Organic Fluid Rankine Cycle Thermal Performance Analysis And Key Components Of Development

Modern society relies on fossil fuel to preserve economic growth and the standard of living. China, a large and rapidly developing country, requires equivalent energy consumption. Thus, finding a balance between the country's economy and energy requirements is essential in order to account for sustainability, particularly of its environment. In light of this, China has accelerated the development of its solar power, hydropower, biomass energy, and wind power to promote the use of renewable energy. In particular, the Renewable Energy Law calls for 15% of the country's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.Solar thermal energy is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy. After more than 20 years of evolution, the solar energy generating system has achieved great success and gained valuable experience toward improving solar thermal energy initiatives. Dozens of power plants with total capacities of hundreds of megawatts pushed by solar power paved the way for significant prospects. These plants generally use the traditional steam Rankine cycle. In accordance with the steam properties of water, a system of economic efficiency requires an external heat source temperature above 370℃(Hung,2001). Large areas of solar collectors with accurate tracking facilities, heat storage facilities, and complicated control systems are indispensable.Solar energy is characterized by strong dispersion and low-density energy flow, while organic fluids possess high pressure in low boiling point. In an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) process, such as in the regular water steam cycle, organic medium is used as the working substance instead of water. With the ORC process, it is possible to turn any kind of low-temperature heat source into electricity efficiently.