Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Experimental investigation of a Lysholm Turbine operating with

superheated, saturated and 2-phase inlet conditions
Henrik hman*, Per Lundqvist
Department of Energy Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvgen 68, Stockholm 10044, Sweden

h i g h l i g h t s

< We present test data for a Lysholm Turbine operating in 2-phase.

< We describe the principles for 2-phase expansion.
< We compare the results with prior publications.
< Efciency gradient with 2-phase expansion is shown to correlate with peak efciency.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Low temperature power cycles can benet from the use of multi-phase ow expansion devices from
Received 22 March 2012 a thermodynamic cycle efciency point of view. Particularly power cycles such as ORC, Kalina and
Accepted 22 August 2012 Trilateral Flash Cycles can be improved by multi-phase expansion. This article presents the experimental
Available online 7 September 2012
ndings in a series of laboratory tests on a semihermetic Lysholm Turbine operating with R134a with
superheated, saturated and wet inlet gas conditions. The test arrangements are described as well as
Keywords:
discussion on the relevance of such test data.
2-phase
Finally comparison is made with ndings from other investigations and recommendations for further
Multi-phase
Expansion
studies are made. A correlation between peak efciency and sensitivity to inlet vapour fraction was
Lysholm Turbine discovered which allows for estimations of adiabatic efciencies with 2-phase inlet conditions even
Expander when only test data, or simulations, from single phase inlet conditions exist.
Filling factor The conclusions made are that Lysholm Turbines are well suited for low temperature power genera-
Efciency tion and that further understanding of the performance during 2-phase conditions is required.
Vapour fraction 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Experimental data has been published on displacement type
expansion devices called Lysholm Engines, Lysholm Motors,
Lysholm Turbines, Screw Expanders, Helical Screw Expanders,
Screw Turbines, Helical Screw Engines etc. In this article the term
Lysholm Turbine is used to emphasize the application in closed
circuit power cycle systems. For open cycles the term Lysholm
Expander is used. The Lysholm Turbine is suitable for 2-phase ow
in power cycles. Wagenius [1] presented test data from a 40 mm
Lysholm Expander using oil/air mixtures with adiabatic efciencies
between 50% and 70%. Weiss et al. [2] report tests with vapour
qualities below 30% in a 50 kW Lysholm Expander on water/steam
with measured adiabatic efciencies from 49% to 55%. Those tests
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 46 706518085; fax: 46 84664501.
E-mail addresses: henrik.ohman@rotor.se (H. hman), per.lundqvist@
energy.kth.se (P. Lundqvist).
were based on the ideas from Sprankle [3] on using a Lysholm
Expander for the expansion of pressurised geothermal water.
Steidel et al. [4,5] present further test results with vapour qualities
between 8% and 27% using water/steam mixtures measuring
adiabatic efciency up to 53%. The most detailed data from the tests
with contaminated geothermal water is published by McKay [6]
showing eld test results vapour quality from 0 to 99% on
a 416 mm, 1 MW turbine. Adiabatic efciencies up to 62% were
measured. Kauder and Kliem [7] report up to 60% adiabatic ef-
ciency in a 166 mm Lysholm Turbine with oil-free bearings and
seals and 100% liquid.
Smith et al. [8] show adiabatic efciencies of about 40e80%
operating on R113 with vapour qualities from 50% to 25%.
Merigoux and Pocard [9] showed test results from a 50 kW
Lysholm Turbine operating with oil and R113 in an organic Rankine
cycle. Their 102 mm machine showed at adiabatic efciencies up
to 72%, unfortunately they have no information on whether the
R113 gas was superheated or saturated.

1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.08.035
1212 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218
Nomenclature
E_ gen alternator output power (kW)
f lling factor of a Lysholm Turbine (%)
Dhs enthalpy drop in isentropic expansion (kJ/kg)
LTPC low temperature driven power cycle
m _ liq mass ow in liquid phase at turbine inlet (kg/s)
m _ mp1 mass ow of superheated gas fed to turbine (kg/s)
N turbine shaft output torque (Nm)
V_ actual volume ow at turbine inlet (m3/s)
Vdp displacement volume per revolution at turbine inlet
(l/rev)
WHR Waste Heat Recovery
_ real
w rate of measured output work (kW)
_s
w rate of isentropic expansion work (kW)
Xinlet vapour fraction at turbine inlet
had adiabatic expansion efciency. Refers to output
shaft power. (%)
hpeak peak adiabatic efciency at nominal speed and
pressures (%)
hs isentropic expansion efciency. Refers to uid
states. (%)
hsat adiabatic efciency with saturated inlet conditions
(%)
h2-phase adiabatic efciency with 2-phase inlet ow
conditions (%)
u angular velocity of turbine output shaft (rad/s)
j2-phase correlation factor for impact of 2-phase inlet ow
conditions on adiabatic efciency (%had/10%Xinlet)
The industry has developed Lysholm Turbines for 2-phase duty
with LTPC-uids for many years. hman [10] and Brasz [11] show
results from such devices operating with 100% liquid inlet condi-
tions though performance data was of secondary importance due to
internal balancing of expansion and compression torque without
fully knowing the state of the uid being compressed.
Fundamentally different types of expansion machines, poten-
tially suitable for 2-phase expansion, can be found in the literature.
Subiantoro et al. [12] is an example of such. However, more
experimental data with ranges of vapour quality are required in
order to allow a comparison with Lysholm Turbines.
This article shows laboratory test results using a 113 mm,
50 kWe, Lysholm Turbine with a semihermetic, squirrel cage-type,
alternator. The tests were performed with superheated as well as
saturated and 2-phase inlet conditions.
The challenges in obtaining accurate test results on a turbine
with 2-phase inlet ow are signicant. The results are therefore
compared to other experimental results in the literature. It is to be
noted that absolute levels of efciencies derived from measure-
ments in 2-phase conditions are notoriously difcult to achieve
accurately. Trends and characteristics are however clear.
Further knowledge of the nature of multi-phase expansion
devices are of great value to the research for improved LTPCs.
Particularly Waste Heat Recovery applications require great
efforts in matching on LTPC with the nature of the waste heat
source as shown by hman and Lundqvist [13]. Multi-phase
expansion devises have a potential to become a very practical
tool for such cases.
2. Theory of the expansion conditions
Different denitions of efciency are used to evaluate the
performance of different types of expansion machines. The
differences are caused by different practical limitations in the
extraction of measurement data as well as fundamentally different
process behaviour.
2.1. Efciency of expansion machines
Isentropic efciency of uid expansion machines is often
dened according to Eq. (1), based on a theoretical reversible, and
adiabatic, expansion process; see Borgnakke and Sonntag [14].
hs w_ real =w_ s Dhreal =Dhs (1)
where real work is considered to be produced in adiabatic condi-
tions while theoretical work, according to Eq. (2) is isentropic.
w _ Dhs
_ s m$ with s const (2)
when insignicant condensation or evaporation during the
expansion process is experienced the state of the uid at turbine
entry and exit is easily determined by temperature and pressure
measurements. Furthermore the isentropic state of the uid during
expansion is straight forward to calculate.
However, when using Lysholm Turbines the isentropic ef-
ciency needs to be determined differently due to the fact that the
heat transfer losses from the turbine are larger, relative to the work
produced, than using a conventional dynamic turbine. A conse-
quence of this is that w _ real cannot be determined by means of
measuring inlet and outlet uid states. Instead output work is
determined by measuring shaft torque N and angular rotation
speed u of an output shaft.
Efciency is therefore expressed according to Eq. (3).
had N$u=m$
_ Dhs (3)
The term adiabatic efciency is often used by practitioners to
emphasize this practical difference though the term isentropic
efciency is equally correct. Note that this denition considers all
non-adiabatic effects during the expansion process.
In the case of investigating a semihermetic, or hermetic, turbine
the shaft torque is difcult to measure accurately as no access to the
torque transferring shaft is available without imposing design
solutions affecting performance. In this paper the adiabatic ef-
ciency is therefore dened as:
had E_ gen =m$
_ Dhs (4)
where E_ gen is the measured power output from the alternator.
Note that with this denition electrical losses in the alternator
are taken into account. As the purpose of using this type of turbine
is to produce and sell electric power Eq. (4) can be said to determine
the economic value of a particular uid expansion.
2.2. 2-phase and 3-phase gas expansion
When a 2-phase condition occurs at the entry of the expansion
the process becomes signicantly more complex. Common practise
is to consider the vapour part entering the expansion chamber as
saturated. Thereafter the vapour becomes increasingly sub-cooled
during expansion before partly being condensed in order to reach
thermal balance. However the sub-cooled, and therefore unstable
state of the gas, is difcult to measure since any object, such as
a gage, inserted in the ow would immediately change the state of
the gas due to its disturbance of the ow eld.
This practical condition is well known in ice-producing
Lysholm Expander applications using moist air at entry and
where the ice formation can be seen visually to start several
 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218
R134a
102
P [bar]
90C
70C
50C
101
30C
10C
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
100
50 100 150 200
h [kJ/kg]
Fig. 1. Two expansion processes in an R134a diagram of state from Huber and
McLinden [19]; saturated vapour expansion and saturated liquid expansion. Thick lines
on the right and left side of the mixed-phase area indicate the path of each expansion
process with indicated implications on pressure, temperature, enthalpy and vapour
quality.
meters downstream the expansion device when a disturbance is
introduced in the ow eld.
The liquid fraction of the inlet 2-phase ow can be considered to
behave in a fundamentally different manner than the gaseous
fraction. The saturated liquid expands by evaporating part of its
content. In doing so however, the temperature will be reduced and
the liquid would become sub-cooled and the evaporation would
stop. However as the expansion is continuous a non-quasistatic
balance occur between the evaporated vapour in expansion and
the sub-cooled liquid in evaporation.
Fig. 1 indicates the two expansion processes graphically in
a diagram of state for R134a. The expansion of liquid uid is indi-
cated on the liquid side of the diagram (left) and the expansion of
saturated gas is indicated on the gaseous side of the diagram
(right).
As the two expansion processes, liquid and vapour, are per-
formed in very good thermal contact, such as a common expansion
chamber, the situation becomes further more complex. The sub-
cooled gas from the vapour expansion could act as a heat sink
for condensation of the evaporated vapour from the liquid
expansion.
Therefore an aggregate of continuous evaporation and conden-
sation could be expected simultaneously. Simulation models for
this have been suggested by Platell [15], Kauder and Kliem [7] and
several others but insignicant correlation from controlled test data
have been published.
With local uid states reaching solid conditions, ice formation
occurs on the inside of the turbine surfaces which is detectable by
observing the signicant improvement in efciency as was shown
by Shibbye [16], see Fig. 2. Note that in Fig. 2 the adiabatic efciency
shows an almost stepwise improvement when plotted against the
measured entry temperature. The suggested explanation for this is
reduced leakage losses due to ice formation. Ice is an ideal sealing
substance due to the reduced risk of metal seizure. Ice immediately
melts if a physical contact between surfaces occurs restoring
a mechanical play.
Lysholm Turbines often have bleed-off/bleed-in ports, or side-
load ports, allowing the injection of gas or liquid at any state at
one, or several, intermediate pressures. This means that the
expansion process can be signicantly affected by such inward, or
outward, ows.
1213
250 300
Fig. 2. Adiabatic efciency vs. expansion entry temperature using a 40 mm Lysholm
Expander in a moist air expansion application. Signicant increase in efciency
encountered explained by internal ice formation in the expansion chamber. Test data
from October 1959. Internal volume ratio: 2.69, External pressure ratio: 6, Exit pres-
sure: atmospheric. Extracted from Shibbye [16].
Furthermore some Lysholm Turbines operate with lubrication
oil present in the expansion chamber. Commonly the oil used has
a potential to solve or dissolve the process uids in a manner
dependent on pressure and temperature. Wahlstrm and Wamling
[17] showed how R134a dissolves in a similar type of oil. Yokozeki
[18] has described the issue of time dependency for solubility of
refrigerants in oil. Unfortunately no specic such data was available
for the used combination of process uid and oil. The thermody-
namic inuence of the oil, apart from acting as a thermal reservoir
and lubricant, is mainly to steer the balance of condensation/
evaporation of the gas and the liquid in the intentional direction.
Due to factors such as inertia, internal heat transfer and surface
tension the condensation and the evaporation in this process will
occur with different time constants.
To make things slightly more challenging to verify all the above
processes take place simultaneously in the same chamber, at high
and varying speeds providing gravitational effects as well as mixing
due to leakages from adjacent expansion chambers.
In order to reach practical results the industry has thus devel-
oped simplied methods to analyse and predict these processes. 1st
law efciency, Eq. (4), is used with the term adiabatic efciency
based on isentropic expansion of the 2-phase mixture.
All the complexity of the internal processes is then combined to
externally measurable conditions such as entry pressure, temper-
ature and vapour fraction, as well as exit pressure, shaft work and
heat rejection/absorption.
Note that 2nd law efciencies are often used in modelling and
provide a good understanding of the behaviour of the expansion
processes. However, due to the difculty of separating the
processes into measurable entities validation of such models has so
far not been published.
2.3. Process uid
The refrigerant used during all tests was R134a. All thermody-
namic calculations were performed with the model according to
Huber and McLinden [19].
The particular Lysholm Turbine used was a standard design from
the manufacturer. It was specied for the uids R134a and R141b
and intended for industrial use in organic Rankine cycles for waste
heat recovery.
1214 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218

Fig. 3. Schematic view of the tested Lysholm Turbine, M31. Male rotor with overhung support shaft for alternator rotor is seen in the centre.

R134a was chosen as test uid due to its commonality and
relation to experience from refrigeration and air-conditioning.
R141b is a less used uid and was therefore considered as of
lower importance.
2.4. Oil
All tests were performed with the oil Icematic SW 100. This oil is
of a POE-type being very common in refrigeration and air-
conditioning equipment. The solubility of R134a in POE is signi-
cant, however due to the extremely short duration of time in the
expansion cavity the degassing of dissolved gas in the oil is
assumed to cause negligible effect on output power in these
particular circumstances. Note carefully that when testing
a Lysholm Turbine on lower speeds the duration of time within the
expansion chamber is longer and will eventually be in the same
order as the time constants for degassing of the oil, this could
distort test results signicantly. Also other combinations of oil and
process uid can cause signicant differences is solubility time
constants.
The amount of oil ow was kept constant and according to
standard design practise during all tests.
rotor is transferred to the rst either by synchronisation gears or by
direct contact between the helical rotor bodies.
The tested machine is semihermetic meaning that the alternator
is cooled by gas/liquid being ejected from the turbine, see Fig. 3.
Discharge pressure is measured at the downstream exit ange
including pressure losses by, and heat rejection from the alternator.
Bearings are oil lubricated and the oil from the bearings is
drained into the expansion chamber at a pressure lower than the
gas entry. The rotors are made of steel and the housings in cast iron.
Note that two different swept volumes were included in the
design. This was obtained by adding a second ow injection port at
position in between the inlet port and the outlet port. When the
second port was connected to the high pressure ow line the swept
volume was maximised, and the built in volume ratio minimised,
and vice versa when the second port was disconnected.
Characteristics of the machine can be found in Table 1.
3.2. Alternator
A 50 kW, 60 Hz, two pole, squirrel cage alternator was used at
50 Hz. The squirrel cage rotor was mounted stify on the extended
drive shaft of the male screw rotor in an overhung solution, see

3. Description of the test conditions

Table 1
3.1. Design Technical data for the tested Lysholm Turbine, M31 and the tested conditions.

Design item Information

Lysholm Turbines generically look like any screw compressor. Alternator 2-pole/42 kW/50 Hz/400 V
Two rotating, helical body rotors intermesh and thereby create Rotors diameters Male 113 mm
a sealed chamber starting from a volume of zero, increasing to Female 96 mm
a designed volume and thereafter continuously reduced until the Rotor length 149.5 mm
Rotor prole D-type (D-3-13)
volume again reaches zero. Ports in the casing surrounding the Male rotor angle of wrap 300
rotors provide ow contact to external ow paths in a multitude of Lobe combination 56
manners. The minimum is one inlet port connecting high pressure Admission limits Pmax 21.3 bar; Tmax 160  C
uid to the chamber while increasing chamber volume and one Approved media R134a; R141b
Bearings Antifriction roller bearings
outlet port connecting low pressure uid to the chamber while
Lubrication oil Supplied by auxiliary pump
reducing chamber volume. Oil ow to bearings 6 l/min
A volume ratio is dened as the ratio between chamber volumes Oil ow to expansion chambers 12 l/min
when closing the inlet port and when opening the outlet port. Internal volume ratio (Vi) A: 4.5, B: 1.2, C: 4.5
The two rotors are axially and radially supported by bearings. Displacement volume (Vdp) A: 0.18, B: 0.68, C: 0.18 (l/rev)
Entry pressure A: 18.6, B: 18.6, C: 21.3 (bar)
One of the rotors is equipped with an extended shaft in order to Pressure ratio A: 4.0, B: 3.9, C: 5.3
transfer the mechanical torque externally. The torque of the other
 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218 1215

Superheated vapour inlet high pressure measuring pipe. Thereafter the gas ow was
mixed with condensed liquid before entering the turbine. This way
the condition of the inlet ow could be controlled. After the turbine
Measuring
pipe Mf Condenser
Oil the ow entered a mixing chamber. In order to create a state
separator
suitable for the measuring pipe superheated gas or liquid
Flow
condensate could be fed to the mixing chamber parallel to the
P T meter
Mf turbine ow.
Liquid
Output work was determined by measuring voltages,
T
Oil Mf P currents and power factor in the power lines using the power
P
T analysis tool.
P Flow
T
meter
3.4. Test conditions
Lysholm Turbine M31

I n P Compressor Three sets of turbine conditions were tested in the 2-phase

U P T
T experiments. Specications are found in Table 1.
Mf
Mixing chamber Measuring
pipe Test run A consisted of disconnected second entry ow port and
a pressure ratio of 4.
Fig. 4. Schematic of the test rig arrangement. Test run B consisted of connected second entry ow port and
a pressure ratio of 3.9.
Test run C consisted of disconnected second entry ow port and
Fig. 3. The stator was integrated in the pressure vessel on the pressure ratio of 5.3.
discharge side. The alternator efciency was unknown due to the
fact that factory test performance data only existed with air cooled 4. Calculation of information from measured data
operation. When an alternator is active with 2-phase process uid
as coolant the efciency is signicantly improved by the excellent 4.1. Inlet superheated/mixed ow conditions
cooling condition. The amount of improvement was unknown
during these tests. The state at turbine inlet was varied between superheated,
saturated and mixed conditions.
The following method was used to determine the vapour frac-
3.3. Performance test stand arrangement
tion as accurate temperature measurements at superheat below
a few degrees were impossible to obtain:
The test stand used was a modied version of a refrigeration
A sequence of test points were performed keeping all pressures
compressor test stand used for extensive detailed performance
and ow measurement gas temperatures constant while gradually
analyses by the machine development company SRM, Timuska
increasing the injected liquid ow rate at a position between the
[20]. The nal test stand arrangement is shown in Fig. 4.
turbine inlet measuring pipe and the turbine inlet. Added liquid
The rig was based on a hot gas-type test stand for compressor
ow was gradually increased from zero to max available. Each test
performance tests where only part of the compressed gas is
point was kept at stable conditions for a minimum of 15 min before
condensed at a high pressure. Thereafter condensed liquid, and
recording data.
superheated compressed gas, are channelled through separate ow
Three such tests were performed, see Figs. 5e7. In the gures the
control valves to a common mixing chamber. The state in the
superheat can be seen as a function of injected liquid ow. Vapour
mixing chamber is controlled by the valves producing well-deter-
fraction, determined with the below method, is also shown in order
mined compressor inlet gas states.
to visually show the magnitude.
Pressures and temperature measurements provide measured
In order to correctly calculate the vapour fraction the liquid ow
conditions of state and a measuring pipe provides accurate mass
rate required to produce saturated gas had to be determined.
ow data. Measuring equipment and methods are shown in Table 2.
This liquid ow rate m _ liq;sat was determined by a linear curve
Note particularly that the oil separator downstream of the
approximation of superheat vs. liquid ow rate in Figs. 5e7.
compressor was signicantly oversized in order to reduce the
With that knowledge the amount of liquid phase inlet ow was
amount of oil entering the ow measurements to less than 3 g/kg
calculated as:
gas. The amounts of oil supplied to the machine were specied by
the manufacturer in Table 1. m _ liq;total  m
_ liq m _ liq;sat (5)
In order to accommodate expansion tests the test rig was
adjusted allowing superheated, compressed gas to pass a turbine The vapour fraction could then be calculated as

Table 2
Measuring devices and accuracies in the tests.

Parameter Method Type of gage Accuracy

Temperature Direct contact in ow PT 100 System accuracy better than 0.1% after calibration
Pressure Druck, PTX 600 System accuracy better than 0.1% after calibration
Liquid ow Coriolis type mass ow meter Micro Motion R-series 0.50%
Measuring pipe gas ow ISO recommendations 5167, Typically 1% after calibration of all gages
1980(E) and 1217, 1986(E)
Measuring pipe pressure difference Stratied ow through orice Schlumberger, PDH 3000 System accuracy better than 0.1% after calibration
Alternator power output Measurement of current, voltage Dranetz 8000 Energy Analyzer 2% (Power)
and phase angle in each individual phase
1216 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218

Fig. 7. Superheat and liquid fraction vs. amount of liquid injected to turbine inlet gas
stream. Test run C: Vi 5.8, Pin 21.3 bar, Pressure ratio 5.3, Tip speed 18 m/s.
Fig. 5. Superheat and vapour fraction vs. amount of liquid injected to turbine inlet gas
stream. Test run A: Vi 5.8, Pin 18.6 bar, Pressure ratio 4.0, Tip speed 18 m/s.

h  i 5. Comparison of experimental performance and prior work

Xinlet 1  m_ liq = m _ mp1
_ liq;total m (6)
As the obtained efciencies from 2-phase tests with different
Lysholm Turbines vary in previous work the absolute level of
4.2. Filling factor efciency was assumed to be less signicant. It is likely that
individual machine design, and the associated compromises, have
The lling factor characterises the real ow vs. theoretic larger effect on total efciency than the state of the inlet uid.
displacement ow of a Lysholm Turbine and is critical information However, the relative performance effect, the sensitivity, of
for system dimensioning purposes. reducing the vapour fraction in the turbine inlet was analysed in
more detail.
  Table 3 shows data on the Gradient of efciency, j2-phase [% of
_ V *n
f V= (7) adiabatic efciency per 10% vapour fraction reduction] vs. reduced
dp
vapour fraction in the turbine inlet.
The results by Steidel et al. [5], McKay [6] and Smith [8] could
_
where VP; _ is calculated from mass ow measurement, inlet
T; m indicate a relation between tip speed and gradient of efciency.
ange temperature, pressure and equations of state. Results are However Fig. 10 shows that the higher the peak efciency the lower
shown in Fig. 8. the gradient becomes. Although available test data is scarce the
correlation appears to be convincing.
4.3. Adiabatic efciency An interpretation of this discovery is that as the vapour frac-
tion is reduced the liquid uid tends to seal internal leakage
With inlet superheat, or vapour fraction, known the adiabatic paths. At low tip speed Lysholm Turbines are particularly sensitive
efciency could be calculated according to Eq. (4). Results are to clearance leakages. Sealing those with liquid has a positive
shown in Fig. 8. effect overcoming the penalty of increased drag losses. However,
Electric output power is shown for reference in Fig. 9. Note that with higher tip speed it is well known that the internal leakages
power levels in test runs B and C are similar. Test run B has a higher tend to become dynamically restricted and performance
mass ow due to the second injection ow port while C has a larger improved. At such conditions an increased amount of liquid has
pressure ratio. little effect on sealing leakages while still causing increased drag
losses.
The machines providing good efciency at low tip speeds are
probably more properly designed meaning that internal leakages
are low even with 100% vapour quality. Increasing the amount of
liquid will then mainly reduce the efciency due to increased drag
losses.
This interpretation aligns very well with interpretations of
practical experiences from screw compressors operating with
2-phase ow at higher tip speeds.
The correlation in Fig. 10 allows for a simplied estimation of the
adiabatic efciency during 2-phase inlet conditions when results
from physical tests are non-existing in a particular case. With
tested, or simulated, results of efciencies in superheated and
saturated inlet conditions the efciency in 2-phase inlet conditions
can be written as Eq. (8).

h2phase Xinlet hsat j2phase $1  Xinlet =10 (8)

Fig. 6. Superheat and liquid fraction vs. amount of liquid injected to turbine inlet gas
stream. Test run B: Vi 1.1, Pin 18.6 bar, Pressure ratio 3.9, Tip speed 18 m/s. where j2-phase can be approximated from Fig. 10 or Eq. (9).
 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218 1217

f , ad
120% f (C)
100%
f (A) ETA (C)
80%
ETA (A) ETA (B)
60%

40%
f (B)
20%
Vapour fraction
0%
0.70 0.75 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00

Fig. 8. Adiabatic efciency and lling factor for test runs A, B and C. Note that lling factor can exceed 100% due to internal leakages in the turbine.

j2phase 0:15$hpeak 9
Here hsat is the adiabatic efciency at saturated inlet conditions and
hpeak is the highest efciency obtained at the same tip speed, inlet
pressure and outlet pressure.
6. Discussion
The results show that the entry volume ow rate is almost
constant for each tested condition, see Fig. 8. A slightly reduced
ow with lower entry vapour fraction can be seen. A possible
explanation of this is that the high inertia of the liquid uid
increases the throttle losses at the entry. Furthermore internal
leakages in the turbine could be restricted by liquid which also
would reduce the entry ow rate by maintaining a higher chamber
pressure than with pure gas.
Fig. 9. Output electric power for test runs A, B and C.
(9) Note that the lling factor is less than 1 if throttle losses at the
entry dominate while it is larger than 1 if the internal leakages
dominate.
Test run B shows a signicantly lower lling factor than A and C.
This is probably due to throttle losses in the second ow injection
port. The design of the turbine was such that the second injection
ow port was smaller than the inlet port. The difference between
run A and C is probably due to increased internal leakages in C due
to the higher pressure.
Adiabatic efciency, Fig. 8, shows a slight reduction with
reduced vapour quality. The slope seems linear in the tested region.
As the built in volume ratio is better adapted to the pressure
ratio in C than in A the latter could be expected to show inferior
adiabatic efciency. However, the result shows a superior adiabatic
efciency in test run A. This could be explained by the high lling
factor in C indicating larger internal leakages which also affect
adiabatic efciency negatively.
The fact that test run B shows inferior adiabatic efciency is to
be expected as the low lling factor indicates large throttle losses in
the second injection ow port. Large throttle losses inevitably lead
to a reduced adiabatic efciency.
The only available performance data available, including this
paper, are from tests with water, R113 and R134a. Furthermore each
turbine design differs signicantly from the other. Therefore no
rm conclusions can be made on the question of how performance
level is affected by choice of uid. However, the correlation in
Fig. 10 incorporates data from all the published sources, including
this paper, with all tested uids. This indicates that the sensitivity
to inlet vapour fraction is not dependent on choice of uid.
The correlation j2-phase shown in Fig. 10 should be used with
some caution as the amount of test data supporting it is limited.
However, with more test data available this correlation can be

Table 3
Comparison of test runs with different Lysholm Turbines during 2-phase operation.

Reference Peak efciency Max power, Male diameter Fluid Tip speed Machine type Gradient of efciency
hpeak, % kWe ODM, mm vtip, m/s j2-phase, %had/10%Xinlet
McKay [6] 62a 1000 419 Water 66 Oil free, geared 1%/10%
Steidel [5] Not shown 50 130 Water 30 Oil free, geared 4.5%/10%
Steidel [5] 40 50 130 Water 40 Oil free, geared 2.8%/10%
Steidel [5] 40 50 130 Water 50 Oil free, geared 1.4%/10%
Steidel [5] Not shown 50 130 Water 60 Oil free, geared 0.8%/10%
Steidel [5] Not shown 50 130 Water higher Oil free, geared Indication of negative
Smith [8] 60 45 163 R113 20 Oil free, gearless 1.6%/10%
Smith [8] 80 45 163 R113 30 Oil free, gearless Scattered data indicates 0%/10%
Test run A 92 42 113 R134a 18 Oil injected, gearless 6.3%/10%
Test run B 73 42 113 R134a 18 Oil injected, gearless 3.3%/10%
Test run C 83 42 113 R134a 18 Oil injected, gearless 5%/10%
a
The used eld data was after internal scale-buildup i.e. reduced internal clearance leakages.
1218 H. hman, P. Lundqvist / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 1211e1218
Fig. 10. Gradient of efciency per 10% turbine entry vapour quality reduction vs. peak
efciency.
improved. The signicant difculties in obtaining good test data
with 2-phase inlet conditions make this correlation useful.
Obtaining good measurements of superheated, and saturated, inlet
conditions is well known practice. That knowledge, combined with
the correlation in Eq. (8) could then reduce the need for tests with
2-phase inlet conditions. This would greatly simplify the work of
determining the efciency during any 2-phase condition.
Testing rotating machinery in non-quasistatic conditions are
challenging. During the tests a large number of puzzling or inter-
esting phenomena were observed. Combined with experiences
from other 2-phase, or 3-phase, operating conditions those obser-
vations give more than enough of concepts for improvement of
design, process adaptation and application potentials. Some of
those will be analysed in future penetrations of the raw material
from the tests for this article.
However, with the complexity explained above it is clear that
testing of vast amounts of different machine designs, conditions
and uids are required before claiming any rm knowledge in
this eld.
Therefore the authors of this article encourage others to
perform, and share, such test data for the cause of implementing
the cost efcient improvements in energy utilisation that are
within reach using the technology invented by Alf Lysholm in 1922,
used in thousands of applications and yet not fully described by
science.
7. Conclusions from test data in combination with prior
works
Consistent test data was possible to produce with controlled
2-phase conditions at the turbine inlet.
Power output from the turbine was independent of inlet vapour
quality.
The efciencies measured indicate attractive possibilities in
using variable vapour quality, of the uid entering the turbine, to
match Low Temperature Power Cycles to waste heat source char-
acteristics and thereby increase cycle efciency.
A correlation was found dening how performance data for
saturated and superheated test conditions, tested or simulated, can
be used to estimate the sensitivity of adiabatic efciency with
2-phase ow at the turbine inlet.
The main conclusion made was that performance of a Lysholm
Turbine in 2-phase conditions can be estimated without either the
expensive, and notoriously difcult, procedure of accurately
producing 2-phase condition test data in the laboratory or access to
a correlated model for simulation of the 2-phase processes.
Generally it can be concluded that Lysholm Turbines offer an
interesting potential of operating in 2-phase expansion processes
while maintaining attractive expansion efciencies. Consequently
the cost of equipment for LTPCs can be reduced as no superheat or
liquid traps are required upstream of the turbine. Economy of an
LTPC can also be improved as operating downtime can be reduced
since no liquid slugging protection trip is required by the turbine.
The ranges of expansion efciency presented in this work can
serve as guidance to what modern technology can achieve with
Lysholm Turbines. However, it cannot lead to any conclusion about
the absolute efciency of any particular Lysholm Turbine. The
variety of design options of Lysholm Turbines is too large to allow
such detailed prediction based on published data.
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