Experimental investigation of a liquid turbine in a full performance test rig

Abstract

In traditional industrial systems, a liquid expander can be used as a substitute for a throttling valve to improve system efficiency and economy. In this paper, the research and development of liquid expanders was reviewed. A set of experimental procedures were presented and an experimental test rig was built to examine the performance of a liquid turbine, which is a model machine of the liquid expander used in the supercritical compressed air energy storage system. At the rated condition, the flow rate of the liquid turbine is 60.7 kg/s, the differential pressure is 0.662 MPa, the output power is 30.44 kW, and the efficiency is 75.16%. The experimental results indicate successful construction of the test rig, which fully demonstrates the advantages of a semi-open and semi-closed system. The experimental results of the liquid turbine are of practical value for verification and development of the liquid expander in supercritical compressed air energy storage system.