Development of innovative thermodynamic cycles is important for the efficient utilization of low-temperature heat sources such as solar, geothermal, and waste heat sources. Binary mixtures exhibit variable boiling temperatures during the boiling process, which leads to a good thermal match between the heating fluid and working fluid for efficient heat source utilization. This study presents a theoretical and an experimental analysis of a combined power/cooling cycle, which combines the Rankine and absorption refrigeration cycles, uses ammonia-water mixture as the working fluid and produces power and refrigeration, while power is the primary goal. This cycle, also known as the Goswami Cycle, can be used as a bottoming cycle using waste heat from a conventional power cycle or as an independent cycle using low to mid-temperature sources such as geothermal and solar energy. A thermodynamic analysis of power and cooling cogeneration was presented. The performance of the cycle for a range of boiler pressures, ammonia concentrations, and isentropic turbine efficiencies were studied to find out the sensitivities of net work, amount of cooling and effective efficiencies. The thermodynamic analysis covered a broad range of boiler temperatures, from 85 °C to 350 °C. The first law efficiencies of 25-31% are achievable with the boiler temperatures of 250-350 °C. The cycle can operate at an effective exergy efficiency of 60-68% with the boiler temperature range of 200-350 °C. An experimental study was conducted to verify the predicted trends and to test the performance of a scroll type expander. The experimental results of vapor production were verified by the expected trends to some degree, due to heat transfer losses in the separator vessel. The scroll expander isentropic efficiency was between 30-50%, the expander performed better when the vapor was superheated. The small scale of the experimental cycle affected the testing conditions and cycle outputs. This cycle can be designed and scaled from a kilowatt to megawatt systems. Utilization of low temperature sources and heat recovery is definitely an active step in improving the overall energy conversion efficiency and decreasing the capital cost of energy per unit.

Les contraintes législatives, environnementales et économiques poussent les constructeurs automobiles à envisager toutes les solutions possibles pour optimiser au mieux la consommation de carburant des véhicules. La récupération d'énergie à l'échappement fait partie de ces solutions envisageable et le moteur à cycle de Rankine offre de nombreux avantages.Le choix de cette technologie de récupération d'énergie à l'échappement est justifié au moyen d'un état de l'art complet ainsi qu'au moyen d'une comparaison basée sur des simulations au moyen de modèles calibrés. Ces simulations ont permis également de donner un ordre de grandeurs des gains de consommation attendus sur différents cycles de conduite.L'expanseur du moteur à cycle de Rankine est un des éléments-clés du système. Aucun expanseur disponible sur le marché n'est adapté pour l'application véhicule. Dès lors, le dimensionnement d'un nouvel expanseur a été entrepris. Ce dimensionnement a nécessité le développement d'un modèle détaillé de l'expanseur scroll. Le moteur à cycle de Rankine fonctionne avec de l'eau et les expériences passées ont montré que la gestion d'un mélange eau-huile est particulièrement délicate. Le choix d'opérer sans lubrification a été réalisé et une attention particulière s'est portée sur la lubrification sèche des volutes de l'expanseur. Des essais expérimentaux ont permis de mettre en évidence les propriétés tribologiques de divers couples de matériaux. La définition des matériaux du joint radial et des volutes de l'expanseur a donc pu être réalisée.Finalement, cet expanseur a pu être testé sur un banc d'essais. Ce banc a également permis de tester plusieurs autres composants du moteur à cycle de Rankine. Les performances de ces composants ont pu être mesurées lors d'essais stabilisés et ils ont également permis de calibrer des modèles semi-empiriques. Ces modèles peuvent être utilisés dans l'évaluation des performances du système de récupération. / Automotive manufacturers seek every possibility to reduce passenger car fuel consumption due to several constraints such as legislative, environmental or economical ones. Waste heat recovery is one of those possibilities and, among the waste heat recovery solutions, Rankine cycle heat engines provide numerous advantages.A complete state of the art and a comparison based on calibrated semi-empirical models justified the choice of a Rankine cycle heat engine as the waste heat recovery technology to be investigated in this thesis. The simulation of different technologies also provided some orders of magnitude of the achievable fuel consumption reduction.The expander of the Rankine cycle heat engine is one of the key element of the system. No commercially available expander is suitable for a waste heat recovery application on passenger cars. Therefore, a new expander has been sized and manufactured. A detailed model of the scroll expander has been built in order to size the expander.The working fluid of the Rankine cycle heat engine is water and previous experimental works have shown that a mix of steam and lubricating oil is not easy to manage. Dry lubrication has therefore been chosen and experimental test have been run to study tribological properties of different couples of materials. Those tests allowed to choose the material of the involute and the tip seal of the expander.Finally, the expander has been tested in a Rankine cycle heat engine. Other components of the Rankine cycle heat engine have also been tested. Performances of those components have then been measured in steady conditions. These measurements allowed the calibration of semi-empirical models that can therefore be used to evaluate the performance of the system.