Experimental and Numerical Studies of a Recuperator in Micro Turbines

Xusheng Shi,Yongwei Wang,Xiulan Huai,R.K Agarwal,M.S.M Kong

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202016201005

Abstract

In this paper, a recuperator model is established to simulate the real working state of the recuperator in the micro turbine. The relative error between simulated and experimental data doesn't exceed 5%, which indicates that the model can better reflect the changing law of the recuperator performance. Therefore, the recuperator model proposed in this paper is reasonable and reliable. In addition, the simulation results indicate that heat transfer efficiency is not sensitive to the change of hot inlet temperature, however, it increases with the decrease of mass flow rate. On the other hand, the decrease of inlet mass flow leads to the relative pressure loss decreased on hot and cold sides.

Highlights

Micro t urbines h ave b een widely used in o il a nd gas industry, p ower g eneration and other f ields because o f their a dvantages o f s imple and co mpact structure and low pollution
The compact an d ef ficient r ecuperator i s o ne of t he k ey equipments in micro turbines
Do et al.[5] experimentally investigated the pressure d rop an d h eat t ransfer ch aracteristics o f a recuperator w ith o ffset s trip f ins and pr oposed two analytical m odels to p redict t he p ressure d rop and h eat transfer characteristics of the fabricated recuperator

Summary

Introduction

Micro t urbines h ave b een widely used in o il a nd gas industry, p ower g eneration and other f ields because o f their a dvantages o f s imple and co mpact structure and low pollution. Do et al.[5] experimentally investigated the pressure d rop an d h eat t ransfer ch aracteristics o f a recuperator w ith o ffset s trip f ins and pr oposed two analytical m odels to p redict t he p ressure d rop and h eat transfer characteristics of the fabricated recuperator. T he p erformance an alysis o f micro turbines us ually a dopts the general recuperator simulation model r ather t han t he accu rate p erformance based on the experiment. The general model ignores the anisotropy of the recuperator geometry and heat exchange u nit, and i t does no t fully c onsider t he important f actors affecting t he recuperator performance, and l acks o f ex perimental co rrection. T hen t he p erformance o f recuperator under d ifferent o perating c onditions is studied

Recuperator and experiment rig

Results and discussion

Conclusion