Implementation of a Remote Pump Laboratory Exercise in the Training of Engineering Students

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucio Monaco ◽  
Damian M. Vogt ◽  
Torsten H. Fransson
Keyword(s):  
Test Data ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Parallel Operation ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Laboratory Exercise ◽  
Email Address ◽  
Mass Flow Rates

The use of laboratory exercises in the training of engineering students is of paramount importance to give the students the possibility to gain practical experience on real hardware and on real test data. Recent trends in the education of engineers at the Department of Energy Technology at KTH go towards an increasing share of distant-based education, which is put in place to educate students at different geographic locations, not only locally (such as for example with engineers in industry) but also internationally (i.e. with students in different countries). In order to provide the possibility to follow a course at a distance without compromising on learning objectives and learning quality, a number of remotely operated laboratory exercises have been developed and implemented in the engineering curriculum at the department. Among these, to mention the work carried out by Navarathna et al. [11] on a remotely operated linear cascade test facility. The present laboratory exercise is integrated in a course on turbomachinery and gives the students the possibility to interactively learn about the operation of pumps at various speeds, various mass flow rates, parallel operation and serial operation. Students access the laboratory exercise using a web-based interface, perform measurements and finally have test data sent to an initially specified email address for further analysis.

scholarly journals Integration of Helicopter Annular Combustion Chamber Rig in Propulsion Systems Course for Graduate Students

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Al-Asmi ◽  
A. Vandel ◽  
G. Cabot ◽  
F. Grisch ◽  
V. Moureau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Combustion Chamber ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Propulsion Systems ◽  
Flow Rates

The integration of graduate research in the training of engineering students has demonstrated a significant increase in learning efficiency, by giving them a practical experience with real industrial issues. The department of Energy and Propulsion of National Institute of Applied Sciences in Normandy, a French Engineering School, continues to implement the latest fully instrumented facilities in their field to initiate the students to inquiry-based education courses. In this type of education, they are carrying out a series of tests, learning how to handle equipment, control and monitor tests, extract results and ultimately analyze and present them in technical reports. This paper addresses how the Helicopter Annular Combustion Chamber test facility has been integrated in the Propulsion systems engineering course sequence. The Annular Combustion Chamber kindly provided by SAFRAN Helicopter Engines was progressively incorporated and instrumented in a dedicated test facility by the students themselves along the last 8 years. Now, this laboratory practical work offers the students the possibility to interactively learn about the operation of a combustion chamber inside a helicopter engine at various air/fuel flow rates. Students learn how to determine the limits of ignition/non-extinction as a function of the entry air-flow rate. In addition, this facility is equipped with high-level instrumentation that allows to measure the different flow rates, pressure, temperature inside and outside the annular chamber, and the pollutant emissions at the exit. Results provided by students help to build a comprehensive knowledge base of combustion phenomena inside a turbojet engine. It is to be mentioned that this educational facility is unique in its category, from the point of view of results accuracy, instrumentation level and realistic operating conditions.

The Gas Turbine Test Facility in the Information Age

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant T. Patterson ◽  
C. Edward Dorman ◽  
W. R. Sloan
Keyword(s):  
Gas Turbine ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Test Data ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Communications Networks ◽  
Storage Devices ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
Security Network

The Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) must supply test data and test results to a geographically diverse customer base. The rapid expansion of communications technology has reshaped the landscape of how this data and information are transmitted to gas turbine manufacturers whose products are tested at AEDC. This paper will discuss the development of the communication networks for the transmittal of engine test data and information in near real-time. Past, present and future communication capabilities will be discussed. Topics will include the communication networks, the communication protocol, transmission security, network infrastructure, computers and storage devices of the overall data management and transmission system. Finally the AEDC Integrated Test Information System (ITIS) will be discussed. ITIS takes advantage of the latest technologies in communications networks, web-based communication, information/data fusion and the archiving of test data, metadata and information.

Status Report—Advanced Heat Exchanger Technology for a CCGT Power Generation System

1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. E. Wright ◽  
L. L. Tignac
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Fluidized Bed ◽  
Ceramic Materials ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Generation System ◽  
Power Generation System

Rocketdyne is under contract to the Department of Energy for the development of heat exchanger technology that will allow coal to be burned for power generation and cogeneration applications. This effort involves both atmospheric fluidized bed and pulverized coal combustion systems. In addition, the heat exchanger designs cover both metallic and ceramic materials for high-temperature operations. This paper reports on the laboratory and small AFB test results completed to date. It also covers the design and installation of a 6×6 ft atmospheric fluidized bed test facility being used to correlate and expand the knowledge gained from the initial tests. The paper concludes by showing the direction this technology is taking and outlining the steps to follow in subsequent programs.

Sustainable Covers for Uranium Mill Tailings, USA: Alternative Design, Performance, and Renovation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Waugh ◽  
Craig H. Benson ◽  
William H. Albright
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Sagebrush Steppe ◽  
Natural Soil ◽  
Structural Development ◽  
Percent Cover ◽  
Mill Tailings ◽  
Uranium Mill Tailings

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management is investigating alternatives to conventional cover designs for uranium mill tailings. A cover constructed in 2000 near Monticello, Utah, USA, was a redundant design with a conventional low-conductivity composite cover overlain with an alternative cover designed to mimic the natural soil water balance as measured in nearby undisturbed native soils and vegetation. To limit percolation, the alternative cover design relies on a 160-cm layer of sandy clay loam soil overlying a 40-cm sand capillary barrier for water storage, and a planting of native sagebrush steppe vegetation to seasonally release soil water through evapotranspiration (ET). Water balance monitoring within a 3.0-ha drainage lysimeter, embedded in the cover during construction, provided convincing evidence that the cover has performed well over a 9-year period (2000–2009). The total cumulative percolation, 4.8 mm (approximately 0.5 mm yr−1), satisfied a regulatory goal of <3.0 mm yr−1. Most percolation can be attributed to the very wet winter and spring of 2004–2005, when soil water content exceeded the storage capacity of the cover. Diversity, percent cover, and leaf area of vegetation increased over the monitoring period. Field and laboratory evaluations several years after construction show that soil structural development, changes in soil hydraulic properties, and development of vegetation patterns have not adversely impacted cover performance. A new test facility was constructed in 2008 near Grand Junction, Colorado, USA, to evaluate low-cost methods for renovating or transforming conventional covers into more sustainable ET covers.

Experimental and Numerical Modeling of Transition Matrix From Momentum to Buoyancy-Driven Flow in a Pressurized Water Reactor

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Ho¨hne ◽  
So¨ren Kliem ◽  
Roman Vaibar
Keyword(s):  
Mass Flow ◽  
Transition Matrix ◽  
Turbulence Models ◽  
Wire Mesh ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Pressurized Water ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Water Reactor ◽  
Ansys Cfx ◽  
Mass Flow Rates

The influence of density differences on the mixing of the primary loop inventory and the Emergency Core Cooling (ECC) water in the cold leg and downcomer of a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) was analyzed at the ROssendorf COolant Mixing (ROCOM) test facility. This paper presents a matrix of ROCOM experiments in which water with the same or higher density was injected into a cold leg of the reactor model with already established natural circulation conditions at different low mass flow rates. Wire-mesh sensors measuring the concentration of a tracer in the injected water were installed in the cold leg, upper and lower part of the downcomer. A transition matrix from momentum to buoyancy-driven flow experiments was selected for validation of the CFD software ANSYS CFX. A hybrid mesh with 4 million elements was used for the calculations. The turbulence models usually applied in such cases assume that turbulence is isotropic, whilst buoyancy actually induces anisotropy. Thus, in this paper, higher order turbulence models have been developed and implemented which take into account for that anisotropy. Buoyancy generated source and dissipation terms were proposed and introduced into the balance equations for the turbulent kinetic energy. The results of the experiments and of the numerical calculations show that mixing strongly depends on buoyancy effects: At higher mass flow rates (close to nominal conditions) the injected slug propagates in the circumferential direction around the core barrel. Buoyancy effects reduce this circumferential propagation with lower mass flow rates and/or higher density differences. The ECC water falls in an almost vertical path and reaches the lower downcomer sensor directly below the inlet nozzle. Therefore, density effects play an important role during natural convection with ECC injection in PWR and should be also considered in Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) scenarios. ANSYS CFX was able to predict the observed flow patterns and mixing phenomena quite well.

Component Test Facility (ComTest) Phase 1 Engineering for 760C (1400F) Advanced Ultra-Supercritical (A-USC) Steam Generator Development

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. Weitzel
Keyword(s):  
Power Plant ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Steam Generator ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Plant Design ◽  
Front End ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
Component Test

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W) has received a competitively bid award from the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy to perform the preliminary front-end engineering design of an advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam superheater for a future A-USC component test program (ComTest) achieving 760C (1400F) steam temperature. The current award will provide the engineering data necessary for proceeding to detail engineering, manufacturing, construction and operation of a ComTest. The steam generator superheater would subsequently supply the steam to an A-USC intermediate pressure steam turbine. For this study the ComTest facility site is being considered at the Youngstown Thermal heating plant facility in Youngstown, Ohio. The ComTest program is important because it would place functioning A-USC components in operation and in coordinated boiler and turbine service. It is also important to introduce the power plant operation and maintenance personnel to the level of skills required and provide initial hands-on training experience. Preliminary fabrication, construction and commissioning plans are to be developed in the study. A follow-on project would eventually provide a means to exercise the complete supply chain events required to practice and refine the process for A-USC power plant design, supply, manufacture, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance. Representative participants would then be able to transfer knowledge and recommendations to the industry. ComTest is conceived as firing natural gas in a separate standalone facility that will not jeopardize the host facility or suffer from conflicting requirements in the host plant’s mission that could sacrifice the nickel alloy components and not achieve the testing goals. ComTest will utilize smaller quantities of the expensive materials and reduce the risk in the first operational practice for A-USC technology in the U.S. Components at suitable scale in ComTest provide more assurance before applying them to a full size A-USC demonstration plant. The description of the pre-front-end engineering design study and current results will be presented.

Web-Based, Interactive Laboratory Experiment in Turbomachine Aerodynamics

2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nalin Navarathna ◽  
Vitalij Fedulov ◽  
Andrew Martin ◽  
Torsten Fransson
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Laboratory Exercise ◽  
Pressure Profiles ◽  
Laboratory Facility ◽  
Stepper Motors ◽  
Loss Coefficients ◽  
And Control ◽  
Local Laboratory

Remote laboratory exercises are gaining popularity due to advances in communication technologies along with the need to provide realistic yet flexible educational tools for tomorrow’s engineers. Laboratory exercises in turbomachinery aerodynamics generally involve substantial equipment in both size and power, so the development of remotely controlled facilities has perhaps not occurred as quickly as in other fields. This paper presents an overview of a new interactive laboratory exercise involving aerodynamics in a linear cascade of stator blades. The laboratory facility consists of a high-speed fan that delivers a maximum of 2.5 kg/s of air to the cascade. Traversing pneumatic probes are used to determine pressure profiles at upstream and downstream locations, and loss coefficients are later computed. Newly added equipment includes cameras, stepper motors, and a data acquisition and control system for remote operation. This paper presents the laboratory facility in more detail and includes discussions related to user interface issues, the development of a virtual laboratory exercise as a complement to experiments, and comparative evaluation of virtual, remote, and local laboratory exercises.

Control of a Supercritical CO2 Recompression Brayton Cycle Demonstration Loop

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Conboy ◽  
J. Pasch ◽  
D. Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Supercritical Co2 ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Power Conversion ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Test Facility ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Power Cycle ◽  
Test Loop ◽  
Recompression Cycle

The US Department of Energy is currently focused on the development of next-generation nuclear power reactors, with an eye towards improved efficiency and reduced capital cost. To this end, reactors using a closed-Brayton power conversion cycle have been proposed as an attractive alternative to steam turbines. The supercritical-CO2 recompression cycle has been identified as a leading candidate for this application as it can achieve high efficiency at relatively low operating temperatures with extremely compact turbomachinery. Sandia National Laboratories has been a leader in hardware and component development for the supercritical-CO2 cycle. With contractor Barber-Nichols Inc, Sandia has constructed a megawatt-class S-CO2 cycle test-loop to investigate the key areas of technological uncertainty for this power cycle, and to confirm model estimates of advantageous thermodynamic performance. Until recently, much of the work has centered on the simple S-CO2 cycle — a recuperated Brayton loop with a single turbine and compressor. However work has recently progressed to a recompression cycle with split-shaft turbo-alternator-compressors, unlocking the potential for much greater efficiency power conversion, but introducing greater complexity in control operations. The following sections use testing experience to frame control actions made by test loop operators in bringing the recompression cycle from cold startup conditions through transition to power generation on both turbines, to the desired test conditions, and finally to a safe shutdown. During this process, considerations regarding turbocompressor thrust state, CO2 thermodynamic state at the compressor inlet, compressor surge and stall, turbine u/c ratio, and numerous other factors must be taken into account. The development of these procedures on the Sandia test facility has greatly reduced the risk to industry in commercial development of the S-CO2 power cycle.

The Roadmap for Experimental Teaching of Science and Engineering Based Subjects

2014 ◽  
pp. 173-194
Author(s):  
Gordana Collier ◽  
Andy Augousti ◽  
Andrzej Ordys
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Experimental Teaching ◽  
Industry Standard ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Standard Software

The continual development of technology represents a challenge when preparing engineering students for future employment. At the same time, the way students interact in everyday life is evolving: their extra-curricular life is filled with an enormous amount of stimulus, from online data to rich Web-based social interaction. This chapter provides an assessment of various learning technology-driven methods for enhancing both teaching and learning in the science and engineering disciplines. It describes the past, present, and future drivers for the implementation of hands-on teaching methods, incorporating industry standard software and hardware and the evolution of learning experiments into all-encompassing online environments that include socializing, learning, entertainment, and any other aspect of student life when studying science and engineering.

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