Search and Analysis of the Methods to Increase the Power and Efficiency of Turboexpanders Operating on a Natural Gas Mixture
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The compressed natural gas energy is one of the highly efficient modern alternative technologies used for generating electric power causing no realistic damage to the environment. This type of gas is used as a working fluid, in particular for axial turboexpanders. Ukraine has significant natural gas deposits and an extensive network of main pipelines for pumping gas under high pressure. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of converting compressed natural gas energy into mechanical work to drive electric generators is an important and urgent task. This scientific paper presents the data of the analysis of the effect of the main geometric parameters of the flow parts of axial turboexpanders on their efficiency. An improved mathematical model of one-dimensional flow in the flow part and an algorithm that implements it in the TurboOptProject (TOP) software package were used to conduct computational studies. The algorithms that describe the equation of state of a 9-component mixture of natural gas in the range of changes in the parameters that correspond to the operating conditions of the initial and optimal options of the turboexpander have been developed. The interaction and the effect of the leaks into the end seals of the control system of the axial force on rotor on the efficiency of the flow part have also been taken into account. To obtain the optimal variant of the turboexpander, the optimization algorithm for multi-level optimization of composite technical objects has been improved. The computational studies and the analysis of the obtained data have shown the possibility of increasing the power of the optimal option of the flow part of the turboexpander by 125.81 kW (from 1608.86 kW to 1734.67 kW), and the relative internal efficiency factor by 6.17 % (from 77.34 % to 83.51 %) as compared to the initial option of the flow part.
Authors: Oleksandr Usatyi, Maxim Novikov
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411282374