Experimental Study and Numerical Simulation of a Regenerative ORC Utilizing Low-Grade Heat Source

In this paper, the performance of the regenerative organic rankine cycle (ORC) working with R123 is experimentally analyzed at different heat source temperatures of approximately 85, 95, 110, and 130 degrees C. The higher heat source temperature leads to higher turbine inlet temperature, turbine inlet pressure, and turbine rotation speed. The regenerator and the increment of turbine inlet temperature can both increase the efficiency of the system. The experimental data of ORC are compared with that of the conventional Rankine cycle (CRC), which employs water as the working fluid. The results indicate that the thermal efficiency and the turbine isentropic efficiency of the ORC are higher than that of the CRC by approximately 5.9 and 24%, respectively. A numerical model is built by interconnecting different submodels: a turbine model, a volumetric pump model, and the heat exchanger models. The numerical results show a good agreement with the experimental data in terms of system efficiency. The model is finally used to calculate the pressure drop and pump power of the system. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.