RNW, 26 July 2010 - 10:44am
A Dutch company has developed a device which recycles unused exhaust heat. The Tri-O-Gen ORC converts residual heat into electricity using the Organic Rankine Cycle.
This cycle first converts all kinds of residual heat into vapour. This expands in a turbine connected to an electric generator. The system uses no fuel except for exhaust gases or other sources of residual heat which would otherwise disappear into the atmosphere.
The installation can improve the electrical output of an engine or gas turbine by 20 percent - a huge improvement on previous methods which were limited to increases measured in tenths of a percent. It requires minimal maintenance and has no adverse effects on the environment.
The device is the result of nine years of development, experiment and sustainability testing in collaboration with the Technological University of Delft, the TNO research institute and the National Aerospace Laboratory.
The output of a single ORC is enough to meet the consumption of 300 households.
Tri-O-Gen calculates that if all the unused heat in the Netherlands were converted into electricity this way, the country would need one less coal-fired generator.
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