Ammonia corrosion analysis of copper tubes and experimental research on non-copper improvement for heat exchanger in power plant

Ammonia corrosion in copper tube will affect the safety of boiler running in power plant. Therefore, no copper in heating system has become a technical orientation in heat exchanger reconstruction, This paper analyzes the condition and mechanism of ammonia corrosion occurring in copper tube used in coal-fired power plants. Using a general steam condensation testing equipment only for horizontal single tube, with water vapor and water as working fluid, on two types of steel tube with 2-side enhancement heat transfer, namely, a spirally fluted tube and a ratchet tube with internal spiral groove （RISG tube） which was developed recently, a set of experimental tests are conducted to investigate the characteristics of heat transfer and hydromeehanics. In order to compare easily, both one copper smooth tube and one steel smooth tube are also used in the experiment. The experimental results, which get from single horizontal tube, show that the overall heat transfer coefficient of steel spirally fluted tube are improved by 10%o to 17%, and that of the steel RISG tube（22%-28%） is better than steel spirally fluted tube, its flow resistance coefficient is only increased by 22% to 66% when compared with smooth tube. Based on a lot of experimental data, the steel spirally fluted tube and the steel RISG tube were applied in a low pressure preheater and an oil-cooler of some or other power plant respectively. The field testing results showed that their heat transfer coefficient with each types of enhancement heat transfer tubes were improved by 2.5% and 21%-45% comparing with copper smooth tube heat exchangers. Both basic and field experiment indicates that the steel tube with 2-side enhancement heat transfer is an ideal choice for heat exchanger reconstruction in no copper issue in power plants.

Heat Transfer Enhancement and Vortex Flow Structure in the Spirally Fluted Tubes

The turbulence kinetic energy and heat transfer performance of air in spirally fluted tube were numerically studied at a constant wall temperature with Reynolds number(Re)between 5000 and 45000.Furthermore,the flow dynamics and heat transfer performance of spirally fluted tubes with five different geometric parameters as well as the effects of separation vortex and swirling wake flow on heat transfer and flow resistance were analyzed.According to the results,heat transfer is enhanced mainly because the fluid hit the windward side of the flute,thus generating a strong turbulence kinetic energy to further reconstruct the boundary layer.The second reason is that the formation of the recirculation zone between the flutes disturbs the boundary layer caused by the flow separation.With the increase of flute depth ratio(L_(d)/D),the separation vortex will become stronger and larger on the leeward side of flute.The separation vortex will break the boundary layer and improve the heat transfer capacity which is accompanied with the increase of fluid resistance.As the flute pitch length ratio(L_(p)/D)decreases,the spiral flow is strengthened,and meanwhile more wake flow is generated.The spiral flow causes little impact on enhancing heat transfer but inhibits the development of the separation vortex and fluid pulsation;in addition,the fluid resistance is reduced at the same time.The maximum value of the average Nusselt number appears when Re=5000,L_(d)/D=0.25 and L_(p)/D=1.00,which is 2.53 times the value of smooth tube.In view of the whole range of Reynolds number,the thermal performance enhancement factor indicates that L_(d)/D=0.15 and L_(p)/D=1.00 are the optimal geometric design parameters.