Experimental study on small power generation energy storage device based on pneumatic motor and compressed air

Highlights: • Test rig of compressed air energy storage based on pneumatic motor is established. • Effects of key parameters on output performance of pneumatic motor are investigated. • Effects of key parameters on output performance of generator are studied. • Efficiency of generator, and the uncertainties of power output and efficiency are analyzed. Compressed air energy storage has garnered much attention due to its advantages of long lifespan, low cost and little environmental pollution, and pneumatic motor is equally so due to its advantages of low price, easy operation, and wide power range. In this paper, a small power generation energy storage test device based on pneumatic motor and compressed air is built. The effects of regulator valve pressure and electronic load current on temperature difference, pressure difference, expansion ratio, rotating speed, torque, power output of pneumatic motor, and efficiency of generator are studied by experiments. The experimental results show that the temperature difference, pressure difference and expansion ratio of pneumatic motor increase with the increase of regulator valve pressure and electronic load current. The power output of the pneumatic motor and the efficiency of generator increase at first and then decrease with the increase of the electronic load current, while the power of pneumatic motor and the efficiency of generator increase with the increase of regulator valve pressure. The maximum power output of the pneumatic motor is about 290.3 W, and the maximum efficiency of the generator is about 75.1%.