The ORC (organic Rankine cycle) system is an effective technology to generate electricity from low temperature heat sources. The twin-screw expander is a key component that is commonly used in the small-to-medium capacity ORC system to convert thermal energy into work. In this paper, the performance of a twin-screw expander is theoretically and experimentally studied. A mathematical model is developed and subsequently validated using experimental data. The effect of several important factors including expander speed, suction pressure and inlet superheat on the expander performance is investigated. Results indicate that the expander speed and suction pressure have large influences on the expander performance, while the inlet superheat has relatively small effect. The isentropic efficiency of the expander decreases from 0.88 to 0.6 and the expander volumetric efficiency decreases from 0.88 to 0.7 as the expander rotational speed increases from 1250 to 6000 rpm. The results further show that the expander volumetric efficiency decreases from 0.91 to 0.85 as the expander suction pressure increases from 0.33 to 0.47 MPa. Furthermore, the energy conversion efficiency of the studied ORC system using the twin-screw expander is as high as 7.5% under the site conditions.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	twin-screw expander, organic Rankine cycle, efficiency, power generation
Research Division:	Engineering
Research Group:	Mechanical engineering
Research Field:	Energy generation, conversion and storage (excl. chemical and electrical)
Objective Division:	Energy
Objective Group:	Energy efficiency
Objective Field:	Commercial energy efficiency
UTAS Author:	Wang, X (Professor Xiaolin Wang)
ID Code:	102984
Year Published:	2015
Web of Science® Times Cited:	59
Deposited By:	Engineering
Deposited On:	2015-09-15
Last Modified:	2018-03-15
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