Effects of superheat and internal heat exchanger on thermo-economic performance of organic Rankine cycle based on fluid type and heat sources

Cheng ZHANG, Chao LIU*, Xiaoxiao XU, Qibin LI, Shukun WANG, Xi CHEN*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

59 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The study investigates the comprehensive effects of superheat and internal heat exchanger (IHX) on the thermo-economic performance of organic Rankine cycle (ORC). Exergy efficiency, net power output, and electricity production cost (EPC) are compared based on the working fluid properties and heat sources. The results indicate that under a lower heat source temperature and load, exergy efficiency of IHX-ORC does not always exceed that of simple ORC (S-ORC) when EPC is selected as an objective function, and IHX-ORC exhibits a worse economic performance than S-ORC for all fluids (R161, R1234ze, R152a, cyclopropane, butane, R123, cyclopentane, heptane, and cyclohexane). However, IHX-ORC with dry fluid achieves a better thermo-economic performance than that with wet fluid when the heat source temperature and load increase to a high level. The EPC of IHX-ORC is close to that of S-ORC with the increase in heat source temperature and load, and thus, IHX-ORC exhibits approximately 10–17% higher thermal efficiency and 5–10% higher exergy efficiency than those of S-ORC. With respect to butane and R123, the net power output exhibits approximately 22.5% and 23.5% growth, respectively. In order to evaluate the feasibility of IHX-ORC, a judgement indicator [α > 1.90625 + 0.4258ξ] with respect to six factors is proposed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)482-495
Number of pages14
JournalEnergy
Volume159
Early online date27 Jun 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

The study is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51576019) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2018CDXYDL0001). The author, Cheng Zhang, would like to acknowledge financial support from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC).

Keywords

  • Evaporator superheat
  • Heat sources
  • Internal heat exchanger
  • Organic Rankine cycle
  • Thermo-economic analysis
  • Working fluids

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