THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Piotr Krawczyk

,

Michalina Kurkus-Gruszecka

,

Aleksandra Mikolajczak

,

Piotr Lapka

,

Krzysztof Badyda

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMIC ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION OF THE SINGLE STAGE LOW PRESSURE ROTARY LOBE COMPRESSED AIR EXPANDER

ABSTRACT
Technologies using media with relatively low thermodynamic parameters are now being developed more and more widely. These technologies may be used in industrial processes in which waste media such as low pressure air or other gases are available. One of the technologies enabling the use of such gases is rotary lobe expander. Rotary lobe expanders are compressed gas-powered devices which produce electricity or mechanical energy. In terms of the nature of operation, these devices are similar to turbines, but have higher efficiency at lower operating pressure. Currently, they are applied in mines as engines or as drives for elevators. The paper covers the CFD model of the expander and its validation using the literature data on the industrial device. The mathematical model, geometry, the choice of the computational grid and the adopted boundary conditions were presented. Several simulations were carried out for the variable operational parameters of the device and an attempt was made to assess the correctness of the assumptions and developed model. Finally, the results with discussion are presented both in tabular and graphical forms.
KEYWORDS
rotary lobe, compressed air expander, CFD modelling
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2018-12-15
PAPER REVISED: 2019-02-15
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2019-02-26
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2019-09-22
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI19S4133K
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2019, VOLUME 23, ISSUE Supplement 4, PAGES [S1133 - S1142]
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Computational fluid dynamic analysis and validation of the single stage low pressure rotary lobe compressed air expander

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