Studies on the possible application of heat storage devices for powering the ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) systems

Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Department of Thermodynamics, Theory of Machines and Thermal Systems, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland

^* Corresponding author: piotr.kolasinski@pwr.edu.pl

Abstract

Some of the heat sources (such as e.g. waste or renewable), are characterized by floating thermal and output characteristics. Thus, their application for powering vapor power plants, such as ORCs, which should utilize the heat sources having steady thermal and output characteristics is difficult. The floating heat source characteristics may potentially be improved using the heat storage devices providing the thermal energy accumulation at stable output and temperature level. Heat storage device can be adopted as a e.g. steady-level heat source for ORC system. In this paper different applications of the heat storage devices in ORCs were proposed and the results of experiments on powering the ORC system via heat storage device are presented. The results showed that adopting the heat storage devices for powering the ORC systems is possible and it is a promising way of utilizing the waste and renewable heat sources featuring floating characteristics.