Applied Energy, Vol.239, 1130-1141, 2019
Compensation for the complexity and over-scaling in industrial pneumatic systems by the accumulation and reuse of exhaust air
The main purpose of this work is focused on increasing the energy efficiency of pneumatic machines. We have proposed a more holistic approach i.e. cyclical storage of exhaust air from selected outlets of an industrial scale arbitrary pneumatic machine manufacturing. In this way, we use a double transmission and double expansion approach that utilise the otherwise wasted energy accumulated in the air supplying such a machine, and thus we compensate for the complexity and over-scaling of this machine in the industrial scale. Here, we demonstrated a device that converts the stored energy into electricity. We call such a device "the Energy Harvester (EH) unit". Furthermore, we proposed a mathematical model that described the dynamics of the EH unit, which is useful in the future design of the unit for the individual designs of pneumatic machines. A series of tests carried out on machines used on an industrial scale showed the possibility of recovering the compressed air power that was previously exhausted into the atmosphere.
Keywords:Compressed air systems;Energy efficiency;Optimisation;Energy recovery;Exhaust air;Industrial scale