(H)olistic (A)pproach to the Design of Efficient Heat (R)ecovery Systems for Electrical (P)ower (P)roduction (HARP^2)

HARP 2是一个价值120万英镑的财团，汇集了曼彻斯特大学和哈德斯菲尔德大学，以及一系列工业项目合作伙伴，以实现环保，高效和完全集成的废热回收系统的设计和应用的技术变革。该示范项目将涵盖三个主要领域：（i）热声发动机的新型拓扑结构，以及（ii）使用创新驱动/控制技术的往复式电机，以及（iii）将复杂的多尺度物体制造成紧凑和强大的压力系统的新型制造技术。这些都必须进行优化，以适应未来的低成本和大规模生产，并适应广泛的潜在技术应用，包括陆地和海洋运输内燃机，微型热电联产例如，在家用或小型商用燃气/生物质燃料锅炉、铁路机车车辆或工业过程单元中的热电联产系统。已经制定了一项具有挑战性的多学科工作方案，要求各研究机构密切合作。这必须包括以下方面：热声系统的建模和实验验证，特别是为最大热效率优化的行波级联发动机，建立和验证热声系统和线性交流发电机（LA）之间的声阻抗耦合模型，开发廉价的交流发电机设计和使用自适应声阻抗匹配的最大功率点跟踪的适当控制策略，高压和疲劳载荷的结构分析，以及制造环境中的适当制造协议，以确保将所有子系统成功集成和封装到工作概念验证演示器中。六家工业公司熟悉农业-工业界接口的研发和产品开发过程，它们通过参加指导委员会-在HARP 2方案中称为工业咨询委员会-并通过工作人员时间和设施的实物捐助，为该项目提供面向应用的指导，支持该项目。这些公司包括英国石油公司、斯派莎克有限公司、里卡多英国有限公司、阿什韦尔生物质有限公司、欧洲热力学有限公司和信实精密有限公司，并由其技术负责人在IAB中代表。这些公司涵盖相关的技术领域，特别是加工工业、运输（公路/铁路/海运）和锅炉制造商以及制造业。其目的是通过公众参与和针对行业和政策制定者的传播活动来增加IAB的成员。（通过更广泛地利用多种来源的废热和未来可再生技术的新解决方案，改善英国的能源平衡），制造未来（通过设计新颖和有竞争力的产品和工艺以及具有定制特性的新材料概念），并以扩展的方式实现全球无污染和与环境变化共存（减少能源使用活动对环境的影响）。特别是，它旨在为英国能源部门的未来做出重大贡献，例如（i）释放热电联产的潜力和（ii）减少二氧化碳排放。据估计，到2030年，英国热电联产的技术能力将达到40 GWe，而工业过程的技术可回收热量达到11 TWh/y，相当于减少220万吨二氧化碳。HARP 2 TAG技术可以为实现这两个目标做出重大贡献，这使得研究非常及时。

HARP2 is a £1.2M consortium that brings together the Universities of Manchester and Huddersfield, as well as a range of industrial project partners, to achieve a technological step-change in the design and application of environmentally-friendly, high-efficiency and fully-integrated waste heat recovery systems for generation of electrical power. This demonstration project will cover three main areas: (i) novel topologies of thermoacoustic engines, coupled with (ii) reciprocating electrical machines using innovative drive/control techniques, and (iii) novel manufacturing technologies to fabricate complex multi-scale objects into compact and robust pressure systems. These have to be optimised for future low-cost and mass-production, and to fit a wide range of potential technological applications, including internal combustion engines for land and marine transportation, micro-CHP (combined heat and power) systems in domestic or small commercial gas/biomass fuelled boilers, railway rolling stock, or industrial process units, to name just a few.To achieve this end, a challenging multi-disciplinary work programme has been developed requiring a close collaboration between research institutions. This must cover aspects of: modelling and experimental validation of thermoacoustic systems, in particular travelling-wave cascade engines optimised for maximum thermal efficiency, building and validating acoustic impedance coupling models between thermoacoustic systems and linear alternators (LAs), developing inexpensive alternator designs and appropriate control strategies for maximum power-point tracking using adaptive acoustic impedance matching, structural analysis for high pressure and fatigue loading, and suitable fabrication protocols in the manufacturing context to ensure the successful integration and packaging of all sub-systems into a working proof-of-concept demonstrator. Six industrial companies, familiar with R&D and product development processes on the academia-industry interface, are supporting the project through their participation in the steering committee - denoted the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) in the HARP2 programme - and through in-kind contributions of staff time and facilities to provide application-oriented guidance to the project. The companies include British Petroleum Plc, Spirax Sarco Ltd, Ricardo UK Ltd, Ashwell Biomass Ltd, European Thermodynamics Ltd and Reliance Precision Ltd, and are represented in the IAB by their technical leads. The companies cover relevant technical areas, in particular process industries, transport (road/rail/marine) and boiler manufacturers as well as the manufacturing sector. The intention is to grow the membership of the IAB through a mix of public engagement and dissemination activities targeted at industry and policy-makers.This complex research programme aligns directly with the EPSRC "themes" of Energy (improvement in the UK's energy balance by a wider utilisation of waste heat from multiple sources and novel solutions for future renewable technologies), Manufacturing the Future (by devising novel and competitive products and processes and new materials concepts with bespoke properties), and, in an extended way, Global Uncertainties and Living with Environmental Change (by reducing environmental impacts of energy utilisation activities).In particular, it aims to make significant contributions to the future of the UK's energy sector such as (i) unlocking the potential of co-generation and (ii) reduction in CO2 emissions. It is estimated that the technical capacity for cogeneration in the UK will be 40 GWe by 2030, while the technically recoverable heat from industrial processes amounts to 11 TWh/y, corresponding to 2.2 million tonne of CO2 being abated. The HARP2 TAG technology may provide significant contributions to achieving these two goals which makes the research extremely timely.