Conceptual design for combined ocean thermal energy conversion using computational fluid dynamics and heat balance analysis

Abstract

To overcome the limited efficiency of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), particularly in the mid-latitudes, combined OTEC (C-OTEC) could use power extracted from the latent heat of a power plant condenser. Past research in South Korea has demonstrated the feasibility of a 10 kW C-OTEC system using R134a as a working fluid. As the next phase, a 200 kW C-OTEC demonstration facility with a thermal efficiency of greater than 3% is proposed. This paper presents the engineering design process for kW-scale C-OTEC within a 100 MW-scale thermal power plant. The design process is divided into two stages. First, to predict patterns in steam flow to a connected external evaporator with a porous medium, computational fluid dynamics are calculated. The results show a conservative margin suitable for the conceptual design. Second, an iterative heat balance simulation method simultaneously evaluates the heat balance analysis of the C-OTEC design and the thermal impact of the existing power plant. The design stages are then integrated in terms of heat transference capacity.