Integrated High Operating Temperature Heat Storage System for Process Waste Heat
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Heat recovery from enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is a complex process involving heat transport in both fracture networks and rock formations. A comprehensive understanding of and the ability to model the underlying heat transport mechanisms is important for the success of EGS but remains challenging in practice due to the generally insufficient characterization of EGS reservoirs. In the present study, we analyze an extensively monitored intermediate-scale EGS field experiment performed in a well-characterized testbed. The high-resolution, high-quality measurements from the field experiment enable the development of a high-fidelity model incorporating a well-constrained fracture network. Based on the field experiment, we investigate the complex heat transport processes in an EGS-relevant environment and validate the capability of a numerical approach in simulating these inherently coupled heat transport processes. A series of numerical simulations were performed to study the effects of different heat transport mechanisms, including thermal convection with fracture flow, thermal conduction in rock formations, and the Joule-Thomson effect. The agreement of thermal responses between field measurements and simulation results indicates that our numerical approach can appropriately model the heat transport processes pertaining to heat recovery from EGS reservoirs.
A method includes making coiled tubing at a coiled tubing manufacturing unit coupled to a coiled tubing transportation system. One or more coiled tubing reels are transported from the coiled tubing manufacturing unit to one or more moveable well drilling systems using the coiled tubing transportation system. The coiled tubing transportation system runs from the tubing manufacturing unit to one or more movable well drilling systems, and then back to the coiled tubing manufacturing unit.
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GTI Energy (GTI) teamed with the University of California at Merced (UCM) to scaleup the hybrid solar system (HSS) technology for demonstrating its performance at the US Gypsum (USG) plant in Plaster City, California. The technology integrates two-stage concentrating solar collector with matching particle thermal transport and storage (TSS) system to deliver cost-effective, and on-demand distributed high temperature industrial process heat up to 600°C with solar thermal, in this case to a gypsum kettle, to reduce its fuel use and carbon footprint. Current solar technologies, which reach these temperatures, are not distributable (towers) or cost-effective (dish). The research team developed a conceptual system design for host site retrofit, including preliminary heat balance, process flow diagram, particle to process heat exchanger and equipment placements at the site. Subsequently, parallel efforts were carried out at UCM to design, build and test a 12 m long commercial scale prototype concentrating thermal-only collector system and at GTI to design, build and test a matching 650°C capable particle TTS system. The nominal 50 kWth collector consists of a parabolic trough and three 4 m long two-stage receivers in series. Prior to on-sun testing, a 4 m long receiver was fabricated and successfully tested at 650 °C in a laboratory setting for 100 hrs of continuous operation showing less than 15% radiation loss. A 7 m wide x 17 m long parabolic trough was then installed at UCM for on-sun testing of the 12 m long receiver, and concurrently several 4 m long receivers were built. The optics of the parabolic trough were calibrated, and on-sun test were carried out on 12 m long receivers. During tests, the intense solar radiation (53x) caused the absorber tubes in the receivers to bend, reducing the overall optical efficiency. To address the bending issue, a self-consistent algorithm that includes ray tracing, thermal and deformation models was developed to perform thermal stress analysis on absorbers for parabolic solar collectors. Results obtained with this algorithm showed a dramatic rise in deformation as absorber tube length increases. A combined efficiency parameter that includes the occluded area for the mounts was developed to obtain an optimized tube length obtained. Based on the results, a length of 2.7 m for the absorber + 0.2 m for the coupler was chosen to minimize any bending and optimize optical efficiency while maintaining ease of mounting. The associated particle TTS system was designed, built and successfully tested at GTI. It includes storage, receiving and lock hoppers and piping that simulates the transfer of captured solar energy to an actual industrial furnace. Tests over 77 charge-discharge cycles demonstrated <2% particle degradation, with no problematic particle accumulations and no flow interruptions. The piping pressure drop was about 5 psi. The team also worked with Stanley Consultants (Stanley) to prepare conceptual and preliminary engineering packages to facilitate follow-on development and commercialization efforts. These include process and instrumentation diagram’s (P&ID’s), general arrangements, electrical one-line, project definitions document, equipment data sheets, schedule, and construction cost estimate for 2 MWth system. Updated HSS technology commercialization and customer engagement plans and detailed costs and evaluated market trade-offs and manufacturing.
The project supported the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in identifying and evaluating the regulatory implications concerning the control and protection systems proposed for use in the Department of Energy's (DOE) Next-Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP). The NGNP, using modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology, is to provide commercial industries with electricity and high-temperature process heat for industrial processes such as hydrogen production. Process heat temperatures range from 700 to 950 C, and for the upper range of these operation temperatures, the modular HTGR is sometimes referred to as the Very High Temperature Reactor or VHTR. Initial NGNP designs are for operation in the lower temperature range. The defining safety characteristic of the modular HTGR is that its primary defense against serious accidents is to be achieved through its inherent properties of the fuel and core. Because of its strong negative temperature coefficient of reactivity and the capability of the fuel to withstand high temperatures, fast-acting active safety systems or prompt operator actions should not be required to prevent significant fuel failure and fission product release. The plant is designed such that its inherent features should provide adequate protection despite operational errors or equipment failure. Figure 1 shows an example modular HTGR layout (prismatic core version), where its inlet coolant enters the reactor vessel at the bottom, traversing up the sides to the top plenum, down-flow through an annular core, and exiting from the lower plenum (hot duct). This research provided NRC staff with (a) insights and knowledge about the control and protection systems for the NGNP and VHTR, (b) information on the technologies/approaches under consideration for use in the reactor and process heat applications, (c) guidelines for the design of highly integrated control rooms, (d) consideration for modeling of control and protection system designs for VHTR, and (e) input for developing the bases for possible new regulatory guidance to assist in the review of an NGNP license application. This NRC project also evaluated reactor and process heat application plant simulation models employed in the protection and control system designs for various plant operational modes and accidents, including providing information about the models themselves, and the appropriateness of the application of the models for control and protection system studies. A companion project for the NRC focused on the potential for new instrumentation that would be unique to modular HTGRs, as compared to light-water reactors (LWRs), due to both the higher temperature ranges and the inherent safety features.
Heat transfer analysis for cellular model of pool film boiling - optimal boundary value process
Mathematical treatment of nonstationary heat- conduction processes by applying finite differences in space and differentials in time
We consider three one-dimensional continuous-time Markov processes on a lattice, each of which models the conduction of heat: the family of Brownian Energy Processes with parameter m (BEP(m)), a Generalized Brownian Energy Process, and the Kipnis-Marchioro-Presutti (KMP) process. The hydrodynamic limit of each of these three processes is a parabolic equation, the linear heat equation in the case of the BEP(m) and the KMP, and a nonlinear heat equation for the Generalized Brownian Energy Process with parameter a (GBEP(a)). We prove the hydrodynamic limit rigorously for the BEP(m), and give a formal derivation for the GBEP(a). We then formally derive the pathwise large-deviation rate functional for the empirical measure of the three processes. These rate functionals imply gradient-flow structures for the limiting linear and nonlinear heat equations. We contrast these gradient-flow structures with those for processes describing the diffusion of mass, most importantly the class of Wasserstein gradient-flow systems. The linear and nonlinear heat-equation gradient-flow structures are each driven by entropy terms of the form -log ρ; they involve dissipation or mobility terms of order ρ² for the linear heat equation, and a nonlinear function of ρ for the nonlinear heat equation.
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Processes of energy exchange in dissipative systems of nonidentical interacting particles (having different sizes, charges, etc.) with an inhomogeneous distribution of sources of heat and/or any other sources of stochastic kinetic energy are considered. A theoretical model is proposed for analyzing the energy balance in such systems. Analytical relations describing the redistribution of the “kinetic temperature” between interacting particles of the system are obtained within this model. These relations are tested by the numerical simulation of the problem for Yukawa systems.
Heat transfer in evacuated multilayer insulation by radiation and conduction, considering optically thin media separating reflective layers
The industrial heat supply process (HSP) is a highly nonlinear cascaded process which uses a steam valve opening as its control input, the steam flow-rate as its inner loop output and the supply water temperature as its outer loop output. The relationship between the heat exchange rate and the model parameters, such as steam density, entropy, and fouling correction factor and heat exchange efficiency are unknown and nonlinear. Moreover, these model parameters vary in line with steam pressure, ambient temperature and the residuals caused by the quality variations of the circulation water. When the steam pressure and the ambient temperature are of high values and are subjected to frequent external random disturbances, the supply water temperature and the steam flow-rate would interact with each other and fluctuate a lot. This is also true when the process exhibits unknown characteristic variations of the process dynamics caused by the unexpected changes of the heat exchange residuals. As a result, it is difficult to control the supply water temperature and the rates of changes of steam flow-rate well inside their targeted ranges. In this paper, a novel compensation signal based dual rate adaptive controller is developed by representing the unknown variations of dynamics as unmodeled dynamics. In the proposed controller design, such a compensation signal is constructed and added onto the control signal obtained from the linear deterministic model based feedback control design. Such a compensation signal aims at eliminating the unmodeled dynamics and the rate of changes of the currently sample unmodeled dynamics. A successful industrial application is carried out, where it has been shown that both the supply water temperature and the rate of the changes of the steam flow-rate can be controlled well inside their targeted ranges when the process is subjected to unknown variations of its dynamics.
A thermal expansion coefficient (αp) is an essential thermophysical quantity for high-pressure research. The thermal expansion coefficient is the volume change over the temperature in an isobaric heating process. Although isobaric heating processes for diamond anvil cell (DAC) have been conducted by keeping the pressure constant during heating, pressure determination at high-temperature high pressure is debatable for decades long. In this paper, a revertible heating/cooling approach is presented, while its pressure determination at high-temperature high pressure is not required. We report a pressure-dependent thermal expansion coefficient of MgO at 9.5 GPa by reversible heating/cooling was determined by a DAC and its result matches the one collected by a large volume press, whose isobaric heating was conducted by manually adjusting its load/pressure.
Processing of metallic materials through microwave heating is a challenging area of research. In the present work, joining of stainless steel-316 to stainless steel-316 in the bulk form has been carried out by placing stainless steel-316 powder at the interface and through targeted heating using microwave hybrid heating. The trials were carried out in a multimode microwave applicator at a frequency of 2.45 GHz and power 900 W. The developed joints were characterized using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope and measurement of Vicker's microhardness, porosity and tensile strength. The X-ray diffraction spectrum of the developed joint shows the presence of chromium carbide, iron carbide and iron silicide phases that eventually contribute to enhancement of the microhardness of the joint. The scanning electron microscope micrographs confirm classical metallurgical bonding between the substrate and the interface (molten powder) layer; the epitaxial growth rate was observed adjacent to the fusion zone. The average observed Vicker's microhardness in the joint zone on the grain boundary was significantly higher than that inside the grains due to the presence of various hard phases at the grain boundaries. Evaluation of the tensile strength of the joints showed an average ultimate tensile strength of 425.0 MPa with an average elongation of 9.44%. - Highlights: • Joining of stainless steel (SS-316) plates using microwave hybrid heating • Epitaxial growth rate observed adjacent to the fusion zone of welded joint • The ultimate tensile strength of the order of 425.0 MPa with 9.44% elongation.
A large amount (7,204 TBtu/year) of energy is used for process heating by the manufacturing sector in the United States (US). This energy is in the form of fuels mostly natural gas with some coal or other fuels and steam generated using fuels such as natural gas, coal, by-product fuels, and some others. Combustion of these fuels results in the release of heat, which is used for process heating, and in the generation of combustion products that are discharged from the heating system. All major US industries use heating equipment such as furnaces, ovens, heaters, kilns, and dryers. The hot exhaust gases from this equipment, after providing the necessary process heat, are discharged into the atmosphere through stacks. This report deals with identification of industries and industrial heating processes in which the exhaust gases are at high temperature (>1200 F), contain all of the types of reactive constituents described, and can be considered as harsh or contaminated. It also identifies specific issues related to WHR for each of these processes or waste heat streams.
We consider the coupling from the past implementation of the random–cluster heat-bath process, and study its random running time, or coupling time. We focus on hypercubic lattices embedded on tori, in dimensions one to three, with cluster fugacity at least one. We make a number of conjectures regarding the asymptotic behaviour of the coupling time, motivated by rigorous results in one dimension and Monte Carlo simulations in dimensions two and three. Amongst our findings, we observe that, for generic parameter values, the distribution of the appropriately standardized coupling time converges to a Gumbel distribution, and that the standard deviation of the coupling time is asymptotic to an explicit universal constant multiple of the relaxation time. Perhaps surprisingly, we observe these results to hold both off criticality, where the coupling time closely mimics the coupon collector’s problem, and also at the critical point, provided the cluster fugacity is below the value at which the transition becomes discontinuous. Finally, we consider analogous questions for the single-spin Ising heat-bath process.
A global-scale study is conducted of the radial evolution of the solar wind's temperature (T), number density (n), and entropy (s) thermodynamic properties, on the basis of plasma data from such sources as IMP and ISEE 3, in conjunction with an MHD simulation model. The radial evolution of T and s indicates that the heliospheric plasma is subjected to a heating process; this heating is interpreted to be largely due to the cumulative effect of the shock process with increasing distance from the sun. This simulation model is also used to extrapolate the thermodynamic properties of the solar wind from Voyager 2 to the region of the outer heliosphere that is bounded by the termination shock.