Reciprocating compressor-expander

Abstract

A reciprocating compressor-expander according to the present invention comprises a cylinder, a piston, a crankshaft connected to the piston, a first valve for a low pressure compressible fluid, a second valve for a high pressure compressible fluid, and a valve drive mechanism for driving the first valve and the second respectively such that, during a compression process, the low-pressure compressible fluid is sucked into the cylinder from the first valve in synchronization with the rotation of the crankshaft and the high-pressure compressible fluid compressed in the cylinder is discharged from the second valve, and that, during an expansion process, the high-pressure compressive fluid is introduced from the second valve into the cylinder, and the low-pressure compressible fluid expanded in the cylinder is discharged from the first valve.

Claims

1. A reciprocating compressor-expander comprising: a cylinder; a piston sliding tightly inside the cylinder; a crankshaft converting reciprocating motion of the piston and rotary motion of the crankshaft to each other; a first valve that opens when introducing a compressible fluid into the cylinder during a compression process for the compressible fluid or when discharging an expanded compressible fluid in the cylinder during an expansion process for the compressible fluid; a second valve that opens when the compressible fluid compressed in the cylinder during the compression process is discharged or when the compressible fluid is introduced into the cylinder during the expansion process; a hydraulic cylinder connected to each of the first valve and the second valve; actuators connected to each of the hydraulic cylinders; a controller capable of opening and closing the first valve and the second valve individually by electrically controlling each of the actuators; a motor generator that generates electricity when the crankshaft is driven to rotate based on the reciprocating motion of the piston and also drives the crankshaft to rotate to reciprocate the piston; an angle sensor to detect an angle of rotation of the crankshaft; and a power sensor that detects a rotational power of the motor generator; wherein the controller adjusts an amount of work in the motor generator by adjusting an opening period of at least one of the first valve or the second valve based on detection signals from the angle sensor and the power sensor.

2. The reciprocating compressor-expander as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a spring for urging the first valve and the second valve to a valve closing side; and the first valve and the second valve are each opened against a biasing force of the spring when the actuator is operated by the controller.

3. The reciprocating compressor-expander as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller adjusts the valve opening period of at least one of the first valve and the second valve so that a rotational speed of the motor generator is substantially constant.

4. The reciprocating compressor-expander as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller adjusts the opening period or a closing period of at least one of the first valve or the second valve for each rotation of the crankshaft.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a reciprocating compressor-expander;

(2) FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram showing a valve and a valve drive mechanism of a reciprocating compressor-expander according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 3 is a system diagram showing a configuration of an energy storage device using the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2 at the time of accumulating pressure;

(4) FIG. 4 is a system diagram showing a configuration of an energy storage device using the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2 at the time of power generation;

(5) FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram showing a relationship between a controller and each sensor.

(6) FIG. 6 is a graph showing a relationship between the crank angle and the air pressure in the cylinder during a compression stroke of the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2;

(7) FIG. 7 is a graph showing a relationship between the crank angle and the air pressures in the cylinder during an expansion stroke of the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2;

(8) FIG. 8 is a PV diagram showing a relationship between cylinder internal volume V and air pressures P during a compression stroke of the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2;

(9) FIG. 9 is a PV diagram showing a relationship between cylinder internal volume V and air pressure P during an expansion stroke of the reciprocating compressor-expander shown in FIG. 2;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(10) An embodiment of a reciprocating compressor-expander according to the present invention will be now described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

(11) As shown in FIG. 1, the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 comprises a cylinder 2, a piston 3 sliding tightly or hermetically inside the cylinder 2, a crankshaft 5 connected to the piston 3 via a connecting rod 4 for converting reciprocating motion of the piston 3 and rotary motion of the crankshaft 5 each other. The reciprocating compressor-expander 1 further comprises a first valve, hereinafter called as low-pressure valve 7, for introducing or discharging a low pressure compressible fluid into or from the cylinder 2 and a second valve, hereinafter called as high-pressure valve 8, for discharging or introducing a high pressure compressible fluid from or into the cylinder 2.

(12) During an expansion process of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the high-pressure valve 8 opens to allow the high-pressure compressed air to flow into the cylinder 2, while the low-pressure valve 7 opens to allow the air, which flows in from the high-pressure valve 8, is expanded by the operation of the piston 3 and becomes low pressure, is discharged out of the cylinder 2.

(13) As shown in FIG. 2, an air spring 11 for urging the low-pressure valve 7 toward the valve closing side is provided on the valve shaft 7a of the low-pressure valve 7. A hydraulic cylinder 12 is directly connected to the valve shaft 7a of the low-pressure valve 7 via the air spring 11. That is, when hydraulic pressure is applied to the hydraulic cylinder 12, the hydraulic cylinder 12 directly opens the low-pressure valve 7 against the urging force of the air spring 11.

(14) At the upstream of the hydraulic cylinder 12, there is provided a hydraulic actuator 13 the operation of which is controlled by an electronic control valve 25. The operation of the electronic control valve 25 is electrically controlled by a controller 20. The electronic control valve 25 is supplied hydraulic pressure from the inlet hydraulic main pipe 14, and discharges it through an outlet hydraulic main pipe 15.

(15) The high-pressure valve 8 is also provided, similarly to the low-pressure valve 7, with an air spring 11, a hydraulic cylinder 12, and the like separately from the low-pressure valve 7. The low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are operated independently of each other under the control of the controller 20. That is, the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are opened and closed independently of each other on a hydraulic mechanism. However, depending on a program in the controller 20, both may be operated in some form in association with each other.

(16) As described above, the hydraulic cylinder 12 is directly connected to the valve shaft 7a of the low-pressure valve 7 and a valve shaft 8a of the high-pressure valve 8 to directly open the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8, respectively. Therefore, opening and closing operations of the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are performed extremely quickly and reliably as instructed by the controller 20.

(17) The air spring 11, the hydraulic cylinder 12, the hydraulic actuator 13, the electronic control valve 25, and the controller 20 form a hydraulically driven valve drive mechanism, and the hydraulic cylinder 12, the hydraulic actuator 13, the electronic control valve 25, and the controller 20 form a hydraulic control unit of the valve drive mechanism.

(18) As shown in FIG. 5, a crank angle sensor 22 for detecting the rotation angle of the crankshaft 5, a compressed air tank internal pressure sensor or pressure sensor 21 for detecting the air pressure in a compressed air tank 33, and an electric power sensor or rotational power sensor 23 for detecting the rotational power of a motor-generator 31 when operating as a generator, which will be described later, are electrically connected to the controller 20. The controller 20 controls the operation of the electronic control valve 25 based on the respective parameters detected by the sensors 21, 22 and 23, and makes the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 of the present reciprocating compressor-expander 1 open and close independently of each other via the hydraulic actuator 13 and the hydraulic cylinder 12.

(19) As shown in FIG. 2, when the low-pressure valve 7 or the low-pressure valve 8 of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 is closed, the low-pressure valve 7 or the high-pressure valve 8 is closed by the urging force of the air spring 11 because the hydraulic pressure is not supplied to the hydraulic piston 12 from the hydraulic actuator 13. When the controller 20 electrically sends an instruction to open the valve to the electronic control valve 25, the electronic control valve 25 operates the hydraulic actuator 13 by the hydraulic pressure supplied from the inlet hydraulic pressure main pipe 14 to supply the hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic piston 12. As a result, the low-pressure valve 7 or the high-pressure valve 8 is opened against the urging force of the air spring 11.

(20) When the controller 20 electrically sends an instruction to close the valve to the electronic control valve 25, the electronic control valve 25 operates the hydraulic actuator 13 to shut off the supply of the hydraulic pressure to the hydraulic piston 12. As a result, the low-pressure valve 7 or the high-pressure valve 8 is closed by the urging force of the air spring 11. The hydraulic pressure is discharged from the outlet hydraulic pressure main pipe 15. In the valve drive mechanism hydraulically driven mentioned above, the opening and closing valves of the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are controlled independently of each other by the controller 20 or the like.

(21) FIG. 3 shows an example of an energy storage device 30 using the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 in a state during a compression stroke. Two reciprocating compressor-expanders 1a,1b are arranged in series. A motor-generator 31 is connected to the rotary shaft of the connected reciprocating compressor-expanders 1a,1b. As described above, the motor-generator 31 operates as a motor that is rotationally driven by surplus electric power during the compression stroke to rotate and drive the two reciprocating compressor-expanders 1a,1b, while it is rotationally driven by the two reciprocating compressor-expanders 1a,1b during the expansion stroke to generate electric power.

(22) A heat exchanger 32a is provided at the outlet of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1a on the low pressure side. The compressed air which has been adiabatically compressed by the operation of the piston 3 and has become high temperature is cooled by the heat exchanger 32a, and then sucked into the reciprocating compressor-expander 1b on the high pressure side from the low-pressure valve 7 thereof.

(23) The air whose pressure has been further increased by the reciprocating compressor-expander 1b on the high pressure side passes through the heat exchanger 32b on the high pressure side, and after being reduced in temperature, is sent to the compressed air tank 33, and is stored as high pressure air energy until next power generation. The heat media of the heat exchangers 32a and 32b on the low temperature side and the high temperature side, which have been heat-exchanged, store the absorbed heat energy in the heat accumulators 34a and 34b, respectively.

(24) FIG. 4 shows the energy storage device 30 in a state during an expansion stroke. The high-pressure air stored in the compressed air tank 33 is sent to the heat exchanger 32b on the high-pressure side when electric power is required, and after the temperature is raised by the thermal energy from the heat accumulator 34b, the high-pressure air flows into the cylinder 2 from the high-pressure valve 8 of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1b on the high-pressure side, and is adiabatically expanded by the operation of the pistons 3 to lower the pressure and temperature.

(25) The compressed air whose pressure and temperature are lowered is discharged from the low-pressure valve 7 of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1b on the high pressure side, passes through the heat exchanger 32a on the low pressure side, rises in temperature by thermal energy from the heat accumulator 34a on the low pressure side, flows into the cylinder 2 from the high-pressure valve 8 of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1a on the low pressure side, and adiabatically expands by the operation of the pistons 3, thereby further lowering the pressure and temperature.

(26) The compressed air whose pressure and temperature are lowered is discharged to the outside from the low-pressure valve 7 of the reciprocating compression expander 1a on the low pressure side. On the other hand, by the operation of the pistons 3 of the two reciprocating compressor-expanders 1a and 1b, the crankshaft 5 is rotationally driven to drive the motor-generator 31 rotationally, whereby electric power is regenerated. As a result, the pressure energy once converted into the high-pressure compressed air and stored therein is regenerated into electrical energy again.

(27) As described above, in the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the crankshaft 5 is rotationally driven by the motor-generator 31 operating with surplus electric power, high-pressure compressed air is formed by adiabatic compression by the operation of the piston 3, and the crankshaft 5 is rotationally driven by adiabatic expansion of the formed high-pressure compressed air, whereby electric power is regenerated by the motor-generator 31.

(28) As shown in FIG. 6, during the compression stroke of the reciprocating compressor-regenerator 1, the controller 20 opens the low-pressure valve 7 at a crank angle of about 230 to 270 deg. and closes it at about 310 to 360 deg., while opening the high-pressure valve 8 at a crank angle of about 110 to 140 deg. and closing it at about 180 to 210 deg. The crank angle is 0 or 360 deg. at the bottom dead center and 180 deg. at the top dead center.

(29) In particular, in the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the rotational power of the motor-generator 31 is adjusted by changing the valve opening period of the low-pressure valve 7, more specifically, the transition timing from the valve opening to the valve closing during the compression stroke by the piston 3.

(30) By configured so, the adjustment of the rotational power of the motor-generator 31 can be performed by the controller 20 on the valve drive mechanism side, and the electric control on the motor-generator 31 side can be simplified. For this reason, the controller 20 further changes the valve opening period of the low-pressure valve 7, more specifically, the transition timing of the low-pressure valve 7 from the valve opening to the valve closing, so that the rotational speed of the motor-generator 31 becomes substantially constant during the compression stroke by the piston 3.

(31) As shown in FIG. 7, during the expansion stroke of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the controller 20 opens the high-pressure valve 8 for flowing high-pressure air at a crank angle of about 160 to 180 deg., and closes the valve at about 220 to 270 deg., while opening the high-pressure valve 8 at a crank angle of about 310 to 360 deg., and closes the valve at about 120 to 180 deg.

(32) In particular, in the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the rotational power of the motor-generator 31 that operates as a generator is adjusted by changing the valve opening period of the high-pressure valve 8, more specifically, the timing of the transition from the valve opening to the valve closing during the expansion stroke by the piston 3. By configured so, the adjustment of the rotational power of the motor-generator 31 can be performed by the controller 20 on the valve drive mechanism side, and the electric control on the motor-generator 31 side which operates as a generator can be simplified.

(33) For this reason, the controller 20 further changes the valve opening period of the high-pressure valve 8, more specifically, the transition timing from the valve opening to the valve closing, so that the rotational speed of the motor-generator 31 becomes substantially constant during the expansion stroke by the piston 3.

(34) In FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the two-dot broken line is a PV diagram showing the relationship between the inflow air volume and the air pressure in the cylinder when the valve opening period is shortened by making the transition timing of the high-pressure valve 8 from the valve opening to the valve closing earlier than in the case of the solid line.

(35) As described above, by changing the transition timing of the high-pressure valve 8 from the opening to the closing, the work amount generated by the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 is changed, whereby the work amount and the power amount generated by the motor generator 31 are changed. That is, in the energy storage device 30 using the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 described above, the adjustment of the work amount and the power generation amount by the motor-generator 31 is extremely easily performed by the controller 20 on the valve drive mechanism side, not on the motor-generator 31 side.

(36) Further, the controller 20 adjusts the opening and closing timing of the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 of the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 every time the crankshaft 5 rotates. Therefore, the rotational power of the motor-generator 31 can be finely adjusted by the controller 20.

(37) As described above, in the reciprocating compressor-expander 1, the opening and closing operations of the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are arbitrarily and optimally controlled by the above-mentioned hydraulically driven valve drive mechanism, while in the conventional reciprocating compressor, the intake valve and the discharge valve are operated only by the preset spring force in relation to the internal pressure of the cylinder.

(38) The reciprocating compressor-expander 1 has various advantages, such as: since the piston 3 slides hermetically in the cylinder 2, the compression efficiency and expansion efficiency is extremely high; since the reciprocating compressor-expander 1 operates reciprocally, the rotational direction of the crankshaft 5 even when used in any of the compression and expansion stroke becomes the same; since there is no particular limitation on capacity, it is suitable for large-capacity power storage plants or the like; and if it is used in an energy storage device in a power grid, no converter is needed in the power grid to make it inexpensive.

(39) The valve drive mechanism may be formed by an electrically driven valve drive mechanism instead of the hydraulically driven valve drive mechanism as described above. In such an electrically driven valve drive mechanism, for example, the low-pressure valve 7 and the high-pressure valve 8 are directly opened and closed by an electrically driven actuator or the like, and the operation of the electrically driven actuator is electrically controlled by the same controller as described above, thereby making it possible to form an electrically driven valve drive mechanism.

(40) The reciprocating compressor-expander described above is merely an example, and various modifications are possible based on the scope of the present invention, and they are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.