Abstract
Experimental study on the performance of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant was carried out using the Uehara cycle, which uses an ammonia/water mixture as the working fluid. Shell and plate type heat exchangers are used as an evaporator, a condenser, a regenerator and a heater. We estimated the system performance and the stability of the Uehara cycle for OTEC by means of steady operation with 29°C warm water temperature, 193.7kg/s warm water mass flow rate, 8°C cold water temperature, 111.1kg/s cold water mass flow rate and 30 kW turbine power for 5 hours. As a result, the system was highly stable. Under those conditions, the overall heat transfer coefficient of the evaporator was 1.401kW/(m2·K) and that of the condenser was 0.725kW-/(m2·K). The No.1 turbine output was 19.2 kW and the turbine efficiency was 60.1%. No.2 turbine output was 11.5 kW and the efficiency was 76.8%. The overall heat transfer coefficients of the evaporator and condenser were determined from the test to estimate the effect of the heat source mean velocity in the plate type heat exchangers.
