Developing and investigating a Novel Compressed Air energy Storage (CAES) system using a Liquid Piston Gas Compressor/Expander (LPGC/E)

However, manufacturing of these heat exchangers is challenging and due to the complex geometry of these heat exchangers, detailed measurements and prediction of the local flow and thermal fields inside these heat exchangers are difficult. High operating pressure and temperature in the LPGC add extra complexity to the problem. This makes the experimental and modeling analysis of such heat exchangers in LPGC/E to be very challenging.

The present work examines easy to manufacture and simple geometry heat exchangers (parallel plate inserts) in order to improve the efficiency of the LPGC/E through achieving near-isothermal compression/expansion processes. The system’s performance is analysed using numerical approaches, which are validated against experimental data. For the numerical study, the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations (RANS) are solved by deploying the k-ε turbulence model to explore the details of the flow and thermal fields in the LPGC with parallel plate inserts.

Further, a detailed parametric study is performed using the CFD model in order to identify an optimum plate geometry for achieving the maximum efficiency of the LPGC. For validation of the model and demonstration of the achievable efficiency, an experimental prototype was developed in collaboration with the industrial partner (B9 Energy Group).<br><br><br>