Effect of the microchannel obstacles on the pressure performance and flow behaviors of the hydrogen Knudsen compressor

The hydrogen Knudsen compressor has potential applications on the hydrogen transmission for the microdevices and systems. In this paper, the numerical model of the hydrogen Knudsen compressor was established, combining the NS continuity equations with the slip boundary conditions. The effect of structures on the performance of the hydrogen Knudsen compressor is studied by generating different obstacles in the microchannels. This paper is mainly concerned on the rectangular and the triangular obstacles, and the influence of the obstacles length and height are investigated, respectively. The Knudsen number distribution and the rarefaction of the hydrogen gas flow are analyzed. Also, the characteristic of the pressure increase for the compressor under different parameters are investigated and discussed. The effect of the structure parameters on the flow velocity distributions are detailed described, as well as the velocity contour and the vortex distributions. Moreover, the variation of the Knudsen layers of the hydrogen gas flow in the hydrogen Knudsen compressor is presented, and the key factor of the Knudsen layers is analyzed and discussed. The results is significantly beneficial for the applications and designs of hydrogen Knudsen compressor.     

Non-equilibrium evolution and characteristics of the serrated microchannel hydrogen knudsen compressor

The hydrogen Knudsen compressor has great potential to transport hydrogen and provide the required pressure in MEMS and microfluidic systems. The microchannel composed of cold and hot serrated surfaces is beneficial to the temperature control of the multistage Knudsen compressor. In the present study, a serrated hydrogen Knudsen compressor model is established initially, and the non-equilibrium evolution is numerically studied by using the method of N–S equations with the slip boundary. The key factors affecting the non-equilibrium evolution are comprehensively analyzed. The flow behaviors and performance of the serrated hydrogen Knudsen compressor in different times are studied. It is found that the main factors affecting the non-equilibrium evolution are the thermal expansion flow, thermal transpiration flow, and Poiseuille flow. Meanwhile, the serrated structure affects the local flow in the serrated microchannel at different times. Under the interaction of the thermal transpiration flow and the Poiseuille flow, the pressure difference between the two containers first increases rapidly and then decreases slowly, and finally approaches 1886 Pa. The research reveals the flow mechanisms of the hydrogen Knudsen compressor in the non-equilibrium evolution, which provides theoretical support for the safety and reliability of the hydrogen Knudsen compressor.     

The hydrogen flow characteristics of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor based on the thermal transpiration effect

Multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor based on the thermal transpiration effect has very exciting prospect for the hydrogen transmission in the micro devices. Understanding of the hydrogen flow characteristic is the key issue for the designs and applications of the hydrogen energy systems. Firstly, the numerical models of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor are established. The distributions of the rarefaction, velocity and temperature at different stages of the hydrogen flow are calculated and presented. Moreover, the dimensional pressure increases of the hydrogen gas flow are analyzed, and the flow behaviors in the microchannel and the connection channel are discussed. Secondly, the numerical simulation at different connection channel height is implemented, and the hydrogen gas flow characteristics in the connection are analyzed. Especially, the performances of the pressure drop in the connection channel under different channel heights are studied, and the hydrogen gas compression characteristics of different cases are compared and discussed. Also, the effect of the connection channel height on the hydrogen gas pressure increase in the microchannel is investigated. The studies presented in this paper could be greatly beneficial for the hydrogen detection and transmission.     

Transient flow performance and heat transfer characteristic in the cylinder of hydraulic driving piston hydrogen compressor during compression stroke

With the advantages of large flow capacity and high pressure, the use of hydraulic driving piston compressors in hydrogen refueling stations is becoming the development trend. Understanding transient flow and heat transfer characteristic is the key issue for the design and application of hydrogen compressors. The transient model of the hydraulic driving piston compressor is constructed by dynamic mesh and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) real hydrogen model, which accurately predicts flow field and heat transfer. Moreover, the effect of piston reciprocating cycle frequency on hydrogen parameters variation and heat transfer characteristic is investigated. Adiabatic compression theory is commonly applied in the design of reciprocating compressors. The results show that due to the heat transfer, the exhaust temperature predicted by the adiabatic compression theory is 6.29 K higher than the actual value. This study provides beneficial references for the design optimization and reliable operation of hydraulic driving piston hydrogen compressors.     

Flow and transmission characteristics of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump in the micro-power system

The multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump based on the thermal transpiration effect has exciting application prospects for hydrogen transport in the micro-power system. The multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump with the silica microchannel is beneficial to its temperature control, which can accurately provide hydrogen transport and storage for the micro-power system. In this paper, the model of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump with the silica microchannel is established. The effects of the microchannel height, width and parallel number on the flow and transmission characteristics of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump are studied by using the method of N–S equations with the slip boundary. The temperature difference, Knudsen number, thermal transpiration effect, maximum mass flow rate, maximum pressure difference and performance curve under different microchannel parameters are analyzed in detail. The results show that the thermal transpiration effect increases with the microchannel height and decreases with the microchannel width. As the number of parallel microchannels increases, the microchannel is closer to the silicon cantilever, and the thermal transpiration effect becomes stronger. The pumping performance increases with the microchannel height, width and parallel number. The pressurization performance increases with the microchannel height and parallel number. The research results have important guiding significance for the application and design of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen pump in the micro-power system.     

Study on the performance deterioration of mixed flow impeller due to change in tip clearance

Performance of mixed flow compressor with un-shrouded impeller strongly depends upon unsteady, asymmetrical flow fields in the axial directions. The flow through the mixed flow impeller is complex due to three-dimensional nature of geometry. In mixed flow impeller, there are clearances between the rotating impeller blades and the casing as the high pressure ratio compressors are usually open shrouded impellers. As a result, certain amount of reduction in the performance is unavoidable due to clearance flows. In the present investigations, numerical analysis is performed using a commercial code to investigate tip clearance effects on through flow. The perform- ance of mixed flow impeller with four different clearances between impeller and stationary shroud are evaluated and compared with experimental results. The impeller performance map was obtained for different operating speeds and mass flow rates with different tip clearances. The result shows that the tip leakage flow strongly inter- acts with mainstream and contributes to total pressure loss and performance reduction. The pressure and per- formance decrement are approximately linearly proportional to the gap between impeller and stationary shroud. The analysis showed scope for improvement in design of the compressor for better performance in terms of effi- ciency and operating range.     

Performance improvement of centrifugal compressors for fuel cell vehicles using the aerodynamic optimization and data mining methods

Centrifugal compressors are one of the most important auxiliary components in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell vehicles, which tend to operate at a narrow area with low specific speed. Here, the optimal design goals of centrifugal compressors are investigated on the basis of a lumped model for fuel cell systems. A three-dimensional multi-objective and multi-point aerodynamic optimization and data mining method for centrifugal compressors named ODM is presented via integrating a multi-island genetic algorithm, Reynolds-Average Navier-Stokes solver technique and self-organization map based data mining technique. Data mining indicates that compressor geometry would move to a small inlet diameter ratio and a narrow region of the outlet width ratio. Based on the optimization results, a centrifugal compressor for 100 kW fuel cell stack is manufactured. The experimental results show that the improvement of isentropic efficiency near low mass flow has been achieved, which indicates that the proposed ODM is effective in the performance improvement of centrifugal compressors for fuel cell vehicles.     

一种基于全三维数值计算的多级轴流压气机喘振边界预测方法

提出一种基于全三维数值计算的多级轴流压气机喘振边界预测方法。该方法采用了NUMECA和ANSYS/CFX两种不同的商业软件,在充分考虑压气机几何结构特征的基础上,根据压气机各级叶片排结构特点,建立了通用的压气机叶片排网格拓扑结构,并从各个方向对压气机叶片排网格节点进行控制来保证压气机叶片排各向网格节点一致。对不同负荷类型、不同结构型式的压气机特性进行了算例分析,并就流量、压比和效率等压气机特性参数进行对比研究。结果表明:该喘振边界预测方法对不同压气机具有较高的适用性,计算结果与试验结果也比较吻合。     

Characteristics of thermal transpiration effect and the hydrogen flow behaviors in the microchannel with semicircular obstacle

The thermal transpiration effect has great potential applications for the hydrogen energy. In this paper, the thermal transpiration effect and the hydrogen flow behaviors are studied in the microchannel with the semicircular obstacles. Firstly, the slip boundary model is used in the simulation of the flow performance in the microchannel. The validity of the model at different Kn is verified by comparing with some previous work. Then, the hydrogen flow characteristics of the thermal transpiration effect with the semicircular obstacle are investigated. The result shows that as the size of the semicircular obstacle increases, the hydrogen flow path of the thermal transpiration effect becomes longer, and the temperature gradient decreases. As the characteristic length of the hydrogen flow decreases, there is an obviously negative influence on the thermal transpiration flow. A deeper analysis shows that the thermal driven flow and the pressure driven flow will produce y-component velocity, which leads to a backflow under the effect of semicircles, and the semicircular obstacles make the Knudsen layer spread to the channel center.     

Mathematical modeling of the working cycle of oil injected rotary twin screw compressor

Oil injected twin-screw air and gas compressors are widely used for medium pressure applications in many industries. Low cost air compressors can be adopted for compression of helium and special gases, leading to significant cost saving. Mathematical analysis of oil injected twin-screw compressor is carried out on the basis of the laws of perfect gas and standard thermodynamic relations. Heat transfer coefficient required for computer simulation is experimentally obtained and used in performance prediction, when the working medium being air or helium. A mathematical model has been developed for calculating the compressor performance and for validating the results with experimental data. The flow coefficients required for numerical simulation to calculate leakage flow rates are obtained from efficiency verses clearance curves. Effect of some of the compressor operating and design parameters on power and volumetric efficiencies have been analyzed and presented.     

双离心压气机共用单一进气歧管致进口流场畸变的仿真分析

针对V型发动机的共用单一管路对置离心压气机进口流场畸变特性进行了研究,通过台架试验测试了初始压气机性能,完成了仿真模型的标定。在此基础上分析了压气机进口流场的变化特征,分析结果表明:共用单一管路对压气机特性影响明显,造成了两侧压气机堵塞流量的降低,在大流量工况区域效率明显下降,右侧压气机恶化程度要明显高于左侧。原因在于受安装位置空间限制,喉口处畸变扩展与进口周向畸变叠加效应使得右侧压气机在周向和叶高方向的畸变程度均高于左侧压气机。进口的畸变效应会一直持续至压气机叶轮内部,使压气机性能变差。     

某压气机内部三维流场数值模拟研究

以某重型燃气轮机的整个压气机为研究对象,通过计算软件对该压气机内部三维流场进行设计工况下的数值模拟研究,获得的压气机特性计算结果与试验值吻合良好;并详细分析了该压气机内部流场结构,找出了该燃气轮机最大噪声位置及其形成原因,同时获得了两种压气机内部流场的控制方法,对于压气机设计具有指导意义.     

Experimental Investigation of the Three—Dimensional Flow in an Annular Compressor Cascade at Large Incidence

This paper presents a detailed experimental investigation concerning the influence of blade loading (incidence)on the three-dimensional flow in an annular compressor cascade.The data are acquired at four incidence anglesunder low Mach number and low Reynolds number conditions.Experimental techniquss include the oil-filmvisualization on the profile and the endwall surfaces,the laser-sheet visualization of the flow field inside theblade passage,and the measurement by radial-circumferential traveress using a seven-hole probe.The behaviorand nature of the three-dimensional flow with severe separations inside the blade passage and at the exit areobtained.The distributions of the total pressure loss,static pressure,velocity and outflow angle are also given.These results are valuable for establishing the physical model of the three-dimensional complex flow in axialcompressors and for examining the computational procedures.     

压气机分层优化气动设计体系研究

基于压气机分层次气动优化设计思想,结合了优化算法、CFD(计算流体力学)技术与压气机气动设计程序,利用商业软件,建立了压气机气动优化设计平台,将气动优化设计思想融入到了压气机气动设计多个阶段,以实现压气机气动设计使性能最优化的目的.应用商业通用优化平台进行了轴流压气机一维、S2反问题气动优化设计,并采用NUMECA提供的全三维优化设计平台对压气机进行了全三维气动优化设计.计算结果表明:分层气动优化设计是提高压气机气动性能的有效手段,先进的优化算法在气动设计的各阶段都能够比传统设计手段更大限度地实现压气机性能的最优化.     

Calibration of low-pressure MEMS gas sensor for detection of hydrogen gas

Detection of hydrogen by sensors are significant for improvement and safe usage of hydrogen gas as an energy source. In this paper, the application of the MEMS gas sensor for detection of hydrogen gas is numerically studied to develop the application of this device in different industrial applications. The flow feature and force generation mechanism inside a rectangular enclosure with heat and cold arms as the non-isothermal walls are inclusively discussed. In this study, the pressure of hydrogen is varied from 62 to 1500 pa correspond to Knudsen number from 0.1 to 4.5 to investigate all characteristics of the thermal-driven force inside the MEMS sensor. In order to simulate a rarefied gas inside the micro gas detector, Boltzmann equations are applied to obtain high precision results. To solve these equations, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) approach is used as a robust method for the non-equilibrium flow field. The effects of length, thickness and temperature of arms are comprehensively investigated in different ambient pressures. In addition, the effect of various hydrogen concentrations on the Knudsen force is studied. Our findings show that maximum Knudsen force occurs at P = 387 pressure and intensifies when the length of the arms is increased from 50 μm to 150 μm. In addition, the obtained results demonstrate that the generated force is highly sensitive to hydrogen gas species and this enables device for detection of hydrogen gas.     

The influence of wedge diffuser blade number and divergence angle on the performance of a high pressure ratio centrifugal compressor

Wedge diffuser is widely used in centrifugal compressors due to its high performance and compact size. This paper is aimed to research the influence of wedge diffuser blade number and divergence angle on centrifugal compressor performance. The impact of wedge diffuser blade number on compressor stage performance is investigated, and then the wedge diffusers with different divergence angle are studied by varying diffuser wedge angle and blade number simultaneously. It is found that wedge diffuser with 27 blades could have about 0.8% higher adiabatic efficiency and 0.14 higher total pressure ratio than the wedge diffuser with 19 blades and the best compressor performance is achieved when diffuser divergence angle is 8.3°.These results could give some advices on centrifugal compressor design.     

Study on the high-pressure hydrogen gas flow characteristics of the needle valve with different spool shapes

The needle valve is a critical control unit for high-pressure hydrogen systems such as hydrogen refueling stations, which is the infrastructure of hydrogen energy. As an important part of the needle valve, the valve spool affects the flow characteristics of hydrogen in the valve and then affects the working performance and safety of the high-pressure hydrogen valve. In this paper, based on the real hydrogen gas model and the finite volume method, a CFD model of the high-pressure hydrogen needle valve is constructed to find out the influence of the valve spool shape on the performance and flow characteristics of the high-pressure hydrogen needle valve. The results show that high-pressure hydrogen will produce a sudden change in pressure around the valve spool and there will be a local high-speed area, and the turbulent intensity will also increase. The arc cone spool can increase the flow by 2%–8% at different openings of the valve, and reduce the maximum speed at the spool by 15% at small openings. In addition, the sudden change of pressure and the eddy current have also been improved. Flat-bottomed cone spool reduces turbulence intensity and energy consumption. Therefore, it can be concluded that changing the shape of the valve spool to have a larger flow area at a small opening can make the high-pressure hydrogen valve have a better flow field distribution. Flattening the cone angle of the spool can improve the turbulent flow in the valve. The research in this paper can provide research accumulation and theoretical support for the optimization design of the needle valve of the high-pressure hydrogen system.     

Design of a hydrogen compressor for hydrogen fueling stations

Hydrogen compressors dominate the hydrogen refueling station costs. Metal hydride based thermally driven hydrogen compressor (MHHC) is a promising technology for the compression of hydrogen. Selection of metal hydride alloys and reactor design have a great impact on the performance of the thermally driven MHHC. A thermal model is developed to study the performance characteristics of the two-stage MHHC at different operating conditions. The effects of heat source temperature and hydrogen supply pressure on the compression ratio and isentropic efficiency are investigated. Finite volume method is used for discretizing the reaction kinetics, continuity, momentum and energy equations. Metal hydrides selected for this analysis are Mm_0.2La_0.6Ca_0.2Ni₅ and Ti_1.1Cr_1.5Mn_0.4V_0.1. The thermal model was validated with the results extracted from an experimental study. Validation results demonstrated that the numerical results are in good agreement with the data reported in literature.     

Power and efficiency optimization for combined Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles

A thermodynamic model for open combined Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles is established considering the pressure drops of the working fluid along the flow processes and the size constraints of the real power plant using finite time thermodynamics in this paper. There are 11 flow resistances encountered by the gas stream for the combined Brayton and inverse Brayton cycles. Four of these, the friction through the blades and vanes of the compressors and the turbines, are related to the isentropic efficiencies. The remaining flow resistances are always present because of the changes in flow cross-section at the compressor inlet of the top cycle, combustion inlet and outlet, turbine outlet of the top cycle, turbine outlet of the bottom cycle, heat exchanger inlet, and compressor inlet of the bottom cycle. These resistances control the air flow rate and the net power output. The relative pressure drops associated with the flow through various cross-sectional areas are derived as functions of the compressor inlet relative pressure drop of the top cycle. The analytical formulae about the relations between power output, thermal conversion efficiency, and the compressor pressure ratio of the top cycle are derived with the 11 pressure drop losses in the intake, compression, combustion, expansion, and flow process in the piping, the heat transfer loss to the ambient, the irreversible compression and expansion losses in the compressors and the turbines, and the irreversible combustion loss in the combustion chamber. The performance of the model cycle is optimized by adjusting the compressor inlet pressure of the bottom cycle, the air mass flow rate and the distribution of pressure losses along the flow path. It is shown that the power output has a maximum with respect to the compressor inlet pressure of the bottom cycle, the air mass flow rate or any of the overall pressure drops, and the maximized power output has an additional maximum with respect to the compressor pressure ratio of the top cycle. When the optimization is performed with the constraints of a fixed fuel flow rate and the power plant size, the power output and efficiency can be maximized again by properly allocating the fixed overall flow area among the compressor inlet of the top cycle and the turbine outlet of the bottom cycle.     

Theoretical study of the dynamic characteristics of a self-commutating liquid piston hydrogen compressor

Hydrogen is being more and more widely deployed in various fields for its ‘clean’ character. For applications in automobiles where hydrogen has already been adopted for years, higher pressure means better mileage. To improve the pressure of the hydrogen compressor, a novel self-commutating liquid piston hydrogen compressor is proposed in the present study. A two-stage hydrogen booster is designed on both sides of the hydraulic cylinder piston, which is driven by a spool installed in the cylinder piston. The benefits of the novel hydrogen compressor are reducing the throttling loss and enhancing the response of the piston. Furthermore, the principle of the hydrogen compressor is illustrated, based on which a dynamic model is established while taking oil compressibility, leakage and flow force in the compression process into consideration. Moreover, system simulation model is established by applying the simulation software, verifying the feasibility and validity of the novel structure. Accordingly, the energy efficiency on the mechanical-hydraulic structure is improved.