Investigation of a Solar-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle with Reheating

Abstract

The purpose of this simulation study is the examination of a solar-driven power cycle that is driven by collectors with evacuated tubes. The power cycle is an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) that works with cyclopentane. The novelty of the cycle is the use of reheating in order to enhance its thermodynamic efficiency, while the cycle also has a recuperator. Moreover, the cycle is compared with the conventional ORC in order to determine the performance enhancement with the examined idea. The analysis is done with a developed program in Engineering Equation Solver and both in steady-state and transient conditions for a typical year. The analysis was conducted in terms of energy and economic performance. According to an optimization procedure for maximizing the net present values of the investment, it is found that the novel design leads to a net present value of 68 k€, a simple payback of 10 years, and a yearly energy efficiency of 7.0%, while the respective values for the conventional ORC are 44 k€, 10.8 years, and 5.1% for its optimal design according to the net present values maximization. Thus, it is obvious that the suggested design increases both energy and financial performance, compared to the usual design.