scholarly journals Integrated Vapor Compression Chiller with Bottoming Organic Rankine Cycle and Onsite Low-Grade Renewable Energy

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6401
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tauseef Nasir ◽  
Michael Chukwuemeka Ekwonu ◽  
Javad Abolfazali Esfahani ◽  
Kyung Chun Kim

The present study offers a scheme to improve the performance of existing large-scale chillers. The system involves raising the temperature of the chiller’s cooling water stream using renewable energy sources by incorporating an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The thermal analysis was conducted by raising the temperature of one-third of the approximately 200 ton chiller’s cooling water. The investigation was considered for ORC evaporator inlet temperature of 90~120 °C by the step of 10 °C. Various working fluids for the different ORC evaporator inlet temperatures were examined. Sensitivity analyses conducted on the degree of superheating, degree of subcooling, condenser saturation temperature, pinch point temperature differences of the ORC evaporator and condenser, and the mass flowrates of the heating and cooling streams were also reported. Genetic algorithm was employed to carry out the optimization. The best options for the ORC working fluid at the heating source ORC evaporator inlet temperatures of 90 °C was found to be DME, presenting an improvement of 48.72% in comparison with the rated coefficient of performance (COP) value of the VCC, with a renewable energy input requirement of 710 kW. At the heat source temperatures of 100 °C and 110 °C, butene, which presented an improvement in the COP equal to 48.76% and 68.85%, respectively, with the corresponding renewable energy requirements of 789.6 kW and 852 kW, was found to be the ideal candidate. Meanwhile, at the heat source inlet temperature of 120 °C, R1233zd (E), representing an improvement of 140.88% with the renewable energy input of around 1061 kW, was determined to be the most favorable ORC working fluid candidate.

Author(s):  
Huijuan Chen ◽  
D. Yogi Goswami ◽  
Muhammad M. Rahman ◽  
Elias K. Stefanakos

The optimization of energy conversion systems is of great significance in the utilization of low-grade heat. This paper presents an analysis of 6 working fluids in 12 thermodynamic cycles to optimize the energy conversion systems. The optimal exergy efficiency of the system is dependent on the type of the thermodynamic cycle, the choice of appropriate working fluid, and the working conditions. A zeotropic mixture of R134a and R245fa shows advantages in energy conversion process, as well as its heat exchange with the heat source and heat sink. The exergy efficiency of a 0.5R134a/0.5R245fa-based supercritical Rankine cycle system is 0.643–0.689 for a turbine inlet temperature of 415–445K, which is about 30% improvement over the exergy efficiency of 0.491–0.521 for a pure R32-based organic Rankine cycle under the same temperature limits. Furthermore, the 0.5R134a/0.5R245fa mixture saves more than 60% of the cooling water during the condensation process than the pure R32, R134a and R245fa.


Author(s):  
Zhixin Sun ◽  
Shujia Wang ◽  
Fuquan Xu ◽  
Tielong Wang

Natural gas is considered as a green fuel due to its low environmental impact. LNG contains a large amount of cold exergy and must be regasified before further utilization. ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) has been proven to be a promising solution for both low grade heat utilization and LNG cold exergy recovery. Due to the great temperature difference between the heat source and LNG, the efficiency of one-stage ORC is relatively small. Hence, some researchers move forward to a two-stage Rankine cycle. Working fluid plays a quite important role in the cycle performance. Working fluid selection of a two-stage ORC is much more challenging than that of a single-stage ORC. In this paper, a two-stage ORC is studied. Heat source temperatures of 100,150 and 200°C are investigated. 20 substances are selected as potential candidates for both the high and low Rankine cycles. The evaporating, condensing and turbine inlet temperatures of both Rankine cycles are optimized by PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization). The results show that the best combination for heat source temperature of 100°C is R161/R218 with the maximum exergy efficiency of 35.27%. The best combination for 150°C is R161/RC318 with the maximum efficiency of 37.84% and ammonia/ammonia with the maximum efficiency of 39.15% for 200°C. Fluids with intermediate critical temperature, lower triple point temperature and lower normal boiling temperature are good candidates.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Ansab Ali ◽  
Tariq Saeed Khan ◽  
Ebrahim Al Hajri ◽  
Zahid H. Ayub

Fossil fuels are continuously depleting while the global energy demand is growing at a fast rate. Additionally, fossil fuels based power plants contribute to environmental pollution. Search for alternate energy resources and use of industrial waste heat for power production are attractive topics of interest these days. One way of enhancing power production and decreasing the environmental impact is by recuperating and utilizing low grade thermal energy. In recent years, research on use of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) has gained popularity as a promising technology for conversion of heat into useful work or electricity. Due to simple structure of ORC system, it can be easily integrated with any energy source like geothermal energy, solar energy and waste heat. A computer program has been developed in engineering equation solver (EES) environment that analyzes and selects appropriate working fluid for organic Rankine cycle design based on available heat sources. For a given heat source, the program compares energy and exergy performance of various working fluids. The program also includes recuperator performance analysis and compares its effectiveness on the overall thermal performance of the Rankine cycle. This program can assist in preliminary design of ORC with respect to best performing refrigerant fluid selection for the given low temperature heat source.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1022
Author(s):  
Xinxin Zhang ◽  
Yin Zhang ◽  
Zhenlei Li ◽  
Jingfu Wang ◽  
Yuting Wu ◽  
...  

The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a popular and promising technology that has been widely studied and adopted in renewable and sustainable energy utilization and low-grade waste heat recovery. The use of zeotropic mixtures in ORC has been attracting more and more attention because of the possibility to match the temperature profile of the heat source by non-isothermal phase change, which reduces the irreversibility in the evaporator and the condenser. The selection of working fluid and expander is strongly interconnected. As a novel expander, a single screw expander was selected and used in this paper for efficient utilization of the wet zeotropic mixtures listed in REFPROP 9.1 in a low-temperature subcritical ORC system. Five indicators, namely net work, thermal efficiency, heat exchange load of condenser, temperature glide in evaporator, and temperature glide in condenser, were used to analyze the performance of an ORC system with wet and isentropic zeotropic mixtures as working fluids. The calculation and analysis results indicate that R441A with an expander outlet temperature of 320 K may be the suitable zeotropic mixture used for both open and close type heat source. R436B may be selected with an expander outlet temperature of 315 K. R432A may be selected with an expander outlet temperature from 295 K to 310 K.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Author(s):  
Aya H.A .Kareem Kareem ◽  
Ali A. F. Al-Hamadan

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is one of the renewable energy to generate power at low temperatures; however, the thermal and physical properties data of the working fluid in this system are limited. In this regards, the experimental study by using R-141b as the working fluid and hot water (i.e. 50°C and 90°C) on the ORC system was conducted in order to evaluate the ORC performance via changing temperatures. Further, the air compressor was modified to act as a multi-vane expander in the ORC system. Energy and exergy analysis of ORC system was done by using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program. It was found that the performance of the expander is acceptable and suitable for operating conditions. In addition, the heat source temperature has a direct effect on expander performance. The higher temperatures of the heat source led to an increase the expander inlet temperature. This system satisfied maximum thermal and exergy efficiency and they found equal to 1.8 % and 21%, respectively. Moreover, the rotation speed and power of expander are equal to 1200 RPM and 2.331 kW respectively. It was concluded that the working fluid R-141b is suitable for ORC system due to consider the working fluid that do not need high temperatures to evaporate.


Author(s):  
W Gu ◽  
Y Weng ◽  
Y Wang ◽  
B Zheng

This article describes and evaluates an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for a waste heat recovery system by both theoretical and experimental studies. Theoretical analysis of several working fluids shows that cycle efficiency is very sensitive to evaporating pressure, but insensitive to expander inlet temperature. Second law analysis was carried out using R600a as a working fluid and a flow of hot air as a heat source, which is not isothermal, along the evaporator. The result discloses that the evaporator's internal and external entropy generation is the main source of total entropy generation. The effect of the heat source temperature, evaporating pressure, and evaporator size on the entropy generation rate is also presented. The obtained useful power is directly linked to the total entropy generation rate according to the Gouy—Stodola theorem. The ORC testing system was established and operated using R600a as a working fluid and hot water as a heat source. The maximum cycle efficiency of the testing system is 5.2 per cent, and the testing result also proves that cycle efficiency is insensitive to heat source temperature, but sensitive to evaporating pressure. The entropy result also shows that internal and external entropy of the evaporator is the main source of total entropy generation.


Author(s):  
Jian Song ◽  
Chun-wei Gu

Energy shortage and environmental deterioration are two crucial issues that the developing world has to face. In order to solve these problems, conversion of low grade energy is attracting broad attention. Among all of the existing technologies, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) has been proven to be one of the most effective methods for the utilization of low grade heat sources. Turbine is a key component in ORC system and it plays an important role in system performance. Traditional turbine expanders, the axial flow turbine and the radial inflow turbine are typically selected in large scale ORC systems. However, in small and micro scale systems, traditional turbine expanders are not suitable due to large flow loss and high rotation speed. In this case, Tesla turbine allows a low-cost and reliable design for the organic expander that could be an attractive option for small scale ORC systems. A 1-D model of Tesla turbine is presented in this paper, which mainly focuses on the flow characteristics and the momentum transfer. This study improves the 1-D model, taking the nozzle limit expansion ratio into consideration, which is related to the installation angle of the nozzle and the specific heat ratio of the working fluid. The improved model is used to analyze Tesla turbine performance and predict turbine efficiency. Thermodynamic analysis is conducted for a small scale ORC system. The simulation results reveal that the ORC system can generate a considerable net power output. Therefore, Tesla turbine can be regarded as a potential choice to be applied in small scale ORC systems.


2013 ◽  
Vol 597 ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Sławomir Smoleń ◽  
Hendrik Boertz

One of the key challenges on the area of energy engineering is the system development for increasing the efficiency of primary energy conversion and use. An effective and important measure suitable for improving efficiencies of existing applications and allowing the extraction of energy from previously unsuitable sources is the Organic Rankine Cycle. Applications based on this cycle allow the use of low temperature energy sources such as waste heat from industrial applications, geothermal sources, biomass, fired power plants and micro combined heat and power systems.Working fluid selection is a major step in designing heat recovery systems based on the Organic Rankine Cycle. Within the framework of the previous original study a special tool has been elaborated in order to compare the influence of different working fluids on performance of an ORC heat recovery power plant installation. A database of a number of organic fluids has been developed. The elaborated tool should create a support by choosing an optimal working fluid for special applications and become a part of a bigger optimization procedure by different frame conditions. The main sorting criterion for the fluids is the system efficiency (resulting from the thermo-physical characteristics) and beyond that the date base contains additional information and criteria, which have to be taken into account, like environmental characteristics for safety and practical considerations.The presented work focuses on the calculation and optimization procedure related to the coupling heat source – ORC cycle. This interface is (or can be) a big source of energy but especially exergy losses. That is why the optimization of the heat transfer between the heat source and the process is (besides the ORC efficiency) of essential importance for the total system efficiency.Within the presented work the general calculation approach and some representative calculation results have been given. This procedure is a part of a complex procedure and program for Working Fluid Selection for Organic Rankine Cycle Applied to Heat Recovery Systems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 3048
Author(s):  
Reyhaneh Loni ◽  
Gholamhassan Najafi ◽  
Ezzatollah Askari Asli-Ardeh ◽  
Barat Ghobadian ◽  
Willem G. Le Roux ◽  
...  

A parabolic solar dish concentrator, as the heat source of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), can be used for power generation. Different types of tubular cavity receivers with different nanofluids can be considered for use in the solar dish collector to improve its efficiency. In the current research, an ORC with three different cavity receivers including hemispherical, cubical, and cylindrical are investigated using three nanofluids: Al2O3/oil, CuO/oil, and SiO2/oil. A numerical model is validated using experimental data. The ORC analysis is done for a constant evaporator pressure of 2.5 MPa, and condenser temperature of 38 °C. Methanol is employed as the ORC’s working fluid and a non-regenerative, ideal ORC system with different turbine inlet temperatures is considered. Furthermore, a fixed solar heat transfer fluid flow rate of 60 mL/s and dish diameter of 1.9 m is investigated. Results show that, compared to pure oil, the thermal efficiency of the cavity receivers increases slightly, and the pressure drop increases with the application of nanofluids. Furthermore, results show that the cubical cavity receiver, using oil/Al2O3 nanofluid, is the most efficient choice for application as the investigated solar ORC’s heat source.


Energy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 177 ◽  
pp. 94-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hung Lin ◽  
Pei-Pei Hsu ◽  
Ya-Ling He ◽  
Yong Shuai ◽  
Tzu-Chen Hung ◽  
...  

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