Analysis of heat recovery of diesel engine using intermediate working fluid

Abstract

The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is an effective way to recovery the engine exhaust heat. The thermal stability of the evaporation system is significant for the stable operation of the ORC system. In this paper, the performance of the designed evaporation system which combines with the intermediate fluid for recovering the exhaust waste heat from a diesel engine is evaluated. The thermal characteristics of the target diesel engine exhaust gas are evaluated based on the experimental data firstly. Then, the mathematical model of the evaporation system is built based on the geometrical parameters and the specific working conditions of ORC. Finally, the heat transfer characteristics of the evaporation system are estimated corresponding to three typical operating conditions of the diesel engine. The result shows that the exhaust temperature at the evaporator outlet increases slightly with the engine speed and load. In the evaporator, the heat transfer coefficient of the Rankine working fluid is slightly larger than the intermediate fluid. However, the heat transfer coefficient of the intermediate fluid in the heat exchanger is larger than the exhaust side. The heat transfer areas of the evaporator in both the two-phase zone and the preheated zone change slightly along with the engine working condition while the heat transfer areas of the overheated zone has changed obviously. The maximum heat transfer rate occurs in the preheating zone while the minimum value occurs in the overheating zone. In addition, the Rankine working fluid temperature at the evaporator outlet is not sensitively affected by the torque and speed of the engine and the organic fluid flow is relatively stable. It is concluded that the intermediate fluid could effectively reduce the physical changes of Rankine working fluid in the evaporator outlet due to changes in engine operating conditions.