Open AccessNUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF A SOLAR-DRIVEN ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE COUPLED TO A GEOTHERMAL FIELD
Author(s) -
Saša Pavlović,
Evangelos Bellos,
Milan Grozdanović
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
facta universitatis. series: working and living environmental protection/facta universitatis. series: working and living environmental protection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0534
pISSN - 0354-804X
DOI - 10.22190/fuwlep2102087p
Subject(s) - organic rankine cycle , parabolic trough , geothermal gradient , rankine cycle , renewable energy , condenser (optics) , geothermal energy , environmental science , geothermal heating , photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector , solar energy , heat exchanger , nuclear engineering , mechanical engineering , engineering , thermodynamics , geology , physics , geophysics , waste heat , electrical engineering , power (physics) , optics , light source
The objective of this work is to investigate a solar-driven Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for power production with a geothermal well as the heat sink for the ORC condenser. The examined unit combines the exploitation of two renewable energy sources. Solar irradiation is exploited by using solar dish concentrators with spiral absorbers, while the geothermal field includes vertical boreholes with U-tubes. The system is investigated parametrically with a developed model in Engineering Equation Solver, and the examined parameters are the solar beam irradiation level, the total thermal conductivity of the ORC condenser, the borehole length, the number of the boreholes and the mean ground temperature. For the default scenario, it is found that system electrical efficiency is 21.45%, the ORC’s thermodynamic efficiency is 35.99%, and the solar field efficiency is 61.30%. Moreover, it is found that the examined system is 5.7% more efficient than a conventional air-cooled condenser system.