EPRI: On-demand Sweating-Boosted Air Cooled Heat-Pipe Condensers for Green Power Plants

EPRI：用于绿色发电厂的按需发汗增压风冷热管冷凝器

• 批准号: 1357920
• 负责人: Chen Li
• 金额: $ 67.5万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-01 至 2018-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1357920&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EPRI; demand; Sweating; Boosted; Air

1357920LiHybrid cooling, as proposed here, will have direct impact on power plants, particularly in increasing the power generation efficiency, reducing approximately 70% water usage (compared to cooling towers) and by alleviating the dependence of air cooling performance on the ambient conditions (i.e. weather conditions; ambient air temperature and moisture, cross winds etc.). The foundational knowledge gained from this project will stimulate the transition from current cooling equipment of power plants to this unique and novel technology. The substantial water saving will help relieve the water crisis facing US and the world. By active dissemination of the fundamental findings, it will offer the scientific community a unique understanding of effectively cooling large scale power plant units in an efficient environment-friendly, and sustainable way. In this research, novel heat-pipe condensers cooled by on-demand sweat-boosted air cooling will be developed to achieve unprecedented cooling capability and substantially reduce the size and footprint of air-cooled condensers (ACC), with a minimal penalty in power production. This can be achieved by innovatively engineering phase change heat transfer to drastically enhance three major heat transfer processes in ACC. Specifically, heat acquisition will be enhanced by dropwise condensation on robust Nickel alloy coatings created by atmospheric plasma spray (APS); temperature difference can be significantly reduced by highly conductive heat pipes (as the condenser core) enabled by novel hybrid microscale wick structures; and the heat rejection process will be dramatically enhanced by devising sweat-evaporation that mimics the primary mechanism of mammals to effectively dissipate heat during physical exercise. Novel nanowicks will be developed from functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to realize evaporation and create durable self-cleaning coatings. The heat and mass transfer on micro/nano-engineered surfaces will be experimentally and numerically studied. Component level models will be integrated in a Virtual Test Bed (VTB) to achieve high fidelity modeling of ACCs and power plants. Compared with conventional ACCs, the capital cost can be potentially reduced by 67% as estimated in our preliminary model. To achieve the objectives of this three-year project, five major research tasks will be carried out: 1) designing and evaluating condensers in a VTB; 2) devising sweat-boosted air cooling; 3) developing high performance heat pipes as the core of the condenser; 4) enabling dropwise condensation for heat acquisition; and 5) benchmarking modeling in a lab scale condenser.Underrepresented student support is emphasized in this project. Outreach activities geared towards high school students, teachers, and general public will be carried out.

本文提出的混合冷却将对发电厂产生直接影响，特别是在提高发电效率、减少约70%的用水量（与冷却塔相比）以及减轻空气冷却性能对环境条件（即天气条件;环境空气温度和湿度、侧风等）的依赖方面。从该项目中获得的基础知识将促进从目前的发电厂冷却设备到这种独特而新颖的技术的过渡。大量节约用水将有助于缓解美国和世界面临的水危机。通过积极传播基本发现，它将为科学界提供一种独特的理解，以有效的环境友好和可持续的方式有效地冷却大型发电厂机组。在这项研究中，将开发新型热管冷凝器，通过按需汗液增强空气冷却来冷却，以实现前所未有的冷却能力，并大幅减少风冷冷凝器（ACC）的尺寸和占地面积，同时将发电成本降至最低。这可以通过创新性地设计相变传热来实现，以大幅增强ACC中的三个主要传热过程。具体而言，通过大气等离子喷涂（APS）在坚固的镍合金涂层上形成滴状冷凝来增强热量获取;通过高导热热管可以显著减小温差（作为冷凝器芯）;并且通过设计模拟哺乳动物在体育锻炼期间有效散热的主要机制的汗液蒸发，将显著增强散热过程。将从功能化的碳纳米管（CNT）开发新型的石墨烯，以实现蒸发并产生耐用的自清洁涂层。微/纳米工程表面上的传热和传质将进行实验和数值研究。组件级模型将集成在虚拟试验台（VTB）中，以实现ACC和发电厂的高保真建模。与传统的ACCs相比，资本成本可以减少67%，在我们的初步模型估计。为达成此三年计划之目标，本计画将进行五项主要研究工作：1）设计及评估VTB冷凝器; 2）设计汗流强化空气冷却; 3）开发高效能热管作为冷凝器核心; 4）实现滴状冷凝取热; 5）在实验室规模的冷凝器中进行基准建模。本项目强调学生的支持。将开展面向高中学生、教师和公众的外联活动。