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Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278 www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Performance analysis and working uids selection of solar powered organic Rankine-vapor compression ice maker
X.B. Bu a,, H.S. Li a,b, L.B. Wang a
a

Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy and Gas Hydrate, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Received 27 February 2013; received in revised form 13 June 2013; accepted 22 June 2013 Available online 18 July 2013 Communicated by: Associate Editor Ruzhu Wang

Abstract To develop the organic Rankine cycle/vapor compression cycle (ORC/VCC) ice maker driven by solar energy, a thermodynamic model was developed, and four working uids of R123, R245fa, R600a and R600 were selected and evaluated to identify suitable working uids which may yield high system eciencies. Besides, the eects of generation temperature and condensation temperature on the system performance were also analyzed. In terms of power eciency and expander size, R600 and R600a are more suitable working uids for ORC. Also, R600a and R600 are more appropriate working uids for VCC in terms of pressure ratio and coecient of performance. In terms of overall eciency and ice production per square meter collector per day, R123 is most suitable working uid for ORC/VCC. The generation temperature and condensation temperature have important eects on overall eciency and ice production. There is always an optimal generation temperature at which overall eciency and ice production can achieve the maximum values, while the generation temperature can be controlled by changing the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC. In addition, the system performance and payback period should be comprehensively considered so as to decide to adopt air cooled or water cooled condenser due to having different condensation temperature. Crown Copyright 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Working uids selection; Ice maker; Organic Rankine cycle-vapor compression cycle; Solar energy

1. Introduction In recent years, there is an increasing need for cooling due to global warming, so, the energy consumption used for cooling has increased drastically (Martins et al., 2012; Sozen and Ozalp, 2005). The use of solar energy is one important contribution for the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and harmful emissions to the environment, while solar cooling for food, beverage and seafood preservation or air-conditioning is an attractive application of solar

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 2087057792.

E-mail address: buxb@ms.giec.ac.cn (X.B. Bu).

energy because both the insolation supply and the need for refrigeration reach maximum levels at the same period. Especially in some places, such as Tibet in China, a large proportion of people live in rural or remote locations where electricity is presently far from sucient, also the solar radiation is the most sucient in those areas, refrigeration device driven by solar energy is a very useful application for food and vaccine preservation. Solar powered ice-makers or refrigerators have been reported by a lot of researchers (Karamanis and Vardoulakis, 2012; Mateus and Oliveira, 2009; Khattab, 2004). Among these researches, there are many dierent ways to convert solar energy into cooling processes (Venegas et al., 2011; Lu et al., 2013; Laidi and Hanini, 2013; Wang

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.06.024

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Nomenclature COP c coecient of performance for VCC COP s coecient of performance for ORC/VCC CPRmA ratio of Qeva to overall mass ows of ORC/ VCC, kW s/kg CRPR ratio of COP c to PR GB direct radiation intensity, W/m2 h1 enthalpy at expander inlet, kJ/kg h2s enthalpy at expander outlet based on isentropic process, kJ/kg h3 enthalpy at working uid pump inlet, kJ/kg h4 enthalpy at working uid pump outlet, kJ/kg h4s enthalpy at working uid pump outlet based on isentropic process, kJ/kg h5 enthalpy at evaporator outlet, kJ/kg h6s enthalpy at compressor outlet based on isentropic process, kJ/kg h8 enthalpy at evaporator inlet, kJ/kg hice phase change latent heat of changing water into ice, kJ/kg mc mass ow rate for VCC, kg/s mp mass ow rate for ORC kg/s n collector area, m2 N ice production per square meter collector per day, kg/m2/day P5 pressure at compressor inlet, kPa P6 PR Qboi Qeva SP T boi Tc V1 V2 VFR W com W exp W pump W net WRm gcom gexp gp gpump gsolar gt DT pressure at compressor outlet, kPa pressure ratio between compressor inlet and outlet generator heat input, kW cooling power, kW expander size parameter, m generation temperature in the generator, C condensation temperature, C volumetric ow at expander inlet, m3/s volumetric ow at expander outlet, m3/s volumetric ow ratio compressor work input, kW expander work output, kW working uid pump power consumption, kW net work output for ORC, kW ratio of W net to mp , kW s/kg compressor isentropic eciency expander isentropic eciency organic Rankine cycle eciency working uid pump isentropic eciency thermal eciency of solar collector overall eciency of solar ice maker temperature dierence of inlet and oulet of collector, C

et al. 2008), these are by use of the absorption/adsorption refrigeration cycle and the organic Rankine cycle/vapor compression cycle (ORC/VCC) (Louajari et al., 2011; Luo et al., 2010; Egrican and Karakas, 1986). Boubakri (2003, 2006) carried out tests on an adsorptive solar powered ice maker using methanol/carbon pair. Vasta et al. (2008) presented a model for dynamic simulation of an adsorptive ice-maker and showed that the ice-maker is able to freeze 5 kg of water during all days of June. Wang et al. (2000) described the working principle of the combined cycles of solar refrigeration and heating, and their experimental results showed that the hybrid system is capable of heating 60 kg water to about 90 C as well as producing ice at 10 kg per day with a 2 m2 solar collector. Li et al. (2004) developed a no valve, at plate solar ice maker and carried out experimental tests under both indoor and outdoor. Sumathy and Li (1999) presented a solar-powered ice-maker with the solid adsorption pair of activated carbon and methanol. In this paper, a simple at-plate collector with an exposed area of 0.92 m2 was employed to produce ice of about 45 kg day1. Li and Wang (2003) presented a uniform pressure model to describe the heat and mass transfer in an adsorbent bed for a at plate solar ice maker. Kiplagat et al. (2010) proposed consolidated composite material made from expanded graphite powder impregnated with LiCl salt for use in solar powered adsorption ice makers. Freni et al. (2008) presented the

simulation results of an adsorptive ice-maker system driven by solar energy. Leitea and Daguenet (2000) studied the performance of an adsorption solar cooling system using the activated carbon-methanol pair. Rivera et al. (2011) developed a novel solar intermittent refrigeration system for ice production with ammonia/lithium nitrate mixture as absorption working pairs. Today, most solar refrigeration devices on the market use absorption or adsorption refrigeration to achieve the cooling eect, however, these devices are generally costly and huge. Currently, the use of thermal energy to operate an ORC/VCC for air-conditioning and cooling has become the subject of renewed interest and has been reported by several investigators (Gordon and Ng, 2000). Aphornratana and Sriveerakul (2010) theoretically analyzed a combined Rankine vapor-compression refrigeration cycle powered by low grade thermal energy. Wang et al. (2011a, b) introduced a novel thermally activated cooling concept and developed a prototype with nominal cooling capacity of 5 kW. Demierre et al. (2012) presented the development of an ORC/ORC prototype with HFC-134a as working uid and heating power about 20 kW for the condenser. ORC/VCC solar cooling systems convert collected solar heat into a cooling eect, which is accomplished at the site of the installation by using the Rankine cycle to generate the shaft work required to drive a vapor compression cycle. However, few people studied

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ice making using ORC/VCC, especially ice making utilizing solar energy. The biggest dierence between ice making and air conditioning is that the evaporation temperature for ice making is about 5 C, which is lower than that for air-conditioning, leading to low eciency and high pressure ratio for compressor used for ice maker. ORC/ VCC provides an alternative to solar ice making besides absorption and adsorption ice making, so, a feasibility demonstration of making use of ORC/VCC driven by solar energy for ice making is of great signicance. In addition, the selection of working uids has a great eect on the system eciency and operation condition. Recently, many eorts have been made on the choice of working uids and the performance analysis of the ORC (Invernizzi et al., 2007; Macchi and Perdichizzi, 1981). Hung et al. (2010) investigated Rankine cycles using organic uids as working uids in converting low-grade energy and identied suitable working uids which may yield high system eciencies. Wang et al. (2012) presented a working uid selection and parametric optimization using a multi-objective optimization model by simulated annealing algorithm. Guo et al. (2011) investigated the selection of working uids for a novel low-temperature geothermal-powered ORC based cogeneration system. Qiu (2012) compared 8 mostlyapplied working uids nowadays and gave preferable ranking by means of spinal point method. Wang et al. (2011a,b) analyzed the performance of dierent working uids operating in specic regions using a thermodynamic model. Lakew and Bolland (2010) studied the performance of different working uids to recover low-temperature heat source. Stijepovic et al. (2012) explored the relationships between working uid properties and ORC common economic and thermodynamic performance criteria from a theoretical and an analytical point of view. In a typical ORC/VCC, the maximum temperature at the expander inlet is limited to the temperature of the uid leaving the solar collector. Because of the relatively low temperature capability associated with the at plate collectors the coecient of performance (COP) of an ORC/VCC is generally low. In this paper, to improve the COP of an ORC/VCC for ice making driven by solar energy, the parabolic trough collectors with higher temperature are selected to provide energy to heat and vaporize a working uid, and a dynamic modeling is developed in order to demonstrate the feasibility of such a system for ice making. Four working uids, including hydrochlorouorocarbon (HCFC, e.g. R123), hydrouorocarbon (HFC, e.g. R245fa) and hydrocarbons (HCs, e.g. butane and isobutane), are selected and evaluated to identify suitable working uids which may yield high system eciencies. 2. System design and working uids selection The system of ORC/VCC for ice making driven by solar energy mainly consists of solar collector (generator), expander, compressor, condenser for cooling system, throttle valve, evaporator for ice maker, condenser for power system

1 B A C

5 D

Fig. 1. The system schematic drawing. A solar collector (generator), B expander, C compressor, D condenser for cooling system, E throttle valve, F evaporator for ice maker, G condenser for power system, H working uid pump.

and working uid pump, as shown in Fig. 1. The working principle of this system is as follows: a solar collector is used to provide energy to heat and vaporize a working uid with low boiling point. Energy is extracted from this vapor in an expansion engine that is used to drive a vapor compressor. The uid exiting the expander is condensed and pumped back to the boiler pressure where it is again vaporized, as shown in Fig. 1. The same working uid is used for both ORC and VCC to avoid the gas separation caused by leakage. In Fig. 1, ORC is also called power system and VCC is also called ice making system. The parabolic trough collectors are selected due to having high eciency at much higher collecting temperature, and solar collector is also used as generator. Considering the instability of solar heat source, the radial and axial ow expander is employed, which can suit the variability of heat source. To improve the drive eciency, a direct drive without gear and coupling is used between expander and compressor. The common refrigerants HCFC (R123) and HFC (R245fa) are selected as the working uids for the ORC/ VCC system. However, with increased environmental awareness these refrigerants are now being regulated. It is well known that the HCs are environmentally friendly, non-toxic, chemically stable and highly soluble in conventional mineral oil. The only real argument against the application of HCs is ammability. So, the HCs such as butane (R600) and isobutene (R600a) are also selected as the working uids for the ORC/VCC system for ice making. The properties of four selected working uids are shown in Table 1. 3. Thermodynamic analysis To develop the thermodynamic model, the following assumptions are made:

274 Table 1 Properties of working uids. Substance R600 R600a R123 R245fa Molecular mass (g/mol) 58.13 58.13 152.93 134 Tcrit (C) 151.98 134.67 183.68 154.05

X.B. Bu et al. / Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278

gsolar 0:762 0:2125

ODP 0 0 0.012 0 GWP (100 yr) 20 20 76 820

   2 DT DT 0:001672 GB GB

19 20

DT T boi T c

ODP: ozone depletion potential, relative to R11. GWP: global warming potential, relative to CO2.

4. Performance analysis and discussions Considering the instability of solar heat source, the generation temperature Tboi is in the range of 60160 C, the condensation temperature is 3545 C, and the evaporation temperature is 5 C and keeps invariable. For evaluating the feasibility of ORC/VCC for ice maker, the intensity of solar direct radiation is 300 W/m2 and the total solar direct radiation is 7560 kJ/m2 per day. The isentropic eciencies for expander, compressor and working uid pump are respectively 0.85, 0.8 and 0.9. 4.1. Eect of working uid types on ORC In Figs. 25, the condensation temperature is 40 C. Fig. 2 exhibits gp for dierent working uids as a function of Tboi. It is obvious from Fig. 2 that for all working uids, gp depends largely on Tboi and it increases rstly and then decreases with increasing Tboi. When Tboi < 120 C, the dierences between gp for all working uids are very small. However, the dierences become large when Tboi > 120 C. gp for R123 and R600a is respectively highest and lowest when Tboi = 130 C. The eect of Tboi on WRm is illustrated in Fig. 3. WRm is dened as the ratio of Wnet to mp, reecting the power capability of working uid per unit mass ow rate. Observing the proles from Fig. 3 that for all working uids, WRm increases rstly and then decreases with increasing Tboi, and it has almost the same change trend with gp. This is due to the fact that the dierence between h1 and h2s increases with the increasing Tboi, while h4s and h3 keep unchanged when the condensation temperature is invariable, thus leading to the increase of WRm according to
18

(1) Friction and heat losses in ORC/VCC are negligible. (2) The power consumed by condensers for both ORC and VCC are negligible. For ORC: W exp mp h1 h2s gexp W pump mp h4s h3 gpump 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Qboi mp h1 h4 W net W exp W pump gp W net Qboi W net h4s h3 h1 h2s gexp gpump mp

WRm VFR

p V2 SP p 4 1000h1 h2s For VCC: W com W exp Qeva mc h5 h8 W com mc COP c P6 PR P5 CRPR COP c PR h6s h5 gcom

V2 V1

9 10 11 12 13 14

Qeva W com

15

R123 R245fa R600a R600

For ORC/VCC: COP s gp COP c CPRmA N Qeva mp mc 15

p (%)

12

16 17 18
3 60 80 100
o

Qeva 3600 7 nhice

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 2. Eect of Th on gp.

gt gsolar COP s

X.B. Bu et al. / Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 60 R123 R600 R245fa R600a

275

80

100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 3. Eect of Th on WRm.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

R123 R600 R245fa R600a

accounts for the eect of the compressibility through the expansion. As it is seen from Fig. 4 with the increase of Tboi, VFR for all working uids increases rstly and then decreases, and VFR for R600 and R600a is lower than those for R123 and R245fa. According to Macchi and Perdichizzi (1981), lower values of VFR deliver higher turbine eciency. Moreover, Invernizzi et al. (2007) state that in order to achieve a turbine eciency higher than 80%, the VFR should be lower than 50. In this study, VFR for all working uids is less than 8, thus the expander eciency higher than 80% can be achieved. Fig. 5 shows the expander size parameter SP plotted as a function of Tboi. SP given by Eq. (8) is an indicator of expander size, and it is proportional to actual expander size (Lakew and Bolland, 2010; Stijepovic et al., 2012). As shown in Fig. 5 for all working uids, SP depends largely on Tboi and they decrease with the increasing Tboi, this is attributed to the fact that higher Tboi leads to higher enthalpy drop between expander inlet and outlet and thus less SP according to Eq. (8). As it is seen from Fig. 5 R600a has lowest SP for all heat source temperature compared with three other working uids and R123 has highest SP. In addition, SP for R600 and R600a is lower than those for R123 and R245fa. Based on the above discussion, it is thus clear that R600 and R600a are more suitable working uids for ORC in the heat source temperature range of 60160 C. 4.2. Eect of working uid types on VCC

VFR

WRm (kW.s/kg)

1 60

80

100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 4. Eect of Th on VRF.

1.2

1.0

R123 R600 R245fa R600a

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2 60

80

100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 5. Eect of Th on SP.

Eq. (6). WRm for HCs is higher than those for R123 and R245fa. VFR as function of Tboi is plotted and presented in Fig. 4. VFR is dened as the specic volume variation across the expander in an isentropic process, which

The condensation temperature varies with ambient. Table 2 shows the eects of Tc and working uid types on COPc, PR and CRPR. As shown in Table 2, COPc, PR and CRPR depend largely on Tc and COPc and CRPR decrease with Tc and PR increases with Tc. This is due to the fact that when the pressure and temperature keep invariable at compressor inlet, the increasing Tc leads to the increase of pressure and enthalpy at compressor outlet and thus the increase of PR and the decrease of COPc as well as CRPR according to Eqs. ((10)-(14)). It is obvious from Table 2 that R123 has the maximum COPc, while R600a has the minimum COPc. PR for R123 and R245fa is almost the same and they are greater than two other working uids, and R600a has the minimum PR. It is well-known that working uids with high COPc and low PR are suitable refrigerants for VCC. To evaluate working uid refrigeration performance and the relationships between COPc and PR, CRPR is hence dened as the ratio of COPc to PR, which is an indicator of working uid refrigeration performance. Higher CRPR indicates better refrigeration performance for working uids. R600a has the maximum CRPR compared with three other working uids, and R600 is the secondary in terms of CRPR, as shown in Table 2. The absolute pressure at compressor inlet for R600 is 85.09 kPa (negative pressure) at Te = 5 C, indicating that air can be sucked by the compressor and thus easily resulting in explosion due to system

SP (mm)

276 Table 2 Performance of VCC with dierent working uids. Working uids R123 R123 R123 R245fa R245fa R245fa R600a R600a R600a R600 R600 R600 Tboi (C) 140 140 140 120 120 120 120 120 120 130 130 130

X.B. Bu et al. / Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278

Tc (C) 35 40 45 35 40 45 35 40 45 35 40 45

COPc 4.48 3.87 3.39 4.23 3.63 3.14 4.01 3.42 2.94 4.20 3.61 3.12

PR 5.05 5.98 7.03 5.06 5.98 7.03 3.55 4.06 4.62 3.86 4.45 5.10

CRPR 0.89 0.65 0.48 0.84 0.61 0.45 1.13 0.84 0.64 1.09 0.81 0.61

N (kg/m2/day) 8.93 7.61 6.54 7.73 6.49 5.47 7.46 6.30 5.34 8.07 6.85 5.85

CPRm A (kW.s/kg)

leakage. While for R600a, air suction by the compressor will not occur due to the positive pressure (reaching 130.98 kPa at Te = 5 C) at compressor inlet. While for R123 and R245fa, the explosion will not occur even if the compressor sucks air. According to the comprehensive comparison of COPc, PR and CRPR for four dierent working uids, it is clear that R600a is most suitable working uid for VCC. 4.3. Eect of working uid types on ORC/VCC

140 120 100 80 60 40

R123 R600 R245fa R600a

N (kg/m /day)

In Figs. 69 the condensation temperature is 40 C. Fig. 6 illustrates the variation of COPs as a function of Tboi. In Fig. 6 with the increase of Tboi, COPs increases rstly and then increases for all working uids. R123 has highest COPs for all heat source temperature and R600a has lowest COPs. COPs equals to the product of gp and COPc. gp for R123 is almost the same with those for R245fa, R600 and R600a when Tboi < 120 C, as shown in Fig. 2, COPc is however highest for R123 among four working uids in Table 2, thus leading to highest COPs for R123 in Fig. 6. Fig. 7 shows the variation of CPRmA with Tboi. CPRmA is dened as the ratio of Qeva to (mp + mc), which reects the refrigerating capacity of unit mass working uid. As
70 60 50

20 60

80

100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 7. Eect of Th on CPRmA.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

R123 R245fa R600a R600

R123 R600 R245fa R600a

60

80

100
o

120

140

160

COP s (%)

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 8. Eect of Th on N.

40 30 20 10 60

80

100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 6. Eect of Th on COPs.

evident in Fig. 7 CPRmA increases rstly and then decreases with Tboi for all working uids. R600 and R600a have the highest and second highest CPRmA. CPRmA for HCs is higher than those for R123 and R245fa. Nand gt as function of Tboi is respectively plotted and presented in Figs. 8 and 9. Figs. 8 and 9 show that N and gt depend largely on Tboi and they increase rstly

X.B. Bu et al. / Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278

45 40 35

277

R123 R245fa R600a R600

30 25 20 15 60 80 100
o

120

140

160

Tboi ( C)
Fig. 9. Eect of Th on gt.

and then decrease with Tboi for all working uids. R123 has highest N and gt for all heat source temperature. So, in terms of COPs, N and gt, R123 is most suitable working uid for ORC/VCC. Observing the proles from Figs. 2, 3, 79 it is obvious that gp, COPs, CPRmA, N and gt have the same change trend with Tboi. For solar collector, the thermal eciency gsolar depends on both solar radiation and the temperature dierence between the generation temperature and ambient. When solar radiation, condensation temperature and ambient temperature keep invariable, gsolar only depends on the generation temperature which can be controlled by changing the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC. That is to say, gsolar depends on the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC. According to Eqs. (19) and (20), the higher the Tboi, the lower the gsolar. The coecient of performance for compressor, COPc, keeps invariable when the condensation temperature and evaporation temperature remain unchanged. Therefore, a conclusion can be drawn through the above analysis that there is always an optimal Tboi at which gp, COPs, N and gt can achieve the maximum values when solar radiation, condensation temperature and evaporation temperature keep invariable. The optimal Tboi are dierent for dierent working uids, and they are 140, 120, 120 and 130 C for working uids of R123, R245fa, R600a and R600A, respectively. N is respectively 7.61, 6.49, 6.30 and 6.85 kg/m2/day at the optimal Tboi for working uids of R123, R245fa, R600a and R600, indicating that the working uid R123 has the optimal ice making performance compared with three other working uids. The programmable logic controller and frequency converter are suggested to adopt in practical use, and the optimal Tboi can automatically be calculated by collecting solar radiation, condensation temperature and evaporation temperature and then the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC can automatically be adjusted by the frequency converter, working uid pump and programmable logic controller so that the solar ice maker is in the optimal operation state.

In addition, It is obvious from Table 2 that the condensation temperature has an important inuence on N. Taking R123 as an example, N at Tc = 35, 40 and 45 C is respectively 8.93, 7.61 and 6.54 kg/m2/day. N at Tc = 35 C is 1.17 times larger than that at Tc = 40 C and is 1.37 times larger than that at Tc = 45 C, indicating that there is a great dierence of ice making capability for ORC/VCC system with dierent condensation temperature. The condensation temperature is about 45 C for air cooled condenser and is in the range of 3540 C for water cooled condenser, especially the condensation temperature is about 35 C when using seawater as cooling medium. Generally speaking, the condensation temperature for air cooled condenser is higher than that for water cooled condenser, resulting in the lower N for air cooled condenser. However, the power consumption and system investment for air cooled condenser are also lower than those for water cooled condenser which needs to be equipped with cooling water pump and cooling tower. Thus the system performance and payback period should be comprehensively considered so as to decide which type of condenser should be used during practical design. To sum up, using organic Rankine cycle-vapor compression cycle for ice making driven by solar energy is feasible, and the keys are to develop the expander and compressor with high eciency, especially the compressor with high pressure ratio. 5. Conclusions Solar powered ORC/VCC for ice making is researched, and a thermodynamic model is developed. Four working uids of R123, R245fa, R600a and R600 are selected and evaluated to identify suitable working uids which may yield high system eciencies. Besides, the eects of generation temperature and condensation temperature on the system performance are also analyzed. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) In terms of gp, WRm, VFR and SP, R600 and R600a are more suitable working uids for ORC in the heat source temperature range of 60160 C. Also, R600a and R600 are more appropriate working uids for VCC in terms of PR, COPc and CRPR. However, the pressure at compressor inlet for R600 is negative pressure, indicating that there is a security risk caused by air suction due to system leakage. So, R600a is most suitable working uid for VCC. In terms of COPs, N and gt, R123 is most suitable working uid for ORC/VCC. (2) gsolar depends largely on Tboi, while Tboi can be controlled by changing the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC. There is always an optimal Tboi at which gp, COPs, N and gt can achieve the maximum values. So, the programmable logic controller and frequency converter are suggested to adopt in practical use, and the optimal Tboi can automatically be cal-

t (%)

278

X.B. Bu et al. / Solar Energy 95 (2013) 271278

culated by collecting solar radiation, condensation temperature and evaporation temperature and then the mass ow rate of working uid for ORC can automatically be adjusted by the frequency converter, working uid pump and programmable logic controller so that the solar ice maker is in the optimal operation state. In addition, the condensation temperature has an important inuence on N, the system performance and payback period should thus be comprehensively considered so as to decide to adopt air cooled or water cooled condenser due to having dierent condensation temperature.

Acknowledgments The authors are thankful for the nancial support by the High Technology Research and Development (863) Program of China (No. 2012AA053003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51106161). References
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