Solar Energy-Based Future Perspective for Organic Rankine Cycle Applications

This article explores the patents of solar energy technologies in the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) applications. The conversion of low-quality thermal energy into electricity is one of the main characteristics of an ORC, making efficient and viable technologies available today. However, only a few an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Micromachines (Basel) 2022-06, Vol.13 (6), p.944
Main Authors: Martínez-Sánchez, Raúl, Rodriguez-Resendiz, Juvenal, Álvarez-Alvarado, José, Macías-Socarrás, Idalberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Competitive advantage
Electricity
Energy technology
Heat
Heat recovery
Heat-engines
Innovations
Intellectual property
Inventors
Keywords
Literature reviews
organic Rankine cycle
parabolic dish
parabolic trough
photovoltaic cell
Photovoltaic cells
R&D
Radiation
Rankine cycle
Renewable resources
Research & development
Review
Solar energy
solar tower
Technological change
Technology
Thermal energy
Thermodynamic cycles
Trends
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Summary:This article explores the patents of solar energy technologies in the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) applications. The conversion of low-quality thermal energy into electricity is one of the main characteristics of an ORC, making efficient and viable technologies available today. However, only a few and outdated articles that analyze patents that use solar energy technologies in ORC applications exist. This leads to a lack of updated information regarding the number of published patents, International Patent Classification (IPC) codes associated with them, technology life cycle status, and the most relevant patented developments. Thus, this article conducts a current investigation of patents published between January 2010 and May 2022 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology and keywords. One thousand two hundred ninety-nine patents were obtained as part of the study and classified in F and Y groups of the IPC. The time-lapse analyzed was between January 2010 and May 2022. In 2014 and 2015, a peak of published patents was observed. China (CN) was the country that published the most significant number of patents worldwide. However, the European Patent Office (EP), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WO), and the United States (US) publish the patents with the highest number of patent citations. Furthermore, the possible trend regarding the development of patents for each technology is presented. A high-performance theoretical ORC plant based on the patent information analyzed by this article is introduced. Finally, exploration of IPC revealed 17 codes related to solar energy technologies in ORC applications not indexed in the main search.
ISSN:2072-666X
2072-666X
DOI:10.3390/mi13060944