Thermo-economic optimization of solar organic Rankine cycle based on typical solar radiation year

The thermo-economic optimization of a solar organic Rankine cycle (SORC) should consider the features of fluctuations in solar radiation based on local historical solar radiation. However, the use of historical solar radiation is inconvenient for thermo-economic optimization because it involves considerable computational effort for simulation. To overcome this inconvenience, we propose the thermo-economic optimization of SORC by using typical solar radiation year (TSRY). TSRY is a synthesis of typical solar radiation on the basis of historical solar radiation, indicating that TSRY can reflect the typical features of fluctuations in solar radiation in a specific area. Afterward, the multi-objective genetic algorithm (GA) is selected to optimize the dynamic performance of a small-scale SORC by using the TSRY. In GA, the evaporation temperature and capacity of thermal energy storage are taken as optimization parameters, and the power output and fluctuation in power output are optimization goals. Accordingly, Pareto frontiers that optimize the SORC performance can be obtained. The effect of different parameter combinations in the Pareto frontiers and the scale of the SORC on thermo-economic are further analyzed using annual net profit as an indicator. Our analysis shows that a minimum SORC scale for profitability is set for a given location, and the profit growth rate increases as the system scale increases.