Search

EP-4739962-A1 - REFRIGERATION CYCLE REFRIGERATOR, AND LIQUEFACTION DEVICE AND METHOD

EP4739962A1EP 4739962 A1EP4739962 A1EP 4739962A1EP-4739962-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a refrigerator that includes a refrigeration cycle of a cycle gas mainly containing hydrogen and/or helium, having a cycle circuit (12) that includes a cycle gas compression mechanism (21, 22), a cycle gas cooling member (23, 5), a cycle gas expansion mechanism (24, 25) and a member (5) for reheating the expanded cycle gas, the compression mechanism comprising at least one alternating volumetric compression stage (21) and at least two centrifugal compression stages (22) arranged in series, the expansion mechanism comprising at least two centripetal expansion turbines (24), at least one of the turbines (24) being mechanically coupled (122) to a centrifugal compression stage (22), wherein the at least one alternating volumetric compression stage (21) is arranged in series with and upstream of the at least two centrifugal compression stages (22).

Inventors

  • BARJHOUX, Pierre
  • GAERTNER, Axelle
  • DANG, Tianyi
  • ANDRICH, Marine
  • DELAUTRE, Guillaume

Assignees

  • L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240619

Claims (17)

  1. Refrigerator with a refrigeration cycle of a cycle gas mainly comprising hydrogen and/or helium, the refrigerator having a cycle circuit (12) comprising: a mechanism (21, 22) for compressing the cycle gas, at least one member (23, 5) for cooling the cycle gas, a mechanism (24, 25) for expanding the cycle gas and at least one member (5) for reheating the expanded cycle gas, the compression mechanism comprises at least one stage (21) of volumetric and reciprocating compression and at least two stages (22) of centrifugal compression arranged in series, the expansion mechanism comprising at least two centripetal expansion turbines (24), at least one of the turbines (24) being mechanically coupled (122) to a centrifugal compression stage (22) so as to provide the compression stage (22) with mechanical work produced during expansion, in which the at least one stage (21) of alternative volumetric type compression is arranged in series and upstream of the at least two centrifugal compression stages (22), characterized in that it comprises a system for regulating at least one of the expansion turbines (24) and comprising a throttling valve (13) at the inlet of the expansion turbine and/or a system (14, 15) for bypassing the flow of fluid supplying the turbine (24).
  2. Refrigerator according to claim 1, characterized in that the regulation system of the at least one expansion turbine (24) is configured to maintain a determined expansion rate at the terminals of the turbine (24).
  3. Refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that it comprises a downstream compression regulation system configured to regulate the at least two centrifugal compression stages (22) arranged in series, said downstream compression regulation system comprising at least one of: a system (9, 10) for bypassing the fluid flow supplying all or part of the centrifugal compression stages (22), a frequency variator (17) associated with at least one of the centrifugal compression stages (22), an inlet flow regulator (11) (“IGV”) for the gas flow supplying at least one of the centrifugal compression stages (22).
  4. Refrigerator according to claim 3, characterized in that the downstream compression control system is configured to control the flow rate of cycle gas in the centrifugal compression stages (22) and for example to decrease the flow rate of cycle gas in the centrifugal compression stages (22) in response to a decrease in the flow rate of cycle gas admitted into the turbines (24).
  5. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the compression mechanism comprises at least three centrifugal compression stages (22) arranged in series.
  6. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the expansion mechanism comprises at least two turbines (24) mechanically coupled (122) respectively to respective centrifugal compression stages (22).
  7. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the compression mechanism comprises at least two compression stages (21) of the volumetric and alternative type arranged in series.
  8. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the expansion mechanism comprises at least one Joule Thomson type expansion valve (25) arranged in series downstream of at least one of the two expansion turbines (24).
  9. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one volumetric and reciprocating compression stage (21) comprises a piston compressor.
  10. Refrigerator according to claim 9, characterized in that the piston compressor comprises a piston (121) movable in a compression chamber of the cycle gas, an actuator (7) of the piston and an admission system (210) of the cycle gas to be compressed in the compression chamber, a delivery system (211) of the compressed cycle gas out of the compression chamber, and a member (8) for controlling the admission system (210) and/or the delivery system (211) to control the mass flow rate and/or the compression rate of the volumetric and reciprocating compression stage (21).
  11. Refrigerator according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the control member (8) controls the opening or closing of an extension of the volume of the compression chamber, said extension being able to be activated to modify the mass flow rate that the piston compressor must compress.
  12. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cycle circuit (12) comprises a volume (16) for damping the pressure pulsations arranged between the volumetric and reciprocating compression stages (21) and the centrifugal compression stages (22), for example a pressurized buffer storage, the damping volume (16) being sized to reduce by a factor of between 10 and 100 the pressure amplitudes of the cycle gas between the outlet of the volumetric and reciprocating compression stage(s) (21) and the inlet of the centrifugal compression stages (22).
  13. Refrigerator according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cycle circuit (12) is devoid of a member for cooling the cycle gas at the outlet of at least one of the centrifugal compression stages (22) other than the last centrifugal compression stage (22).
  14. Device for liquefying a feed fluid such as hydrogen and/or helium comprising a feed fluid circuit (3) having an upstream end intended to be connected to a source (2) of feed gas and a downstream end (23) intended to be connected to a member (4) for collecting the liquefied feed gas, the device (1) comprising a set of heat exchanger(s) (5) in heat exchange with the feed fluid circuit (3), the device (1) comprising at least one refrigerator (2) in heat exchange with at least part of the set of heat exchanger(s) (5), the refrigerator (2) being in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 13.
  15. Liquefaction device according to claim 14, the refrigerator (2) being in accordance with claim 10, characterized in that, in response to a signal representative of the reduction in the thermal load of the supply fluid circuit (3), the control member (8) of the intake system (210) and of the discharge system (211) is configured to reduce the pressure and/or the mass flow rate at the outlet of the volumetric and reciprocating compression stage (21) by modifying the mass flow rate and/or the compression ratio of the volumetric and reciprocating compression stage (21), the signal representative of the reduction in the thermal load of the supply fluid circuit (3) being for example provided by a member for determining the flow rate and/or the characteristics of the gas flow supplying the device and/or a measurement of a determined change in temperature of a cold end of the cycle circuit (12) of the refrigerator at equal operation and/or a measurement of a determined change in temperature on the fluid circuit equal operating supply, for example downstream of the heat exchanger assembly and upstream of an expansion valve.
  16. A method of liquefying a feed fluid, for example hydrogen, using a liquefaction device according to any one of claims 15 or 16, comprising, firstly volumetric and alternating compression of the cycle gas and then centrifugal compression of the cycle gas, centripetal expansion of the centrifugally compressed cycle gas and a step of recovering part of the centripetal expansion work for the centrifugal compression.
  17. Method according to claim 16, characterized in that it comprises a step of regulating the mass flow rate of compressed cycle gas in the volumetric and reciprocating compression as a function of the thermal load of the feed gas flow and a step of regulating the flow rate of cycle gas in the centripetal expansion and in the centrifugal compression as a function of the mass flow rate of compressed cycle gas in the volumetric and reciprocating compression.

Description

Refrigeration cycle refrigerator and liquefaction device and method The invention relates to a refrigeration cycle refrigerator and a liquefaction device and method. The invention relates more particularly to a refrigerator with a refrigeration cycle of a cycle gas mainly comprising hydrogen and/or helium, the refrigerator having a cycle circuit comprising: a compression mechanism of the cycle gas, at least one member for cooling the cycle gas, a mechanism for expanding the cycle gas and at least one member for reheating the expanded cycle gas, the compression mechanism comprises at least one compression stage of the volumetric and reciprocating type and at least two centrifugal compression stages arranged in series, the expansion mechanism comprising at least two expansion turbines of the centripetal type, at least one of the turbines being mechanically coupled to a centrifugal compression stage so as to provide the compression stage with mechanical work produced during expansion. It is known to recover the expansion work of turbines to centrifugal compressors. Documents US2022390169A and WO2022033714A1 describe refrigerator solutions. However, the known solutions are not very satisfactory, for example for large hydrogen liquefiers (low efficiency, low operating pressure, low compression ratio of centrifugal compression, etc.). An aim of the present invention is to overcome all or part of the drawbacks of the prior art noted above. To this end, the refrigerator according to the invention, moreover in accordance with the generic definition given in the preamble above, is essentially characterized in that the at least one alternating volumetric type compression stage is arranged in series and upstream of the at least two centrifugal compression stages. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features: the compression mechanism comprises at least three centrifugal compression stages arranged in series, the expansion mechanism comprises at least two turbines mechanically coupled respectively to respective centrifugal compression stages, the compression mechanism comprises at least two volumetric and reciprocating compression stages arranged in series, the expansion mechanism comprises at least one Joule Thomson type expansion valve arranged in series downstream of at least one of the two expansion turbines, the at least one volumetric and reciprocating compression stage comprises a piston compressor, the piston compressor comprises a piston movable in a compression chamber of the cycle gas, an actuator of the piston and a system for admitting the cycle gas to be compressed into the compression chamber, a system for discharging the compressed cycle gas out of the compression chamber, and a control member of the admission system and/or the discharge system for controlling the mass flow rate and/or the compression ratio of the volumetric and reciprocating type compression stage, the refrigerator comprises a system for regulating at least one of the expansion turbines and comprising a throttle valve at the inlet of the expansion turbine and/or a bypass system for the flow of fluid supplying the turbine, the control member controls the opening or closing of an extension of the volume of the compression chamber, said extension being able to be activated to modify the mass flow rate that the piston compressor must compress, the regulation system of the at least one expansion turbine is configured to maintain a determined expansion rate at the terminals of the turbine, the refrigerator comprises a downstream compression regulation system configured to regulate the at least two centrifugal compression stages arranged in series, said downstream compression regulation system comprising at least one of: a bypass system for the fluid flow supplying all or part of the centrifugal compression stages, a frequency variator associated with at least one of the centrifugal compression stages, an inlet flow regulator ("IGV") for the gas flow supplying at least one of the centrifugal compression stages, the downstream compression control system is configured to control the cycle gas flow rate in the centrifugal compression stages and for example to decrease the cycle gas flow rate in the centrifugal compression stages in response to a decrease in the cycle gas flow rate admitted to the turbines, the cycle circuit comprises a pressure pulsation damping volume arranged between the volumetric and reciprocating compression stages and the centrifugal compression stages, for example a pressurized buffer storage, the damping volume being sized to reduce by a factor of between ten and one hundred the pressure amplitudes of the cycle gas between the outlet of the volumetric and reciprocating compression stage(s) and the inlet of the centrifugal compression stages, the cycle circuit is devoid of a cooling member for the cycle gas at the outlet of at least one of the centrifugal compression stages ot