Research Vortex Expansion Machine with External Peripheral Channel Using Virtual Test Rig

Nowadays a promising direction in the energy sector is the development of small local power units.The implementation of projects on power supply by the introduction of low-power utilizing units based on the turbo-expander technologies is increasing. The main obstacles to wider introduction of low-power (up to 0.5 MW) units are low efficiency, high cost and relative expenses for service in comparison with the powerful settings. For capacities up to 500 kW it is often possible to create units based on expansion vortex turbomachine in the gearless version. Advantages of the expansion vortex machine allow to obtain simple and reliable unit. The objective of this work is to improve the efficiency and reliability of the expansion vortex machine by numerical research of gas flow in hydraulic components and the analysis of results. The virtual test rig and methodology of research with the help of program complex ANSYS were created to achieve the objectives of the work. Data of computational experiments was verified to confirm the correct work of the virtual test rig and the methodology. As a result, the influence of geometrical and gas-dynamic parameters on the flow pattern in the flow path of vortex expansion machine with a peripheral channel was established. The improved flow path with estimated efficiency of 48% has been designed based on the analysis of the result of carried out research. Its dimensionless and dimensional characteristics were obtained.