Open Access

ARTICLE

Improvement and Experimental Study of Scroll Expander for Organic Rankine Cycle

Lei Li^1,2,3,*, Leren Tao^2,3, Yanan Gou¹, Shan Zhang¹
1 Zaozhuang University, Zaozhuang, 277160, China
2 University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
3 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer in Power Engineering, Shanghai, 200093, China
* Corresponding Author: Lei Li. Email:

Energy Engineering 2020, 117(4), 225-235. https://doi.org/10.32604/EE.2020.010892

Received 04 April 2020; Accepted 17 June 2020; Issue published 31 July 2020

Abstract

The scroll expander used in organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system is improved, and its performance is analyzed experimentally. The modified profile and inlet hole of the scroll expander are enhanced, and the performance of the scroll expander before and after the improvement is analyzed. The results show that when the inlet pressure exceeds 0.7 MPa, the waist-shaped hole with a larger area is preferable. The scroll expander with a waist-shaped hole has a larger output power and wider optimal pressure range, and when the inlet pressure is 1.6 MPa, the maximum output power increases by 230 W. The output power and isentropic efficiency of the scroll expander can be improved by modifying the profile. When the inlet pressure is 1.6 MPa and the rotational speed is 1750 r/min, the maximum output power of the scroll expander is 1235 W, which is 120 W higher than that before the improvement.

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Keywords

Scroll expander; organic Rankine cycle; improvement; performance analysis

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