Performance Analysis of Organic Rankine Cycle with the Turbine Embedded in a Generator (TEG)

Jung-Bo Sim, Se-Jin Yook and Young Won Kim
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Jung-Bo Sim: Green Energy & Nano Technology R & D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Gwangju 61012, Korea
Se-Jin Yook: School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Young Won Kim: Green Energy & Nano Technology R & D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Gwangju 61012, Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is a thermodynamic cycle in which electrical power is generated using an organic refrigerant as a working fluid at low temperatures with low-grade enthalpy. We propose a turbine embedded in a generator (TEG), wherein the turbine rotor is embedded inside the generator rotor, thus simplifying turbine generator structure using only one bearing. The absence of tip clearance between the turbine rotor blade and casing wall in the TEG eliminates tip clearance loss, enhancing turbine efficiency. A single-stage axial-flow turbine was designed using mean-line analysis based on physical properties, and we conducted a parametric study of turbine performance, and predicted turbine efficiency and power using the tip clearance loss coefficient. When the tip clearance loss coefficient was applied, turbine isentropic efficiency and power were 0.89 and 20.42 kW, respectively, and ORC thermal efficiency was 4.81%. Conversely, the isentropic efficiency and power of the turbine without the tip clearance loss coefficient were 0.94 and 22.03 kW, respectively, and the thermal efficiency of the ORC was 5.08%. Therefore, applying the proposed TEG to the ORC system simplifies the turbine generator, while improving ORC thermal efficiency. A 3D turbine generator assembly with proposed TEG structure was also proposed.

Keywords: organic Rankine cycle (ORC); R245fa; axial-flow turbine; mean-line design; generator (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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