Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Evaluation of external heat loss from a small-scale expander used in organic

Rankine cycle
Jing Li, Gang Pei*, Yunzhu Li, Jie Ji
Department of Thermal Science and Energy Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96#, Hefei City, Anhui Province, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 22 December 2010
Accepted 26 April 2011
Available online 5 May 2011

With the scaling down of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), the engine shaft power is not only determined by the enthalpy drop in the expansion process but also the external heat loss from the expander.
Theoretical and experimental support in evaluating small-scale expander heat loss is rare. This paper
presents a quantitative study on the convection, radiation, and conduction heat transfer from a kW-scale
expander. A mathematical model is built and validated. The results show that the external radiative or
convective heat loss coefcient was about 3.2 or 7.0 W=K$m2 when the ORC operated around 100
C.
Radiative and convective heat loss coefcients increased as the expander operation temperature
increased. Conductive heat loss due to the connection between the expander and the support accounted
for a large proportion of the total heat loss. The tting relationships between heat loss and mean
temperature difference were established. It is suggested that low conductivity material be embodied in
the support of expander. Mattress insulation for compact expander could be eliminated when the
operation temperature is around 100
C.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Small-scale expander
Organic Rankine Cycle
Heat loss
Insulation

1. Introduction
Among many well-proven technologies, organic Rankine cycle
(ORC) is one of the most favorable and promising ways in low to
medium-temperature applications. Substantial improvements
have been made in ORC technology in the past decade. Moreover,
there is mounting interest for kW-scale ORC applications, such as
small-scale solar ORC for rural cogeneration, biomass-red
combined heat and power (CHP) system, and small ORC for waste
heat recovery. The interest for small-scale ORC is reinforced by the
following aspects: 1) Small-scale production of electricity at or near
customers homes and businesses could improve the reliability of
power supply. 2) Local generation leads to smaller scale power
plants which exclude traditional steam cycles that are not costeffective [1]. And heat demand can be fullled by domestic heating, which results in an increase in the overall energy conversion
efciency of ORC. 3) The size of the ORC plant is limited by the low
energy density of heat sources. Biomass typically contains more
than 70% air and void space and is difcult to collect, ship, and store.
Solar radiation is generally less than 1000 W/m2, and a large area to
gather an appreciable amount of energy is difcult to obtain. Yet

* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 86 551 3601641.

E-mail addresses: peigang@ustc.edu.cn (G. Pei), jijie@ustc.edu.cn (J. Ji).
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2011.04.039

more than 90% of the availability of waste heat worldwide is

available to the 10e250 kW system size [2]. 4) The size of the ORC
plant is also limited by the availability of energy consumers. Many
applications in residential areas only require several to tens of kWe
for pumping, refrigerator, air conditioning, and so on. The market
potential for small ORC is becoming more and more signicant as
the environmental protection, economical development and
climate change control become more and more urgent [3].
Both theoretic and experimental works have been done on
small-scale ORC. And the research on this topic is growing fast.
Riffat et al. designed and tested a 1.34 kW ORC-based CHP system
assisted by fuel gas. The electrical efciency was 16% and the overall
efciency was about 59%. Further analysis showed that the
proposed system would save primary energy of approximately
3150 kWh per annum compared with conventional electricity and
heating supply systems, which would result in reduced CO2 emission of up to 600 tons per annum [4]. Peterson et al. presented
a study on the performance of a small-scale regenerative Rankine
power cycle employing a scroll expander. The system efciency was
about 7.2% [5]. Manolakos et al. presented the detailed laboratory
experimental results of a low temperature ORC engine couple with
a reverse osmosis desalination unit. The results indicated that the
efciency of the Rankine cycle uctuated from 3.5% to 5.0% [6]. Liu
et al. developed and evaluated a biomass-red micro-scale CHP
system. The system generated 284 W electricity, corresponding to

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

1.34% electric efciency and 88% overall CHP efciency [7]. Gang
et al. examined the innovative solar ORC system with two-stage
collectors and a regenerative cycle suitable for domestic applications. System performance was estimated based on the commercial
collector and expander. The heat collection efciency could be
improved by using two-stage collectors, and ORC efciency could
be increased by the regenerative cycle [8]. Wang et al. designed,
constructed, and tested a prototype low temperature solar ORC
system. With a 1.73 kW rolling-piston expander, the overall power
generation efciency was estimated at 4.2% or 3.2% for evacuated or
at plate collectors, respectively [9]. Yamada et al. proposed a new
pumpless micro-ORC for power generation from low temperature
heat sources. Switching valves and expander emulated by expansion nozzle were employed. The experimental results conrm that
this cycle works and that it has the potential to produce power [10].
Expander is the key issue of small-scale ORC system. James et al.
presented an experimental test of relatively cost-effective gerotor
and scroll expanders, which produced 2.07 and 2.96 kW, and had
isentropic efciencies of 0.85 and 0.83, respectively. Both expanders
had signicant potential to produce power from low-grade energy
[11]. Lemort et al. performed an experimental study on the prototype
of an open-drive, oil-free scroll expander integrated into an ORC
working with refrigerant R123. The maximum delivered shaft power
was 1.82 kW, and the maximum achieved overall isentropic effectiveness was 68%. Internal leakages and, to a lesser extent, supply
pressure drop and mechanical losses, were the main losses affecting
the performance of the expander [12,13]. Liu et al. presented simulation and experiment research on wide ranging working process of
scroll expander driven by compressed air. The maximum volumetric
efciency is 0.69 with the clearance of 0.04 mm [14].
A summary of recent experimental work on small-scale
expanders is shown in Table 1. The studies on expanders with
capacity ranging from a few to tens of kW are beginning to accumulate. However, little attention has been paid to external heat loss
from low power expanders. An assumption of adiabatic expansion
process was generally adopted in previous works. In order to get
a better understanding of the signicance of evaluating the external
heat loss, four considerations are made as follows.
1) Unlike traditional MW turbines that may need to operate
above 500
C, small-scale ORC can operate off a heat source of
around 100
C. Although it was once a reasonable concern that
inadequate steam turbine insulation could cause uneven or
rapid temperature changes in turbine shells, thus resulting in
contact and damage to packing seal teeth, this concern seems
unnecessary for ORC expanders due to the low temperature
difference between the expanders and the environment. And
small-scale expander together with generator, is generally
rooted on a solid support to ensure reliable transmission of
the shaft power. Due to the irregular expander shape and
the connections between the expander and pipes, thermal

2695

insulation would be quite complicated. And repair and

maintenance are frequently needed, such as adding oil to the
expander. Outer cladding would be wasteful or would make
the work inconvenient.
The elimination of outer cladding offers advantage from both
the economic and operational points of view. On the other hand,
convective and radiative heat loss from the expander will become
larger without thermal insulation. An evaluation should be made
rst to provide reference information about the convective and
radiative heat loss.
2) The expander will undergo conductive heat transfer due to the
connection between the expander and the support in the ORC
practical operation. A calculable amount of heat loss in
comparison with the enthalpy drop through the expander
might proceed even though it is well clad. A revealing study
into the conductive heat loss is therefore necessary.
3) With the scaling down of expanders, both the heat transfer
coefcient and the ratio of expander surface over power output
increase. The expander shaft power output is then determined
by the enthalpy drop in the expansion process and the external
heat loss from the expander. The latter might be appreciable
and might alter the net power of the small-scale engine [15].
4) Previous studies on small-scale ORCs were inclined to assume
zero heat loss in the expansion process, regardless of the
possibility that heat loss might be appreciable in a nonadiabatic operation. The expander or ORC efciency according
to the non-rigorous assumption may deviate from the true
value.
Considering the above mentioned points properly evaluating
the expander external heat loss is the matter in question. To our
knowledge, experimental work on this topic has not been reported
yet. This paper presents a close examination of external heat loss
from a kW-scale ORC expander. A quantitative study is carried out.
The mathematic model of the convective and radiative heat loss to
the environment, and conductive heat loss through the support is
built and validated. Heat transfer coefcients at various ORC
operation temperatures are obtained.
2. A brief system description
A small-scale turbine expander was especially designed and
fabricated by the University of Science and Technology of China and
Aero-Technology Applying Co., Ltd. for the application in the ORC.
Some parameters for the turbine on the normal conditions are as
follows.
1. Working uid: R123
2. Mass ow rate: 500 kg/h

Table 1
Non-exhaustive list of recent experimental work on small-scale expanders.
Participant

Working uid

Type of expander

Expander efciency

Cycle electric efciency

Peterson et al.
Yamada et al.
Liu et al.
Jame et al.
Manolakos et al.
Liu et al.

R123
R245fa
air
R123
R134a
HFE-7000
HFE-7100
R245fa
R123

Scroll expander
expansion nozzle
Scroll expander
Gerotor/Scroll expander
Scroll expander
turbine
expander
Scroll expander
Scroll expander

0.40e0.50
unavailable
0.69
0.85/0.83
0.30e0.50
unavailable

7.2%
0.24e0.62%
unavailable
7.7%
3.5e5.0%
1.34% (CHP system)

0.45
0.42e0.68

5.8%
unavailable

Wang et al.
Lemort et al.
Refs. [5e7], [9e12]; [14].

2696

3.
4.
5.
6.

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

Inlet/outlet temperature: 100
C/64.5
C

Expansion ratio: 7.1
Isentropic efciency: >0.71
Power output: >3.3 kW

This turbine has a radial-axial design, which offers many

advantages such as compact structure, small size, light weight, and
good stability. It has been previously tested with compressed air
and has been proven secure against leakage [16]. The system layout
for heat loss investigation is shown in Fig. 1. A gearbox is used in the
ORC system to ensure lower rotation speed of the generator. The
turbine, together with a gearbox and generator, is xed on a heavy
steel bed. The gearbox is coupled with the turbine by spline. Steel
angle bracket is used to support the turbine, which is surrounded
outside by insulation mattress and aluminum cladding sheets. The
reason for this insulation is that convective and radiative heat
transfer from the turbine shells rather than from the bracket is

prevalent in ORCs. To make this work universal, emphasis is not

placed on the convective or radiative heat transfer from the bracket.
Electric heating is adopted to evaluate external heat loss from
the turbine. Two considerations are made for this. First, the turbine
is made of high-conductivity alloy aluminum, and the surface
temperature distribution is almost uniform as shown in the
following sections. Meanwhile, heat loss from the turbine is
determined by the external temperature distribution. Heat loss in
the simulation experiment is expected to be consistent with that in
the ORC practical operation under similar conditions of temperature distribution. The results obtained by electricity heating would
be easily applied to ORC operation. Second, the efciencies of the
gearbox and generator vary with rotation speed and load. Due to
the uncertainty of mechanic efciencies, it is difcult to calculate
turbine shaft power by the electric output. Total heat loss information would be unavailable without correct information about
turbine shaft power. On the other hand, total heat loss will be equal

Fig. 1. (a) Layout of the small-scale turbine; (b) Steel angle bracket without cladding; (c) Spline coupling.

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

to input power when a steady state is reached on using electric

heater.
More details about the turbine external dimensions and
experimental setup are presented following.
3. Theoretic analysis of heat loss

3.1.1. Convective heat transfer from surfaces B and D

The operation temperature of small ORC systems is generally
below 200
C. The Grashof number (Gr) based on the diagram of B
or D is in the order of 107. Thus, the Nusselt number (Nu) for the
laminar natural convection can be calculated by [17]:

(1)

3.1.2. Convective heat transfer from surfaces A and E

A and E are vertical surfaces. Accurate equations have been
obtained for natural convection over a plate in vertical. In this
study, the Prandtl number (Pr) is about 0.7 and the Nusselt number
can be calculated by [18]:

(2)

F
F is the plate area and P is the girth. The characteristic
P
length l for the disk is about 0.9d.

where l

Nu 0:54GrPr1=4

Nu 0:27GrPr1=4

Fig. 2 shows the external dimensions of the small-scale turbine.

The shell is divided into ve parts: Surfaces A, B, C, D, and E. Surface
A or C is related to the outlet or inlet ange. B and D are the
cylindrical outside surfaces. E is the ank surface. The area of each
surface is 282.5, 91.04, 141.8, 493.2, and 72.4 cm2, respectively.

Nud 0:515Grl Pr1=4

3.1.3. Convective heat transfer from Surface C

C is the horizontal surface. When the hot side surface faces up,
the Nusselt number can be calculated by:

(3)

When the hot side surface faces down:

3.1. Convective heat loss analysis

Nud 0:53Grd Pr1=4

2697

(4)

The heat transfer coefcient of natural convection is strongly

correlated with the uid velocity distribution. The component of air
velocity in the axial direction is very small for the natural convection over a horizontal cylinder [19]. The interaction between air
ows over Surfaces A, B, D, and E will be weak. Therefore, adequate
accuracy for the coefcients of heat transfer from Surfaces A, B, D,
and E can be obtained according to the individual analysis in
Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. On the other hand, Surface C is right above
Surfaces B and D. Air ow in upper B and D is relatively strong
compared with that near the boundaries. The mass ow and heat
transfer from Surface C will be strengthened by the additional
velocity distribution [20]. In case a turbulent ow over Surface C is
invited, Eq. (3) should be replaced by:

Nu 0:14GrPr1=3

(5)

3.2. Radiative heat loss analysis

The turbine was made of alloy aluminum, which is widely used
to construct aircraft structure, with emissivity from 0.1 (polished)
to 0.4 (oxidized) [21]. Radiative heat transfer from the turbine to
environment can be approximately calculated by:



qrad es Ts4  Ta4 S

Fig. 2. External dimension of the turbine.

(6)

2698

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

where Ts and Ta are the surface and environment temperature

respectively.
3.3. Conductive heat loss analysis
The spline connection between the turbine and generator leads
to great thermal contact resistance due to low contact pressure and
large air space. The cross-sectional area of the coupling shaft is also
small, which is about 35% of the total cross-sectional area of the
steel angle bracket. Therefore, it is reasonable to neglect conduction
heat loss through the splines. Conductive heat loss in this system
mainly results from the connection between the turbine and the
support.
The thermal conduction resistance mainly consists of three
parts, Rcond,1, Rcond,2 and Rcond,3, as shown in Fig. 1(b).

qcond

Ts  Tb
Rcond;1 Rcond;2 Rcond;3

(7)
Fig. 3. Electric heating setup.

Tb is the steel bed temperature. Rcond,1 is the contact resistance

between the two surfaces of the turbine and the foundation. The
contact area for Rcond,1, is about 9.8 cm2. Previous experiments
indicated that the contact resistance of the aluminumealuminum
interface is 2.75 cm2 K W1 [22]. Thus, Rcond,1, is about 0.28 K W1.
Rcond,1 is the contact resistance between foundation layers. The
contact area is about 252.1 cm2, and Rcond,2 is less than 0.04 K W1.
Rcond,3 is the thermal resistance for conductive heat transfer
through the bracket.

Rcond;3

L
kScs

(11)

through the turbine was adjusted according to the variation in the

opening degree of the inlet valve. The turbine external temperature
was measured.
Subsequently, the simulation experiment on using the electric
heater was conducted to estimate heat loss from the turbine. The
reason for electric heating was presented in Section 2. More details
are shown in Fig. 3. The turbine was enlaced with the silicon rubber
heater. The silicon rubber heater was an excellent dielectric material and was constructed using resistance wire as the internal
element. The diagram of the silicon rubber heater is 1.0 mm and the
resistance value is 22 U/m. Conductive silicon grease was used to
reinforce the heat transfer between the heater and the turbine. A
piece of thin asbestos cloth was wrapped round the heater and the
aluminum sheet was wrapped outside. The heater and layer were
thin, and the emissivities of the sheet and alloy aluminum were
close, thus the simulation experiment with electric heater could
indirectly evaluate the turbine external heat loss in the practical
ORC operation.
There are seven measurement positions for temperature, ve on
the turbine surface, one on the steel bed, and one in the air. The
measurement positions on the turbine surface are numbered as
displayed in Fig. 2. T1 is next to the turbine outlet, T2 is next to the
turbine inlet, T3 is at the upper side of the shell, T4 is on the surface
of the aluminum sheet, and T5 is at the bottom of the shell. The
following experimental study will show that the ve temperatures
are close. The steel bed temperature is approximately equal to
environment temperature. R123 temperatures at the turbine inlet
and outlet were measured for ORC practical operation.
Copper-constantan thermocouples were used to measure
temperature in the experiment, with an accuracy of 0.2
C. The
input voltage and current for the electric heater were measured. All
measurement data were recorded and stored on disk via a computer
data-acquisition system, Agilent Bench Link Date Logger.

(12)

5. Results and discussion

(8)

where k, Scs, and L are the conductivity, total cross-sectional

area, and length, respectively. The steel angle bracket is
45 mm  45 mm  45 mm, with a length of 142 mm, and
conductivity of 58.9 W/(m k) at 350 K [23]. Thus, Rcond,3 is about
0.76 K W1. Rcond,3 contributes about 73% to total conduction
resistance.
3.4. Total heat loss analysis
Total heat loss from the turbine is the sum of the convection,
radiation, and conduction heat loss:

qt qconv qrad qcond

(9)

The total heat loss coefcient is dened by:

ht

qt
St T s  Ta

(10)

where St is the total area of Surfaces A, B, C, D, and E. T s is the areaweighted mean temperature of the turbine.

St SA SB SC SD SE
T s Ts;A SA Ts;B SB Ts;C SC Ts;D SD Ts;E SE



St

5.1. ORC experimental test

4. Experiment setup
The experiment test in the practical operation of the small-scale
ORC was rst carried out. R123 was vaporized in the evaporator and
then ew into the turbine. The vapor expanded, exporting power
due to the enthalpy drop. The turbine outlet vapor was condensed
to a liquid state in the condenser. The mass ow rate of R123

Fig. 4 shows R123 inlet and outlet temperature and turbine

rotation speed variation with time. R123 was gradually heated in
the evaporator by conduction oil. The mass ow rate of R123 was
adjusted by inlet valve. The valve opening degree was small at the
beginning. Turbine inlet pressure increased as the evaporation
temperature rose. The turbine started to rotate at about 11:21 AM.

105

26000

90

20800

75

15600

10400

60

inlet temperature
outlet temperature
rotation speed

45

30

2699

5.2. Experimental simulation

Rotation speed /rpm

temperature / C

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

5200

0
11:21:49 11:24:44 11:27:39 11:30:34 11:33:29 11:36:24 11:39:19

time
Fig. 4. R123 inlet and outlet temperatures and turbine rotation speed variation with
time.

Although there was no power output from the turbine before the
turbine rotated, the R123 outlet temperature was lower than the
inlet temperature due to the small mass ow rate and the heat
transfer from R123 to the turbine. Both inlet and outlet temperatures increased with time until 11:37 AM. No more adjustments in
the inlet valve and conduction oil temperature were made and the
ORC ran relatively steadily. The R123 temperatures at the turbine
inlet and outlet were around 102.5 and 78.5
C, and the pressures
were around 0.47 and 0.15 MPa respectively.
Turbine rotation speed increased with time and reached about
23,000 rpm in the non-adjustment period. However, the rotation
speed curve was not as smooth as the temperature curves. This was
attributed to the sudden increment in R123 ow rate as the inlet
valve opening degree changed.
Fig. 5 shows the measured temperatures on the turbine surface
variation with time. Positions of measured temperatures were
described previously in Section 4. The highest temperature was T2.
The rest of the temperatures on the turbine body were close. All
temperatures increased with time. The relatively steady state was
reached at about 11:48 AM, which was about 10 min later than that
in Fig. 4. The considerable heat capacity of the turbine led to later
heat transfer balance. After 11:48 AM, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and environment temperature were about 75.8, 80.1, 76.4, 74.2, 72.8, and
22.5
C, respectively. The area-weighted mean temperature of the
turbine was about 76.0
C.

In this section, the experimental simulation for the temperature

distribution on the turbine surface was conducted on the use of the
electric heater. There was no R123 owing through the turbine,
thus the input power was provided solely by the heater. Fig. 6
shows the measured temperature variations with time when the
heater power was 108.0 W. The temperatures increased with time,
but as temperatures rose, the increments became slower. The
temperatures reached a relatively steady state at 11:50 AM. T1, T2,
T3, T4, T5, and environment temperature were about 75.6, 75.3,
80.6, 85.5, 84.7, and 19.1
C, respectively. The area-weighted mean
temperature of the turbine was about 81.4
C.
The required time for the energy balance between input electric
power and heat loss from the turbine was much longer than that in
the ORC practical operating process. This can be briey explained as
follows. With an average turbine temperature T, the derivative of T
with respective to time can be expressed by Cp dT qi  qt dt. The
heat loss ratio qt increased as T increased. The input power qi would
be equal to qt at the steady state, and qi,s qt,s. For the electric
heating process, the input power was constant, thus qi hqi;s . The
main difference between ORC and electric heating processes was
that the heat transfer qi from R123 to the turbine was not constant
but correlated to the turbine temperature. The temperature
difference between R123 and the turbine was largest at the
beginning and became smaller as turbine temperature rose. Thus, qi
in the electric heating process was lower than that in the ORC
process until the turbine reached steady temperature T s . Lower
input power led to slower turbine temperature increment and
longer time for thermal balance.
The steady temperature distribution on the turbine surface was
determined by the input electric power. The measured temperatures and area-weighted mean temperature T s at the steady states
under different conditions of electric power are listed in Table 2.
Electric power was adjusted by the input voltage. The theoretic
calculation was subsequently done based on the temperature
distributions. The predicted convective, conductive, and radiative
heat loss was presented. Predicted and measured total heat loss is
compared at the bottom of the table. The predicted value was
smaller than the measured electric input power for each set of
temperature data. The deviation was about 2.3e3.3 W. The relative
error range was 1.78e4.78%. The predicted and measured values
showed good consistency to each other.

80

90

70

50

40

60

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5

45

30

30

20

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5

60

temperature / C

temperature / C

75

15
11:22:57 11:27:57 11:33:01 11:38:01 11:43:01 11:48:01 11:53:01

time

09:00:04

09:33:24

10:06:44

10:40:04

11:13:24

11:46:44

time
Fig. 5. Measured temperatures on the turbine surface variation with time in the ORC
practical operation.

Fig. 6. Measured temperatures variation with time on the use of the electric heater.

2700

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

Table 2
Comparison between predicted and measured heat loss from the turbine.

Predicted heat loss/W

Measured heat loss/W

T1
T2
T3
T4
T5
Ts
Ts
Qconv
Qcond
Qrad
Qtotal
Qtotal

Case

Case

Case

Case

Case

48.1
47.8
50.0
52.2
52.0
50.5
17.5
20.8
24.7
9.2
54.7
52.1

59.1
58.5
61.8
63.9
63.7
61.9
17.3
29.9
33.1
13.1
76.0
73.4

68.6
68.0
72.1
75.8
75.3
72.8
19.4
37.9
40.0
16.8
94.7
91.4

76.5
76.1
81.4
86.1
85.4
82.2
19.2
46.3
47.0
20.7
113.9
111.0

83.3
82.8
88.3
93.2
92.6
89.2
19.3
53
52.2
23.8
128.9
126.6

5.3. Heat transfer coefcient

18.0

17.2

2 o

heat loss coefficient W/(m C)

predicted value
measured value

16.4

15.6

14.8

32

40

5.8

convective
radiative
conductive

5.0

4.2

3.4

2.6

32

Fig. 7 shows the predicted and measured total heat loss coefcients variation with the mean temperature difference between the
turbine surface temperature and the environment, DT T s  Ta .
Both coefcients increased as the temperature difference increased.
In the mean temperature difference range of 33e70
C, the predicted coefcient varied from 15.8 to 17.7 W/(K m2), and the
measured one from 14.6 to 16.7 W/(K m2). The total heat loss
coefcient in the ORC practical operation can be calculated by the
linear interpolation method. With a DT of 53.5
C, the total heat loss
coefcient in the ORC experimental test was about 16.4 W/(K m2).
The total heat loss was estimated to be 94.5 W. This result indicates
that the proportion of the total heat loss to the design turbine
power is about 2.9% with an operation temperature around 100
C.
Since the total system energy efciency is determined by the ratio
of ORC net power to the input energy, and the power consumption
of the pump is generally much smaller than the turbine power
generation [4], the system efciency will be overestimated by about
2.9% if the total heat loss is not taken into consideration.
A detailed study of the heat transfer coefcient is shown in
Fig. 8. The convective, radiative heat loss coefcient increased as
the mean temperature difference increased. The conductive heat
loss coefcient varied slightly due to the relatively steady
conduction resistance. In the low temperature range, conductive
heat loss accounted for the largest proportion of total heat loss. As
the temperature difference increased, the conductive heat loss
proportion became smaller but still had great effects. Compared
with conductive and convective heat loss, external radiative heat

14.0

6.6
2 o

Measured temperature
distribution
C

heat loss coefficient W/(m C)

Parameter

7.4

48

56

64

72

temperature difference t / C
Fig. 7. Predicted and measured total heat loss coefcients variation with the mean
temperature difference.

40

48

56

64

72

temperature difference t / C
o

Fig. 8. Specic heat transfer coefcients variation with the mean temperature
difference.

loss had smaller inuence and was about 16.8e18.5% of total heat
loss. The percentage rose as turbine surface temperature increased.
Based on the coefcient curves, the following tting relationships
can be established to calculate heat loss from the turbine. The
conductive heat loss is almost directly proportional to the
temperature difference, qcond fDT. Radiative heat loss is quadratiDT 2 .
cally proportional to the temperature difference, qrad f DT 32T
a
Convective heat loss is approximately a power function of DT,
qconv fDT 1:25 .
6. Conclusion
Small-scale expander favorably operates at low temperature
and pressure. New points for considerations of expender thermal
insulation emerge with decreasing thermodynamic parameters.
Eliminating expander outer cladding offers both economic and
operational advantages. With the absence of wraps, the enhancement of the convective and radiative heat transfer from expander
may become appreciable. A calculable amount of conductive heat
loss might also proceed and will not be paid enough attention to
without a thorough and quantitative study. On the other hand,
a proper evaluation of the external heat loss from small-scale
expander is not available yet in previous works.
A theoretical and experimental study on the external heat loss
from a small scale expander was carried out in this paper. The
theoretic analysis showed adequate accuracy and the predictions
were in good agreement with the experiment data. The experimental simulation by electric heater was proper in estimating the
heat loss in the ORC practical operation. As turbine operation
temperature increased, both radiative and convective heat loss
coefcients increased. When the ORC operated at a hot side
temperature of about 100
C, the sum of the radiative and
convective heat loss was estimated to be 53.0 W, which was less
than 1.6% of the turbine design power. Radiative or convective heat
loss was inappreciable compared with the R123 enthalpy drop rate
through the turbine. Ways to reduce radiative or convective heat
loss such as mattress insulation did not seem necessary.
Further investigation indicated that conductive heat loss
accounted for almost half of total heat loss. Low conductivity
material to support the turbine or increasing conduction resistance
would be an efcient solution to this problem. A non-rigorous
assumption of adiabatic operation may lead to an overestimation
of expander efciency. In this experiment, the expander efciency

J. Li et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 2694e2701

will be overestimated by about 2.9% if the external heat loss is not

taken into consideration.
Expanders of less compact structure would suffer from a larger
heat loss due to a larger size than the turbine. Particularly, the
performance of scroll expander is mainly inuenced by the leakage
and heat transfers through both the wraps and the bottom plates [14].
The non-rigorous assumption would result in a more serious deviation
of expander efciency. The formulas established in this work could be
applied to other small-scale ORC systems of different operation
temperatures and ratios of expander surface over power to evaluate
external expander heat loss. The methodology and results would help
determine whether expander heat loss should be considered, and
whether thermal insulation for the expander is needed.

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

Acknowledgements
[13]

The study was sponsored by (1) National Science Foundation of

China (NSFC 50974150), (2) the Excellence Youth Science Foundation of Anhui Province of China (10040606Y20), (3) the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China and (4)
the Huo Yingdong Education Foundation (122029).

[14]

[15]
[16]

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