Analytical and computational study of a novel waste-heat-recovery radial expander

据估计，加拿大制造过程消耗的能源中有20-50%最终通过 ** 热废气流、冷却水以及热表面和产品的热传递中排放的废热损失。从废热中回收能源是昂贵的燃料或电力的零排放替代品，** 将大大减少加拿大工业的能源消耗和温室气体排放。** 拟议的研究项目将对一种新的废热回收 ** 概念进行分析和计算分析，该概念从入口温度相对较低的加压流体流中提取功。该设备是一种径向涡轮膨胀机，通过旋转机械和设备内流体之间相互作用产生的摩擦力回收废热。与现有的热回收技术相比，概念化的涡轮膨胀机的几何简单性将使其制造和操作成本低得多，并且预计将实现足够高的效率，以便经济地从石油和天然气处理设施中的废热中提取功率。通过对膨胀机内流体流动的第一原理分析和深入的计算流体动力学模拟，该研究项目将确定最佳膨胀机配置以获得最大功率和效率，调查设备内的空气动力学损失的来源，并根据现有的损失来源改进膨胀机设计。该项目将产生一种新的设备，可以从废热源中提取电力 **，效率比目前高得多，成本比目前低得多，为加拿大的能源，石油和天然气以及制造业带来显着的财务和环境节约。

It is estimated that 20-50% of the energy consumed by Canadian manufacturing processes is ultimately lost via**waste heat emitted in hot exhaust streams, cooling water, and heat transfer from hot surfaces and products.**Recovering energy from this waste heat is an emission-free substitute for costly purchased fuels or electricity,**and will significantly reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of Canadian industry. The**proposed research project will conduct an analytical and computational analysis of a novel waste heat recovery**concept that extracts work from a pressurized fluid stream with a relatively low inlet temperature. The device is**a radial turboexpander that recovers waste heat through frictional forces arising from the interaction between**the rotating machinery and fluid within the device. The geometrical simplicity of the conceptualized**turboexpander will make it much cheaper to manufacture and operate compared to existing heat recovery**technologies, and is expected to achieve a high enough efficiency so as to be economical for extracting power**from waste heat in oil and gas processing facilities. Through first-principles analytical analysis and in-depth**computational fluid dynamics simulations of the fluid flow within the expander, the research project will**identify the optimum expander configuration for maximum power and efficiency, investigate the sources of**aerodynamic losses within the device, and improve the expander design based on the knowledge of the loss**sources that are present. The project will lead to a novel device that can extract power from waste heat sources**with much higher efficiencies and lower costs than are currently available, bringing significant financial and**environmental savings to Canada's energy, oil and gas, and manufacturing industries.