Research of Working Process of Vortex Expansion Machine with Side Channel

Abstract

At gas distribution stations, a large amount of energy of compressed gases is lost. In such cases, the useful power is obtained with the aid of a turboexpander. The problem is that there is a great need for turboexpanders with a capacity of up to 500–700 kW. For these capacities, the turboexpander with the use of classical turbines turns out to be high-speed, complex, expensive, with a payback period that is more than two years. The solution of this problem is seen in the creation of turboexpander installations based on vortex machines. A promising type of vortex expansion machines are side channel machines. Results of studies of vortex hydraulic turbines with side channel showed high values of the efficiency. The goal of this research is study of the working process of vortex expansion machine with side channel by performing a computational experiment in the ANSYS CFX software package. The results of the research showed that the efficiency of vortex expansion machine with side channel is greater than in vortex expansion machine with peripheral channel (real experiment).