Organic Rankine Cycle Optimization With Explicit Designs of Evaporator and Radial Inflow Turbine

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan Eren Bekiloğlu ◽  
Hasan Bedir ◽  
Günay Anlaş

Abstract Although there are studies on optimizing organic Rankine cycles (ORCs) through individual components, in this study, for the first time, both evaporator and turbine designs are included in a multiobjective optimization. Twenty-eight working fluids are used to find optimum cycle parameters for three source temperatures (90, 120, and 150 °C). A mean-line radial inflow turbine model is used. Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II is utilized to minimize total evaporator area per net power output and maximize performance factor simultaneously. The technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation (TOPSIS) procedure is followed to obtain ideal solutions. A group of working fluids with highest net power output is determined for each heat source temperature. Optimized geometric parameters of the evaporator vary in a narrow range independent of the working fluid and the source temperature, but evaporator PPTD and degree of superheating depend on the working fluid. The specific speed, the pressure ratio through the turbine, and the nozzle inlet-to-outlet radius ratio do not change significantly with cycle conditions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wahiba Yaïci ◽  
Evgueniy Entchev ◽  
Pouyan Talebizadehsardari ◽  
Michela Longo

Abstract Overall, there are numerous sustainable sources of renewable, low-temperature heat, principally solar energy, geothermal energy, and energy produced from industrial wastes. Extended utilization of these low-temperature alternatives has a certain capacity of decreasing fossil fuel use with its associated very hazardous greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers have commonly recognized the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) as a feasible and suitable system to produce electrical power from renewable sources based on its advantageous use of volatile organic fluids as working fluids (WFs). Researchers have similarly shown an affinity to the exploitation of zeotropic mixtures as ORC WFs due to their capability to enhance the thermodynamic performance of ORC systems, an achievement supported by improved fits of the temperature profiles of the WF and the heat source/sink. This paper determines both the technical feasibility and the benefits of using zeotropic mixtures as WFs by means of a simulation study of an ORC system. This study analyzes the thermodynamic performance of ORC systems using zeotropic WF mixtures to produce electricity driven by low-temperature solar heat sources for use in buildings. A thermodynamic model is created with an ORC system with and without a regenerator. Five zeotropic mixtures with diverse compositions between 0 and 1 in 0.2 increments of R245fa/propane, R245fa/hexane, R245fa/heptane, pentane/hexane, and isopentane/hexane are assessed and compared with identify the best blends of mixtures that are able to produce superior efficiency in their system cycles. Results disclosed that R245fa/propane (0.4/0.6) with regenerator produces the highest net power output of 7.9 kW and cycle efficiency of 9.4% at the operating condition with a hot source temperature of 85 °C. The study also investigates the effects of the volume flow ratio, and evaporation and condensation temperature glide on the ORC’s thermodynamic performance. Following a thorough analysis of each mixture, R245fa/propane is chosen for a parametric study to examine the effects of operating factors on the system’s efficiency and sustainability index. It was found that the highest cycle efficiency and highest second law cycle efficiency of around 10.5% and 84.0%, respectively, were attained with a mass composition of 0.6/0.4 at the hot source temperature of 95 °C and cold source temperature of 20 °C with a net power output of 9.6 kW. Moreover, results revealed that for zeotropic mixtures, there is an optimal composition range within which binary mixtures are tending to work more efficiently than the component pure fluids. In addition, a significant increase in cycle efficiency can be achieved with a regenerative ORC, with cycle efficiency in the range 3.1–9.8% versus 8.6–17.4% for ORC both without and with regeneration, respectively. In conclusion, utilizing zeotropic mixtures may well expand the restriction faced in choosing WFs for solar-powered ORC-based micro-combined heat and power (CHP) systems.


Author(s):  
Fredrik Ahlgren ◽  
Maria E. Mondejar ◽  
Magnus Genrup ◽  
Marcus Thern

Maritime transportation is a significant contributor to SOx, NOx and particle matter emissions, even though it has a quite low CO2 impact. New regulations are being enforced in special areas that limit the amount of emissions from the ships. This fact, together with the high fuel prices, is driving the marine industry towards the improvement of the energy efficiency of current ship engines and the reduction of their energy demand. Although more sophisticated and complex engine designs can improve significantly the efficiency of the energy systems in ships, waste heat recovery arises as the most influent technique for the reduction of the energy consumption. In this sense, it is estimated that around 50% of the total energy from the fuel consumed in a ship is wasted and rejected in fluid and exhaust gas streams. The primary heat sources for waste heat recovery are the engine exhaust and the engine coolant. In this work, we present a study on the integration of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) in an existing ship, for the recovery of the main and auxiliary engines exhaust heat. Experimental data from the operating conditions of the engines on the M/S Birka Stockholm cruise ship were logged during a port-to-port cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn over a period of time close to one month. The ship has four main engines Wärtsilä 5850 kW for propulsion, and four auxiliary engines 2760 kW used for electrical consumers. A number of six load conditions were identified depending on the vessel speed. The speed range from 12–14 knots was considered as the design condition, as it was present during more than 34% of the time. In this study, the average values of the engines exhaust temperatures and mass flow rates, for each load case, were used as inputs for a model of an ORC. The main parameters of the ORC, including working fluid and turbine configuration, were optimized based on the criteria of maximum net power output and compactness of the installation components. Results from the study showed that an ORC with internal regeneration using benzene would yield the greatest average net power output over the operating time. For this situation, the power production of the ORC would represent about 22% of the total electricity consumption on board. These data confirmed the ORC as a feasible and promising technology for the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of existing ships.


Author(s):  
Vamshi Krishna Avadhanula ◽  
Chuen-Sen Lin

The screw expander discussed in this work was part of a 50 kW organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system. The ORC was tested under different conditions in heat source and heat sink. In conjunction with collecting data for the ORC system, experimental data were also collected for the individual components of the ORC, viz. evaporator, preheater, screw expander, working fluid pump, and condenser. Experimental data for the screw expander were used to develop the two empirical models discussed in this paper for estimating screw expander performance. As the physical parameters of the screw expander discussed in this article are not known, a “black-box” approach was followed to estimate screw expander power output, based on expander inlet and outlet pressure and temperature data. Refrigerant R245fa was used as the working fluid in the ORC. The experimental data showed that the screw expander had ranges of pressure ratio (2.70 to 6.54), volume ratio (2.54 to 6.20), and power output (10 to 51.5 kW). Of the two empirical models, the first model is based on the polytropic expansion process, in which an expression for the polytropic exponent is found by applying regression curve-fitting analysis as a function of the expander pressure ratio and volume ratio. In the second model, an expression for screw expander work output is found by applying regression curve-fitting analysis as a function of the expander isentropic work output. The predicted screw expander power output using the polytropic exponent model was within ±10% of experimental values; the predicted screw expander power output using the isentropic work output model was within ±7.5% of experimental values.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suresh Baral

The current research study focuses on the feasibility of stand-alone hybrid solar-geothermal organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology for power generation from hot springs of Bhurung Tatopani, Myagdi, Nepal. For the study, the temperature of the hot spring was measured on the particular site of the heat source of the hot spring. The measured temperature could be used for operating the ORC system. Temperature of hot spring can also further be increased by adopting the solar collector for rising the temperature. This hybrid type of the system can have a high-temperature heat source which could power more energy from ORC technology. There are various types of organic working fluids available on the market, but R134a and R245fa are environmentally friendly and have low global warming potential candidates. The thermodynamic models have been developed for predicting the performance analysis of the system. The input parameter for the model is the temperature which was measured experimentally. The maximum temperature of the hot spring was found to be 69.7°C. Expander power output, thermal efficiency, heat of evaporation, solar collector area, and hybrid solar ORC system power output and efficiency are the outputs from the developed model. From the simulation, it was found that 1 kg/s of working fluid could produce 17.5 kW and 22.5 kW power output for R134a and R245fa, respectively, when the geothermal source temperature was around 70°C. Later when the hot spring was heated with a solar collector, the power output produced were 25 kW and 30 kW for R134a and R245fa, respectively, when the heat source was 99°C. The study also further determines the cost of electricity generation for the system with working fluids R134a and R245fa to be $0.17/kWh and $0.14/kWh, respectively. The levelised cost of the electricity (LCOE) was $0.38/kWh in order to be highly feasible investment. The payback period for such hybrid system was found to have 7.5 years and 10.5 years for R245fa and R134a, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghalya Pikra ◽  
Nur Rohmah

Regenerative organic Rankine cycle (RORC) can be used to improve organic Rankine cycle (ORC) performance. This paper presents a comparison of a single (SSRORC) and double stage regenerative organic Rankine cycle (DSRORC) using a medium grade heat source. Performance for each system is estimated using the law of thermodynamics I and II through energy and exergy balance. Solar thermal is used as the heat source using therminol 55 as a working fluid, and R141b is used as the organic working fluid. The initial data for the analysis are heat source with 200°C of temperature, and 100 L/min of volume flow rate. Analysis begins by calculating energy input to determine organic working fluid mass flow rate, and continued by calculating energy loss, turbine power and pump power consumption to determine net power output and thermal efficiency. Exergy analysis begins by calculating exergy input to determine exergy efficiency. Exergy loss, exergy destruction at the turbine, pump and feed heater is calculated to complete the calculation. Energy estimation result shows that DSRORC determines better net power output and thermal efficiency for 7.9% than SSRORC, as well as exergy estimation, DSRORC determines higher exergy efficiency for 7.69%. ©2019. CBIORE-IJRED. All rights reserved


Author(s):  
C. R. Baggley ◽  
◽  
M. G. Read ◽  

It is well known that large amounts of energy loss occurs at low temperature states in a wide range of industrial processes., The recovery and reuse of this energy is at the forefront of increasing the overall efficiencies of industrial systems. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of using a Thermo-Fluidic Exchange (TFE) pump at low temperature conditions in both a SaturatedVapour Organic Rankine Cycle (SORC) and a Trilateral Flash Cycle (TFC). For some low temperature applications, TFCs have been shown to achieve higher net power output than conventional SORCs, due to their ability to extract more heat from the source fluid. This is the subject of current research as a result of advancements made in the design of positive displacement machines for operation as twophase expanders. Conventional turbines cannot be used for TFCs as they must operate in the vapour phase. One drawback of the TFC is the higher working fluid mass flow rate required. Depending on the scale of the system, this can potentially cause difficulties with pump selection. A TFE pump uses heat input to the system to increase the pressure and temperature of the working fluid, rather than the work input in a standard mechanical pump. This paper compares the net power output achievable using both mechanical and TFE pumps with SORC and TFC systems. The results suggest that the TFE pump could be a viable option for TFC systems


Author(s):  
L. Sciacovelli ◽  
P. Cinnella

Transonic flows through axial, multistage, transcritical organic rankine cycle (ORC) turbines are investigated by using a numerical solver including advanced multiparameter equations of state and a high-order discretization scheme. The working fluids in use are the refrigerants R134a and R245fa, classified as dense gases due to their complex molecules and relatively high molecular weight. Both inviscid and viscous numerical simulations are carried out to quantify the impact of dense gas effects and viscous effects on turbine performance. Both supercritical and subcritical inlet conditions are studied for the considered working fluids. In the former case, flow across the turbine is transcritical, since turbine output pressure is subcritical. Numerical results show that, due to dense gas effects characterizing the flow at supercritical inlet conditions, supercritical ORC turbines enable, for a given pressure ratio, a higher isentropic efficiency than subcritical turbines using the same working fluid. Moreover, for the selected operating conditions, R134a provides a better performance than R245fa.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Graa Andreasen ◽  
Martin Ryhl Kærn ◽  
Fredrik Haglind

In this paper, we present an assessment of methods for estimating and comparing the thermodynamic performance of working fluids for organic Rankine cycle power systems. The analysis focused on how the estimated net power outputs of zeotropic mixtures compared to pure fluids are affected by the method used for specifying the performance of the heat exchangers. Four different methods were included in the assessment, which assumed that the organic Rankine cycle systems were characterized by the same values of: (1) the minimum pinch point temperature difference of the heat exchangers; (2) the mean temperature difference of the heat exchangers; (3) the heat exchanger thermal capacity ( U ¯ A ); or (4) the heat exchanger surface area for all the considered working fluids. The second and third methods took into account the temperature difference throughout the heat transfer process, and provided the insight that the advantages of mixtures are more pronounced when large heat exchangers are economically feasible to use. The first method was incapable of this, and deemed to result in optimistic estimations of the benefits of using zeotropic mixtures, while the second and third method were deemed to result in conservative estimations. The fourth method provided the additional benefit of accounting for the degradation of heat transfer performance of zeotropic mixtures. In a net power output based performance ranking of 30 working fluids, the first method estimates that the increase in the net power output of zeotropic mixtures compared to their best pure fluid components is up to 13.6%. On the other hand, the third method estimates that the increase in net power output is only up to 2.56% for zeotropic mixtures compared to their best pure fluid components.


2012 ◽  
Vol 505 ◽  
pp. 519-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoung Hoon Kim ◽  
Hyung Jong Ko ◽  
Se Woong Kim

In this paper thermodynamic performance of a combined heat and power cogeneration system driven by low-temperature source is investigated. The system consists of regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and an additional process heater as a series circuit. Seven working fluids of isobutene, butane, R11, R123, isopentane, normal pentane, and R113 are considered in this work. Special attention is paid to the effects of system parameters such as the turbine inlet pressure or source temperature on the characteristics of the system such as the ratio of mass flow rates, net work production as well as the efficiencies of the first and second laws of thermodynamics for various working fluids. This study finds that higher turbine inlet pressure leads to lower second law efficiency of ORC system but higher that of the combined system. Results also show that the optimum working fluid varies with the source temperature.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Yan-Na Liu ◽  
Song Xiao

AbstractIn this paper, the thermodynamic investigation on the use of geothermal water (130 °C as maximum) for power generation through a basic Rankine has been presented together with obtained main results. Six typical organic working fluids (i.e., R245fa, R141b, R290, R600, R152a, and 134a) were studied with modifying the input pressure and temperature to the turbine. The results show that there are no significant changes taking place in the efficiency for these working fluids with overheating the inlet fluid to the turbine, i.e., efficiency is a weak function of temperature. However, with the increasing of pressure ratio in the turbine, the efficiency rises more sharply. The technical viability is shown of implementing this type of process for recovering low temperature heat resource.


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