Waste heat recovery from a diesel engine using shell and tube heat exchanger

Exhaust heat from diesel engines can be an important heat source to provide additional power using a separate Rankine Cycle. In this study, experiments were conducted using water as the working fluid to estimate the exhaust waste heat obtainable from a diesel engine using two available heat exchangers purchased from the marketplace. An additional power of 16% was found. As these heat exchangers were not specifically designed for this application, attempts were then made to improve the overall performance of the exhaust heat recovery system by optimizing the design of the heat exchangers. The working fluid pressure and the orientation of heat exchangers were also optimized. After optimization, the additional power increased from 16% to 23.7%.