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Ferrari
e-mail: mario.ferrari@unige.it
Design and Testing of Ejectors for High Temperature Fuel Cell Hybrid Systems
Our goal in this work is the improvement of the ejector performance inside hybrid systems supporting the theoretical activity with experimental tests. In fact, after a preliminary ejector design, an experimental rig has been developed to test single stage ejectors for hybrid systems at different operative conditions of mass ow rates, pressures, and temperatures. At rst, an open circuit has been built to perform tests at atmospheric conditions in the secondary duct. Then, to emulate a SOFC anodic recirculation device, the circuit has been closed, introducing a fuel cell volume in a reduced scale. This conguration is important to test ejectors at pressurized conditions, both in primary and secondary ducts. Finally, the volume has been equipped with an electrical heater and the rig has been thermally insulated to test ejectors with secondary ows at high temperature, necessary to obtain values in similitude conditions with the real ones. This test rig has been used to validate simplied and CFD models necessary to design the ejectors and investigate the internal uid dynamic phenomena. In fact, the application of CFD validated models has allowed us to improve the performance of ejectors for hybrid systems optimizing the geometry in terms of primary and secondary ducts, mixing chamber length, and diffuser. However, the simplied approach is essential to start the analysis with an effective preliminary geometry. DOI: 10.1115/1.2211631
Davide Bernardi
e-mail: davide.bernardi@unige.it
Aristide F. Massardo
e-mail: massardo@unige.it Thermochemical Power Group (TPG), Dipartimento di Macchine, Sistemi Energetici e Trasporti, Universit di Genova, Italy
Introduction
Ejector technology has been investigated for many years, especially for applications in alimentary industry, chemical industry, oil plants, and aircraft jet propulsion 14. Even if, in power systems ejectors are currently used in steam plants condensers 5, the recent developments of high temperature hybrid systems have shown an interesting innovative application. In fact, because of ejectors do not have moving parts, they can perform ow recirculations in hybrid systems joining low costs with high reliability. So, they are extremely useful in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell plants where the high temperatures make it difcult and expensive to utilize blowers 6, reducing the reliability too. Ejector technology is applied in the recirculations of the 1 MW fuel cell hybrid system Fig. 1, currently under development at Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems RRFCS 7. On the anodic side, the ejector recirculates part of the exhausted gases to ensure the right amount of steam and heat necessary to the reforming reactions. So, this technology allows to avoid the more complex and expensive anodic systems previously presented in 6 for the steam generation and the reformer heat recovering. On the cathodic side, the introduction of a recirculation has already been considered in previous works 8,9 to recover part of the exhausted cathodic gases without a high temperature recuperator. Nevertheless, the solution presented in 8,9 is affected by technological problems because the cathodic recirculation is carried out by a very high temperature blower 1000 C. Also in this case, the ejector technology has been chosen to perform a low cost cathodic recirculation. In fact, even if the solution presented in Fig. 1 affects the system efciency, because part of the compressor outlet pressure is used in the ejector to obtain the required recirculation ratio, the improvements in costs and mainly in reliability justify the ejector application. Such innovative applications in fuel cell systems require an
Manuscript received November 29, 2005; nal manuscript received February 10, 2006. Review conducted by Roberto Bove. Paper presented at the 1st European Fuel Cell Technology and Applications Conference EFC2005, December 1416, 2005, Rome, Italy.
extensive development work to understand and optimize ejector performance. In fact, there are many differences between the applications in SOFC closed circuits and the traditional ones, specically due to the chemical composition, temperature of the gases, ow rates, and the constraints to be considered 10. For instance, an anodic ejector has to ensure very high values of recirculation ratio F to avoid, also at off-design and transient conditions 11, carbon deposition in the anodic circuit, and a cathodic ejector has to perform the required recirculation without an excessive pressure difference between the compressor outlet and the turbine inlet. Since the traditional know how is not enough to design ejectors for fuel cell applications, in this work a new design procedure is adopted to reach the high performance requested. In fact, starting from an anodic ejector prototype developed using a preliminary simplied model 10, an experimental activity has been carried out to better investigate the uid dynamic phenomena and validate the theoretical models. Then, the application of CFD validated models 12 has allowed the ejector geometry to be optimized.
Preliminary Design
In this paper, the attention is mainly focused on the anodic ejector because it is the most critical from the recirculation performance point of view 10. At the anodic side, the primary duct Fig. 2 is connected with the high pressure line of the fuel methane and the secondary duct with the anodic outlet of the stack. The recirculated ow, coming from the cell, mixes with the driving uid the fuel in the mixing chamber, where uniformity is reached from the point of view of velocity, temperature, and chemical composition proles. At this point the high velocity ow enters the diffuser to convert kinetic energy into pressure to overcome the viscous pressure losses inside the stack. To determine the ejector geometry, the design point operative conditions of the fuel cell must be known cell operative pressure, pressure losses, exhaust chemical composition, and temperature. In the preliminary design step, the typical values reported in previous works 10,13 for a SOFC hybrid system have been considered. It is important to underline that in this preliminary calculaTransactions of the ASME
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Fig. 3 The ejector test rig: open loop conguration Fig. 1 RRFCS 250 kW generator module 7
tion the fuel inlet temperature has been assumed to be equal to 400 C and a stack pressure loss equal to 1.5% of the operative pressure has been considered. The simplied design model, developed for the preliminary geometry generation, is based on the continuity, momentum, and energy equations 13: continuity: momentum: 1+m 2 = 3 c3 3 , m 1
3
divergent and convergent and two mixing chambers with different length values. In fact, the most signicant aim of this rst prototype was the experimental comparison of various congurations.
p3 3 p1 1 p2 2
p d 2
12
2 c2 m 3 c3 , 1 c1 + m =m energy: 1 h1 + m
c1 c c 2 h2 + 2 = m 3 h3 + 3 . +m 2 2 2 3
In this phase, the uid dynamic phenomena are considered adiabatic, taking into account the primary momentum loss and the mixing chamber pressure loss with apt coefcients 10. The diffuser irreversibility is calculated through the following empirical equation: p f = 1 Cf 1 4 4 3
+ 1
1 4 3
2 ca . 2
The solution is based on an iterative method: the outlet static pressure p4 is evaluated for an initial geometry and compared with the required value. The difference between these two values is used to adjust primary ow pressure and ejector geometry until convergence is reached. This model has been used to design the rst ejector prototype equipped with two different primary nozzles convergent-
Fig. 4 The ejector test rig: closed loop conguration with the thermal insulation
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ditions, acquiring also the vessel pressure with another apt transducer. Finally, the plant has been equipped with an electrical heater inside the vessel and thermally insulated to test ejectors with a secondary ow up to 300 C. Even if this temperature is lower in comparison with its operative real value 900 C, it is enough to reach the similitude conditions that have been considered. Figure 4 shows the rig in its nal conguration equipped with thermocouples in the most signicant points. The plant scheme, developed using the DSC LabVIEW module, is reported in Fig. 5 with all the transducers used to perform the tests. The technical data of the rig in terms of geometries and dimensions are reported in 14.
The rig has been used to perform several tests at different operative conditions, using air in both primary and secondary ducts. At rst, some preliminary results have been carried out with the open loop conguration; then the effects coming from pressurization and high temperature secondary ow have been investigated. To investigate the ejector performance in the SOFC plants, similitude conditions have been generated in the experimental rig. So, at rst the ejector boundary conditions pressures and secondary duct temperatures have been chosen to obtain, in the experimental rig, the same ratios between secondary and primary pressures and temperatures of the real plant considered in the European project PIP-SOFC 14. The characteristic curves measured in this similitude conditions with a convergent primary duct at ambient temperature have been compared Fig. 6 with the
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Fig. 10 Validation of the 2-D model with experimental and 0-D results
results the dotted line obtained using the same pressure values with both primary and secondary ducts at the ambient temperature. Figure 6 shows, in the p / p graph, normalized with the design values, the performance decay at high temperature coming from the secondary duct mass ow rate decrease at high temperature 15. It is also important to underline that the curves, measured at the same temperature values, but at different secondary pressure, practically collapse on the same curve in the p / p graph, as is well known in the literature 1. Then, some tests have been carried out considering the Reynolds similitude conditions inside the ejector. The results are reported in Fig. 7 for different secondary temperature values have been obtained with the boundary conditions, in terms of pressures, necessary to have in both ducts the values of Reynolds number equal to their values in the real plant 14. Figure 7 shows that, because of the increase of dynamic viscosity with temperature, the higher is the secondary inlet temperature the higher is the value of the recirculation ratio which allows the Reynolds similitude between design point and testing conditions to be obtained. So, at high temperatures, the Reynolds similitude conditions are obtained at low values of the ejector differential pressure to have a high secondary mass ow rate and, as a consequence, a high recirculation ratio value.
and convergent. In fact, the empirical loss coefcients, previously presented, have been set with great accuracy only after the experimental analysis. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the model has been improved, introducing the heat transfer between secondary and primary ducts upstream the mixing chamber, because the experiments have shown that the adiabatic hypothesis generates non-negligible errors 12,16. The results obtained with the improved model, using the updated loss coefcients, have been successfully compared with the experimental data. Figure 8 shows, for a simply convergent primary nozzle, the simplied model validation at different secondary pressure levels, at ambient temperature and at 150 C at the ejector secondary inlet. The calculations match the experimental data with enough accuracy in the signicant zones from the ejector operative condition point of view. It is important to underline, in both experimental and calculated data, that the higher is the secondary pressure the higher is the recirculation ratio decay at a high temperature. Another important validation, carried out with a convergent primary nozzle, is reported in Fig. 9, where the theoretical results are successfully compared with the experiments at different levels of secondary ow temperature, maintaining the secondary pressure equal to the atmospheric one 16.
Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Analysis Simplied Model Validation against Experimental Measurements
The simplied model, used for the ejector preliminary design, has been improved and validated against the rig experimental results, using different primary nozzles 14 convergent-divergent Since the simplied model is not able to capture any ow distribution or local pressure losses inside the ejector, it has been necessary to develop a more accurate model such as a 3-D CFD model. At the rst step, a two-dimensional 2-D axial-symmetric model has been generated and validated against experimental measurements according to the following steps:
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Fig. 12 Validation of 3-D model with experimental data and 2-D results Fig. 14 Pressure proles along the mixing duct axis
i the optimization of the design validated by experimental measurements ii the evaluation of the temperature inuence on the ejector performance iii the evaluation of the manufacturing tolerances inuence on the ejector performance The 2-D axial-symmetric model has been built to simulate the ejector installed in the TPG-University of Genoa test rig. A structured mesh has been used to avoid any numerical diffusion effects and to avoid any distortion of the primary jet. The k- model has been employed for turbulence modeling and also in the 3-D calculations it has been preferred to the LES Large Eddy Simulation because it is an acceptable compromise between the accuracy of the solution and the computing time 17. The independence of the solution from the grid was checked by means of several calculations with different mesh sizes 12,14. In all the CFD simulations the boundary conditions come from experimental measurements. So, inlet and outlet pressures and inlet temperatures were measured in the rig with the ejector running and then set into FLUENT the CFD code used to run the simulations. The inlet turbulence intensities have been set as described in 18. The results obtained with the 2-D CDF model have been successfully compared with the experimental data Fig. 10. After the validation of the 2-D model with experimental data, a 3-D Fig. 11 model has been generated to simulate any 3-D effects in the ejector ow eld. The boundary conditions were kept as for the 2-D model, and the results have been compared with the experimental and 2-D ones Fig. 12. A further study has been conducted to prove that the k- model is able to calculate the recirculation ratio F properly Fig. 13. This has been done because the two equation turbulence model does not solve the N-S equations but discretizes them in time and
space without solving any partial differential equation. Instead the LES Large Eddy Simulation solves the big scales and models only the small ones that dissipate energy. It is clear that for complex ows such as a nozzle jet, this model is more suitable than any RANS models, but it requires a longer computing time. Nevertheless, Fig. 13 shows that the mass ow rates are properly calculated and consistent with 2-D axial-symmetric ones.
CFD simulations have been run to calculate the pressure and velocity elds inside the mixing duct. It has been possible to observe that when the primary and secondary ows are fully mixed, after reaching a maximum, the pressure starts to decrease Fig. 14 and the ow velocity prole does not change Fig. 15. A few cases have been investigated to check if an optimum exists. In fact, if the mixing duct is too short, the ow velocity at the diffuser inlet is too high and then the losses are high as well. If it is
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Fig. 16 The short mixing duct back and the long one front
too long, the friction losses lower the static pressure. The optimum has been calculated to be 7.5 Lm / Dm according to the literature 1820. After this analysis, a new mixing duct has been built Fig. 16 and tested Fig. 17, conrming what has been found in the CFD results. The geometry of the primary nozzle has been analyzed because, as pointed out by Ferro 21 and Marini et al. 4, the shape of it inuences heavily the performance of the ejector. Two congurations have been investigated: convergent-divergent and convergent nozzle. Simplied calculations showed that as the ratio between D2 / D1 was increasing, the recirculated mass ow rate was growing up as well Fig. 18. It means that keeping the optimized mixing duct xed, the convergent nozzle with a smaller outlet diameter was more suitable for the current application. Moreover, another study has been conducted with the CFD models showing that the thinner is the outer wall the better is the performance of the ejector. In fact, the cavity zone created by the nozzle was moving downstream the beginning of the mixing, causing losses. Then the thicker is the wall, the bigger is the cavity zone. From these two analyses a new nozzle was built Fig. 19 and tested showing, as supposed from theoretical investigation, that the convergent thin nozzle was performing better than the convergentdivergent one. The third component that has been optimized is the diffuser. As already well known in literature, if the spread angle is too wide, a ow asymmetry can be detected, as shown in Fig. 20, and the performance drops down. To avoid this effect, a solution can be to
build a staged diffuser. CFD calculations proved that a graded angle avoids any ow detachment from the walls, and it can increase the recirculation ratio Table 1.
Fig. 19 Convergent-divergent nozzle on the left and convergent nozzle on the right
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Table 1 Recirculation ratio divided by the design value F / F0 for different diffuser spread angles. Test case 1 2 3 4 Diffuser angles 134 3 34 35 F / F0 0.797 0.896 0.996 1.000
Furthermore raising the pressure, the effect of the temperature becomes stronger. It has been calculated that at ambient pressure with T2 / T1 = 1.85, the drop of recirculated mass was 6.5% while at 2.5 bar it grows up to 9.7%. Then in Fluent the simulations have been conducted with adiabatic walls and the recirculated mass increased of 5%. This was conrmed by comparing the simplied results with the experimental data Fig. 21.
experimental tests. The main steps, presented here, to design and analyze high performance ejectors are as follows: A theoretical activity, carried out with a simplied model, to dene a preliminary ejector geometry. The experimental tests with an original test rig, developed at TPG, to investigate the main phenomena of the component and to validate the theoretical models. In this way a preliminary ejector has been tested at both atmospheric and pressurized conditions and at both ambient and high temperature secondary ow. The geometry improvement, in terms of primary nozzle, mixing chamber, and diffuser, carried out with CFD multidimensional models, previously validated with the experimental rig data. These models have also been used to better investigate the effects in ejector performance due to heat exchange and manufacturing tolerances.
It is important to underline that the ejectors developed with this experimental and theoretical support are currently running in the experimental plant called Tier rig at Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd 7.
Acknowledgment
This work has been partially funded by the PIP-SOFC European contract NNE5-2001-00791 coordinated by Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd and by the MIUR-PRIN-2003 contract, coordinated by A. Bosio. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank P. Butler and M. Bozzolo from Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd, for their scientic and personal support, and Dr. Gerry Agnew VP Engineering at RRFCS for continuous support to TPG at Genoa University.
Conclusions
This work has been carried out at the TPG-University of Genoa, in order to improve the ejector performance design when these components are applied inside high temperature fuel cell hybrid systems, validating the theoretical design activity 1012 with
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Nomenclature
c Cf CFD D 1 2/m F=m h LES L m p Re RRFCS SOFC T velocity m/s diffuser friction coefcient Computational Fluid Dynamic diameter recirculation ratio enthalpy J/kg K Large Eddy Simulation length m mass ow rate kg/s pressure Pa Reynolds number Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems Solid Oxide Fuel Cell temperature K diffuser angle rad differential pressure Pa density kg/ m3 cross sectional area m2 on design primary duct outlet secondary duct outlet diffuser inlet diffuser outlet average friction inlet mixing duct primary secondary
5 6
7 8
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
References
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