关键词: 涡流管, 氢, 预冷流程, 能量分离, 数值模拟, 热力学过程

Abstract:

Before refueled in to the vehicle-mounted gas cylinder, the high-pressure hydrogen gas needs to be pre-cooled to prevent the structural damage of the cylinder by the high temperature gas. In the present study, a novel pre-cooling process integrating a vortex tube in replace of the traditional chiller is proposed. Then a numerical study of the vortex tube behavior is carried out for a high-pressure hydrogen flow. Obtained results from the numerical simulation show that the energy separation effect exists in the vortex tube with hydrogen flow at the pressure level of tens of megapascals. Moreover, it is found that the energy separation performance of the vortex tube improves as the pressure ratio increases. In other words, the temperature drop of the cold exit of vortex tube decreases as the pressure ratio decreases in the refueling process, which just matches the slowing-down temperature rise during the cylinder charge. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that the integration of a vortex tube into the pre-cooling process has feasibility in the hydrogen fueling station.

Key words: vortex tube, hydrogen, pre-cooling process, energy separation, numerical simulation, thermodynamics process