This paper presents the pressure-volume trajectories that yield the optimal trade-off between efficiency and power during the compression and expansion of air. These results could benefit applications such as compressed air energy storage where both high efficiency and power density are required. Earlier work established solutions for the simple case in which hA, the product of the heat transfer coefficient and heat transfer surface area, is constant. This paper extends that analysis by allowing hA to vary with air volume. Solutions to the constrained, nonlinear optimization problem are developed utilizing the method of Lagrange multipliers and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions. It is found that the optimal trajectory takes the form "fastslow-fast" where the fast stages are adiabatic and the temperature change during the slow stage is proportional to the inverse root of the hA product. A case study predicts a 60% improvement in power over the constant-hA solution when both trajectories are run at 90% efficiency and hA = hA (V ). Compared to linearand sinusoidal-shaped trajectories, also at 90% effiency, power gains are expected to be around 500-1500%.

An efficient and power dense high pressure air compressor/expander (C/E) is critical for the success of a compressed air energy storage (CAES) system. There is a tradeoff between efficiency and power density that is mediated by heat transfer within the compression/expansion chamber. This paper considers the optimal control for the compression and expansion processes that provides the optimal tradeoff between efficiency and power. Analytical Pareto optimal solutions are developed for the cases in which hA, the product of the heat transfer coefficient and heat transfer surface area, is either a constant or is a function of the air volume. It is found that the optimal trajectories take the form “fast-slow-fast” where the fast stages are adiabatic and the slow stage is either isothermal for the constant-hA assumption, or a pseudo-isothermal (where the temperature depends on the instantaneous hA) for the volume-varying-hA assumption. A case study shows that at 90% compression efficiency, power gains are in the range of 500−1500% over ad hoc linear and sinusoidal profiles.