Dynamic test on waste heat recovery system with organic Rankine cycle

Dynamic performance is important to the controlling and monitoring of the organic Rankine cycle(ORC) system so to avoid the occurrence of unwanted conditions. A small scale waste heat recovery system with organic Rankine cycle was constructed and the dynamic behavior was presented. In the dynamic test, the pump was stopped and then started. In addition, there was a step change of the flue gas volume flow rate and the converter frequency of multistage pump, respectively. The results indicate that the working fluid flow rate has the shortest response time, followed by the expander inlet pressure and the expander inlet temperature. The operation frequency of pump is a key parameter for the ORC system. Due to a step change of pump frequency (39.49–35.24 Hz), the expander efficiency and thermal efficiency drop by 16% and 21% within 2 min, respectively. Besides, the saturated mixture can lead to an increase of the expander rotation speed.