Heat-Rate Improvement Obtained by Retubing Power-Plant Condenser Enhanced Tubes
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- TVA
- Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority
- Wolverine Tube, Inc.
A utility will only retube a condenser with enhanced tubes if the incremental cost of the enhanced tubes can be offset with reduced fuel costs. The reduced fuel cost is obtained for some units because of the higher heat-transfer coefficient of enhanced tubes. They lead to improved condenser performance measured by a lower condenser pressure and therefore a more efficient power plant. However, the higher heat-transfer coefficients do not always guarantee that enhanced tubes will be more cost effective. Other issues must be considered such as the cooling-water flow reduction due to the increased pressure drop, the low-pressure turbine heat-rate variation with backpressure, and the cooling-water pump and system characteristics. These and other parameters must be considered to calculate the efficiency improvement of the power plant as commonly measured by the quantity known as the heat rate. Knowing the heat-rate improvement, the fuel cost, and the incremental increase of the enhanced tubes from the supplier, the payback time can be determined. This program calculates the heat-rate improvement that can be obtained by retubing a power plant condenser with enhanced tubes of a particular type called Korodense LPD made by Wolverine Tube, Inc. The fuel savings are easily established knowing the heat-rate improvement. All electrical utilities are potential users because a condenser is used as the heat sink for every power plant.
- Short Name / Acronym:
- HTRATE
- Project Type:
- Closed Source
- Site Accession Number:
- 2149
- Software Type:
- Scientific
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/CEPrimary Award/Contract Number:W-31109-ENG-38
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- Code ID:
- 12365
- OSTI ID:
- 1230237
- Country of Origin:
- United States
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