SBIR Phase I: Isothermal Gas Compression

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过更节能的空气和气体压缩来减少工业活动的碳足迹。空气和气体压缩机的全球市场估计超过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气体压缩上。由于需要快速捕获压缩热，等温压缩一直被认为是无法实现的。通过创造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耗相关的温室气体排放。提出的技术也有可能改变机械工程课程中教授热力学和压缩方法的方式。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，找到将这些概念应用于广泛应用的方法。对等温压缩的进一步研究和开发可能会导致一个不断发展的应用领域，潜在地创造更多的研究和学习领域。这项小型企业创新研究（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。该技术利用液/气乳化液压缩旋转圆盘中的气体。该压缩方法已在台架样机上得到验证。这个第一阶段的项目将通过设计、制造和测试一个商业规模的系统来验证整个系统的效率，该系统能够生成测试数据，与目前的商用空气压缩机进行比较。预计第一个商业试验装置将产生相当于或高于目前商业产品的能源效率。测试单元将提供有关总系统效率和系统组件效率的综合数据，这将为解决系统设计问题提供基础，以提高商业化的总体效率。

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.