Improvement in The Performance of Cooling Tower of Thermal Power Plant

Improvement in the Performance of Cooling Tower Of Thermal Power Plant
Cooling tower (CT) is used to dissipate heat from heat sources to heat sink in a thermal power
plant. The cooling of hot effluents and water is required due to reuse and environmental factors,
so when we have to consider a cooling tower using water which has scale formation and
corrosion. Also, the performance of cooling tower is reduced. The researchers have used
performance of fill area of CT using various methods such as Numerical Analysis,
Mathematical Model, Engineering Equation Solver Software and Experimental Analysis. The
heat transfer (HT) of cooling tower (CT) is influenced by the parameters like water inlet
temperature, humidity and air WBT. Water recirculation is an important aspect in the cooling
towers. The cooling tower effectiveness depends on flow rates of air and water and water
temperature. Minimization of heat loss is an important objective. This analysis emphasizes on
increasing efficiency of CT and water savings to make it more economical.
Cooling towers (CT) are widely used to remove large amounts of heat from air and machinery
equipment. But, they require large amounts of water when properly maintained, and they can
waste large amount of water when they’re not maintained properly due to wasteful practices,
faulty equipment and leaks. Industrial cooling towers are used for removal of excessive heat
from water. Cooling towers are of two types : open and closed water circuits. These types
function as heat exchangers based on the counter flow principle of heat transfer.
In a cooling tower, cool water is pumped away from the cooling tower to the hot source
equipment and is circulated through it. The cool water (around 29.3° C) absorbs heat from the
hot equipment and it becomes hot. The hot water (around 37.9° C) then circulates back to the
cooling tower. In the cooling tower, the hot water is sprayed downward, and then air is blown
upward with a blower/fan. As the hot water droplets come in contact with the air, some of the
water droplets evaporate, and the air absorbs the heat released from this process. Due to this
process, temperature of the remaining water is lowered. This cooling effect is called as the
latent heat of evaporation. During this process, some water is lost by the misting effect into the
air and some water is lost to the air from evaporation. The hot water obtained from various
applications can be cooled and reused. In cooling towers, air is passed via parallel flow or
counter flow with water. Ideally, the heat gained by air is equal to the heat lost by water. But
in this type of heat transfer, some factors like quality of air, scaling, fouling factor, corrosion,
pH value of water, etc. also need to be considered. The efficiency of cooling tower depends on
air and water flow rates and operating temperatures.
Conclusion :
Poor cooling water treatment and control system results in increase of facility costs caused by
the destruction and poor efficiency of expensive equipment, damage to the facility setup, cost
of water and drainage, and more energy consumption and cost. Selection of proper cooling
water system and techniques based on aspects of chemistry and control needed will increase
the probability of obtaining efficient equipment cooling with maximum heat transfer efficiency
at the lowest possible total cost. Thus, facilities that contribute sufficient time and resources to
the main area will require lower cost and more efficient operation.
 Study of Air Cooled Steam Condenser Optimized Location in Plant through CFD
Analysis
A general layout of thermal power plant without the location of air cooled steam condenser is
modelled. All the modelled equipment have been provided with their corresponding skin
temperature which is noticed from various steam power plants. Normal air (Properties : 27C
& 9 m/s) flows from all the directions and then the results are plotted against the plot plan of
steam power plant by CFD software. Compiling all the results obtained from graphs of
temperature plotted against various directions, we will obtain the zone where the air cooled
steam condenser can be located. The air cooled condenser shall be located in such a way that
the direction of wind shall be in cross flow type through the steam power plant. With an
increase in 1° C temperature of ambient air temperature there will be around 5% decrease in
the efficiency of air cooled condenser. Henceforth, it becomes necessary to consider the
optimized location of air cooled condenser to minimize the impact of skin temperature of
nearby machinery/equipment.
Air cooled steam condenser uses dry cooling technology to reject heat from the steam power
plant. The overall efficiency of the steam power plant is dependent on the performance of air
cooled steam condenser. But the performance of air cooled steam condenser is dependent upon
fan performance, ambient air temperature, and wind. An air cooled steam condenser must be
designed which has high performance, higher capacities and should also have the
considerations such as low cost and weight. An important aspect in the performance factor of
the air cooled Steam condenser in thermal power plant is the location and wind direction.
Because, its efficiency is inversely proportional to the ambient temperature. When the ambient
air comes in the contact of various heated equipment like air pre-heater, economizer, boiler,
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), etc., it gets heated due to heat transfer by convection mode
resulting in the increase of ambient temperature. We cannot tackle this local heating of air as
it is a natural process and the insulation of equipment has certain limitations. So, it’s crucial
that the Air Cooled steam condenser shall be located in such a region where the localized
heating is minimum.
CFD ANALYSIS :
To tackle the problems of localized heating and windy conditions, CFD analysis is done so that
the windy condition and localized heating of ambient air is minimized. The analysis constitutes
of Model generation (fig 1), Model mesh generation (fig 2), CFD analysis and results. The
required data for CFD analysis is tabulated in Table.1. The analysis is carried from cross Flow
along the steam power plant. For boundary conditions, the speed of air is considered : 9 m/s.
The temperature for analysis is considered : 300 K.
Temperature Profile is created along : LINE 1 and LINE2. This profile will depict the variations
of physical parameters along the distance in plant. In LINE 1 and LINE 2 observations, the X
and Y coordinate represent the location in plants and the Z coordinate shows the elevation
which is equal to 10m in all cases. This is because, in air Cooled Steam Condenser the air inlet
is about from height of 10m. The LINE 1 and LINE 2 are usually located in the region where
the Air Cooled steam condenser is located.
Conclusion :
The optimized location of the Air cooled condenser can be anywhere outside of zone indicated
by coordinate system in figure 7 as mentioned, on the basis of the analysis of heat transfer &
fluid flow characteristics in the steam power plant layout. If we locate the air cooled condenser
inside the marked zone, then with an increase in every 1°C of temperature the
performance/efficiency of system reduces by 5%. Thus, the system shall be located in front of
TG building with cross flow of air. The overall sizing can be reduced by placing the condenser
system at the optimized location as shown in figure 7 as ambient air temperature is a crucial
parameter for designing the size the air cooled condenser.

Improvement in The Performance of Cooling Tower of Thermal Power Plant

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