Priority 2030: Young Scholar from Moscow Poly Enhances Efficiency of Microturbines

Among 11 young scholars who received fundings named after the prominent USSR and Russian physicist Vladimir Fortov in the late 2021 – there is the “Power Units for Transportation and Small-scale Power Generation” department senior lecturer, Lev Kosach. The scholar is engaged in developing heat exchange apparatus with ultra-high regeneration ratio.

The apparatus under construction, when a part of the gas turbine combustion engine, is thought to increase the engine efficiency and consequently decrease fuel consumption.

According to Lev Kosach, the contest requirements were quite reasonable: present personal research and publications on the subject specified in the application. The project should possess the novelty and relevance, as well as the opportunity for practical implementation of the research results.

The research into and enhancement of turbines is one of the key areas for the “Power Units fin Transportation and Small-Scale Power Generation” department scientific officers. One of the crucial elements is microturbines – the heat exchange apparatus that Lev Kosach is trying to improve under his dissertation.

According to the scholar, the fact of using heat exchanging apparatuses around the world is not a novelty, but their efficiency in the existing units is not high enough. Due to the design, the heat exchange apparatus developed at Moscow Poly will be of an acceptable size but also acquire a substantially higher efficiency compared to other devices that are currently on the [microturbine] market.

“Ultra-high regeneration apparatus development and implementation will allow to create a unit that will be able to be a viable alternative. Apart from that, the results of the research will allow to develop a methodology for designing the abovementioned heat exchange apparatuses, that will significantly decrease the engine development period in general”, - notes Lev Kosach.

In 2019, together with co-authors, the scholar has already published an article entitled “Computational and experimental study of thermal hydraulic properties of slotted matrix of rotary regenerator” [in English] in the “International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering” specialized journal (authors: Kostyukov, A.V., Nadareishvili, G.G., Kosach, L.A.,) devoted to studies in this field area.

“Microturbines are multipurpose energy source, they`re particularly crucial for developing distributed power generation” , – shares Lev Kosach – “In general, these units are imported to Russia from different countries. However, it`s clear that having our own independent production that will account for the specifics of local exploitation conditions will be beneficial for the country`s economy”.

The project implementation will help take the microturbine efficiency level (and consequently fuel efficiency) to the characters that`ll allow microturbines compete with reciprocating engines.

Despite some other benefits, it`s by most part the efficiency level that prevents the microturbine industry from developing. The microturbines under development may be used as power units in small-scale power generation, increase of the car mileage, vehicle power and servicing unit – the author is sure – Also, based on the experimental and calculation studies, the methodology for designing heat recovery wheel with slit arrays. The research studies into heat exchange processes are sufficient enough and will be beneficial beyond the boundaries of microturbine production.

The scholar has already held a series of experimental studies for different variants of matrix implementation of the heat exchange apparatus model (from bands and grids). He has optimized the methodology for processing the results and carried out a series of calculation studies to access the impact the number and positions of distance elements in the heat exchange apparatus matrix on hydraulic parameters. Now, there is an article that is getting ready to be published based these results.

For reference: the funding is implemented under the “Priority 2030” strategic academic leadership program and aims to support the best scientific project carried out at the University by the young scholars. Moscow Poly joined became a winner of the Priority 2030 strategic academic leadership program in 2021.