Wilson TurboPower Achieves Heat Exchanger Breakthrough; Super-High Temperatures and Efficiency, Now Demonstrated, Can Enhance Fuel Cell, Microturbine, and Other Industrial Process Performance.WOBURN, Mass. -- Wilson TurboPower has achieved a breakthrough in industrial heat exchangers heat exchanger Any of several devices that transfer heat from a hot to a cold fluid. In many engineering applications, one fluid needs to be heated and another cooled, a requirement economically accomplished by a heat exchanger. that the industry has been trying to accomplish since 1940. Using MIT-patented technology, licensed exclusively to WTPI, it has demonstrated operating temperatures above the ranges at which metal heat exchangers typically perform, in excess of 1650 F (900 C). With further development, it is expected to operate at even higher temperatures. WTPI's ceramic rotary "regenerator (1) In communications, the same as a repeater. (2) In electronics, a circuit that repeatedly supplies current to a memory or display device that continuously loses its charges or content. " also transfers heat from one gas to another at exceptionally high efficiencies, in excess of 98%. To achieve this same level of efficiency, metal heat exchangers typically must be substantially larger. WTPI's super regenerators, called Cerotex(TM), will enable lower cost electricity from fuel cells and microturbines than is possible using current heat exchangers. They will also enable a variety of other applications to operate at higher efficiencies, thereby saving both energy and cost. Examples include hydrogen reforming, metal refining, and food and pharmaceutical processing. The regenerator can also be used in cold applications such as air-cycle cooling and refrigeration refrigeration, process for drawing heat from substances to lower their temperature, often for purposes of preservation. Refrigeration in its modern, portable form also depends on insulating materials that are thin yet effective. . The rotary regenerative heat exchanger A regenerative heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger where the flow periodically reverses directions. This type of heat exchanger can have thermal efficiency as high as 95% to 99%, transferring almost all the relative heat energy from one fluid flow to the other. was patented by Fredrik Ljungstrom in 1920. Until now, such regenerators were designed to be rotated steadily and continuously and were used mainly for gases near atmospheric pressure atmospheric pressure or barometric pressure Force per unit area exerted by the air above the surface of the Earth. Standard sea-level pressure, by definition, equals 1 atmosphere (atm), or 29.92 in. (760 mm) of mercury, 14.70 lbs per square in., or 101. . The attempts that have been made beginning in 1940 to adapt them for use in high-pressure applications have been unsuccessful due to wear and leakage of the seals. Based on the work of Professor David Gordon Wilson David Gordon Wilson is emeritus professor of engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Born in Warwickshire, England, Wilson moved to the U.S. in 1953. at MIT's Heat Transfer Laboratory, MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology was awarded a patent for the concept of rotating the disk or drum discontinuously rather than continuously. The seals are pressed on to the disk or drum face when it is stationary, about 95% of the time, and are lifted very slightly when the disk or drum is rapidly indexed to a new position. Wilson TurboPower Based on MIT research, WTPI is developing two efficiency-enhancing products. The first is its high-temperature, super-efficient ceramic heat exchanger called Cerotex(TM). The second is its super-efficient ceramic microturbine for distributed power generation and military and transportation propulsion systems. This engine optimizes the benefits of Cerotex(TM) and has the potential to revolutionize the energy industry by offering least cost and lowest emissions electricity by achieving 50% electrical efficiency The efficiency of an entity (a device, component, or system) in electronics and electrical engineering is defined as useful power output divided by the total electrical power consumed (a fractional expression). |
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