Study on the Characteristics of Expander Power Output Used for Offsetting Pumping Work Consumption in Organic Rankine Cycles

Yu-Ting Wu, Biao Lei, Chong-Fang Ma, Lei Zhao, Jing-Fu Wang, Hang Guo and Yuan-Wei Lu
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Yu-Ting Wu: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Biao Lei: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Chong-Fang Ma: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Lei Zhao: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Jing-Fu Wang: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Hang Guo: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Yuan-Wei Lu: Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Energy Conversion, Beijing Municipality, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: The circulation pump in an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) increases the pressure of the liquid working fluid from low condensing pressure to high evaporating pressure, and the expander utilizes the pressure difference to generate work. A portion of the expander output power is used to offset the consumed pumping work, and the rest of the expander power is exactly the net work produced by the ORC system. Because of the relatively great theoretical pumping work and very low efficiency of the circulation pump reported in previous papers, the characteristics of the expander power used for offsetting the pumping work need serious consideration. In particular, the present work examines those characteristics. It is found that the characteristics of the expander power used for offsetting the pumping work are satisfactory only under the condition that the working fluid absorbs sufficient heat in the evaporator and its specific volume at the evaporator outlet is larger than or equal to a threshold value.

Keywords: organic Rankine cycle (ORC); pumping work; expander power (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: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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