Engee documentation

Gas-Charged Accumulator (IL)

Accumulator with gas chamber in isothermal liquid network.

gas charged accumulator il

Description

Unit Gas-Charged Accumulator (IL) is an accumulator with a gas chamber in an isothermal liquid network. The accumulator consists of a gas pre-filled chamber and a liquid chamber. The chambers are separated by an orifice plate, piston or any other separator.

When the fluid pressure at the inlet to the accumulator becomes greater than the pressure in the gas pre-filled chamber, the fluid enters the accumulator and compresses the gas by a polytropic process. The decrease in fluid pressure causes the gas to decompress and the accumulated fluid is released into the system. The movement of the separator is restricted by a rigid restrictor when the liquid volume is zero or when the liquid volume is equal to the capacity of the liquid chamber. The fluid chamber volume is defined as the difference between the total accumulator volume and the minimum gas volume.

Fluid inlet resistance and divider properties such as inertia and damping are not modelled. The flow rate is positive if the liquid enters the accumulator.

gas charged accumulator il 1

The diagram shows an accumulator with a gas chamber. The total volume of the accumulator is divided by a vertical divider into a liquid chamber on the left and a gas chamber on the right. The distance between the left side and the divider defines the liquid volume . The distance between the right side and the divider determines the gas volume . The working volume of the liquid chamber С is less than the total volume of the accumulator, so the gas volume never goes to zero:



where

  • - is the total volume of the accumulator, including the liquid chamber and the gas chamber;

  • - is the volume of liquid in the accumulator;

  • - volume of gas in the accumulator;

  • - volume of the liquid chamber;

  • - minimum gas chamber volume, the small portion of the chamber that remains filled with gas when the liquid chamber is full.

The contact pressure of the rigid restrictor is modelled by usage of elasticity and damping coefficients. The pressure and gas volume dependence between the current state and the precharge state is polytropic, and the pressure is balanced on the divider:

where

  • - is the gas pressure in the gas chamber;

  • - is the pressure in the gas chamber when the liquid chamber is empty;

  • - is the specific heat capacity coefficient (adiabatic index).

Conservation of mass

Conservation of mass is represented by the following equations:

сжимаемостьвключенасжимаемостьвыключена

where

  • - is the pressure in the fluid chamber, which is equal to the pressure at the inlet to the accumulator;

  • - mass flow rate of liquid entering the port A;

  • - density of liquid in the chamber.

или

where is the stiffness coefficient of the limiter.

Conservation of impulse

The momentum conservation is represented by the following equation:

where is the contact pressure of the rigid limiter.

Ports

Conserving

# A — isothermal liquid inlet port
isothermal liquid

Details

isothermal liquid port, corresponds to the inlet to the accumulator. The flow rate is positive if the fluid enters the accumulator.

Program usage name

port

Parameters

Parameters

# Total accumulator volume — total battery capacity
l | gal | igal | m^3 | cm^3 | ft^3 | in^3 | km^3 | mi^3 | mm^3 | um^3 | yd^3 | N*m/Pa | N*m/bar | lbf*ft/psi | ft*lbf/psi

Details

The total volume of the accumulator, including the liquid chamber and the gas chamber, it is equal to the sum of the volume of the liquid chamber and the minimum volume of the gas chamber.

Values

l | gal | igal | m^3 | cm^3 | ft^3 | in^3 | km^3 | mi^3 | mm^3 | um^3 | yd^3 | N*m/Pa | N*m/bar | lbf*ft/psi | ft*lbf/psi

Default value

8e-3 m^3

Program usage name

V_capacity

Evaluatable

Yes

# Minimum gas volume — minimum gas chamber volume
l | gal | igal | m^3 | cm^3 | ft^3 | in^3 | km^3 | mi^3 | mm^3 | um^3 | yd^3 | N*m/Pa | N*m/bar | lbf*ft/psi | ft*lbf/psi

Details

Minimum gas chamber volume, the small portion of the chamber that remains filled with gas when the liquid chamber is full.

The value of this parameter must be non-zero to avoid dividing by zero when the liquid chamber is full.

Values

l | gal | igal | m^3 | cm^3 | ft^3 | in^3 | km^3 | mi^3 | mm^3 | um^3 | yd^3 | N*m/Pa | N*m/bar | lbf*ft/psi | ft*lbf/psi

Default value

4e-5 m^3

Program usage name

dead_volume

Evaluatable

Yes

# Precharge pressure — gas chamber pressure
Pa | GPa | MPa | atm | bar | kPa | ksi | psi | uPa | kbar

Details

Pressure in the gas chamber when the fluid chamber is empty.

Values

Pa | GPa | MPa | atm | bar | kPa | ksi | psi | uPa | kbar

Default value

1.0 MPa

Program usage name

p_precharge

Evaluatable

Yes

# Specific heat ratio — specific heat capacity coefficient

Details

Specific heat capacity coefficient (adiabatic value).

The parameter is necessary to account for heat transfer, and its value is usually between 1 and 2, depending on the properties of the gas in the chamber.

For dry air at 20°C, the value of the adiabatic exponent for an isothermal process is 1, and for an adiabatic (and isoentropic) process it is 1.4.

Default value

1.4

Program usage name

specific_heat_ratio

Evaluatable

Yes

# Hard stop stiffness coefficient — stiffness factor
MPa/m^3

Details

The stiffness coefficient of the contact pressure of a rigid restrictor in relation to the volume of fluid penetrating the restrictor. Rigid restrictors are used to limit the volume of fluid between zero and the volume of the fluid chamber.

Values

MPa/m^3

Default value

1e4 MPa/m^3

Program usage name

k_hard_stop

Evaluatable

Yes

# Fluid dynamic compressibility — fluid compressibility

Details

Whether it is necessary to model the change in density of a fluid due to its compressibility.

If Fluid dynamic compressibility is checked, changes due to the mass flow rate of the fluid in the block are calculated in addition to density changes due to pressure changes.

Default value

true (switched on)

Program usage name

dynamic_compressibility

Evaluatable

No