Energy System based on Integration between a Thermo-Photo-Voltaic generator and an Organic Rankine Cycle

This paper presents the TORCIS (Thermophotovoltaic Organic Rankine Cycle Integrated System) that is an integration between a ThermoPhotoVoltaic generator (TPV) and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) for cogenerative application. The paper represents the start up of a research program which involves three research teams from IMEM – CNR, MechLav – Technopole of Ferrara and DIEM – University of Bologna; the aim of the research is the complete definition and the pre-prototyping characterization of this system covering all the unresolved issues on this field. More in details, TPV is a system to convert into electrical energy the radiation emitted from an artificial heat source (i.e. the combustion of fuel) by the use of photovoltaic cells; the produced electrical power is strictly connected to the thermal one as their ratio is almost constant and cannot be changed without severe loss in performance; the coupling between TPV and ORC allows to overcome this limitation and to realize a cogenerative system which can be regulated with a large degree of freedom changing the ratio between the produced electrical and thermal power. A thermodynamic analysis of this system is presented and discussed in order to highlight its potential in the distributed generation scenario.