Activities per year
Abstract
For the recovery of unused process heat of various origins, the use of
Rankine-Cycles represents an effective and well-proven strategy. As most
commercially available systems are designed for comparably high power, or, if
scaled down, are suffering from low efficiency or high costs, the present research
project aims at designing a novel steam expansion engine for medium power
(for waste heat power around 300 kW).
The so-called rotational wing-piston expander uses two pivoting shafts, each
holding two wing-like pistons, within one housing, that are performing a cyclic
movement relative to one another. This way, four working chambers with
varying volumes are resulting, each experiencing repetitive compression and
expansion. The conversion of the cyclic changing angular velocity to a constant
rotation at the output shaft is done via a non-circular gear. This solution offers
the possibility of sealing the lubricated gearbox against the steam-flooded section
containing the working chambers via rotational seals, which is much easier
than the sealing within a conventional reciprocating piston engine. The sealing
of the working chambers themselves, however, poses a challenging task.
Therefore, various sealing solutions have been developed and, via basic principle
tests, investigated. The most promising solutions have been chosen for the
use in a scaled test version of the expander, for the investigation at the steam test
bench at IVT at TU Graz.
The paper shows the development and the operating principle of the expander,
as well as the main challenges, focusing specifically on the sealing; additionally,
first test results are presented.
Rankine-Cycles represents an effective and well-proven strategy. As most
commercially available systems are designed for comparably high power, or, if
scaled down, are suffering from low efficiency or high costs, the present research
project aims at designing a novel steam expansion engine for medium power
(for waste heat power around 300 kW).
The so-called rotational wing-piston expander uses two pivoting shafts, each
holding two wing-like pistons, within one housing, that are performing a cyclic
movement relative to one another. This way, four working chambers with
varying volumes are resulting, each experiencing repetitive compression and
expansion. The conversion of the cyclic changing angular velocity to a constant
rotation at the output shaft is done via a non-circular gear. This solution offers
the possibility of sealing the lubricated gearbox against the steam-flooded section
containing the working chambers via rotational seals, which is much easier
than the sealing within a conventional reciprocating piston engine. The sealing
of the working chambers themselves, however, poses a challenging task.
Therefore, various sealing solutions have been developed and, via basic principle
tests, investigated. The most promising solutions have been chosen for the
use in a scaled test version of the expander, for the investigation at the steam test
bench at IVT at TU Graz.
The paper shows the development and the operating principle of the expander,
as well as the main challenges, focusing specifically on the sealing; additionally,
first test results are presented.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Energy and Thermal Management, Air-Conditioning, and Waste Heat Utilization |
| Subtitle of host publication | 2nd ETA Conference, November 22-23, 2018, Berlin, Germany |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Pages | 49-65 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | ISBN 978-3-030-00819-2 |
| ISBN (Print) | ISBN 978-3-030-00818-5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 23 Nov 2018 |
Activities
- 1 Talk at conference or symposium
-
Conception and First Functional Tests of a Novel Piston-Type Steam Expansion Engine for the Use in Stationary WHR Systems
Michael Lang (Speaker)
23 Nov 2018Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk at conference or symposium › Science to science