Compressible flow in a novel radial turbo compressor: simulation and experimental validation

洛克哈特工业公司根据尼古拉·特斯拉在20世纪初提出的剪切流涡轮机械概念，开发了一种用途广泛的径向压缩机。压缩机在轴上旋转的多个紧密间隔的圆盘之间推动气体。在传统的设计中，气体和运动部件之间的摩擦粘性力往往会降低装置的效率，而该装置中的粘性力是流动压缩气体的主要驱动力。从理论上讲，该设计应该在比现有压缩机小得多的尺寸内实现非常高的压缩比，在大组件效率下实现非常高的压缩比，非常适合紧凑型制冷系统、住宅热管理系统以及能源和加热/通风领域的其他应用。为了验证设计的理论基础并协助其商业开发，将对涉及二氧化碳的可压缩条件进行计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟。模拟将采用开源CFD软件openfoam，并将通过涉及缩放物理原型的补充实验活动进行验证。气体压缩是制冷、空调和室内气候控制系统所需能源的主要原因。此外，该技术可用于先进的热回收系统，以回收工业过程中的废热，加拿大制造过程中消耗的能源中有20-50%作为废热在废气流中损失。因此，该技术有可能减少加拿大能源、住宅和商业建筑部门的能源消耗和温室气体排放。

Lockhart Industries Inc. have developed an extremely versatile radial compressor based on the shear flow turbomachine concept proposed by Nicola Tesla in the early 1900s. The compressor pushes a gas between multiple closely-spaced disks rotating on a shaft. Whereas in traditional designs frictional viscous forces between the gas and the moving components tend to decrease the efficiency of the device, the viscous forces in the proposed device is the main driving force for the flow compressing the gas. Theoretically, the design should achieve very high compression ratios at large component efficiencies within a much smaller size than existing compressors-ideal for compact refrigeration systems, residential thermal management systems, and other applications in the energy and heating/ventilation sector. To verify the theoretical basis of the design and assist its commercial development, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations will be conducted for compressible conditions involving carbon dioxide. The simulations will employ OpenFOAM-an open-source CFD software-and will be validated through a complementary experimental campaign involving a scaled physical prototype. Gas compression is a major cause of the energy required for refrigeration, air conditioning, and indoor climate control systems. Moreover, the technology could be used in advanced heat-recovery systems to recover waste heat from industrial processes, where 20-50% of the energy consumed by Canadian manufacturing processes is lost as waste heat in exhaust streams. As such, the technology has potential to reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the energy, residential, and commercial building sectors in Canada.