Abstract: In a scenario of rising global energy needs, societal acceptance of renewable energy and yearning towards energy saving, the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology is playing a relevant role for a variety of renewable energy sources, from biomass to geothermal. ORC applications include also waste heat recovery from industrial processes, a segment with strong development potential. Due to the peculiarity of non-ideal flows in ORCs, measurements such as velocity, mass flow rate or turbine performance, which are routinely carried out in standard cycles and turbomachinery (e.g. gas turbines operating with air and combustion gases), are here very challenging. In addition, no appropriately calibrated instrumentation for non-ideal conditions are available, due to the lack of ad-hoc calibration facilities and calibration data. Such an instrument is key to the industry to improve the quality of their plant measurements and the overall energy conversion process. To tackle the aforementioned issues, the team has conceived a standardised methodology, taking advantages of the research facilities and of the developments on simulation tools carried out at the Laboratory of Compressible fluid dynamics for Renewable Energy Application (CREA, crealab.polimi.it) during the ERC Consolidator NSHOCK project, for the design and calibration of an accurate multipurpose probe for non-ideal flows, the Non-Ideal Pitot Probe (NIPP), for economical and independent instant data acquisition. A solution that raised the interest of the leading ORC players, representing over 90% of the market (see letters of interest) and of relevant manufacturer in close field of applications (oil & gas, compressors). Within the ERC PoC PROVA project, we intend to scale up the NIPP technology and accelerate its maturity level, thus assessing its technical and commercial feasibility. A prototipe of the NIPP probe, calibrated for a typical ORC working fluid (siloxane fluid MM), is the tangible outcome of the present proposal.
