PFI-TT: Demonstration of a Liquid Piston Gas Compressor/Expander for Compressed Air Energy Storage and CO2 Sequestration

这个PFI项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力是推动高效率、大功率、高压气体压缩机/膨胀机的发展。这样的设备是使压缩空气储能（CAES）成为一种可行的、经济的、可以部署在任何地方的电力存储方法的关键。这样的储能系统可以用来节省多余的电力，否则这些电力将成为浪费，在需求高的时候使用。此外，由于风能和太阳能等间歇性可再生能源在电力供应中所占的比例较大，因此需要储能来补充这些资源。该气体压缩机还可用于压缩其他气体，如二氧化碳和许多工业中使用的气体，能耗更少。能源消耗和温室气体的减少将因此增加美国的能源安全，并有助于应对气候变化。拟议的项目将开发和验证用于压缩和膨胀高压气体的原型设备的性能。如果压缩和膨胀过程在恒定温度下进行，将获得高效率。为了获得高效率和高功率，压缩机/膨胀器将采用增加传热的设计。原型设计将基于先前的基础研究，该研究已经在不牺牲效率的情况下将功率密度提高了两个数量级。该项目推进了更有效地压缩和膨胀气体的技术诀窍。特别是，它取得了进步的技术，实现等温压缩/膨胀使用液体活塞增加与多孔介质传热。虽然这种方法的基本好处已经在先前的研究中确立，但这些好处尚未在设备中实现。该项目通过对实现连续往复运行所必需的最佳系统设计、阀门、传感和控制以及液气界面管理的见解和理解，填补了制造此类设备所存在的知识空白。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this PFI project is in advancing the development of a high efficiency, high power, high pressure gas compressor/expander. Such a device is key to enabling Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) to be used as a viable, economical electricity storage approach that can be deployed anywhere. Such an energy storage system can be used to save surplus electricity that would otherwise be waster to be used when demand is high. Also, as intermittent renewable energy resources such as wind and solar supply a larger portion of the electricity supply, energy storage is needed to supplement these resources when they are not available. The gas compressor can also be used for compressing other gases, such as carbon dioxide and gases used in many industries, with less energy consumption. The reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gases will consequently increase the energy security of the U.S. and help combat climate change. The proposed project will develop and validate the performance of a prototype device for compressing and expanding gas to and from a high pressure. High efficiency will be achieved if the compression and expansion processes occur at constant temperature. To attain both high efficiency and high power, the compressor/expander will incorporate design that augments heat transfer. The prototype design will be based upon prior fundamental research that has led to two orders of magnitude increase in power density without sacrificing efficiency. This project advances the technological know-how of compressing and expanding gases more efficiently. In particular, it makes advances on the technique of achieving isothermal compression/ expansion using a liquid piston augmented with porous media heat transfer. Although the fundamental benefits of this approach have been established in prior research, these benefits have not been realized in a device. This project fills the knowledge gaps that exist to create such a devices by providing insight and understanding on optimal system design, valving, sensing and control, and the management of liquid-gas interface, which are necessary to achieve continuous reciprocating operation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.