Performance Evaluation of Heat Exchangers in OTEC Using Ammonia/Water Mixture as Working Fluid

The ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) system is a promising solution to provide stable electricity supply. Although the available temperature difference in OTEC systems is small, an ammonia/water mixture as working fluid is expected to decrease irreversible losses in the heat exchangers and to improve system performance. However, in actual heat exchangers, an adequate temperature crossing does not occur in the condenser but in the evaporator. Therefore, clarification of this characteristic is important. To date, the logarithmic temperature difference (LMTD) method is used in performance evaluations of OTEC heat exchangers. This method is of limited use if physical properties of fluids vary. A generalized mean temperature difference (GMTD) method is introduced to perform this evaluation. As changes in fluid property values can be considered in the GMTD method, method dependencies on heat exchanger characteristics, effectiveness, and system characteristics can be studied. In particular, GMTD and LMTD using a pure substance were found to be almost equal. Mean temperature differences using mixtures as working fluid were higher in the evaporator, but lower in the condenser, from the GMTD method than from the LMTD method. For higher ammonia concentrations in ammonia/water mixtures, the mean temperature differences from both methods are different.

Experimental and Numerical Investigations on Plate-Type Heat Exchanger Performance

Low-grade Thermal Energy Conversion (LTEC) is a potential source of renewable energy. One of its forms is the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) in which the temperature difference between the warm surface water and the cold deep water of the ocean is utilized in driving a heat engine cycle. Unlike the conventional thermal power generation systems, the temperature difference between the heat source and heat sink in OTEC system is relatively small. Therefore, efficient heat exchangers should be used since heat exchangers play a major role in the overall system performance and economics. Due to their efficiency even in operating at small temperature difference, plate heat exchangers are strong candidates in OTEC systems. In this study, performance of a herringbone plate-type heat exchanger is experimentally investigated. Moreover, numerical simulation results obtained by using Fluent CFD software are compared with the experimental results and found in good agreement.

Characteristic of Local Boiling Heat Transfer of Ammonia and Ammonia/Water Binary Mixture on the Plate Type Evaporator

Power generation using small temperature difference such as ocean thermal energy conversion(OTEC)and discharged thermal energy conversion(DTEC)is expected to be the countermeasures against global warming problem.As ammonia and ammonia/water are used in evaporators for OTEC and DTEC as working fluids,the research of their local boiling heat transfer is important for improvement of the power generation efficiency.Measurements of local boiling heat transfer coefficients were performed for ammonia/water mixture(z=0.9-1)on a vertical flat plate heat exchanger in a range of mass flux(7.5-15 kg/m2s),heat flux(15-23 kW/m 2),and pressure(0.7-0.9 MPa).The result shows that in the case of ammonia/water mixture,the local heat transfer coefficients increase with an increase of mass flux and composition of ammonia,and decrease with an increase of heat flux.