Vol 63, No 5 (2016)

The main results of studies performed at ZAO Turbokon NPVP in cooperation with leading Russian scientific organizations during 25 years of its activity in the field of development of unique ecologically clean electric power and heat production technologies are described. They include the development and experimental verification using prototypes and full-scale models of highly efficient air-cooled condensers for steam turbines, a high temperature gas steam turbine for stationary and transport power engineering, a nonfuel technology of electric power production using steam turbine installations with a unit power of 4–20 MW at gas-main pipelines and industrial boiler houses and heat stations. The results of efforts in the field of reducing vibroactivity of power equipment for transport installations are given. Basic directions of further research for increasing the efficiency and ecological safety of home power engineering are discussed.

A mathematical model was developed to be used for numerical analysis of heat and mass transfer processes in the experimental section of the air condenser (ESAC) created in the Scientific Production Company (SPC) “Turbocon” and mounted on the territory of the All-Russia Thermal Engineering Institute. The simulations were performed using the author’s CFD code ANES. The verification of the models was carried out involving the experimental data obtained in the tests of ESAC. The operational capability of the proposed models to calculate the processes in steam–air mixture and cooling air and algorithms to take into account the maldistribution in the various rows of tube bundle was shown. Data on the influence of temperature and flow rate of the cooling air on the pressure in the upper header of ESAC, effective heat transfer coefficient, steam flow distribution by tube rows, and the dimensions of the ineffectively operating zones of tube bundle for two schemes of steam–air mixture flow (one-pass and two-pass ones) were presented. It was shown that the pressure behind the turbine (in the upper header) increases significantly at increase of the steam flow rate and reduction of the flow rate of cooling air and its temperature rise, and the maximum value of heat transfer coefficient is fully determined by the flow rate of cooling air. Furthermore, the steam flow rate corresponding to the maximum value of heat transfer coefficient substantially depends on the ambient temperature. The analysis of the effectiveness of the considered schemes of internal coolant flow was carried out, which showed that the two-pass scheme is more effective because it provides lower pressure in the upper header, despite the fact that its hydraulic resistance at fixed flow rate of steam–air mixture is considerably higher than at using the one-pass schema. This result is a consequence of the fact that, in the two-pass scheme, the condensation process involves the larger internal surface of tubes, results in lower values of Δt (the temperature difference between internal and external coolant) for a given heat load.

Experimental data are represented on the investigation of combustion of hydrogen–oxygen and methane–oxygen mixtures in the medium of low-superheated (initial temperature of approximately 150°C) steam at atmospheric pressure. The influence of the ratio of mass flows of the combustible mixture and steam on the qualitative composition of combustion products and the temperature of produced steam is revealed. Main laws for combustion of the hydrogen–oxygen mixture within the steam flow, which affect the completeness of mixture combustion, are determined. Experimental data on the influence of concentrations of the hydrogen–oxygen mixture within the flow of the steam and the combustible mixture upon the completeness of combustion are given. It is found that, when burning the hydrogen–oxygen mixture within the steam flow with a temperature of 1000–1200°C, it is possible using a variation of the combustible mixture flow. At the same time, the volume fraction of noncondensable gases in the produced steam is no more than 2%. It is revealed that there are several combustion modes of the hydrogen–oxygen mixture within the steam flow, in which, in one case, the steam always suppresses combustion and, in another one, detonation of the combustible mixture combustible mixture occurs. It is found that with the excess air factor close to unit, the combustion of the methane–oxygen mixture within steam and the vapor conversion of methane, which result in the appearance of free hydrogen in the produced high-temperature steam, are possible. The description and the principle of the operation of the experimental bench for investigation of combustion of methane–oxygen and hydrogen–oxygen mixtures in the medium of steam are given. Results of experimental investigations of burning fuel and oxygen in the medium of steam are used in the development of a steam superheater for a hightemperature steam turbine.

The problems of using the expander–generator unit (EGU) to generate refrigeration, along with electricity were considered. It is shown that, on the level of the temperatures of refrigeration flows using the EGU, one can provide the refrigeration supply of the different consumers: ventilation and air conditioning plants and industrial refrigerators and freezers. The analysis of influence of process parameters on the cooling power of the EGU, which depends on the parameters of the gas expansion process in the expander and temperatures of cooled environment, was carried out. The schematic diagram of refrigeration generation plant based on EGU is presented. The features and advantages of EGU to generate refrigeration compared with thermotransformer of steam compressive and absorption types were shown, namely: there is no need to use the energy generated by burning fuel to operate the EGU; beneficial use of the heat delivered to gas from the flow being cooled in equipment operating on gas; energy production along with refrigeration generation, which makes it possible to create, using EGU, the trigeneration plants without using the energy power equipment. It is shown that the level of the temperatures of refrigeration flows, which can be obtained by using the EGU on existing technological decompression stations of the transported gas, allows providing the refrigeration supply of various consumers. The information that the refrigeration capacity of an expander–generator unit not only depends on the parameters of the process of expansion of gas flowing in the expander (flow rate, temperatures and pressures at the inlet and outlet) but it is also determined by the temperature needed for a consumer and the initial temperature of the flow of the refrigeration–carrier being cooled. The conclusion was made that the expander–generator units can be used to create trigeneration plants both at major power plants and at small energy.

Fast-mounted heat-insulating constructions based on foamed synthetic rubbers, polyethylene, and polyurethane are characterized by a thermostability up to 150°C and emit toxic substances when burnt. However, there is a need for heat insulation of surfaces with higher coolant temperatures, such as pipelines, equipment of nuclear and thermal power plants, and heating systems with remote heat sources. One of the most promising types of heat insulation materials for creation of fast-mounted heat insulation constructions is the syntactic foams or thin-film multilayer heat-insulating coatings (TFMHIC), which are created using hollow microspheres and various types of binders. The formation of TFMHIC on the heat-insulating surface is carried out mostly by means of spraying methods that have well proven themselves at coating on flat and cylindrical surfaces of large area, but they turned out ineffective for cylindrical surfaces with a diameter of 300 mm and less, since they are characterized by a large degree of carryover of composite material. This article analyzed the binders and microspheres promising to create the fast-mounted heat-insulating constructions based on TFMHIC with high thermostability. Based on the analysis, a conclusion is drawn that organicsilicon binding and glass microspheres are promising for use in the heat-insulating constructions with thermostability up to 300°C. The results of experimental research are given that point to the possibility of predicting the optimal composition of heat-insulating material characterized by a high degree of filling with microspheres with maintaining the mechanical strength, by means of performing the analysis of rheological characteristics of nonpolymerized liquid compositions of heat-insulation material. The index of tensile strength in bending was the criterion for evaluating the mechanical strength of heat-insulating material. The critical volume concentrations of filling the heat-insulating material with glass microspheres, whose excess leads to a reduction in its strength characteristics, are determined.

For increasing the safety and economic parameters of nuclear power stations (NPSs) with sodium coolant, it was decided to install all systems contacting radioactive sodium, including purification systems of circuit I, in the reactor vessel. The performance and capacity of cold traps (CTs) (conventional element of coolant purification systems) in these conditions are limited by their volume. It was proposed to use hot traps (HTs) in circuit I for coolant purification from oxygen. It was demonstrated that, at rated parameters of the installation when the temperature of the coolant streamlining the getter (gas absorber) is equal to 550°С, the hot trap can provide the required coolant purity. In shutdown modes at 250–300°С, the performance of the hot trap is reduced by four orders of magnitude. Possible HT operation regimes for shutdown modes and while reaching rated parameters were proposed and analyzed. Basic attention was paid to purification modes at power rise after commissioning and accidental contamination of the coolant when the initial oxygen concentration in it reached 25 mln^–1. It was demonstrated that the efficiency of purification systems can be increased using HTs with the getter in the form of a foil or granules. The possibility of implementing the “fast purification” mode in which the coolant is purified simultaneously with passing over from the shutdown mode to the rated parameters was substantiated.

The increased requirements to the quality of the water heat conductor for working superhigh (SHP) and supercritical (SCP) pressure power plants and promising units, including combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units and power plants with ultrasupercritical parameters (USCPs), can largely be satisfied through specific electric conductivity and pH measurements for cooled heat conductor samples combined with calculations of ionic equilibria and indirect measurements of several specified and diagnostic parameters. The possibility of calculating the ammonia and chloride concentrations and the total concentration of hardness and sodium cations in the feed water of drum-type boilers and the phosphate and salt contents in boiler water was demonstrated. An equation for evaluating the content of potentially acid substances in the feed water of monotube boilers was suggested. The potential of the developed procedure for evaluating the state of waterchemistry conditions (WCCs) in power plants with CCGT units was shown.