Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)

The chair’s “Energy Technology” division is concerned with optimising Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) processes. It is a sensible strategy to use low boiling, mostly organic, working fluids in thermal energy processes. Exhaust heat from a lower temperature plateau is converted into electrical energy which in turn increases the process’ overall energy efficiency. The chair’s laboratory has a testing facility in which two ORC cycles are coupled via a cascade construction. In addition, all required fluid property data are generated both by simulation and experiment in house. The required “exhaust heat” of 200 kW at a temperature level up to 650 K is provided electrically. Both cycles produce up to 7.5 kW of power via two radial turbines. The testing facility is designed to vary all operating parameters by large margins, thus allowing to test a variety of operating fluids and thereby evaluating the results calculated by simulations beforehand. In order to optimise the energy recovery all critical components can be modified easily. The chair’s division is organised in a ZIM project with the objective to design and construct an ORC plant using the exhaust heat from a cogeneration unit with an electrical energy output of around 600 kW.