36
Foil
Gas Bearing Supported High Speed Centrifugal Blower—R&D Dynamics
Corporation, 15 Barber Pond Road, Bloomfield, CT 06095; 860-726-1204
Dr.
Giri Agrawal, Principal Investigator, agragiri@rddynamics.com
Mr.
Dennis Burr, Business Official, dennisb@rddynamics.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER84210
Amount:
$749,818
The
efficiency of solid oxide fuel cells can be increased with anode gas recycling,
leading to a lower overall system cost. Therefore,
in this project, a motor driven, high-speed, high-temperature Anode Gas Recycle
Centrifugal Blower will be designed, manufactured and demonstrated. A
high-speed direct drive motor, combined with foil gas bearing technology, will
result in a low cost, efficient, small, oil-free, and reliable blower. In
Phase I a prototype blower was designed and demonstrated in a test rig. The
demonstration proved the feasibility of the high-speed centrifugal blower using
foil gas bearings. In Phase II, a
custom designed blower will be developed and demonstrated in an actual solid
oxide fuel cell system.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as
described by the awardee: Fuel
cell manufacturers and others should be able to use the high-speed centrifugal
blower in both high and low temperature applications, where other types of
blowers could not be used. It would
provide high system efficiency, low operating cost, low life cycle cost,
oil-free operation, high reliability, and maintenance free operation.