The economics of an ORC system is strictly linked to thermodynamic properties of the working fluid. A bad choice of working fluid could lead to a less efficient and expensive plant/generation unit. Some selection criteria have been put forward by various authors, incorporating thermodynamic properties, provided in literature but these do not have a general character. In the paper a simple analysis has been carried out which resulted in development of thermodynamic criteria for selection of an appropriate working fluid for subcritical and supercritical cycles. The postulated criteria are expressed in terms of non-dimensional numbers, which are characteristic for different fluids. The efficiency of the cycle is in a close relation to these numbers. The criteria are suitable for initial fluid selection. Such criteria should be used with other ones related to environmental impact, economy, system size, etc. Examples of such criteria have been also presented which may be helpful in rating of heat exchangers, which takes into account both heat transfer and flow resistance of the working fluid.

The evaporation temperature is regarded as one of the major parameters influencing the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) efficiency. Majority of contributions in literature for ORC cycle analyses treat the heat source as if it had an infinite heat capacity. Such analyses are not valuable as the resulting temperature drops of the heat source needs to be small. That leads to the fact that the heat source is not well explored and in the case of waste heat utilization it can prove the poor economics of the ORC. In the present study cooperation of the ORC cycle with the heat source available as a single phase or phase changing fluids is considered. The analytical heat balance models have been developed, which enable in a simple way calculation of heating fluid temperature variation as well as the ratio of flow rates of heating and working fluids in ORC cycle. The developed analytical expressions enable also calculation of the outlet temperature of the heating fluid.

The results of investigations conducted on the prototype of vapour driven micro-CHP unit integrated with a gas boiler are presented. The system enables cogeneration of heat and electric energy to cover the energy demand of a household. The idea of such system is to produce electricity for own demand or for selling it to the electric grid – in such situation the system user will became the prosumer. A typical commercial gas boiler, additionally equipped with an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) module based on environmentally acceptable working fluid can be regarded as future generation unit. In the paper the prototype of innovative domestic cogenerative ORC system, consisting of a conventional gas boiler and a small size axial vapour microturbines (in-house designed for ORC and the commercially available for Rankine cycle (RC)), evaporator and condenser were scrutinised. In the course of study the fluid working temperatures, rates of heat, electricity generation and efficiency of the whole system were obtained. The tested system could produce electricity in the amount of 1 kWe. Some preliminary tests were started with water as working fluid and the results for that case are also presented. The investigations showed that domestic gas boiler was able to provide the saturated/superheated ethanol vapour (in the ORC system) and steam (in the RC system) as working fluids.

Turbine stages can be divided into two types: impulse stages and reaction stages. The advantages of one type over the second one are generally known based on the basic physics of turbine stage. In this paper these differences between mentioned two types of turbines were indicated on the example of single stage turbines dedicated to work in organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power systems. The turbines for two ORC cases were analysed: the plant generating up to 30 kW and up to 300 kW of net electric power, respectively. Mentioned ORC systems operate with different working fluids: DMC (dimethyl carbonate) for the 30 kW power plant and MM (hexamethyldisiloxane) for the 300 kW power plant. The turbines were compared according to three major issues: thermodynamic and aerodynamic performance, mechanical and manufacturing aspects. The analysis was performed by means of the 0D turbomachinery theory and 3D computational aerodynamic calculations. As a result of this analysis, the paper indicates conclusions which type of turbine is a recommended choice to use in ORC systems taking into account the features of these systems.

In order to recover the low grade waste heat and increase system fuel economy for main engine 10S90ME-C9.2-TII(part load, exhaust gas bypass) installed on a 10000 TEU container ship, a non-cogeneration and single-pressure type of waste heat recovery system based on organic Rankine cycle is proposed. Organic compound candidates appropriate to the system are analyzed and selected. Thermodynamic model of the whole system and thermoeconomic optimization are performed. The saturated organic compound vapor mass flow rate, net electric power output, pinch point, thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency varied with different evaporating temperature are thermodynamically analyzed. The results of thermodynamic and thermoeconomic optimization indicate that the most appropriate organic compound candidate is R141b due to its highest exergy efficiency, biggest unit cost benefit and shortest payback time.

The paper illustrates a case study of fluid selection for an internal combustion engine heat recovery organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system having the net power of about 30 kW. Various criteria of fluid selection are discussed. Particular attention is paid to thermodynamic performance of the system and human safety. The selection of working fluid for the ORC system has a large impact on the next steps of the design process, i.e., the working substance affects the turbine design and the size and type of heat exchangers. The final choice is usually a compromise between thermodynamic performance, safety and impact on natural environment. The most important parameters in thermodynamic analysis include calculations of net generated power and ORC cycle efficiency. Some level of toxicity and flammability can be accepted only if the leakages are very low. The fluid thermal stability level has to be taken into account too. The economy is a key aspect from the commercial point of view and that includes not only the fluid cost but also other costs which are the consequence of particular fluid selection. The paper discusses various configurations of the ORC system – with and without a regenerator and with direct or indirect evaporation. The selected working fluids for the considered particular power plant include toluene, DMC (dimethyl carbonate) and MM (hexamethyldisiloxane). Their advantages and disadvantages are outlined.