Performance analysis of OTEC power cycle with a liquid–vapor ejector using R32/R152a

In this paper, the condensation and evaporation capacity, turbine work, efficiency, and main component size of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) power system with a liquid–vapor ejector are presented to offer the basic design data for the operating parameters of the system. The analysis procedure was performed with a simulation program called Aspentech HYSYS. The working fluid used in this system is the R32/R152a mixture. The operating parameters considered in this study include the vapor quality at the reheat outlet, the pressure ratio of the ejector, the inlet pressure of turbine 2, entrainment ratio of the liquid–vapor ejector etc. The main results are summarized as follows. The efficiency of the OTEC power cycle is closely related to the entrainment ratio of the liquid–vapor ejector. Also, the increase rate of the efficiency of proposed OTEC power cycle using the liquid–vapor ejector is 16 % higher than that of basic OTEC power cycle. Furthermore, regarding the reduction ratios of the system size that affects the initial cost, the reduction ratios of the evaporator size and the condenser size are about 13 and 14 % higher than those of basic OTEC power cycle, respectively. And, the pump power and the mass flow rate of the required refrigerant are 8 and 4 %, respectively. Therefore, the proposed OTEC power cycle is more advantageous than basic OTEC power cycle because of the compactness and high-efficiency of the system.