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Session: Poster session & Sponsor Exhibition
Session starts: Monday 07 October, 14:00

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Adrian Rettig (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)
Ulf Christian Müller (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts)

Abstract:
Generating electricity in an economically reasonable way by utilising waste heat at lower temperature is one of the major challenges in ecological and efficient use of energy. One supporting key technology is the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). Integration of this into complex systems such as geothermal plants, biomass combustion or industrial processes to reuse the waste heat needs a sophisticated analysis of the whole process. To ensure an optimized performance of the combined technologies, accurate models of the coupled thermodynamic behaviour are crucial. The ORC performance including all components is of special interest since it mainly influences the investment decision. Thus, a modular simulation platform for ORC-processes based on Modelica and freely available libraries such as the Modelica Standard Library and ThermoPower has been devised. Two ORC-applications in Switzerland will be investigated using the modeling platform: a large scale application in cement industry (MW-scale) and a small bio gas CHP-application (double digit KW-scale). Currently, the focus is on characterizing the steady state behavior of these plants and the validation of the simulation results by on-site measurements. The tool will mainly be used to confirm the design and operation of the ORC-processes including all components and analyzing any unexpected deviations. In a next step, transient models are implemented that allow e.g. the analysis of control systems as well as start-up and shut-down procedures. It is planned to extend the tool by assessing more upcoming ORC-applications. Thus, libraries for components like different expanders or different working fluids will extend and boost the prediction capabilities of the platform. This offers the opportunity of supporting the evaluation of new ORC-processes and core components to contribute to an ecological and efficient use of energy.