Real Rankine Cycle PV Diagram A real Rankine cycle or non-ideal cycle used in actual power plants do not undergo isentropic compression and expansion by pump and turbine respectively. These processes are irreversible compared to the ideal cycle, and there is an increase in entropy as shown in the T-s diagram below.

Similar to a simple Rankine cycle, a basic organic Rankine cycle (ORC) consists of four processes: increasing pressure of the working fluid through a pump, high temperature heat addition through an evaporator, expansion of the high temperature as well as high pressure fluid through a turbine, and low temperature heat ...

The organic Rankine cycle can be used in the solar parabolic trough technology in place of the usual steam Rankine cycle. The ORC allows electricity generation at lower capacities and lower collector temperature, and hence the possibility for low-cost, small scale decentralized CSP units.

The Rankine cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle of a heat engine that converts heat into mechanical work while undergoing phase change. The thermal efficiency equals 1 minus the ratio of the low-to-high pressures to the power of 1 minus the reciprocal of the heat capacity ratio.