Solar energy system with rankine cycle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12422172-B2
Application number	US-202519208674-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2025
Priority date	Dec 19, 2022
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

The systems of the present disclosure include a solar-powered steam Rankine cycle (SRC) subsystem to convert solar energy into thermal energy and store the thermal energy; an ejector refrigeration cycle (ERC) subsystem to provide a first refrigeration effect with a first range of temperature based on the thermal energy; an absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) subsystem to provide a second refrigeration effect with a second range of temperature based on the thermal energy; a brine refrigeration cycle (BRC) subsystem to generate and store when there is no cooling demand and provide a third refrigeration effect with a third range of temperature based on the electrical power generated by the ERC subsystem and the ice being melted; and an adsorption refrigeration cycle (ADRC) subsystem to provide a fourth refrigeration effect with a fourth range of temperature based on the thermal energy.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A solar energy system, comprising:
a solar-powered steam Rankine cycle (SRC) subsystem configured to receive solar energy, convert the solar energy into thermal energy, and store the thermal energy, wherein the SRC includes a central receiver (CR) in the form of an elevated tank configured to receive solar energy reflected from a plurality of heliostats to heat cold molten salt flowing through the CR;
an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) subsystem configured to generate an electrical power based on the thermal energy;
an absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) subsystem configured to generate a refrigeration effect based on the thermal energy;
a multi-effect desalination (MED) subsystem configured to desalinate seawater to produce first desalinated water based on steam generated from the ORC subsystem;
a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination subsystem configured to desalinate the seawater to produce second desalinated water based on the electrical power generated by the ORC subsystem; and
a hydrogen production subsystem configured to produce hydrogen from the second desalinated water produced by the RO desalination subsystem.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the SRC subsystem includes
a heat recovery vapor generator (HRVG) configured to
generate superheated steam for the ORC subsystem based on the heated molten salt, and
pass the heated molten salt to the ARC subsystem;

a hot molten salt storage tank configured to
store the heated molten salt, and
pass the heated molten salt from the CR to the HRVG;

a cold molten salt storage tank configured to
store the cold molten salt, and
pass the cold molten salt from the ARC subsystem to the CR; and

a heat transfer fluid (HTF) pump (P 1 ) configured to pump the cold molten salt from the ARC subsystem to the cold molten salt storage tank.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the ORC subsystem includes
a high-pressure turbine (HPT) configured to generate a first part of the electrical power based on the superheated steam from the HRVG of the SRC subsystem;
a low-pressure turbine (LPT) configured to generate a second part of the electrical power based on the superheated steam from the HRVG of the SRC subsystem;
a steam ejector (EJE) configured to
generate a mixture by mixing an exhaust from the HPT and vapor from the MED subsystem, and
pass the mixture to the MED subsystem;

a first condenser (C 1 ) configured to condense steam from a turbine (T) of the ORC subsystem into water;
a heat exchanger (HX) configured to
generate condensate based on exhaust steam from the low-pressure turbine, and
generate steam based on the water from the first condenser;

a third pump (P 3 ) configured to pump the condensate from the heat exchanger to the HRVG of the SRC subsystem;
a fourth pump (P 4 ) configured to pump the cooled water from the first condenser to the heat exchanger; and
the turbine (T) is configured to generate a third part of the electrical power based on the steam from the heat exchanger.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the MED subsystem includes
a third condenser (C 3 ) configured to heat and forward the seawater to a first evaporation effect of a plurality of evaporation effects; and
the plurality of evaporation effects configured to produce the first desalinated water from the heated seawater, wherein the first evaporation effect is driven by the mixture from the steam ejector of the ORC subsystem; and
a second pump (P 2 ) configured to pump condensate from the first evaporation effect to the HRVG of the SRC subsystem.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the ARC subsystem further comprises:
a generator (G) configured to
pass the heated molten salt from the HRVG to the cold molten salt storage tank of the SRC subsystem,
generate superheated water vapor refrigerant based on the heated molten salt flowing through the generator,
generate a strong solution based on a weak solution flowing into the generator;

a second condenser (C 2 ) configured to generate saturated liquid refrigerant by cooling the superheated water vapor refrigerant from the generator;
a first evaporator (E 1 ) configured to provide the refrigeration effect by generating saturated water vapor based on the saturated liquid refrigerant from the second condenser;
a first throttle valve (TV 1 ) configured to
pass the saturate liquid refrigerant from the second condenser to the first evaporator, and
reduce a pressure of the saturated liquid refrigerant to a pressure of the first evaporator;

an absorber (A) configured to generate the weak solution by mixing the strong solution with the saturated water vapor from the first evaporator;
a solution heat exchanger (SHX) configured to
pre-heat the weak solution from the absorber,
pass the pre-heated weak solution to the generator, and
pre-cool the strong solution from the generator;

a fifth pump (P 5 ) configured to pump the weak solution from the absorber to the SHX; and
a second throttling valve (TV 2 ) configured to
pass the pre-cooled strong solution from the SHX to the absorber, and
reduce a pressure of the pre-cooled strong solution to a pressure of the absorber.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the RO desalination subsystem includes
a high-pressure pump (P 6 ) configured to pump seawater to a semi-permeable RO membrane that demineralizes the seawater to produce the second desalinated water.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the hydrogen production subsystem includes:
a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer configured to produce hydrogen and oxygen through a water separation process of the second desalinated water from the RO membrane of the RO desalination subsystem;
a hydrogen compressor configured to compress and cool the hydrogen;
a hydrogen storage tank configured to store the compressed hydrogen; and
an oxygen storage tank configured to store the produced oxygen,
wherein the high-pressure pump is powered by the second part of the electrical power generated by the low-pressure turbine of the ORC subsystem and both the PEM electrolyzer and the hydrogen compressor are powered by the third part of the electrical power generated by the turbine of the ORC subsystem.

Assignees

• Univ King Fahd Pet & Minerals

Inventors

• Alazazmeh Ayman Jamal

Classifications

• F25B25/00

  Machines, plants or systems, using a combination of modes of operation covered by two or more of the groups F25B1/00 - F25B23/00 · CPC title

• C02F2103/08

  Seawater, e.g. for desalination · CPC title

• B01D2313/243

  Pumps · CPC title

• F24S20/20

  Solar heat collectors for receiving concentrated solar energy, e.g. receivers for solar power plants · CPC title

• F22B1/006

  using solar heat · CPC title