Performance Evaluation of a Helical Coil Heat Exchanger Working under Supercritical Conditions in a Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Installation

Marija Lazova, Henk Huisseune, Alihan Kaya, Steven Lecompte, George Kosmadakis and Michel De Paepe
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Marija Lazova: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Henk Huisseune: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Alihan Kaya: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent 9000, Belgium
Steven Lecompte: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent 9000, Belgium
George Kosmadakis: Department of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos street 75, Athens 11855, Greece
Michel De Paepe: Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, Ghent 9000, Belgium

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Worldwide interest in low grade heat valorization using organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technologies has increased significantly. A new small-scale ORC with a net capacity of 3 kW was efficiently integrated with a concentrated solar power technology for electricity generation. The excess heat source from Photovoltaic (PV) collectors with a maximum temperature of 100 °C was utilized through a supercritical heat exchanger that uses R-404A as working medium. By ensuring supercritical heat transfer leads to a better thermal match in the heat exchanger and improved overall cycle efficiency. A helical coil heat exchanger was designed by using heat transfer correlations from the literature. These heat transfer correlations were derived for different conditions than ORCs and their estimated uncertainty is ~20%. In order to account for the heat transfer correlation uncertainties this component was oversized by 20%. Next, a prototype was built and installed in an integrated concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T)/Rankine system. The results from the measurements show that for better estimation of the sizing of the heat exchanger a more accurate correlation is required in order to design an optimal configuration and thus employ cheaper components.

Keywords: organic Rankine cycle (ORC); supercritical heat transfer; heat exchanger design; concentrated PV collectors; helical coil heat exchanger (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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