Performance Characteristics of 20kW OTEC Pilot Plant in Korea

摘要

To experiment 20kW OTEC, the closed-cycle type of OTEC (OceanThermal Energy Conversion) was designed and manufactured. R32(Difluoromethane, CH2F2) was used as the working fluid and atemperature of heat source and heat sink is 26°C, 5°C, respectively. Thesemi-welded type heat exchanger is applied for the evaporator andcondenser and the cycle was designed for the gross power of 20kW. Inthe plate arrangement of the semi-welded type heat exchanger, onechannel for working fluid is welded, and another channel for seawateris sealed by gasket. In this paper, various performance evaluation andexperiment was carried out as constructing subminiature pilot plant ofthe OTEC and compared with the results of cycle analysis. In results,gross power of the turbine shows 20.1kW and cycle efficiency is 1.91%when heat source and heat sink is 26°C, 5°C. For the variation oftemperature difference between the heat source and heat sink, when thetemperature difference was 21°C, the gross power increased by about33.3% from that when the temperature difference was 19°C.