ORC system optimisation: Innovative exhaust heat exchanger, in-engine block heat exchanger and zero impact condensor

Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) systems, especially Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based, have the potential to significantly reduce fuel consumption. Current state of the art systems typically reduce the fuel consumption by 3-6%. However, the ORC systems still add excessive mass and complexity in order to become economically attractive. Focus on the optimization of a single aspect will not bring the fuel reduction percentages in the double digit numbers. In this paper we propose to combine various proposed system improvements in combination with a new condenser method. Implementation of the stable evaporation method developed by TNO (Dutch organisation for Applied Technological Research) in evaporative heat exchangers may improve their capacity by 30%. Next, additional heat sources may be used. The Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr (IAV) showed the opportunity to retrieve the heat from the engine itself as well. This innovation may largely benefit from integrating the stable evaporation method of TNO. Finally, TNO has found an innovative implementation of the condenser which is able to release tens of kW’s with no penalty in the form of increased drag or fan power. This paper reasons, by combining all these aspects, a potential fuel reduction of 12-15% can be achieved     «

Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) systems, especially Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based, have the potential to significantly reduce fuel consumption. Current state of the art systems typically reduce the fuel consumption by 3-6%. However, the ORC systems still add excessive mass and complexity in order to become economically attractive. Focus on the optimization of a single aspect will not bring the fuel reduction percentages in the double digit numbers. In this paper we propose to combine various propo...     »