Experimental Evaluation of the Regenerative and Basic Organic Rankine Cycles for Low-Grade Heat Source Utilization
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 3
Abstract
The present paper conducts the experimental evaluation of the performance of a regenerative organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system working with refrigerant R123 and generating 10-kW-level power. The ORC system consists of an axial-flow single-stage turbine, a regenerator, an evaporator, a condenser, and a pump. The regenerative ORC and the basic ORC system efficiency are evaluated under the same conditions. The degree of superheat of the turbine inlet vapor is controlled by the evaporating temperature. The cooling water flow rate is controlled by adjusting the opening of the valve. The experiment results show that the thermal efficiency of the regenerative ORC is higher than that of the basic ORC by about 25%. The thermal efficiency of basic ORC with saturated vapor at turbine inlet is higher than that with superheated vapor by 3.2%, and the thermal efficiency of the regenerative ORC with saturated vapor at turbine inlet is higher than that with superheated vapor by 4.36%. The enthalpy drop across the turbine and the thermal efficiency of regenerative ORC both increase with increasing cooling water flow rate. The superheating at turbine inlet should be avoided, while a large cooling water flow rate should be considered to obtain higher system efficiency.
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Acknowledgments
The study presented in this paper is financially supported by National Key Technology R&D Program (Grant No. 2011BAA05B03) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51106117).
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Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 3 • September 2013
Pages: 190 - 197
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 4, 2012
Accepted: Jan 18, 2013
Published online: Jan 21, 2013
Discussion open until: Jun 21, 2013
Published in print: Sep 1, 2013
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