STEAM RANKINE-CYCLE COOLING SYSTEM - ANALYSIS AND POSSIBLE REFINEMENTS

In the present communication, thermal modelling and energy conservatio n studies on the steam Rankine cycle cooling system [Rankine engine (R E) cycle coupled with vapour compression (VC) cycle] have been underta ken using steam + NH3, steam + R-22 and steam + R-12 as the working fl uids, and their comparative studies are presented having parametric va riations of various operating conditions. The overall performance is d ependent on the thermal efficiency of the RE-cycle and the COP of the VC-cycle subsystems. Subsequently, various methods of improvement of t he efficiency of the Rankine engine cycle, viz. regeneration, superhea ting, recompression, etc. have been analysed quantitatively and their influences on Rankine engine efficiency performance are presented here with. It has been found that the steam Rankine cycle cooling system pe rformance is higher than a freon based cooling system [1] and the Rank ine cycle performance can also be further improved by using external s uperheating and/or recompression of the turbine exhaust. Numerical res ults are presented for the sake of illustration.