Project Overview

Howden and City, University of London’s Centre for Compressor Technology are currently working on a 5-year collaborative project - Smart Efficient Compression, Reliability and Energy Targets (SECRET) - which is supported by an award from The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and led by Howden Chair in Engineering Design and Compressor Technology, Professor Ahmed Kovacevic.

This partnership specifically looks at the effect of clearances and heat transfer dynamics within the compressor and the resultant reduction in losses and gains in efficiency. 

This project also contributes to advances in the development of Industry 4.0, in which the team seeks to transform traditional manufacturing and industrial practices with the latest smart technology. To realise this, the project will focus on the short-, medium- and long-term development of Howden's oil free screw compressors range.

Year One Achievements

• Phase One of the project has been dedicated to understanding the physics of the flow within clearance gaps of rotating positive displacement machines which will improve the efficiency, performance and reliability of oil free screw compressors

• Over the past year, our team have worked tirelessly to setup the foundations for future success. To do this, we have opened state of the art laboratories to understand the physics and provide the data for validation of our high fidelity computational fluid dynamics

• We demonstrated world leading measurement, modelling and experimental techniques.

• The work we have accomplished in the past twelve months now determines the direction of research we will undertake throughout the next four years

Having both teams involved in phase one, ensures the project delivers outcomes that are valuable to industry, fit for purpose and directly makes a real world impact by reducing energy consumption.

Major Expected Outcomes

This project is a continuation of the solid partnership between Howden and City, combining 30 years of research on screw compressors with Howden's market-leading technology, which is targeted at reducing leakages in rotating machinery by 20%, and improving the efficiency of oil free screw compressors by 2%, thus contributing to the European Union’s Global Net Zero CO2 emissions targets. All industrial and academic sectors which deal with oil-free rotating machines, such as power recovery systems, food and pharmaceutical industries, vacuum pump applications and others will benefit from the knowledge, developed methods and devices built by this project. The UK public at large will benefit from the lower carbon footprint of these smart energy efficient systems, leading toward the net zero emission initiative and the wealth-creation with new jobs stimulated by this innovation.

1. Test facility and validated numerical methods of heat-flow-solid interactions in clearances

2. Scaled-down compressor prototype with novel rotor profiles and smart clearance management system

3. Industrial prototype with integrated remote monitoring and self-regulating systems for minimization of energy consumption and increased reliability

Project Schedule

The project will be undertaken over 5 years, consisting of 3 stages divided into 16 separate work packages. The schedule includes key milestones such as:

• Understanding physics
• Building a prototype for concept validation
• Building the commercial prototype

You can learn more about the project on the University of London page dedicated to the SECRET project