Improvement of the environmental and economic characteristics of cooling towers. Part I. Heat rejection from horizontal tubes to shallow fluidized beds. Annual report

Technical Report · Sun Jun 30 04:00:00 EDT 1974

OSTI ID:7358217

Andeen, B R; Glicksman, L R; Rohsenow, W M

As fluidized beds can increase the heat transfer from a surface, they can potentially be coupled with dry cooling towers. Existing heat transfer mechanism models for fluidized beds are discussed, and a new model presented. Heat transfer coefficients from a horizontal tube in a row of dummy tubes to a shallow fluidized bed were experimentally measured. The experimental data is compared to existing horizontal tube correlations and the new model. The RMS deviation of data from the model is less than 17 percent. The best correlation was obtained by modifying the Vreendenberg correlation to include a dependency on the bed particle fraction (RMS deviation: 13.8 percent). Economic optimizations were performed to compare fluidized bed dry towers to a finned tube tower. For a 1000 MW plant, heat exchanger costs are 13 percent lower for fluidized beds, but the cost for the power keeping the bed fluidized yields an incremental cost 16 percent higher than that for a finned surface. Incremental costs rapidly approach that of finned tubes as the particle size and depth are reduced. (GRA)

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (USA). Energy Lab.
• OSTI ID: 7358217
• Report Number(s): PB-239440; MIT-EL-74-007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200101* -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Cooling & Heat Transfer Equipment & Systems
CLOSED-CYCLE COOLING SYSTEMS
COOLING SYSTEMS
COOLING TOWERS
COST
DESIGN
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUIDIZED BED
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
PERFORMANCE
TUBES