Design of a MoNiKa-ORC-turbine model in Simulink and comparison with experimental results

This work consists in the development of a computational model for the steam turbine currently operational in MoNiKa test facility plant, located in KIT-Campus Nord, Germany. Given that this corresponds to the first attempt to model the mentioned turbine, the selected approach was to elaborate a highly simplified model that considers the system as a whole, unique element, and therefore calculates in terms of the turbine’s inlet and outlet parameters. The development was made in Simulink, using a basic configuration of blocks and features, and also some specific parts were coded in MATLAB. The building process resulted firstly in a simplified version of the model that supports constant inputs and outputs and consequently is independent of time; and a final version that supports time-dependent inputs and outputs, and can be employed to simulate transient operation conditions. The validation was made using real data provided by the plant, with a selection of several cases that reflected different operation conditions. Final results showed that the model is successful in predicting stationary operation cases, and also achieved good results with some transient operation conditions that presented progressive variations. However, the model is not suitable for simulation of fast-varying conditions.