ISOTHERMAL COMPRESSOR WITH LIQUID PISTON

The isothermalizer

The isothermalizer can be made in different versions (with solid/liquid/gas piston, rotary), almost all compressors in the state of the art can be converted into an isothermalizer. It has 3 main components:

1. The main body, which contains at least one closed enclosure and the system for changing the volume of the enclosure/enclosures. A thermal sponge is mounted in the enclosure, with a weight and total volume (the sum of the volumes of its components) as small as possible, but with the surface area that comes into direct contact with the working gas as large as possible and unchanged over time.

2. The cooling system consists of a closed circuit of the coolant (in liquid piston and rotary isothermizers, it also acts as a piston), consisting of the inlet and outlet systems from the enclosure, an external heat exchanger, a pump and connecting pipes.

3. The control processor is the main element. It collects in real time, position signals, instantaneous pressure, liquid flow rates and some local temperatures inside and outside the enclosure, accurately calculates the real average temperature of the working gas in each enclosure and sends signals to the actuators of the moving elements of the system in such a way that the average temperature of the gas in the enclosure changes in the desired way.

            Depending on the use, there are a series of secondary components: pre- and post-treatment systems for the working gas and other fluids handled, storage tanks, etc.

- For the prototyping phase, I propose the creation of a liquid piston isothermalizer, with a volume of 3-5 L, usable for compressing air, O2, N2, inert gases, up to 700-1000 atm, in a single compression stage. In the testing phase, the final pressure is recorded in the main processor and can be modified. As a recommendation: a large length allows the installation of a larger number of cooling plates. This variant allows a quick transition to the commercialization phase.

- For gas cooling and liquid piston actuation, I propose a double-acting piston system, with continuous, one-way actuation of the hydraulic pump. For details, I propose collaborating with a Hydraulics specialist

- The control system is the main element of the system, the one that drives the compression towards an isothermal regime. For this component of the prototyping, collaboration with an experienced electronics engineer is essential.