Study on the use of a parabolic dish collector to drive a small-scale organic Rankine cycle

The aim of this work is to investigate in detail the use of a parabolic dish collector as a heat source to drive a small-scale organic Rankine cycle. The first three chapters aim to provide all the theoretical background necessary for a full understanding of the subject matter of this thesis: they deal in detail with Concentrated Solar Power technology and its main applications, the Rankine cycle and the possibility of Thermal energy storage technologies. The following chapters focus on the use of real data obtained from the solar collector placed on the roof of the Energy Center in Turin to drive a simulation using the Aspen Plus software. In particular, exergy and exergo-economic analyses are carried out in order to understand the technical and economic limits and potential of this technology. Then, a series of improvements concerning the maximum temperature of the cycle, the type of working fluid used and the use of regeneration in the ORC are tested in order to understand and quantify the possibilities for improvement, Finally, some final conclusions based on the results obtained in this study are briefly summarised.