Second law analysis of a solar powered Rankine cycle/vapor compression cycle

Abstract

A virtually unlimited quantity of heat is available as solar energy. Conversion of this heat energy to power or air conditioning, however, is a difficult and costly process. Only two practical means of solar cooling are presently state-of-the-art. These are by use of the Rankine cycle/vapor compression cycle (RC/VCC) and the absorption refrigeration cycle. Considerable interest is currently centered around RC/VCC systems. RC/VCC solar cooling systems convert collected solar heat into a cooling effect. This is accomplished at the site of the installation by using the Rankine cycle to generate the shaft work required to drive a vapor compression cycle. In this present study, the second law analysis is given, the maximum reversible work, lost work and availability for each component are calculated. The use of lost work or irreversibility and availability analysis in a real thermodynamic and heat transfer problem is very important in at least two regards. The first one is that in most cases accomplishing a real problem with the less irreversibility is directly proportional to the less cost. The second one is that availability is one of our natural resources. The conservation and effective use of availability reserves result in the decrease irreversibilities.