Title :
Design Considerations and Experimental Results of a 60 W Compressed-Air-to-Electric-Power System
Author :
Krahenbuhl, D. ; Zwyssig, C. ; Horler, H. ; Kolar, J.W.
Author_Institution :
Power Electron. Syst. Lab., ETH Zurich, Zurich
Abstract :
In many process applications, where a pressure reduction is required the energy ends up being dissipated as heat. Examples are throttling valves of gas pipelines and automotive engines or turbo expanders as used in cryogenic plants. With a new pressure reduction system that produces electricity while expanding the gas, this lost energy can be recovered. To achieve a high power density this energy generation system requires an increased operating speed of the electrical machine and the turbomachinery. This paper proposes a miniature compressed-air-to-electric-power system, based on a single-stage axial impulse turbine with a rated rotational speed of 350000 rpm and a rated electric power output of 60 W. A comprehensive description including turbine and permanent magnet (PM) generator is given and measurements like maximum electric output power of 124 W and maximum system efficiency of 24% are presented.
Keywords :
compressed air systems; engines; permanent magnet generators; pipelines; power system analysis computing; turbines; valves; automotive engines; compressed-air-to-electric-power system; cryogenic plants; electrical machine; gas pipelines; permanent magnet generator; power 60 W; pressure reduction; process applications; throttling valves; turbine; turbo expanders; turbomachinery; Automotive engineering; Cryogenics; Engines; Permanent magnets; Pipelines; Power generation; Power measurement; Turbines; Turbomachinery; Valves;
Conference_Titel :
Mechtronic and Embedded Systems and Applications, 2008. MESA 2008. IEEE/ASME International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Beijing
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2367-5
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2368-2
DOI :
10.1109/MESA.2008.4735733