A Valve Design for a SOFC/GT Hybrid System Utilizing Smart Materials
Abstract
This project includes vast research on the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Gas Turbine (SOFC/GT) hybrid system. This system’s goal is to create energy and to minimize the pollution by utilizing natural gas and a combination of different components such as a fuel cell, heat exchangers, bypass valves, turbines and combustors working together to create energy. This system was created for it to be used as a base for a future alternative to create clean energy all around the country. The SOFC/GT system consists of the fuel cell being pressurized by the gas turbine. Then the fuel cell exhaust gas in the turbine. This system is considered efficient since most of the heat is recovered in the turbine and the pressurization helps to improve the fuel cell features. [1] Even though this system is effective, a design of a bypass valve is proposed to increase even more the efficiency of this system. The goal in this thesis is to design and manufacture a working bypass valve that in the future will be integrated into the SOFC/GT system to control airflow at the exhaust of the gas turbine. By doing this it is expected to increment the efficiency of the system. Unfortunately, in the market, this valve is not manufactured at low costs, reason why materials such as Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) and Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) were applied to create a new valve available to a more reasonable price. The design is intended to adjust this new material test and collect results. Finally, the Macro Fiber Composites (MFC) was considered not a good fit for this project due to its low performance as an actuator and its sensibility to future high temperatures. Reason why the main focus is in the design that utilizes Shape Memory Alloys (SMA). The SMA showed a better actuation with electricity.
Subject Area
Science education
Recommended Citation
Valladolid, Ariztbe, "A Valve Design for a SOFC/GT Hybrid System Utilizing Smart Materials" (2022). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI29210025.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI29210025