EFFECTS OF OCEANIC FLOW PATTERNS ON THE THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC)

摘要

A power plant may be designed to operate between the temperature difference of the warm surface water and the colder bottom water of the tropical oceans. This concept was introduced by D'Arsonval and is now nearly 100 years old. The available energy stored in the oceans by the vertical temperature gradient is large. Because the natural temperature gradients are small, ocean thermal energy icon-version (OTEC) power plants will operate at very low effi¬ciency. It is not important that the efficiency of the OTEC plant is small, since there is no charge for the plant fuel (hot and cold water). However, if the flow patterns induced by the operation of an OTEC facility eliminate the vertical temperature gradient, the OTEC plant will not be able to generate power. That, of course, is the condition to be prevented, and is the main concern of this study.nThis analysis examines the flow patterns produced by the intake of both warm and cold water into a OTEC power plant. It also examines the mixing and possible recircu¬lation of waters discharged from the OTEC plant back to the ocean.