scholarly journals Design and Operational Control Strategy for Optimum Off-Design Performance of an ORC Plant for Low-Grade Waste Heat Recovery

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5846
Author(s):  
Fabio Fatigati ◽  
Diego Vittorini ◽  
Yaxiong Wang ◽  
Jian Song ◽  
Christos N. Markides ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Unit ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Thermal Source ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Gear Pump

The applicability of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology to waste heat recovery (WHR) is currently experiencing growing interest and accelerated technological development. The utilization of low-to-medium grade thermal energy sources, especially in the presence of heat source intermittency in applications where the thermal source is characterized by highly variable thermodynamic conditions, requires a control strategy for off-design operation to achieve optimal ORC power-unit performance. This paper presents a validated comprehensive model for off-design analysis of an ORC power-unit, with R236fa as the working fluid, a gear pump, and a 1.5 kW sliding vane rotary expander (SVRE) for WHR from the exhaust gases of a light-duty internal combustion engine. Model validation is performed using data from an extensive experimental campaign on both the rotary equipment (pump, expander) and the remainder components of the plant, namely the heat recovery vapor generator (HRVH), condenser, reservoirs, and piping. Based on the validated computational platform, the benefits on the ORC plant net power output and efficiency of either a variable permeability expander or of sliding vane rotary pump optimization are assessed. The novelty introduced by this optimization strategy is that the evaluations are conducted by a numerical model, which reproduces the real features of the ORC plant. This approach ensures an analysis of the whole system both from a plant and cycle point of view, catching some real aspects that are otherwise undetectable. These optimization strategies are considered as a baseline ORC plant that suffers low expander efficiency (30%) and a large parasitic pumping power, with a backwork ratio (BWR) of up to 60%. It is found that the benefits on the expander power arising from a lower permeability combined with a lower energy demand by the pump (20% of BWR) for circulation of the working fluid allows a better recovery performance for the ORC plant with respect to the baseline case. Adopting the optimization strategies, the average efficiency and maximum generated power increase from 1.5% to 3.5% and from 400 to 1100 W, respectively. These performances are in accordance with the plant efficiencies found in the experimental works in the literature, which vary between 1.6% and 6.5% for similar applications. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement regarding a proper design of rotary machines, which can be redesigned considering the indications resulting from the developed optimization analysis.

Oscillating Heat Pipes for Waste Heat Recovery in HVAC Systems

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Govinda Mahajan ◽  
Heejin Cho ◽  
Scott M. Thompson ◽  
Harrison Rupp ◽  
Kevin Muse
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Heat Pipes ◽  
Hvac Systems ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Potential Cost

Oscillating heat pipes (OHPs) were experimentally assessed as a passive-type heat transfer device for air-to-air heat exchange in a typical Heating Ventilation & Air conditioning system (HVAC) with adjacent air streams at different temperatures. The objective is to utilize, otherwise wasted thermal energy to pre-heat or pre-cool air in order to reduce the payload on HVAC systems, thus reducing energy consumption. OHPs can achieve effective thermal conductivities on-the-order of 10,000 W/m-K via no internal wicking structure and hence can perform aforementioned heat transfer task while providing an aerodynamic form factor. A unique working fluid with limited research inside OHPs, but with properties desirable for low grade heat fluxes, i.e. n-pentane with 70 % fill ratio, was chosen as the working fluid to achieve maximum heat transfer. Aerodynamic performance, in terms of pressure drop, was evaluated and juxtaposed with heat transfer gain/loss. The OHP thermal performance and total heat transfer for hot-environment HVAC operation was benchmarked with an empty/evacuated OHP with same overall dimensions. Results indicate that the current, atypically-long OHP is fully-capable of operating in the air-to-air convection mode for waste heat recovery for typical HVAC operating conditions. Since the OHP is passive, cost effective, and relatively aerodynamic (no fins were used), the potential cost savings for its integration into HVAC systems can be significant.

Working Fluid Selection and Technoeconomic Optimization of a Turbocompression Cooling System

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Young ◽  
Spencer C. Gibson ◽  
Todd M. Bandhauer
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Cooling System ◽  
Payback Period ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Diesel Generator ◽  
Working Fluids

Abstract Low grade waste heat recovery presents an opportunity to utilize typically wasted energy to reduce overall energy consumption and improve system efficiencies. In this work, the technoeconomic performance of a turbocompression cooling system (TCCS) driven by low grade waste heat in the engine coolant of a large marine diesel generator set is investigated. Five different working fluids were examined to better understand the effects of fluid characteristics on system performance: R134a, R245fa, R1234ze(E), R152a, and R600a. A coupled thermodynamic, heat exchanger, and economic simulation was developed to calculate the simple payback period of the waste heat recovery system, which was minimized using a search and find optimization routine with heat exchanger effectiveness as the optimization parameter. A sensitivity study was performed to understand which heat exchanger effectiveness had the largest impact on payback period. Of the five working fluids examined, a TCCS with R152a as the working fluid had the lowest payback period of 1.46 years with an initial investment of $181,846. The R152a system was most sensitive to the two-phase region of the power cycle condenser. The R1234ze(E) system provided the largest return on investment over a ten year lifetime of $1,399,666.

scholarly journals Waste heat recovery from a heavy-duty natural gas engine by Organic Rankine Cycle

2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 06023
Author(s):  
Antonio Mariani ◽  
Biagio Morrone ◽  
Maria Vittoria Prati ◽  
Andrea Unich
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Maximum Pressure ◽  
Fluid Temperature ◽  
Road Transportation

Waste heat recovery can be a key solution for improving the efficiency of energy conversion systems. Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC) are a consolidated technology for achieving such target, ensuring good efficiencies and flexibility. ORC systems have been mainly adopted for stationary applications, where the limitations of layout, size and weight are not stringent. In road transportation propulsion systems, the integration between the powertrain and the ORC system is difficult but still possible. The authors investigated an ORC system bottoming a spark ignited internal combustion engine (ICE) powering a public transport bus. The bus, fuelled by natural gas, was tested in real driving conditions. Exhaust gas mass flow rate and temperature have been measured for calculating the thermal power to be recovered in the ORC plant. The waste heat was then used as energy input in a model simulating the performance of an ORC system. The heat transfer between the exhaust gases and the ORC fluid is crucial for the ORC performance. For this reason, attention was paid to considering the interaction between hot fluid temperature and ORC maximum pressure. ORC performance in terms of real cycle efficiency and power produced were calculated considering n-Pentane as working fluid. The fuel consumption was reduced from 271.5 g/km to 261.4 g/km over the driving cycle, corresponding to 3.7% reduction.

scholarly journals Performance Analysis and Working Fluid Selection of a Supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle for Low Grade Waste Heat Recovery

Energies ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 3233-3247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Gao ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
Chao He ◽  
Xiaoxiao Xu ◽  
Shuangying Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Working Fluid Selection ◽  
Selection Of

Preliminary Design of a Lab-Scale Organic Rankine Cycle for Waste Heat Recovery Applications

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Cabezas ◽  
José Mendoza ◽  
Iván Ponce ◽  
Rafael Cantorin ◽  
Daniel Gonzales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Source ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Preliminary Design

This work describes the preliminary design of a lab-scale organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for waste heat recovery based applications. As heat source for the ORC, exhaust gases from an actual internal combustion engine are utilized. The design is primarily carried out accounting for the working fluid path. More specifically, a brief introduction to be subject is initially provided. The details of the ORC preliminary design are discussed next. This includes the selection of the main working fluid, the definition of the ORC plant layout and the design of the main ORC plant components. The specifics of an overall control loop resembling an actual control system that could be used in the designed ORC based plant is also provided. In terms of power output, the results show that up to 1.68 kW can be produced from the waste heat of internal combustion engines like the one accounted for in this work. Compared to the shaft power (25.1 kW) associated with the internal combustion engine providing the heat source, this power output represents about 7%. The preliminary design described here constitutes the first step of a large effort aiming to build, install and test a lab-scale ORC for educational purposes. It is expected that such ORC based plant allows carrying out in future several studies, including the development of different control strategies for maximizing the operational performance of these plants.

Control Strategy of Low-Grade Waste Heat Recovery Unit Based on Fuzzy Proportion Integration Differentiation

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1001
Author(s):  
Yan-Jun Xiao ◽  
Li-Chao Niu ◽  
Yan-Chun Xiao ◽  
Wei-Ling Liu ◽  
Zong-Hua Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategy ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Recovery Unit
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document