Comparative efficiency assessment of a novel low-temperature solar-powered ORC based cogeneration system

A novel cogeneration system driven by low-temperature solar heat sources was investigated. The system consisted of a low-temperature solar-powered organic Rankine cycle (ORC) subsystem and an ejector refrigeration subsystem. The injector of this system is driven by the exhaust of the expander, so that the cogeneration system can produce both power and refrigeration simultaneously. Four definitions of efficiency were provided in the present paper in order to assess the system performance. R600a was chosen as working fluid. A simulation model was established to evaluate the influences of generating temperature, condensing temperature, evaporating temperature, expansion ratio of expander and solar radiation intensity on the system performance. Results indicated that enhancing the generating temperature, as well as enhancing evaporating temperature and/or lowering the condensing temperature can increase the injector’s inject coefficient, consequently improve the system’s thermodynamic efficiency and thermodynamic conversion efficiency. Therefore, the performance of the entire system can be strengthened. The electricity-cold ratio of the system can be adjusted by the expansion ratio of expander changing.

[1]  Da-Wen Sun,et al.  Comparative study of the performance of an ejector refrigeration cycle operating with various refrigerants , 1999 .

[2]  D. Yogi Goswami,et al.  Analysis of a New Thermodynamic Cycle for Combined Power and Cooling Using Low and Mid Temperature Solar Collectors , 1999 .

[3]  A NEW CYCLE RESEARCH IN EJECTOR REFRIGERATION , 1999 .

[4]  T. Hung.  Waste heat recovery of organic Rankine cycle using dry fluids , 2001 .

[5]  Hongguang Jin,et al.  Thermodynamic analysis of a novel absorption power/cooling combined-cycle , 2006 .

[6]  Gunnar Tamm,et al.  Novel Combined Power and Cooling Thermodynamic Cycle for Low Temperature Heat Sources, Part I: Theoretical Investigation , 2002 .

[7]  A NOVEL BINARY CYCLE WITH MID AND LOW TEMPERATURE HEAT RECOVERY , 2003 .

[8]  D. Y. Goswami,et al.  On Evaluating Efficiency of a Combined Power and Cooling Cycle , 2003 .

[9]  Chi-Chuan Wang,et al.  Effect of working fluids on organic Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery , 2004 .

[10]  D. Y. Goswami,et al.  Organic Working Fluids for a Combined Power and Cooling Cycle , 2005 .

[11]  Zhen Lu,et al.  Performance analysis and optimization of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for waste heat recovery , 2007 .

[12]  Noam Lior,et al.  Methodology for thermal design of novel combined refrigeration/power binary fluid systems , 2007 .

[13]  Per Lundqvist,et al.  A year-round dynamic simulation of a solar-driven ejector refrigeration system with iso-butane as a refrigerant , 2007 .

[14]  Technical and economic aspects of solar power station application , 2009 .

[15]  Rajesh Kumar,et al.  First and second law analysis of solar operated combined Rankine and ejector refrigeration cycle , 2014 .