Thermal Analysis Technique for Coolers Operating in Off and Low Load Conditions

Author(s):  
Thomas J. Muldoon

The most conservatively designed power plant heat exchangers are designed to meet a maximum heat load with minimum fluid temperature differences. When the input temperatures are less than design maximums, the cooler will usually be in a position of over performance. This relationship is especially true when the heat exchanger is a closed Component Cooling Water (CCW) heat exchanger with inlet fluid at ambient conditions. Maintaining a consistent cooling temperature is an important concern in the operation of a power plant. It is important that the cooling needs of the equipment such as the hydrogen coolers are maintained at a set temperature. Overcooling may not be of benefit to the equipment. The component which cools the service water with the local cooling water is a component cooling water heat exchanger (CCW). The two primary methods of controlling the heat rejection performance on these vessels is to throttling the tubeside flow to get a consistent shell outlet temperature with control valves or leave the tubeside flow constant and by-pass a portion of the shellside flow. Estimating the performance of the heat exchanger with given set of inlet conditions and a fixed design point can be accomplished using a the Number Transfer Units (NTU) method. Opening and closing the control valve is based on the estimated performance. This analysis can be used by power plant personnel to gauge the operation of these vessels over varying operating conditions. The analysis can also include the effect of different values of cleanliness and the extent of throttling. As a unit experiences fouling, additional flow is required to meet the thermal requirements. Depending upon the extent of fouling, the inlet valve will be either opened or closed. Plant personnel may observe the cooling water inlet temperature and the extent to which the inlet valve is open, and use that information to determine possible fouling and setup a maintenance schedule. The following analytical approach for evaluating low, critical, or off load conditions is important in the design and operation of these types of power plant heat exchangers, piping and control valve systems.

Author(s):  
L. Ike Ezekoye ◽  
Colin Arnold

Heat Exchange Institute (HEI) Standards for Power Plant Heat Exchangers, 4th Edition provides guidance on how to estimate the nozzle loads of cylindrical shells. The procedure covered in one of the appendices of the document relies on WRC Bulletin 107 methodology which uses internal pressure, physical geometry and material properties to estimate external forces and moments. The forces and moments are the limiting loads when the heat exchanger material is taken to yield. The material yield defines the range of possible load combinations that will meet the design criteria. However, for operability, the design criteria sometimes may differ from the yield but usually is based on heat exchanger supplier experience. This paper provides a way to estimate heat exchanger nozzle loads that more closely reflect operating conditions that take into account supplier experience. In this paper, generalized load formulae are developed for the nozzles. The formulae are iteratively solved to meet the stress criteria based on supplier experience. The resultant loads are evaluated using WRC Bulletin 107 to ensure that the loads are bounded by the acceptance criteria. Unbounded loads are rejected and reiterated until the loads are acceptable.


Author(s):  
Edward Levy ◽  
Harun Bilirgen ◽  
Joshua Charles ◽  
Mark Ness

Heat exchangers, which cool boiler flue gas to temperatures below the water vapor dew point, can be used to capture moisture from flue gas and reduce external water consumption for power plant operations. At the same time, thermal energy removed from the flue gas can be used to improve unit heat rate. Recent data also show that emissions of air toxics from flue gas would be reduced by use of condensing heat exchangers. This paper describes results from a slip stream test of a water cooled condensing heat exchanger system at a power plant with a lignite-fired boiler. The flue gas which flowed through the heat exchangers had been extracted from a duct downstream of the electrostatic precipitator. Measurements were made of flue gas and cooling water temperatures, flue gas water vapor concentrations, and concentrations of elemental and oxidized Hg at the inlet and exit of the heat exchanger system. Condensed water was also collected and analyzed for concentrations of H2SO4 and HCl. Results on the effects of the condensing heat exchanger operating conditions on oxidation and capture of Hg and on the capture of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids are described.


Author(s):  
Carolyn J. John ◽  
Consuelo E. Guzman-Leong ◽  
Thomas C. Esselman ◽  
Sam L. Harvey

In response to the technical challenges faced by aging plant systems and components at nuclear power plants (NPP), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has a product entitled Integrated Life Cycle Management (ILCM). The ILCM software is a quantitative tool that supports capital asset and component replacement decision-making at NPPs. ILCM is comprised of models that predict the probability of failure (PoF) over time for various high-value components such as steam generators, turbines, generators, etc. The PoF models allow the user to schedule replacements at the optimum time, thereby reducing unplanned equipment shutdowns and costs. This paper describes a mathematical model that was developed for critical heat exchangers in a power plant. The heat exchanger model calculates the probability of the tubes, shell, or internals failing individually, and then accumulates the failures across the heat exchanger sub-components. The dominant degradation mechanisms addressed by the model include stress corrosion cracking, wear, microbiologically influenced corrosion, flow accelerated corrosion, and particle-induced erosion. The heat exchanger model combines physics-based algorithms and operating experience distributions to predict the cumulative PoF over time. The model is applicable to shell and tube heat exchangers and air-to-water heat exchangers. Many different types of fluids including open cycle fresh water, closed cycle fresh water, sea water, brackish water, air, closed cooling water, steam, oil, primary water, and condensate are included. Examples of PoF over time plots are also provided for different fluid types and operating conditions.


2020 ◽  
pp. 175-183
Author(s):  
Konstantin Yu. Fedorovskiy ◽  
Nadezhda K. Fedorovskaya

    The issues of creating environmentally friendly highly reliable closed-loop cooling systems are considered in the paper. The achievement of these qualities is ensured by the rejection of cooling water intake. The analysis of various coolants of the power installation requiring cooling is carried out. It is shown that for the cooling of a number of coolants it is advisable to create double-circuit cooling systems. This requires the introduction of an additional heat exchanger and the separation of the temperature head between the cooled coolant and seawater. The authors suggest an approach that makes it possible to distribute this temperature head between the circuits optimally. This procedure involves comparing various heat exchangers based on their reduced area. A nomogram is presented to determine the optimal value of the temperature head.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 42-64
Author(s):  
Boris Basok ◽  
Ihor Bozhko ◽  
Maryna Novitska ◽  
Aleksandr Nedbailo ◽  
Myroslav Tkachenko

This article is devoted to the analysis of the heat engineering characteristics of the operation of an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger, EAHE, with a circular cross-sectional shape, which is a component of the geothermal ventilation system. The authors analyzed literature sources devoted to the research of heat exchangers of the soil-air type of various designs and for working conditions in various soils. Much attention is paid to the issues of modeling the operation of such heat exchangers and the distinctive features of each of these models. Also important are the results of experimental studies carried out on our own experimental bench and with the help of which the numerical model was validated. The results of these studies are the basis for the development of a method for determining the optimal diameter of an EAHE under operating conditions for soil in Kyiv, Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1225-1235
Author(s):  
Ajay K. Gupta ◽  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
Ranjit K. Sahoo ◽  
Sunil K. Sarangi

Plate-fin heat exchangers provide a broad range of applications in many cryogenic industries for liquefaction and separation of gasses because of their excellent technical advantages such as high effectiveness, compact size, etc. Correlations are available for the design of a plate-fin heat exchanger, but experimental investigations are few at cryogenic temperature. In the present study, a cryogenic heat exchanger test setup has been designed and fabricated to investigate the performance of plate-fin heat exchanger at cryogenic temperature. Major parameters (Colburn factor, Friction factor, etc.) that affect the performance of plate-fin heat exchangers are provided concisely. The effect of mass flow rate and inlet temperature on the effectiveness and pressure drop of the heat exchanger are investigated. It is observed that with an increase in mass flow rate effectiveness and pressure drop increases. The present setup emphasis the systematic procedure to perform the experiment based on cryogenic operating conditions and represent its uncertainties level.


Author(s):  
Suneel Nagar ◽  
Ajay Singh ◽  
Deepak Patel

The objective of this study is to provide modern analytical and empirical tools for evaluation of the thermal-flow performance or design of air-cooled heat exchangers (ACHE) and cooling towers. This review consist various factors which effect the performance of ACHE. We introduced systematically to the literature, theory, and practice relevant to the performance evaluation and design of industrial cooling. Its provide better understanding of the performance characteristics of a heat exchanger, effectiveness can be improved in different operating conditions .The total cost of cycle can be reduced by increasing the effectiveness of heat exchanger.


Author(s):  
M. Izadi ◽  
D. K. Aidun ◽  
P. Marzocca ◽  
H. Lee

The effect of geometrical features on the air-side heat transfer and friction characteristics of an industrial plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger is investigated by 3-D numerical modeling and simulations. The heat exchanger has been designed and employed as an intercooler in a gas power plant and is a large-size compact heat exchanger. Most of the available design correlations developed so far for plain fin–and–tube heat exchangers have been prepared for small-size exchangers and none of them fits completely to the current heat exchanger regarding the geometrical limitations of correlations. It is shown that neglecting these limitations and applying improper correlations may generate considerable amount of error in the design of such a large-size heat exchanger. The geometry required for numerical modeling is produced by Gambit® software and the boundary conditions are defined regarding the real operating conditions. Then, three-dimensional simulations based on the SIMPLE algorithm in laminar flow regime are performed by FLUENT™ code. The effect of fin pitch, tube pitch, and tube diameter on the thermo-hydraulic behavior of the heat exchanger is studied. Some variations in the design of the heat exchanger are suggested for optimization purposes. It is finally concluded that the current numerical model is a powerful tool to design and optimize of large-size plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers with acceptable accuracy.


Author(s):  
Sourabh Agarwal ◽  
K. Revathy ◽  
I. Banerjee ◽  
G. Padma Kumar ◽  
C. A. Babu ◽  
...  

Several intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) modelling techniques were examined, in order to predict the outlet temperature of primary and secondary sodium at different operating conditions. In the present study, two different approaches namely the Finite Difference Method (FDM) with nodal heat balance and modified nodal heat balance schemes; and Finite Volume Method (FVM) using simple upwind, exponential extrapolation and QUICK schemes have been attempted.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1008 ◽  
pp. 177-185
Author(s):  
Hamed Abbady ◽  
Mahmoud Salem Ahmed ◽  
Hamdy Hassan ◽  
A.S.A. Mohamed

In this paper, an experimental work studies the principal operating parameters of a proposed desalination process using air humidification-dehumidification method. The major objective of this work is to determine the humid air behavior through the desalination system. Different operating conditions including the effect of the water temperature at the entry to the humidifier, the ratio of the mass of water to the air, the air/water flow rate, and cooling water at entry the dehumidifier on the desalination performance were studied. The results show that the freshwater increases with increasing the water temperature at the inlet of the humidifier, the ratio of the mass of water to air, and cooling water flow rate in the dehumidifier. Cooling water outlet temperature at the condenser increases with increasing the water temperature at humidifier inlet. Also, it decreases as increasing cooling water flow rate while the ratio of the mass of water to air achieves the highest productivity and gained output ratio (GOR). The achieved mass ratio (MR) is 4.5 and the mass flow rate of air is 0.8 kg/min.


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