Development and Analysis of Solutions to Improve the Efficiency of Volute Inlet Pipes in Radial Turboexpanders

Abstract

The annual increase in demand for electrical power is accompanied by a significant combustion of hydrocarbon fuels and, accordingly, significant CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, which, in turn, result in increasing the surface temperature of our planet. In addition, hydrocarbon fuel reserves are also depleted every year, which raises the question of the efficient use of fossil fuels. One of the promising solutions to this problem is introducing a technology that allows using the excess gas pressure at gas distribution points in order to generate additional electrical energy. As a rule, a radial turboexpander is used to convert the kinetic energy of natural gas at low power. In this paper, we study a method to reduce losses in a volute inlet of a radial expander. Based on our research, we could find that the use of two symmetrical fins in the volute inlet pipe makes it possible to decrease the turbulent kinetic energy by 1.29% and to reduce the energy losses in the inlet pipe by 2.18%.