Organic Rankine cycles (ORCs) are used for electricity production from low-temperature (geothermal) heat sources. These ORCs are often designed based on experience, but this experience will not always lead to the optimum configuration. The ultimate goal is to design ORCs by performing a system optimization. In such an optimization, all components and cycle parameters are optimized together to obtain the optimum power plant configuration; all components are adjusted to each other. In this paper, a first step towards such a system optimization is taken by optimizing the cycle parameters together with the configuration of the plate heat exchangers. In this way every heat exchanger has the optimum allocation of heat exchanger surface, pressure drop and pinch point temperature difference for the given boundary conditions and for use in the obtained ORC.
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