Week 6

The project I'm working on is an inverted liquid piston air compressor. This differs from an ordinary air compressor in that the piston itself is stationary while the compressor walls and top cap move up and down for compression/expansion. Because the piston is stationary, I'm able to add a column of water on top of it. Based on previous research, this type of air compressor will have increased heat transfer - in part because the water absorbs some of the heat from the air and can be recirculated through a heat exchanger, and in part because this configuration allows porous media to be added and thus further increase surface area available for heat transfer. Increasing heat transfer is important because it means better compressor efficiency!

My work is focused on the stability of the interface between the water and the air. This involves changing the operating frequency, compression ratio, and porous media geometry as well as observing the effects of adding hydrophobic coating to the porous media and adding water recirculation. Thus, this work has involved hands on testing, setting up the recirculation circuit, modeling porous media, data analysis, and background research to better understand the related research and the interface behaviors I'm observing.

The target market for this air compressor will be based on the operation parameters with "nice" interface stability (ie the findings of my work). The goal, though, is to use this air compressor in a Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system. In CAES, excess energy is used to power an air compressor, which compresses air to a high pressure. This compressed air is then stored in a tank and can be expanded through a turbine when energy demand increases. Thus, this technology would be a great way to implement intermittent renewable energy technologies, like wind and solar power, because excess energy can be stored for later use!