Field tests of 2- and 40-tube condensers at the East Mesa Geothermal Test Site

Technical Report · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5244525· OSTI ID:5244525

Murphy, R W; Domingo, N

Two water-cooled isobutane condensers, one with 2 tubes and one with 40 tubes, were subjected to field tests at the East Mesa Geothermal Test Site to assess relative heat transfer performance in both surface evaporator and direct-contact evaporator modes. The five groups of tests established that field performance was below earlier laboratory-determined levels and that direct-contact evaporator mode performance was poorer than that for the surface evaporator mode. In all test situations, fluted condenser tubes performed better than smooth condenser tubes. Cooling water quality had no significant effect on performance, but brine preflash in the direct-contact mode did promote some relative performance improvement. Important implications of these results for binary geothermal power plants are that (1) working-fluid-side impurities can significantly degrade heat transfer performance of the power plant condensers and (2) provisions for minimizing such impurities may be required.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5244525
• Report Number(s): ORNL-5852; ON: DE82015126
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
DIRECT CONTACT HEAT EXCHANGERS
FIELD TESTS
PERFORMANCE
2-METHYLPROPANE
BINARY-FLUID SYSTEMS
CONDENSERS
DATA ANALYSIS
EAST MESA GEOTHERMAL FIELD
EQUIPMENT
GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS
HEAT TRANSFER
SAMPLING
TUBES
WATER QUALITY
WORKING FLUIDS
ALKANES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FLUIDS
GEOTHERMAL FIELDS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HYDROCARBONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POWER PLANTS
TESTING
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
Geothermal Legacy
150802* - Geothermal Power Plants- Power Plant Systems & Components