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…     

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 .     

Numerical Investigation of Two-Phase Flow in Natural Gas Ejector

Increasing production and recovery from the mature oil and gas fields often requires a boosting system when the gas pressure is lower than that demanded by the transportation or process system. The supersonic ejector, considered to be a cost-effective way to boost the production of a low-pressure gas well, was introduced into the industrial field. However, the exploitation of natural gas often accompanies with water. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique was employed to investigate the two-phase effect (water droplets) on the performance of natural gas ejector for the motive pressure ranging from 11.0 MPa to 13.0 MPa, induced pressure from 3.0 MPa to 5.0 MPa, and backpressure from 5.1 MPa to 5.6 MPa, while the injected water flow rate was less than 0.03 kg s^?1. The numerical results show that the entrainment ratio of the two-phase operation was higher than that of the single-phase operation with the variation of backpressure. Meanwhile, the entrainment ratio increased with the increase of injected water flow rate into the primary flow. When the water was injected into the secondary flow, the entrainment ratio decreased as the injected water flow rate increased, but the critical backpressure remained unchanged.     

The effect of secondary flows on the starting pressure for a second-throat supersonic ejector

The effect of the secondary flow on the starting pressure of a second-throat supersonic ejector has been investigated by adapting the height of the secondary flow inlet. The obtained results show that an optimum value of the secondary inlet height exists, and the starting pressure of the ejector becomes a minimum at that condition. Based on the results of the pressure measurements, a qualitative analysis has been made to clarify the flow behavior and the physical meaning of the performance diagram. It appears that the choking phenomenon of the secondary flow plays an important role in the starting process of the ejector. When the secondary inlet height is relatively small, the choked secondary flow and the supersonic primary flow could be employed to protect the static pressure in the suction chamber from being disturbed by the back pressure effect at a certain primary stagnation pressure, which is lower than the starting pressure for the case of the zero-secondary flow. However, as the secondary inlet height increases and exceeds a critical value, the static pressure in the suction chamber rapidly increases, and the starting pressure of the ejector increases accordingly.     

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.     

新型可调式喷射器性能的计算与分析

提出在喷射器喷嘴内插入喷针来调节喷射器工作参数的方案，建立了可调武喷射器性能计算模型，分析了喷嘴截面积变化对喷射系数、气体压力、气体流量等参数的影响。结果表明，通过对喷射器喉口面积的调节，可以实现把出口流量控制在一个稳定的区域内，从而减小喷射器入口参数对出口参数以至整个系统的影响。可调式喷嘴可拓宽喷射器的有效工作范围。     

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.     

An experimental Study on Transverse Hydrogen Gas Injection into Mach 1.8 Airflow Channel—The 1st report：single Circular Injector

Experimental results from a series of injection tests of pressurized H2,N2 gases into Mach 1.8 airflows between parallel channel walls through a flush-mounted circular sonic opening have been presented.Schlieren pictures revealed complex interaction flow features including the occurrence of bow/separation shock waves due to the injection as well as the barrel shock/Mach disc structure inside the injected gas stream.The injectant penetration measured by the Mach disc height against the injection pressure showed a good agreement with the correlation curve based upon the “effective back pressure” concept.The revesed flow region beneath the separation shock wave,the injectant wake and its associated flow entrainment were also visualized by the oil paint method.Wall static pressure distributions around the injector were measured in detail,which corresponded very well to the above results of flow visualization. Gas samplings were also undertaken by using the pressure taps to confirm the presence of H2 gas in the spearation region ahead of the injector.Traversing of total pressure and H2 gas concentration at the exit of the test channel showed monotonous increase of the loss while its profile was kept very similar with the injection pressure.The area indicating the loss and the presence of H2 gas almost coincided with each other,which remained to be small to indicate very slow gas mixing/diffusion with the main air flow.With the increase of airflow total temperature to 1200K,a bulk flame was first observed at the exit section.Further increase up to 1460 K observed an ignition flame at the injector.However,the reflection of the bow shock wave was found to be a more likely trigger of the bulk flame ignition within the test section.     

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.     

Navier—Stokes Computations of the Supersonic Ejector—Diffuser System with a Second Throat

The supersonic ejector-diffuser system with a second throat was simulated using CFD.An explicit finite volume scheme was applied to solve two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with standard κ-εturbulence model.The vacuum performance of the supersonic ejector-diffuser system was investigated by changing the ejector throat area ration and the operating pressure ratio.Two convergent-divergent nozzles with design Mach number of 2.11 and 3.41 were selected to give the supersonic operation of the ejector-diffuser system.The presence of a second throat strongly affected the shock wave structure inside the mixing tube as well as the spreading of the under-expanded jet discharging from the primary nozzle.There were optimum values of the operating pressure ratio and ejector throat area ratio for the vacuum performance of the system to maximize.     

Determination of optimum ejector operating pressures for anodic recirculation in SOFC systems

In this study, a numerical analysis of an ejector for micro combined heat and power system based on 18 kW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) using methane as fuel is presented. An ejector design, which reflects the real system conditions in the view of the flow characteristics, is provided and the ejector performance is numerically investigated for various methane pressure to exhaust pressure ratios and methane inlet temperatures. The results show that the fuel inlet temperature and the pressure ratio of the methane to exhaust significantly affect the steam to carbon ratio (STCR) and entrainment ratio. The higher pressure ratio and methane temperature allow a high entrainment ratio and STCR, but as pressure ratio and methane temperature increase, STCR and entrainment ratio remain unchanged after a specific value. 1140 different scenarios related with the inlet and outlet pressures of the ejector and methane temperature are created to determine the optimum operating conditions. The simulations show that the optimum methane inlet pressure is 7 bar and exhaust pressure is 1.159 bar for the ejector geometry of the interest. The entrainment ratio and STCR are determined as 2.05 and 0.92, respectively at this optimum scenario.     

Weight analysis on geometric parameters of ejector under high back pressure condition of SOFC recirculation system

With advantages of no parasitic energy consumption, small size, and low noise, ejector is a promising choice for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode gas recirculation system. However, it is difficult to design an ejector with good performance under the high back pressure condition of the SOFC system. In this paper, weight analysis on key geometric parameters of ejector is carried out based on the result of an experimentally validated ejector simulation model. Four main geometric parameters that have the most significant effect on ejector performance, namely the ejector diameter ratio (D_r), mixing chamber length (L_m), diffuser length (L_d), and nozzle outlet position (NXP), are analyzed in detail. The D_r has a decisive influence on the momentum exchange in the mixing phenomenon between the primary flow and secondary flow in the mixing chamber where the normal shock position changes accordingly. The L_m mainly affects the intensive mixing flow which leads the normal shock to appear prematurely. The L_d should be long enough for boosting back pressure and reducing the effect on the mixing process. The NXP has no effect on the normal shock position. The results show that the critical back pressure increases with the rise of normal shock position and the impact weight of L_m, L_d and NXP can be treated as 21∶10∶1 approximately and the D_r is thought to be a decisive factor. This weight analysis method will be helpful for designing ejectors used in the high back pressure condition of the SOFC anode recirculation system.     

蒸汽喷射器流动参数与性能的数值分析

通过二维流动数值计算，分析了以水蒸气为工质的喷射器内工作流体压力、引射流体压力及出口压力对喷射系数的影响；探讨了各工作参数变化对喷射系数产生影响的原因，以及激波产生的条件、激波的位置、强度，产生引射流体雍塞的条件等。结果表明：喷射器存在临界的出口压力pd，当喷射器出口压力大于pd时，喷射器的喷射系数随出口压力升高而降低；当喷射器出口压力小于pd时，喷射器的喷射系数将保持不变。在计算模拟的制冷工况范围内，工作流体压力升高，引起喷射系数降低，pd升高；而引射流体压力升高时，喷射系数与pd都升高。     

Computational Analysis of a Variable Ejector Flow

The present study addresses a variable ejector which can improve the ejector efficiency and control the re-circulation ratio under a fixed operating pressure ratio. The variable ejector is a facility to obtain specific recirculation ratio under a given operating pressure ratio by varying the ejector throat area ratio. The numerical simulations are carried out to provide an understanding of the flow characteristics inside the variable ejector. The sonic and supersonic nozzles are adopted as primary driving nozzles in the ejector system, and a movable cone cylinder, inserted into a conventional ejector-diffuser system, is used to change the ejector throat area ratio. The numerical simulations are based on a fully implicit finite volume scheme of the compressible, Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The results show that the variable ejector can control the recirculation ratio at a fixed operating pressure ratio.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of circularly lobed ejector with bend mixers

The vent pipe for a turbo shaft engine may be required to have a lobed nozzle installed and to bend for the purpose of infrared stealth. The experimental setup was a circular 12‐lobed nozzle with bend mixers to study the effects on the pumping performance of the lobed bend mixer parameters. The experimental results show that the pumping ratio of the secondary mass flow to the primary mass flow for a mixer bend angle equal to 40^° is the same as that for the same lobed nozzle with the same diameter cylindrical mixer that was used in the author's previous papers. There is a great decrease of the pumping ratio for a mixer bend angle larger than 40^°. The higher the bend angles, the lower the pumping ratios. The pumping ratios initially increase and then decrease with the increasing of the cross‐area ratio of mixer to lobe. The optimal cross‐area ratio that corresponds to the maximum pumping ratio is strangely nearly equal to the optimal cross‐area ratio of a cylindrical mixer, although the maximum pumping ratio is less than that for a cylindrical mixer. The pumping ratios increase approximately linearly with the cross‐area ratio of the secondary inlet to the lobed nozzle. To investigate the flow characteristics and the pumping ratio changing mechanism, the flow field inside the ejector is numerically simulated. The numerical results show that the main reason for the great decrease of the pumping ratio when the mixer bend angle is larger than 40^° is due to the great static pressure around the bend part, which is caused by the primary flow jet. The great static pressure around the bend section chokes back the exhausted secondary fluid flow. There is a good agreement between the calculated and the measured wall static pressure coefficients in the mixer wall along the lobe crest symmetry plane of the lobed ejector. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(7): 387–397, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20175     

Geometric optimization of an ejector for a 4 kW SOFC system with anode off-gas recycle

One of the important energy saving tools used in solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system is the anode off-gas recycling (AGR) via an ejector which allows the recirculation of the unused fuels in the anode exhaust gas including hot steam which is essential for the elimination of the carbon deposition and the initiation of the reactions in the reformer. In an ejector system developed for the SOFCs, the steam to carbon ratio (STCR) and entrainment ratio are the crucial parameters for the determination of the ejector performance. These parameters can be engineered by modifying the geometric dimensions and operation conditions. This study focuses on the determination of the maximum STCR value and entrainment ratio via numerical geometric analyses for a micro combined heat and power (μ-CHP) system based on 4 kW SOFC, utilizing methane. A detailed numerical procedure for designing an ejector is provided and the ejector performance is investigated for different critical dimensions (throat diameter, nozzle exit angle and nozzle position etc.). The results show that the nozzle position and the nozzle exit angle significantly affect STCR and the entrainment ratio. When the nozzle position increases and nozzle exit angle decreases, the entrainment ratio and STCR is found to increase. The entrainment ratio and STCR are determined as around 7.3 and 2.7, respectively for a specific design created in the study.     

Investigation on mechanism of critical cavitating flow in liquid jet pumps under operating limits

The critical cavitating flow in liquid jet pumps under operating limits is investigated in this paper. Measurements on the axial pressure distribution along the wall of jet pumps indicate that two-phase critical flow occurs in the throat pipe under operating limits. The entrained flow rate and the distribution of the wall pressure upstream lowest pressure section does not change when the outlet pressure is lower than a critical value. A liquid–vapor mixing shockwave is also observed under operating limits. The wave front moves back and forth in low frequency around the position of the lowest pressure. With the measured axial wall pressures, the Mach number of the two-phase cavitating flow is calculated. It’s found that the maximum Mach number is very close to 1 under operating limits. Further analysis infers a cross-section where Mach number approaches to 1 near the wave front. Thus, the liquid–vapor mixture velocity should reach the local sound velocity and resulting in the occurrence of operating limits.     

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。     

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     

An Experimental Study on Transverse Hydrogen Gas Injection into Mach 1.8 Airflow Channel-The 1st report:Single Circular Injector

INTRODUCTIONResearchonSCRamjet,whichwascarriedoutex-tensivelyillUSinthepastatthelatesixtiesandsev-ellties,hasbeenupdatedtoraisenewinterestamongstseveralcountriesintheworldbecauseoftheconcep-tualdevelopmentofaframeintegratedpropulsionsys-temforthenextgenerationtransAnatmosphereflightvehicle.However,fullcomprehensionofthebasicthermo-gasdynamicstructurewithinthecombustorisyettobeeffortedfromscientificandengineeringpointofviews,whichplaysakeyroleindevelopingthefirmtechnologyofsupersoniccombu…