C, the regenerator needs to be opened all year round. The dis-
tribution of the mean daily temperature of the coldest month in China is
divided into three regions. The average temperature of the coldest
month in area A is generally 5 ℃ or above, and AAV has the possibility
of independent operation in winter. When AAV is applied in B and C
areas, the regenerator consumes a lot of energy in winter.
On the basis of single index zoning map, it can be more accurate and
simple to build a comprehensive climate zoning map. In the fusion map,
the number of subareas should not be too many. The number of single
index subareas should be considered in a unified way. According to the
distribution range of the three indexes in the superposition area, the
selection method and application conditions of AAV in this area are
discussed respectively. After the correction of the actual survey data, a
comprehensive climate zoning map can be obtained. We will publish
the follow-up research results in another article.
(a) Spatial distribution of daily average relative humidity in winter
(b) Spatial distribution of CDD14
(c) Spatial distribution of coldest month daily average temperature
5. Conclusions
In the field of AAV application, we have carried out the research
9
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
work of climate index for the first time. Based on the establishment of
AAV heat transfer model, we quantitatively analyzed the strong en-
vironmental correlation of AAV heat transfer performance. Combined
with the qualitative analysis of AAV thermal load characteristics, we
put forward an innovative index system suitable for AAV operation
environment climate zoning. We clearly and comprehensively show the
sources and establishment methods of indicators. We also pointed out
the follow-up research ideas of AAV climate zoning and discussed the
application methods of the indicators. The main conclusions are:
(1) The heat transfer performance of AAV is closely related to climate
and environment. Ambient air temperature is the most important
factor affecting the performance of AAV. When the outlet tem-
perature and single continuous operation time of AAV are fixed, the
ambient temperature must meet an approximate fixed value.
(2) T8−80 is proposed as the ambient air temperature corresponding to
the ambient humidity of 80 % when the operating cycle of AAV
reaches 8 h. The AAV degree days (CDD T8−80) was defined as the
cumulative value of the annual average temperature above T8−80.
CDD T8−80 is the most important indicator of the year-round
friendliness of AAV application environment.
(3) The three climate elements of AAV degree days (CDD T8−80),
coldest month average daily temperature and winter average daily
relative humidity were selected as AAV operating environment
climate zoning indicators. Through the calculation of three in-
dicators, we can quickly evaluate the possibility of AAV application
in a city. The rigorous and clear index establishment process has
laid a foundation for the follow-up work of climate zoning.
Declaration of Competing Interest
None.
References
Alam, F., Alam, Q., Reza, S., et al. (2017). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and
Australia. 7th BSME International Conference on Thermal Engineering AIP Publishing
LLC.
Bernert, R. E. (1998). New concepts for tropical cryogenic ambient air vaporizers.
International Cryogenic Engineering Conference, 173–179.
Biao, S., Divyamaan, W., Utikar, R. P., et al. (2018). Modeling of cryogenic liquefied
natural gas ambient air vaporizers. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research,
57(28), 9281–9291.
Chen, J. C. (1966). Correlation for boiling heat transfer to saturated fluids in convective
flow. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Product Research and Development, 5(3),
322–329.
Chen, S., Lai, J., & Yin, J. (2010). Experiment on frost characteristic of air-warmed
cryogenic finned-tube vaporizer. Journal of Refrigeration, 31(4), 26–30.
Dutta, A., Karimi, I. A., & Farooq, S. (2018). Heating value reduction of lng (liquefied
natural gas) by recovering heavy hydrocarbons: Technoeconomic analyses using si-
mulation-based optimization. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 57(17).
Jeong, H. (2006). Optimum design of vaporizer fin with liquefied natural gas by nu-
merical analysis. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, 20(4), 545–553.
Jhee, S., Lee, K. S., & Kim, W. S. (2002). Effect of surface treatments on the frosting/
defrosting behavior of a fin-tube heat exchanger. International Journal of Refrigeration,
25(8), 1047–1053.
Kasumu, A. S., Li, V., Coleman, J. W., et al. (2018). Country-level life cycle assessment of
greenhouse gas emissions from liquefied natural gas trade for electricity generation.
Environmental Science and Technology, 52(4).
Kim, H. Y., Kim, C. H., & Han, D. G. (2015). Feasibility study on practical application of
AAV with a defrosting method. Journal of Industrial and Intelligent Information, 3(2).
Klimenko, V. V. (1990). Generalized correlation for two-phase forced flow heat transfer-
second assessment. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 33(10),
2073–2088.
Lemei Ren, Jiao, W., & Tian, X. (2019). Modeling and thermal resistance analysis of LNG
gasification in ambient air vaporizers. The 15th Cryogenics 2019, IIR Conference,
Prague, Czech Republic, April 8–11, 268–278.
Li, H., Mu, H., Gui, S., et al. (2014). Scenario analysis for optimal allocation of China\"s
electricity production system. Sustainable Cities and Society, 10, 241–244.
Li, L., Jiao, W., & Wang, H. (2015). Mechanism and calculation of heat transfer of LNG-
AAV under frosting condition. Natural Gas Industry B, 35(10), 117–124.
Li, Y., Geng, S., Yuan, Y., Wang, J., & Zhang, X. (2018). Evaluation of climatic zones and
field study on thermal comfort for underground engineering in China during summer.
Sustainable Cities and Society, 43, 421–431.
Liu, S., & Jiao, W. (2017). Numerical studies of the heat transfer performance of LNG
X. Tian, et al.
ambient air vaporizer under frost conditions. Oil & Gas Storage and Transportation, 8,
918–923.
Liu, S., Jiao, W., Ren, L., et al. (2016). Dynamic heat transfer analysis of liquefied natural
gas ambient air vaporizer under frost conditions. Applied Thermal Engineering, 110,
999–1006.
Liu, S., Jiao, W., Ren, L., et al. (2016). Dynamic heat transfer analysis of liquefied natural
gas ambient air vaporizer under frost conditions. Applied Thermal Engineering, 110.
Liu, S., Jiao, W., & Wang, H. (2016). Three-dimensional numerical analysis of the coupled
heat transfer performance of LNG ambient air vaporizer. Renewable Energy, 87,
1105–1112.
Mago, P. J., & Sherif, S. A. (2005). Frost formation and heat transfer on a cold surface in
ice fog. International Journal of Refrigeration, 28(4), 538–546.
Moustris, K. P., Nastos, P. T., Bartzokas, A., et al. (2014). Energy consumption based on
heating/cooling degree days within the urban environment of Athens, Greece.
Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 122(3), 517–529.
Patel, D., Mak, J., Rivera, D., et al. (2013). LNG vaporizer selection based on site ambient
conditions. Proceedings of the LNG, 17, 16–19.
Reineberg, H. (2017). Natural gas and LNG: Future of electricity. Pipe Line and Gas
Journal, 244(9).
Reynolds, J., Rezgui, Y., & Hippolyte, J. L. (2017). Upscaling energy control from building
to districts: Current limitations and future perspectives. Sustainable Cities and Society
S221067071730135X.
Reza, G., Roshan, H., et al. (2019). Estimate of outdoor thermal comfort zones for dif-
ferent climatic regions of Iran. Urban Climate on SciVerse ScienceDirect.
Saidi, K., Rahman, M. M., & Amamri, M. (2017). The causal nexus between economic
growth and energy consumption: New evidence from global panel of 53 countries.
Sustainable Cities and Society S2210670716307132.
Shen, C., Wang, Y., Zhao, Z., Jiang, Y., & Yao, Y. (2018). Decoupling analysis on the
variations of liquid velocity and heat flux in the test of fouling thermal resistance.
International Journal on Heat and Mass Transfer, 123, 227–238.
10
Sustainable Cities and Society 60 (2020) 102186
Song, W., Chen, B., & Chen, X. (2009). Evaluation for use efficiency of agricultural re-
sources in grain production: A case study of Changshu, Taihe and Ansai in China.
Chinese Geographical Science, 19(1), 46–54.
Verichev, K., & Carpio, M. (2018). Climatic zoning for building construction in a tem-
perate climate of Chile. Sustainable Cities and Society S2210670717312246.
Verichev, K., Zamorano, M., & Carpio, M. (2019). Assessing the applicability of various
climatic zoning methods for building construction: Case study from the extreme
southern part of Chile. Building and Environment, 160, 106165.
Wang, Y., Chen, J., Ding, M.-z, et al. (2004). Joint seasonal peak-shaving of multiple cities
natural gas transmission and distribution systems. Gas & Heat.
Wang, Y., Shen, C., Tang, Z., Yao, Y., Wang, X., & Park, B. (2019). Interaction between
particulate fouling and precipitation fouling: Sticking probability and deposit bond
strength. International Journal on Heat and Mass Transfer, 144, 118700.
Wei, Z. (2014). Design of LNG/L-CNG filling station. Chemical Engineering of Oil & Gas.
Welch, T. H., Smith, J. G., Rix, J. P., et al. (1971). Meeting seasonal peak demands for
natural gas. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 22(1 Supplement), 93–106.
Xu, S., Chen, X., & Fan, Z. (2016). Thermal design of intermediate fluid vaporizer for
subcritical liquefied natural gas. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 32,
10–19.
Xu, X., Gao, P., Zhu, X., et al. (2019). Design of an integrated climatic assessment in-
dicator (ICAI) for wheat production: A case study in Jiangsu Province, China.
Ecological Indicators, 101, 943–953.
Yang, D. K., Lee, K. S., & Song, S. (2006). Modeling for predicting frosting behavior of a
fin–tube heat exchange. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 49(7–8),
1472–1479.
Yi, Z., & Shaoping, A. (2012). Dynamic simulation and operation optimization of BOG
compressors in LNG gasification plant. Chemical Engineering of Oil & Gas, 41(1),
53–57.
Yijun, L. (2010). An analysis of "gas famine" in China from the perspective of natural gas
industrial chain. Natural Gas Industry, 30(1), 119–122.