Specific power optimization of closed-cycle OTEC plants

Abstract

The specific power of a simple irreversible closed-cycle OTEC power plant is analyzed and optimized. The plant uses a working fluid such as ammonia to produce power. Specific power is the net output per unit total heat exchanger surface area. Net output generated by the working fluid is obtained in terms of the rate of heat added to the working fluid from the warm surface ocean water, less the rate of heat removed from the working fluid to the cold deep ocean water. A time factor is added to iimulate the heat exchanges between the OTEC plant and its surroundings. A mathematical expression is derived for the specific power output of the irreversible OTEC heat engine. It is found that there is a bound on the specific power output. This bound provides the basis for a practical engineering effort towards maximizing the per unit time and per unit total heat exchanger area production of work in power plants whose heat transfer area is constrained by economic consideration.