Design of turbine recuperator for power saving and reduction of exhaust gases pollution

Abstract EN

A 250W turbo charger comprising of a radial turbine, a centrif ugal compressor with reverse flow combustor coupled to an electric generator to produce power is under development and testing stage at the laboratory.

Also a swirling reverse flow recuperator has been designed and fabricated for integration with the turbo charger to recover waste heat coming out of the radial turbine and to improve thermal efficiency of the engine cycle.

This paper covers the design, analysis, fabrication and testing of radial turbine and recuperator, with the design objective of higher effectiveness and lower pressure loss.

The swirling recuperator with a cylinder surface has been designed and analyzed for stresses due to thermal and structural loads.

A test rig set up with compressed air lines and space heaters (combustor) has been designed and fabricated.

Simulated engine design conditions such as flow, pressure and temperatures were applied and thermal effectiveness and pressure drop across the model are evaluated, validating the theoretical predictions.

A full scale swirling recuperator has also been fabricated for integration with the radial turbine.