Process heat, the energy required for technical processes, makes up around two-thirds of final energy consumption in German market. At the very same time, a large proportion of the waste heat produced in industrial procedures is still released into the environment. To reduce these heat losses and make industry more sustainable and efficient, Teacher Andreas Brümmer, head of the Chair of Fluidics, and his group have developed an enhanced screw-spindle expressor.
The innovation combines a screw-spindle expander, which converts thermal energy (heat) into power when a gas broadens, with a screw-spindle compressor, which in turn uses that mechanical energy straight to compress gas. The special style of the screw-spindle expressor, with its counter-rotating lobes at both rotors, makes it possible to control the resultant bearing forces successfully, even if there are significant pressure distinctions (e.g., when utilizing transcritical co2). This makes sure wear-free and energy-efficient operation, for instance in industrial-scale heatpump.
Support from the CET
“The smart arrangement of the expander and the compressor in a single real estate removes the problem of external seals, and low-temperature waste heat can be straight transformed into high-temperature thermal (procedure) heat,” explains Professor Andreas Brümmer. With the assistance of the intellectual property consultants at the Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer (CET) at TU Dortmund University, he has filed a patent application for the screw-spindle expressor. Together with PROvendis, the main company for the innovation2business.nrw network, TU Dortmund University recently sold the rights to the innovation to Cixten, a French business that focuses on the healing and conversion of low-temperature heat into useful energy. “For us, this development with its roots in clinical research study is another important foundation for upgrading our technologies and increasing energy performance and sustainability in industry,” explains Philippe Wagner, CTO and co-founder of Cixten.
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