CFD Simulation on the 2nd Discharge-Path Line in Hydrogen Reciprocating Compressor

The reciprocating compressor is widely used in the industry field, because it has simple principle and high efficiency. In this work, in order to improve design of discharge-path line in hydrogen compression system, Numerical analysis has been conducted. It is a useful tool to observe the flow quickly and clearly. General information about an internal gas flow is presented by numerical analysis approach. Flow characteristic analysis, including velocity, pressure and turbulence kinetic energy distribution of hydrogen gas going out from the cylinder to discharge-path line are presented in this paper. Discharge-path 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 velocity, pressure and turbulent kinetic energy are not distributed uniformly along the discharge-path of the Hydrogen system. Particles track helps to demonstrate flow characteristics inside the discharge-path. The existence of vortices and flow direction can be precisely predicted. Based on this result, the design improvement will be done.