Abstract
This paper presents the performance assessment and working fluid selection for a novel integrated vapor compression cycle-organic Rankine cycle system (i-VCC-ORC), which recovers ultra-low-temperature waste heat rejected (50 °C) by the condenser of a vapor compression cycle (VCC). The analyses are carried out for a vapor compression cycle of a refrigeration capacity (heat input) of 35kW along with the component sizing of the organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The effects of the operational parameters on integrated system performance were investigated. The integrated system performance is estimated in terms of net COP, cycle thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency by completely utilizing and recovering the heat rejected by the condenser of the VCC system. R600a-R141b with COPnet (3.54) and ORC thermal efficiency (3.05%) is found to be the most suitable VCC-ORC working fluid pair. The integration of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle with the organic Rankine cycle increases the COP of the system by 12.5% as compared to the standalone COP of the vapor compression system. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis results show that there exists an optimum operating condition that maximizes the thermal performance of the integrated system.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 11592 |
Journal | Sustainability |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 21 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
© 2021 by the authors. Li‐censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and con‐
ditions of the Creative Commons At‐
tribution (CC BY) license (http://crea‐
tivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Funding: The work described in this paper was partially supported by the Research Grants Council
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No.: UGC/IDS(R)24/20), (Project
Ref No. SEHS‐2020‐204(I)) and from Jiangsu Provincial Government Research Funding (Project No.:
2021K101B).
Keywords
- COP
- Exergy efficiency
- Organic Rankine cycle
- Thermal efficiency
- Vapor compression cycle
- Waste heat recovery