Evaluation of Organic Rankine Cycle Systems for Low Power Combined Heat and Power Applications

Four Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generation system prototypes comprising an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) that uses R245fa as a working fluid, and a standard residential air handler were designed and fabricated. Each prototype served as the performance evaluation test bench for a different volumetric-type expander. With focus on the expander, the performance of each cycle component was evaluated and consequentially, the overall cycle efficiency was determined. With an average heat source temperature of 220° C, the cycle achieved a maximum of 400 W and 600 W of electrical and mechanical power output, respectively. The highest achieved thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle was 6.5%. The design cycle conditions weren’t achieved due to various component inefficiencies. Moving forward, the focus should be on modifying non-hermetic scroll compressors to operate as expanders and tackle the issues related to the heat exchangers to be able to produce a higher performing prototype.M.A.S.2017-11-26 00:00:0