Energy conservation in industrial pneumatics: A state model for predicting energetic savings using a novel pneumatic strain energy accumulator

Joshua J. Cummins, Christopher J. Nash, Seth Thomas, Aaron Justice, Sankaran Mahadevan, Douglas E. Adams and Eric J. Barth

Applied Energy, 2017, vol. 198, issue C, 239-249

Abstract: A number of national organizations have recently expressed interest in research to develop materials and devices that achieve greater energy storage capacity, power density and increased energy efficiency on the heels of a report finding that the pneumatic sector of the fluid power industry averages only 15% efficiency. One way of improving efficiency is the use of compressed air storage and recycling devices. The pneumatic Strain Energy Accumulator is a recently developed device that recycles exhaust gas from one pneumatic component, stores it in a highly efficient process, and reuses the stored exhaust gas at a constant pressure to power another pneumatic component. This work analyzes system efficiency increases directly attributable to the implementation of a pneumatic strain energy accumulator by applying an analytical methodology for system level efficiency improvement calculations, experimental validation, and compressed air savings projections. Experimentally determined efficiency increases ranged between 32% and 78%, demonstrating that the pneumatic strain energy accumulator can be a viable part of the solution to the fluid power efficiency challenge.

Keywords: Compressed air energy storage (CAES); Energy conservation; Industrial pneumatics; Modeling; Efficiency; Accumulator (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917304385
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:198:y:2017:i:c:p:239-249

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.04.036

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().