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Measurements of crosswind influence on a natural draft dry cooling tower for a solar thermal power plant

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  • Li, Xiaoxiao
  • Gurgenci, Hal
  • Guan, Zhiqiang
  • Wang, Xurong
  • Duniam, Sam

Abstract

Crosswind is a significant concern for natural draft dry cooling towers. The concern is more serious for shorter towers. Therefore, the crosswind influence is a significant threat to the use of natural draft dry cooling towers in concentrating solar thermal power plants, which are generally built at sizes smaller than conventional fossil-fired plants and employ relatively shorter towers. While some numerical studies and small lab-scale test reports exist, very few full scale experimental studies have been reported for conventional cooling towers and none for relatively short cooling towers suitable for renewable thermal power plants. To address this gap, a 20-m tall fully instrumented natural draft dry cooling tower was built by the University of Queensland. The tower was designed to serve a future 1-MWe concentrating solar thermal plant on the same site. Its performance was tested under different ambient temperatures and crosswind speeds. The detailed experimental data of the crosswind condition, air temperature distribution inside and outside of the cooling tower and the cooling performance are presented. The experimental data demonstrate the substantial yet complex impact of the crosswind on cooling tower performance. Significant non-uniformities in air and hot water temperature distributions and strong air vortices inside the tower were observed in high crosswind speeds. Unlike tall cooling towers used in large conventional plants, the cooling tower performance does not monotonously decrease with the increase of the crosswind speed. In fact, after the tower performance drops to its lowest level at a wind speed around 5 m/s, the trend is reversed and further increases in the crosswind speed help the tower performance. Analysis shows that this reversal occurs because the tower heat transfer mechanism changes. As crosswind rises above the critical speed, the airflow inside the cooling tower becomes increasingly controlled by the crosswind instead of the natural draft.

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  • Li, Xiaoxiao & Gurgenci, Hal & Guan, Zhiqiang & Wang, Xurong & Duniam, Sam, 2017. "Measurements of crosswind influence on a natural draft dry cooling tower for a solar thermal power plant," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1169-1183.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:206:y:2017:i:c:p:1169-1183
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.038
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    Cited by:

    1. Tarun Kumar Aseri & Chandan Sharma & Tara C. Kandpal, 2022. "Condenser cooling technologies for concentrating solar power plants: a review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 4511-4565, April.
    2. Sun, Yubiao & Guan, Zhiqiang & Gurgenci, Hal & Wang, Jianyong & Dong, Peixin & Hooman, Kamel, 2019. "Spray cooling system design and optimization for cooling performance enhancement of natural draft dry cooling tower in concentrated solar power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 273-284.
    3. Wang, Xurong & Li, Xiaoxiao & Li, Qibin & Liu, Lang & Liu, Chao, 2020. "Performance of a solar thermal power plant with direct air-cooled supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle under off-design conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    4. Wu, Tao & Ge, Zhihua & Yang, Lijun & Du, Xiaoze, 2019. "Modeling the performance of the indirect dry cooling system in a thermal power generating unit under variable ambient conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 625-636.
    5. Lu, Yuanshen & Klimenko, Alexander & Russell, Hugh & Dai, Yuchen & Warner, John & Hooman, Kamel, 2018. "A conceptual study on air jet-induced swirling plume for performance improvement of natural draft cooling towers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 496-508.
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    7. Kong, Yanqiang & Wang, Weijia & Yang, Lijun & Du, Xiaoze, 2020. "Energy efficient strategies for anti-freezing of air-cooled heat exchanger," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).

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