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,
Yuan-Wei Lu
Affiliations
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
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.
