Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Volumetric Expander Suitable for Waste Heat Recovery from an Automotive Internal Combustion Engine Using an Organic Rankine Cycle with Ethanol

Abstract

Waste heat recovery (WHR) in exhaust gas flow of automotive engines has proved to be a useful path to increase the overall efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICE). Recovery potentials of up to 7% are shown in several works in the literature. However, most of them are theoretical estimations. Some present results from prototypes fed by steady flows generated in an auxiliary gas tank and not with actual engine exhaust gases. This paper deals with the modeling and experimental validation of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) with a swash-plate expander integrated in a 2 L turbocharged petrol engine using ethanol as working fluid. A global simulation model of the ORC was developed with a maximum difference of 5%, validated with experimental results. Considering the swash-plate as the main limiting factor, an additional specific submodel was implemented to model the physical phenomena in this element. This model allows simulating the fluid dynamic behavior of the swash-plate expander using a 0D model (Amesim). Differences up to 10.5% between tests and model results were found.