Experimental Investigation on Performance of an Organic Rankine Cycle System Integrated with a Radial Flow Turbine

Lisheng Pan and Huaixin Wang
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Lisheng Pan: State Key Laboratory of High-temperature Gas Dynamics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
Huaixin Wang: Department of Thermal Energy and Refrigeration Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: An experimental method is used to investigate the performance of a small-scale organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system which is integrated with a radial flow turbine, using 90 °C hot water as a heat source. The considered working fluids are R245fa and R123. The relationship between cycle performance and the operation parameters is obtained. With constant condensing pressure (temperature), the outlet temperature of the hot water, the mass flow rate of the hot water and the evaporator heat transfer rate increase with increasing evaporating pressure. Turbine isentropic efficiency decreases and transmission-generation efficiency increases with rising evaporating pressure. In the considered conditions, the maximum specific energy is 1.28 kJ/kg, with optimal fluid of R245fa and an optimal evaporating temperature of 69.2 °C. When the evaporating pressure (temperature) is constant, the outlet temperature of the cooling water increases, and the mass flow rate of the cooling water decreases with increasing condensing pressure. Turbine isentropic efficiency increases and transmission-generation efficiency decreases with the rise of condensing pressure. In the considered conditions, the maximum specific energy is 0.89 kJ/kg, with optimal fluid of R245fa and an optimal condensing temperature of 29.1 °C. Turbine efficiency is impacted by the working fluid type, operation parameters and nozzle type.

Keywords: organic Rankine cycle (ORC); system performance; radial flow turbine; experimental study (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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