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Performance of organic Rankine cycle using waste heat from electric vehicle battery

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Abstract

The battery of an electric vehicle (EV) must be appropriately cooled to prevent battery overheating while driving. Waste heat from EV batteries is typically recovered and used for indoor heating instead of generating electricity. In this study, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) using electric vehicle (EV) battery heat as a heat source was designed with a particular focus on the turbine. The mean-line design of a single-stage axial-flow turbine was performed, and the turbine performance was analyzed. The isentropic efficiency of the designed turbine was 0.75, and the electrical power was approximately 100 W. The thermal efficiency of the ORC was 4.23 % at a working fluid temperature of 25 °C at the condenser outlet. This used 2.24 kW of battery heat, which is approximately 78 % of the EV battery waste heat considered in this study. Therefore, applying the ORC to an EV recovers a significant amount of waste heat from the battery to reduce the battery temperature and generate electricity. Furthermore, we present an operation method that can improve the thermal efficiency of the EV ORC and is applicable in situations where the evaporation and condensation are not constant.

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Abbreviations

C :

Chord (m)

C ax :

Axial chord (m)

h :

Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)

ṁ :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

Ma :

Mach number (-)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

\(\dot Q\) :

Heat transfer rate (kW)

S :

Pitch (m)

T :

Temperature (K)

U :

Blade circumferential speed (m/s)

V :

Absolute velocity (m/s)

W :

Relative velocity (m/s)

Ẇ :

Power (kW)

X :

Quality of fluid (-)

Y :

Total pressure loss coefficient (-)

α :

Absolute flow angle (°)

β :

Relative flow angle (°)

η :

Efficiency (-)

Λ :

Degree of reaction (-)

ϕ :

Flow coefficient (-)

ψ :

Loading coefficient (-)

Ω:

Rotational velocity (rpm)

ω :

Angular velocity (1/s)

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Acknowledgments

This research was a part of the project titled “The development of marine-waste disposal system optimized in an island-fishing village”, funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Green Energy & Nano Technology R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Gwangju, 61012, Korea

    Jung-Bo Sim & Young Won Kim

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Korea

    Jung-Bo Sim & Se-Jin Yook

Authors
  1. Jung-Bo Sim
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  2. Se-Jin Yook
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  3. Young Won Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young Won Kim.

Additional information

Jung-Bo Sim received the M.S. degree from the School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea, in 2017. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea. His research interests include renewable energy and turbomachinery.

Se-Jin Yook received the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, USA, in 2007. He is currently a Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea. His research interests include heat transfer and aerosol technology.

Young Won Kim received the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, in 2008. He is currently a Principal Researcher at the Green Energy & Nano Technology R&D group, Korea institute of Industrial Technology, Republic of Korea. His research interests include renewable energy, thermal-fluid and turbomachinery.

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Sim, JB., Yook, SJ. & Kim, Y.W. Performance of organic Rankine cycle using waste heat from electric vehicle battery. J Mech Sci Technol 36, 5745–5754 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1036-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-022-1036-3

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