Performance and flow characteristics of the liquid turbine for supercritical compressed air energy storage system

Li, H., Li, W., Zhang, X., Zhu, Y., Zuo, Z., Chen, H. and Yu, Z. (2022) Performance and flow characteristics of the liquid turbine for supercritical compressed air energy storage system. Applied Thermal Engineering, 211, 118491. (doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118491)

Abstract

The liquid turbine can replace throttling valves during the depressurization process of high-pressure liquid or supercritical fluid and improve the system efficiency of many industrial systems. However, there is no research about studying the internal flow and total pressure loss of liquid turbines, which can affect the turbine performance significantly. In this paper, performance and flow characteristics in a liquid turbine were analyzed for supercritical compressed air energy storage (SC-CAES) systems in the first time. Three typical topology models (C1, C2 and C3) of the tested liquid turbine were simulated and their performances were compared with experimental results. The deviation of the turbine efficiency between C3 and the experiment is less than 2%, while C1 had a constant increment of the turbine efficiency about 15.8% with the experiment. The total pressure loss in each part was evaluated and the flow characteristics in the nozzle and the rotor were analyzed. Nonuniform flow affected the nozzle’s total pressure loss significantly, while the rotor’s total pressure loss was related to the development of low energy regions. The results obtained in this paper provides guidance for optimizing liquid turbines and improving the turbine performance for various industrial systems with throttling valves installed.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research is supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars No. 51925604, International Partnership Program, Bureau of International Cooperation of Chinese Academy of Sciences No. 182211KYSB20170029, Guizhou Province Large Scale Physical Energy Storage Technology Research and Development Platform No. [2019]4011.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Li, Dr Hongyang and Yu, Professor Zhibin
• Authors: Li, H., Li, W., Zhang, X., Zhu, Y., Zuo, Z., Chen, H., and Yu, Z.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Applied Thermal Engineering
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• ISSN (Online): 1873-5606
• Published Online: 09 April 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Applied Thermal Engineering 211: 118491
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy