Dual ORC-Brayton power system for waste heat recovery in heavy-duty vehicles

Reducing the amount of energy required in industrial activities is one of the proven ways to achieve major cost savings, especially in the face of soaring energy prices. In the transport sector, besides the financial benefits, low energy consumption leads to the significant reduction of emissions of many pollutants. In this paper the new concept of dual power technology, dedicated to heavy road transport, was modelled and analysed by computer simulations. The combination of organic Rankine cycle and Brayton cycle was proposed, where the waste heat of fumes was recognized as a upper heat source, whereas the surrounding was adopted to be the lower one. Improvement of total energy conversion efficiency of the truck was the key success factor. Environmental friendly fluids (air and R123) were utilised. The operating parameters, power characteristics and energy streams (i.e. dispersion) of the system were evaluated, calculated and commented from the perspective of its theoretical profitability. The calculated net power capacity of analysed dual system was around 50 hp for 100% load. However, when the engine load is below 50% of nominal capacity, the power generation of combined system might be lower than in the case of single ORC system. © 2016, Warsaw University of Technology. All rights reserved.