Preliminary Experimental Testing of Automotive Alternator in as Micro-Power Generator in a Biomass-Fire Organic Rankine Cycle System

The need to curb carbon emissions and tackle the issues of global warming has sparked the search for new technologies and fuels that are environmentally friendly. This includes the use of renewable sources of energy such as biomass as primary energy source. The use of micro generators like the automotive alternator in generating decentralized power for use in remote locations and rural populations in developing countries without any form of electricity is the subject of this paper. The current trend in Europe and elsewhere is concentration in centralized power generation and distribution with significant energy waste due to transmission losses via the grid. This paper briefly describes the demonstration of the possibility of generating electricity of a few watts to about 1kWe enough for charging of cell phones, laptops and lighting of a few low energy bulbs for the purposes of reading and other indoor activities. A prime mover will be driven by energy from the direct combustion of biomass in an ORC system composed of a biomass boiler, a recuperator and a condenser and a receiver which contains the working fluid. The mechanical energy is then converted to electricity using the automotive alternator driven by the prime mover and the experimental outcome, results and analysis indicated and presented in this paper by the authors. This innovation allows for alternators to be comprehensively deployed in micro-power generation and breeching the power gap in non-grid connected and remote locations across the global landscape and solving energy problems and saving the environment as the process is environmentally friendly.