An assessment of the effects of fan selection on the performance of

Rankin cycle power generation with air cooled condensers

Abstract
In this project,the effects of fan performance in axial flow air cooled condensers in Rankine
power cycle generation will be assessed. The efficiency of fan mainly influence on blade
angle, hup tip ratio, size and design. The performance evaluation of air cooled condenser fan
design will be through the experimental and numerical characterisation of a various scaled
model of a fan, a review of fan performance characteristics from literature and fan
manufacturer data. These characteristics will be combined with the thermal characteristics of
the heat exchange surface in the condenser, and determine power output characteristics of the
steam turbine with fan performance characteristics from the perspective of net power plant
output.

Introduction
Power generation is very much important issue presently. In power plant some part of the
power is consumed by condenser for cooling steam to liquid state. The main objective of the
project is to reduce power consumption of the condenser so that efficiency of the plant can be
increased. In the actual power plant single fan is used for condensing and in the present work,
to show that multiple or array fan produce more performance and speed can be adjusted
according to the cooling rate. Power plant works under principle of rankine cycle where
steam as a working fluid. Part of the energy is consumed by condenser in the power plant.
Present study is focused on the comparison of power consumed in single and arrays of fan in
a condenser.(Baweja & Bartaria 2013) A condenser is a heat transfer device used to condense
a state of substance from gaseous to liquid, typically by cooling it, where the latent heat is
given up by the substance. Condensers are typically heat exchangers which have various
designs and many sizes. Coolant mainly used is cooling water or surrounding air in many
condensers. The working principle of a condenser is to receive exhausted steam from a
turbine and condense the steam into liquid state. A steam condenser generally condenses
steam below atmospheric pressure. In the condenser the latent heat of condensation is
conducted to the cooling medium flowing through the cooling tubes.

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CONDENSERS USED IN POWERPLANT:

1. Steam Condenser
2. Air Cooled Condenser
STEAM CONDENSER

It is a device where heat is absorbed by the water from the steam at the exhaust of the turbine.
Its main function is to create a very low pressure at the exhaust of turbine and the condensed
steam can be used as feed water.

Fig. 1 Steam cooled condenser

AIR COOLED CONDENSER

Air cooled condenser, is simply a pressure vessel which cools a circulating fluid within
finned tubes by forcing ambient air over the exterior of the tubes. They increase plant
efficiency and a good solution as compared to cooling towers and shell and tube heat
exchangers because they do not require an auxiliary water supply (water lost due to drift and
evaporation, plus no water treatment chemicals are required).
.

Fig. 1 Air cooled condenser

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Advantages of air-cooled Condensers are:

a) No problem arising from thermal and chemical pollution of cooling fluids
b) Flexibility for any plant location and plot plan arrangement because equipment requiring
cooling need not be near a supply of cooling water.
c) Reduction of maintenance costs
d) Easy installation
e) Lower environmental impact than water cooled condenser due to the elimination of an
auxiliary water supply resulting in water saving
f) No use of water treatment chemicals and no need for fire protection system.
For the same amount of heat transfer, the operation of air cooled condensers is more
economic as compared with water cooled condensers typically air-cooled condensers are of
the round tube and fin type. To improve the efficiency of the air-cooled condensers, it
depends on the fan performance. Arrangement of fan in single or multiple rows to pass air
through finned tube bundles (Salta & Krger 1995).

The effectiveness of fan reduces due to inlet flow disturbances or distortion. Reduction in the
air flow rate in the air cooled heat exchangers (ACHE) models for different numbers of fan
rows is determined experimentally. It is observed that significant changes occur in the air
flow rate by varying the fan platform and the ground level by experimental results. Four fan
rows of ACHE placed certain height above ground level, whereby no longer experience
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undisturbed air inflow conditions. Experiment performed to determine the inlet effects on the
performance of a full scaled ACHE model with various fan platform height. The volumetric
effectiveness of a fan defined as the ratio of the actual flow through a fan unit to the free
standing fan unit operating with no inlet disturbances. Volumetric effectiveness of the ACHE
fans having four fan rows in different height. If the elevated height of the fan platform is kept
constant between the periphery and inner fans, increases with number of fans and volumetric
efficiency. The performance increases between the periphery and the inner fans due to the
increases in cross flow velocities added with the number of fan rows.It shows that volumetric
effectiveness of a single or multiple rows ACHE decreases exponentially as the fan platform
height is lowered. By analysis graph of the effectiveness of ACHE can be improved by the
width or by increasing platform area. Direct cooling power plant, the flow rate of each fan
and the overall flow rate of the fan array are obtained in absence of ambient wind. Fan and
array of fans, the cluster factor is calculated and analyzed. The periphery of the fan array has
a small cluster factor because increasing wind speed and direction. Condenser cell, the finned
tube bundles arranged in frame with the axial flow (Conradie & Krrger 1996).
The axial flow fan is considered as actuator disc, model of actuator disc (Meyer & Krger)
studied numerically the effects of the distortions in inlet flow and looses more at inlet
periphery of fan compared to hub tip ratio of the inlet fan (LiJun et al. 2011). The influence
of the looses are compromised by adding the walkway at the edge of the fan platform(Salta &
Krger 1995). Computational fluid dynamics methods to study the effects of ambient wind
cross flows on the performance of axial flow in air cooled condenser. Evaluated the
performance of the fan of the actuator disc in air flow around and through the air cooled
condenser. The thermal flow characteristics of a heat exchanger in array are entirely different
compared to individual condenser cell. Cluster factor defined as the ratio of the volumetric
flow rate of each fan in the axial flow fan array to that of an individual fan. It is observed
greater flow difference between the one particular fan and in the fan array to the
independently running fan; the greater would be the cluster effect. It consists of 6 blades, has
a small hub tip ratio, combined finned tube bundle, the flow and heat transfer through the
finned tube surface solved by the aerodynamic characteristics of the axial flow fans. CFD
method is used to analysis flow through fans and thermal-flow through the finned tube
bundles. Cluster effects determined with and without wind. Without ambient wind reduce the
flow rate of cooling air and poor performance decreased due to inlet distortion in the fan.
With ambient wind, the cluster factors of upwind fans are generally lower than downstream.
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Experimental investigation of fan performance or volumetric effectiveness in the forced air

cooled steam condenser (ACSC)(Bredell et al. 2006). It shows that platform height affects the
volumetric effectiveness of the two different types of axial flow fans. The two fans have the
same diameter, number of blades, rotational speed but different blade design and hub tip.
Array of fan units used in air cooled power plants to condense the steam in a closed steam
cycle. It shows as the platform height lowering results in a reduction in flow rate through the
fans due to flow distortion. The flow rate can be controlled with walkway was confirmed by
numerically. The objective of the study was to compare the critical flow rate delivered by two
different fans in an ACSC section with varying degrees of inlet flow distortion.

Using CFD method, the performance of two different rotor axial flow scaled model fans
determined numerically. Difference between to two axial fans was the ratio of hub tip ratio.
First fan was design with low hub tip ratio, recirculation occurs near the hub and second fan
was designed with high hub tip ratio, fan efficiency at the required volume flow rate and
pressure was increased and reverse backflow eliminated. Experiment was conducted on the
actuator disc model, free inlet and outlet fan characteristics for a scaled model tabulated and
compared with numerical values. The fan static pressure and fan shaft power graph plotted,
shows consistency between numerical prediction and experimental data. The effects of
walkway were determined by plotting graph volumetric effectiveness v/s ratio of platform
height to fan diameter. The entire experiment shows that the reduction in volumetric
effectiveness with a decrease in platform height, increased in inlet flow looses results very
low flow rate and high hub tip ratio fan was found to be less sensitive to inlet flow distortion
compared to low hub tip ratio fan.

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The influence the performance in the axial fans of an air cooled power plant by blade angle.
Experiment was conducted on the array of fan, where heat transfer characteristics for the
finned tube exchangers in the air cooled steam condenser (W. He et al. 2013). Performance of
the array fan will vary with the wind conditions because the inflow and outflow of the
fans(LiJun et al. 2010). It influences heat transfer in a given power plant between the turbine
exhaust and ambient air. The efficiency of the air cooled condenser reduces as the wind speed
increase and increase of the platform height. Based on the actuator disc model and blade
element theory simulate the dynamic characteristics. In the axial fan the flow field due to
distortion inflow was investigated and determine experimentally. In this paper the research
was done on the effect from the wind conditions on the array fan to improve the performance
of the power plant. The pressure jump model has been used to describe the dynamic
characteristics, when the air flows through the rotor and user defined applied to simulate the
condensation process of the turbine exhaust.

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The net power and rankine efficiency of the air cooled power plant, it shows the blade angle
increases the volumetric effectiveness. Characteristic curves of the axial flow fan, which
varies with the installation angle and rotating speed; power plant performance was analysed.
The results show that the volumetric efficiency of the windward fan row and column varies
significantly, and the performance of the internal fans is average as the wind speed low.
(Van der Spuy et al. n.d.) Three different simplified fan models that are used in CFD to
simulate the operation of axial flow fans in large ACCs were investigated. Three different fan
configurations were evaluated in the perimeter fan position, both experimentally and
numerically, using the simplified fan models. A comparison between numerical results and
PIV measurements showed local discrepancies in the upstream velocity distributions between
the numerical and experimental results and one of the simplified models was used to visualize
the total pressure distribution upstream of the perimeter fan under different flow conditions.
Experiential results extended actuator disc model shows better improvement compare to fan
performance at all flow rates when compared to actuator disc model. The results showed that,
three models were evaluated; the extended actuator disc model gave the best representation of
the operation of perimeter fan. Numerical results varied accuracy with fan configuration. Less
hub tip ratio fan performed better compared to other fan. The pressure jump model shows to
be inferior to the results from the other two models. Extended actuator disc model used to
visualize the total pressure distribution upstream of the perimeter fan under different flow
conditions. Installation of walkway, the inlet flow distortion upstream of the perimeter is
reduced. The pressure jump method displays an improvement over the actuator disk model in
its ability to represent the fan performance curve at low flow rates.

Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigated the air cooled steam condenser
under windy conditions. The performance of fan increases with upstream of wind below the
fan platform and increasing the number of fans operating in the upstream stagnation region
(Owen & Krger 2010). User defined function (UDF) based on steam properties used to
predict performance of air cooled condenser, which has critical role in the prediction of
condenser back pressures, simulate the condensation of the turbine exhaust in the exchangers.
Results show that wind speed has great influences on the performance of air-cooled steam
condensers due to the variation of pressure distribution around the ACSC platform. Heat
transfer rate decreases, fan flow rate rises slightly, with the increase of ambient temperature
because the heat transfer potential between ambient air and the turbine exhaust is determined
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by their temperature difference. Finally, the stable back pressures determined by comparing
between the computational heat transfer rate and the ideal heat rejection(W. F. He et al.
2013).

Conclusion
Summary of the literature review described as follows, the performance of fans mainly
depends on the Hub tip ratio, Blade angle and fan platform height. Volumetric effectiveness
increases with increased in blade angle and fan platform elevation. Volumetric effectiveness
decrease with platform height, increased in inlet flow looses results very low flow rate and
high hub tip ratio fan was found to be less sensitive to inlet flow distortion compared to low
hub tip ratio fan. The extended actuator disc model shows better flow fan flow rate
performance and power characteristics are review for various fan air cooled condensers by
experimental results; evaluate the power output of each scalar model and compare with actual
model used in power plant. Show that array of fan is more efficient and consume less power
compare to individual fan.

Reference
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flow fans for air-cooled condensers in a power plant. Chinese Science Bulletin,
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56(21), pp.22722280.
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