We continue development works within a programme of production of small power plants driven by low-temperature heat (waste heat from industrial processes, geothermal heat, etc.).
The technology known as ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) power plant solution has been known and applied for 50 years. The nature of this technology lies in substituting water and steam in the traditional power plant cycle with low-boiling point fluids (their vaporization occurs at low temperatures, under normal ambient pressure at below 100 ℃, even below 0 ℃). Usually these are organic fluids. This technology gives us the possibility to create a vapour cycle in a power plant when the latter is powered by low-temperature heat (in contrast to traditional power plant where we have to burn coal, gas, etc. to get the necessary high temperature for the generation of steam at a required high pressure).
The problem in the ORC power plants arises at ensuring the leakage-proof working fluid cycle (the fluids can be poisonous, inflammable, costly, their leakage is harmful – in contrast to the traditional power plant: water leakage is neither costly nor harmful).
Our invention overcomes that ORC power plant problem and, with its application, we have built so far two small experimental power plants.
