SPECIAL ISSUE
Micro Heat and Power Plants Working
in Organic Rankine Cycle
Jarosław Mikielewicz
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Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery PAN in Gdańsk, Fiszera 14, 80-231 Gdańsk, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2010;19(3):499-505
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Renewable heat sources are rarely suited to the temperature requirements of modern thermal power
plants. Thus, our unique opportunity is to deliver to the market power plants optimized for these unused and
overlooked thermal resources utilizing Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The ORC is similar to the cycle of a conventional
steam turbine, except for the fluid that drives the turbine – a high molecular mass organic fluid, usually
Freon or another low-boiling fluid. This paper analyzes micro combined heat and power plants (micro
CHP) operating on ORC, which aims to replace conventional boilers in homes. The heat power of micro CHP
is in the range of from ten to a hundred kilowatts, and electric power in the range of from a few to tens of kilowatts.
Analysis concerns selection of a cycle, calculation of thermodynamic parameters, and determination of
basic dimensions of heat exchangers: condenser and evaporator.