SOLAR THERMAL ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE AS A RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTION
Keywords:
KeywordsAbstract
The objective of the paper is to study the feas ibility of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)
driven by solar therma l energy as a renewable energy option for small and medium sized
commercial usage, power generation of less than 10MW. ORC is principa lly a
convent ional Rankine Cycle that uses organic compound as the working fluid instead of
water and it is particularly suitable for low temperature applications. Appropriate organic
compound includes refrigerants and azeotropes. The ORC and the solar collector are
sized according to the solar flux distribution in Malaysia. According to Malaysia
Metrologica l Department, Kota Kinabaiu has the highest yearly average ofsolar radiation
in the country for year 2003, for this reason it is chosen fo r the location of study. The
power generation system consists oftwo cycles, the solar thermal cycle that harness solar
energy and the power cycle, which is the ORC that generates electricity. The solar thermal
cycle circulates heat transfer fluid (HTF) in the cycle and harness thermal energy fro m the
sun and transfers it to the organic compound in the ORC via a heat exchanger.
Components in the power cycle or ORC include an ORC turbine for power generation, a
condenser for heat rejection, a pump to increase the pressure and a heat exchanger. The
HTF selected in this analysis is Therminol VP3, which is currently used for commercial
solar thermal applications. For this research, 2 organic compounds were analyzed, R123
and isobutane. These two compounds are optimized for selection.
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