Adaptive Hydraulic Potential Energy Transfer Technology and Its Application to Compressed Air Energy Storage

• Main Authors: Hao Fu, Tong Jiang, Yan Cui, Bin Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-07-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: adaptive hydraulic potential energy transfer; stable water head; liquid-controlled compressed air energy storage; compressed air energy storage
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/7/1845

In recent years, Hydro-pneumatic cycling compressed air energy storage (HC-CAES) has become an important topic in compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology research. In HC-CAES, air is compressed by liquid and driven by electrical equipment when energy is stored, and then, liquid is used to drive the water conservancy equipment to generate electricity. In this study, adaptive hydraulic potential energy transfer technology is proposed to solve a series of problems in the HC-CAES system, including the high fluctuation range of gas potential energy, poor operating stability, low efficiency, and so on. Therefore, fluctuating potential energy can be stably transferred through the variable area hydraulic devices, which can be controlled with an on–off valve. The structure and operation scheme of the adaptive hydraulic potential energy transfer device used in the HC-CAES system are explained in detail; the device can provide a stable water head range for the highly efficient operation of water conservancy equipment. Moreover, an optimal operation scheme was determined through simulation analysis; a physical experiment platform was built to verify the feasibility of the design and stability of system operation.