ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE WITH SOLUTION CIRCUIT FOR LOW-GRADE HEAT RECOVERY

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Abhinav Krishna

ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE WITH SOLUTION CIRCUIT FOR LOW-GRADE HEATRECOVERY

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Eckhard A. Groll

Suresh V. Garimella

James E. Braun

W. Travis Horton

Eckhard Groll

David Anderson 07/25/2012

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ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE WITH SOLUTION CIRCUIT FOR LOW-GRADE HEATRECOVERY

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Abhinav Krishna

07/12/2012

ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE WITH SOLUTION CIRCUIT FOR LOW-GRADE HEAT RECOVERY

A Thesis

Submitted to the Faculty

of

Purdue University

by

Abhinav Krishna

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Degree

of

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering

August 2012

Purdue University

West Lafayette, Indiana

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ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The contents of this work, and my personal growth during its development, is due

in no small part to several people. My advisors Eckhard Groll and Suresh Garimella

provided plenty of guidance and support, not to mention commensurate intellectual

freedom, throughout my Masters studies. Jim Braun and Travis Horton thank you for

all your useful insights during the course of this project.

I would like to thank everyone that helped in the design and construction of the

challenging experimental setup for this project. Frank, Bob and Gilbert thank you for

your efforts. Special thanks to two tireless students, Philipp Danecker and Nick Czapla,

for the countless hours you spent working on the setup. Your motivation and competence

went a long way in raising my enthusiasm for this project.

I have had the privilege of working with some of the best graduate students

around. Brandon Woodland unassuming and soft spoken provided plenty of brain

power for this work. Not that he represents a victory of substance over style, because he

has plenty of both. Ian Bell and Craig Bradshaw provided quality mentorship and plenty

of ideas. My other colleagues at Herrick Laboratories including Bryce, Christian, Dong

Han, Howard, Huize, Simba, Stephen and several others have lent me their time, of

which they had precious little. I have been lucky to foster several friendships that extend

beyond professional interests during my time at Herrick Laboratories.

iii

Finally, I would like to thank the Cooling Technologies Research Center, and

TORAD Engineering for funding this research and providing customized equipment. I

would also like to thank ASHRAE for providing me with financial support during my

Masters studies.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii NOMENCLATURE .......................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1

1.1 Background ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Motivation .......................................................................................... 2 1.3 Objective ............................................................................................ 3 1.4 Approach ............................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER 2. CURRENT STATUS OF TECHNOLOGY ...............................................8 2.1 Organic Rankine Cycles .................................................................... 8 2.2 Absorption Power Cycles .................................................................. 9 2.3 Working Fluid Mixtures .................................................................. 11

CHAPTER 3. THERMODYNAMIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND RESULTS .......................................................................................13

3.1 Baseline Cycles ................................................................................ 13 3.1.1 Organic Rankine Cycle ............................................................ 13 3.1.2 Vapor Compression Cycle with Solution Circuit ..................... 14 3.1.3 Organic Rankine Cycle with Solution Circuit .......................... 16

3.2 Thermodynamic Features of Binary Mixtures ................................. 18 3.2.1 Phase Equilibrium .................................................................... 18 3.2.2 Absorption / Desorption Process .............................................. 20 3.2.3 Temperature Glide and Capacity Control ................................ 22

3.3 Cycle Model of an Organic Rankine Cycle with Solution Circuit .. 25 3.3.1 Mass Balance ............................................................................ 27 3.3.2 Energy Balance ......................................................................... 28

3.4 Organic Rankine Cycle with Solution Circuit Model Results ......... 32 CHAPTER 4. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTAL TEST SYSTEM ..................................45

4.1 System Sizing................................................................................... 45 4.2 System Design and Layout .............................................................. 48 4.3 Design and Selection of Major Components ................................... 53

4.3.1 Pump ......................................................................................... 53 4.3.2 Heat Exchangers ....................................................................... 57 4.3.3 Expander ................................................................................... 60 4.3.4 Separator ................................................................................... 64

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Page

4.3.5 Receiver .................................................................................... 66 4.3.6 Expansion Valves ..................................................................... 66 4.3.7 Instrumentation and Data Acquisition ...................................... 67

4.4 Experimental Error and Uncertainty ................................................ 68 CHAPTER 5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ...................................71

5.1 Experimental Program Overview .................................................... 71 5.2 Experimental Performance Trends .................................................. 75 5.3 Experimental Program Summary ............................................