Demonstration of a small‐scale power generator using supercritical CO_(2)

The supercritical CO_(2)(sCO_(2))power cycle could improve efficiencies for a wide range of thermal power plants.The sCO_(2)turbine generator plays an important role in the sCO_(2)power cycle by directly converting thermal energy into mechanical work and electric power.The operation of the generator encounters challenges,including high temperature,high pressure,high rotational speed,and other engineering problems,such as leakage.Experimental studies of sCO_(2)turbines are insufficient because of the significant difficulties in turbine manufacturing and system construction.Unlike most experimental investigations that primarily focus on 100 kW‐or MW‐scale power generation systems,we consider,for the first time,a small‐scale power generator using sCO_(2).A partial admission axial turbine was designed and manufactured with a rated rotational speed of 40,000 rpm,and a CO_(2)transcritical power cycle test loop was constructed to validate the performance of our manufactured generator.A resistant gas was proposed in the constructed turbine expander to solve the leakage issue.Both dynamic and steady performances were investigated.The results indicated that a peak electric power of 11.55 kW was achieved at 29,369 rpm.The maximum total efficiency of the turbo‐generator was 58.98%,which was affected by both the turbine rotational speed and pressure ratio,according to the proposed performance map.

Thermal Performance of a Micro Heat Pipe Array for Battery Thermal Management Under Special Vehicle-Operating Conditions

The thermal management of battery systems is critical for maintaining the energy storage capacity,life span,and thermal safety of batteries used in electric vehicles,because the operating temperature is a key factor affecting battery performance.Excessive temperature rises and large temperature differences accelerate the degradation rate of such batteries.Currently,the increasing demand for fast charging and special on-vehicle scenarios has increased the heat dissipation requirements of battery thermal management systems.To address this demand,this work proposes a novel micro heat pipe array(MHPA)for thermal management under a broadened research scope,including high heat generation rates,large tilt angles,mild vibration,and distributed heat generation conditions.The experimental results indicate that the temperature difference is maintained 3.44°C at a large heat generation of 50 W for a limited range of tilt angles.Furthermore,a mild vehicle vibra-tion condition was found to improve temperature uniformity by 3.3°C at a heat generation of 10 W.However,the use of distributed heat sources results in a temperature variation of 3.88°C,suggesting that the heat generation distribution needs to be considered in thermal analyses.Understanding the effects of these special battery-operating conditions on the MHPA could significantly contribute to the enhancement of heat transfer capability and temperature uniformity improvement of battery thermal management systems based on heat pipe technologies.This would facilitate the realization of meeting the higher requirements of future battery systems.