SBIR Phase I: Isothermal Gas Compression

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过更节能的空气和天然气压缩来减少工业活动的碳足迹。 全球空气和气体压缩机市场估计超过300亿美元。 据估计，全球每年大约有500亿美元的能源成本花费在空气和天然气压缩上。 由于需要快速捕获压缩热，等温压缩被认为是无法实现的。 通过创建一种全新的压缩方法，该技术有可能大幅降低压缩的运营成本和与压缩能源使用相关的温室气体排放。这项技术也有可能改变机械工程课程中热力学和压缩方法的教学方式。 工程专业的学生现在将被教导快速等温压缩是可能的，并将面临挑战，找到将概念应用于广泛应用的方法。 等温压缩的进一步研究和开发可能会导致不断发展的应用领域，可能会创造更多的研究和学习领域。 这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将验证一种在等温压缩过程中压缩空气和气体的新方法的能源效率。 在空气和气体压缩过程中产生的热量导致高能耗。 所提出的技术利用液体/气体乳液来压缩旋转盘中的气体。 压缩方法已被证明与台式原型。 第一阶段项目将通过设计、制造和测试一个能够生成测试数据的商业规模系统来验证系统的总效率，以与当前的商业空气压缩机进行比较。 预计第一个商业测试装置将产生与当前商业产品相当或更高的能源效率。 测试装置将提供关于系统总效率和系统组件效率的全面数据，为解决提高商业化总体效率所需的系统设计问题提供基础。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to reduce the carbon footprint of industrial activity through more energy efficient air and gas compression. The global market for air and gas compressors is estimated to exceed $30 billion. It is estimated that approximately $50 billion in energy costs is spent globally on air and gas compression each year. Isothermal compression has been thought to be unachievable due to the requirement of rapidly capturing the heat of compression. By creating a fundamentally new method for compression, this technology has the potential to dramatically reduce both operating costs for compression and greenhouse gas emissions associated with energy usage for compression. The proposed technology also has the potential to change the way thermodynamics and compression methods are taught in mechanical engineering classes. Engineering students will now be taught that rapid isothermal compression is possible, and will be challenged to find ways to apply the concepts to a broad range of applications. Further study and exploitation of isothermal compression may lead to an ever evolving field of application, potentially creating additional areas of research and learning. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will validate the energy efficiencies of a novel method for compressing air and gas in an isothermal compression process. Heat generated during air and gas compression leads to high energy consumption. The technology proposed utilizes a liquid/gas emulsion to compress gas in a spinning disc. The compression method has been proven with bench-top prototypes. This Phase 1 project will validate total system efficiencies through the design, manufacturing, and testing of a commercial scale system capable of generating test data for comparison against current commercial air compressors. It is anticipated that the first commercial test unit will generate energy efficiencies on par or above current commercial products. The test unit will provide comprehensive data on total system efficiencies and system component efficiencies, which will provide a basis for addressing system design issues necessary to enhance overall efficiencies for commercialization.