ORCINNOVATIVE

Typical fields of application for ORC processes are in the area of geothermal energy, thermal biomass utilisation, waste heat from combustion engines or in the area of industrial waste heat.

Compared to conventional water vapour processes (Clausius Rankine process), the ORC process offers the possibility of adapting the cycle process to the existing temperature level of the heat source by selecting a suitable process medium (primarily organic process media or silicone oils). For this reason, ORC processes are also used at very low heat source temperatures (theoretically as low as 100 °C).

As part of the project, a number of different circuit variants were investigated and optimised on the basis of thermodynamic process simulations. The final result of these analyses is a new type of connection variant that can be expected to achieve an additional yield of between 10 - 15 % compared to state-of-the-art systems, while at the same time reducing investment costs. The ORC process developed was patented at national level and filed as an international patent.

Patent specifications:

• Austrian patent (status granted):

AT521050B1 - Process for increasing energy efficiency in Clausius Rankine cycle processes (2019)

• International patent application:

WO2019227117A1 - Method and apparatus for converting thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy (2019)