Experimental Evaluation of Low-Temperature Organic Rankine Cycle (orc) Engine Coupled with Concentrating PVT System
Abstract
A 10 kWp Concentrating (x10) PV-Thermal collectors’ array produces heat at temperatures in the range of 70-90oC, which is supplied to a low temperature ORC enginedesigned and manufactured for this purpose. The ORC engine converts a fraction of this heat into electricity of about 2to 3 kWewith maximum thermal efficiency in the order of 4.5%, thus ameliorating the performance of CPVT system in terms of additional electricity generation. The paper deals with the presentation of field test results under real operatingconditions. ORC key variables variation according to solar irradiation availability is examined towards maximizing system performance. The results show that the magnitude of electricity produced from the ORC engine is comparable to that of directly generated from the PV and the proposed configuration could be an alternative option forefficient exploitation of CPVT heat that is mostly utilized for domestic heating.