Simulation and experimental measurements of 10-kW PEMFC passive hydrogen recovery system

Simulations are performed to examine the performance of a vacuum ejector in the hydrogen recovery loop of a 10-kW PEMFC system. The simulations commence by examining the effects of the primary flow fluid pressure and secondary flow temperature on the recirculation ratio and hydrogen stoichiometric ratio. Further simulations are then performed to investigate the temperature, pressure, velocity and Mach number distributions within the ejector for various values of the primary flow inlet pressure and temperature. A prototype ejector is fabricated using a 3D printing technique. Experiments are performed to evaluate the gas tightness and gas recovery performance of the ejector under realistic operating conditions. The simulation results show that the recirculation ratio and hydrogen stoichiometric ratio increase with a decreasing primary flow inlet pressure and secondary flow inlet temperature. As the primary flow inlet pressure increases, the pressure, velocity, and Mach number in the mixing chamber increase, and the hydrogen recovery performance decreases. Furthermore, as the temperature of the primary fluid flow increases, the stability of the isentropic flow condition within the ejector is enhanced. The experimental results show that the prototype vacuum ejector has a maximum gas leakage of just 0.7 psi and a minimum hydrogen recirculation rate of 59.3%. Consequently, it has significant potential for passive hydrogen recovery in large-scale fuel cell systems.     

Experimental investigation on starting process of supersonic single-stage air ejector

This paper deals with experimental study of flow field of starting process in two-dimensional, single-stage supersonic ejector on different air total pressure. Schlieren pictures of flow field were taken, static pressure distribu-tions on side wall were measured. The obtained results show that, on critical pressure, the starting main shock waves in ejector oscillated back and forth between the second throat and the middle section of the mixing chamber, it causes the pressure in the second half of the mixing chamber acutely fluctuated .When the working pressure of the active flow is higher than the critical starting pressure, ejector starts normally and the inner flow-field of the mixing chamber keeps stable and the shock waves in the second throat have a certain degree of oscillation . After ejector starts, the operating pressure of the active flow may be lower than the starting pressure .     

Experimental and Numerical Analysis on the Internal Flow of Supersonic Ejector Under Different Working Modes

Supersonic ejectors involve very complex phenomena such as interaction between supersonic and subsonic flows, shock trains, instabilities, which strongly influences the performance of supersonic ejector. In this study, the static pressure distribution along the ejector wall and Mach number distribution along the axis are used to investigate the internal flow field of supersonic ejector. Results indicate that when the back pressure is much less than the critical back pressure, there are two series of shock trains, and the change of the back pressure will not affect the flow field before the effective area section, so the entrainment ratio would remain constant. The second shock train moves further upstream and is combined with the first shock train to form a single shock train as the back pressure rises. When the back pressure is greater than the critical back pressure, the position of the shock train, the static pressure at its upstream and the entrainment ratio, will be affected. The “effective area section” in the mixing tube is obtained. The effective area section position moves downstream with the increase of the primary flow pressure, while it moves upstream with the increase of the secondary flow pressure. The entrainment ratio shows inversely proportional relationship with the effective section position. Besides, the first shock train length increases with the increase of primary flow pressure or secondary flow pressure. The critical back pressure represents direct proportional relationship to the first shock train length.     

二维流动模型的喷射器性能分析研究

采用二维轴对称流动模型，计算分析了吸入通道内回流现象、喷射器“恒能力”现象与静压力在轴线上分布情况之间的关系；探讨了工作压力对喷射器性能的影响。结果表明：持续降低出口压力会在混合室内形成激波，喷射因数保持不变；工作压力过高会在混合室内产生壅塞，反而降低喷射因数；吸入压力过低会在喷射器吸入通道内产生回流现象，影响喷射式制冷系统运行的安全性。     

Numerical analysis of Chevron nozzle effects on performance of the supersonic ejector-diffuser system

The supersonic nozzle is the most important device of an ejector-diffuser system.The best operation condition and optimal structure of supersonic nozzle are hardly known due to the complicated turbulent mixing,compressibility effects and even flow unsteadiness which are generated around the nozzle extent.In the present study,the primary stream nozzle was redesigned using convergent nozzle to activate the shear actions between the primary and secondary streams,by means of longitudinal vortices generated between the Chevron lobes.Exactly same geometrical model of ejector-diffuser system was created to validate the results of experimental data.The operation characteristics of the ejector system were compared between Chevron nozzle and conventional convergent nozzle for the primary stream.A CFD method has been applied to simulate the supersonic flows and shock waves inside the ejector.It is observed that the flow structure and shock system were changed and primary numerical analysis results show that the Chevron nozzle achieve a positive effect on the supersonic ejector-diffuser system performance.The ejector with Chevron nozzle can entrain more secondary stream with less primary stream mass flow rate.     

基于CFD数值模拟下的蒸汽喷射器性能预测

建立了蒸汽喷射器热力学模型,并验证了该模型性能及结构计算的可靠性。并针对实际情况中,对该模型进行了动态模拟。结果显示：当工作流体的温度升高时,工质流体的质量流量都会增加,引射系数存在峰值,峰值所对应温度为热力学模型设定温度值;当引射流体的温度升高时,其质量流量也会随之增大,而工作流体的质量流量则较稳定,因此引射流体温度与压力的升高可以改善喷射器的性能;当背压升高时,在一定压力范围内,工质流体的质量流量都趋于稳定,而当背压超过热力学模型设定背压值时,引射流体的质量流量便随背压的升高而急剧下降,喷射器性能严重恶化,故认为该压力值为喷射器的临界背压。本文研究结果对喷射器的设计计算具有一定的指导作用。 关键词：蒸汽喷射器;热力学模型;数值模拟;引射系数     

Optimization Study of a Coanda Ejector

The Coanda effect has long been employed in the aerospace applications to improve the performances of variousdevices.This effect is the ability of a flow to follow a curved contour without separation and has well been util-ized in ejectors where a high speed jet of fluid emerges from a nozzle in the ejector body, follows a curved sur-face and drags the secondary flow into the ejector.In Coanda ejectors,the secondary flow is dragged in the ejec-tor due to the primary flow momentum. The transfer of momentum from the primary flow to the secondary flowtakes place through turbulent mixing and viscous effects.The secondary flow is then dragged by turbulent shearforce of the ejector while being mixed with the primary flow by the persistence of a large turbulent intensitythroughout the ejector.The performance of a Coanda ejector is studied mainly based on how well it drags thesecondary flow and the amount of mixing between the two flows at the ejector exit.The aim of the present studyis to investigate the influence of various geometric parameters and pressure ratios on the Coanda ejector per-formance.The effect of various factors,such as,the pressure ratio, primary nozzle and ejector configurations onthe system performance has been evaluated based on a performance parameter defined elsewhere.The perform-ance of the Coanda ejector strongly depends on the primary nozzle configuration and the pressure ratio.The mix-ing layer growth plays a major role in optimizing the performance of the Coanda ejector as it decides the ratio ofsecondary mass flow rate to primary mass flow rate and the mixing length.     

Application of profiled ejector in chemical lasers

Recently, the use of profiled ejectors based on constant rate of momentum change [I.W. Eames, Applied Thermal Engineering 22 (2002) 121] along the mixing chamber has been proposed for enhancing the recovery ratio across an ejector stage by minimizing shock losses for application in ejector based refrigeration system. Such ejectors can achieve pressure recovery ratio in excess of 150, thus making the system a compact one. Chemical lasers in general and chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) in particular fall in the high power lasers category and find numerous applications in defense and industry. However, these lasers have not been exploited fully because these require pressure recovery systems for their operation and as such the practical systems are extremely voluminous and bulky. The profiled ejectors find direct applications in these lasers and thus can make the system extremely compact. The conventional supersonic COIL systems operate at a typical stagnation pressure of nearly 20 torr and a cavity static pressure of approximately 3 torr, which are amongst the lowest in the class of chemical lasers. Thus, a low-pressure operation of the laser system demands a high capacity vacuum system. Alternatively, efficient ejector based pressure recovery system has been utilized for achieving direct atmospheric exhaust of the lasing medium. However, a minimum of two-stage conventional supersonic ejectors need to be employed for the operation of the laser system. Multiple stages of the ejector are essential on account of the stagnation pressure loss occurring across a normal shock at the exit of the mixing chamber in each ejector stage. The present study presents a general treatment on the design of a profiled ejector for the case of dissimilar motive and suction fluids that are typical of these lasers. Also, determinations for the increase in recovery ratio for various conditions of entrainment ratio over the conventional ejectors have also been presented. Finally, a computational study using McCormack’s method for Euler system of equations has been carried out to numerically validate the analytical studies for a peripheral air ejector system suitable for a 500 W class COIL employing a flow rate of 3 gm/s with an entrainment ratio of 0.025. It has been concluded that a single-stage profiled ejector is sufficient to achieve atmospheric pressure recovery even in the low-pressure systems.     

Numerical investigation of ejector transient characteristics for a 130-kW PEMFC system

Improvement of fuel utilization is an important issue for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system. As a promising anode recirculation method, ejector has attracted great attention because it does not require additional power consumption. However, some transient processes such as the suck, diffusion, and mix of fluids are still not thoroughly revealed, which significantly influence ejector performances. In this study, a dynamic three-dimensional (3D) multicomponent ejector model for a 130-kW PEMFC system is developed. The model is validated against experimental data, including the entrainment ratio and mass flow rates. The effects of operating conditions (eg, pressure, water vapor, and nitrogen mass fraction) are investigated. The results show that the fuel supply can be controlled by the primary flow pressure. When the pressure difference between the primary and secondary flow is less than 10 kPa, the secondary flow cannot be sucked into the ejector. The transient response of ejector during stack power variations can be classified into two periods: the primary flow impact period and the mixed flow impact period. Under normal fuel cell system operating conditions, when the inlet relative humidity of the secondary flow is higher than 85%, the water vapor condensation is possible to happen at the ejector outlet region, leading to fuel supply instability. Besides, the hydrogen entrainment ratio decreases with the increase of nitrogen mass fraction. The effects of geometric parameters (eg, nozzle convergence angle, secondary flow tube diameter, mixing tube length, and diffuser angle) on ejector performances are also studied. It is found that the relatively short tube leads to pressure fluctuations in the vacuum region. Increasing the tube length is beneficial to creating a stable vacuum region. However, excessive tube length can increase the friction loss. Increasing the secondary flow inlet tube diameter is beneficial to the entrainment ratio. However, further enlarging the diameter contributes negligibly to the increase of entrainment ratio once the secondary flow mass rate depends on pressure.     

A novel thermally driven rotor-vane/pressure-exchange ejector refrigeration system with environmental benefits and energy efficiency

The latest results of an ongoing coordinated experimental and computational program on the design and performance of a novel supersonic rotor-vane/pressure-exchange ejector for thermally driven ejector refrigeration systems are presented. For the supersonic rotor-vane/pressure-exchange ejector, careful management of the entropy rise through the oblique shocks and boundary layers is required for obtaining an advance in ejector performance. Since the invention of this new ejector is quite recent, understanding its aerodynamics, with the consequent optimization of performance, is in the formative stage. This paper shows how the supersonic aerodynamics is managed to provide the desirable flow induction characteristics through computational study and, in parallel, experimental results including flow visualization showing actual behavior with different-shaped rotor vanes. The importance of the existence of the tail part with a long expansion ramp, the sharp leading edge such as knife-edge, the proper height of leading edges, for the overall shape of rotor vane, were observed. Also the larger spin-angle rotor vane produces better flow induction and mixing between primary flow and secondary flow.     

Transonic instability in entrance part of mixing chamber of high-speed ejector

Introduction The research of flow structure in the entrance part of the mixing chamber of two-dimensional supersonic ejector[1,2] shows, how this structure depends both on stagnation pressure ratio of streams p01/p02[3] and on back pressure ratio pb/p02 [4]. It was found out that the structure of shock waves is not stable, but it oscillates less or more. For the high back pressure ratio a terminal shock wave is in the mixing chamber and due to this shock wave the mixing processes change quali…     

Performance improvement of the vapour compression refrigeration cycle by a two‐phase constant area ejector

The performance of a vapour compression system that uses an ejector as an expansion device was investigated. In the analysis, a two‐phase constant area ejector flow model was used. R134a was selected as the refrigerant. According to the obtained results, for any operating temperature there are different optimum values of pressure drop in the suction chamber, ejector area ratio, ejector outlet pressure and cooling coefficient of performance (COP). As the difference between condenser and evaporator temperatures increases, the improvement ratio in COP rises whereas ejector area ratio drops. The minimum COP improvement ratio in the investigated field was 10.1%, while its maximum was 22.34%. Even in the case of an off‐design operation, the performance of a system with ejector is higher than that of the basic system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中压进汽腔的流场数值模拟比较

通过数值模拟计算,对中压对称进汽和切向进汽两种结构的流场进行了分析比较,结果表明,单一切向进汽腔的总压损失更小,出口汽流角的周向分布均匀度更好。更进一步,为整体评估中压进汽腔的流场以及对叶片级的流动影响,对中压进汽腔及第1级叶片的整体流体域流场情况进行了分析比较,结果表明,采用大几何角静叶的切向进汽腔气动性能最优;当采取切向进汽腔时,需合理选择第1级静叶几何角并耦合计算,才能实现进汽腔的气动优化。     

Structural optimization and experimental investigation of supersonic ejectors for boosting low pressure natural gas

The supersonic ejector was introduced into boosting the production of low pressure natural gas wells. The energy of high pressure gas wells, which was usually wasted through choke valves, was used as its power supply to boost the low gas production. The operating performance of natural gas ejectors was determined not only by the operating parameters but also by the structural parameters. This study focused on the structural optimization and operating performance of natural gas ejectors. The optimal structural parameters were obtained by numerical simulation when the maximum pressure ratio was obtained, and the numerical results were validated by experimental investigation. The numerical results showed that the optimal diameter ratio of mixing tube to primary nozzle throat was 1.6, the optimal length to diameter ratio of mixing tube was 4.0 and the optimal inclination angle of mixing chamber was 28°. The entrainment ratios and pressure ratios from the numerical simulation agreed well with the field experimental data, with the maximum value of pressure ratio up to 60%. The operating performance of the supersonic ejector was also investigated by the field experiment, and the results showed that the induced gas flowrate and entrainment ratio showed nonlinear characteristics with peak values when the motive pressure ranged from 8 MPa to 13 MPa. These experimental results have proved the optimized structural parameters of the supersonic ejector. The investigation will help to the further application in boosting natural gas production of supersonic ejector.     

R141b气液两相喷射器性能研究

考虑实际流体性质、混合室阻力和喉部激波现象,采用等压混合模型,根据质量守恒、动量守恒和能量守恒建立中心进气两相喷射器一维模型。以R141b为工质,研究在不同入口参数和混合室截面积变化比(混合室喉部截面积与混合室入口截面积之比)下喷射器的升压特性以及入口参数和混合室截面积变化比对喷射器出口压力和喷射系数的影响。结果表明:在一定工况下,入口主蒸汽压力每增加0.5 MPa,喷射器出口压力提高约0.002 MPa;入口引射液体压力每增加0.1 MPa,出口压力约升高0.6 MPa。相对于入口主蒸汽参数的变化,入口引射液体参数变化对喷射器的升压特性影响更大。另外,随着混合室截面变化比的增大,升压效果下降。在入口引射液体参数为0.1 MPa/299 K和0.2 MPa/321 K的条件下,混合室截面积比分别增至0.6和0.4时,出口处蒸汽不能完全凝结。研究结果适用于大部分工质,为喷射器的设计和运行提供理论指导。     

Supersonic Flow Structure in the Entrance Part of a Mixing Chamber of 2D Model Ejector

The paper deals with experimental and numerical results of investigation into supersonic and transonic flow past a two-dimensional model ejector. Results of optical measurements show a flow structure and flow parameter development in the entrance part of the mixing chamber of the ejector. Numerical results are obtained by means of both the straight solution of shock waves in supersonic flow field using classical relations of parameters of shock waves and the Fluent 6 program. Results of numerical solutions are compared with experimental pictures of flow fields. Flow structure development in the mixing chamber is analysed in detail.     

Factors affecting small axial cooling fan performance

Many factors such as outer diameter,hub ratio,blade numbers,shape and stagger angle affect the performance of small cooling fans.A small cooling fan was simulated using CFD software for three blade stagger angles (30.5°,37.5°,44.5°)and obtained the internal flow field and the static characteristics.Research indicated that the stagger angle has an obvious effect on the static characteristics of a fan.For flow rates below 0.0104 m3/s,total pressure is the greatest when the stagger angle is 37.5°;flow rates higher than 0.0104 m3/s,the total pressure is greatest when the stagger angle is 44.5° For the same flow rates,the velocity at inlet of pressure surface increases with increasing stagger angle,but the change of velocity on the suction surface is very small.For one model,vortices and the speed of revolution surfaces decrease with tip clearance increasing.But for other three models,increasing the stagger angle,the vortex intensity and speed of revolution surfaces at same height tip clearance increases,simultaneously,the position of vortex offset from the top of the rotor blade to the suction surface.     

Development of a combined system based on a PEMFC and hydrogen storage under different conditions equipped with an ejector cooling system

In the current work, thermodynamic examination for cogeneration of electricity and cooling based on a polymer exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell was carried out. To the waste energy in the fuel cell, an absorption refrigeration unit is employed in two modes with ejector and without ejector. This system includes a PEM-FC, an absorption refrigeration unit, a hydrogen storage tank, an ejector, and an air compressor. The produced thermal energy in the fuel cell is received entirely by a working fluid and is given to the absorption chiller generator. The system simulation was carried out from two perspectives of energy and fuel saving. Findings showed that the energy efficiency of the combined cooling and power (CCP) unit and the CCP system equipped with the ejector (CCP-E) was 63.72% and 78.33%, respectively. It indicated that adding the ejector to the system increases the energy efficiency of the system by 23%. The fuel economy percentages of the CCP system and CCP-E were 44.43% and 45.9%, respectively. The results also showed that adding the ejector in the refrigeration system increases the system performance by up to 44%. The presence of the ejector causes the working fluid flow in the evaporator to increase with the suction of the secondary flow, and the cooling capacity increases significantly. Moreover, with increasing generator and evaporator pressure, the suction ratio of the cooling system equipped with the ejector decreases and increases, respectively.     

Numerical modeling of two-phase supersonic ejectors for work-recovery applications

An ejector is a fluid pumping device that uses the energy of a high pressure motive fluid to raise the pressure of a secondary lower-pressure fluid. Motive pressure is converted into momentum through a choked nozzle creating a high velocity jet which entrains the surrounding low-momentum suction flow. The two streams mix and finally pressure is recovered through a diffuser. There has been little progress on high fidelity modeling of the expanding supersonic two-phase flow in refrigerant expansion work recovery ejectors due to rather complex physics involving nonequilibrium thermodynamics, shear mixing, and void fraction-dependent speed of sound. However, this technology can be applied to significantly increase the efficiency of space cooling and refrigeration devices. The approach developed in this study integrates models for real-fluid properties, local mass and energy transfer between the phases, and two-phase sonic velocity in the presence of phase change into a commercial CFD code. The intent is to create a practical design tool with better fidelity than HEM CFD models yet with tractability lacking in current boundary tracking phase change CFD models. The developed model has been validated through comparison of key performance metrics against test data under certain operating conditions.     

Experimental analysis of an ejector for anode recirculation in a 10 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system

For analyzing ejector's performance in the system, an ejector for a 10 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system was first designed, manufactured, and a 10 kW PEMFC system bench was built up. A proportional valve and PI pressure feedback control method were adopted to control the hydrogen supply and anode inlet pressure. During the test, performances between dead-ended anode (DEA) mode and ejector mode were compared. Ejector's performances in the system, i.e., volume flow recirculated ratio, difference pressure, dynamic responses of primary pressure, anode inlet pressure, and recirculated gas flow rate during the purge process and current variation condition, were investigated. The results show that pressure adjustment is accurate, continuous, and fast using the proportional valve and PI pressure feedback control method. The hydrogen consumption rate in the ejector mode can reduce from 5% to 10% compared with the rate in the DEA mode except for the stack current 5 A and 10 A conditions. For better water removal out of the anode channel in ejector mode, the maximum stack power increases from 5.11 kW (DEA mode) to 9.56 kW (ejector mode). Anode pressure surge caused by the purge valve switching enhances the ejector's recirculated performance significantly.