Manufacturing and testing mock-up for commercialization of the ocean thermal energy conversion (50MW) power plant

Abstract

The mock-up for a commercial plant of 50MW ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) was manufactured to obtain the basic data for the performance evaluation and optimal design of OTEC plant. EES (Energy Equation Solver) was used to design the mock-up. The basic thermodynamic model for OTEC is Rankine cycle, and the surface seawater and deep seawater were used for the heat source of an evaporator and a condenser, respectively. Input conditions for the cycle design were R-22 as a working fluid, 30% as a turbine isentropic efficiency due to very small capacity. The cycle capacity and performance such as efficiency, heat exchanger capacity, etc. were analyzed on the water temperature heat source. As the cycle analysis, the working fluid mass flow rate was 13.68 g/s and heat source water flow rate for evaporator and condenser were 13.14 and 12.64 LPM, respectively. On the basis of the cycle design, the mock-up was manufactured to get the basic experimental data. The water heat source for the evaporator and condenser was supplied by constant temperature water bath. The result from the basic experiment, when the warm water and cold water were 26°C and 5°C, the power was produced about 28W by turbine-generator. We will experiment the performance of the mock-up with respect to various conditions such as the heat source water temperature and a refrigerant classification, etc.