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Energy
EnergyProcedia 129
Procedia 00(2017)
(2017)1002–1009
000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

IV International Seminar on ORC Power Systems, ORC2017

IV International Seminar on ORC Power Systems, ORC2017
13-15 September 2017, Milano, Italy
13-15 September 2017, Milano, Italy
Gear
Gear pump for
The 15th
pump low
low power
forInternational
power output
output ORC
Symposium –
– an
on District
ORC efficiency
anHeating analysis
and Cooling
efficiency analysis
Zbynek Zeleny, Vaclav Vodicka*, Vaclav Novotny, Jakub Mascuch
Assessing Zbynek the Zeleny, feasibility
Vaclav Vodicka*, of using Vaclavthe heat Jakub
Novotny, demand-outdoor
Mascuch
University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings, Czech Technical University in Prague, Trinecka 1024, Bustehrad, 27343, Czech Republic
temperature function
University Centre for Energy forCzech
Efficient Buildings, a long-term district
Technical University in Prague, heat
Trinecka 1024, demand
Bustehrad, 27343, Czech forecast
Republic

Abstract
Abstract I. Andrića,b,c*, A. Pinaa, P. Ferrãoa, J. Fournierb., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
A pump is a necessary component of ORC units. Although it is simple in a principle and various pump types can be used, reality may easily
A pump
bring
a
IN+isCenter
many acomplications.
necessary component
for Innovation, of ORC an
WhenTechnology
designing units.
and Although
Policy
ORC veryitlow
for Research is simple
-power in
Instituto aSuperior
outputprinciple and various
Técnico,
applications pump
Av. Rovisco
(1-10 kW types
Pais
gross can
1,
power be used,Lisbon,
1049-001
production),reality may easily
Portugal
problems such
bring many complications. Whenb designing an ORC for very low power output applications (1-10 kW gross power production), problems such
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
as leakages, mechanical and electrical losses are more significant. Using a tight and reliable pump, typically of a diaphragm type, results in
as leakages,
extremely lowmechanical
c
Département
efficiency, and electrical
Systèmes
which losses are more
Énergétiques
negatively affects significant.
et Environnement
the overall Using
- IMTa Atlantique,
cycle performance. tight and reliable pump,Kastler,
4 rue Alfred typically of aNantes,
44300 diaphragm
Francetype, results in
extremely low efficiency, which negatively affects the overall cycle performance.
We propose for micro ORC units a gear pump. Typical losses in a gear pump and their contributions with respect to issues that need to be
We propose
overcome for micro
(hermetic sealORC units a gear
requirement, pump. Typical
reliability and overalllosses in a gearare
efficiency) pump and their
described contributions
in general with part
in the first respect to issues
of this paper.that
Theneed to are
losses be
overcome (hermetic seal requirement, reliability and overall efficiency)
volumetric, mechanical and also electrical of motor and variable frequency drive. are described in general in the first part of this paper. The losses are
volumetric,
InAbstract
the second mechanical
part of the andpaper
also electrical
we present of motor and variable
the measured frequency drive.
characteristics of the modified commercially available gear pump. The pump is
In the second
intended for anpart
ORCofwiththe apaper we present
net power output the measured
of 1-10 characteristics are
kW. Characteristics of given
the modified
for bothcommercially
a standalone pump available gearpump
and the pump. The pump
coupled with an is
intended for anmotor.
asynchronous ORC withThey a show
net power output ofhigher
significantly 1-10 kW. Characteristics
efficiency than are given
typically for both
reported in athe
standalone
literature.pump and the pump
Contribution of coupledlosses
different with an is
District heating
asynchronous motor.networks
They are significantly
commonly higher addressed in thethan literature asreported
one of in thethemost effective solutionsoffor decreasing the
discussed. Mechanical lossesshow
influence theefficiency typically literature. Contribution different losses is
greenhouse
discussed. gas emissions
Mechanical losses from theoperation
influence building of
operation sector.
of the
pump at low
These
pump at low
pressures
systems
pressures
(lower hydraulic
require high
(lower hydraulic
work but nearly
investments
work which
but nearlyareconstant
returned
constant
power
power
input)
through thewhile
input) heat
while
volumetric losses at higher pressure have only small effect. The largest loss comes from electrical efficiencies of motor and variable frequency
sales. Due
volumetric to the
losses changed
at higher climate
pressure have conditions
only and The
small effect. building
largestrenovation
loss policies, heatefficiencies
comes from demand in motor the futurevariable
could decrease,
drive, especially for operation at low speed. Optimizing the operating conditions of theelectrical
pump together with of the motorand is thereforefrequency
the most
prolonging
drive, the
especially investment
for operation return
at low period.
speed.
important in terms of reducing pump power consumption. Optimizing the operating conditions of the pump together with the motor is therefore the most
important
©The
2017 main
Theinscope
terms of
Authors. ofreducing
this paper
Published pump topower
byisElsevier consumption.
assess the feasibility of using the heat demand – outdoor temperature function for heat demand
Ltd.
© 2017
2017 The
forecast.
Peer-review Authors.
TheTheAuthors.
under Published
district Published
responsibility by
of Elsevier
of Alvalade,by
theElsevierLtd. Ltd.
located
scientific in Lisbon
committee (Portugal),
of the was used
IV International as aoncase
Seminar ORCstudy.
Power TheSystems.district is consisted of 665
Peer-review
Peer-review under
buildings that under responsibility
varyresponsibility of the scientific
of the
in both construction committee
scientific
period and of
committee the of
typology.IV the
International Seminar
IV International
Three weather on ORC (low,
Seminar
scenarios Power
on ORC Systems.
Powerhigh)
medium, Systems.and three district
renovation
Keywords: scenarios
ORC; feed pump;were developed
gear pump; (shallow,
volumetric; intermediate,
isentropic; efficiency; deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
Keywords: ORC; feed pump; gear pump; volumetric; isentropic; efficiency;
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications
Introduction
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation
Introduction
scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered).
TheLow power
value applications
of slope below
coefficient 10 kW on
increased are average
one of the directions
within in current
the range of 3.8%expansion
up to 8%of ORC research and development.
Low
Except power
for applications
expanders, where below 10 kW
the extent are one isoflarge,
of research the directions in current
the ORC performance expansion ofperORC
may also strongly
decade, that corresponds
research
depend onand
pump
to the
development.
efficiency.
decrease
Except forin the number
expanders, of
where heating
the hours
extent of of 22-139h
research is during
large, thethe
ORCheating season
performance (depending
may also on the
strongly combination
depend on of weather
pump and
efficiency.
A back work ratio defined as pump power consumption to expander power production is much higher than for cycles with water.
Arenovation scenarios
back work ratio considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
Theoretically, withdefined
expander as pump power
and pump consumption
isentropic to expander
efficiency power
of 75 %, this production
value goes isupmuch higher
to 0.17 for than
R1234yffor cycles with to
compared water.
less
coupled scenarios).
Theoretically, with The values
expander and suggested
pump could be
isentropic used to of
efficiency modify
75 %, the
thisfunction
value parameters
goes up to for for
0.17 theR1234yf
scenarioscompared
considered,
to and
less
than 0.02 for water [1]. Experimental values are often even significantly worse. A case where the pump is consuming almost all
improve
than 0.02 the
for accuracy
water [1].ofExperimental
heat demand values
estimations.
are often
the power produced by the expander are reported for 2 even
kW ORC significantly worse.on
in [2]. Reports A pump
case where
overalltheelectrical
pump isefficiency
consuming almost7 all
include %
the power produced by the expander are reported for 2 kW ORC in [2]. Reports on pump overall
for a kW scale ORC using HFE-7000 [3], 15 % efficiency and very low net positive suction head for a 2 kWe unit with electrical efficiency include 7 %a
© 2017
for a kWThe Authors.
scale Published
ORC using by Elsevier
[3], Ltd.
diaphragm piston-type pumpHFE-7000
and R123 fluid 15 %
[4], efficiency and
approximately 20 very low net of
% efficiency positive suctionpump
a volumetric head in for1 akW
2 kWe
ORCunitwithwith
R123a
Peer-review
diaphragm under responsibility
piston-type pump and of the fluid
R123 Scientific
[4], Committee of The
approximately 20 %15th International
efficiency of a Symposium
volumetric on District
pump in 1 kWHeating
ORC and R123
with
(isentropic efficiency around 40%) [5]. Using R245fa fluid and a diaphragm pump has reported efficiency of 22 % [6], a
Cooling. efficiency around 40%) [5]. Using R245fa fluid and a diaphragm pump has reported efficiency of 22 % [6], a
(isentropic

Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +420-224-35-6722; fax: +0-000-000-0000 .

* E-mail
Corresponding
address:author. Tel.: +420-224-35-6722; fax: +0-000-000-0000 .
Vaclav.Vodicka@cvut.cz
E-mail address: Vaclav.Vodicka@cvut.cz
1876-6102
1876-6102 ©©2017
2017TheThe
Authors. Published
Authors. by Elsevier
Published Ltd. Ltd.
by Elsevier
1876-6102
Peer-review©under
2017responsibility
The Authors. of
Published by Elsevier
theofscientific Ltd. of the IV International Seminar on ORC Power Systems.
committee
Peer-review under responsibility the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the IV International Seminar on ORC Power Systems.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the IV International Seminar on ORC Power Systems.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.09.227
 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009 1003
2 Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

centrifugal pump with Solkatherm fluid has reported efficiency varying between 10 % and 20 % [7], a plunger pump with R245fa
and pressure difference 5 - 8 bar has efficiency between 20 % and 33 % [8]. A diaphragm pump with unspecified efficiency is
also used in [9]. A sliding vane pump specifically intended for ORC has reported isentropic efficiency about 35 % for given ORC
operation conditions (at higher pressure over 50%) [10], while older work reported maximal electrical efficiency of a sliding vane
pump of 20% [11].
Literature review shows that diaphragm pumps are most favored for small power output ORCs. Manufacturers claim that the
efficiency of their pumps is generally higher than 40–50 % and over 60 % for centrifugal pumps used for larger units. However,
these values are rarely achieved in reality and the efficiency of the pumps typically ranges from 7 to 33 % [1].
Gear pumps are less common with few exceptions such as [12], mainly due to a lower isentropic efficiency which is rather
even not reported by the authors. The gear pump is a volumetric machine working on a principle of two gear shafts, while the
space between gears and casing creates chambers for the working fluid. These pumps can achieve very large pressure in order of
MPa. They exhibit very smooth operation and they are simple and low cost.
In this works we report experimental data of a modified commercially available gear pump with isentropic efficiency around
60 %, used in our experimental ORC unit at UCEEB, CTU in Prague. The ORC is intended for waste heat recovery from high
temperature flue gas and uses hexamethyldisiloxane (MM) as a working fluid. Therefore, the measurements of the gear pump
were performed with this fluid. A vane expander of own design with a power output of approx. 5-8 kW is used within the ORC.
For completeness, the basic parameters of the ORC are: inlet parameters to the expander around 0.5 MPa and 180 °C, condensing
pressure around 0.06 MPa which approximately corresponds to 80 °C (the output heat can be used further for example for
heating).

Nomenclature Subscripts

p pressure [Pa] e electrical

N speed [rpm] h hydraulic
T torque [Nm] is isentropic
V̇ volumetric flow [m3·s-1] mech mechanical
Ẇ power [W] rot rotational
η efficiency [-] VFD variable frequency drive
vol volumetric

1. Gear pump efficiency and losses

A hydraulic work delivered by a pump can be in practical situations defined according to the Eq. (1). Mechanical input power
can be calculated based on the rotational speed of the pump and torque on the shaft (see Eq. (2)). Isentropic efficiency of a pump
is defined by Eq. (3) and overall electrical efficiency of the pump and motor assembly by Eq. (4). An important parameter of
volumetric pumps is a volumetric efficiency defined as a ratio of a real volumetric flow to a theoretical volumetric flow (Eq. (5)).
The theoretical flow is defined by the geometry of the gears, number of teeth and the rotational speed or simply based on the
manufacturer's information.

W h  V  p (1)

2    N rot  T
W mech  (2)
60

W W
is, pump   h   h
(3)
Wmech Wh  W vol,loss  W mech ,loss

W W
el , pump   h   h
 is, pump  el ,motor  el ,VFD (4)
Wel Wmech  W motor,loss  WVFD,loss

V
vol   real
Vgeometry
(5)
1004 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009
Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

The isentropic efficiency of the pump is affected by volumetric and mechanical (i.e. friction) losses. Electrical losses of a motor
and a variable frequency drive (VFD) also play an important role on overall power consumption. As will be shown later,
electrical losses are significant especially at low rotational speed. Volumetric, mechanical and electrical losses are given by
Eq. (6-8). Note that electrical losses, as defined in Eq. (8), also include mechanical losses of the drive, in our case an
asynchronous motor.

W vol,loss  Vleak  p  (1  vol )  Vgeometry  p (6)

W mech ,loss  W mech  W h  W vol,loss (7)

Wel ,loss  Wel  W mech (8)

Volumetric losses are directly related to leakages of the working fluid within the pump, where the fluid flows backwards,
against the desired flow. Possible pathways for these leakages are schematically shown in Fig. 1(a). The leakages can occur
along the gear faces (1), through the clearance between the gears and the stator (2) and eventually also through clearance
between the engaged gears. Mechanical losses for a gear pump (schematically shown in Fig. 1(b)) occur mostly in the shaft seals
(not shown), bushing (1), at the geared rotors and stator faces (2) and eventually (though by manufacturer considered as
negligible) between the gears (3).

a) b)

Fig. 1 (a) Schematic representation of gear pump volumetric losses and (b) mechanical losses

An overall performance is then affected by multiple parameters. For common use in hydraulic applications the pumps are
easily capable of delivering pressures of several MPa. An application for ORC comes with several specific issues. Use of organic
fluids requires hermetic sealing which can have large impact on the mechanical losses. At the same time sealing of the organic
fluids is more difficult than hydraulic oil due to much lower viscosity of organic fluids. Optimizing the seal design is therefore
important, especially with regard to reliable long-term hermetic operation of the pump. On the other hand, the pressures achieved
in the ORC are significantly lower than in typical gear pump applications. As will be demonstrated, mechanical losses influence
operation at low pressures (lower hydraulic work but nearly constant power input) while a higher pressure operation is more
affected by higher volumetric losses.

2. Experiment setup and procedure

A test stand for the pump is schematically shown in Fig. 2(a).; a photo of the test stand is shown in Fig. 2(b). The fluid,
hexamethyldisiloxane (MM) with a small proportion (several percent) of lubricating oil, comes from a tank at ambient pressure
to a gear pump (2) driven by asynchronous motor (1), where torque (3) and rotational speed (4) sensors are installed on a
connecting shaft. Outlet pressure is set by a ball valve (7) and measured by a pressure sensor (6). Volumetric flow is measured by
a sensor (8).
A commercially available gear pump Jihostroj T3, nominally working with hydraulic oil up to pressures of 26 MPa (flow
35 l·min-1 at 1500 rpm) was modified mainly for higher clearances to decrease friction losses. The asynchronous induction motor
is Siemens 1LA9090-4KA (1.1 kW, 1500 rpm, efficiency class IE2), controlled by a single phase VFD Siemens Sinamics G110
1.1 kW. Used sensors and their accuracy are summarized in the Table 1.
 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009 1005
4 Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

a) b)

Fig. 2 (a) Schematic diagram of the pump test stand and (b) its photography

The measurements were performed in series with rotational speed between 431 rpm and 1480 rpm, which corresponds to
output frequency from VFD from 15 Hz to 50 Hz with 5 Hz steps. The outlet pressure was controlled by the ball valve. After
changing the frequency (thus the rotational speed) and valve settings, the measurement began, which took approximately 100
seconds with sampling frequency 1Hz. Records from sensors of output pressure, volumetric flow, torque, rotational speed and
electrical power input to the VFD were taken.

Table 1 Sensors and their parameters

Sensor Type Range Accuracy
Differential pressure sensor BHV DMP 331 0 - 1000 kParel 0.5 %
Turbine flow meter Turbine Vision 2000 2 – 35 l.min-1 3%
Torque meter Lorenz Messtechnik DR-2112R 0 - 20 Nm 0.1 %
RPM meter Lorenz Messtechnik DR-2112R 0 - 30,000 rpm 0.1 %
Power meter Hioki 3333 power HiTester 10,000 W 0.2 %

3. Results and discussion

Experimentally obtained characteristics of the pressure, isentropic and volumetric efficiency as a function of the volumetric
flow are shown for the measured gear pump in Fig. 3(a) and Fig. 3(b) respectively. Note that due to the load of the asynchronous
motor, the rotational speed changed slightly, as the frequency from the VFD remained constant. The difference in rotational
speed within one frequency was at most several percent. In order to avoid these differences in the presented data, the measured
values were always numerically normalized to the speeds which are finally shown in presented graphs.
Theoretical pressure-flow curve of ideal volumetric pump should be a vertical line because the pump provides the same
volumetric flow at all pressures. Measurements of our gear pump show that with the increasing pressure difference, the pump
internal leakages also increase and the volumetric flow is therefore declining.
The volumetric efficiency is dependent on the rotational speed and the pressure difference. Measured values range from 60 %
to 90% and they are above 80% at high rotational speed. Furthermore, it is evident that the maximum values of isentropic
efficiency of the pump for the measured set of rotational speed range from 59% to 77%. These values are significantly higher
than the values reported in literature, mostly for diaphragm pumps. At the same time, it is seen, that the curve of isentropic
efficiency is relatively flat for higher pressure differences. For a general idea, an interpolated map (using a radial basis function)
of isentropic efficiency depending on the volumetric flow and the pressure difference is shown in Fig. 4. Blue points represent
the measured states. It can be seen that with the increasing pressure difference and volumetric flow (and hence increasing the
hydraulic power, according to Eq. (1)) increases also the isentropic efficiency of the pump. In addition, the pump has a high
isentropic efficiency in a relatively large region of measured pressures and flows.
The presented data demonstrate a large potential of gear pumps with optimized clearance and sealing for use in small scale
ORC units. A red dot in the figures represents a design point of our 5 kW experimental ORC unit (26 l·min-1; 430 kPa pressure
difference). Note that at the highest motor speed (1480 rpm) the fluid flow is above the range of guaranteed sensor accuracy and
should be taken rather only as informative.
1006 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009
Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5

a) RPM 431 582 730 873 1031 1183 1329 1480

1200

1000
Pressure difference (kPa)

800

600

400

200

0
5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0
flow (l/min)
100%
b)
90%

80%

70%

60%

50%
Efficiency

40%

30%

20%

10% 1
0 isentropic efficiency
00,5 volumetric efficiency
0%
5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 25,0 30,0 35,0 40,0
flow (l/min)

RPM 431 582 730 873 1031 1183 1329 1480

Fig. 3 (a) Experimental pressure – flow characteristics and (b) flow – efficiency characteristics for various rpm.

Fig. 4 Interpolated map of isentropic efficiency of the measured gear pump depending on pressure difference and volumetric flow,
blue points are the measured states
 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009 1007
6 Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Decomposition of an electrical input power to the hydraulic work, mechanical losses, volumetric losses and electrical losses is
depicted in Fig. 5 as a function of the rotational speed (for a constant pressure difference) and in Fig. 6 as a function of the
pressure difference (for a constant rotational speed). Both absolute (a) and relative (b) values are given. We can see that
contributions of both mechanical and volumetric losses are quite small.
For constant pressure difference of 500 kPa (Fig. 5), absolute values of both mechanical and volumetric losses are almost
independent of rotational speed and these losses are small in comparison to electrical losses. The electrical losses in absolute
value increase with the rotational speed but their relative share decreases probably due to the fact that the efficiency of VFD is
higher at nominal output frequency. In addition, the load of the motor increases with an increase of the rotational speed, which
also positively affects its efficiency.

a) 800 b) 100%
electrical consumption
90%
700 hydraulic work relative
electrical losses 80% eletrical losses

Percentage of delivered power

600 volumetric losses 70%
mechanical losses
500 60% relative
Power (W)

mechanical
50% losses
400
40%
300 relative
30% volumetric
200 20% losses

100 10% relative

hydraulic work
0%
0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
RPM RPM

Fig. 5 Decomposition of the pump delivered electrical input as a function of rpm (for constant pressure difference of 500 kPa), (a) absolute and (b) relative

For a constant rotational speed of 1183 rpm (Fig. 6), the absolute volumetric loss increases with the pressure difference. There
is also a slight increase of the electrical losses, while the mechanical losses can be considered approximately as constant. As the
pressure difference rises, the relative proportion of the mechanical losses decreases. At the lowest measured pressure, the
proportion of the mechanical losses is comparable to the actual hydraulic work delivered to the fluid, whereas at the higher
pressures the mechanical losses become minor. Relative importance of the electrical loss drops as well, however it is still the
major loss. Note that due to the principle of the measurements where the frequency of VFD was controlled, the dependencies on
pressure difference were obtained by linear regression from values around the specified pressure.

a) 900 b) 100%
electrical consumption relative
800 hydraulic work 90% eletrical
electrical losses 80% losses
Percentige of delivered power

700 volumetric losses

mechanical losses 70% relative
600
60% mechanical
losses
Power (W)

500
50%
400 relative
40%
volumetric
300 30% losses

200 20% relative

10% hydraulic
100 work
0%
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Differential pressure (kPa) Differential pressure (kPa)

Fig. 6 Decomposition of the pump delivered electrical input as a function of pressure difference (for constant speed of 1183 rpm), (a) absolute and (b) relative.
1008 Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009
Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 7

It can be seen from the previous graphs that the proportion of the mechanical and volumetric losses of the pump is relatively
low and the pump has a high isentropic efficiency in a large region of the measured pressures and flow rates. The most
significant losses are the electrical losses of the entire pump-motor-VFD assembly. The probable reason is that the used motor
(1.1 kW) is over-sized and that more than 90% of the measured states are measured with the load of the motor lower than 50% of
the rated load. In such operating states, the efficiency of the motor decreases considerably. The efficiency of the VFD also
decreases when the output frequency is low.
Finally, the isentropic efficiency of the gear pump and the overall electrical efficiency of the pump-motor assembly are plotted
in Fig. 7 in relation to the delivered hydraulic work for all the points of our measurements. Except for the large electrical losses it
can be seen that the isentropic efficiency of the pump decreases rather moderately with a decrease of the hydraulic work. Only
when the hydraulic power is less than 100 W, the isentropic efficiency of the pump falls steeply below 50%. The trend of the
overall electrical efficiency is very similar. Values of the overall electrical efficiency range from 2 % to 57 %. The red dot
represents our ORC unit design point, same point as in Fig. 3.

90%

80%

70%
60%
Efficiency (%)

50%
overall electrical
40%
efficiency
30% isentropic efficiency

20%

10%
0%
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
hydraulic work (W)

Fig. 7 Relationship between hydraulic work and isentropic and overall electrical efficiency of the pump for all taken measurements

The figures above show, that for the tested pump, further improvement in isentropic efficiency brings only small improvement
to overall performance, while an optimization should be focused on the electrical efficiency, as was also suggested for often
oversized motors in ORC pumps in [1]. Thus it is important to determine the working point not only of the pump itself, but also
with regard to the motor and VFD.
Regardless of the electrical losses, the measurement showed that the used gear pump showed better isentropic efficiency than
other pumps in micro-ORC units, where the values typically range between 7 % and 30 %. Conclusions from this measurement
are also verified by operation of the pump in our experimental ORC unit.

4. Conclusion

Despite a general trend in use of diaphragm pumps in low power ORC, we propose a use of a gear pump. It is experimentally
shown that a commercial gear pump after minor modifications for use in ORC achieves both isentropic and overall electrical
efficiency up to several times higher than are typical values found in literature. Decomposition of the losses shows that the
proportion of mechanical losses is decreasing as the pressure increases, and the proportion of volumetric losses is increasing. On
the other hand, it was shown that these losses are not too much dependent on the rotational speed. The major losses are electrical
in terms of a whole pump-motor-VFD assembly. Therefore, it is important to correctly determine the operating point not only of
the gear pump but also the driving system (asynchronous motor with VFD in our case) or consider another suitable drives (EC
motors etc.). In our case, an improvement in the electrical efficiency would have significantly higher benefit than improving the
isentropic efficiency.

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports within National Sustainability Programme I
(NPU I), project No. LO1605 - University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings – Sustainability.
8 Z. Zeleny et al./ Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
Zbynek Zeleny et al. / Energy Procedia 129 (2017) 1002–1009 1009

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