Abstract
The transport sector is presently accountable for 1/4 of total greenhouse gas released to the atmosphere, with road transportation depicting 17.8% of the total transport emissions contributing to global warming's growing threats caused by the continuous release of exhausting gases from internal combustion engines (ICEs). These exhaust threats call for improved sustainable ways of deploying fossil fuel in an environmentally friendly manner. Many sustainable solutions have been suggested recently with others already in the market; however, another promising sustainable solution is the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) application on-board automobiles, which is still developing stage with the prospect of entering the market soon. This paper presents the results from the thermal performance testing of an ORC system coupled to a commercial truck engine for exhaust heat recovery, which otherwise is exhausted to the environment causing pollution and other environmental threats. The test was performed to complement a study on the potential viability of installing an ORC based exhaust heat recovery (EHR) system on-board highway trucks for improving the truck's thermal performance without added fuel consumption. The testing carried out at 40% of rated load, and 1700rpm engine speed achieved 4.22kW, 3.67kW, and 5.28% for peak power output, net power output, and cycle thermal efficiency of the ORC model, respectively. These results imply that installing the ORC system on-board long-haul trucks for exhaust heat recovery has a promising future.
Highlights
The application of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based technology for exhaust heat recovery (EHR) for thermal efficiency improvement in Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) has been heavily researched recently because of the inefficiency of the ICEs in converting the energy content of the fuel into useful work and the negative environmental effect emanating from the released of these exhausting gases from ICEs into the atmosphere
The results indicate that vane expanders are less expensive and mechanically simple than other expanders for ORC systems [11]
The experimental study was performed to investigate an ORC model's performance designed for exhaust heat recovery in truck engines and determine the potentials of adopting the technology on-board highway trucks
Summary
The application of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) based technology for exhaust heat recovery (EHR) for thermal efficiency improvement in Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) has been heavily researched recently because of the inefficiency of the ICEs in converting the energy content of the fuel into useful work and the negative environmental effect emanating from the released of these exhausting gases from ICEs into the atmosphere. In 2012, Qui et al carried out an experimental study of a biomass-fired ORC-based micro-CHP system designed for domestic applications. While in 2013, Zheng et al carried out a verification study of a rolling-piston expander for application in low-temperature ORC systems. The study results demonstrate that the expander runs from 350 to 800 rpm, achieving the output power of 350W maximum with a heat temperature source of less than 90oC. The model achieved a cycle efficiency of 5% [7]
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