Open AccessAnalysis, Fabrication, and Testing of a Liquid Piston Compressor Prototype for an Ocean Compressed Air Energy Storage (OCAES) System
Author(s) -
Joong-kyoo Park,
Paul I. Ro,
Xiao He,
Andre P. Mazzoleni
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
marine technology society journal/marine technology society journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.23
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1948-1209
pISSN - 0025-3324
DOI - 10.4031/mtsj.48.6.3
Subject(s) - piston (optics) , compression (physics) , gas compressor , compressed air , mechanical engineering , compressed air energy storage , materials science , heat transfer , hydrostatic equilibrium , energy storage , mechanics , engineering , thermodynamics , composite material , optics , physics , power (physics) , wavefront , quantum mechanics
Abstract Previous work concerning ocean compressed air energy storage (OCAES) systems has revealed the need for an efficient means for compressing air that minimizes the energy lost to heat during the compression process. In this paper, we present analysis, simulation, and testing of a tabletop proof-of-concept experiment of a liquid piston compression system coupled with a simulated OCAES system, with special attention given to heat transfer issues. An experimental model of a liquid piston system was built and tested with two different materials, polycarbonate and aluminum alloy, used for the compression chamber. This tabletop liquid piston system was tested in conjunction with a simulated OCAES system, which consisted of a hydrostatic tank connected to a compressed-air source from the wall to mimic the constant hydrostatic pressure at ocean depth experienced by the air stored in an actual OCAES system. Good agreement was found between the experimental and numerical studies and demonstrated that the heat transfer characteristics of a liquid piston compression process are effective in reducing the increase in air temperature that occurs during the compression process. The results also suggest that it may be possible to achieve a near-isothermal process with a fully optimized liquid piston compression system.