Effect of working fluids on the performance of a novel direct vapor generation solar organic Rankine cycle system

Li, Jing; Alvi, Jahan Zeb; Pei, Gang; Ji, Jie; Li, Pengcheng; Fu, Huide

Abstract

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. A novel solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system with direct vapor generation (DVG) is proposed. A heat storage unit is embedded in the ORC to guarantee the stability of power generation. Compared with conventional solar ORCs, the proposed system avoids the secondary heat transfer intermediate and shows good reaction to the fluctuation of solar radiation. The technical feasibility of the system is discussed. Performance is analyzed by using 17 dry and isentropic working fluids. Fluid effects on the efficiencies of ORC, collectors and the whole system are studied. The results indicate that the collector efficiency generally decreases while the ORC and system efficiencies increase with the increment in fluid critical temperature. At evaporation temperature of 120°C and solar radiation of 800 Wm-2, the ORC, collector and overall thermal efficiencies of R236fa are 10.59, 56.14 and 5.08% while their values for Benzene are 12.5, 52.58 and 6.57% respectively. The difference between collector efficiencies using R236fa and Benzene gets larger at lower solar radiation. The heat collection is strongly correlated with latent and sensible heat of the working fluid. Among the fluids, R123 exhibits the highest overall performance and seems to be suitable for the proposed system in the short term.

Citation

Li, J., Alvi, J. Z., Pei, G., Ji, J., Li, P., & Fu, H. (2016). Effect of working fluids on the performance of a novel direct vapor generation solar organic Rankine cycle system. Applied thermal engineering, 98, 786-797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.12.146

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 28, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 14, 2016
• Publication Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 27, 2022
• Journal: Applied Thermal Engineering
• Print ISSN: 1359-4311
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 98
• Pages: 786-797
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.12.146
• Keywords: Solar thermal power generation; Organic Rankine cycle; Direct vapor generation; Working fluid; Critical temperature
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3602705