Real-Gas Effects in Organic Rankine Cycle Turbine Nozzles

Abstract

Organic Rankine cycle turbogenerators are a viable option as stationary energy converters for external heat sources, in the low power range (from a few kW up to a few MW). The fluid-dynamic design of organic Rankine cycle turbines can benefit from computational fluid dynamics tools which are capable of properly taking into account real-gas effects occurring in the turbine, which typically expands in the nonideal-gas thermodynamic region. In addition, the potential efficiency increase offered by supercritical organic Rankine cycles, which entails even stronger real-gas effects, has not yet been exploited in current practice. In this paper, real-gas effects occurring in subcritical and supercritical organic Rankine cycle nozzles have been investigated. Two-dimensional Euler simulations of an existing axial organic Rankine cycle stator nozzle are carried out using a computational fluid dynamics code, which is linked to an accurate thermodynamic model for the working fluid (octamethyltrisiloxane C 8 H 28 O 2 Si 3 ). The cases analyzed include the expansions starting from actual subcritical conditions, that is, the design point and part-load operation, and three expansions starting from supercritical conditions. Results of the simulations of the existing nozzle for current operating conditions can be used to refine its design. Moreover, the simulations of the nozzle expansions starting from supercritical conditions show that a nozzle geometry with a much higher exit-to-throat area ratio is required to obtain an efficient expansion. Other peculiar characteristics of supercritical expansions such as low sound speed and velocity, high density, and mass flow rate, are discussed.