• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 2017

An expander of an organic Rankine cycle is an essential component that significantly influences its entire performance and cycle efficiency. The inlet pressure and temperature of the expander used for the organic Rankine cycle are limited by the expander's mechanical properties and the characteristics of the working fluid. The organic Rankine cycle's output, heat absorption, and efficiency are altered by the inlet pressure and temperature of the expander. In this study, a theoretical comparative analysis was conducted on an organic Rankine cycle's performance changes, which are dependent on the inlet condition of the expander. The working fluid is an R134a refrigerant, and the expander is a positive-displacement type.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.317-324
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• 2015

In this study, a solar thermal system is designed to provide hot water and electricity for improvement of solar thermal energy availability in an apartment complex. The electricity is generated with Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) by the solar thermal energy. R134a, R141b and R245fa are selected for operating fluid of the solar thermal ORC system. ORC with R245fa shows the best performance based on the variation of pressure. The irreversibility of component showed that the technology advance of the evaporator ensures a performance improvement. The sensitivity study results indicate that the turbine performance is most effective way to improve the performance of ORC system. An economic analysis showed that approximately 50% more income could be achieved by a solar thermal ORC system with a hot water supply.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.881-889
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• 2015

Ocean thermal energy conversion is an organic Rankine cycle that generates power using the temperature difference between surface water and deep water. This study analyzes the thermodynamic efficiency of the cycle, which strongly depends on the working fluid and the cycle configuration. Cycles studied included the classical simple Rankine cycle, Rankine cycles with an open feedwater heater and an integrated regenerator, as well as the Kalina cycle. Nine kinds of simple refrigerants and three kinds of mixed refrigerants were investigated as the working fluids in this study. Pinch-point analysis that set a constant pinch-point temperature difference was applied in the performance analysis of the cycle. Results showed that thermodynamic efficiency was best when RE245fa2 was used as the working fluid with the simple Rankine cycle, the Rankine cycles with an open feedwater heater and an integrated regenerator, and when the mixing ratio of $NH_3/H_2O$ was 0.9:0.1 in the Kalina cycle. If the Rankine cycles with an open feedwater heater, an integrated regenerator, and the Kalina cycle were used for ocean thermal energy conversion, efficiency increases could be expected to be approximately 2.0%, 1.0%, and 10.0%, respectively, compared to the simple Rankine cycle.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.349-355
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• 2012

In this study, for the purpose of reduction of $CO_2$ gas emission and to increase recovery of waste heat from ships, the ORC(Organic Rankine Cycle) is investigated and offered for the conversion of temperature heat to electricity from waste heat energy from ships. Simulation is performed with waste heat from the exhaust gasse which is relatively high temperature and cooling sea water which is relatively low temperature from ships. The result shows that 1,000kW power generation is available from exhaust gas and 600kW power generation is available from sea water cooling system. Different fluid is used for simulation of the ORC system with variable temperature and flow condition and efficiency of system and output power is compared.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.595-602
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• 2012

In this study, for the purpose of reduction of $CO_2$ gas emission and to increase recovery of waste heat from ships, the ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) is investigated and offered for the conversion of temperature heat to electricity from waste heat energy from ships. Simulation was performed with waste heat from the exhaust gasse which is relatively high temperature and cooling sea water which is relatively low temperature from ships. Various fluid is used for simulation of the ORC system with variable temperature and flow condition and efficiency of system and output power is compared. Finally, 2,400kW output power is obtained by system optimization of the preheater and reheater utilizing waste heat form sea water cooling system.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.10-17
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• 2013

The organic Rankine cycle has been widely used to convert the renewable energy such as the solar energy, the geothermal energy, or the waste energy etc., to the electric power. Some previous studies focused to find what kind of refrigerant would be a best working fluid for the organic Rankine cycle. In this study, R245fa was chosen to the working fluid, and the cycle analysis was conducted for the output power of 30kW or less. In addition, properties (temperature, pressure, entropy, and enthalpy etc.) of the working fluid on the cycle were predicted when the turbine output power was controlled by adjusting the mass flowrate. The configuration of the turbine was a radial-type and the supersonic nozzles were applied as the stator. So, the turbine was operated in partial admission. The turbine efficiency and the optimum velocity ratio were considered in the cycle analysis for the low partial admission rate. The computed results show that the system efficiency is affected by the partial admission rate more than the temperature of the evaporator.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.398-401
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• 2012

In this Study, efficiencies of the scroll expander under development for organic Rankine cycle using engine waste heat of vehicle have been analyzed and compared with the commercial scroll expander. While operating organic Rankine cycle for analysing expander efficiencies, power of expander, inlet temperature of expander, inlet pressure of expander and the flow rate of the working fluid(refrigerant R134a) have been measured. Overall efficiency of the expander has been shown the very low level compared with the overall efficiency of the commercial expander. Especially, because the low volumetric efficiency has much effect on overall efficiency, the working fluid leakage trouble of expander has to be solved surely for improvement of the expander overall efficiency.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1057-1064
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• 2014

Recently, there has been a growing interest in sustainable energy. One method that has been used is an organic Rankine cycle using conventional turbine technology with a low-temperature waste heat source. A 200-kW organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system was designed for a waste heat recovery application using R245fa as the working fluid. A radial turbine running at 15,000 rpm was employed to generate more than 200 kW with an expansion ratio of nine. Because an ORC turbine uses a refrigerant as the working fluid, the ideal gas law was not employed to design the turbine. In addition, the complexity of the molecular structure of R245fa made it difficult to design the turbine. Because R245fa has an Ma value of one at a low velocity for the working fluid (about 1/3 of the speed of sound in air) at about $100^{\circ}C$, it easily reaches a supersonic flow condition with a small pressure expansion. To increase the efficiency of the turbine, a dual stage radial-type turbine with a subsonic speed was suggested. This paper will describe the design procedure and performance evaluation of the ORC turbine using R245fa.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.5-12
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• 2015

Several working fluids for Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC) were recommended by many researchers. However, the recommended optimal working fluids were not exactly same because the operating conditions of ORC and application were different. The major parameter to select the working fluid for ORC was the temperature of available thermal energy. In this study, low-grade thermal energy was used for the heat source for ORC and the appropriate working fluids were searched among 26 candidate working fluids. The requirements to be a working fluid for ORC were reviewed and the cycle analysis for simple cycle was conducted with $75^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$ at the turbine inlet and exit, respectively. R600, R601, toluene were best candidates if the system could work without leaking the working fluid. Next, R236ea, R245ca, R245fa were recommended because they are not inflammable working fluids as well as better efficiency.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.30-36
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• 2012

A scroll expander has been designed to produce a shaft power from a R134a Rankine cycle for electricity generation. Heat was supplied to the Rankine cycle through a heat exchanger, which received heat from another cycle of water. In the water cycle, water was heated up in a boiler using biogenic solid fuel. The designed scroll expander was a horizontal type, and a trochoidal oil pump was employed for oil supply to bearings and Oldham-ring keys. For axial compliance, a back pressure chamber was created on the backside of the orbiting scroll base plate. Numerical study has been carried out to estimate the performance of the designed scroll expander. The expander was estimated to produce the shaft power of about 2.9 kW from a heat supply of 36 kW, when the temperature of R134a was $80^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$ at the evaporator and condenser of the Rankine cycle, respectively. The expander efficiency was about 70.5%. When the amount of heat supply varied in the ranges of 7.5~55 kW, the expander efficiency changed in the range of 45.6~70.5%, showing a peak efficiency of 70.5% at the design shaft speed.