Developing maximum-efficiency architectures for steady-flow chemical engines
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Improving the efficiency of natural gas-based power plants is essential for significantly curtailing future greenhouse gas emissions. Historically, improvements to power plant thermodynamics have been implemented as incremental changes from existing systems. Only recently has work been done to systematically develop optimally-efficient combustion engines using existing technologies without artificial constraints on the system's size, components, or shape. This systematic process was used to optimize steady-flow combustion engines for work and heat transfer. This dissertation builds off of this recent work by additionally optimizing systems for matter transfer. The best flow paths for air and fuel are determined, as well as the flow path for an additional environmental (non-exergetic) fluid: water. As an alternative to the highly-entropic combustion process, a solid-oxide fuel cell is also incorporated into the design scope. Both numerical and analytical approaches to optimizing these architectures are examined. Through a systematic expansion in the scope of candidate systems, this thesis develops optimal thermodynamic schematics that achieve efficiencies more than 15 percentage points better than those for the most efficient existing power plants.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2015 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Pass, Rebecca Zarin |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Primary advisor | Edwards, C. F. (Christopher Francis) |
| Primary advisor | Mitchell, Reginald |
| Thesis advisor | Edwards, C. F. (Christopher Francis) |
| Thesis advisor | Mitchell, Reginald |
| Thesis advisor | Brandt, Adam (Adam R.) |
| Advisor | Brandt, Adam (Adam R.) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Rebecca Zarin Pass. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2015. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2015 by Rebecca Zarin Pass
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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