scholarly journals A Quasi-dimensional Numerical Investigation of the Scroll Expander of an Organic Rankine Cycle Unit

2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 11001
Author(s):  
Antonio Cantiani ◽  
Annarita Viggiano ◽  
Emanuele Fanelli ◽  
Vinicio Magi
Keyword(s):  
Strong Dependence ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Low Noise ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Geometrical Parameters ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Scroll Expander

Scroll compressors are often used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems thanks to their high efficiency, low noise and vibrations, light weight and high reliability. Scrolls are also widely used as positive displacement expanders in small-scale power generation systems, such as Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs). In recent years, the research has focused on the development of mathematical models that help to predict the scroll expander performances under different operating conditions. In this work, a quasi-dimensional model of a scroll expander of an Organic Rankine Cycle unit is presented. Such an expander consists of two identical circle involute spirals, with appropriate starting segments. Specifically, the model is able to design the scroll expander geometry with either a “circular cutter” or a “perfect mesh profile” (PMP) approach, which are two of the most common scroll geometry starting segments. As regards the thermo-fluid dynamic aspects, specific sub-models have been used to account for radial and axial leakage, wall heat transfer, intake and exhaust of the working fluid. The model has been validated with available experimental data in order to assess its accuracy and, at the same time, to calibrate the implemented sub-models. The influence of some geometrical parameters on the expander performances has been assessed. In particular, a study of the influence of the wrap geometry is presented. The results show that the circular cutter approach returns better performances at the expenses of a higher mass consumption. Nevertheless, the circular cutter modification returns a higher specific work. Lastly, the influence of one of the PMP parameters on performances has been assessed. The results show a fairly strong dependence of both mechanical power and specific work, suggesting that the global optimization of all geometric parameters of the scroll expander may radically improve its performances.

Development and Characterization of Small-Scale ORC System Using Scroll Expander

2013 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 1627-1630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunkoo Yun ◽  
Hyun Dong Kim ◽  
Sang Youl Yoon ◽  
Kyung Chun Kim
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Synchronous Generator ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Operating Characteristics ◽  
Scroll Expander

In order to determine the operating characteristics of a small-scale ORC (organic Rankine cycle) system for various low temperature heat sources, experiments were carried out. A small-scale ORC power generation system adopting R-245fa as a working fluid was designed and manufactured. Hot water was used for the heat source and the temperature was controlled by the 110 kW electric resistance heaters which provided up to 150 °C. Cooling temperature was controlled by a circulating water chiller to simulate various heat sink environments. An open-drive oil-free scroll expander directly connected to a high-speed synchronous generator was installed in the ORC unit. The efficiencies of the cycle and the expander, electric power of the developed ORC system with respect to the operating conditions were investigated by experiments. The factors which influence the performance of the oil-free scroll expander were analyzed and discussed.

Moment Analysis of a Scroll Expander Used in an Organic Rankine Cycle

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrita Sengupta ◽  
Prashant Kumar ◽  
Pardeep Garg ◽  
Nirmal Hui ◽  
Matthew S. Orosz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Expansion Ratio ◽  
Moment Analysis ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Positive Displacement ◽  
Scroll Expander

Recent studies on small-scale power generation with the organic Rankine cycle suggest superior performance of positive displacement type of expanders compared to turbines. Scroll expanders in particular achieve high isentropic efficiencies due to lower leakage and frictional losses. Performance of scroll machines may be enhanced by the use of non-circular involute curves in place of the circular involutes resulting non-uniform wall thickness. In this paper, a detailed moment analysis is performed for such an expander having volumetric expansion ratio of 5 using thermodynamic models proposed earlier by one of the present authors. The working fluid considered in the power cycle is R-245fa with scroll inlet temperature of 125 °C for a gross power output of ∼3.5 kW. The model developed in this paper is verified with an air scroll compressor available in the literature and then applied to an expander. Prediction of small variation of moment with scroll motion recommends use of scroll expander without a flywheel over other positive displacement type of expanders, e.g. reciprocating, where a flywheel is an essential component.

A Preliminary Turbine Design for an Organic Rankine Cycle

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Efstathiadis ◽  
M. Rivarolo ◽  
A. I. Kalfas ◽  
A. Traverso ◽  
P. Seferlis
Keyword(s):  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Choked Flow ◽  
Turbine Speed ◽  
Turbine Design

An increasing trend in exploiting low enthalpy content energy sources, has led to a renewed interest in small-scale turbines for Organic Rankine Cycle applications. The design concept for such turbines can be quite different from either standard gas or steam turbine designs. The limited enthalpic content of many energy sources enforces the use of organic working media, with unusual properties for the turbine. A versatile cycle design and optimization requires the parameterization of the prime turbine design. In order to address the major challenges involved in this process, the present study discusses the preliminary design of an electricity-producing turbine, in the range of 100 kWel, for a low enthalpy organic Rankine cycle. There are many potential applications of this power generating turbine including geothermal and solar thermal fields or waste heat of PEM type fuel cells. An integrated model of equations has been developed, accordingly. The model aims to assess the performance of an organic cycle for various working fluids, including NH3, R600a and R-134a. The most appropriate working fluid has been chosen, taking into consideration its influence on both cycle efficiency and the specific volume ratio. The influence of this choice is of particular importance at turbine extreme operating conditions, which are strongly related to the turbine size. In order to assess the influence of various design parameters, a turbine design tool has been developed and applied to preliminarily define the blading geometry. Finally, a couple of competitive turbine designs have been developed. In one approach, the turbine speed is restricted to subsonic domain, while in the other approach the turbine speed is transonic, resulting to choked flow at the turbine throat. The two approaches have been evaluated in terms of turbine compactness and machine modularity. Results show that keeping the crucial parameters of the geometrical formation of the blade constant, turbine size could become significantly smaller decreasing up to 90% compared its original value.

A Comparative Study of Scroll Expander Performance Using CO2 and Zeotropic Mixtures As Working Fluids

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Kumar Narasimhan ◽  
Diego Guillen Perez ◽  
D. Yogi Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Brayton Cycle ◽  
Working Fluids ◽  
Scroll Expander

Abstract Scroll expanders are generally used for low temperature power generation applications due to their inherently small built-in volume ratio. The working fluid and operating conditions play an important role in the expander performance as well as its physical size and volume ratio. Hence, a comparative study of scroll expander performance was carried out between two different working fluids, R433C and supercritical (s-CO2). The s-CO2 Brayton cycle achieved a maximum cycle efficiency of 13.6% at an expander supply pressure of 11 MPa. Two separate scroll geometries were modeled for supercritical Organic Rankine Cycle (SORC) using R433C and s-CO2 Brayton cycle for the operating conditions that provided the maximum cycle performance. The s-CO2 scroll geometry achieved a maximum expander efficiency of 80% with a volume ratio of 2.5 and a diameter of 19 cm. The high inlet temperatures required a much higher volume ratio of 6.2 and scroll diameter of 30 cm for the R433C based SORC leading to greater leakages and lower expander efficiency of 62%. The comparative study shows that s-CO2 is better suited for scroll expander than R433C at such high expander supply temperatures.

Toward the Integrated Design of Organic Rankine Cycle Power Plants: A Method for the Simultaneous Optimization of Working Fluid, Thermodynamic Cycle, and Turbine

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Lampe ◽  
Carlo De Servi ◽  
Johannes Schilling ◽  
André Bardow ◽  
Piero Colonna
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Design ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Design Procedure ◽  
Thermodynamic Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract The conventional design of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power systems starts with the selection of the working fluid and the subsequent optimization of the corresponding thermodynamic cycle. More recently, systematic methods have been proposed integrating the selection of the working fluid into the optimization of the thermodynamic cycle. However, in both cases, the turbine is designed subsequently. This procedure can lead to a suboptimal design, especially in the case of mini- and small-scale ORC systems, since the preselected combination of working fluid and operating conditions may lead to infeasible turbine designs. The resulting iterative design procedure may end in conservative solutions after multiple trial-and-error attempts due to the strong interdependence of the many design variables and constraints involved. In this work, we therefore present a new design and optimization method integrating working fluid selection, thermodynamic cycle design, and preliminary turbine design. To this purpose, our recent 1-stage continuous-molecular targeting (CoMT)-computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) method for the integrated design of the ORC process and working fluid is expanded by a turbine meanline design procedure. Thereby, the search space of the optimization is bounded to regions where the design of the turbine is feasible. The resulting method has been tested for the design of a small-scale high-temperature ORC unit adopting a radial-inflow turbo-expander. The results confirm the potential of the proposed method over the conventional iterative design practice for the design of small-scale ORC turbogenerators.

scholarly journals Component-Oriented Modeling of a Micro-Scale Organic Rankine Cycle System for Waste Heat Recovery Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1984
Author(s):  
Ramin Moradi ◽  
Emanuele Habib ◽  
Enrico Bocci ◽  
Luca Cioccolanti
Keyword(s):  
Electric Power ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Pump Efficiency ◽  
Micro Scale

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) systems are some of the most suitable technologies to produce electricity from low-temperature waste heat. In this study, a non-regenerative, micro-scale ORC system was tested in off-design conditions using R134a as the working fluid. The experimental data were then used to tune the semi-empirical models of the main components of the system. Eventually, the models were used in a component-oriented system solver to map the system electric performance at varying operating conditions. The analysis highlighted the non-negligible impact of the plunger pump on the system performance Indeed, the experimental results showed that the low pump efficiency in the investigated operating range can lead to negative net electric power in some working conditions. For most data points, the expander and the pump isentropic efficiencies are found in the approximate ranges of 35% to 55% and 17% to 34%, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum net electric power was about 200 W with a net electric efficiency of about 1.2%, thus also stressing the importance of a proper selection of the pump for waste heat recovery applications.

Waste Heat Recovery in a Cruise Vessel in the Baltic Sea by Using an Organic Rankine Cycle: A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Ahlgren ◽  
Maria E. Mondejar ◽  
Magnus Genrup ◽  
Marcus Thern
Keyword(s):  
Power Output ◽  
Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat Recovery ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Maritime Transportation ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Net Power Output

Maritime transportation is a significant contributor to SOx, NOx and particle matter emissions, even though it has a quite low CO2 impact. New regulations are being enforced in special areas that limit the amount of emissions from the ships. This fact, together with the high fuel prices, is driving the marine industry towards the improvement of the energy efficiency of current ship engines and the reduction of their energy demand. Although more sophisticated and complex engine designs can improve significantly the efficiency of the energy systems in ships, waste heat recovery arises as the most influent technique for the reduction of the energy consumption. In this sense, it is estimated that around 50% of the total energy from the fuel consumed in a ship is wasted and rejected in fluid and exhaust gas streams. The primary heat sources for waste heat recovery are the engine exhaust and the engine coolant. In this work, we present a study on the integration of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) in an existing ship, for the recovery of the main and auxiliary engines exhaust heat. Experimental data from the operating conditions of the engines on the M/S Birka Stockholm cruise ship were logged during a port-to-port cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn over a period of time close to one month. The ship has four main engines Wärtsilä 5850 kW for propulsion, and four auxiliary engines 2760 kW used for electrical consumers. A number of six load conditions were identified depending on the vessel speed. The speed range from 12–14 knots was considered as the design condition, as it was present during more than 34% of the time. In this study, the average values of the engines exhaust temperatures and mass flow rates, for each load case, were used as inputs for a model of an ORC. The main parameters of the ORC, including working fluid and turbine configuration, were optimized based on the criteria of maximum net power output and compactness of the installation components. Results from the study showed that an ORC with internal regeneration using benzene would yield the greatest average net power output over the operating time. For this situation, the power production of the ORC would represent about 22% of the total electricity consumption on board. These data confirmed the ORC as a feasible and promising technology for the reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of existing ships.

1-D Model Analysis of Tesla Turbine for Small Scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) System

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Song ◽  
Chun-wei Gu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Expansion Ratio ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
D Model

Energy shortage and environmental deterioration are two crucial issues that the developing world has to face. In order to solve these problems, conversion of low grade energy is attracting broad attention. Among all of the existing technologies, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) has been proven to be one of the most effective methods for the utilization of low grade heat sources. Turbine is a key component in ORC system and it plays an important role in system performance. Traditional turbine expanders, the axial flow turbine and the radial inflow turbine are typically selected in large scale ORC systems. However, in small and micro scale systems, traditional turbine expanders are not suitable due to large flow loss and high rotation speed. In this case, Tesla turbine allows a low-cost and reliable design for the organic expander that could be an attractive option for small scale ORC systems. A 1-D model of Tesla turbine is presented in this paper, which mainly focuses on the flow characteristics and the momentum transfer. This study improves the 1-D model, taking the nozzle limit expansion ratio into consideration, which is related to the installation angle of the nozzle and the specific heat ratio of the working fluid. The improved model is used to analyze Tesla turbine performance and predict turbine efficiency. Thermodynamic analysis is conducted for a small scale ORC system. The simulation results reveal that the ORC system can generate a considerable net power output. Therefore, Tesla turbine can be regarded as a potential choice to be applied in small scale ORC systems.

scholarly journals Development of a Pattern Recognition Methodology with Thermography and Implementation in an Experimental Study of a Boiler for a WHRS-ORC

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concepción Paz ◽  
Eduardo Suarez ◽  
Miguel Concheiro ◽  
Antonio Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Recognition ◽  
Wall Temperature ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Organic Rankine Cycle ◽  
Exhaust System ◽  
Rankine Cycle ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Working Fluid

Waste heat dissipated in the exhaust system in a combustion engine represents a major source of energy to be recovered and converted into useful work. A waste heat recovery system (WHRS) based on an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a promising approach, and has gained interest in the last few years in an automotive industry interested in reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Understanding the thermodynamic response of the boiler employed in an ORC plays an important role in steam cycle performance prediction and control system design. The aim of this study is therefore to present a methodology to study these devices by means of pattern recognition with infrared thermography. In addition, the experimental test bench and its operating conditions are described. The methodology proposed identifies the wall coordinates, traces paths, and tracks wall temperature along them in a way that can be exported for subsequent post-processing and analysis. As for the results, through the wall temperature paths on both sides (exhaust gas and working fluid) it was possible to quantitatively estimate the temperature evolution along the boiler and, in particular, the beginning and end of evaporation.

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