Potential of Organic Rankine Cycles for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Steam Rankine cycles are typically employed as the power system for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, but with the problem of low system efficiency. In this paper, Organic Rankine Cycles are proposed as an alternative, where the required output power is of the order of 10 kW. The working conditions and associated sizing constraints for power cycles operating at underwater environments are first detailed. The small-scale axial turbine is specifically...