Performance Characteristics of a Rankine Steam Cycle and Boiler for Engine Waste Heat Recovery

A dual-loop waste heat recovery system with Rankine steam cycles for improving the fuel efficiency of gasoline automobiles has been investigated. A high-temperature (HT) loop recovers waste heat only from the exhaust gas. A low-temperature (LT) loop recovers heat dissipation from the HT loop, and waste heat from the engine coolant. The two separate loops are coupled with a heat exchanger. This paper has dealt with the layout of the dual loop system, a review of working fluids, and the design of the cycle. The design points and the target heat recoveries of the HT boiler and LT boiler, which are core parts of their loops respectively, have been presented. The prototype of the HT boiler was evaluated by an experiment. For the performance evaluation of the HT boiler, the inlet temperature condition of the HT boiler working fluid was set to a degree of subcool of 5°C. The exit condition was the degree of superheat, which was set at 5°C. The characteristics of the HT boiler such as the heat recovery and pressure drops of fluids were evaluated for varying flow rates and inlet temperatures of the exhaust gas under various evaporating pressure conditions. Considering the characteristics of the cycle, the basic concept of the LT boiler has been determined to be a shell-and-tube type counter flow heat exchanger, the performance characteristics for various design parameters were analytically investigated.