Analysis of novel regenerative thermo-mechanical refrigeration system integrated with isobaric engine

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Ahmad K. Sleiti ◽  
Wahib Al-Ammari ◽  
Mohammed Al-Khawaja

Abstract Refrigerants of the conventional cooling systems contribute to global warming and ozone depletion significantly, therefore it is necessary to develop new cooling systems that use renewable energy resources and waste heat to perform the cooling function with eco-friendly working fluids. To address this, the present study introduces and analyzes a novel regenerative thermo-mechanical refrigeration system that can be powered by renewable heat sources (solar, geothermal, or waste heat). The system consists of a novel expander-compressor unit (ECU) integrated with a vapor compression refrigeration system. The integrated system operates at the higher-performance supercritical conditions of the working fluids as opposed to the lower-performance subcritical conditions. The performance of the system is evaluated based on several indicators including the power loop efficiency, the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cooling loop, and the expander-compressor diameters. Several working fluids were selected and compared for their suitability based on their performance and environmental effects. It was found that for heat source temperature below 100 °C, adding the regenerator to the system has no benefit. However, the regenerator increases the power efficiency by about 1 % for a heat source temperature above 130 °C. This was achieved with a very small size regenerator (Dr = 6.5 mm, Lr = 142 mm). Results show that there is a trade-off between high-performance fluids and their environmental effects. Using R32 as a working fluid at heat source temperature Th=150 °C and cold temperature Tc1=40 °C, the system produces a cooling capacity of 1 kW with power efficiency of 10.23 %, expander diameter of 53.12 mm, and compressor diameter of 75.4mm.

Author(s):  
Ahmad K. Sleiti ◽  
Mohammed Al-Khawaja

Abstract Refrigeration systems contribute to the critical environmental concerns including global warming and ozone depletion. It is necessary to develop new systems that use renewable energy resources and waste heat to perform the cooling function with eco-friendly working fluids. This improves the energy efficiency of the power systems and minimizes the harmful effects of conventional refrigeration systems. This paper introduces an analysis of a regenerative thermo-mechanical refrigeration system that is powered with renewable heat sources (solar, geothermal) or waste heat (from internal combustion engines, gas power plants, and steam power plants). The system operates at the supercritical conditions of the working fluids. The performance of the system is evaluated based on power efficiency, the COP, and the expander-compressor diameters. Also, a number of working fluids were compared with each other based on their performance and environmental effects. There is a trade-off between high-performance fluids and their environmental effects. Using R32 as a working fluid at Th = 150 °C and Tc1 = 40 °C, the system produces a cooling capacity of 1 kW with power efficiency of 10.23%, expander diameter of 53.12 mm and compressor diameter of 75.4mm. The regenerator increases the power efficiency by about 1%. However, the size of the regenerator is small (Dr = 6.5 mm, Lr = 142 mm].


Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Guanglin Liu ◽  
Qingyang Wang ◽  
Jinliang Xu ◽  
Zheng Miao

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power generation is an effective way to convert medium and low temperature heat into high-grade electricity. In this paper, the subcritical saturated organic Rankine cycle system with a heat source temperature of 100~150 °C is studied with four different organic working fluids. The variations of the exergy efficiencies for the single-stage/two-stage systems, heaters, and condensers with the heat source temperature are analyzed. Based on the condition when the exergy efficiency is maximized for the two-stage system, the effects of the mass split ratio of the geothermal fluid flowing into the preheaters and the exergy efficiency of the heater are studied. The main conclusions include: The exergy efficiency of the two-stage system is affected by the evaporation temperatures of the organic working fluid in both the high temperature and low temperature cycles and has a maximum value. Under the same heat sink and heat source parameters, the exergy efficiency of the two-stage system is larger than that of the single-stage system. For example, when the heat source temperature is 130 °C, the exergy efficiency of the two-stage system is increased by 9.4% compared with the single-stage system. For the two-stage system, analysis of the four organic working fluids shows that R600a has the highest exergy efficiency, although R600a is only suitable for heat source temperature below 140 °C, while other working fluids can be used in systems with higher heat source temperatures. The mass split ratio of the fluid in the preheaters of the two-stage system depends on the working fluid and the heat source temperature. As the heat source temperature increases, the range of the split ratio becomes narrower, and the curves are in the shape of an isosceles triangle. Therefore, different working fluids are suitable for different heat source temperatures, and appropriate working fluid and split ratio should be determined based on the heat source parameters.


2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Mikielewicz ◽  
Jarosław Mikielewicz

Utilisation of bleed steam heat to increase the upper heat source temperature in low-temperature ORC In the paper presented is a novel concept to utilize the heat from the turbine bleed to improve the quality of working fluid vapour in the bottoming organic Rankine cycle (ORC). That is a completely novel solution in the literature, which contributes to the increase of ORC efficiency and the overall efficiency of the combined system of the power plant and ORC plant. Calculations have been accomplished for the case when available is a flow rate of low enthalpy hot water at a temperature of 90 °C, which is used for preliminary heating of the working fluid. That hot water is obtained as a result of conversion of exhaust gases in the power plant to the energy of hot water. Then the working fluid is further heated by the bleed steam to reach 120 °C. Such vapour is subsequently directed to the turbine. In the paper 5 possible working fluids were examined, namely R134a, MM, MDM, toluene and ethanol. Only under conditions of 120 °C/40 °C the silicone oil MM showed the best performance, in all other cases the ethanol proved to be best performing fluid of all. Results are compared with the "stand alone" ORC module showing its superiority.


Author(s):  
Rachana Vidhi ◽  
Sarada Kuravi ◽  
Saeb Besarati ◽  
E. K. Stefanakos ◽  
D. Yogi Goswami ◽  
...  

This paper reports on the performance of various organic refrigerants and their mixtures as working fluids for power generation in a supercritical Rankine cycle (SRC) from geothermal sources. Organic fluids that have zero or very low ozone depletion potential and are environmentally safe are selected for this study. Geothermal source temperature is varied from 125–200°C, and the cooling water temperature is changed from 10–20°C. The effect of varying operating conditions on the performance of the thermodynamic cycle has been analyzed. Operating pressure of the cycle has been optimized for thermal efficiency for each fluid at each source temperature. The condensation pressure is determined by the cooling condition and is kept fixed for each condensation temperature. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the cycle have been obtained for the pure fluids as a function of heat source temperature. Mixtures of organic fluids have been analyzed and effect of composition on performance of the thermodynamic cycle has been studied. It is observed that thermal efficiency over 20% can be achieved for 200°C heat source temperature and the lowest cooling temperature. When mixtures are considered as working fluids, the thermal efficiency of the cycle is observed to remain between the thermal efficiencies of the constituent fluids.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6648
Author(s):  
Young-Min Kim ◽  
Young-Duk Lee ◽  
Kook-Young Ahn

The supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) power cycle is a promising development for waste heat recovery (WHR) due to its high efficiency despite its simplicity and compactness compared with a steam bottoming cycle. A simple recuperated S-CO2 power cycle cannot fully utilize the waste heat due to the trade-off between the heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. A split cycle in which the working fluid is preheated by the recuperator and the heat source separately can be used to maximize the power output from a given waste heat source. In this study, the operating conditions of split S-CO2 power cycles for waste heat recovery from a gas turbine and an engine were studied to accommodate the temperature variation of the heat sink and the waste heat source. The results show that it is vital to increase the low pressure of the cycle along with a corresponding increase in the cooling temperature to maintain the low-compression work near the critical point. The net power decreases by 6 to 9% for every 5 °C rise in the cooling temperature from 20 to 50 °C due to the decrease in heat recovery and thermal efficiency of the cycle. The effect of the heat-source temperature on the optimal low-pressure side was negligible, and the optimal high pressure of the cycle increased with an increase in the heat-source temperature. As the heat-source temperature increased in steps of 50 °C from 300 to 400 °C, the system efficiency increased by approximately 2% (absolute efficiency), and the net power significantly increased by 30 to 40%.


2011 ◽  
Vol 474-476 ◽  
pp. 2335-2340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Dong Wang

In order to utilize solar energy and industry waste heat to reduce electricity consumption in heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigerating (HVAC&R) engineering, the authors developed a new style diffusion-absorption refrigeration (DAR) system. It can be driven by heat sources with low temperature, and in which LiNO3-NH3-He is used as working fluids and a spray absorber with a solution cooler is designed to enhance the mass and heat transfer, respectively. What presented here is about the modified experiment set and the latest experiment results. The experiments show that the system can start to operate when the temperature of heat source (hot water) reaches to 60°C and it can meet the temperature requirement of air conditioning when heat source temperature varies in the range of 70~83°C. The evaporating temperature varies from 10~-13°C at various absorbing temperatures when heat source temperature reaches the level of 83~95°C. The corresponding refrigeration capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) varies in the range of 1.90~4.22kW and 0.177~0.332, respectively. It is also found that the evaporating temperature, refrigeration capacity and COP are so sensitive to absorbing temperature rather than generating or condensing temperature that the absorbing temperature can be used to regulate the working condition and parameters of the DAR system, e.g. by means of modulating the flow rate of cooling water circulating in the solution cooler equipped to the spray absorber. Thus, in the fields with plenty of solar energy or industry waste heat, the new style DAR system can be considered as an ideal candidate for utilizing low-grade energy, saving energy and reducing emission.


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