Jonna Tiainen

Efficient feed pump operation is critical in small scale, high temperature, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems, where high pressure rise and low mass flow rate impose demanding design constraints. The work integrates the design, CFD analysis, and experimental assessment of a partial emission (PE) feed pump integrated into a rotating shaft with a supersonic radial inflow turbine and a high-speed generator. The turbogenerator operates at rotational speeds up to 31 000 rpm, delivering approximately 10 kWe of electrical power.The paper outlines the PE pump design methodology, including cavitation mitigation through an inducer, and examines pump performance across a wide operating range. Experiments were complemented by a detailed uncertainty analysis, enabling a more rigorous assessment of the achieved pressure rise of approximately 10 bar.g and the process fluid flow rate near 0.4 kg/s. The results provide new insight into the design and operational behaviour of high‐head, low‐volumetric‐flow‐rate feed pumps for small‐scale ORC systems.

The energy efficiency of non-road mobile machinery can be improved by using e.g., an electric drive system as a servo controller of a hydraulic machine to get an efficient electro-hydraulic (EH) converter. However, the cooling of EH devices require more understanding and new innovations. This work presents a design of a 7-kW integrated EH machine and studies its electric motor heat transfer phenomena both experimentally and numerically. Further, to better match the torque and speed performances of the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and the hydraulic machine a planetary step-down gear is utilized to triple the output torque of the PMSM. The integrated motor and gear system is then connected to a bent axis piston hydraulic machine, which is capable of operating both as a motor and a pump. Two different electric motor cooling approaches are investigated. The first cooling approach is to use some hydraulic oil inside the motor-gear chamber to let it flow freely as a result of the rotor rotation and move the losses to the surface of the converter cover, which is equipped with some air cooling fins. In the second approach, the oil flows through the converter and removes the losses more effectively. Motor losses and thermal behaviour are studied within these two cooling approaches. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are performed to find how the coolant is distributed inside the machine and how heat is distributed in the device.

Bearingless motor (BLM) technology offers a competitive solution to active magnetic bearings (AMBs) in high-speed applications. A bearingless drivetrain (BLDT) working as part of a kinetic compressor in a heat pump exceeding 0.5 MW and 25 000 rpm is open for questions: how should the geometry, materials, and parameters be chosen without exceeding the electromechanical and thermal limits; what rotor configuration would suit the heat pump; and how can the working fluid of the heat pump be used in the motor cooling? This paper presents the interdisciplinary design process of a BLDT as part of the compressor of a high-temperature heat pump (HTHP). The motor design process—the motor constituting the core driving the compressor of the heat pump, each interacting with the others, thus bringing about various design challenges—is summarized in a flowchart and subsequently elaborated on. Dimensioning rules for the bearingless structures are presented. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate the surface and interior permanent magnet BLM structures under consideration. Different stack materials are considered and preliminary electromechanical optimization by a genetic algorithm is carried out. To ensure structural rigidity, FEA of electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal, and rotor dynamic performance is conducted. FEA of drive losses is carried out and cooling alternatives are considered, based on which temperature distributions and thermal stresses with the chosen cooling arrangements are calculated again with FEA. The power and performance of the structures are discussed. As a result of the analyses, a suitable hermetic motor design is chosen for the HTHP compressor drivetrain.

The hydraulic sliding-spool valve is a key component to control the flow rates and thus pressures in different hydraulic volumes. The lateral force on the spool is one of the important effects resulting from moving resistance. This paper presents research aimed at understanding the effects of radial flow force and static pressure upon the lateral force. The radial flow force is calculated from three types of control surfaces labelled with square land, 45° conical, and round curved surfaces, for discovering the effects of control profile, combined with inlet and outlet control conditions. The pressure difference effect is analyzed along with six cases under the same orifice opening, and the radial flow force is found to vary linearly with the pressure difference. The results also indicate that the radial force for the inlet control mode is less than that of the outlet control mode. The jet angle is discovered to not only be related to the annular orifice opening and gap clearance, but is also influenced by the flow direction and control surface profile. The static pressure is the predominant factor in the lateral force compared to the radial flow force. The results indicate that the static pressure variation on the surface of the cylindrical spool shoulder increased linearly with the inlet pressure; and two stagnation points can be observed in the case of the valve cavity with oil passages on the same section, and square land control edge profile. The lateral force on the spool increases with the pressure, and could reach to the maximum of 300 N, implying that this force should be taken into account in the selection of an actuator, especially in high pressure applications.

Radial outflow turbines are an alternative for axial turbines for example in heat recovery applications. They are, however, also often characterized by ultra-low aspect ratios. In these designs, the secondary losses dominate the overall loss share, and under a certain aspect ratio, the secondary structures from the hub and shroud begin to interact. This interaction causes a

The fast preliminary design and safe operation of turbomachines require a simple and accurate prediction of axial thrust. An underestimation of these forces may result in undersized bearings that can easily overload and suffer damage. While large safety margins are used in bearing design to avoid overloading, this leads to costly oversizing. In this study, the accuracy of currently available axial thrust estimation methods is analyzed by comparing them to each other and to theoretical pressure distribution, numerical simulations, and new experimental data. Available methods tend to underestimate the maximum axial thrust and require data that are unavailable during the preliminary design of turbomachines. This paper presents a new, simple axial thrust estimation method that requires only a few preliminary design parameters as the input data and combines the advantages of previously published methods, resulting in a more accurate axial thrust estimation. The method is validated against previously public data from a radial pump and new experimental data from a centrifugal compressor, the latter measured at Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT, Finland, and two gas turbines measured at Aurelia Turbines Oy, Finland. The maximum deviation between the estimated axial thrust using the hybrid method and the measured one is less than 13%, while the other methods deviate by tens of percent.

A two-dimensional hydraulic servo valve is an innovative servo control element that provides hydraulic systems with a high power-to-weight ratio, great anti-pollution potential, and superior static and dynamic characteristics. The spool of such a valve is subject to two degrees of freedom: rotation around and sliding along the spool axis, to accomplish both pilot control and flow amplifier functions. The structure of the spool at the main stage is similar to that of a traditional slide valve wherein the asymmetrical distribution of the oil paths manufactured in the valve body produces circumferential unevenness in the radial flow force to the spool at the annular orifice, in line with the momentum theory. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis of the flow field revealed that the radial flow force at the annular orifice increases sharply with inlet flow velocity and decreases as the orifice opening grows, while changes in outlet pressure do not affect the levels or distribution of this force. Also, net radial force at the annular orifice increases with both inlet velocity and opening size. The paper presents results demonstrating that the net radial force from fluid flow through the orifice could increase friction resistance and cannot be safely ignored, especially under high-flow-rate conditions.