A low-temperature heat driven heat engine is proposed as a cost-effective system for power and heat production for small scale applications. The external heat source allows flexibility in the design; the system may be coupled with various available renewable sources including biomass/biofuel/biogas combustion, geothermal heat, concentrated solar radiation, and industrial waste heat, by selecting appropriate off-the-shelf components from the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), refrigeration, and automotive industries for use in an ORC (organic Rankine cycle). A theoretical analysis and an experimental study are carried out for an ORC with R134a as the working fluid, utilizing a low-temperature heat source (Tsource < 150 °C), with focus on the expansion and boiling processes. The complete ORC model is comprised of models for the expander, working fluid pump, boiler, and condenser. Thermodynamic and heat transfer models are developed to calculate the local and averaged heat transfer coefficient of the working fluid throughout the boiling process, based on the geometry of the selected heat exchanger. Data collected for the experimental ORC test bench are used to validate the expander and boiler models. A case study is performed for the proposed ORC, for cogeneration of power and heat in a residential application. The results of the case study analysis for the proposed ORC system indicate a cycle efficiency of 0.05, exergy efficiency of 0.17, and energy and exergy cogeneration efficiency of 0.87, and 0.35, respectively.
