Study on the characteristics of a novel wrap-around cooled diaphragm compressor for hydrogen refueling station

Abstract

This study introduces a novel wrap-around cooled diaphragm compressor, designed for employment in hydrogen refilling station. The performance of this innovative compressor is evaluated using a specially developed experimental platform. The analysis focused on the impact of pressure ratio and suction gas temperature on the compressor's performance, and the cooling effect is assessed under varying temperatures of the cooling medium. The findings indicate that both the isentropic and volumetric efficiencies of the diaphragm compressor decrease with an increase in pressure ratio, with maximum values reaching 70% and 65% respectively. Under constant pressure ratio conditions, the exhaust temperature is found to increase with the rise in suction temperature. For a given suction temperature, a higher-pressure ratio resulted in a higher exhaust temperature. Furthermore, the cooling effect of the wrap-around cooling pipeline is found to be more pronounced under high pressure ratio conditions, with a maximum temperature reduction of 189.5 °C.