Time-Dependent CFD Analysis of an Isothermal Reciprocating Air Compressor

This article introduces a modelling approach for the time-dependent analysis of the reciprocating air compressor. Reciprocating compressors are a household name across various industries. As a result of widespread applications, there have been several efforts to increase the operation efficiency through the application of adiabatic system design. Another method is inducing an isothermal thermodynamically cycle. This technology is uniquely suitable for ocean compressed air energy storage (CAES) to which a large body is available with a quasi-constant temperature. The design and development of such machines is a complicated and multidisciplinary process, so it is of great importance to develop accurate modelling tools to characterize their performance. A 2D CFD model is implemented in COMSOL multiphysics that provides a phenomenological understanding of the process through the observation of spatial and temporal properties such as temperature and pressure. The key to successful implementation of 2D model is applying the moving mesh to the compression chamber that is carried out in this work effectively.

Keywords:

CFD , Compressed Air Energy Storage , Conservation of Energy , Reciprocating compressor.