Dynamic Simulation of Energy Systems: Comparison of a Physics-Based Against Time Constant Based Approach Applied to a Microturbine Test Rig

Author(s):  
Rory A. Roberts ◽  
I. Rossi ◽  
A. Traverso

As distributed systems arise as the dominate approach in energy production, new and time-effective methods to study global configuration of small scale generation systems have to be discovered. This work proposes a comparison between two disparate approaches to microturbine modelling. The target system is a modified Turbec T100 microturbine coupled with an external vessel, which aims to simulate the dynamic global behavior of a fuel cell gas turbine hybrid system generator. The first model is based on first principles with ordinary differential equations to capture the dynamic performance of the turbine and it is developed with Matlab/Simulink environment. The second model is based on a simplified-physics time constant approach and it is developed with Excel/Visual Basic software, thus aiming at a viable tool for distributed applications, despite any lose in accuracy. Both models have been verified against the experimental data of the microturbine test rig, and compared in terms of computational efforts, modelling flexibility, prediction accuracy.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Filimonov ◽  
N. D. Chichirova ◽  
A. A. Chichirov ◽  
A. A. Filimonovа

Energy generation, along with other sectors of Russia’s economy, is on the cusp of the era of digital transformation. Modern IT solutions ensure the transition of industrial enterprises from automation and computerization, which used to be the targets of the second half of the last century, to digital enterprise concept 4.0. The international record of technological and structural solutions in digitization may be used in Russia’s energy sector to the full extent. Specifics of implementation of such systems in different countries are only determined by the level of economic development of each particular state and the attitude of public authorities as related to the necessity of creating conditions for implementation of the same. It is shown that a strong legislative framework is created in Russia for transition to the digital economy, with research and applied developments available that are up to the international level. The following digital economy elements may be used today at enterprises for production of electrical and thermal energy: — dealing with large amounts of data (including operations exercised via cloud services and distributed data bases); — development of small scale distributed generation and its dispatching; — implementation of smart elements in both electric power and heat supply networks; — development of production process automation systems, remote monitoring and predictive analytics; 3D-modeling of parts and elements; real time mathematic simulation with feedback in the form of control actions; — creating centres for analytical processing of statistic data and accounting in financial and economic activities with business analytics functions, with expansion of communication networks and computing capacities. Examples are presented for implementation of smart systems in energy production and distribution. It is stated in the paper that state-of art information technologies are currently being implemented in Russia, new unique digital transformation projects are being launched in major energy companies. Yet, what is required is large-scale and thorough digitization and controllable energy production system as a multi-factor business process will provide the optimum combination of efficient economic activities, reliability and safety of power supply.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Carlo Alberto Niccolini Marmont Du Haut Champ ◽  
Fabrizio Stefani ◽  
Paolo Silvestri

The aim of the present research is to characterize both experimentally and numerically journal bearings with low radial clearances for rotors in small-scale applications (e.g., microgas turbines); their diameter is in the order of ten millimetres, leading to very small dimensional clearances when the typical relative ones (order of 1/1000) are employed; investigating this particular class of journal bearings under static and dynamic loading conditions represents something unexplored. To this goal, a suitable test rig was designed and the performance of its bearings was investigated under steady load. For the sake of comparison, numerical simulations of the lubrication were also performed by means of a simplified model. The original test rig adopted is a commercial rotor kit (RK), but substantial modifications were carried out in order to allow significant measurements. Indeed, the relative radial clearance of RK4 RK bearings is about 2/100, while it is around 1/1000 in industrial bearings. Therefore, the same original RK bearings are employed in this new test rig, but a new shaft was designed to reduce their original clearance. The new custom shaft allows to study bearing behaviour for different clearances, since it is equipped with interchangeable journals. Experimental data obtained by this test rig are then compared with further results of more sophisticated simulations. They were carried out by means of an in-house developed finite element (FEM) code, suitable for thermoelasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) analysis of journal bearings both in static and dynamic conditions. In this paper, bearing static performances are studied to assess the reliability of the experimental journal location predictions by comparing them with the ones coming from already validated numerical codes. Such comparisons are presented both for large and small clearance bearings of original and modified RKs, respectively. Good agreement is found only for the modified RK equipped with small clearance bearings (relative radial clearance 8/1000), as expected. In comparison with two-dimensional lubrication analysis, three-dimensional simulation improves prediction of journal location and correlation with experimental results.


Author(s):  
M. A. Ancona ◽  
M. Bianchi ◽  
L. Branchini ◽  
A. De Pascale ◽  
F. Melino ◽  
...  

Abstract In order to increase the exploitation of the renewable energy sources, the diffusion of the distributed generation systems is grown, leading to an increase in the complexity of the electrical, thermal, cooling and fuel energy distribution networks. With the main purpose of improving the overall energy conversion efficiency and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated to fossil fuel based production systems, the design and the management of these complex energy grids play a key role. In this context, an in-house developed software, called COMBO, presented and validated in the Part I of this study, has been applied to a case study in order to define the optimal scheduling of each generation system connected to a complex energy network. The software is based on a non-heuristic technique which considers all the possible combination of solutions, elaborating the optimal scheduling for each energy system by minimizing an objective function based on the evaluation of the total energy production cost and energy systems environmental impact. In particular, the software COMBO is applied to a case study represented by an existing small-scale complex energy network, with the main objective of optimizing the energy production mix and the complex energy networks yearly operation depending on the energy demand of the users. The electrical, thermal and cooling needs of the users are satisfied with a centralized energy production, by means of internal combustion engines, natural gas boilers, heat pumps, compression and absorption chillers. The optimal energy systems operation evaluated by the software COMBO will be compared to a Reference Case, representative of the current energy systems set-up, in order to highlight the environmental and economic benefits achievable with the proposed strategy.


1973 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 384-388
Author(s):  
W. H. McKenzie ◽  
A. H. Richards

When using thermocouples directly connected to ultra-violet galvanometers for recording temperature transients, the low-voltage outputs necessitate the use of galvanometers with low natural frequencies. This puts a limitation on the overall dynamic performance. In a particular application, the user has to select the damping resistor for the galvanometer and the work describes how this is done so that the system is optimised for minimum integrated errors during a transient. The transient considered was of an exponential type which occurs frequently in practice and it is shown that the correct damping ratio and hence damping resistor for the galvanometer depends upon the non-dimensional parameter defined by the product of the natural frequency of the galvanometer and the time constant of the exponential. The results show that the usual value of damping ratio of 0·64 based on minimum sinusoidal distortion has to be modified for best dynamic performance. However, if the non-dimensional parameter is sufficiently large, higher values of damping can be used, which produce a large trace with acceptably small errors.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Hedman ◽  
Jan Burvall ◽  
Calle Nilsson ◽  
Stellan Marklund

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wu Ouyang ◽  
Xuebing Zhang ◽  
Yong Jin ◽  
Xiaoyang Yuan

Accurate dynamic characteristic coefficients of water-lubricated rubber bearings are necessary to research vibration of ship propulsion system. Due to mixed lubrication state of water-lubricated rubber bearings, normal test rig and identification method are not applicable. This paper establishes a test rig to simulate shaft misalignment and proposes an identification method for water-lubricated rubber bearings, which utilizes rotor unbalanced motion to produce self-excited force rather than artificial excitation. Dynamic performance tests under different conditions are operated. The results show that when rotational speed is less than 700 r/min, even if specific pressure is 0.05 MPa, it is difficult to form complete water film for the rubber bearing which was investigated, and contact friction and collision of the shaft and bearing are frequent. In the mixed lubrication, water film, rubber, and contact jointly determine dynamic characteristics of water-lubricated rubber bearings. The contact condition has a significant effect on the bearing stiffness, and water film friction damping has a significant effect on bearing damping. As for the particular investigated bearing, when rotational speed is in the range of 400~700 r/min and specific pressure is in the range of 0.03~0.07 MPa, bearing stiffness is in the range of 5.6~10.06 N/μm and bearing damping is in the range of 1.25~2.02 Ns/μm.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. G. Highcock ◽  
N. R. Mandell ◽  
M. Barnes ◽  
W. Dorland

The confinement of heat in the core of a magnetic fusion reactor is optimised using a multidimensional optimisation algorithm. For the first time in such a study, the loss of heat due to turbulence is modelled at every stage using first-principles nonlinear simulations which accurately capture the turbulent cascade and large-scale zonal flows. The simulations utilise a novel approach, with gyrofluid treatment of the small-scale drift waves and gyrokinetic treatment of the large-scale zonal flows. A simple near-circular equilibrium with standard parameters is chosen as the initial condition. The figure of merit, fusion power per unit volume, is calculated, and then two control parameters, the elongation and triangularity of the outer flux surface, are varied, with the algorithm seeking to optimise the chosen figure of merit. A twofold increase in the plasma power per unit volume is achieved by moving to higher elongation and strongly negative triangularity.


Author(s):  
Tunde O. Aderinto ◽  
Francisco Haces-Fernandez ◽  
Hua Li

Although theoretical available wave energy is higher than most of ocean energy sources, the commercial utilization of wave energy is much slower than other ocean energy sources. The difficulty of integration with the electrical grid system and the challenges of the installation, operation and maintenance of large energy generation and transmission systems are the major reasons. Even though there are successfully tested models of wave energy converters, the fact that wave energy is directly affected by wave height and wave period makes the actual wave energy output with high variation and difficult to be predicted. And most of the previous studies on wave energy and its utilization have focused on the large scale energy production that can be integrated into a power grid system. In this paper, the authors identify and discuss stand-alone wave energy converter systems and facilities that are not connected to the electricity grid with focus on small scale wave energy systems as potential source of energy. For the proper identification, qualification and quantification of wave energy resource potential, wave properties such as wave height and period need to be characterized. This is used to properly determine and predict the probability of the occurrence of these wave properties at particular locations, which enables the choice of product design, installation, operation and maintenance to effectively capture wave energy. Meanwhile, the present technologies available for wave energy converters can be limited by location (offshore, nearshore or shoreline). Therefore, the potential applications of small scale stand-alone wave energy converter are influenced by the demand, location of the need and the appropriate technology to meet the identified needs. The paper discusses the identification of wave energy resource potentials, the location and appropriate technology suitable for small scale wave energy converter. Two simplified wave energy converter designs are created and simulated under real wave condition in order to estimate the energy production of each design.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 9017
Author(s):  
Andoni Gonzalez-Arceo ◽  
Maitane Zirion-Martinez de Musitu ◽  
Alain Ulazia ◽  
Mario del Rio ◽  
Oscar Garcia

In this work, a cost-effective wind resource method specifically developed for the ROSEO-BIWT (Building Integrated Wind Turbine) and other Building Integrated Wind Turbines is presented. It predicts the wind speed and direction at the roof of an previously selected building for the past 10 years using reanalysis data and wind measurements taken over a year. To do so, the reanalysis wind speed data is calibrated against the measurements using different kinds of quantile mapping, and the wind direction is predicted using random forest. A mock-up of a building and a BIWT were used in a wind tunnel to perform a small-scale experiment presented here. It showed that energy production is possible and even enhanced over a wide range of attack angles. The energy production estimations made with the best performing kind of calibration achieved an overall relative error of 6.77% across different scenarios.


Robotica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1424-1445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed H. Zaher ◽  
Said M. Megahed

SUMMARYThis paper studies the effect of joint flexibility on the dynamic performance of a serial spatial robot arm of rigid links. Three models are developed in this paper. The first and the third models are developed using the multibody dynamics approach, while the second using the classical robotics approach. A numerical algorithm and an experimental test-rig are developed to test the final model. The links' inertial parameters are estimated numerically. Empirical formulae with assumption models are used to estimate the flexibility coefficients. The simulation results show that the joint damping is a major source of inaccuracies, causing trajectory error without a proper feedback controller.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document