Award Date

12-15-2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering (MSE)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Robert Boehm

Second Committee Member

Kwang Kim

Third Committee Member

Hui Zhai

Fourth Committee Member

Yahia Baghzouz

Number of Pages

172

Abstract

Thermoelectric power generation uses 38% of total fresh water withdrawals and majority of that water is used during steam condensation. Air-cooled condensers are an alternative to water-cooled condensers for power generation. Ambient air temperature affects the performance of air-cooled condensers. A small air-cooled condenser was run under the ambient air temperature extremes of Las Vegas in order to examine the system performance and air-side heat transfer parameters. Three different sets of tubes with different surface areas and geometries were studied. The condenser is equipped with several air velocity sensors, thermocouples and thermistors to measure the conditions to develop the air-side heat transfer parameters and to measure the system performance. The ambient air temperature changes due to seasonal changes affects the condensate temperature. Fin spacing on the tube banks affects the air flow through the tubes, changing the heat transfer coefficient location depending on the ambient air temperature. The air-side convective heat transfer is greater in conditions with higher ambient air temperature despite the higher condensate temperature. The Euler number through the tube banks is not affected by the ambient air temperature when certain criteria is met under the implemented operating conditions. The energy coefficient is greater in the summer with sufficient surface area but does not equate to lower condensate temperatures

Keywords

air-cooled condenser; dry-cooling

Disciplines

Mechanical Engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

2.0 MB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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