Transient modeling of an ambient-temperature-source centrifugal-compressor steam-generating heat pump
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Bandhauer, Todd M..
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A power plant system is disclosed. The power plant system includes a combustor configured, a turbine configured to generate electricity, a heat exchanger and a steam turbine, a carbon capture system configured to remove at least a portion of carbon-based gasses from the flue gas downstream from the heat recovery steam generator, and a thermal storage system including a hot storage unit configured to store thermal energy at a hot temperature, the hot temperature greater than ambient temperature. The power plant is configured to operate in at least a first mode for storing thermal energy in the thermal storage system and a second mode for releasing the stored thermal energy from the thermal storage system and during the second mode, heat stored in the hot storage unit is transferred to the carbon capture system.
As the U.S. grid evolves toward a lower-carbon system, fossil generation assets need to operate in energy markets with high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration while also decreasing carbon emissions. Current carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies suffer from high capital cost and an inability to operate flexibly during periods of oscillating demand. The ARPA-E FLECCS Program Phase 1 was created to fund designing and optimizing innovative CCS processes that enable flexibility on a high-VRE grid. To address this need, the Colorado State University (CSU) Team won funding to design a synergized system of thermal energy storage, power generation, and flexible carbon capture to enable breakthrough system performance that achieves an LCOE <$75/MWh with >99% capture rate. This approach will target new or existing natural gas combined cycle power plants. The proposed design utilizes novel hot and cold thermal energy storage (TES) technologies that store low-cost, off-peak electricity as thermal energy to power CCS solvent regeneration and boost plant output during periods of peak demand. The design provides an overall optimized net present value (NPV) by maximizing low carbon power to grid while prices are highest using Storworks Power’s concrete TES technology. The team also capitalizes on decades of ION Clean Energy’s (ION) development in low cost and flexible pioneering solvent technology, which has proven reductions in energy consumption and overall cost of 28% and 38%, respectively, compared with state-of-the-art CCS.
Aspects of the present disclosure include a system for turbo-compression cooling. The system may be aboard a marine vessel. The system includes a power cycle and a cooling cycle. The power cycle includes a first working fluid, a waste heat boiler configured to evaporate the working fluid, a turbine, and a condenser. The condenser condenses the working fluid to a saturated or subcooled liquid. The cooling cycle includes a second working fluid, a first compressor configured to increase the pressure of the second working fluid, a condenser configured to condense the second working fluid to a saturated or subcooled liquid after exiting the first compressor, an expansion valve, and an evaporator. The turbine and first compressor are coupled one to the other. The waste heat boiler receives waste heat from engine jacket water and lubricating oil from a ship service generator. The evaporator cools water in a shipboard cooling loop.
Irrigation accounts for 42% of the total freshwater withdrawals in the United States. Climate change, the pressure of a growing population, degrading water quality, and increased competition from other sectors could constrain continuous supply to meet future agricultural water demand. This study presents an evaluation framework to assess the potential reuse of agricultural drainage water for crop irrigation. Using a regional approach, we review the current state of agricultural drainage treatment and reuse and the institutional, economic, and other barriers that can influence the reuse decision. In the 31 eastern states, agricultural drainage contains valuable nutrients that can be reused for irrigation with minimal treatment, while the 17 western states struggle with large volumes of saline drainage that can contain constituents of concern (e.g., selenium), preventing reuse without treatment. Using a new decision-support tool called WaterTAP3, a potential treatment train for saline agricultural drainage was analyzed to identify treatment challenges, research needs, and the potential implementation at a larger scale. As demonstrated by our case study, desalination of agricultural drainage is costly and energy intensive and will require sizable investments to fully develop and optimize technologies as well as manage the generated waste and brine.
Plate frame heat exchangers are common in liquid-coupled vapor compression systems due to their compactness and ease of maintenance. In some of these systems, the refrigerant within the evaporator can enter the heat exchanger as a subcooled liquid. As a result, the refrigerant passes through three different phases: single-phase liquid, two-phase fluid, and a superheated vapor. Unfortunately, there have been limited prior studies that have identified the best method to predict performance under these circumstances. Furthermore, previous investigations have not evaluated refrigerant evaporation in large industrial sized plate frame heat exchangers under conditions experienced in the present study experimental test facility, especially at mass fluxes below 7 kg m –2 s –1 . In the present investigation, a model was developed to predict the performance of plate and frame heat exchangers when the fluid enters as a subcooled liquid and exits as a superheated vapor. The model used full-sized plate heat exchanger geometry that was discretized into 20 sections to accurately capture local heat transfer and pressure drop effects. The model was validated using an R134a counter flow heat exchanger used in a turbo-compression cooling system test facility that had subcooled liquid entering the evaporator at low mass fluxes. A variety of empirical correlations were evaluated to determine what combination yielded the best predictive capability over the following range of conditions: 5.8 < G < 6.8 kg m –2 s –1 , 2 < q” < 2.8 kW m –2 , and 10 °C < T sat < 15 °C. When the correlations used a fixed control volume length in the heat flux calculation, the most accurate combination resulted in a mean absolute error of 5.5%. Finally, future studies can use the approach described here to optimize heat exchanger size and performance.