Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Science & Technology: Increasing Efficiency of Organic Rankine Cycle Geothermal Turbines

Performance Analysis Of Organic Rankine Cycles Using R600/R601a Mixtures With Liquid-Separated Condensation (Science Trends)

Liquid-separated condensation is an emerging enhanced heat transfer method that separates the condensed fluid from the vapor-liquid mixture during condensation. It reduces the condensing film thickness on the cooling surface and increases the vapor quality. 

The key idea is to use the excellent heat transfer characteristics of high-quality vapor to increase the condensation heat transfer coefficient, as shown in the figure above. Separating the condensed fluid also reduces the flow resistance during condensation. Therefore, liquid-separated condensation can simultaneously increase the condensation heat transfer coefficient and reduce the pressure drop.


"Performance analysis of organic Rankine cycles using R600/R601a mixtures with liquid-separated condensation", Applied Energy Volume 190, 15 March 2017, Pages 376-389. By Jian Li, Yuanyuan Duan, and Zhen Yang from Tsinghua University, and Qiang Liu from China University of Petroleum. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.131.