CFD Analysis Study on Suction-Passage Flow of Hydrogen Reciprocating Compressor

Numerical analysis information is very useful to improve fluid system. General information about an internal gas flow is presented by numerical analysis approach. In hydrogen compressing system, which has an important role in hydrogen energy utilization, CFD can be a powerful tool to observe the flow quickly and clearly. Flow characteristic analysis, including pressure and turbulence kinetic energy distribution of hydrogen gas coming to the cylinder of a reciprocating compressor are presented in this paper. Suction-passage model is designed based on real model of hydrogen compressor. Pressure boundary conditions are applied considering the real condition of operating system. The result shows pressure and turbulence kinetic energy are not distributed uniformly along the passage of the hydrogen system. Path line or particles tracks help to demonstrate flow characteristics inside the passage. The existence of vortices and flow direction can be clearly found. Based on this result, the design improvement, such as reducing the varying flow parameters and flow reorientation could be done. Consequently, development of the better hydrogen compressing system will be achieved.