SBIR Phase II: Isothermal Gas Compression

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目的更广泛影响和商业潜力在于减少空气和气体压缩的能源消耗。在美国，工业空气压缩机耗电量占制造业用电量的12%以上，即399万亿英热单位。在美国，5%的天然气产量是通过压缩将天然气输送给最终用户而消耗的。在全球范围内，由电动机驱动的压缩机估计消耗了电机驱动系统耗电量的32%，即每年2,267太瓦时。按每千瓦时0.10美元计算，每年用于压缩的电力成本接近2270亿美元。Carnot的技术有可能在多种压缩应用中减少20%或更多的压缩能耗。通过减少空气和气体压缩所消耗的能量，该技术将减少美国和国际工业和商业活动的碳足迹。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。第一阶段的项目使我们能够将先前原型的成熟设计元素，以及完整的液体再循环和散热系统整合到一个单一的平台中。该项目将以第一阶段项目的研究为基础，将我们的压缩技术推向商业化。一项为期2年的研究和开发计划将执行，以解决该技术的关键系统工程元素，以达到商业就绪状态。实验室实验、热力学建模、设计、工程和台式原型的结合将用于开发可应用于广泛工业压缩应用的商业就绪系统设计。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in reducing the energy consumption from air and gas compression. In the United States, industrial air compressors consume over 12% of manufacturing electricity consumption, or 399 trillion BTU. 5% of natural gas production in the US is consumed by compression to move the gas to the end-user. On a global basis, compressors driven by electric motors are estimated to consume 32% of the electricity consumption from electric motor driven systems, or 2,267 terawatt hours per year. At $0.10 per kilowatt hour, this translates into nearly $227 billion of annual electricity costs for compression. Carnot's technology has the potential to reduce energy consumption from compression by 20% or more across multiple compression applications. By reducing the energy consumed for air and gas compression, the technology will reduce the carbon footprint of industrial and commercial activity in the US and internationally.Isothermal compression has been thought unachievable due to the requirement of rapidly capturing the heat of compression. The Phase I project allowed us to integrate proven design elements from prior prototypes, along with a complete liquid recirculation and heat dissipation system, into a single platform. This project will build upon research performed under the Phase I project to bring our compression technology to commercial readiness. A 2-year research and development plan will be executed to address key systems engineering elements of the technology to achieve commercial ready status. A combination of lab experiments, thermodynamic modeling, design, engineering, and benchtop prototyping will be used to develop a commercial ready system design that can be applied to a broad range of industrial compression 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.