Energy recovery air compressor test system and test method

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of fuel cells, and discloses an energy recovery air compressor test system and an energy recovery air compressor test method. The energy recovery air compressor test system includes: an energy recovery air compressor; a main air intake unit connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, used to provide a first gas to the compression end inlet; a main back pressure unit connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, used to adjust the first back pressure of the compression end outlet; a recovery air supply unit connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, used to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet according to a preset working condition; a recovery back pressure unit connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, used to adjust the second back pressure of the recovery end outlet; a control unit connected to and controlling the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit, and the recovery back pressure unit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of fuel cells, and in particular to an energy recovery air compressor testing system and a testing method thereof. Background Art

[0002] With the development of the fuel cell industry and technological advancements, the demand for fuel cell engine power in heavy-duty commercial vehicle applications is increasing. However, the increase in fuel cell engine power will lead to an increase in the power of the fuel cell auxiliary system, especially the increase in the power of the energy recovery air compressor. Therefore, technical experts in the industry have proposed a technical solution for an energy recovery air compressor, which can use the air exhausted by the fuel cell engine to perform work on the recovery end of the energy recovery air compressor, thereby reducing the power consumption of the energy recovery air compressor. However, the exhaust gas of the fuel cell engine is a high-temperature, high-humidity gas, and it also contains liquid water, which has a significant impact on the performance of the expansion wheel at the recovery end. In addition, the exhaust volume of the fuel cell engine at different operating points varies greatly. Therefore, the development of an energy recovery air compressor with adaptability to a wide range of operating points has become an inevitable need of the industry.

[0003] The improvement of advanced product technology is inseparable from the support of advanced testing technology. Therefore, the development of a fuel cell engine energy recovery air compressor test device and energy recovery air compressor test method is of great significance for highly replicating actual vehicle application conditions and testing the working characteristics of the energy recovery air compressor. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiment of the present application provides an energy recovery air compressor test system and test method, which can simulate the real working environment of the energy recovery air compressor in the fuel cell engine, can simulate the air humidity and temperature after the air flows through the fuel cell stack, and further can simulate the gas-liquid two-phase flow of saturated wet air condensed through the pipeline. It has strong application significance for the research and development, design, verification and optimization of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an energy recovery air compressor testing system, comprising:

[0006] Energy recovery air compressor;

[0007] a main air intake unit connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and configured to provide the first gas to the compression end inlet;

[0008] a main circuit back pressure unit connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor and used to adjust the first back pressure of the compression end outlet;

[0009] a recovery line gas supply unit connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for determining the parameters of the second gas according to the preset working conditions of the energy recovery air compressor, thereby providing the second gas with the preset parameters to the recovery end inlet;

[0010] A recovery line back pressure unit, connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for adjusting a second back pressure at the recovery end outlet;

[0011] A control unit is connected to the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit and the recovery back pressure unit, and is used to control the working states of the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit and the recovery back pressure unit to simulate the actual working environment of the capacity recovery air compressor.

[0012] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the main air intake unit includes a first filter, an inlet of the first filter is connected to air, and the first gas includes filtered air.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the main air intake unit is connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a first pipeline, and at least one of a flow meter, a first pressure sensor and a first temperature sensor is provided on the first pipeline.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the main back pressure unit includes a first back pressure valve, the inlet of the first back pressure valve is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and the output end of the first back pressure valve is connected to the outside world.

[0015] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the first back pressure valve is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a second pipeline, and a second pressure sensor and a second temperature sensor are provided on the second pipeline, which are used to detect the pressure value and temperature value in the second pipeline, respectively.

[0016] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the main back pressure unit further includes an intercooler, and:

[0017] The air path inlet of the intercooler is connected to the compression end outlet, and the air path outlet of the intercooler is connected to the first back pressure valve;

[0018] The energy recovery air compressor testing system further includes:

[0019] The cooling device is used to cool the temperature of the gas entering from the air path inlet of the intercooler.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the recovery path air supply unit includes:

[0021] A second filter, wherein the outlet of the second filter is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and is used to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, wherein the second gas includes filtered air.

[0022] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the second filter is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a third pipeline, and a flow control valve, a temperature control device, a humidity control device and a liquid water spray device are also sequentially provided on the third pipeline to respectively control the gas flow, gas temperature, gas humidity and liquid water content flowing to the recovery end inlet.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, at least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a humidity sensor is provided in an area of the third pipeline near the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor to obtain at least one of the pressure value, temperature value, and humidity value in the third pipeline.

[0024] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the recovery path back pressure unit includes a second back pressure valve, the inlet of the second back pressure valve is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and the output end of the second back pressure valve is connected to the outside world.

[0025] In a possible implementation of the first aspect above, the second back pressure valve is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a fourth pipeline, and a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor are provided on the fourth pipeline, which are used to detect the pressure value and temperature value in the fourth pipeline respectively.

[0026] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an energy recovery air compressor testing method, based on the energy recovery air compressor testing system, comprising at least the following steps:

[0027] The main air intake unit is controlled to provide a first gas to the compression end inlet, the main back pressure unit is controlled to provide a first back pressure to the compression end outlet, the recovery air supply unit is controlled to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, the recovery back pressure unit is controlled to provide a second back pressure to the recovery end outlet, and the parameters of the second gas are determined based on the preset working conditions.

[0028] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before controlling the main air intake unit to provide the first gas to the compression end inlet, the method further includes at least the following steps:

[0029] Parameters of the first gas are acquired, where the parameters of the first gas include at least one of temperature, humidity, and flow rate of the first gas.

[0030] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, before controlling the recovery path gas supply unit to provide the second gas to the recovery end inlet, the method further includes at least the following steps:

[0031] The parameters of the second gas are determined according to the simulated environmental parameters of the recovery end inlet corresponding to the preset working condition, and the parameters of the second gas include at least one of the temperature, humidity and flow rate of the second gas.

[0032] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the energy recovery air compressor is used for a vehicle fuel cell, and the parameter of the second gas includes a flow rate of the second gas, and the flow rate of the second gas is obtained based on the following formula and the preset operating condition:

[0033] Q 空 =3.57×10 -4 ×λ×I×n;

[0034] Where: Q 空 is the flow rate of the second gas; λ is the designed air stoichiometric ratio of the fuel cell engine; I is the current of the fuel cell stack in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions; and n is the number of single cells in the fuel cell stack.

[0035] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the energy recovery air compressor is used for a fuel cell for a vehicle, further comprising the following steps:

[0036] Based on the following formula and the preset working conditions, the recovery path air supply unit is controlled to provide liquid water to the recovery end inlet:

[0037]

[0038] Where: m w is the amount of humidification water required under the preset working conditions; P w is the water vapor partial pressure corresponding to the operating temperature of the fuel cell stack under the preset working condition; P is the total pressure of the second gas flowing into the recovery end inlet; m a is the air mass flow rate of the fuel cell.

[0039] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first gas and the second gas are both air, and the testing method further includes the following steps:

[0040] The energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor is obtained based on the following formula:

[0041]

[0042] Where: η is the energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor; m is the flow rate of the first gas at the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor; C p is the specific heat capacity of air; T in is the air inlet temperature of the energy recovery air compressor; K is the air specific heat ratio; Pe is the input power of the energy recovery air compressor; pr is the pressure ratio of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0043] The energy recovery air compressor testing system and testing method in the present application can respectively control the intake state and back pressure state at the inlet and outlet of the compression end, and the inlet and outlet of the recovery end of the energy recovery air compressor, which is conducive to simulating the actual working environment of the energy recovery air compressor under various working conditions, highly reproducing the actual application conditions, and thus testing the working characteristics of the energy recovery air compressor, which has strong application significance for the research and development, design, verification and optimization of the energy recovery air compressor. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the principle of an energy recovery air compressor testing system described in this application;

[0045] Figure 2 This is a structural schematic diagram of an energy recovery air compressor testing system described in this application.

[0046] Reference numerals:

[0047] 1-Main air intake unit; 11-First filter; 12-Flow meter; 14-First pressure sensor; 15-First temperature sensor; 2-Energy recovery air compressor; 3-Main air intake back pressure unit; 31-Second pressure sensor; 32-Second temperature sensor; 33-Cooling device; 34-Intercooler; 35-First back pressure valve; 4-Recovery air supply unit; 41-Second filter; 42-Flow control valve; 43-Temperature control device; 44-Humidity control device; 45-Liquid water spray device; 46-Third pressure sensor; 47-Third temperature sensor; 48-Humidity sensor; 5-Recovery back pressure unit; 51-Fourth pressure sensor; 52-Fourth temperature sensor; 53-Second back pressure valve; 6-Control unit; 7-Power supply device. Specific embodiments

[0048] The illustrative embodiments of the present application include, but are not limited to, an energy recovery air compressor testing system and a testing method thereof.

[0049] It will be understood that, as used herein, the term "unit" may refer to or include, or be part of, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and / or other appropriate hardware components that provide the described functionality.

[0050] It can be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the control unit can be a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, etc., and / or any combination thereof.

[0051] The embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0052] It can be understood that the energy recovery air compressor testing system and testing method provided in the present application can be implemented in various fuel cells, including but not limited to hydrogen fuel cells, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), etc.

[0053] The energy recovery type air compressor test system disclosed in the present application is described below by taking the energy recovery type air compressor test system as an example.

[0054] Figure 1 According to some embodiments of the present application, a schematic diagram of the principle of an energy recovery air compressor testing system is shown. Specifically, the energy recovery air compressor test system includes: an energy recovery air compressor 2; a main air intake unit 1, connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for providing a first gas to the compression end inlet; a main back pressure unit 3, connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for adjusting the first back pressure of the compression end outlet; a recovery air supply unit 4, connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for determining the parameters of the second gas according to the preset working conditions of the capacity recovery air compressor, thereby providing the recovery end inlet with a second gas that meets the preset parameters; a recovery back pressure unit 5, connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for adjusting the second back pressure of the recovery end outlet; a control unit 6, connected to the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit and the recovery back pressure unit, for controlling the working states of the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4 and the recovery back pressure unit 5 to simulate the actual working environment of the capacity recovery air compressor.

[0055] In some embodiments, when the energy recovery air compressor is used in a vehicle fuel cell, its primary function is to pressurize the air entering the fuel cell stack to improve the efficiency and power density of the fuel cell. An energy recovery air compressor is a device that converts the mechanical energy of a motive force into gas pressure energy. Energy recovery air compressors used in vehicle fuel cells are primarily centrifugal, scroll, or screw air compressors. In this embodiment, the energy recovery air compressor can be any of the above-mentioned energy recovery air compressors, or other compressors not listed.

[0056] During actual use, the compression end of the energy recovery air compressor is used to provide most of the air used for air boosting to the fuel cell, and the recovery end is used to connect to the exhaust gas discharge end of the fuel cell to recover the exhaust gas discharged from the exhaust gas discharge end and provide a small part of the air used for air boosting to the fuel cell.

[0057] In this embodiment, a first gas is provided to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor via a main air intake unit, a second gas is provided to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor via a recovery air intake unit, a first back pressure is provided to the compression end outlet via a main back pressure unit, and a second back pressure is provided to the recovery end outlet via a recovery back pressure unit. The first gas, the second gas, the first back pressure, and the second back pressure are all adjustable and are controlled by the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4, and the recovery back pressure unit 5, respectively. Therefore, various fuel cell operating condition simulations can be implemented on the energy recovery air compressor, thereby realizing the energy recovery air compressor test system.

[0058] In some embodiments, the control unit 6 is connected to the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4 and the recovery back pressure unit 5 via a wiring harness. The control unit 6 controls the working states of the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4 and the recovery back pressure unit 5 by at least: adjusting the parameters of the first gas, the parameters of the second gas, and the parameters of the first back pressure and the second back pressure. The types of specific parameters included in the parameters of these gases or back pressures may be the same or different. For example, the parameters of the first gas include the type of gas, the mass ratio between different gases, and the gas pressure, gas temperature and gas flow rate, and the parameters of the second gas include gas temperature and gas pressure.

[0059] In some embodiments, the parameter of the first gas includes at least one of temperature, humidity, and flow rate of the first gas.

[0060] In some embodiments, the control unit may determine the parameters of the first gas, the parameters of the second gas, and the parameters of the first back pressure and the second back pressure based on preset operating conditions.

[0061] In some other embodiments, the parameters of the first gas, the parameters of the second gas, and the parameters of the first back pressure and the second back pressure may also be determined based on some operating parameters of the energy recovery air compressor under normal operating conditions of its application object.

[0062] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor is applied to a fuel cell for a vehicle. Therefore, the energy recovery air compressor test system can at least be used to simulate the operating parameters of a fuel cell for a vehicle under various operating conditions.

[0063] For example, when the energy recovery air compressor test system simulates the normal operating conditions of the fuel cell, the flow rate of the first gas is determined by the amount of compressed air required to be introduced into the fuel cell per unit time under normal operating conditions. After obtaining the flow rate parameters of the first gas, the minimum gas required at the inlet of the main air intake unit can be determined based on the air compression ratio of the main air intake unit.

[0064] When the fuel cell is in normal operating condition, the humidity and temperature of the first gas introduced into the fuel cell are also determined, and the humidity and temperature of the first gas provided by the main air intake unit are controlled to tend to the humidity and temperature of the compressed air used by the energy recovery air compressor when the fuel cell is in normal operating condition.

[0065] In some embodiments, some operating parameters under the normal operating state can be obtained and confirmed by experiments. In some embodiments, the operating parameters under the normal operating state are pre-stored in the test system to control the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4, and the recovery back pressure unit 5.

[0066] In some other embodiments, the test system provides an input and output unit to obtain the working parameters of the energy recovery air compressor under normal working conditions input from the outside.

[0067] In fact, various parameters of the first gas may also be determined according to actual needs.

[0068] In these embodiments, the first back pressure is used to simulate the pressure P1 provided to the compression outlet of the energy recovery air compressor under normal fuel cell operation, and is therefore controlled to approach pressure P1. The second back pressure is used to simulate the external pressure P2 to which the recovery outlet of the energy recovery air compressor is connected under normal fuel cell operation, and is therefore controlled to approach pressure P2.

[0069] In some embodiments, the control unit can control the recovery path gas supply unit to provide a second gas according to the preset operating conditions based on the following steps: determining the simulated environmental parameters of the inlet of the recovery end when the fuel cell is under the preset operating conditions; controlling the recovery path gas supply unit to provide a second gas, and the gas environmental parameters of the second gas are close to the simulated environmental parameters of the inlet of the recovery end when the fuel cell is under the preset operating conditions.

[0070] When the fuel cell is used in an automobile, the preset operating conditions of the fuel cell include: a normal working state in which there is excess hydrogen and air and power is being output; an idle state in which there is minimum power output, corresponding to parasitic loads such as pumps and blowers, and there is sufficient hydrogen and air; an open circuit state in which there is hydrogen and air on the fuel electrode and air electrode respectively and a circuit is broken when there is no load on the battery; and a closed state that occurs when the battery is not used for a long time.

[0071] The actual environmental parameters at the inlet of the recovery end of the fuel cell under preset operating conditions can be obtained in advance through experiments, and the test system can be controlled to change the preset parameters of the first gas, the second gas, the first back pressure, and the second back pressure so that the simulated environmental parameters of the test system approach the actual environmental parameters. The closer the simulated environmental parameters at the inlet of the recovery end under the preset operating conditions are to the actual environmental parameters at the inlet of the recovery end under actual operating conditions, the more accurate the test results ultimately obtained by the test system.

[0072] In some embodiments, a preset working condition-simulated environmental parameter comparison table is built into the test system. The user only needs to input the preset working condition into the test system. The control unit can obtain the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset working condition input by the user according to the above comparison table, and control the recovery path gas supply unit to provide the second gas, and the various parameters of the second gas are close to the corresponding values in the simulated environmental parameters.

[0073] In some embodiments, the test system provides an input / output unit to facilitate user updates of the contents of the preset operating condition-simulated environment parameter comparison table. This facilitates the user to update the preset operating condition-simulated environment parameter comparison table according to the needs of the test system to adapt to different fuel cell application environments and broaden the scope of use of the test system. It should be noted that the update referred to here includes at least the addition, deletion, and modification of data in the comparison table, as well as the addition, deletion, modification, and update of the comparison table as a whole.

[0074] In some embodiments, the input / output unit includes a common input / output device such as a keyboard, a touch screen, or some other input / output device. The input / output unit is connected to the control unit, or to a storage unit in the test system for storing the comparison table, thereby facilitating a user to directly input information into the test system and / or modify quantities in the comparison table.

[0075] In some other embodiments, the user may also directly configure the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset working conditions to the recycling gas supply unit to obtain the second gas close to the simulated environmental parameters.

[0076] See also Figure 2 , is a structural diagram of an energy recovery air compressor test system described in this application. Figure 2 In the illustrated embodiment, the control unit 6, each air supply unit, and each back pressure unit are powered by a power supply device 7. The power supply device and the control unit 6 are connected to the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4, and the recovery back pressure unit 5 via a wiring harness.

[0077] In some embodiments, the main air intake unit 1 includes a first filter 11. The inlet of the first filter 11 is connected to the air, and the first gas includes filtered air. In some embodiments, the first filter 11 uses a porous filter material to capture dust from the gas-solid two-phase flow and purify the gas. It purifies the low-dust air and delivers it to the inlet of the compression end to meet process requirements.

[0078] In some embodiments, the main air intake unit 1 is connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 through a first pipeline, and at least one of a flow meter 12, a first pressure sensor 14 and a first temperature sensor 15 is provided on the first pipeline. The above-mentioned flow meter 12, first pressure sensor 14 and first temperature sensor 15 are respectively used to detect the gas flow, pressure value and temperature value in the first pipeline.

[0079] In some embodiments, the main backpressure unit 3 includes a first backpressure valve 35 to provide a first backpressure at the compressor outlet. The inlet of the first backpressure valve 35 is connected to the compressor outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2, and the output of the first backpressure valve 35 is connected to the outside world. In practice, the connection between the inlet and outlet of the first backpressure valve and the compressor outlet and the outside world can be configured according to actual needs.

[0080] In some embodiments, the first back-pressure valve 35 operates via the elastic force of a built-in spring: when the system pressure is lower than the set pressure, the diaphragm blocks the pipeline under the action of the spring force; when the system pressure is higher than the set pressure, the diaphragm compresses the spring, connecting the pipeline and allowing gas to pass through the back-pressure valve. In some embodiments, both the system pressure and the set pressure are greater than the ambient pressure.

[0081] In some embodiments, the first back pressure valve 35 is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 through a second pipeline, and a second pressure sensor 31 and a second temperature sensor 32 are provided on the second pipeline for detecting the pressure value and temperature value in the second pipeline, respectively.

[0082] The provision of the second pressure sensor 31 and the second temperature sensor 32 is conducive to obtaining more test data from the test system, so as to analyze the test results of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0083] In some embodiments, the main back pressure unit 3 further includes an intercooler 34 , and: the air inlet of the intercooler 34 is connected to the compression end outlet, and the air outlet of the intercooler 34 is connected to the first back pressure valve 35 .

[0084] In these embodiments, the air path inlet of the intercooler 34 is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2, and the coolant path of the intercooler 34 is connected to the cooling device 33 through water inlet and return water; the inlet of the first back pressure valve 35 is connected to the outlet of the intercooler 34, and the outlet of the first back pressure valve 35 is connected to the atmosphere.

[0085] In these embodiments, the intercooler 34 serves to reduce the temperature of the gas flowing out of the compression outlet. The compression outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 pressurizes the gas, resulting in a relatively high gas temperature. To reduce the temperature of the gas before it is exhausted, the intercooler 34 is added to cool the gas and improve testing safety.

[0086] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor testing system further includes a cooling device 33 for cooling the temperature of the gas entering through the air inlet of the intercooler 34. In some embodiments, the air inlet of the intercooler 34 is positioned adjacent to the cooling device 33, or the air inlet communicates with the interior of the intercooler 34 through the cooling device, so that the cooling device 33 can adjust the temperature of the gas entering the air inlet of the intercooler 34.

[0087] In some embodiments, the cooling device 33 provides a heat dissipation pathway for the intercooler 34 through heat exchange. In these embodiments, since the cooling device 33 is provided within the energy recovery air compressor testing system, it can also dissipate heat for the energy recovery air compressor 2. In some embodiments, the cooling device 33 comprises a radiator. The specific structure and composition of the cooling device 33 can be customized as needed.

[0088] In some embodiments, the recovery air supply unit 4 includes: a second filter 41, the outlet of the second filter 41 is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2, and is used to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, and the second gas includes filtered air.

[0089] In some embodiments, the second filter 41 captures dust from the gas-solid two-phase flow through a porous filter material and purifies the gas, and sends the low-dust air to the inlet of the recovery end after purification to meet process requirements.

[0090] In some embodiments, the second filter 41 can be used to filter out undesirable impurities, thereby ensuring that the parameter values of the second gas are close to the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions. Furthermore, the inlet of the second filter 41 is connected to a gas source for simulating exhaust gas, and the second filter can control impurities in the exhaust gas flowing into the inlet of the recovery end.

[0091] In some embodiments, the second filter 41 is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 through a third pipeline, and a flow control valve 42, a temperature control device 43, a humidity control device 44 and a liquid water spray device 45 are sequentially provided on the third pipeline to respectively control the gas flow, gas temperature, gas humidity and liquid water content flowing to the recovery end inlet.

[0092] The control unit 6 controls the recovery air supply unit, including at least the flow control valve 42, temperature control device 43, humidity control device 44, and liquid water spray device 45, to closely simulate the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to various preset operating conditions. Under some preset operating conditions, liquid water may still be present at the recovery inlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2. Therefore, the humidity control device 44 and liquid water spray device 45 can further simulate the presence of both gaseous and liquid water at the recovery inlet, further simulating the gas-liquid two-phase flow of saturated moist air condensing through the pipeline.

[0093] Specifically, the humidity control device 44 is configured to ensure that the gaseous water content of the second gas is close to the gaseous water parameter in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions. The liquid water spray device 45 is configured to ensure that the liquid water content at the recovery end inlet is close to the liquid water content in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions, thereby better simulating the operating conditions of the energy recovery air compressor under different operating conditions.

[0094] In some embodiments, the liquid water spraying device and the humidity control device are also provided on the first pipeline connecting the main air intake unit and the compression end inlet to simulate the gas-liquid two-phase flow of saturated wet air condensed through the pipeline at the compression end inlet.

[0095] In some more preferred embodiments, when the gas in the gas source flows through the second filter 41, the filter material through which its gas path passes can be controlled by the control unit to change the amount or type of impurities in the second gas to be close to the amount or type of gas impurities in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset working conditions.

[0096] In these embodiments, the configuration of the flow control valve 42, the temperature control device 43, the humidity control device 44 and the liquid water spray device 45 can better simulate the environment faced by the recovery end of the energy recovery air compressor 2 in actual working conditions, which is conducive to obtaining better test data.

[0097] In some embodiments, at least one of a third pressure sensor 46, a third temperature sensor 47, and a humidity sensor 48 is provided in the area of the third pipeline near the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 to obtain at least one of the pressure value, temperature value, and humidity value in the third pipeline.

[0098] In some embodiments, pressure sensors are provided on both the first and third pipelines. The pressure value obtained by the pressure sensor provided on the third pipeline and the pressure value obtained by the pressure sensor provided on the first pipeline are used as the pressure ratio of the energy recovery air compressor 2 and are subsequently used to calculate the overall efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0099] In some embodiments, the recovery path back pressure unit 5 includes a second back pressure valve 53 , the inlet of the second back pressure valve 53 is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 , and the output end of the second back pressure valve 53 is connected to the outside.

[0100] In some embodiments, the second back-pressure valve 53 is actuated by the elastic force of a built-in spring: when the system pressure is lower than the set pressure, the diaphragm blocks the pipeline under the action of the spring force; when the system pressure is higher than the set pressure, the diaphragm compresses the spring, the pipeline is connected, and the liquid passes through the second back-pressure valve.

[0101] In some embodiments, the second back pressure valve 53 is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor 2 through a fourth pipeline, and a fourth pressure sensor 51 and a fourth temperature sensor 52 are provided on the fourth pipeline, which are used to detect the pressure value and temperature value in the fourth pipeline respectively.

[0102] The energy recovery air compressor test system in this embodiment can control the intake state and back pressure state at the inlet and outlet of the compression end of the energy recovery air compressor 2, as well as the inlet and outlet of the recovery end, respectively. This is conducive to simulating the working environment of the energy recovery air compressor 2 under various preset working conditions, highly replicating the actual vehicle application conditions, thereby testing the working characteristics of the energy recovery air compressor 2, simulating the air humidity and temperature after the air flows through the fuel cell stack, and further simulating the gas-liquid two-phase flow of saturated wet air condensed through the pipeline, which has strong application significance for the research and development, design, verification and optimization of the energy recovery air compressor 2.

[0103] The present application also provides a method for testing an energy recovery air compressor.

[0104] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor testing method is based on the energy recovery air compressor testing system, and includes at least the following steps: controlling the main air intake unit to provide a first gas to the compression end inlet, controlling the main back pressure unit to provide a first back pressure to the compression end outlet, controlling the recovery path air supply unit to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, controlling the recovery path back pressure unit to provide a second back pressure to the recovery end outlet, and determining the parameters of the second gas based on the preset working conditions.

[0105] In some embodiments, before controlling the main air intake unit to provide the first gas to the compression end inlet, at least the following steps are included: obtaining parameters of the first gas, the parameters of the first gas including at least one of the temperature, humidity and flow rate of the first gas.

[0106] In some embodiments, the control unit may further determine the parameters of the first gas and the parameters of the first back pressure and the second back pressure based on preset operating conditions.

[0107] In some other embodiments, the parameters of the first gas and the first and second back pressures may also be determined based on some operating parameters of the energy recovery air compressor under normal operating conditions of its application object.

[0108] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor is applied to a fuel cell for a vehicle. Therefore, the energy recovery air compressor testing method can at least be used to simulate the operating parameters of a fuel cell for a vehicle under various operating conditions.

[0109] For example, when the energy recovery air compressor test system simulates the normal operating conditions of the fuel cell, the flow rate of the first gas is determined by the amount of compressed air required to be introduced into the fuel cell per unit time under normal operating conditions. After obtaining the flow rate of the first gas, the minimum gas required at the inlet of the main air intake unit can be determined based on the air compression ratio of the main air intake unit.

[0110] When the fuel cell is in normal operating condition, the humidity and temperature of the first gas introduced into the fuel cell are also determined, and the humidity and temperature of the first gas provided by the main air intake unit are controlled to tend to the humidity and temperature of the compressed air used by the energy recovery air compressor when the fuel cell is in normal operating condition.

[0111] Some operating parameters under the normal working state can be obtained and confirmed by experiments. In some embodiments, the operating parameters under the normal working state are pre-stored in the test system to control the main air intake unit 1, the main back pressure unit 3, the recovery air supply unit 4 and the recovery back pressure unit 5.

[0112] In some other embodiments, the test system provides an input and output unit to obtain the working parameters of the energy recovery air compressor under normal working conditions input from the outside.

[0113] In fact, various parameters of the first gas may also be determined according to actual needs.

[0114] In these embodiments, the first back pressure is used to simulate the pressure P1 provided to the compression outlet of the energy recovery air compressor under normal fuel cell operation, and is therefore controlled to approach pressure P1. The second back pressure is used to simulate the external pressure P2 to which the recovery outlet of the energy recovery air compressor is connected under normal fuel cell operation, and is therefore controlled to approach pressure P2.

[0115] In some embodiments, before controlling the recovery path gas supply unit to provide the second gas to the recovery end inlet, at least the following steps are included: determining the parameters of the second gas based on the simulated environmental parameters of the recovery end inlet corresponding to the preset working conditions, and the parameters of the second gas include at least one of the temperature, humidity and flow rate of the second gas.

[0116] In some embodiments, before determining the parameters of the second gas based on the simulated environmental parameters of the recovery end inlet corresponding to the preset working conditions, the following steps are also included: determining the actual environmental parameters of the recovery end inlet under the actual working conditions corresponding to the preset working conditions, and determining the simulated environmental parameters based on the actual environmental parameters.

[0117] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor is used for a fuel cell for a vehicle. Therefore, the energy recovery air compressor can at least simulate the actual environmental parameters of each inlet and outlet of the energy recovery air compressor under various operating conditions of the fuel cell for the vehicle.

[0118] In some embodiments, the parameter of the second gas includes a flow rate of the second gas, and the flow rate of the second gas is obtained based on the following formula and the preset working condition:

[0119] Q 空 =3.57×10 -4 ×λ×I×n;

[0120] Where: Q 空 is the flow rate of the second gas; λ is the designed air stoichiometric ratio of the fuel cell engine; I is the current of the fuel cell stack in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions; and n is the number of single cells in the fuel cell stack.

[0121] In this embodiment, the current of the fuel cell stack is equal to the current of the single cell.

[0122] In some embodiments, the energy recovery air compressor is used for a fuel cell for a vehicle, further comprising the following steps: controlling the recovery path air supply unit to provide liquid water to the recovery end inlet based on the following formula and the preset operating conditions:

[0123]

[0124] Where: m w is the amount of humidification water required under the preset working conditions; P w is the water vapor partial pressure corresponding to the operating temperature of the fuel cell stack under the preset working condition; P is the total pressure of the second gas flowing into the recovery end inlet; m a is the air mass flow rate of the fuel cell.

[0125] In some embodiments, the humidity of the second gas is generally set to 100% RH. In practice, the humidity of the second gas can also be set as needed.

[0126] In some embodiments, whether to spray liquid water to the recovery end inlet and the amount of liquid water to be added can be determined based on the severity of the test conditions during the test.

[0127] In some embodiments, the first gas and the second gas are both air, and the testing method further comprises the following steps: obtaining the energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor based on the following formula:

[0128]

[0129] Where: η is the energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor; m is the flow rate of the first gas at the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor; C p is the specific heat capacity of air; T inis the air inlet temperature of the energy recovery air compressor; K is the air specific heat ratio; Pe is the input power of the energy recovery air compressor; pr is the pressure ratio of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0130] In some embodiments, the pressure ratio pr of the energy recovery air compressor is obtained by dividing the outlet pressure by the inlet pressure.

[0131] In some embodiments, pressure sensors are provided on both the first and third pipelines. The pressure value obtained by the pressure sensor provided on the third pipeline and the pressure value obtained by the pressure sensor provided on the first pipeline are used as the pressure ratio pr of the energy recovery air compressor 2 for subsequent calculation of the overall efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor.

[0132] In some embodiments, K=1.4, C p =1004J / (kg·K). In fact, when the first gas and the second gas are other types of gases, the C p And K changes with the gas type.

[0133] By obtaining the energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor under preset operating conditions, the energy recovery characteristics and efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor can be tested based on actual required operating points.

[0134] The energy recovery air compressor testing method described in this embodiment can test the operating characteristics of an energy recovery air compressor, closely reproducing actual application conditions and simulating the actual operating environment of the energy recovery air compressor. For example, it can simulate the humidity and temperature of air flowing through a fuel cell stack, and furthermore, it can simulate the gas-liquid two-phase flow of saturated humid air condensing through a pipeline. Furthermore, the energy recovery air compressor testing method described in this embodiment can quickly, safely, and reliably test the recovery characteristics of an energy recovery air compressor, allowing for combined testing of multiple operating conditions, thereby reducing system development cycles and costs.

[0135] It should be understood that the illustrated structures of the embodiments of the present invention do not constitute specific limitations on the energy recovery air compressor testing system and temperature control method. In other embodiments of the present application, the system may include more or fewer components than illustrated, or some components may be combined, separated, or arranged differently. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both.

[0136] The various embodiments of the mechanisms disclosed in this application can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of these implementation methods. The embodiments of the present application can be implemented as a computer program or program code executed on a programmable system, which includes at least one processor, a storage system (including volatile and non-volatile memory and / or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device.

[0137] Program code can be applied to input instructions to perform the functions described herein and generate output information. The output information can be applied to one or more output devices in a known manner.

[0138] Program code can be implemented with a high-level programming language or an object-oriented programming language to communicate with the processing system. Where necessary, program code can also be implemented in assembly language or machine language. In fact, the mechanism described in this application is not limited to the scope of any particular programming language. In either case, the language can be a compiled language or an interpreted language.

[0139] In some cases, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. The disclosed embodiments may also be implemented as instructions carried or stored on one or more temporary or non-temporary machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) storage media, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. For example, instructions may be distributed over a network or through other computer-readable media. Therefore, a machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), including but not limited to floppy disks, optical disks, optical discs, read-only memories (CD-ROMs), magneto-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or a tangible machine-readable memory for transmitting information (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.) using the Internet in electrical, optical, acoustic, or other forms of propagation signals. Therefore, a machine-readable medium includes any type of machine-readable medium suitable for storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).

[0140] In the accompanying drawings, some structural or method features may be shown in a particular arrangement and / or order. However, it should be understood that such a particular arrangement and / or order may not be required. Rather, in some embodiments, these features may be arranged in a manner and / or order different from that shown in the illustrative drawings. In addition, the inclusion of a structural or method feature in a particular figure does not imply that such feature is required in all embodiments, and in some embodiments, such features may not be included or may be combined with other features.

[0141] It should be noted that the units / modules mentioned in the various device embodiments of the present application are all logical units / modules. Physically, a logical unit / module can be a physical unit / module, or a part of a physical unit / module, or can be implemented as a combination of multiple physical units / modules. The physical implementation of these logical units / modules themselves is not the most important. The combination of functions implemented by these logical units / modules is the key to solving the technical problems raised by this application. In addition, in order to highlight the innovative part of this application, the above-mentioned device embodiments of this application do not introduce units / modules that are not closely related to solving the technical problems raised by this application. This does not mean that other units / modules do not exist in the above-mentioned device embodiments.

[0142] It should be noted that in the examples and description of this patent, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device that includes a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "including a" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device that includes the element.

[0143] Although the present application has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application.

Claims

1. An energy recovery air compressor test system, characterized in that: include: Energy recovery air compressor; a main air intake unit connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and configured to provide the first gas to the compression end inlet; a main back pressure unit connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor and used to adjust the first back pressure of the compression end outlet; a recovery line gas supply unit connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and configured to determine the parameters of the second gas according to the preset operating conditions of the energy recovery air compressor, thereby providing the second gas meeting the preset parameters to the recovery end inlet; A recovery line back pressure unit, connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, for adjusting a second back pressure at the recovery end outlet; A control unit is connected to the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit and the recovery back pressure unit, and is used to control the working states of the main air intake unit, the main back pressure unit, the recovery air supply unit and the recovery back pressure unit to simulate the actual working environment of the energy recovery air compressor.

2. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The main air intake unit includes a first filter, an inlet of the first filter is connected to air, and the first gas includes filtered air.

3. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 2, wherein: The main air intake unit is connected to the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a first pipeline, and at least one of a flow meter, a first pressure sensor and a first temperature sensor is provided on the first pipeline.

4. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 1, wherein: The main back pressure unit includes a first back pressure valve, the inlet of the first back pressure valve is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and the output end of the first back pressure valve is connected to the outside.

5. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The first back pressure valve is connected to the compression end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a second pipeline, and a second pressure sensor and a second temperature sensor are provided on the second pipeline for detecting the pressure value and temperature value in the second pipeline respectively.

6. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The main back pressure unit further includes an intercooler, and: The air path inlet of the intercooler is connected to the compression end outlet, and the air path outlet of the intercooler is connected to the first back pressure valve; The energy recovery air compressor testing system further includes: The cooling device is used to cool the temperature of the gas entering from the air path inlet of the intercooler.

7. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 1, wherein: The recovery path air supply unit includes: A second filter, wherein the outlet of the second filter is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and is used to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, wherein the second gas includes filtered air.

8. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 7, wherein: The second filter is connected to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a third pipeline, and a flow control valve, a temperature control device, a humidity control device and a liquid water spray device are also sequentially provided on the third pipeline to respectively control the gas flow, gas temperature, gas humidity and liquid water content flowing to the recovery end inlet.

9. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 8, wherein: At least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, and a humidity sensor is provided in an area of the third pipeline close to the recovery end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor to obtain at least one of the pressure value, temperature value, and humidity value in the third pipeline.

10. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 1, wherein: The recovery path back pressure unit includes a second back pressure valve, the inlet of the second back pressure valve is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor, and the output end of the second back pressure valve is connected to the outside.

11. The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to claim 10, wherein: The second back pressure valve is connected to the recovery end outlet of the energy recovery air compressor through a fourth pipeline, and a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor are provided on the fourth pipeline for detecting the pressure value and temperature value in the fourth pipeline respectively.

12. A method for testing an energy recovery air compressor, characterized in that: The energy recovery air compressor testing system according to any one of claims 1 to 11 comprises at least the following steps: The main air intake unit is controlled to provide a first gas to the compression end inlet, the main back pressure unit is controlled to provide a first back pressure to the compression end outlet, the recovery air supply unit is controlled to provide a second gas to the recovery end inlet, the recovery back pressure unit is controlled to provide a second back pressure to the recovery end outlet, and the parameters of the second gas are determined based on the preset working conditions.

13. The energy recovery air compressor testing method according to claim 12, wherein: Before controlling the main air intake unit to provide the first gas to the compression end inlet, the method further includes at least the following steps: Parameters of the first gas are acquired, where the parameters of the first gas include at least one of temperature, humidity, and flow rate of the first gas.

14. The energy recovery air compressor testing method according to claim 12, wherein: Before controlling the recovery path gas supply unit to provide the second gas to the recovery end inlet, the method further includes at least the following steps: The parameters of the second gas are determined according to the simulated environmental parameters of the recovery end inlet corresponding to the preset working condition, and the parameters of the second gas include at least one of the temperature, humidity and flow rate of the second gas.

15. The energy recovery air compressor testing method according to claim 14, wherein: The energy recovery air compressor is used for a fuel cell for a vehicle. The parameters of the second gas include the flow rate of the second gas, and the flow rate of the second gas is obtained based on the following formula and the preset operating conditions: Q 空 =3.57×10 -4 ×λ×I×n; Where: Q 空 is the flow rate of the second gas; λ is the designed air stoichiometric ratio of the fuel cell engine; I is the current of the fuel cell stack in the simulated environmental parameters corresponding to the preset operating conditions; and n is the number of single cells in the fuel cell stack.

16. The energy recovery air compressor testing method according to claim 15, wherein: The energy recovery air compressor is used for a fuel cell for a vehicle, and further comprises the following steps: Based on the following formula and the preset working conditions, the recovery path air supply unit is controlled to provide liquid water to the recovery end inlet: Where: m w is the amount of humidification water required under the preset working conditions; P w is the water vapor partial pressure corresponding to the operating temperature of the fuel cell stack under the preset working condition; P is the total pressure of the second gas flowing into the recovery end inlet; m a is the air mass flow rate of the fuel cell.

17. The energy recovery air compressor testing method according to claim 12, wherein: The first gas and the second gas are both air, and the testing method further comprises the following steps: The energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor is obtained based on the following formula: Where: η is the energy recovery efficiency of the energy recovery air compressor; m is the flow rate of the first gas at the compression end inlet of the energy recovery air compressor; C p is the specific heat capacity of air; T in is the air inlet temperature of the energy recovery air compressor; K is the air specific heat ratio; Pe is the input power of the energy recovery air compressor; pr is the pressure ratio of the energy recovery air compressor.

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