An investigation of heat transfer losses in reciprocating devices
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Willich, Caroline
Markides, Christos N
White, Alexander J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The paper presents a detailed computational-fluid-dynamic study of the thermodynamic losses associated with heat transfer in gas springs. This forms part of an on-going investigation into high-efficiency compression and expansion devices for energy conversion applications. Axisymmetric calculations for simple gas springs with different compression ratios and using different gases are first presented, covering Peclet numbers that range from near-isothermal to near-adiabatic conditions. These show good agreement with experimental data from the literature for pressure variations, wall heat fluxes and the so-called hysteresis loss. The integrity of the results is also supported by comparison with simplified models. In order to mimic the effect of the eddying motions generated by valve flows, non-axisymmetric computations have also been carried out for a gas spring with a grid (or perforated plate) of 30% open area located within the dead space. These show significantly increased hysteresis loss at high Peclet number which may be attributed to the enhanced heat transfer associated with grid-generated motions. Finally, the implications for compressor and expander performance are discussed.
Date Issued
2017-01-25
Date Acceptance
2016-09-24
Citation
Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017, 111, pp.903-913
ISSN
1359-4311
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
903
End Page
913
Journal / Book Title
Applied Thermal Engineering
Volume
111
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000391897200085&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
COMPRESSION
Energy & Fuels
Engineering
Engineering, Mechanical
ENGINES
EXPANSION
Gas springs
Hysteresis loss
Irreversible heat transfer
Mechanics
NUMBER
Physical Sciences
Reciprocating compression
Reciprocating expansion
Science & Technology
Technology
THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS
Thermodynamics
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2016-09-28