Thermodynamic Analysis a Novel Wave Rotor Refrigeration Cycle

Abstract

As a novel generation of thermal separators, the Wave rotor refrigerator (WRR) has replaced the traditional pressure-wave thermal separator. However, the isentropic refrigeration efficiency still needs to be improved compared with expander. A novel WRR system cycle was built and the system performance was thermal analyzed under various parameters, such as expansion efficiency or compression efficiency of wave rotor. The results are used to compare with the traditional WRR system. It is shown that the advantage provided by this novel cycle over the traditional WRR is an expansion process and a compression process is integrated into one unit, with a higher energy transfer efficiency and simple structure. The isentropic refrigeration efficiency of this novel cycle can be more than twice of the traditional WRR under the pressure ratio of 1.1. The experimental works are carrying out.

Experimental results from the Bathμ-wave rotor turbine performance tests

“…More recent studies further pursue gas turbine [15][16][17][18] and reciprocating engine [14,19,[19][20][21][22] enhancement. In addition, the field of applications has been extended through the application of wave rotors in refrigeration cycles [8,9,[23][24][25][26] and pressure-gain combustors [1,2,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. In comparison with the amount of numerical research on wave rotor design and performance, there are relatively few studies dedicated to the experimental characterisation of wave rotors.…”

“…The technology bears the potential to further enhance thermal cycles and thus reduce global energy consumption and increase thermodynamic efficiency. As a result, wave rotors have been suggested in a range of fields of application, ranging from pressure gain combustors [1,2], to gas turbine topping cycles [3,4], wave rotor turbines [5], pressure wave superchargers for internal combustion engines [6,7] and refrigeration cycles [8,9], as summarised in Figure 1.…”

“…These range from gas turbine enhancement through pressure gain combustion [1,2], topping cycles [3,4] and wave rotor turbines [5]. Furthermore, wave rotors can be applied to internal combustion engines as a supercharging device [6,7] and to refrigeration cycles [8,9].…”

Experimental and numerical assessment of an optimised, non-axial wave rotor turbine

“…An overview of these applications is presented in Figure 1. Wave rotors have been applied to increase power output and efficiency of gas turbines through pressure gain combustion (PCG) [4] as well as through additional topping devices [5,6], wave rotor turbines [7,8], pressure wave superchargers (PWS) for internal combustion engines (ICE) [9,10] and refrigeration cycles [11,12].…”

“…Figure 1: Overview of wave rotor applications ranging from gas turbine efficiency and power output enhancement through pressure gain combustion and the extension of the Brayton cycle with constant-volume combustion [4], topping cycles [5,6] and wave rotor turbines [7,8]. Furthermore, wave rotors can be applied to internal combustion engines as a supercharging device [9,10] and to refrigeration cycles [11,12] (adapted from [8]).…”