Abstract
The industrial sector requires a modern and sustainable energy system in order to progress towards decarbonization and meet the 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement targets. At present time, many industrial sectors supply their energy for the process from fossil fuel sources. High-temperature heat pumps are introduced as a viable alternative to conventional energy systems. The main constraint for high-temperature heat pumps is the absence of efficient and reliable compressor technology capable of meeting industrial requirements. A novel two-phase vane compressor has been developed by the Tocircle industry in order to overcome this constraint and is being employed in high-temperature heat pump systems to utilize waste-heat and supply the heat process in industrial sectors.
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and study the feasibility of a novel compressor to be employed in high-temperature heat pump systems to recover waste heat and supply the heat process in industrial sectors. To this aim, a thermodynamic model and simulation had to be developed to evaluate the compressor that uses steam as the working fluid with water injection at a steady-state condition.
In this regard, mathematical models have been developed, including the geometrical model, internal leakage, and water injection, based on the findings in the literature review. The simulation based on our mathematical model was implemented and analyzed with Matlab.
The theoretical result was then verified with experimental data provided by the manufacturer, which confirmed the obtained results. Our simulations indicate that the amount of injected water is a dominant factor that influences the discharge pressure and temperature, preventing internal leakage by up to 70%.
Thus, this thesis shows that the studied novel multi-van compressor has the potential to utilize higher temperatures and pressures towards efficient energy use.