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Purdue e-Pubs
International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
Conference
School of Mechanical Engineering
2010
A Steam Expander for a Waste Heat Recovery
Cycle
Hyan Jin Kim
University of Incheon
Hyun Jae Kim
University of Incheon
You Chan Kim
University of Incheon
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Kim, Hyan Jin; Kim, Hyun Jae; and Kim, You Chan, "A Steam Expander for a Waste Heat Recovery Cycle" (2010). International
Refigeration and Air Conditioning Conference. Paper 1071.
htp://docs.lib.purdue.edu/iracc/1071

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

A Steam Expander for a Waste Heat Recovery Cycle

Hyun Jin Kim
1
*, Hyun Jae Kim
2
, You Chan Kim
3


University oI Incheon, Dept. oI Mechanical Engineering
12-1 Yeonsu-gu, Songdo-dong, Incheon, Korea
1
E-mail: kimhjincheon.ac.kr,
2
E-mail: soricooknaver.com
3
E-mail: youchan84naver.com


ABSTRACT

A steam expander has been studied Ior its usability as a power conversion device in a Rankine cycle, which can be
used Ior on-site power generation or waste heat recovery. Design oI a swash plate type expander has been practiced
and its perIormance has been estimated. With the steam pressure and temperature oI 3.5MPa and 300
o
C at the
expander inlet, respectively, it was calculated that the expander produced the shaIt power output oI about 2.88 kW
Irom the steam heat source oI 25kW. The expander output increased linearly with increasing the steam heat amount.
For a given steam heat amount, the expander power increased with increasing the inlet steam temperature and it was
not aIIected much by the inlet steam pressure. The expander eIIiciency was more or less constant at around 75,
regardless oI the steam condition at the expander inlet.


1. INTRODUCTION

Recently, while multilateral measures are devised to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the use oI Iossil
Iuel which is expected to be exhausted soon, great attention is also being paid to energy recycles including waste
heat recovery. Various cycles Ior as combined space heating and power, combined air conditioning and power or
simply power generation Irom various types oI heat sources have been suggested. Combustion heat, solar energy
and other Iorms oI waste heat can be used as heat source Ior power conversion cycles. Diego et al. (2006) carried
out a theoretical analysis oI waste heat recovery Irom an internal combustion engine. Under the concept oI new
recycled energy, the electricity and room heating/cooling energy needed in buildings without procuring energy Irom
the outside like the case oI net zero building are being attempted (Smith, 2007). Saitoh et al. (2007) studied solar
organic Rankine cycle. Total thermal eIIiciency oI their system was 7 Ior power generation. A case oI a steam
Rankine cycle Ior collecting car exhaustion gas waste heat to enhance car Iuel eIIiciency by at least 13 was
reported (Endo, 2007). Depending on the capacity and operating conditions oI heat recovering cycles, the working
Iluid is selected and it is determined whether to use turbines or positive displacement type expanders.

In this study, a swash plate type steam expander that can be applied to steam Rankine cycles in order to convert the
heat energy oI steam into axle power will be designed and the perIormance oI the designed steam expander will be
estimated.


2. RANKINE CYCLE AND DESIGN OPERATING CONDITIONS

Figure 1(a) and (b) show a steam cycle with an expander Ior shaIt power extraction and a corresponding T-s line
diagram oI the Rankine cycle, respectively. As the heat Irom a combustion engine exhaust gas is delivered to the
water passing the evaporator (2 3 ), the water becomes high temperature and high pressure steam when it arrives
at the outlet oI the evaporator. This high temperature and high pressure steam passes through the expander (3 4 )
to generate axle power and then goes through the condenser (4 1 ) and is pumped at a high pressure in the water.

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010


(a) (b)
Figure 1: Exhaust gas heat recovery system: (a) Steam cycle with expander as a power converter , (b) T-s diagram


supply pump (1 2 ) to go back to the evaporator. Here, the ideal Rankine cycle eIIiciency
, R i
q
and the expander
eIIiciency
e
q

can be deIined as equations (1) and (2), respectively

3 4 2 1
,
3 2
( ) ( )
R i
h h h h
h h
q

=

(1)
3 4
( )
s
e
s
L
m h h
q =

(2)

II the actual eIIiciency oI the Rankine cycle is deIined as the ratio oI the shaIt power (L
s
) oI the expander to the heat
energy (Q
steam
) supplied to the water, it is (h
2
h
1
)(h
3
-h
4
) and thus the actual eIIiciency oI the Rankine cycle
becomes equation (3).

3 4
,
3 4
( )
( )
s s s
R R i e
steam steam s
L m h h L
Q Q m h h
q q q

= = ~

(3)

Considering the pressure resistance and heat expansion property oI the expander structure, a steam pressure
P
3
3.5Mpa and temperature t
3
300
o
C

at the inlet oI the expander will be used as design operating conditions.
Expander outlet conditions depend on the expansion ratio oI the expander and iI a swash plate type expander
structure is adopted, an expansion ratio oI around 10 can be obtained. In this case, the expander outlet conditions
will be P
4
0.35Mpa and t
4
138
o
C

and the steam will be in a two phase state with an approximate mass Iraction
x
4
0.9.


3. SWASH PLATE TYPE STEAM EXPANDER DESIGN

3.1 Expansion ratio and expansion commencing angle
II the crank angle and the piston position when the piston is at the top dead center are set to 00
o

and x0,
respectively, the piston position and the volume in the cylinder at a crank angle oI 0 will be as equation (4).


0
tan (1 cos ),
sw c p
x R J A x J o u = = + (4)

Here, A
p
a/4d
c
2
is the cross section area oI the piston, V
0

is the clearance volume, R
sw
is the radius oI the swash
plate and o

is the inclination angle oI the swash plate. In this case, the piston displacement volume becomes
V
p
A
p
(2R
sw
tano). In this design, considering the path oI rotor valves etc, the volume ratio oI the gap was
determined as cV
0
/V
p
0.05

and the expansion commencement angle as 0 40.5
o
. In this case, the expansion ratio

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

becomes 10.5.

3.2 Steam flow rate and displacement volume
Relationships between the steam Ilow rate m
s
and the expander output L
s
, and the expander displacement V
th
are
given by equations (5) and (6) respectively.

3 4
( )
s e s
L m h h q = (5)
4
( / 60)
e s
th
m
J
N
q

=

(6)

II the overall eIIiciency and the volume eIIiciency oI the expander are assumed as
0.75
e
q =
and
0.9
v
q =

and its rated
driving speed is determined as N1200 rpm, the steam Ilow rate and the expander displacement necessary to
generate an expander power output oI 3kW under the design operating conditions established earlier become
m

s0.0088|kg/s| and V
th
208|cc|, respectively.

3.3 Determination of major expander dimensions
To minimize leaks through the gap between the piston and the cylinder, piston rings should be applied. Since the
temperature oI the inhaled steam is as high as 300
o
C , it is desirable to use existing commercialized piston rings Ior
small engines and the smallest diameter oI currently available small engine pistons is 30.2mm oI pistons used on
engines Ior grass cutters. ThereIore, the diameter oI pistons is Iixed as d
c
30.2|mm|. II the number oI cylinders is
determined as n
c
8 considering the structure oI inhaling valve ports and the continuity oI steam inIlows, the stroke
necessary to make the given displacement is 36.4mm. II the router and swash plate are designed reIlecting
appropriate distances between cylinders necessary to secure structural stability and considering the mechanical
stability and mobility oI the swash plate, the eIIective diameter and inclination angle become R
sw
50|mm|

and
o20
o
respectively. Figure 2 is a cross-section diagram oI the swash plate type expander designed as such.

Figure 2: Swash plate type expander

4. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE EXPANDER

4.1 Pressure calculation
Assuming the process oI steam expansion as an isentropic process, P, the pressure in the cylinder is the Iunction oI
density p

and it can be expressed by equation (7) and can be obtained Irom the values oI the properties oI steam.

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

0
( ; ) P P s s = =

(7)
The density oI steam is pM/V
c
and it is obtained Irom the mass and volume in the cylinder and the mass in the
cylinder is obtained considering the Ilow rates oI the mass Ilowing into and Ilowing out oI the cylinder and leaks as
equation (8).
0
( )
v l
M M m m dt = +
}


(8)

In the two-phase region, the pressure can be obtained iI steam vapor Iraction x
g
is known along the isentropic line as
shown in equation (9).


0
( ; )
g
P P x s s = =

(9)

Steam vapor Iraction x
4

is determined as the value that makes the sum oI the volumes occupied by vapor state steam
and liquid state steam respectively become the volume oI the cylinder as shown in equation (10).

1
( )
g g
c
g l
x x
J M

= +

(10)

However, the saturated densities oI vapor state and liquid state p
4
and p
1
can be obtained only aIter knowing pressure
P

and thus eventually, equations (9) and (10) should be solved simultaneously.

4.2 Calculation of piston and rotor reactions
Figure 3 shows the Iorces applied to the piston and the reactions acting on the rotor. The balances oI the Iorces and
moments on the piston and the rotor are obtained as in equations (11) - (14).

1, 2, ,
tan
i i c i
F F F o = + (11)
2,
( ) ( ) tan
c i i p i c c
l x F l x l F o = +



(12)
8 8
1 2, 2 1,
1 1
0
i i
i i
R F R F
= =
+ + =

(13)
8
1 1 2, 2 2
1
( ) 0
mf c i i mf
i
l R l x F l R
=
+ =

(14)

Figure 3: Force diagram on piston and rotor Figure 4: Force diagram on valve body


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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

II the Iriction losses at the piston, the bearing supporting the rotor and the shaIt, the bearing shoe caught by the
piston ball, and the angular bearing supporting the swash plate are named L
p
, L
R-S
, L
shoe

and L
AB
, respectively, they
can be represented by equations (15).

8
1, 2,
1
2 2
1 1 2 2 2
8
,
1
8
,
1
1
( )
( )
/ cos
/ cos
p p s i i
i
R S BB
shoe shoe shoe com i
i
AB AB AB com i
i
v v v B
L x F F
L r R R r R
L R F
L R F
L r F

e
o
e o
e
=

=
=
= +
= + +
=
=
=

(15)

Figure 4 shows the Iorces on the distribution valve and the rotor in the axial direction. F
B1
is the Iorce due to the
high pressure gas at the expander inlet tube, and F
B2
is the gas reaction Irom the rotor port openings.


5. CALCULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 5 shows the P-V diagram obtained under the design operating conditions. The expansion power obtained
Irom this expansion line diagram is L
PV
3060|W|. Since the theoretical expansion power is L
th

th
(h
3
-
h
4
)3859.6|W|, the adiabatic expansion eIIiciency is q
ad
88.1. Figure 6 shows various kinds oI Iorces applied to
each piston and rotor-shaIt supporting bearings. The average values oI individual components are as Iollows.
R
1y
785.5|N|, R
1z
2291.7|N|, and R
2y
704.1|N|, respectively. While R
1z
, axial component oI the angular bearing,
being the diIIerence between F
z
and F
B2
, is the largest one among various bearing loads, largest Iriction loss occurs
at the rotor Irontal surIace against the distribution valve body due to large Iriction coeIIicient oI the boundary
lubrication: L
v
71.6|W|. Average values oI the other Iriction losses are L
p
24.7|W|, L
R-S
36.7|W|, L
shoe
14.2|W|,
and L
AB
28.7|W|. The total oI mechanical Iriction losses is L
mech
175.9|W|. ThereIore, the shaIt power oI the
expander is L
s
L
PV
L
mech
2884|W| and the mechanical eIIiciency is q
mech
94.3. The torque line diagram is
shown in Figure 8.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
P

[
b
a
r
]
V [cc]
0 90 180 270 360
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
R1y,
R2y
FB1
FComb,i
R1z
F

[
N
]
AngIe, u [deg]
Fz

Figure 5: P-V diagram at P
3
35bar, t
3
300
o
C Figure 6: Various Iorces on piston and bearings

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

0 90 180 270 360

0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Lshoe
Lp
LAB
Lrs
Lv
L
o
s
s

[
W
]
AngIe, u [deg]
Ltotal
(175.9)
0 90 180 270 360
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
AngIe, u [deg]
T
o
r
q
u
e

[
N
m
]
TtotaI (22.43)

Figure 7: Mechanical losses Figure 8: Torque variation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
40bar
35bar
30bar
25bar
P

[
b
a
r
]
V [cc]
25 30 35 40
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
5500
Fcomb,i
R1y, R2y
Fas
R1z
Fz
Fcomb
F

[
N
]
P3 [bar]

Figure 9: P-V diagrams at various Figure 10: Force variation with
inlet steam pressures: t3300
o
C inlet steam pressure: t3300
o
C

25 30 35 40
2800
2850
2900
2950
3000
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
P3 [bar]
N

[
r
p
m
]
L
s

[
W
]
L
s
N
250 300 350 400
2700
2800
2900
3000
3100
3200
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
t3 [
o
C]
N

[
r
p
m
]
L
s

[
W
]
L
s
N

Figure 11: EIIect oI inlet steam pressure Figure 12: EIIect oI inlet steam temperature
on the shaIt power and speed: t
3
300
o
C on the shaIt power and speed: P
3
35bar


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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

EIIects oI the inlet steam pressure P
3
on the P-V diagram and Iorces on the piston and bearings are respectively
shown in Figures 9 and 10. Forces increase linearly with P
3
. In Figure 11, with increasing P
3
, the expander shaIt
power output shows only small increase, but the shaIt speed decreases quite steeply. At lower P
3
, expansion work
per revolution becomes smaller but the shaIt power does not change much due to increased shaIt speed. Since the
steam mass Ilow rate was held constant, the volume Ilow rate increases with lowering P
3
, thus resulting in higher
shaIt speed. EIIects oI the inlet steam temperature t
3
on the expander perIormance are shown in Figure 12. With
increasing t
3
, both oI the shaIt power and speed increase, since the volume Ilow rate increases due to lowered steam
density. Figure 13 shows that the expander eIIiciency is more or less constant over the covered range oI the steam
heat and that the expander power output changes linearly with steam heat.

5 10 15 20 25
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Q [kW]
q
e
L
s

[
W
]
L
s
qe


Figure 13 Expander shaIt power and eIIiciency vs. steam heat


6. CONCLUSIONS

With regards to an expander applied to a steam Rankine cycle Ior the purpose oI power generation Irom waste heat,
1) A basic design on a swash plate type expander with a shaIt power output oI 3kW grade was carried out.
2) The displacement oI the designed expander is 208cc when the use oI the existing piston ring Ior small engines is
assumed. The built-in expansion ratio is 10 and it is designed to run at the speed oI 1200rpm at the rated output.
3) It was calculated that an expander output oI 3kW could be obtained Irom the steam energy oI 25kW when the
steam pressure and temperature at the expander inlet are P
s
35 bar and t
3
300
o
C, respectively.
4) The adiabatic expansion eIIiciency was calculated to be q
ad
88.1and the mechanical eIIiciency was calculated
to be q
mech
94.3 and the overall eIIiciency oI the expander becomes q
e
74.7 when the volumetric eIIiciency
is q
v
90.
5) The expander power output and the shaIt speed increase with increasing the inlet steam temperature, but the inlet
steam pressure does not aIIect much on the power output.



NOMENCLATURE

F Iorce (N) Subscripts
h enthalpy (kJ/kg) AB angular bearing
L power, power loss (W) e expander
m

mass Ilow rate (kg/s) R-S rotor-shaIt

N shaIt speed (rpm) R Rankine cycle
P pressure (Pa) p piston
Q heat (W) s shaIt
R bearing Iorce (N) shoe shoe bearing
R
sw
swash plate radius (m) v valve

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International ReIrigeration and Air Conditioning ConIerence at Purdue, July 12-15, 2010

s entropy (kJ/kg) Greeks
t temperature (
o
C) o swash plate angle
V volume (m
3
) c clearance volume ratio
x piston displacement, vapor Iraction (m, -) q eIIiciency
p desity


REFERENCES


Endo T., Kawajiri S., Kojima Y., Takahashi K., Baba T., lbaraki S., Takahashi T., Shinohara M., 2007, Study on
Maximizing Exergy in Automotive Engines, SAE International Paper 2007-01-0257
Arias D., Shedd T., Jester R., 2006, Theoretical Analysis oI Waste Heat Recovery Irom an Internal Combustion
Engine in a Hybrid Vehicle, SAE International Paper 2006-01-1605
Saitoh, T., Yamada, N., and Wakashima, S., 2007, Solar Rankine cycle system using scroll expander, Journal of
Environment and Engineering, vol. 2, no.4: p.708-719.
Smith, P., 2007, Sustainabilitv at the Cutting Edge, Architectural Press, second edition.