Performance of a 5 kWe Organic Rankine Cycle at part-load operation

This paper analyzes the performance of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system at part load operation. The objective is to understand its behavior from a thermodynamic perspective, identifying which elements are the most critical and which are the best operating points for each level of demanded power...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied energy 2014-05, Vol.120, p.147-158
Main Authors: IBARRA, Mercedes, ROVIRA, Antonio, ALARCON-PADILLA, Diego-César, BLANCO, Julián
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment
Applied sciences
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Fluids
Rankine cycle
Specifications
Thermal efficiency
Working fluids
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper analyzes the performance of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system at part load operation. The objective is to understand its behavior from a thermodynamic perspective, identifying which elements are the most critical and which are the best operating points for each level of demanded power. This paper also compares two working fluids: R245fa and Solkatherm ES36 (SES36) for the same cycle specifications. The results have shown that the scroll isentropic efficiency has a great influence on the cycle performance and its thermal efficiency and that SES36 arises as a potential better fluid than R245fa. At the given maximum and minimum temperatures, the best operation point was determined. This allows reaching a maximum efficiency for each demanded level of power; depending on the required amount of power, the expander speed and the working pressure are adjusted.
ISSN:0306-2619
1872-9118
DOI:10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.01.057