ENERGY ENGINEERING 18ME81

MODULE1.
STEAM GENERATORS Coal and ash handling, Generation of steam using forced circulation,
high and supercritical pressures, LaMount, Benson, Velox, Loeffer, Schmidt steam generators,
Cooling towers and Ponds, Accessories such as Superheaters, De-super heater, Economizers,
Air preheaters.

MODULE 2.
Solar Energy: Introduction, Solar radiation at the earth’s surface, Solar radiation
measurements, Flat plate collectors, Focussing collectors, Solar pond, Solar electric power
generation-Solar photovoltaics.
Biomass Energy: Photosynthesis, photosynthetic oxygen production, energy plantation. Bio
Chemical Route: Biogas production from organic wastes by anaerobic fermentation, Bio gas
plants-KVIC, Janta, Deenbhandu models, factors affecting bio gas generation. Thermal
gasification of biomass, updraft and downdraft.

MODULE3.
Geothermal Energy: Forms of geothermal energy, Dry steam, wet steam, hot dry rock and
magmatic chamber systems.
Tidal Energy: Tidal power, Site selection, Single basin and double basin systems, Advantages
and disadvantages of tidal energy.
Wind Energy: Wind energy-Advantages and limitations, wind velocity and wind power, Basic
components of wind energy conversion systems, horizontal and vertical axis wind mills,
coefficient of performance of a wind mill rotor, Applications of wind energy.

MODULE4.
Hydroelectric plants: Advantages & disadvantages of water power, Hydrographs and flow
duration curves numericals, Storage and pondage, General layout of hydel power plants-
components such as Penstock, surge tanks, spill way and draft tube and their applications,
pumped storage plants, Detailed classification of hydroelectric plants, water hammer.
Ocean Thermal Energy: Ocean thermal energy conversion, Principle and working of Rankine
cycle, Problems associated with OTEC.

MODULE5.
NUCLEAR ENERGY Principles of release of nuclear energy-Fusion and fission reactions.
Nuclear fuels used in the reactors, Chain reaction, Moderation, breeding, Multiplication and
thermal utilization factors. General components of a nuclear reactor and materials, Brief
description-Pressurized water reactor, Boiling water reactor, Sodium graphite reactor, Fast
Breeder reactor, Homogeneous graphite reactor and gas cooled reactor, Radiation hazards,
Shielding, Nuclear waste, Radioactive waste disposal.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

SAPTHAGIRI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING BANGALORE-57

1
 STEAM POWER PLANT
Different types of fuels used for steam generation.:- Generally there are three
types of fuels can be burnt in any type of steam power plant. They are 1) Solid
fuels 2) Liquid fuels 3)Gaseous fuels.
Gaseous fuels:
The gaseous fuels widely used in steam power plants are natural gas, Blast
furnace gas. Gaseous fuels may be either natural gases or manufactured gases.
Since the cost of manufactured gases is high only natural gases are used for
power generation. Natural gas is colorless , odorless and is non poisonous its
calorific value lies between 25000KJto 50000 KJ/ m3 .
The various manufactured gases are coal gas, Coke oven gas , Blast furnace gas
and producer gas. These manufactured gases play an less important role in the
steam generation.
Advantages:
1) Excess air required is less 2) Uniform mixing of fuels and air is possible 3)
Handling is much more easier compared to the coal. 4) The load changes can be
met easily. 5) There is no problem of ash disposal. 6) Operational labourer
required is less.
Disadvantages:
1) Storage of gaseous fuels is not easy compared to liquid fuels due to the risk of
explosions.
2) The plant must be located near the natural gas field other wise transportation
cost increases.

Liquid fuels:
The liquid fuels used in the thermal plant to generate the steam instead of coal as
it offers the following advantages over the coal.
1) The calorific value of liquid fuels is about 40% higher than that of coal or solid
fuels.
2) The storage space required for liquid fuels is less.
3) Instantaneous ignition and extinction of fire is possible.
4) Stand by losses are minimum. 5) Efficiency of the boiler is high. 6) Ash
handling system can be eliminated. 7) Oil can be easily metered. The rate of fuel
supply to furnace is easy to control.
Disadvantages
1) The overall combustion efficiency of the liquid fuel fired power plant is less
compared to the coal fired power plants
2) The availability of the liquid fuel resources are very limited as compared to the
coal resources
Ex. Heavy oils, Bunker C oil , Viscous residue oil, Petroleum and its by products .

2
Solid Fuels:
Example for solid fuels is Coal. The term coal refers to the rocks in the earth’s
crust , produced by the decaying of the plant materials accumulated overt the
millions of years ago. Different types of coals that are used for steam generation
are 1) Lignite 2) Sub Bituminous 3) Bituminous coal 4) Semi Anthracite coal 5)
Anthracite coal.
1)Lignite:
It is lowest grade of coal . Its having 30% of moisture calorific value is about
14650 to 19300 KJ/ Kg. Due to the high moisture content and low calorific value
lignite is not easy to transport over long distances. It is usually burnt by the utilities
at the mine sites.
2) Sub Bituminous:
Its calorific value is slightly less than that of the Bituminous coal. Its calorific value
is in between 193000 to 26750 KJ / Kg. The moisture content is about 15 to 30%.
It is brownish black in colour. These coals usually burned in the pulverized form.
3) Bituminous coal:
Bituminous coal is widely used in all purposes. It is used in steam generation and
in the production of the coal gas and producer gas. Its moisture content may vary
from 6 to 12 %. Its calorific value ranges from 25600 KJ/Kg to 32600 KJ /Kg.
Bituminous coal burn easily especially in pulverized form.

4) Semi Anthracite
It is an intermediate coal between Bituminous and Anthracite coal. It ignites more
easily than anthracite to give a short flame changing from Yellow to Blue . It is
having the following properties’
Moisture content = 1 to 2%
Volatile matter = 10 to 15 %
Calorific value= 36000 to 36960 KJ / Kg
5) Anthracite:
It is the most mature and hard form of solid fossil fuel. It is having an fixed Carbon
content ranging from 92 to 98%. Anthracite is good domestic fuel for heating and
is some times used for steam generation.

Selection of coal for steam generation.

Selecting an suitable coal for steam generation is an very difficult task. The firing
qualities of coal are every important when we are considering an combustion
equipments. Slower burning coal generates high fuel bed temperature s and
therefore requires forced draught fan. The fast burning coals require large
combustion chamber. Such coals are suitable for meeting an sudden demand for
steam. The most important factors which are to be considered in the selection of
coal are sizing and caking, Swelling properties and ash fusion temperature .
Some times the selection of coal depends on the ash content also.

3
The following properties of the coal are to be considered for the selection of the
coal for steam generation in steam power plants.1) Burning rate of coal 2) Sizing,
Caking , Swelling properties of coals. 3) Finess of coal.

Selection of site
The following factors should be considered while selecting the site for a steam
power station
1) Availability of fuel.
2) Nature of load
3) Cost of land.
4) Availability of water.
5) Transport facilities.
6) Ash disposal facilities.
7) Availability of labour.
8) Size of the plant.
9) Load center.
10) Public problems.
11) Future extensions.
Combustion equipments for steam generators.
The combustion equipment is one of the important component of the steam
generator. The combustion equipment used must have the ability to meet the
following requirements.
1) Through mixing of fuel and air.
2) Maintaining of optimum air fuel ratio leading to complete combustion over the
full load range.
3) Ready and accurate response to the load demand
4) continuous and reliable ignition of the fuel.

4
Coal handling:
The coal handling plant needs extra attention, while designing a thermal power
station, as almost 50% to 60% of the total operating costs consists of fuel
purchasing and handling. Fuel system is designed in accordance with the type
and nature off fuel. Plants may use coal oil or gas as the fuel. The different stages
in coal handling are shown below.

Coal delivery
The method of transporting coal to a power station depends on the location of the
plant, but may be one or more of the following: rail, road, river or sea. Plants
situated near river or sea may make use of the navigation facilities. Stations which
cannot make use of these facilities may be supplied coal either by trucks or by
rail. Transportation of trucks is usually used in case the mines are not available. In
case rail transport is to be adopted , the necessary siding for receiving the coal
should be brought as near the station is possible.
Unloading:
Just what kind of equipment will do the best job for unloading depends first of all
on how the coal is received. If the coal is delivered in dump trucks and if the plant
site is favourable we may not need additional unloading equipment. When coal
transported by using by sea or rivers unloading bridge or tower and portable

5
conveyors are used. In case the coal received by rail in hoppers cars, again the
coal may be unloaded quickly by using any of the facilities such as car shakers ,
Car throwing equipments , Car dumpers(Rotary), coal accelerators .

Preparation:
If the coal is brought to the site un sized and sizing is desirable for storage or
firing purposes. The coal preparation plant may be located either near the coal
receiving point or at the point of actual use. The coal preparation plant may
include the following equipment’s a) Crushers b) Sizers c) Dryers and d)
Magnetic separators.
Coal preparation plant is as shown below.

The raw coal is crushed in to required size using crushers. The crushed coal is
passed over the sizer which removes unsized coal and feeds back to the crusher.
The crushed coal is further passed to the drier to remove the moisture from the
supplied coal . Before supplying the coal to the storage hopper , the iron scrap
and particles are removed with the help of magnetic separators.

6
Transfer:
Transfer means the handling of the coal between the unloading point and the final
storage point from where it is discharged to the firing equipment. The equipments
used for the transfer of coal may be any one of the following or a suitable
combination there of:a) Belt conveyors b) Screw conveyors c) Bucket Elevators d)
Grab bucket Elevators e) Skip hoists and f) Flight conveyors.

Belt conveyor

Cross section of belt drive

The belt conveyors are suitable for transporting large quantities of coal over large
distances. It consists of endless belt made up of rubber, canvas or balata running
over a pair of end drums or pulleys and supported by series of rollers provided at
regular intervals. The return idlers which support the empty belt are plain rollers
and are spaced wide apart. Belt conveyors can be used successfully up to 20
degree inclination to the horizontal . The load carrying capacity of the belt may
vary from 50 to 100 tons /h and it can easily be transported through 400 meters.
Advantages:
1) It is most economical method of coal transfer.
2) The rate of coal can be regulated by varying the speed of the belt.
3) The repair and maintenance charges are minimum.
4) The coal can be protected.
5) The power consumption is minimum.
Disadvantages;
1) It is not suitable for short distances and greater heights.
Screw conveyor

7
It consists of an helicoids screw fitted to a shaft as shown in the figure. The driving
mechanism is connected to one end of the shaft and the other end of the shaft is
supported in an enclosed ball bearing. The screw while rotating in a trough
transfers coal from one end to the other end as shown in figure. The diameter of
screw is 15 cm to 50 cm and its speed varies from 70 to 120 rpm and the
maximum capacity is 125 tones per hour.
Advantages:
1) It requires minimum space and is cheap in cost
2) It is most simple and compact
3) It can be made dust tight.
Disadvantages:
1) The power consumption is high.
2) The maximum length limited to 30 meters.
3) The wear and tear is very high therefore life of the equipment is less.

Bucket elevators:

These are used extensively for vertical lifts, through their for horizontal runs is not
ruled out. These elevators consists of relatively small size buckets closely spaced
on an endless chain. The coal is carried by the buckets from the bottom and
discharged at the top. Centrifugal type and continuous type bucket elevators are

8
most commonly used. The maximum height of the elevator is limited to 30.5 m
and maximum inclination to the horizontal is limited to 60 degree. The speed of
the chain required in first case is 75 m/min and continuous type is 35 m/min for 60
tonnes capacity per hour.

Advantages:
1) Less power is required.
2) Coal can be discharged at elevated places.
3) Less floor area is required.
Disadvantages:
Its capacity is limited to 60 tons per hour and hence not suitable for large capacity
stations.

Grab bucket

Grab bucket conveyor is form of hoist which lifts and transfers the load on a single
rail or track form one point to another. This can be used with crane or tower as
shown in figure A 2-3 cu-m bucket operating over a distance of 60 m transfer
nearly 100 tons of coal per hour. Its initial cost is high but operation cost is less.

Flight conveyor

This type of conveyor is generally used for transfer of coal when filling of number
of storage bins situated under the conveyor is required. It consists of one or two

9
strands of chain to which steel scrappers are attached The scraper scraps the
coal through a trough and the coal is discharged in the bottom of the trough as
shown in figure.
Advantages:
1) It requires small head room
2) The speed can be regulated .
3) It can be used for as well as coal transfer.
4) It requires less attention.
Disadvantages:
1) There is excessive wear and tear and hence the life of the conveyor is less.
2) The repair and maintenance charges are high.
3) The restricting the operating speed to 300m/min is required to reduce the
abrasive action.
4) Power consumption is high per unit of coal or ash handled.

Skip hoist:
It is used in high lifts and handling is not continuous. It consists of vertical or
inclined hoist way, a bucket or a car guided by the frame, and a cable for hoisting
the bucket.
Advantages:
1) It requires very low maintenance.
2) Power requirement is low.
3) It can handle larger size clinkers.
4) It can be used for handling ash as well as coal
5) It needs minimum floor area.
Disadvantages:
1) The initial cost is high
2) This is not suitable for continuous supply of coal.
3) There is excessive wear of skips and ropes which need frequent
replacements.

Out door storage: Whether the storage is large or small , it needs protection
against losses by weathering and by spontaneous combustion. With proper
methods adopted even larger outdoor storage can remain safe. In order to avoid
the oxidation of coal the compact layers are formed. To avoid spontaneous
combustion air is allowed move evenly through the layers.

Indoor storage or Live storage:

This is usually a covered storage provided in plants, sufficient to meet day’s
requirement of the boiler. Storage is usually done in bunkers made of steel or
reinforced concrete having enough capacity to store the requisite of coal. From
the coal bunkers coal is transferred to the boiler grates.

10
Weighing: A frequent part of in plant handling is keeping tabs on quantity and
quality of coal fired. For weighing weigh bridge is used. Coal is weighed in transit
also by using belt scale.

Ash handling system

General layout of ash handling system

Large quantity of ash is produced by the power plants. Which are burning
coals having high ash content. The ash should be discharged and dumped at
sufficient distance from the power plant because of the following reasons.
1) The ash content is dusty
2) It is very hot when it comes out of the furnace
3) It produces poisonous gases and corrosive acids when mixed with water.
The amount of ash produced is as large as 20% of total coal burnt during the
day. In order to handle this large quantity of ash use of mechanical handling
equipment becomes necessary. Any ash handling system consists of the
following operations.
1) Removal of ash from the furnace.
2) Carrying of ashes from ash hopper to storage with the help of conveyor.
3) Quenching of hot ash before carrying is desirable and necessary as it offers
the following advantages.
a) Reduces the temperature .
b) Reduces dustiness of ash.

11
 c) Reduces the corrosive action.
d) Disintegrate large clinkers in to smaller one .
e) It act as sealing against the air entering in to boiler.

Ash handling equipment.

The main requirements of good ash handling plants are listed below.
1) It should be capable of handling large volume of ash.
2) It should be capable of handling large clickers with minimum attention.
3) The plant should have high rates of handling.
4) The operation should be noise less as much as possible.
5) It should deal effectively both hot and wet ash.
6) The initial cost, operating and maintenance charges should be minimum as
per as possible.

The generally used ash handling systems are classified in to four groups.
1) Mechanical handling system
2) Hydraulic handling system.
3) Pneumatic handling system.
4) Steam jet system.

Mechanical ash handling system.

This system of handling ash is used in low capacity power plants. The hot ash
coming out of furnace allowed to fall on to the belt conveyor moving through
the water trough . Cooled ash carried continuously by belt conveyor to the ash
bunker . The ash is removed from the ash bunker to the dumping site with the
help of trucks.

12
Hydraulic handling system.
In this system ash is carried with the flow of water . The hydraulic system, is
subdivide in to low velocity system and high velocity system.
Low velocity system.

In this system water trough is provided just below the boiler and water is made
to flow through the trough. The ash falling directly in to the drain and it is
carried by water to the sump. In the sump ash is separated from water ,
separated water is used again while the ash collected in the sump is removed
to the dumping yard. The capacity of this system is 50 tons/ hr.

High velocity or high pressure system.

13
 The ash hoppers below the boilers are fitted with water nozzles at the top and
on the sides. The top nozzle quench ash and side nozzle provide driving force
to carry the ash through a trough. The cooled ash with high velocity water is
carried to the sump. The water is re circulated again after separating it out from
the ash. Capacity of the system is 120 tons /hr and distance is 1000 meters.

Advantages

1) The system is clan , dustless, totally enclose and pollution free.

2) The ash can be discharged at a considerable distance.
3) Its handling capacity is large hence it can be used in large capacity power
plants.
4) Working parts do not come in contact with ash.
5) It can also be used to handle molten ash.

Pneumatic handling system.

In primary and secondary separation working on cyclone principle and then it is

collected in the ash hopper as shown in the figure. The clean air is discharged
from the top of the secondary air separator in to the atmosphere through the
exhauster. Exhauster may be mechanical type with filter or washer to ensure that
the exhauster handles clean air or it may use steam jet or water jet for its
operation. Mechanical exhausters are used in large power stations. While steam
exhausters are used in small and medium power stations. The pneumatic system
can handle abrasive as well as fine materials such as fly ash as soot.
The capacity of system varies from 15 -25 tons/hr.
Advantages:

14
 1) The system is flexible.
2) There is no spillage and re handling.
3) No chances of ash freezing and sticking of the materials , ash can be
discharged freely by gravity.
4) Dustless operation as the system is totally closed.
5) Cost / ton of ash handled is comparatively less.
Disadvantages.
1) Wear and tear of pipes is high and hence the maintenance costs are high.
2) The operation is noisy compared to other systems .

Steam jet system

In this type of ash handling system, a jet of high pressure steam is passed in the
direction of ash travel through a conveying pipe in which ash from the boiler ash
hopper is fed. The ash is deposited in the ash hopper . The velocity is given to the
steam by forcing it through the pipe under pressure greater than that of
atmosphere.

Advantages:

1) It does not requires any auxiliary drivers.

2) Capital coat and maintenance costs are low.
3) It requires less space.
4) Equipment can be installed in any position

Disadvantages
1) Noisy operation.
2) Wear and tear of pipes is high.
3) Capacity of this system is limited to 15 tons/hr

Dust collection
Any gas borne matter larger than 1 micron (0.001mm) in diameter we called it as
dust. If the particles are mainly ash particles then it is called fly ash. If the particles
are in turn mixed with some quantity of carbon, then the matter is known as the
cinders. The size of cinders is usually greater than 100 micron. Incomplete
combustion volatile components of fuel produces smoke, consists of particles
smaller than 10 micron. The removal of dust and cinders from flue gas can be
achieved by using dust collectors. These are classified as
1) Mechanical dust collectors.
2) Electrical dust collectors.

15
Mechanical dust collectors.

The basic principle used in the mechanical dust collection is as shown in the
figure.

a) Sudden velocity decreasing method: Enlarging cross sectional area off the
dust carrying pipe helps in slow down of the gas so that dust particles will
have the chance to settle out are allowed to fall down.
b) Abrupt change of flow direction.: When gas makes a sharp change in flow
direction the heavier particles tend to keep goinig in original direction and so
settle out.
c) Impingement upon small baffles: The larger dust particles may be knocked
out of the gas stream by impingement on baffles. These are used to drop
large cinders from the gases.
Mechanical dust collectors can be further classified as wet type and dry type. The
wet type dust collectors are also called as scrubbers . Scrubbers operate with
water sprays to wash dust from the air. Large quantity of wash water is required
for central power stations and this system is rarely used. This also produces
waste water that may require chemical neutralization before it may be discharged
in to the natural water bodies. Scrubbers may be 1) Packed type 2)Spray type 3)
Impingement type

Dry collectors
Dry collectors are the most commonly used . One example for dry dust collectors
is cyclone separator. In this type of mechanical dust collector, a high velocity gas
stream carrying the dust particles enters at high velocity and tangential to the
conical shell. This produces a whirling motion of the gas within the chamber and
throws heavier dust particles to the sides and fall out of the gas stream and are

16
collected at the bottom of the collector. The gas from the conical shell is passed
through the secondary chamber as shown in figure for final separation.

Advantages
1) Maintenance cost is low.
2) Efficiency is higher for bigger size particles.
3) Its efficiency increases with increasing the load.
Disadvantages
1) It requires more power than other collectors.
2) It is not flexible.
3) Pressure loss is comparatively high.
4) The collection efficiency decreases as the finess of dust particles
increases.
5) It requires large head room.

Electrostatic precipitator.

Electrostatic precipitator are extensively used in removal of fly ash from electric
utility boiler emissions. The dust laden gas is passed between oppositely charged

17
conductors and it becomes ionized. As the dust laden gas passed through these
charged electrodes, both negative and positive ions are formed. The ionized gas
is further passed through the collecting unit which consists of set of vertical
plates. Alternates plates are charged and earthed. As the alternate plates are
grounded, high intensity electrostatic field exerts a force on positively charged
dust particles and drives them towards the grounded plate. The deposited dust
particles are removed from the plates by giving the shaking motion to the plates .
Dust removed collected in the dust hoppers.
Advantages
1) It is more effective in removing small particle.
2) Its efficiency s high.
3) The drought losses are least.
4) It provides ease of operation.

Disadvantages:
1) Use of electrical equipment for converting AC in to DC is necessary.
2) The space required is larger than wet system.
3) Collectors must be protected from sparking .
4) The running costs are high.

High pressure boilers.

For generating steam up to 30 bar pressure with flow rates up to about 30 tones /
hr can be achieved with the use of shell boilers using fire tube principles. These
boilers are known as the low pressure boilers. High pressure boilers are operating
with pressures ranging from 30 bar to 300 bars, steam flow rate vary between 30
to 650 tones /hr and maximum temperature is around 6000c having furnace height
varying from 32 to 62 m. In high pressure boilers water tube principle is used. The
boilers operating at pressure 221 bar . Then such boilers are known as the sub
critical boilers. The boilers operating above 221 bar steam pressure are called
super critical boilers.

The unique feature of high pressure boilers are

i) Method of water circulation.

Use of natural circulation is limited to sub critical boilers with pressures less than
221 bar. In high pressure boilers forced circulation of water is used instead of
natural circulation. With the increase in pressure in the boiler, the pressure
difference causing the natural flow of water decreases and this becomes zero at
critical pressure of steam 221 bar, because the density of water and steam is
same at critical pressure. Therefore the use of forced circulation becomes

18
necessary. Forced circulation of water is achieved with the help of pumps these
pumps are known as forced circulation pumps.

ii) Arrangement of drums and tubing.

In order to avoid large resistance to flow of water these boilers have a parallel set
of tubes arrangement. They have small steam separating drum or may be entirely
free of drum.

iii) Improved method of heating.

The following methods are used to improve the heating.

1) heat added to produce steam can be avoid by eliminating latent heat of
evaporation at pressure above critical (221 Bar).
2) Super heated steam is used to heat water by mixing.
3) Heat transfer coefficients can be improved by increasing gas and water
velocities above sonic velocity.

Advantages:

1) Scale formation is avoided due to the use of high velocity of water.

2) Light weight tubes can be used.
3) Reduction in number of tubes used.
4) Boilers are capable of meeting rapid load changes.
5) Completely eliminates the high head which is needed for natural circulation.
6) Since all parts are heated uniformly which eliminates danger of overheating
and setting up thermal stresses.
7) Construction time required is less.

Lamont boiler

The schematic arrangement of Lamont boiler is as shown in figure .The feed

water from hot well is pumped in to the steam separating drum with the help of the
feed pump. The circulating pump draws water from the drum and delivers it under
pressure to the headers. These headers distribute the water to the steam
generating tubes or evaporator, part of the water evaporated is separated in the
steam separator drum. The steam from the top of the drum is allowed to enter
super heater s located in the path of hot gases. As the steam is drawn from the
super heater, an equivalent quantity of feed water is supplied through the
economizer in to the drum. The large quantity of water circulated prevents the
tubes from being overheated. These boilers can be built to generate 45 to 50
tones/hr of super heated stem at pressure of 130 bar and at a temperature of

19
5000c . The major disadvantage of this boiler is the formation of scale due the
presence of dissolved gases in the water it decreases heat transfer rate and
efficiency of the boiler.

Lamont boiler

20
LOEFFLER BOILER.

The major difficulty of salt deposition and sediments experienced in Lamont boiler
was solved in Loeffler boiler by preventing the flow of water to the boiler tubes. In
Loeffler boiler, feed water passes through an economizer before its entry in to the
evaporating drum. Superheated steam mixing with drum water and evaporates it
in to saturated steam. The saturated steam flows through radiant and convective
super heaters. About 2/3rd of the steam returns to the demand 1/3rd leaves as the
steam generator out put. The steam coming out of from HP turbine is passed
through reheater before supplying to LP turbine. The steam generating capacity of
this boiler is 100 tones/hr at 140 bar pressure. It is best suited for land and sea
transport power generation.

21
Benson:

One of the difficulty experienced in Lamont boiler is the formation and attachment
of bubbles on the inner surfaces of the heating tubes.

In Benson boiler the difficulty of bubble formation experienced in Lamont boiler is

avoided by raising the boiler pressure to critical pressure (221.6Bar) . The
arrangement of the boiler components is as shown if the figure. The Benson boiler
is the drum less once through boiler. This boiler takes the feed water in at one end
and discharges it as superheated steam at the other end. Feed water flows
through the radiant tube section to evaporate partly. Where major part of the
water is converted in to steam. The remaining water is evaporated in the
convection evaporator tubes. The saturated high pressure steam is further passes
through super heater before leaving the unit.

22
Major problem that experienced with this boiler is the salt deposition. To avoid this
difficulty the boiler is normally flashed out after every 4000 working hours to
remove the salt. Capacity of this boiler is 150 tones / hr of steam generation with
pressure 300 bar at 6000c.

Advantages
1) There may be no pressure limitation and it may be as high as super critical.
2) Absence of drum and hence cost is less.
3) Evaporation is quick.
4) Light in weight.
5) Space re4quired is less.
6) Expansion problem is less compared to drum type boiler.
Disadvantage
1) The deposition of salt in evaporator tube is common.
2) Over heating of tubes incase of insufficient water supply.
3) It requires close coordination between steam generation and feed water
supply.
4) There is a greater chance of corrosion of evaporator tubes.

23
Velox boiler.

The Velox boiler is a high pressure , forced circulation pressurized or forced

combustion boiler with the limitation of firing with oil or gas. Air is compressed to
about 2.5 bar in an compressor run by gas turbine before being supplied to an
furnace. Compressed air helps in generating high velocity gas and also at the
same time release of greater amount of heat . The heat transferred from gases to
water while passing through the annulus to generate the steam. The mixture of
water and steam thus formed then passes in to separator. The separated steam is
further passed in to the super heater and then supplied to the prime move. The
water removed from mixture is again passed in to the water tubes with the help of
a pump. The gases coming out of the combustion chamber are used for
superheating steam in super heater. The gases coming out of the gas turbine are
used to heat water in economizer. The capacity of this boiler is limited to 100
tones /hr

Advantages:
1) High combustion rates are possible.
2) Low excess air is required.
3) It is very compact.
4) It can be quickly started.

24
Schmidt Boiler

It consist of two separate circuits. In primary circuit steam is produced from

distilled water. The generated steam is passed through an heating coil located in
evaporator drum. The steam produced in the evaporator drum from impure water
is passed through the super heater and then supplied to the prime mover. The
high pressure condensate formed in the submerged heating coil is circulated
through the low pressure feed water pre heater to raise the fed water temperature
to its saturation temperature.
Advantages:
1) Overheating of tubes is completely eliminated.
2) It is capable of taking wide fluctuation of loads.
3) Removal of salts deposited is easy.

25
Accessories for steam generators:
Different devices that are used for the safety and to improve the steam
generators are classified in to two groups
a) Boiler mountings b) Boiler accessories
a) Boiler mountings: Boiler mountings are those devices which are mounted
over the body of the boiler itself for the safety of the boiler and for complete
control of the process of steam generation. Some of the mountings are 1) Two
safety valves 2) Water level indicators 3) Pressure gauges 4) Fusible plug 5)
Steam stop valve 6) Feed check valve 7) Blow off cock 8) Inspector test gauge 9)
Man and mud hole.
b) Boiler accessories : These are those devices which are installed either inside or
out side the boiler to increase the efficiency of the plant and or for proper working
of the plant. The following accessories are used in the boiler.
1) Air preheater
2) Economizers
3)Super heaters
4) De super heaters
5) Steam separators
6) Pressure reducing valve

Super heaters :
The function of the super heater is to remove the last traces of moisture from the
saturated steam coming out of the boiler and to increase its temperature
sufficiently above saturation temperature. Super heating of steam helps in
improving the overall efficiency and it also avoids too much condensation in the
last stages of the turbine which avoids the blade erosion. Super heaters helps in
recovering as large as 40% of heat in steam generators. Modern super heaters
are made up of special high strength steel alloys ( Chromium
Molybdenum) it can be operated in the temperature range of 540 C - 6500 C . If
0

the operating temperature is between 4600 C - 5100 C Carbon steel is sufficient.

Super heaters are classified in to three categories as
a) Convection zone heaters.
b) Radiation zone heaters.
c) External heaters.
Convection zone super heaters are usually of the horizontal type, heat transfer
takes place from hot gases to the super heater due to the convection . Due to
chances of condensation during short time, shut down super heaters in the
convection zone are invariably made as drainable type. Radiant super heaters
receive heat by direct radiation. Heat available to the radiant super heater does
not increase at the same rate as steam mass flow within the tubes thus steam
temperature decreases. External super heaters are once through design. If it is
not possible to locate the super heater within the boiler , it may be located
externally.

26
Based on mechanical construction there are three kinds of super heaters namely
pendant , inverted and horizontal as shown below.

Pendant type super heaters are those that are hung from above they have the
advantage of firm structural support but disadvantage of flow blockage by
condensed steam after cold shut down. To avoid this problem inverted tube
arrangement is used. To combine the advantages of both horizontal type super
heaters are used.
Super heaters may be made in the form of coils or platens .The coil may be
single, double with one tube and double coil with two tubes as shown below.

Super heater temperature control

For successful operation of prime mover it is necessary to supply steam as far as
possible at constant temperature and pressure . Steam pressure can be easily
regulated by means of safety valve invariably mounted on the boiler. Control of
steam temperature is really a problem with boiler designers. Accurate steam
temperature control is necessary for avoiding over stressing of super heater
tubes and to maintain overall efficiency as high as possible.
Common methods used for controlling super heat temperature of the steam are
listed below.

27
1) By passing the furnace gas around the super heaters.

In this method part of the flue gases are by passed with the help of damper as
shown in the figure . Even though the this method can be used successfully to
control steam temperatures but finding an suitable material to with stand erosion
and high temperatures in the gas passage have limited the use of damper method
of control.

2) Tilting burner in furnace.

The temperature of the steam coming out of super heaters is controlled by tilting
the burners up or down through a range of 300C . By tilting the burner down ward
in a furnace much of heat is given to the water walls by the gas and the gas
entering the super heater system is relatively cool. If the burner tilted up ward,
then the heat given to the boiler water wall is less and hot gas enters the super
heat region to increase the steam temperatures.
3) Desuper heaters using water spray

28
The temperature of the steam can be controlled by injecting the water either
before the super heater or between the sections of super heaters .

4) Pre condensing control:

The temperature of the steam can be controlled by condensing the steam coming
out of boiler with a small condenser with the help of feed water as shown in the
figure . Automatic control regulates the amount of feed water passing through the
condenser.

5) Gas re circulation:

The gas coming out of the economizer is partially re circulated in to the furnace
with the help of a fan as shown in figure. The re circulated gas forms an blanket

29
inside the furnace wall. This reduces the heat absorption by water walls and
increases the heat absorption by super heater.

6) Twin furnace arrangement.

Twin furnace arrangement is as shown in the figure below. It is an extension of

separately fired super heater. Varying the firing rates between the furnaces
controls the super heat temperature.

7) Coil immersion in the boiler drum

The arrangement of this system is shown in the figure. A portion of thee steam
from low temperature section of super heater by passed to a coil immersed in
lower drum of the boiler under the control of by pass valve, later it is actuated by
the final temperature of the steam. Thus making system automatic. The desuper
heated steam in the boiler drum is returned and mixed with non desuper heated
steam in the junction header and final super heating takes place in the second
stage super heater . This method is used in Bacock and Wilcox boiler. The
advantages of this method are 1) There is no erosive action on the equipment by
gases 2) Over heating of the metal at high temperatures.

30
Economizers:
Economizer is a feed water heater deriving heat from the flue gases discharged
from the boiler. The function of economizer is to heat the feed water coming up to
nearly saturation temperature corresponding to the boiler pressure by utilizing
energy of the hot flue gases leaving the super heater or re heater which is
generally at temperatures varying from 3700C to 5700C. Economizers are usually
placed between last super heater and the air preheaters. They have been built in
vertical coils of continuous tubes connected between inlet and outlet headers with
each sections formed in to an several horizontal paths connected by 1800 Vertical
at a pitch of 45 to 50 mm spacing depending on the type of fuel and ash
characteristics.

Types of Economizers:
Basically there are two types of economizers
1) Plain tube economizer:

31
Plain tubes are generally used in Lancashire boiler working with natural draught.
The tubes are made up of cast Iron to prevent corrosive action by the flue gases.
The waste flue gases flow out side the economizer tubes and heat is transferred
to the feed water flowing inside the tubes. The external surfaces of the tubes are
continuously cleaned with the help of soot scrappers to maintain an constant heat
transfer.

2) Gilled tube economizer :

A reduction in economizer size together with increased heat transmission can be

obtained by casting rectangular gills on the bare tube walls. Up to 50 bar pressure
cast iron gilled tube economizers can be used. Greater than 50 bar pressure
applications steel tubes are used but gills are made up of cast iron are shrunk to
them.
Advantages of Economizers:
1) It helps in reduction of soot and fly ash.
2) Fuel savings will be higher than theoretically calculated.
3) It helps in reduction of thermal stresses in the pressurized parts of the boiler
and promotes the better internal mixing.
4) Hardness problem of water can be minimized

Air preheaters
Air preheater utilize some of the heat energy left in the gases before exhausting
them to atmosphere. The heat carried with the flue gases coming out of
economizer is further utilized for preheating the air before supplying in to the
combustion chamber. It helps in improving the efficiency of the boiler. Air
preheaters are necessary equipments used for supply of hot air for drying the coal
in pulverized mill and satisfactory combustion of fuel in furnace.

32
Advantages of preheating air are
1) Improved combustion
2) Successful use of low grade fuel.
3) Increased thermal efficiency
4) Saving in fuel consumption
5) Increased steam generation capacity.
Air preheaters are divided in to two groups
1) Regenerative ( Ljungstorm preheater )
2) Recuperative preheater.
1) Regenerative preheater :

In this type of preheater heat is transferred from the hot flue gases, first to an
intermediate heat storage medium, then to air. The most common is the rotary air
preheater known as Ljungstrom preheater. Rotor driven by a electric motor. The
rotor is having several radial members they form sectors. The sectors are filled
with heating surface composed of steel sheets. They constitute a heat storage
medium of the preheater. A stationary seal covers the equivalent of two opposite
sectors. Half of the remaining sectors are exposed at any instant to the hot gases

33
which are moving in one direction . The sectors in the other half are exposed to
the air which is moving in the opposite direction. As the rotating sectors enters the
gas zone they are progressively heated by the gas. They store heat as sensible
heat. When they enter air zone they progressively give up this heat to the air . The
seal system reduces the leakage.

2) Recuperative air preheater:

In this type of air preheaters heat is directly transferred to the air from hot gases
across the heat exchange surface.
There are two types of recuperative air preheaters
a) Tubular air preheaters
b) Plate type air preheater

a) Tubular air preheaters:

Tubular air preheater is as shown in the figure. It works similar to the counter flow
heat exchanger . The flue gases flow through the tubes and air is passed over the
outer surface of the tubes. The horizontal baffles are provided as shown in the
figure to increase time of contact which will help for higher heat transfer. In some
designs tube row staggering is used to improve the air distribution. The steel
tubes of 3 to 10 m in height and 6 to 8 cm in diameters are commonly used. The
gases reverse their direction near the bottom of the air heater, and a soot hoper is
fitted to the bottom of air preheater casing to collect soot.

34
Plate type air preheater:
GAS IN

AIR OUT

GAS OUT
AIR IN

It consists of rectangular flat plates spaced from 1.5 to 2.5 cm apart leaving
alternate air and gas passages. This type of air heaters is not used in modern
installation as it more expensive compared to the tubular air heater.

Cooling towers and cooling ponds

Necessity of cooling the condenser water

1) Cooling water system is one of the most important system of power plant and
its availability predominantly decides the plant site.
2) as the cooling water takes the latent heat of steam in the condenser, the
temperature of water increases. The hot water coming out of the condenser can
not be used again and again in a closed system without pre-cooling. This is
because the hot water coming out of condenser if again used it will not absorb
the heat as two reaches near to saturation temperature of steam at condenser
pressure an the condenser vacuum can not be maintained. Therefore it is
absolutely necessary to pre cool the water coming out of condenser before using
again.
Cooling towers and ponds are used for cooling water coming out of the condenser
to make it suitable for reusing in the plant.

35
Cooling towers:
The purpose of cooling towers is to cool the warmed water discharged from
condenser and feed the cooled water back to the condenser. By this way cooling
water requirement get reduced to make up water supply only. The cooling towers
may be wet type or dry type.

Wet cooling towers employ a hot water distributing system that showers or sprays
the water evenly over a lattice work of closely set horizontal bars called fills or
packaging. Since the water splashes down from one fill level to the next by gravity
. There is a through mixing of water falling with air moving through the fill. The
intimate mix between water and air results in enhancement of heat and mass
transfer(Evaporation) which cools the water. The cold water gets collected at the
bottom of tower in concrete basin from where it is pumped back to the condenser
in a closed system or returned to the water body in open system. The resulting hot
and moist air leaves the tower at the top.
Wet cooling towers are classified as either
i) Mechanical draught cooling towers
ii) Natural draught cooling towers
i) Mechanical draught cooling towers.

36
In this case air is moved by one or more mechanically driven fans. The fan could
be of forced draught (FD) type or Induced draught (ID) type. The FD fan is
mounted on the lower sides to force air in to the tower while in ID type ID fan is
located on the top of the tower. FD type is thermodynamically superior but it is
having s=disadvantages like leakage, recirculation of hot and moist air and frost
accumulation at fan in lets during winter operation. Therefore induced draught
type wet cooling towers are commonly used. In this type air enters through the
large openings provided at the bottom of the tower at slow velocity and passes
through the fill. The fan located at the top of the tower exhausts the hot humid air
in to the atmosphere. The fans are propeller type and driven by electric motor.

37
The blades of the fan are usually made of cast aluminum, stainless steel or fiber
glass to safe guard against the corrosion.

Advantages:
1) It is independent of climate conditions.
2) Low initial capital costs and low physical profile.
3) More efficient and more safe.
Disadvantages:
1) High power consumption by fans
2) Noise produced is enormous.
3) Operating and maintenance costs are more.

Natural draught cooling towers

In this type of cooling towers there are no fans. These towers depend for air flow
upon the natural driving pressure caused by the difference in densities between
the cool out side air and the hot humid air inside. The driving pressure differential
is expressed as
Pd = (o-i) gH ,
Where H is height of tower above the fill, o and I are densities of air out
side and inside .
Since (o-i) is relatively small , so H must be large enough to cause desired Pd
and as a result natural draught cooling towers are very tall towers .Towers are

38
usually of hyperbolic profiles and due to this natural draught towers are called by
name hyperbolic towers. The advantage of this type of towers is that their greater
resistance to outside wind loading compared to other shapes. The natural draught
towers may be counter flow type or cross flow type. In counter flow the fill is inside
where as in cross flow the sits out side the tower.
Advantages:
(i) Low operating and maintenance cost .
(ii) It gives more or less trouble free operation
(iii) Considerable less ground area required.
(iv) Towers may be as high as 125 m and 100 m in diameter at the base with the
capability of withstanding winds of very high speed.
Disadvantages:
(i) High initial cost
(ii) Its performance depends on the atmospheric conditions.

Dry cooling towers:

Dry cooling towers are those in which water pass through the finned tubes over
which the cooling air is passed. A dry cooling tower can be either mechanical
draught or natural draught. They are very suitable where there is scarcity of water.
The plant could be located on fuel source site to avoid transportation cost . They
are less expensive and maintenance costs are low. The main disadvantage is
less efficient than wet type, work at high back pressure which decreases the plant
out put and efficiency. Dry cooling towers are of two types direct and indirect

Direct dry cooling towers:

In this type of cooling tower turbine exhaust steam is admitted in to a steam

header through large ducts and is condensed as it flows downward through a
large number of finned tubes or coils arranged in parallel which are cooled by the
atmospheric air flowing in a natural draught cooling towers or forced draught fan.

39
The condensate flows by gravity and gets collected in condenser receiver from
where it is pumped in to the plant feed water system.
Indirect dry cooling tower
There are three design concepts available for indirect dry cooling towers
i) With conventional surface condenser.

It uses a conventional surface condenser in which circulating water goes through

the finned tubes cooled by atmospheric air in the tower. The finned tubes may be
either cooled by air through natural draught or induced draught system. This
design is similar to the design of two heat exchangers in series and thus two
temperatures drops , one between steam and water and another one between
water and air. If this type of towers is used in the plant efficiency will be low
compared to once through system.
ii) Using an open or direct contact condenser:

40
It eliminates the intermediate water loop of first design concept and uses an direct
or indirect contact condenser. Since the operation is in the closed mode
circulating water can be mixed with steam from plant and hence use of open type
condenser is justified. The exhaust steam from turbine enters the open type
condenser. Where cold water is sprayed in to the steam for intimate mixing. The
condensate falls to the bottom of the condenser from which most of it is pumped
by recirculation pump under positive pressure to finned tubing in the tower. This
part of the condensate is cooled and is returned to the condenser sprayers. The
condensate equal to the steam flow , is pumped to the plant water system by the
condensate pump. In this case also cooling towers may be natural or forced
draught. A water recover turbine may be used to recover some of the work of
pump. This concept of indirect dry cooling tower is efficient more economical and
more feasible for large plants.

3) Using Vaporizing coolant.

This design uses vaporizing coolant instead of water. Nearly saturated liquid
ammonia enters surface condenser and is vaporized to saturated vapor . Vapor
flows to finned coils and is condensed to saturated liquid and finally pumped to
the condenser. Since the heat transfer coefficient is very high compared to the
convective heat transfer in single phase fluid. Thus the use of ammonia reduces
the size and power requirement of the equipment.

Advantages of dry cooling towers:

1) There is no thermal pollution and loss of water due to evaporation.
2) Power plant can be located closer to the load centre .
3) There is minimum air pollution.
4) There is no fog , no blowdown treatment , no windage loss of water, no
evaporative loss of water and no thermal discharge to water source.
Disadvantages:
1) Their performance is dependent on the atmospheric conditions and so turbine
exhaust temperature s are much higher resulting in a substantial loss of turbine
efficiency , most critical in warm climates.
2)Due to low heat transfer coefficient , dry cooling towers require enormous
volumes of air, large surface areas and are less effective at high natural air
temperatures.
Cooling lakes or cooling ponds.
Cooling lakes are also known as the cooling ponds .These are the oldest and
simplest type of artificially made heat rejection system. Hot circulating water from
the condenser is simply dumped in to an artificially made lake and left to cool.
Cooled water from the lake is returned to the water circulating system. Cooling is
accomplished naturally by evaporation by thermal radiation to sky and convection

41
by wind. It requires large land area. The main disadvantages of cooling lake is
that very low cooling effectiveness and costs of structure. Some of the
advantages are
1) Simplicity
2) Low maintenance
3) It can be operated for extended periods without make up water
4) Only mechanical equipment needed is pump

Types of cooling ponds.

The common types of cooling ponds used in practice are listed below.
1) Single deck and double deck systems.
i) Single deck system

In this type of cooling ponds the spray nozzles are arranges at the same elevation
as shown in figure. Its effectiveness is less than the double deck system.

42
ii) Double deck system.

In this type spray nozzles are arranged at different elevation as shown in the
figure. Its cooling effect is more than single deck system as water comes in
contact with air at low temperature.

2) Natural and directed flow system.

i) Natural flow system

In natural flow system water coming out from the condenser is directly allowed to
flow in to the pond. This system rarely used.

ii) Directed flow system

In this type of cooling pond the hot water coming out of condenser enters the
middle channel. Then it reaches the far end of channel and divides in to two
currents. Baffles walls are used to traverse water several times in the pond before
uniting at the intake point. The cooling achieved is more effective.

43
44
 SOLAR ENERGY

Introduction: Of all the renewable energy sources, solar energy received the
greatest attention the decade of the 1970s. Many regarded it as the solution for
reducing the use of fossil and nuclear fuels and for a cleaner environment. Solar
energy , in sheer size, does have the potential to supply all energy needs:
electrical, thermal, process, and chemical, and even transportation fuels. It is
however , very diffuse, cyclic, process, and chemical , and often undependable . It
is therefore needs system and components and that can gather and concentrate
it efficiently for conversion to any of these uses and that can do the conversion
as efficiently as possible .

Solar radiation outside the earth’s atmosphere:

The energy incident on the earth out side its atmosphere is called extraterrestrial
radiation. Energy radiated by the sun as electromagnetic waves of which 99
percent have wave lengths in the range of 0.2 to 4.0 micrometers. Solar energy
reaching the top of the earths atmosphere consists of about 8 percent ultraviolet
radiation , 46 percent visible light (0.39 to 0.78 micrometer), and 46 percent
infrared radiation ( long wave length more than 0.78 micrometer).
The sun is very large sphere of very hot gases, heat being generated by various
kinds of fusion reactions. Its diameter is 1.39 x 106 km . While that of the earth is
1.27 x 104 km. The earth rotates around the sun in the elliptical orbit with major

45
and minor axes differing by 1.7 percent. The mean distance between the two is
1.50 x 108 km . It subtends at an angle of only 32 minutes at the earth’s surface.
This is because it is also at a very large distance. Thus the beam radiation
received from the sun on the earth is almost parallel. The brightness of the sun
varies from its centre to its edge. For all practical purposes , therefore , the sun’s
rays may be considered parallel when they reach the earth . The sun has an
effective black body temperature , as seen from the earth of 5762 K.

The rate at which solar energy arrives at the top of the atmosphere is called the
solar constant (S = 1.353 KW / m2 ) or
This is the amount of energy received in unit time on a unit area perpendicular to
the sun’s direction at the mean distance of the earth from the sun.
Energy received at the earth’s atmosphere varies Because of the variation in the
distance and activity.
This can be approximated by the equation
I/ Isc = 1+ 0.033 x cos x [360 (n-2) ] / 365
 1+ 0.033 x cos x 360n / 365
Where n is the day of the year . I is the change in the solar constant

46
 Spectral distribution of solar radiation intensity
It will be noted from fig which shows spectral distribution of solar radiation
intensity at the outer limit of atmosphere, that the maximum value of 2074 W / m2
-m occurs at wave length of 0.48 m and that 99 percent of the sun’s radiation is
obtained up to a wavelength of 4 m.

Solar radiation at the earth’s atmosphere

Solar energy falling on the earth’s surface is called terrestrial radiation . Terrestrial
radiation varies significantly both daily because of the earth’s rotation and
seasonally because of the change in sun’s declination angle. The terrestrial
radiation is said to be attenuated by two mechanisms , scattering and absorption .
Scattering (Diffusing) is a mechanism by which part of a radiation beam is
scattered laterally and is , therefore attenuated by the air molecules, water
vapour, and the dust in the atmosphere. The scattered or diffuse radiation is
mostly of shorter wave length.

47
The absorption of the solar radiation in the atmosphere takes place mainly by
ozone O3, water vapour and carbon dioxide CO2, X-ray and other very short wave
length radiation of the sun are absorbed in ionosphere by N2, O2 and other
components.
The terrestrial solar radiation incident on the earth’s surface is composed of two
parts
1) Beam radiation ( Without scattering and absorption)
2) Diffuse radiation.

The incident radiation on the earth’s surface is presented in terms of

dimensionless parameter known as Air Mass ma.
It is defined as the ratio of optical thickness of the atmosphere (through which
beam radiation passes to the surface) to its optical thickness if the sun were at the
zenith( Directly above).
Thus ma = 0 means extraterrestrial, ma=1 indicates sea level on the earth when
sun is at zenith ma = 2 when sun is at zenith angle equal to 600. The air mass and
zenith angle are related by ma = ( cosz) -1. The available terrestrial solar energy
at a given time and place is influenced not only by time of the day or year, location
and scattering but also by cloudiness. All effects may be combined in one
parameter called clearness index Ci. It is defined as the ratio of the average
radiation on a horizontal surface for a given period to the average extraterrestrial
radiation for the same period. The values of Ci varies widely from nearly 30 to
70% in some localities on the earth, with its value going down to zero in some
location because of bad weather even in the day time.

48
The total amount of extraterrestrial power Pe received is given by the solar
constant S times the projected area of the earth.
Pe = SR2
Where R = Radius of the earth = 6.378 x 106 m, S = 1.353 KW / m2 ,
Pe = 1.353 x  x (6.378 x 106 ) 2 = 1.73 x 1014 KW
Energy per year = 1.73 x 1014 x 8766 h/year
= 1.516 x 1018 KWh / Year
= 1.516 x 1018 x 3.6 = 5.47 x 1018 MJ / year

Under favourable atmosphere conditions the maximum intensity observed at noon

on an oriented surface at sea level is 1 KW / m2 at an altitude of 1000 m. The
value rises to about 0.5 KW / m2, and in higher mountains values slightly above
1.1 KW / m2 are obtained compared with 1.353 KW / m2 in outer space. The
upper curve represents the outer limit of atmosphere. The other lower curve
applies to earth’s surface during clear days for a sea level location. Dotted curve
shown for a black body at 59000 K . The lower two curves are for diffuse
components for some haze and clear sky conditions respectively.

Pyrometers: Pyrometers are the instruments which are used for measuring the
solar radiation.

49
measurements of solar radiation are important because of the increasing number
of solar cooling applications and the need for accurate solar radiation data to
predict performance .Two basic types of instruments are used for solar radiation
measurement.
1) A Pyrheliometer: Which is used for measuring radiation to determine the
beam intensity as a function of incident angle.
2) A Pyranometer : This instrument measures the total hemispherical solar
radiation. The pyranometers are the most common.

50
Pyrheliometer: In this type of instrument sensor disc located at the base of the
tube whose axis is aligned with the direction of the sun’s rays. Thus diffuse
radiation is completely blocked from the sensor surface.

Three different types of Pyrhelliometers are widely used

1) The Angstrom Pyrheliometer
2) Silver disc pyrheliometer
3) Eppley pyrheliometer.

Angstrom pyrheliometer:

51
In this type of pyrheliometer , a thin blackened shaded manganin strip is heated
electrically until it is at the same temperature as similar strip which is exposed to
solar radiation. Under steady state condition the energy used for heating is equal
to the absorbed solar energy . The thermocouple on the back of the each strip ,
connected to galvanometer . The energy H of direct solar radition is calculated
by means of thye formula.
Hdn = Ki2.

Hdn is direct radiation incident on an area normal to sun’s rays , I heating current
in amperes, K is a dimension and instrument constant = R / W
R – is the resistance / unit length of the absorbing strip
 is the absorbing coefficient of the absorbing strip.

Pyranometer:

This instrument measures total or global radiation over a hemispherical field of

view. In most pyranometrers , the sun’s radiation is allowed to fall on a black
surface to which the hot junctions of a thermocouple are attached . The cold

52
junctions of a thermocouple are attached . The cold junctions of the thermocouple
are located in such way that they do not receive the radiation. As a result an emf
proportional to the solar radiation is generated . This emf (0 to 10 mV) recorded
over a period of time there are following types of pyranometers.
1) Eppley Pyranometer 2) Yellot Solarimeter ( Photovoltalic cell) 3) Mol –
Gorczyhelki solarimeter 4) Bimetallic action graphs of the Rabitzsch type

Eppley pyranometer :

It works on the principle of thermocouple . There is a temperature difference

between the black and white surface. The detection of the temperature difference
is achieved by thermocouple . Some models are made up wedges . The disks or
wedges are enclosed in a hemispherical glass cover.

Flat plate collectors (Liquid or air)

Flat plate collectors are suitable for the applications which are having operating
temperatures 900C and below. Generally these are non concentrating type. They
are made up of rectangular panels of about 1.7 to 2.9 sq m in area and are
relatively simple to construct and erect. Flat plate collectors can absorb both direct
and diffuse radiation, hence these are effective even on cloudy days when there
is no direct radiation.

53
Flat plate collectors are of two different types 1) Liquid heating collectors 2) Air or
gas heating collectors
All flat plate collectors have five main components.
1) A transparent cover which may be one or more sheets of glass or radiation
transmitting plastic film or sheet.
2) Tubes, fins passages or channels are integral with the collector absorber
plate. which carry the water, air or other fluid.
3) The absorber plate , normally metallic or with a black surface .
4) Insulation Which should be provided at the back and sides to minimize the
heat losses. Standard insulating materials such as fiber glass or styro –
foam are used for this purpose.
5) Casing or container which enclose the other components and protects them
from the weather.

Liquid flat plate collector:

It consists of a flat surface with high absorptivity for solar radiation, called
adsorbing surface. Absorber metal plate is made up of copper , steel or
aluminum.. Thickness of the metal sheet 1 to 2 mm , while tubes , which are also
made from a metal , range in diameter from 1 to 1.5 cm. They are soldered ,
brazed or clamped to the bottom of the absorber plate with pitch ranging from 5
to 15 cm. The most widely used material for the absorber plate is corrugated
galvanized sheet .
The use of conventional standard panel radiators shown in the figure. The
methods of bonding and clamping tubes to flat or corrugated sheet are shown in
fig

54
Heat is transferred from the absorber plate to a point of use by circulation of fluid
across the solar heated surface. Thermal insulation of 5 to 10 cm thickness is
usually placed behind the absorber plate to prevent the heat losses from the rear
surface. The front covers are generally glass that is transparent to in coming solar
radiation and opaque to the infrared re-radiation from the absorber. Glass is
generally used for the transparent covers but certain plastic films may also be
used. The thickness of 3 and 4 mm are commonly used. Usual practice is to have

55
two covers. Air space between the cover and the absorber plate largely prevents
loss of heat from the plate by convection. Cover glass permits the passage of
solar radiations with smaller wave lengths but opaque to larger wavelength . As a
result heat is trapped in the air space between the cover and the absorber plate in
a manner similar to to green house. The loss of solar radiation due to absorption
in cover plate can be minimized by using clear glass with low iron content.. The
generated in the absorber is removed by continuous flow of a heat transparent
medium, either water or air. When water is used it is most commonly passed
through metal tubes with either circular or rectangular cross section. The tubes
are connected to a common header at each end of the collector. In order to
maximize the exposure to solar radiation , collectors are almost invariably sloped.
Cooler water enters at the bottom header , flows upward through the tubes where
it is warmed by the absorber , and leaves by way of the top header.

Some of the problems associated with liquid(Water) collectors are i) Freezing of

water during cold nights ii) Corrosion of metal tubes by the water . Corrosion can
be minimized by using copper or Aluminum tubes . iii) Leaks in a water circulation
system require immediate attention.

Air collector or Solar air heaters:

Fig shows the solar air heater where an air stream is heated by the back side of
the collector plate . Contact surface can be increased by attaching fins. Back side
of the collector is insulated with mineral wool . The most favourable orientation of
the collector , for heating only is facing due south at an inclination angle to the
horizontal equal to the latitude plus 150.

56
Air used as heat transport medium in solar collectors have some advantages
over water. 1) It eliminates both freezing and corrosion problems ii) Small air
leaks are less concern than water leaks iii) It can be directly used for space
heating . The air may passed through a space between the absorber plate and
insulator with baffles arranged to provide a long flow path as shown in the fig.

Possible applications of solar heaters are drying or curing of agriculture

products , space heating for comfort , regeneration of dehumidifying agents,
seasoning of timber, curing of industrial products such as plastics. The flow of air
may be straight through, serpentine, above or below or on both sides of the
absorber plate or through porous absorber material.
Air heaters are classified in the following two categories.
1) Non porous absorber 2) Porous absorber
1) Non Porous absorber solar air heater: In this type of solar air heater air
stream does not flow through the absorber plate . Air may flow above and or
behind the absorber plate. Transmission of solar radiation is similar to that of
liquid type flat plate collector but due to heat transfer coefficients efficiencies are
lower than liquid solar heaters . Some of the non porous type air heaters are
shown below.

57
2) Porous absorber solar air heater :
Porous absorber solar air heaters are used for overcoming the difficulties faced in
non porous solar air heaters . Important problems faced in porous type are 1)
Excessive radioactive losses 2) Pressure drop along the duct formed 3) Larger
amount of energy required to push the air through.
Some of the porous absorber type air heaters are shown below.

58
Applications of solar air heaters:

1) Heating buildings
2) Heating in green houses
3) Air conditioning buildings .
4) Using as the source of heat for a heat engine such as Brayton or Stirling
cycle
5) Drying agricultural produce

Advantages of flat plate collectors:

1) Both beam and diffuse radiation can be used.
2) They do not require orientation towards the sun.
3) They require little maintenance.
4) They are mechanically simpler than concentrating reflectors .

59
Solar energy storage:
Storing of solar energy is necessary due to the following reasons.
1) It helps in absorbing solar energy when it is highest and the later used when
the need is greatest.
2) It makes possible to meet electrical load demand during the times when
insolation is below normal or non existent.
3) It improves the reliability
4) It permits better match between solar energy input and demand output.
Solar energy storage may be broadly classified as
1) Thermal storage :
i) Sensible heat a) Water storage b) Pebble bed storage
ii) Latent heat
2) Electrical storage
i) Capacitor storage
ii) Inductor storage
iii) Battery storage
3) Chemical storage i) Chemical ii) Thermo chemical
4) Mechanical energy storage
i) Pumped hydro electric storage
ii) Compressed air
iii) Fly wheel

5) Electromagnetic storage

Thermal energy storage:

In this method energy is stored by heating melting or vaporization of the material,
and the energy becomes available as heat , when the process is reversed. In two
different ways thermal energy can be stored
i) As Sensible heat: Energy storage result in the rising of material
temperature without changing phase.
ii) As Latent heat : Energy storage results only in the phase change without
rising the temperature.

60
Sensible Heat storage:

Fig
Sensible heat storage involves no change in phase over the temperature change
in the storage system. The basic equation governing the energy storage system
operating over a finite temperature difference is
Qs = mCp (T1-T2)
Where Qs = Total thermal energy capacity for a system
m = Mass of the storage medium in kg
Cp = Specific heat of storage system
T1, T2 = Temperature limits of storage medium
The ability to store thermal energy in a given container of volume V is Qs / V = 
Cp T
Where  is the density of the storage medium. Materials which are generally used
for this type energy storage i) Water ii) Rock, gravel or crushed stone iii) Iron shot
iv) Iron, red iron oxide or iron ore (magnetic) v) Concrete vi) Refractory materials
like magnesium oxide , Aluminum oxide and silicon oxide.

The most easiest way to store thermal energy is by storing the water directly in
well insulated tank. Water storage is having several advantages over the other
methods
1) It is an inexpensive , easily available.
2) It has high thermal storage capacity.
3) Pumping cost is small
4) No other heat transferring fluid is required.
Rocks can also be used for storing heat . Rocks does have the following
advantages over water.
1) Rock is more easily contained than water.
2) The system cost is low.
3) Much higher temperatures can be stored .
4) Heat transfer coefficients between solid and air is high.
5) The of storage material is low.

61
Latent heat storage:

A typical latent heat storage arrangement is shown in fig in which , the storage
material is placed in long thin containers e.g cylinders, and the gas is passed
through narrow spaces between the tubes. The advantage is that this system is
more compact than the sensible heat system.
In this method heat is stored in a material when it melts and extracted from the
material when it freezes . The material which is used for latent heat storage must
satisfy the following criteria
1) Phase change must accompanied by high latent heat.
2) Phase change must be reversible.
3) The cost of materials and its containers must be reasonable .
4) It must have the capacity to store large quantity of heat.
5) Preparation of material must simple.
6) Must be harmless.
7) The material must have high thermal conductivity.
8) Containment of the material , transfer of heat into it and out of it must be
easy.

If these criteria can be met then reduction in volume and weight in storage system
is possible.
The materials which are having the ability to store latent heat are Glauber’s salt (
Na2SO4. 10H20), Water, Fe(No3)2 6 H20, and salt eutectics are mostly used.

62
Solar pond:

Solar ponds is very shallow , 5cm to 2m deep with a absorbing black surface at
the bottom. Bottom of the pond is well insulated against the loss of heat to the
ground. Transparent fibre glass cover provided over the pond permits the solar
radiation but reduces losses by radiation and convection. If pure water is used in
the pond temperature rise is limited only to a few degrees due to loss of energy in
natural convection currents. The temperature in the pond can be increased by
using salt water with increasing salinity towards the bottom from top. In this
method pure water is placed at the top of the pond which acts as the insulator
against the loss of thermal energy . Salts like magnesium chloride , sodium
chloride or sodium nitrate are dissolved in the water, the concentration varying
from 20 to 30% at the bottom to almost zero at the top. In salt solar pond has
three zones with following salinity with depth. I) Surface convection zone (0.3 –
0.5 m) , salinity <5% ii) Non convective zone 1 to 1.5 m , salinity increases with
depth iii) Storage zone or lower convective zone 1.5 to 2 m, salinity  20% .
Typical value of salt concentration at the top surface is 20 Kg/ m 3, increasing to
300 and 260 Kg/m3 , for magnesium chloride and sodium chloride respectively at
the bottom. The salt water next to the absorbing surface when heated its density

63
decreases but this density still remains higher than that of the water above . This
avoids the mixing of the bottom hot salt water with the top less salinity water .It
helps in maintenance of the stability of the solar pond . Hence the top surface of
the solar pond remains cooler compared to bottom and acts as the insulator
against the loss of energy stored. In this method it is possible to achieve the
temperatures as large as 93oC. Thus solar pond can be defined as the artificially
constructed pond in which significant temperature rises are caused to occur in the
lower regions by preventing convection. It is necessary to add periodically
concentrated solutions at the bottom, and wash the surface with fresh water to
maintain the concentration gradient in the presence of diffusion effects.

Extraction of solar energy from solar ponds.

The solar energy from the solar pond is used to drive a Rankine cycle heat
engine. Hot water from the bottom level of the pond is pumped to the evaporator
where the organic fluid is vapourised . The vapour than flows under pressure to
the turbine where it expands and work thus obtained runs an electric generator
producing electricity. The exhaust vapour is then condensed in a condenser and
the liquid is pumped back to the evaporator and the cycle is repeated.

Applications of solar pond:

1) Heating and cooling of buildings
2) Production of power.
3) Industrial process heat.
4) Desalination .

64
 5) Heating animal housing and drying crops on farms.
6) Heat fro biomass conversion.
Photovoltaic conversion:
Photovolatalic energy conversion is a direct conversion technology that produces
electricity directly from sunlight without the use of a working fluid such as steam or
gas and a mechanical cycles such as Rankine or Brayton. The basic unit of a
photovoltaic system is the solar cell. Solar cells are usually made up of silicon . A
combination of solar cells designed to increase the electric power out put is called
a solar module or solar array.
Solar cells or photovoltaic cells generate electricity when they absorb light by
means of the photovoltaic effect ,that is conversion of light in to electricity. As
photons are received , free electrical charges are generated that can be collected
on contacts applied to the surfaces of the semiconductors. The theoretical
efficiencies are in the order of 25%. But actual operating efficiencies are less than
half of this value. Photovoltaic cells could be used in either small or large power
plants . The cost of energy storage and power conditioning equipments result in
power generation by large power stations uneconomical . Solar cells can be used
to operate irrigation pumps, navigational signals, highway call systems, rail road
crossing warnings etc. A photovoltaic system consists of i) Solar cell array ii)
Load leveler iii) Storage system iv) Tracking system. All solar cells are
interconnected in certain series/ parallel combinations to form modules. These
modules are sealed to protect against the corrosion, moisture, pollution and
weathering. Solar PV system can produce an output only if sunlight is present. If it
is required to be used during non sunshine hours, a suitable systems of storage
batteries will be required

Principle of operation of solar cell( Photovoltaic effect)

65
Solar cell consists of combination of p-type and n-type semiconductors. N- type
semiconductor has excess number of electrons , where as p-type semiconductor
has deficiency of electrons or holes. Such a piece of semiconductor with one side
of the p-type and the other of the n-type is called a p-n junction. In this junction
after the photons are absorbed the free electrons of the n-side will tend to flow to
the p-side , and the holes of p-side will tend to flow to the n region to compensate
for their respective deficiencies. This diffusion will create an electric field flowing
from the n region to the p- region . If electrical contacts are made with the two
semiconductors materials and the contacts are connected through an external
electrical conductor , free electrons will flow from n-type material through
conductor to the p-type material.. The flow of electrons through the external
conductor constitutes an electric current which will continue as long as more
free electrons and holes are being formed by solar radiation

66
 ENERGY FROM BIO MASS

Photosynthesis and oxygen production: Photosynthesis is the process in

which radiant solar energy of sun is absorbed by the green pigment chlorophyll in
the plant and is stored within the plant in the form of energy rich compounds like
sugars and starches. So we can harvest and burn such plants to burn to produce
steam in a similar manner as in thermal power stations ultimate to produce
electric power. Such an energy plantation would be a renewable resource and an
economical means of harnessing solar energy. How ever photosynthesis concept
is less attractive as the average efficiency of solar energy conversion in plants is
about 1% compared to 10% for photovoltaic cells. In photosynthesis reaction ,
water and CO2 molecules broken down and a carbohydrate is formed with the
release of pure oxygen with the absorption of sunlight by the chlorophyll in plants.
The process can be expressed as

CO2 + H2O + Light + Chlorophyll (H2CO)6 + O2 + Chlorophyll

Or 6CO2 + 12H2O C6 H12 O6+ 6H2O + 6O2

The chlorophyll activated by the absorption of sun light and passes its energy on
to the water molecules. The hydrogen atom is then released and reacts with the
carbon dioxide molecule to produce H2CO and oxygen. H2CO is the basic
molecule in the formation of carbohydrate. The necessary conditions for photo
synthesis are
1) Light : Only a part of the solar radiation (40 -45%) of 400 700 Ao wave
length is used in photosynthesis. This range of light is called photo
synthetically active radiation (PAR) .
2) CO2 concentration: Carbon dioxide is the primary raw material for photo
synthesis. It is observed that if CO2 concentration is increased , increase in
the yield of several crops , upto a certain limit.
3) Temperature: Photosynthesis is restricted to the temperature range which
can be tolerated by the proteins i.e. 0oC to 60oC .
The process of photosynthesis has two main steps:
1) Spliting of H2O molecule into H2 and O2 under the influence of chlorophyll
and sunlight. This phase reaction is called light reaction. O2 escapes and
H2 is transformed in to unknown compounds.
2) In the second phase , hydrogen is transformed from this unknown
compound to CO2 to form starch or sugar. Formation of starch or sugar are
dark reaction not requiring sunlight.

67
Energy plantation:

Energy plantation is the method of tapping maximum solar energy by growing

plants. Photosynthesis occurring in naturally , stores more than ten times much
energy annually , in plant farm than is consumed by all mankind. But very little of
this energy is tapped. Fuel wood accounts for about 60% of all energy consumed
in the country . Social forestry programme comprises the schemes a) Mixed
plantation on waste lands, and b) Reforestration of degraded forests. Jojaba
evergreen shrub around 1.7 m height grows wild in the semi-arid region of USA .
Its seeds contain about 50 to 80% of oil and its plantation in USA . The tree
species namely Acacia, Tortila, Albizzia , Lebbak, Prasois, Juliflora and likewise
have been identified adaptable to the hot – arid regions in our country. The plant
namely Erythrina and Leocaena which are known to be fast growing plants are
proposed for the subtropical regions . Ethyl alcohol , the most promising
compound, for mixing with gasoline, can be easily prepared from starch and
carbohydrates available from plants on other sources of bio- mass. Sycamore is
a promising tree that yield up to 16 ton / acre per year . All of it is used except the
foliage, which contains nutrients and is returned to the soil. A harvesting
sycamore produces a number of sprouts that are themselves ready for harvesting
in 2 to 3 years.
Up to 1990-91 over 14 lakh family size bio gas plants have been set up in the
country by DNES only. Its annual production of 1100 million cubic meters of gas
equivalent to 38.18 lakh fuel wood is saved . The benefits to society from the
biogas plants already in excess of Rs 300 corers per year. Under programme on
improved chulhas (NPIC) 42 lakh tones of wood saved . The value of this is
equivalent to 168 corers per year. The DNES taken up projects worth 5 MW
aggregate capacity split into mechanical and electrical application systems
through gasifiers/ stirling engines working on biomass at various locations in the
country. Under the biomass programme energy plantation projects have been
taken up with a view to fulfill the needs of fuel , fodder , and power generation
together with good potential for rural employment. Very encouraging results
have been obtained in the production of fast growing species of biomass in the
arid areas.

Bio gas production from organic wastes by anaerobic fermentation

Bio gas is the mixture containing 55-65 % of methane, 30 -40 % of carbon
dioxide and the rest being the impurities. Bio gas can produced from anaerobic
decomposition of plant and human waste. Its calorific value is between 20935
KJ/Kg to 23028 KJ/ kg or 38131 KJ / m3 . Bio gas is produced by digestion,
pyrolysis or hydrogasification. Digestion is a biological process that occurs in the
absence of oxygen and in the presence of anaerobic organisms at ambient
pressures and temperatures of 35 – 70oC. The container in which this digestion

68
takes place is known as the digester. Bio gas is generated through fermentation
or bio digestion of various wastes by a variety of anaerobic and facultative
organisms. Anerobic fermentation produces CO2, CH4, H2 and traces of other
gases along with a decomposed mass. In bio gas plant the main is to generate
methane and hence anaerobic digestion is used. Here comlex organic molecule
is broken down to sugar , alcohols, pesticides and amino acids by acid producing
bacteria. These products are then used to produce methane. By another category
of bacteria. The anaerobic digestion or fermentation consists of three phases.
1) Enzymatic hydrolysis: Where fats, starches and proteins contained in
cellulosic biomass are broken down into simple compounds.
2) Acid formation : Where the micro organisms of facultative and anaerobic
group collectively called as acid farmers, hydrolyse and ferment used to
break simple compounds in to acids and volatile solids. The initial acid
phase of digestion may last about two weeks and during this period a large
amount of carbon dioxide is given off.
3) Methane formation: Where organic acids formed above are then converted
into methane and carbon dioxide by the anaerobic bacteria called methane
fermentors. For the efficient fermentation these acid farmers and methane
fermentors must remain in a state of dynamic equilibrium. The methane
forming bacteria are sensitive to pH ,and conditions should be mildly acidic
(pH 6.6 to 7.0)
The general equation for anaerobic digestion is
CxHyOz + [ x – y/4 – z /2] H2O [ x/2 – y/8 + z/4 ] CO2 + x/2 +y/8 – z/4]
CH4
For cellulose this becomes
(C6H10O5)n + n H2O 3n Co2 + 3n CH4
Some organic material (lignin) and all inorganic inclusions do not digest. The
reaction is exothermic. Gas yield is about 0.2 to 0.4 m3 per kg dry digestible input
at STP .

69
Advantages of anaerobic digestion:
1) The bio gas generated is having appreciable value of calorific value and can
therefore , be used as an energy source to produce steam or hot water.
2) It produces smaller quantity of excess sludge.
3) The running cost are very less compared to aerobic conversion.
4) Since the system is enclosed the odours are contained.
5) A well adopted anaerobic sludge can be presented unfed for a considerable
period of time without appreciable deterioration.
6) It reduces the number of pathogens produces , so reducing subsequent
disposal problems.
7) The sludge produced has higher nitrogen content giving it increasing value
as a fertilizer.
8) The nutrient requirement is low.

Bio gas plants:

Bio gas plats are mainly classified as
1) Continuous and batch type.
2) The dome and drum type.
3) Different variations in the drum type.

Continuous and batch type

Continuous plant:

In continuous plant there is a single digester in which raw material are charged
regularly and the process goes on without interruption except for their repair and

70
cleaning etc. The continuous process may be completed in a single stage or
separated in two stage.
i) Single stage: process:
The entire process of conversion complex organic compounds into biogas is
completed in a single chamber. This chamber is regularly fed with raw material
while the spent residue keeps moving out. The biogas is stored at the top portion
of the chamber. The collected gas is regularly tapped for using in different
applications.

ii) Double stage process: Acedogenic stage methanogenic stages are

separated into two chambers. Thus the first stage of acid production is carried out
in separate chamber and only the diluted acids are fed into the second chamber
where bio- methanisation takes place and the biogas can be collected from the
second chamber.

Batch plant
The feeding is between intervals , the plant is emptied once the process of
digestion is complete. In this type several digesters are charged along with lime,

71
urea etc. and allowed to produce gas for 40-50 days. These are charged and
emptied one by one in a synchronous manner which maintains a regular supply of
the gas through the a common gas holder. Obviously such a plant would be
expensive to install and unless operated on large scale it would not be
economical. The main features of the batch plant are gas production is
intermittent, several digesters are needed, it is best suitable for fibrous material,
needs addition of fermented slurry, plant is expensive and has more problems
compared to continuous type.

2) Dome and drum type

In dome type of bio gas plants , digester and the gas holder both are combined .
The fixed dome is best suited for batch process especially when daily feeding is
adopted in small quantities. The fixed dome digester is usually built below ground
level and is suitable for cooler regions. In drum type , digester and gas holder
both are separated. Digester is of masonry construction and gas holder is of M.S
plates. The fixed dome plant is called Chinese plant. There are different shapes in
both the designs, cylindrical , rectangular spherical etc. The digester may be
vertical or horizontal. They can be constructed above the ground or below the
ground.

4) Different variations in the drum type: There are two main variations in the
floating drum design. One with water seal and the other without water seal.
Water sealing makes the plant completely anaerobic and corrosion of the
gas holder drum is also reduced. The horizontal plats are suited for high
ground water level or rocky areas.

72
Floating drum biogas plant: (KVIC)

It mainly consists of two parts 1) Digester or pit 2) The gas holder or the gas
collector.

Digester:
Digester is also called fermentation plant, it is a sort of well of masonry work, dug
and built below the ground level. The depth of this well varies from 3.5 m to 6
meters, and diameter from 1.35 m to 6m , depending on the gas generating
capacity and the quantity of raw material fed for each day. The digester well is
divided in to two semi cylindrical compartments by means of partition wall . The
level of the partition wall is lower than the level of the digester rim .Two slanting
cement pipes reach the bottom of the well on either side of the partition wall. One
pipe serves as the inlet and the other as outlet. An inlet chamber near the
digester at the surface level serves for mixing dung and water which is done
mechanical or manually. The mixture of dung and water in the proportions of 4:5
by volume, called slurry, flows down the inlet pipe to the bottom of the primary
compartment of the digester. The digester is designed to hold the 60 days raw
material. The outlet chamber is again at surface level, just a few cms below the
level of the inlet chamber. If both compartments of the digester are full and more
slurry is added from the inlet, then equivalent amount of fermented slurry flows
out of the outlet and discharged in to the composite pit.

73
Gas holder : It is a drum constructed of mild steel sheets, cylindrical in shape
with a conical top and radial supports at the bottom. It sinks into the slurry due to
its own weight and rests upon the ring constructed for this purpose . As the gas is
generated the holder rises and floats freely on the surface of the slurry. As the
pipe is provided at the top of the holder for flow of the gas for usage. To prevent
the holder from tilting a central guide pipe is fitted to the frame and is fixed at
the bottom in the masonry work . The holder is capable of holding pressure
equivalent upto 9 cms of water column. The holder also acts as the seal for the
gas .
The construction of this plant is very simple and the gas comes out with constant
pressure. The only maintenance required is the painting of the gas collector at
regular intervals

Advantages:
1) It has less scum trouble.
2) No separate pressure equalizing devices are required.
3) In it the danger of mixing oxygen with the gas to form an explosive mixture is
minimized.
4) Higher gas production per cum of the digester volume is achieved..
5) No problem of gas leakage.
6) Constant gas pressure.
Disadvantage:
1) It has higher cost , as cost is dependent steel and cement.

74
2) It has poor insulation aginst heat and hence it troubles in colder regions and
periods.
3) Gas holder requires painting once or twice in a year .
4) The overall maintenance cost of the plant is more compared to fixed dome
type.

2) Fixed dome or Chinese digester:

.

The Chinese digester or Janata model or fixed dome digester is a drum less type
similar in construction to the KVIC model except that the steel drum is replaced
by fixed dome roof of masonry construction. The dome roof in Chinese model
requires specialized design and skilled masonry construction . A poorly
constructed roof generally leads to leakage from top and junction of the roof with
the digester wall, thereby causing drop in gas yield. Therefore, at least three
layers of extra careful plasters are must to prevent any gas leakage. The cement
plaster work is very laborious and also adds to the cost of construction. More ever
quality and correct proportions of the raw materials during the construction have
to be maintained properly to achieve biogas impermeability. In areas where soil
swell and shrink considerably there are chances of developing cracks in the brick
masonry construction.
Advantages:
1) It has low cost compared to floating drum type.
2) It has no corrosion problem.

75
 3) The plant is well insulated against the heat and hence constant
temperature can be maintained.
4) Almost all bio mass can be fed.
5) No maintenance.
Disadvantages:
1) This plant construction requires skilled masons.
2) Gas production per cum of the digester volume is less.
3) Scum formation is problem as no stirring arrangement.
4) It has variable gas pressure.

Bio gas plant for water hyacinth

Behavior of water hyacinth under biodegradation is different from that of cattle
dung. Cattle dung has a specific gravity almost equal to water and remains
wherever it has been fed into the digester while water hyacinth floats over water
surface when fresh and as digestion proceeds partially and fully decomposed
material settles down at the bottom. So, traditional bio gas plants based on cattle
dung as feed material could not be used for water hyacinth . It sis observed that
deliberate attempts are required to bring an intimate contact of microbes with
fresh and floating material for decomposition. The final decomposed material
obtained is in powder form. The main modifications done to traditional biogas
plant using cow dung are.

76
 1) The inlet is provided near the top of the digester with proper sealing..
2) The slurry outlet is provided from the bottom of the digester. The bottom
should be hopper to facilitate the discharge of digested slurry.
3) There is stirring arrangement to bring the intimate of microbes with
substrate.
In this plant , the 550 gms chopped dried water hyacinth is fed daily with 20 litres
of water. 400 litres of bio gas generated. Chopped wet water hyacinth initially
mixed with digested slurry from a continuously operated gobar gas plant. Bio gas
plant based on dried water hyacinth would be very useful substituting the
conventional fuel for cooking.

77
Kachra gas plant:

A family size biogas plant based on continuous fermentation process was

designed and tested at Gujarat Agricultural University Ananad. This plant was
named as “ Kachra gas plant”. The plant is as shown in the fig. The brief
description of the plant is as follows.
Feeding: The feeding material must be chopped to few cm sized pieces when it
consists of fresh water plant materials. The feeding material can charged in any
position. For example , paddy straw or wheat straw or water hyacinth was pushed
with a stick at the rate of 10 kg chopped material every day through the corner of
the digester. Thus the problem of slurry making in the beginning is not involved.
Stirring: Stirring is the most important operation , since the material floats in a
thick layer (30-40cm) . The stirring should be so designed that it should be able to
submerge the floating material. In the above plant horizontal stirrer is provided
which is mounted on a 4 cm dia water pipe shaft.
Operation of the plant : The plant is initially filled with water in which few buckets
of cow dung or dirty drain water or well rotten compost are added. The fresh
fibrous plant material is processed through the chaff cutter and about 10 kg
chopped material is spread on the ground . This is frequently sprayed with water
to keep it moist. Thus the material is charged in to the digester after ten days of
decomposition . About one kg of urea may also be added to the digester . The
evolved gas is regularly let out into air for about a week. During this period the gas
never be tested for burning due to possible danger of its explosion and accident.

Problems related to Bio-gas plants:

1) Handling of effluent is major problems if the person is not having sufficient
open space or compost pits to get the slurry dry.
2) The methanogenic bacteria are sensitive to the temperature variations .
During winter as the temperature falls , there is decrease in the activity of
the methanogenic bacteria and subsequently fall in the gas production rate.

78
 Many methods have been suggested to overcome this temperature
problem. 1) Using solar heated hot water to make slurry 2) Green house
effect 3) Manual or auto stirring 4) Addition of nutrients 5) Covering the bio
gas plant by straw bags .
3) Improper way of preparing slurry may results failure of bio gas plant due to
accumulation of fatty acids and drop in pH .
4) Some persons add urea fertilizer in large quantities due to which toxity of
ammonia nitrogen may cause a decrease in gas production.
5) pH and fatty acids play an important role in anaerobic digestion and should
remain under optimum range otherwise this may cause upsetting of
digester and even its failure.
6) Leakage of gas from gas holder especially in case of Janata type biogas
plants is a major and very common problem. The immediate detection and
repair of gas leakage is always required .

Application of bio gas

The bio gas can be utilized effectively for household cooking, lighting, operating
small engines, utilizing power or pumping water, chaffing fodder and grinding flour
by using already known technology. In the rural areas popularizing the bio gas is
the only way to save house wife from the irritating smoke of the dung cakes and
wood. It helps solving the several health hazard problems like respiratory
diseases and trachoma of eyes. Bio gas can be burned using bio gas burners
with mixing ratio of bio gas and air (1:10). Bio gas lamp needs a mantle, which is
made of a Ramic fibre . With one cum of bio gas we can save electricity
equivalent to burn 60 watt lamp for 6 hours.
One horse power engine can work for two hours roughly with a one cum of bio
gas. This quantity of gas can cook three meals for family of about five. It is
possible to build power house at the places of bio gas generation so that
electricity can be produced and the same supplied to the grid. Bio gas can be
used to operate both CI and SI engines . 425 litres of bio gas is required to
operate 1 HP engine for one hour.
In sewage treatment plants the gas is utilized as fuel for the boilers that supply
hot water for heating the digesters, for running gas engines which may be coupled
to pumps, blowers or generators.
The other main product of the biogas plant is the organic manure. This comes out
at outlet as slurry which is quite rich in nitrogen . When the slurry can not be used
with irrigation water it can be used for rapid fermentation of compost.

79
Application of biogas engines:

Bio gas can be used to operate both CI and SI engines. CI engines can run on
dual fuel(biogas + diesel) and injection of the diesel is necessary for igniting the
mixture of air and bio gas inside the cylinder. But the starting of the engine is
carried out using only diesel. SI engine can be operated on biogas after initially
starting on petrol. The existing diesel engines can be directly converted to use
biogas , with slight modification, saving thereby 80% of diesel oil. It is possible to
reduce the diesel oil consumption by further research. The petrol engines can be
used to burn the bio gas by simple modification of carburetor. The SI engine
needs following modification. It includes the provisions for the entry of bio gas ,
throttling of intake air and advancing the ignition timing. Bio gas can be admitted
to a stationary SI engine through the intake manifold and air flow control valve can
be provided on the air cleaner pipe connecting the air cleaner and caburettor for
throttling the intake air, as shown in the fig. In this case the intake air is required to
be manual throttled in the initial stage.

The CI engine which is running on the dual fuel needs necessary engine
modifications includes provision for the entry of biogas with intake air, advancing
the injection timing and provision of a system to reduce diesel supply. The entry of
biogas and mixing of gas with intake air can be achieved by providing a mixing of
biogas with air before entering into the cylinder. The admittance of bio gas in to
the engine cylinder increases the engine speed and therefore , a suitable system
to reduce the diesel supply by actuating the control rack needs to be incorporated.

80
It is concluded that
i) Bio gas is a suitable for conventional engine fuels with little modifications in both
SI and CI engines . petrol replacement of the order of 100% and diesel
replacement of about 80% is possible using bio gas
ii) SI engines develop 85% of rated power where as CI engine develop full power
on biogas. Thus application of biogas in CI engine is a better alternative.
iii) By reducing the CO2 content in bio gas the engine performance can be
improved .
iv) The injection timing of SI engine using bio gas fuel can be advanced by 4-5
degrees for better engine performance.
v) The injection timing CI engines operating on dual fuel shall be kept between 31-
33 degrees before TDC for better performance.
vi) It is economical to use biogas in engine keeping in view the present trend of
increase in prices of conventional fuel and their shortage.
vii) In sewage treatment plants the biogas engines are used for running the
compressors, pumps, blowers or generators.

81
 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

“Geo” means earth and “therm” means heat energy i.e. geothermal energy is
heat energy from the earth. Geothermal energy is recoverable in some form such
as steam or hot water. The earth crust now averages about 20 to 40 km in
thickness. Below that crust, the molten mass called magma , is still in the process
of cooling. Earth tremors caused the magma to come close to the earth’s surface
in certain places and crust fissures to open up . The hot magma near the surface
thus causes active volcanoes ,hot springs and geysers where water exists. It also
causes the steam to vent through the fissures ( fumaroles) . A typical geothermal
field is shown in the figure.

82
The hot magma near the surface (A) solidifies into igneous rock (B). The heat of
the magma is conducted upward to this igneous rock. The ground water that finds
its way down to this rock through fissures in it will be heated by the heat of the
rock or by mixing with hot gases and steam emanating from the magma . The
heated water will then rise convectively upward and into a porous and permeable
reservoir C above the igneous rock. This reservoir is capped by a layer of
impermeable solid rock D that traps the hot water in the reservoir . The solid
rock however has fissures E that acts as vent of the giant underground boiler .
The vents show up at the surface as geysers, fumaroles F . or hot springs G. A
well H traps steam from the fissures for use in a geothermal power plant. It can be
seen that geothermal steam is of two kinds: that originating from the magma itself
, called magma tic steam , and that from the ground water heated by the magma
called meteoritic steam. The latter is the largest source of geothermal steam.

There are three basic kinds geothermal sources a) Hydrothermal b)

Geopressured and c) Petrothermal

a) Hydrothermal sources:

Hydrothermal sources are those in which water is heated by contact with the hot
rock. Hydrothermal systems are in turn subdivided into 1) Vapor dominated and 2)
Liquid dominated.

83
1) Vapor dominated:
In these systems the water is vaporized into steam that reaches the surface in a
relatively dry condition at about 2050C and rarely above 8 bar. This system is the
most suitable for use in turboelectric power plants, with least cost. It does,
however, suffer problems similar to those encountered by all geothermal systems,
namely , the presence of corrosive gases and erosive material and environmental
problems . Vapor dominated systems, however , are a rarity . These systems
account for about 5 percent of all geothermal sources.

Vapor dominated power plant:

Vapor dominated geothermal systems are the most developed of all geothermal
systems. They have the lowest cost and the least number of problems. The vapor
dominated power plant is as shown in the fig. Dry steam from the well (1) at
2000C is used . It is nearly saturated and may have a shut off pressure up to 35
bar. Pressure drops through the well causes it to slightly superheat at the well
head 2. The pressure
there rarely exceeds 7 bar . It then goes through a centrifugal separator to remove
particulate matter and then enters the turbine after additional pressure drop 3.
Processes 1-2 and 2-3 are essentially throttling process with constant enthalpy.
The steam expands through the turbine and enters the condenser at 4. The
condenser used is of direct contact type. Turbine exhaust steam at 4 mixes with
cooling water (7) that comes from a cooling tower. The mixture of 7 and 4 is
saturated water (5) that is pumped to the cooling tower (6) . The greater part of
the cooled water at 7 is recircualted to the condenser. The balance, which would
normally be returned to the cycle in a conventional plant, is rejected in to the
ground either before or after the cooling tower. No make up water is necessary.

84
2) Liquid dominated systems:
In these systems the hot water circulating and trapped underground is at a
temperature range 174 to 3150C. When tapped by wells drilled in the right places
and to the right depths, the water flows either naturally to the surface or is
pumped up to it . The drop in pressure usually to 8 bar or less , causes it to
partially flash to a two phase mixture of low quality , liquid dominated. It contains
relatively large concentrations of dissolved solids ranging between 3000 to
25000 ppm and sometimes higher. The power production is adversely affected by
these solids due to formation of scaling, reducing flow and heat transfer . The
liquid dominated systems , however are much more plentiful than vapor
dominated systems .

Liquid dominated power plants:

The two different methods are used for generating power
i) The flashed system

85
ii) Binary cycle system.

i) The flashed system:

The schematic diagram of this system is as shown in the figure. The water from
the underground reservoir at 1 reaches the well head at 2 at a lower pressure.
Process 1-2 is essentially a constant enthalpy throttling process that results in two
phase mixture of low quality at 2. This is further throttled in flash separator
resulting in a still low but slightly higher quality at 3. This mixture is now
separated in to dry saturated steam at 4 and saturated brine at 5. The latter is
rejected in to the ground. The dry steam usually at pressure of less than 8 bar , is
expanded in a turbine to 6 and mixed with cooling water in direct contact
condenser with mixture at 7 is going to a cooling tower. The greater part of the
cooled water at 7 is recircualted to the condenser. Remaining portion of the
mixture is rejected in the ground. In order to improve the efficiency in splashing
two stage flashing is used instead of single stage flashing (double flash)

86
ii) Binary cycle system

The figure shows the schematic diagram of binary cycle system. Hot water or
brine from the underground reservoir circulates through a heat exchanger and is
pumped back to the ground. In the heat exchanger it

87
transfers its heat to the organic fluid thus converting it to superheated vapor that is
used in a standard closed Rankine cycle . The vapor drives the turbine and is
condensed in a surface condenser ; the condensate is pumped back to the heat
exchanger . The condenser is cooled by the water from the natural source, if
available, or a cooling tower circulation system. The blow down from the tower
may be rejected to the ground with cooled brine. Makeup of the cooling tower
water must be provided. In binary cycle there is no problems of corrosion or
scaling . Such problems are confined to well casing and the heat exchanger . The
heat exchanger is shell and tube unit so that no contact between brine and
working fluid takes place.

b) Geo pressured systems

Geopressured systems are sources of water, or brine, that has been heated in a
manner similar to hydrothermal water, except that geopressured water is trapped
in much deeper underground acquifers, at depth between 2400 m to 9100 m .
This water is relatively at low temperature(1600C) and under very high pressure of
1000 bar. It has relatively high salinity. In addition , it is saturated with natural gas
, mostly methane CH4 . Such water is thought to have thermal and mechanical
potential to generate electricity . Temperature , however is not high enough and
the depth so great that there is little economic justification of drilling for this water
for its thermal potential alone. How ever it is possible to generate electricity by
recovering dissolved methane.

Petrothermal systems:

Magma lying close the earth’s surface heats overlying rock . When no ground
water exists, there is simply hot, dry rock(HDR) . The known temperatures of HDR
vary between 150 to 2900C . This energy is called petrothermal energy ,
represents by far the largest source of geothermal energy of any type. Much of

88
the HDR occurs at relatively moderate depths, but it is largely impermeable. In
order to extract thermal energy out of it , water will have to be pumped into it and
back out to the surface. It is necessary for the heat transport mechanism that a
way be found to render the impermeable rock into a permeable structure with a
large heat transfer surface. Rendering the rock permeable is to be done by
fracturing it. Fracturing methods that have been considered involve drilling wells
into the rock and then fracturing by (1) high pressure water (2) Nuclear
explosives.

High pressure water method:

Fracturing by high pressure water is done by injecting water into HDR at very
high pressure. This water widens existing fractures and creates new ones through
rock displacement. This method is successfully used by the oil industry to facilitate
the path of under ground oil.

Nuclear explosives:
Fracturing by nuclear explosives is scheme that has been considered as part of a
program for using such explosives for peaceful uses, such as natural gas
estimation and oil stimulation, creating cavities for large storage, canal and harbor
construction and many other applications. The principal hazards associated with
this are the ground shocks , the danger of radioactivity releases to the
environment, and the radioactive material that would surface with heated water
and steam.

Geothermal plants in the world.

Some of the important geothermal plants in the world are
1) 540MW plant at Larderello, Italy.
2) USA generating 1514 MW of power using geothermal sources (Claifornia,
50MW)
3) New Zealand , 353 MW ( Wairakei power station ,175 MW)
4) Japan, 266 MW.(
5) Mexico 180 MW
6) El Salvador 95 MW
7) Iceland 63 MW
8) USSR 211 MW ( Muntnovsky power station, 200 MW)
9) Phillipines , 665 MW ( Tiwi power station, 55MW)
10) Turkey , 0.5 MW
11) Hungary, 363 MW
12) France , 5 MW

Problems associated with geothermal conversion:

89
Environmental problems: Some effluents contain boron, fluorine and arsenic. All
these are very harmful to plants and animal life in concentrations as low as two
parts per million. Suitable waste treatment plants to prevent degradation of water
quality will have to be installed to treat these new and increased sources of
pollution. Before entry of steam in to the turbines removal of condensable gases
such as CO2, Methane, H2, N2, NH3 and H2S is necessary it requires additional
equipments.

Re injection: Re injection is necessary to avoid discharging large quantities of

heat into rivers , with consequent hazards to fisheries and farming activities,
endanger down stream drinking water supplies. Huge quantity of underground
water removal cause land subsidence.

Noise: Noise is another problem.. The noise cause a serious health hazard
Workers on new well sites have to wear ear plugs or muff lest their hearing
damaged.

Water borne poisons: The in wet fields some times contain toxic mercury ,
arsenic, ammonia etc, which would if discharged could contaminate water down
stream.

Air borne poisons: From various points harmful substances may escape into the
air at thermal sites. These may contain radioactive materials also. Systematic
monitoring is advisable in this case.

Heat pollution: Geothermal power plants produce large quantity of waste heat .
The proper way of discharging this heat is necessary y to avoid damage to local
climate, water bodies fisheries etc.

Silica: Reinjection of the silica loaded water could affect the permeability of the
substrate thus it requires construction of settlement ponds .

Subsidence: The withdrawal of huge quantities of underground fluids cause

substantial ground subsidence, which could cause fitting and stressing of
pipelines and surface structures. The remedy for this problem to some extent is
the reinjection. However large extractions and reinjections also pose the
possibility of seismic disturbances

Seismity: Some fears have been expressed that prolonged geothermal

exploitation could trigger off earthquakes especially at the zones of high shear
stress .

90
Escaping steam: Huge volumes of flash steam escaping into the air could cause
dense fog to occur, which may drift across to nearly roads and cause traffic
hazards.

Erosion: The water with sand cause scaling and erosion problems in the pipe
lines.

Application of geothermal energy:

There are three main applications of the steam and hot water from the wet
geothermal reservoirs.
1) Generation of electric power
2) Industrial process heat and
3) Space heating for various kinds of buildings.
The major benefit of geothermal energy is its varied application and versatility.

Advantages:
1) Geothermal energy is renewable source of energy.
2) Geothermal energy is least polluting compared to other conventional energy
sources.
3) Geothermal plants have higher annual load factors.
4) It is cheaper compared to the energies obtained from other sources.
5) The greatest advantage of geothermal power is that it can be used in
multiple uses.
Disadvantages:
1) Overall efficiency for power production is low.
2) The withdrawal of large amounts of steam or water from a hydrothermal
reservoir may result in surface subsidence.
3) The gases present in the steam must be removed by chemical action before
discharging into atmosphere.
4) Drilling operation is noisy.
5) Large areas are needed for exploitation of geo thermal energy as much of it
is diffused.

91
 ENERGY FROM THE OCEANS

TIDAL POWER
Introduction: Wind generates large ocean waves with energies that can be used
to generate power. Ocean wave energy is said to be solar energy twice removed.
Ocean waves vary widely with time and place on amplitude and frequency, and
hence in their energies, much like the wind that causes them. Tides are primarily
cause by lunar , and only secondarily by solar , gravitational forces acting
together with those of the earth on the ocean waters to create tidal flows. These
manifest themselves in the rise and fall of waters with ranges that vary daily and
seasonally and come at different times from day to day. They also vary widely
from place to place , being as low as few centimeters but may exceed 8 to 10 m
in some parts of the world. The potential energy of the tides can be trapped to
generate power , but at extremely high capital costs.

Mechanics of tides:

Tides are produced mainly by the gravitational attraction of the sun and the moon
on the water of ocean. Major part of the tides about 70% are produced due to the
moon and 30% to the sun. As the earth rotates , the position of a given area to
the moon changes, and so also do the tides. There are thus a periodic succession
of high and low tides. A high tide will be experienced at a point which is directly
under the moon. At the same time diametrically opposite point on the earth’s
surface also experiences a high tide due to dynamic balancing . Thus a full moon
as well as no moon produce a high tide. In a period of 24 hrs 50 minutes, there
are therefore , two high tides and two low tides; These are called semi – diurnal
tides. The rise and fall of the water level follows sinusoidal curve, shown with point
A indicating the high tide point and point B indicating the low tide point . The
difference between high and low water level is called the range of the tide.

92
At full moon , when sun, moon and earth are approximately in a line, the tidal
range is exceptionally large, the high tides are higher and low tides are lower than
average. These high tides are called spring tides, on the other hand , near the first
and third quarters of the moon, when sun and moon are at right angles with
respect to the earth, neap tides occur. The tidal range is then exceptionally small:
the high tides are lower and low tides are higher than the average. Hence range
is not constant.

Fig

93
The tidal ranges vary from one earth location to another.
Ocean waves mechanics:

Ocean waves are caused directly by the indirect solar energy like the wind. Wave
energy at its most active, however, can be much more concentrated than the solar
energy. Devices that convert energy from waves can therefore produce much
higher power densities that solar devices. Up to now no major development
programme has been carried out through any country .Small devices are
available however , and are in limited use as power supplies for buoys and
navigational aids. Some of the important stes of wave energy are Molakai and
Alenihaha channels in the Hawalian islands, where 2 to 3 m high waves are
typical during the normal trade wind periods, Pacific coast of north America, the
Arabian sea of India and Pakistan , the north Atlantic coast of Scotland .
Advantages:
1) The degree of power concentration is 10 to 100 times larger than wind
energy.
2) It is free and renewable energy source.
3) Wave energy devices do not use up large ;and masses unlike solar or wind.
4) These devices are relatively pollution free.
Disadvantages:
1) The construction cost is more , life time and reliability is less .
2) Wave energy converting devices must be capable of with standing severe
peak stresses in storms.
3) Wave energy devices construction is relatively complicated.
4) Capital investment need is very large compared to other types of plant.

Energy and power from the waves:

94
 Fig
A two dimensional sinusoidal progressive wave as shown in fig . is represented by
the sinusoidal simple harmonic wave shown at time t = 0 and at time t. The wave
may be expressed by the following relation involving some parameters
y = a sin [ 2x /  - 2t /  ]
Where y = height above its mean level in m, a= Amplitude in m ,  = Wave
length in m, t = time in seconds ,  = Periods in seconds
2 = [ x / - t /  ] = phase angle
The relationship between wave length and periods is approximately
 = 1.56 2 (1)
The above expression can be written as
y = a sin(mx – nt) (2)
Where m = 2 /  and n = 2 /  = phase rate.
2a = height (From Crest to trough)

Energy and power from waves:

Total energy of wave is the sum of its potential and kinetic energies.

Potential energy:

The potential energy arises from the elevation of the water above the (y = 0)
considering the differential volume ydx, it will have a mean height y/2. Thus the
potential energy is
dPE = mgy/2gc
= (ydxL) gy/(2gc)
= gy2L dx / (2gc) (3)
Where m = mass of the liquid in y dx, Kg
g = Gravitational acceleration , m/s2
gc = Conversion factor (1.0 kg.m / ( N.s2)
 = Water density k/m3
L = Arbitrary width of the two dimensional wave , perpendicular to the
direction or wave propagation x, m
Combining equations 2 and 3 we get

PE = (ga L) / (2gc) 
2
sin2(mx – nt)dx
0


2
PE = (ga L) / (2gc) [1/2 (mx ) – (1/4) sin2mx ]

95
 0

= (ga2L) / (4gc) (4)

The potential energy ensity per unit area
A = L
PE / A = (ga2) / (4gc) (5)

Kinetic energy:
Kinetic energy of the wave is that of the liquid between two vertical planes
perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation x and placed one wave length
apart. From hydrodynamic theory it can be expressed as
KE = (ga2L) / (4gc) (6)
2
Kinetic energy density = KE/A = (ga ) / (4gc) (7)
Total energy and power density can be written as
E/A = (ga2) / (2gc)
P/A = (ga2) / (2gc) x f (8)
Where P is the energy per unit time , f is the frequency .

Wave energy conversion devices:

Several types of wave energy conversion devices are used some of the important
devices are
1) Wave energy conversion by floats:
The wave motion is basically horizontal but the motion of water is primarily
vertical. This latter motion is made use of by floats to obtain mechanical power.
A square float moves up and down with the water, guided by four vertical
manifolds that are part of the platform. The platform is stabilized within the water
by four large under water floatation tanks so that it is supported by buoyancy
forces and no significant .vertical or horizontal displacement of the platform due to
wave action occurs. Attached to the float there is a piston that moves up and
down inside a cylinder that is attached to the platform and is therefore relatively
stationary .The piston cylinder arrangement is used as a reciprocating air
compressor. The downward movement of the piston draws air in to the cylinder
via an inlet check valve.

96
The upward motion compresses the air and sends it through an outlet check
valve to the four under water floatation tanks via four manifolds. The floatation
tanks serve dual purpose of buoyancy and air storage . The compressed air in the
buoyancy storage tanks is in turn used to drive an air turbine that drives an
electrical generator . The electric current is transmitted to the shore via
underwater cable.

2) High level reservoir wave machine

In these machines, instead of compressing air the water itself is pressurized and
stored in a high pressure accumulator or pumped to a high level reservoir, from

97
which it flows through a water turbine - electrical generator . This is done by
transforming large volumes of low pressure water wave crest into small volumes
of high pressure water by the use of a composite piston. This piston composed of
a large diameter main piston and a small diameter piston at its center. On the
trough of the wave , the composite piston is pushed downward by the gas
pressure above the main piston, Which thus acts also as a spring. When there is
peak of the wave piston pressurizes the water and is elevated to a natural
reservoir above the wave generator, which would have to be near a shoreline, or
to an artificial water reservoir. The water in the reservoir is made to flow though a
turbine back to sea level . Calculation shows that a 20 m diameter generator of
this type can produce 1 MW.

3) Dolphin type wave power machine

The major components of this system are a dolphin, a float , a connecting rod ,
and two electrical generators. The float has two motions . the first is rolling
motions about its own fulcrum with connecting rod. The other is relatively vertical
or heaving motion about the connecting rod fulcrum. It causes relative revolving
movements between the connecting rod and the stationary dolphin. In both
cases, the movements are amplified and converted by gears in to continuous
rotary motions that drive the two electrical generators. The system is envisaged to
be used for electric power generation, pumping for desalination plant, or for
uranium extraction from sea. Because it completely eliminates waves, it can
provide suitable sites for fish farming , port facilities etc.

98
4) Dam – Atoll device

It is a massive and robust device that appears to overcome some of the

disadvantages of many other devices, namely, complexity and fragility in heavy
seas. It is said to be strong enough to survive any ocean storm. The principle of
operation is based on the observed action of waves as they approach atolls
(small volcanic islands) in an ocean. The waves wraps them selves around the
atolls from all the sides , ending in a spiral in the center, driving a turbine before
discharging laterally outward. A module , 80m in diameter and 20 meter in high,
is said to be capable of generating 1 to 1.5 MW in 7 to 10 – s period waves.

Harnessing tidal energy:

The power generation from tides involves flow between an artificially developed
basin and the basic scheme can be elaborated by having two or more basins.
Accordingly we can have two different types of arrangements .
1) Single basin arrangement 2) Double basin arrangement.

1) Single basin or pool system

The simple – pool tidal system has one pool or basin behind a dam that is filled
from the ocean at high tide and emptied to it at low to tides. Both filling and
emptying processes take place during short periods of time: the filling when ocean
is at high tide while the water in the pool is at low tide level, the emptying when
the ocean is at low tide and the pool at high tide level. The flow of water in both
directions is used to drive a number of reversible water turbines, each driving an
electrical generator. Electric power would thus be generated during two short
periods during each tidal period, of 12 h, 25 min or once every 6h, 12.5 min.
The generation of power in a single basin system can be carried out either as
a) Single ebb – cycle system or
b) Single tide cycle system or
c) Double cycle system.

99
a) Single ebb – cycle system.
When high tide comes , the sluice gates are opened to permit the sea water to
enter the basin or reservoir, while the turbines sets are shut. The reservoir thus
starts filling while its level rises, till the maximum tide level is reached. At the
beginning of the ebb tide the sluice gates are closed. Then the generation of
power takes place when the sea is ebbing (Flowing back of tide) and the water
from the basin flows through the turbine in to the lower level sea. The generation
of power can be continued till there is sufficient head difference between the level
of water in the reservoir and the sea. The turbines are closed when the level of
water becomes same on both the sides; sluice gates are opened to repeat the
cycle.

b) Single tide cycle system:

In a single tide cycle system , the generation of power is carried out when sea at
flood tide. The water of the sea is admitted in to the basin through the turbines. As
the flood tide period is over and the sea level starts falling again, the generation is
stopped. The basin is drained in to the sea through the sluice ways. This system

100
needs large size plant, operating for short period and hence less efficient as
compared to ebb tide operation.
Fig

c) Double cycle system

In this system power generation is carried out during both high tide as well as ebb
tides. The flow of water in both the directions is used to drive a number of
reversible water turbines, each driving an electrical generator. Electric power
would thus be generated during two short period during each tidal period of 12 h,
25 min or once every 6h, 12.5 min
Fig

Though the double cycle system has only short duration interruptions in the
turbine operation, yet a continuous generation of power is still not possible.
Further the periods of power generation coincide occasionally with periods of
peak demand.

2) Double basin arrangement:

Two basin system is one that is much less dependent on tidal fluctuation but at
the expense of more complex and hence more costly dam construction. A inland
basin is enclosed by dam A and divides into a high pool and a low pool by dam B.
By proper gating in the dam A, the high pool gets periodically filled at high tide
from the ocean and the low pool gets periodically emptied at low tide. Water flows
from the high to the low pool through the turbines that are situated in the dam B.
The power generation thus continue simultaneously with the filling up the high
pool The capacities of these two pools are large enough in relation to the water
flow between them that the fluctuations in the head are minimized, which results

101
in continuous and much more uniform power generation. At the end of the flood
tide when high pool is full and the water level in it is maximum, its sluice gates
are closed. When ebb tide level gets lower than the water level in lo pool , its
sluice gates are opened whereby the water level in low pool, which was rising
and reducing the operating head, starts falling with the ebb. This continues until
the head and water level in high pool is sufficient to run the turbines. With the
next flood tide cycle repeats. With this twin pool system , a longer and more
continuous period of generation per day is possible.

Estimation of power in the single basin system:

For tidal rang R , and an intermediate head h at a given time during the emptying
process, the differential work done by the water is equal to the potential energy at
the tine or

Area A High tide level

dh

Basin Range R
h

Ocean at low tide

Reversible turbine and gates

dW = dm.h g/gc (1)

But dm = -.A. dh (2)
So that dW = - .A. h dh g/gc (3)
Where W = work done by the water
g = Acceleration due to gravity
m= Mass of water flowing through the turbine Kg
h = head in m
 = Water density , A = Basin surface area , considered

The total theoretical work during a full emptying period is obtained by integrating
equation 3
0 0
W =  dW = - .A. g/gc  h dh = .A. g R2 /2gc (4)
R R

102
Thus the work is proportional to the square of the tidal range. The average
theoretical power delivered by the water is W divided by the total time it takes
each period to repeat itself or 6 h, 12.5 min or 22,350 s thus
Pav = .A. g R2 /(44700gc ) .
Assuming average sea water density = 1025 kg/ m3 , the average power per unit
basin area is given by
Pav /A = 9.80 x 1025 R2 / 44700 = 0.225 R2
The actual power generated by the real tidal system is less than the average
theoretical power. The actual power generated may be about 25 to 30 percent of
the theoretical power.

Estimation of power in double cycle system

Let V be the volume of the basin

V = A ho (1)
Where A is the average cross sectional area of the basin in M2 , and ho is the
difference between maximum and minimum water levels.
 Average discharge Q = A ho / t (2)
t is the total duration of generation in one filling / emptying operation.
Now power generated at any instant
P = Qh x o x 0.736 / 75 KW (3)
H is the available head at the instant , then the total energy
t t
=  P dt =  Qh x o x 0.736 / 75 Kw per tidal cycle (4)
0 0
Then yearly power generation
t
=  Qh x o x 0.736 x 705 / 75 KW h / year (5)
0

Advantages of tidal power:

1) Tidal power is inexhaustible in nature.
2) Tidal power generation is free from pollution.
3) The requirement of valuable land is less.
4) Peak power demand can be met if it effectively works in combination with
hydroelectric or thermal system.
5) It can provide better recreational facilities to visitors and holiday makers , in
addition to the possibility of fish farming in the tidal basins.
Limitations:
1) Generating power is always dependent on the tidal range.

103
2) The generating efficiency of the turbines affected by the variations in the
operating head.
3) Power generation is intermittent in nature.
4) The selecting of suitable turbine operating under varying head condition is
difficult.
5) Load sharing of power with the grid is very difficult due variation in power
cycle.
6) Maintenance cost of the machinery is high due to the corrosive nature of
sea water.
7) Construction in sea is found difficult
8) Cost of power generation is not favourable compared to other sources of
energy.
9) It may affect fishing and navigation.

104
 WIND ENERGY

Introduction : Wind energy is rightfully an indirect form of solar energy since wind
is induced chiefly by the uneven heating of the earth’s crust by the sun. Winds can
classified as planetary and local. Planetary winds are caused by greater heating
of the earth’s surface near the equator than near the northern or southern poles.
Local winds are caused by two mechanisms first is the differential heating of the
land and water. During the day land mass becomes hotter than water , air near to
the surface of the land heats up and rises ,the cooler heavier air above the water
moves in to replace it. This is the mechanism of shore breeze. T the night
direction of the breeze reversed . The second mechanism of local wind is caused
by the hills and mountains. The air above the slopes heats up during the day and
cools down at night, more rapidly than the air above the low lands. This causes
heated air during the day to rise along the slopes and relatively cool heavy air to
flow down at night.
It has been estimated that about 2 percent of all solar radiation falling on the face
of the earth is converted to kinetic energy in the atmosphere and that 30 percent
of this kinetic energy occurs in the lowest 1000m of elevation.. It is thus said that
total kinetic energy of the wind in this lowest kilometer, if harnessed , can satisfy
several times the energy demand of a country. It is also claimed that wind power
is pollution free and that its source of energy is free. Solar energy is cyclic and
predictable , and even dependable in some parts of the globe, wind energy .
however, is erratic, unsteady, and often not reliable , except in very few areas.

Properties of wind:
1) Wind power is pollution free.
2) Fuel provisions and transport are not required in wind power systems.
3) Wind energy is a renewable source of energy.
4) Wind energy when produced on small scale is cheaper, but competitive with
conventional power generating systems when produced on large scale.
5) Wind energy is highly erratic in nature.
6) Wind energy is unsteady.

105
 7) Due to its irregularity it needs storage devices.
8) Wind power generating systems produce ample noise.
9) Wind speeds increases with height.
10) Average wind speeds are greater in hilly and coastal areas than they
are well inland.
11) Velocity of wind over the water remains almost constant.

Availability of wind in energy in India

Data quoted by some scientist that for India wind speed value lies between 5
Km/hr to 15-20 Km/hr. These low seasonal winds imply high cost of exploitation of
wind energy. India has potential of over 20,000 MW for power generation and
rank one of the promising courtiers for tapping this source Wind power projects
aggregate capacity of 8MW including 7 wind farms projects of capacity 6.85 MW
have been established in different parts of the country of which 3MW capacity has
been completed in 1989 by DNES. Wind farms are operating successfully and
have already fed 150 lakh units of electricity to the respective grids. Over 25 MW
additional power capacity from wind is under implementation. Under
demonstration program 271 wind pumps have been installed up to 1989. Sixty
small wind battery chargers of capacity 300 watt to 4KW are under installation.
Likewise to stand alone wind electric generators of 10 to 25 KW are under
installation.

Wind velocity and power from the wind

Wind posses energy by virtue of its motion. A device which is capable of
absorbing this energy and converting in to useful work is known as the wind
converter or wind turbine. The power out put from the wind energy converter is
dependent on the i) The wind speed ii) The cross section wind swept by the rotor
iii) The overall conversion efficiency of the rotor., transmission system and
generator or pump.

Wind mill works on the principle of converting kinetic energy of the wind in to
mechanical energy. The total power of a wind stream is equal to the rate of
incoming kinetic energy of that stream KE or
Ptot = m KEi = m Vi2 / 2gc (1)
Where Ptot = Total power , W
M = Mass flow rate
Vi = Incoming wind velocity , m/s
gc = Conversion factor = 1.0 kg / (N.s2)
The mass flow rate is given by the continuity equation m = AVi

106
Where  = Density of incoming wind , A = Cross sectional area of stream ,
2
m
Thus Ptot = AVi3 / 2gc (2)

Thus the total power of a wind stream is directly proportional to its density, area,
and the cube of its velocity . Generally the swept area is circular of diameter D in
horizontal axis aero turbines, then A =  D2 / 4
Using this in equation 2
Available total wind power Ptot =  D2 Vi3 / 8gc (3)
Thus doubling the diameter of the rotor will result in a four fold increase in the
available wind power. The combined effect of wind speed and rotor diameter
variations ar shown in fig.

60m
4
Total power in MW

Rotor diameter

40 m
2

20 m

0 5 10 15
Wind speed in m/s

Wind machines intended for generating substantial amounts of power should

have large rotors and be located in areas of high wind speed.
In wind turbines only fraction of the power available in the wind can be converted
in to useful power. As the wind passes through the rotor , rotor absorbs fraction of
the kinetic energy available with wind and its speed decreases to a minimum in
the rotor wake. Subsequently wind regains its speed and energy at a sufficient
distance from the rotor . While the speed is decreasing , air pressure in the wind
stream changes in different manner It first increases as the wind approaches the
rotor and then drops sharply by an amount p as it passes through and energy is
transferred to the rotor. Finally pressure increases to ambient pressure .

107
 Turbine wheel
Pa

Pressure Pi Pe

Pb

i a b e

Vi
Va
Velocity

Vt Vt
Vb
Ve

i Distance e

Maximum power:
Consider a horizontal axis , propeller type wind mill or turbine has thickness a-b
, incoming wind pressure and velocity , far upstream of the turbine , are Pi and Vi
and that exit wind pressure and velocity , far down stream of the turbine , are Pe
and Ve, respectively. Ve is less than Vi because kinetic energy is extracted by
the turbine.
Assumptions :
1) Incoming air between I and a as a thermodynamic system.
2) Density remains constant .
3) Change in potential energy is zero.
4) No heat or work added or removed between i and a
The general energy equation reduces to kinetic and flow energy terms only. Thus
energy equation between i and a
Piv + Vi2 / 2gc = Pav + Va2 / 2gc (1)
Or Pi + Vi / 2gc = Pav + Va / 2gc
2 2
(2)

108
Where v and  are the specific volume and its reciprocal, the density, respectively
both considered constant.
Similarly for the exit region b-e

Pb + Vb2 / 2gc = Pev + Vb2 / 2gc (3)

As the pressure of wind is high at the entry and low at exit , the equations 2
and 3 can be written as
Pa – Pb = [Pi + (Vi2 - Va2 ) / 2gc] - [Pe + (Ve2 – Vb2 ) / 2gc] (4)
It is reasonable to assume that, far from the turbine at e, the wind pressure
returns to ambient or Pe= Pi
Velocity within the turbine , Vt , does not chandge because the blade width a-b is
thin compared with the total distance considered, so that equation 4 reduces to
Pa – Pb = (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc (5)
The axial force Fx , in the direction of the wind stream , on a turbine wheel with
projected area , perpendicular to the stream A is given by
Fx = (Pa – Pb)A = A (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc (6)
This force equal to the momentum of the wind ( From Newton’s second law)
Fx = (mV) / gc Where m is the mass flow rate is given by
m = AVt (7)
Thus Fx = AVt ( Vi-Ve) / gc (8)
Equating equations 6 and 8
Vt = ( Vi +Ve) / 2gc (9)
Assuming no changes in potential , internal energies and system between i and e
as adiabatic , the general energy equation reduces to steady flow work
W = Kei –Ke = (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc (10)
The power P is the rate of work
P = m (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc = AVt (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc (11)
Using equation 10
P = A( Vi +Ve) (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 4gc (12)
The optimum value of Ve can be calculated by differentiating equation 12 with
respect to Ve for a given value of Vi and equating to zero. i.e., dp/dVe = 0 which
gives
3Ve2 + 2ViVe – Vi2 = 0
This is solved for a positive Ve to give Ve.opt ( The quadratic equation gives two
solution i.e., Ve = Vi and Ve = 1/3 Vi , only second solution is physically acceptable
).
Ve.opt = Vi /3 (13)
Combining equation 12 gives
Pmax = A( Vi +Vi /3 ) [Vi2 – (1/3 Vi )2 ] / 4gc
= [A (4Vi/ 3) x ( 8 Vi2 / 9 )] / 4gc
= (A Vi3 8)/ 27gc

109
Fraction of the wind power that can be extracted by the rotor is called the power
coefficient thus
max = Power to the wind rotor / power available in the wind
= 16/27gc [ AVi3 / 2gc ]
= 16/27 Ptot
= 0.5926 (14)

Forces on the blades and thrust on turbines:

Two different types of forces are acting on the blades they are circumferential
forces in the direction of wheel rotation that provide the troque and the axial
forces in the direction of the wind stream that provide an axial thrust that must be
counteracted by proper mechanical design.
Circumferential force or torque T is obtained from T = P/  = P / (DN)
Where T – Torque , N
 = Angular velocity of the turbine wheel m/s
D = Diameter of the turbine wheel = (4/)1/2 A , m
N = Wheel speed in rpm
The real efficiency  = P / Ptot = AVi3 / 2gc
Or P = AVi3 / 2gc (1)
For a turbine operating at power P, the torque T is given by
T = AVi3 / (2gc DN )
= (  D2 /4)Vi3 / (2gc DN )
=  DVi3 / (8gc N ) (2)
At maximum efficiency (max = 16/27) , the torque has maximum value Tmax which
is equal to
Tmax = 2  DVi3 / (27gc N ) (3)
The axial force or axial thrust given by
Fx =A (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / 2gc =  D2 (Vi2 – Ve2 ) / (8 gc) (4)
The axial force on a turbine wheel operating at maximum efficiency where Ve =
Vi/3
Fxmax = 4AVi2/ (9gc) =  D2 Vi2/ (9gc) (5)
From the above equation it is clear that axial forces are proportional to the square
of the diameter of the turbine wheel, this limits turbine wheel diameter of large
size.

Problems associated with the wind power:

1) Location of the site The selected site must be gig enough with reasonable
average high wind velocity.
2) Variation in the wind velocity : Wind velocity varies with the time and
varies in direction and also varies from the bottom to top of a large rotor .
This causes fatigue in blades.

110
 3) Need of storage system: At zero wind velocity conditions, the power
generated will be zero and this means some storage system will have to be
incorporated along with the wind mill.
4) Strong supporting structures: Since the wind mill generator will have to
be located at height, the supporting structure will have to be designed with
stand high wind velocity and impacts . This will add to the initial costs of the
wind mill.
5) Occupation of large areas of the land: Large areas of land will become
unavailable due to wind mill gardens. The whole area will have to be
protected to avoid accidents.
6) Nature of ground: Ground surface should be stable . Erosion problem
should not be there, as it could possible later wash out the foundations of
WECS, destroying the whole system.
7) Wind structure at the proposed site: For better performance of the wind
turbine velocity (Vt) curve must flat,i.e., a smooth steady wind that blows all
the time is necessary. But a typical site is always less than ideal Wind
specially near the ground is turbulent and gusty, and changes rapidly in
direction and in velocity.
8) Availability of the wind curve :It determines the maximum energy in the
wind and hence the principal initially controlling factor in predicting the
electrical output and hence revenue return from the WECS machine. If
there are long periods of calm the WECS reliability will be lower than if the
calm periods are short.. In making such reliability estimates it is desirable to
have measured Vt curve over about 5 year period for the highest
confidence level in the reliability estimates.
9) Availability of high average wind speed: Wind velocity is the critical
parameter. The power in the wind Ptot, through cross sectional area for a
uniform wind velocity V, is P = K Vi3 . It is evident ,because of the cubic
dependence on wind velocity that small increases in Vi remarkably affects
the power in the wind.
10) Other problems: Other problems like icing, salt spray or blowing dust
should not present at the site , as they may affect aero turbine blades .

Type of the wind machine and their characteristics:

All the win machines are classified as

I) Based on the axis of rotor rotation
1) Horizontal axis wind machine : Axis of rotation is horizontal , aero turbine
plane is vertical facing the wind
2) Vertical axis wind machines : The axis of rotation is vertical Ex Darrieus
wind mill

111
II) According to size :
1) Small scale (up to 2KW ) : These might be used on farms remote
applications, and other places requiring relatively low power.
2) Medium size machines: ( 2-100 KW) These turbines are used for
supplying electricity to several residence and local use.
3) Large scale(100 KW and above) They are used to generate power for
distribution in central power grids
III) According to out put power
1) DC output : Dc generator, alternator rectifier
2) AC out put : i) Variable frequency ii) Constant frequency
IV) According to rotational speed:
1) Constant sped with variable pitch blades
2) Nearly constant speed with fixed pitch blades
3) Variable speed with fixed pitch blades.
V) According to utilization
1) Battery storage.
2) Direct connection
3) Other forms of storage
4) Interconnection with conventional electric utility grids.

Horizontal axis machines:

1) Horizontal axis machine with two aerodynamic blades:

This machine schematically shown in the figure. In this type rotor drives a
generator through a step up gear box. The components are mounted on a bed

112
plate which is attached on a pintle at the top of the tower. When machine is in
operation blades are subjected to aerodynamic , gravitational and inertial loads. If
the blades are made up of metal , flexing reduces fatigue life which may cause
serious damage to both blades and tower. If the vibrational frequency of the rotor
coincides with the natural frequency of the tower , the system may shake itself in
to pieces. On economical point of view more than two blades are not
recommended. Rotors which are having more than two would have slightly higher
power coefficients.

2) Horizontal axis propeller type with single blade:

In this arrangement a long blade is mounted on a rigid hub. Induction generator

and gear box are also shown. Extremely long blades create various problems like
gravity and sudden shifts in wind directions. To reduce rotor cost , use of low cost
counter weight is used which balance long blade centrifugally.
Advantages :
1) Simple blade controls, lower blade weight and cost, lower gear box cost.
2) Counter weight costs less than a second blade.
3) Counter weight can be inclined to reduce blade coning.
4) Pitch gearing do not carry centrifugal force.
Disadvantages:
1) Vibration level is too high.
2) Unconventional appearance.
3) Large blade root bending moment.
4) Staring torque is reduced.

113
 5) One per rev coriolis torque produced due to flapping.

3) Horizontal axis multi bladed type

Multi bladed horizontal axis wind turbine is shown in the fig . Blades are made
from sheet metal or aluminum. The rotors have high strength to weight ratios and
have been known to service hours of freewheeling operation in 60 Km/hr winds.
They have good power coefficients, high starting torque and added advantage of
simplicity and low cost.

4) Horizontal axis Dutch type:

Dutch type wind machine is shown in the figure. This is one of the oldest designs
. The blade surfaces are made from an array of wooden slats which rotates at
high speeds.

5) Sail type :

114
 It is of recent origin. The blade surface is made from cloth, nylon or plastics
arranged as mast and pole or sail wings. There is also variation in the number of
sail used.

Vertical axis Wind machines

One of the main advantage of the vertical axis type wind machine is that they do
not have to be turned in to the wind stream as the wind direction changes.
Because their operation is independent of wind direction, vertical axis machines
are called panemones. Most of the vertical axis machines are drag devices. Such
devices have relatively high starting torque compared to lift devices , but have
low, tip to wind speeds and lower power outputs per given rotor size, weight and
cost. Vertical axis machines are difficult to control in strong winds The
transmission and generator are on the ground rather than at the top of a tall
tower.
Advantages:
1) They will react to the wind in any direction and therefore they do not need
yawing equipment to turn the rotor in to the wind.
2) They require less structural support..
3) Rotors are not subjected to cyclic gravity loads.
4) Installation and maintenance is simple.

115
Two different types of vertical axis rotors are common ,Savonius and Darrieus

Savonius Rotor:

It consists of two half cylinders facing opposite directions such a way as to have
almost an S – shaped cross section. These two semi-circular drums are mounted
on a vertical axis perpendicular to the wind direction with a gap at the axis
between the two drums. Irrespective of the wind direction the rotor rotates such as
to make the convex sides of the buckets head in to the wind. Form the rotor shaft
we can take the power for use like water pumping , battery charging etc. The force
of the wind is greater on the cupped face than the rounded face. The wind curving
around the back side of the cupped face exerts a reduced pressure much as the
wind does over the top of an air foil and this helps to drive the rotor.
Characteristics of Savonius Rotor
1) Self starting 2) Low speed 3) Low efficiency
Advantages:
1) It eliminates the expensive power transmission system from the rotor to
axis.
2) It has its low cut in speed.
3) Cost of the vertical axis wind turbine is lower than that of standard wind
turbines.
4) It has simple structure , hence easy to manufacture .

116
 5) Overall weight of the turbine may be substantially less than that of
conventional system.
6) Yaw and pitch controls are not needed to bring it into the wind or operate in
high winds.
Disadvantages:
1) This type of machine is too solid it leads to excessive weight.
2) It is useful for a very tall installation .

Darrieus Type machine :

It has two or three , thin curved blades with airfoil cross section and constant
chord length. Both ends of the blades are attached to a vertical shaft. Thus the
force on the blade due to rotation is pure tension This provide stiffness to help
withstand the forces it experiences. The blades can thus be made lighter than in
the propeller type. When rotating these airfoil blades provide a torque about the
central shaft in response to a wind stream. This shaft torque being transmitted to

117
a generator at the base of the central shaft for power generation. Darrieus type
rotors are lift devices, characterized by curved blades with airfoil cross section.
They have low solidity, but high tip to wind speeds and , therefore relatively high
power outputs per given rotor weight and cost.

Characteristics:
1) No self starting
2) High speed
3) High efficiency
4) Potentially low capital cost.

Advantages:
1) The rotor blades can accept wind from any direction.
2) It eliminates tower structure and can be operated close to the ground level.
3) It eliminates the yaw control requirement for its rotor to capture wind energy.
4) Pitch control is not required this reduces the cost.
5) The tip speed ratio and power coefficients are considerably better than
those of the S – rotor .

Disadvantage:
1) It requires external mechanical aids for start up .
2) Wind energy conversion system is some what lower than that of
conventional horizontal rotor.
3) The less energy out put.
4) Vibratory stresses level encountered are high.
5) Special high torque breaking system is needed

Design principles of Horizontal axis wind turbines

Some of the main design considerations of the horizontal axis wind turbines are
outlined below.
Rotor: A wind turbine rotor may have any number of blades which may be made
from wood, metal or composites of several materials. From a performance point
of view , taller the tower better because wind speeds increase with height.
Horizontal axis rotors can be either lift or drag devices. Lift devices are generally
preferred because they develop more power than the drag devices. Lift devices
use slender blades with an aerofoil section that generate aerodynamic lift when
placed in an air current. Small rotors can rote at higher speeds with blade tip
speed 8-10 times that of wind speeds. Drag devices are less efficient wind
energy converters and always turn more slowly than the wind. Drag devices are
capable of generating higher torques. They are less suitable for power generation.
For lift type devices solidity ratio is usually kept lower (0.1 to 0.01). Solidity ratio is
the ratio of projected area of the rotor to swept area of the rotor. Lift type rotors
often use tapered and/ or twisted blades to reduce the bending strains on the

118
roots of the blades. Maximum efficiency can be achieved by maintaining high lift
and drag ratio. The ratio of the speed of the rotor blade tips to the speed of the
wind is called the tip – speed ratio. . Maximum efficiency can be achieved when
ever the tip-speed ratio is at optimum level. The tip speed ratio calculated
numerically as
TSR = Vtip / Vi Where Vtip = Speed of the rotor tip, Vi = Free wind speed.
Rotor with high TSR needs less material and can have relatively slender blades.
Rotor with low TSR needs more number of blades. As the TSR value increases
the number of blades required decreases. Numerically solidity can be expressed
as
S= NC / D (1)
Where N is the number of blades
C is the average breadth of a blade
D is the diameter of the circle described by a blade.
If the characteristics of both load and rotor torque speed are known, the system
performance can be defined.
Torque coefficient T = T / Tmax (2)
Where T = Shaft torque , Tmax is the torque at the maximum efficiency
For a propeller turbine of radius R
Tmax = F max R (3)
And Fmax = Ai Vi 2
/2 (4)
So Tmax = Ai Vi R/ 2
2
(5)
For a working machine the torque T = T Tmax

We know tip speed ration  = Vt / Vi = R / Vi (6)

Using equation 4 and 5
Tmax = Ai Vi2  Vi / 2
= Ptot  /  (7)
Shaft power derived from turbine P so
P = T (8)
= T Tmax
Now from equation P = Ptot  thus using 2 , 3 and 8 becomes
Ptot  = T Tmax
= T Ptot 
 = T 
Note that in practice power coefficient  and torque coefficients T will both be
function of  and are not constants .
By the Betz criterion the maximum value of  is 0.593, so in the ideal case
max = 0.593/  (9)
Machine with higher speeds have slightly higher maximum  but much lower T ,
particularly for starting .The choice of the rotor is made mainly on the pump’s load
characteristics.

119
Number of blades:
Wind turbine have been built with up to six propeller type blades but two and three
bladed propellers are most common . One bladed rotor with counterweight has
advantages , including lower weight and cost and simpler controls, over multi
blade type. Two bladed systems are receiving major attention.

Blade design:

Wind turbine blades have an airfoil type cross section and a variable pitch. They
are slightly twisted from the outer tip to the root . Better performance can be
obtained with blades that are narrower at the tip than at the root.

As shown in the fig the force that propels the blades of conventional wind mill
comes from the chord of the airfoil, being tilted away from the direction of motion.
In large two bladed wind turbines , the blades are inclined at a small angle called
the coming angles to the vertical This design decreases the bending load and
helps in avoiding damage to supporting tower under severe wind conditions. The
design of the blade must be capable withstanding several forces like , Vibrational,
gravitational , forces arising from variation in wind speeds , turbulence , pressure

120
etc. Consequently aerodynamic performance is sacrificed to sum extent in the
design of a rotor with adequate strength. The limiting dimensions of the blade
depend on the design and constructional materials , but the maximum practical
diameter of a two rotor may perhaps be in the range of 90 to 110 m . For small
rotors blades are made of laminated wood, covered with skin of aluminum . It
possible to construct the blades up to 34 m in diameter using plastic reinforced
with glass fibre. The very largest rotor blades have been made of steel to provide
adequate strength.

Yaw control:

The area of the wind streams swept by the wind turbine is maximum,, when
blades face in to the wind. This achieved by control arrangement , is which when
the wind direction changes , motor rotates the turbine slowly about the vertical
axis so as to face the blades in to the wind.

121
 HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
Introduction: The development of the hydroelectric power plant plays an very
important role in the development of country. The power generated by the water is
cheapest as it is perpetual source of energy. Hydro electric generation plants help
for irrigation and flood control in addition to power generation. Nearly 30 % of the
total power of the world is generated using hydro plants.
In hydroelectric power plants the energy of water is utilized to drive the turbine
which , in turn, runs the generator to produce electricity . Rain falling on the
earth’s surface has potential energy relative to the oceans towards which it flows.
This energy is converted in to shaft work where it falls through an appreciable
vertical distance. The theoretical power available from falling water can be
calculated using the formula
P= gQH (1)
Where P = Hydraulic power in watts,
g = 9.81 m/s2
 = Density of water, (1000 kg / m3 )
Q = Flow discharge , m3/s
H = Height in meter.
The electrical energy produced in KWh can be written in the form of
W = 1000 x 9.81 x Q x H x  x t
= 9.81 x Q x H x  x t KWh (2)
Where  is the efficiency of turbine generator assembly and t is the time in hours.
From equation 1 and 2 we can observe that the generating capacity of the
hydroelectric power plant is dependent on the quantity of the water and potential
head available at that particular site. If the head available is high then quantity of
water required for the power generation is less where as when head availability is
low then quantity of water to be required for per watt of power generation is high .
The head availability depends on the topography of the dam . The quantity of the
water available depends on the rainfall and runoff of the catchment area of the
dam.

Run off and its measurements:

The part of the water in the rain fall which is flowing through the catachment area
on the surface of the earth is known as the run off. As the rain falls upon the
drainage basin, a portion of it is evaporated directly by the sun , another large
portion is absorbed by the growing plants and crops and some water percolates
into the ground. The remaining portion of the rain fall flows over the surface of the
of earth is known as the run off. In general run off is calculated by
R=P–L,
Where R (Run off) = Rs + Rc ,
Rs- Run off over the surface
Rc is the run off reaching the catachment area through pervious earth.

122
 P = Precipitation by rain fall
L = All losses

Measurement of run off

Run can be measured daily, monthly , yearly. It can be measured by the following
methods.
1) From rain fall records.
2) Empirical formulae.
3) Run off curves and tables.
4) Discharge observation method.

1) From rain fall records.

In this method rain fall activity recorded over long period of time and the average
of rain fall over catachment area is determined. Then considering all the factors
affecting the run off ,a coefficient is calculated for that catachment . Now simple
equation can be used to find out the run off over the catachment
Run off = Rain fall x coefficient

2) Empirical formulae:
In this method direct relationship between the rain fall and run off is established
with fairly accurate results. Some of the formulas used for calculating the run off
are
a) Khosla’s formula: R = P – 4.811T , R- Run off, P – Annual rain fall in mm , T –
temp in oC
b) Linglis Formula:
For ghat region R = 0.88 P – 304.8
For plain region R = (P-177.80 P/ 2540
c) Lacey’s formula: R = P/{( 1+ 3084F/PS)}
R- run off in mm , P – Annual rain fall in mm,
F – Monsoon duration factor
S- Catachment area factor

3) Run off curves and tables.

The formulae given above can not be used universally due the variation in
characteristics for different catachment areas and rain fall. How ever for the
same region characteristics remain unchanged . Based on this run off coefficients
are derived once for all. Then graph is plotted in which one axis represents rain
fall and other run off . The curves obtained are called run off curves. Alternatively
a table can be prepared to give the run off for a certain value of rain fall for a
particular region.

4) Discharge observation method.

123
 By actual measurement of discharge at outlet of a drainage basin run off over a
catachment can be computed . The water flow volume through a selected
channel of fixed cross section is measured by measuring the velocity of water at
enough points for different water levels. The mean velocity at each section is
measured with float method or current meter directly. Then run off through the
cross section of the river is given by
Q = A1V1+A2V2+…….. +AnVn
Where A1,A2,..An Are the areas of the sections, V1,V2..Vn are the mean
velocities.

Hydro graph
Hydro graph is plot of discharge through a river versus time for specified period.
The time period for discharge hydrograph may be day, week, or month. Each
hydro graph has a reference to a particular site. Besides the variation in flow
indicated by a hydrograph , it also indicates the power available from the stream
at different times of the day, week, month or year. Extreme conditions of flow can
also be studied from hydro graph. Behavior of flash stream on a hydrograph is
indicated by the steep rise and fall of the curve. A hydro graph also helps in the
studies of the effect of storage on flow. We can obtain the following information
from the hydrographs.
1) Rate of flow at any instant during the duration period 2) Total volume of flow up
to that instant . 3) The mean annual run off or mean run off . 4) Maximum
and minimum run –off or mean run off for each month. 5) The maximum rate of
run – off during the floods duration and frequency of the flood.

124
 Crest

Rising limb Falling limb

Discharge in m3 /sec

Time

Flow duration curve

A flow duration curve is another useful form to represent the run off data for the
given time. This curve is plotted between flow available during a period versus the
fraction of time. The flow may be expressed in the form cubic meters per second
per week or any other convenient unit of time knowing the available head of water
, total energy of flow can be computed. By changing the ordinate to power instead
of discharge , the power duration curve is obtained and the area under the curve
would then represent the average yield of power from hydro power project. Thus
by flow duration curve it is possible to know the total power available at the site .
Q, m3/ s

Time %

125
 240
225
210
195
180
165
150
135
Flow rate m3 / s

Flow duration curve

120
105
90 Flow duration line
Qn 75 F Qn
D E
60
45
30
C
15 B
Qm
O A Qm
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Percentage of time

Form the fig given above Qm is the minimum flow rate that would be available
all the time (100% of time) .and the area OABC represents the minimum power
available always , often termed as primary power. The additional out put available
at higher water flows is called secondary power. If the flow rate of Qn is required
for all the times as indicated by the area under flow demand line DEF, then it
would be possible to meet this uniform demand of flow rate for all the times only if
storage equal to area BEF is provided. An alternative to this is to install a thermal
power unit of BF capacity to work as supplement to the hydro electric power unit.
The curve also shows that natural flow sufficient to meet the flow demand Qn is
available for 53.5 percent of time or 195 days in the year of lowest flow of the
record. In the absence of any storage area BCDE represents the secondary
power that would be available from the river.

Mass curve:
The mass curve is a plot of cumulative volume of water that can be stored from
stream flow versus time in days, weeks, or months. The unit used for indicating
the storage are the cubic meters or the day second meters. Mass curve is an
integral curve of the hydrograph which expresses the area under the hydrograph
from one time to another time. Mathematically the flow mass curve is expressed
as
t2
V =  Qt , dt

126
 t1

Where V is the volume of run off and Qt is the discharge in m3/s as a function of
time.
A typical mass curve is a shown in figure below. The slope of the curve at any
point indicates the rate of flow at that particular of time. If the curve is horizontal
flow is zero and if there is a high rate of flow the curve rises steeply. Relatively dry
periods are indicated as concave depressions on the mass curve.
Cumulative discharge

Time

Calculation of storage capacity and spill way capacity from mass curve.
The slope of the straight line AB joining the end points of the mass curve
represents the average discharge over the total period. The straight line CD
parallel to AB and tangent to the mass curve at its lowest point g is called a use
line. The storage volume required to supply water continuously is given by the
greatest ordinate between the use line and mass curve. If it is required to
determine the required storage for some other required uniform flow rate, straight
lines such as fj, and hi are drawn tangents to the high points of the mass curve ,
with a slope equal to the desired flow. The required storage for continuous supply
is given by the maximum ordinate between such lines and mass curve.

127
 B
j
D
f

Accumulated flow
h
Slope of demand line Mass curve

Storage capacity
A C
Time (Years)

Storage and pondage:

The flow rate of stream varies considerably with the time. In rainy season stream
is in floods it carries huge quantity of water as compared to other times of the year
when quantity of water carried by it is considerably less. However the demands
for the power do not correspond to such variations of the natural flow of stream .
A such arrangement in the form of storage and pondage of water is required for
the regulation of the flow of water so as it make it available in requisite quantity to
meet the power demand at a given time.

Storage:

128
Storage may be defined as storing of considerable amount of excess run off
during seasons of surplus flow for use in dry seasons. This accomplished by
constructing the dam across the stream at suitable site and building a storage
reservoir on the upstream side of the dam. Storage increases the capacity of the
river over an extended period of 6 months as much as 2 years. The following
figure shows the location of the storage with respect to the power house.

River

Storage reservoir

Dam

Hydro power house

River

Pondage:
Pndage may be defined as a regulating body of water in the form of a relatively
small pond or reservoir provided at the plant. The Pondage is used to regulate the
variable water flow to meet power demand. It takes care of short term fluctuations
which may occur due to a) Sudden increase or decrease of load on the turbine.
B) Sudden changes in the flow of water, say by breaches in the conveyance
channel c) Change of water demand by turbines and the natural flow of water
from time to time. Pondage increases the capacity of a river over a short time ,
such as a week. The following figure shows the location of the pondage with
respect to the power house.

129
 River

Power channel

Intake Weir

Hydro power house

Tail race
Fore bay to provide
Pondage

Short
Penstocks

Pondage fig:

Classification of hydroelectric power plants

Hydro electric power stations may be classified as follows.
1) According to availability of head.
a) High head power plants
b) Medium head power plants
c) Low head power plants
2) According to nature load
a) Base load plants
b) Peak load plants.
3.According to the quantity of water available.
a) Pump storage plants
b) Storage type plants
c) Mini and micro hydel plants
d) Plant with pondage
e) Plant without pondage.

1) According to availability of head.

a) High head plants
In high head plants operating head is 100 m and above. Water is usually stored
in lakes on high mountains during the rainy season. The rate of water discharge
from the water is maintained at such rate that water must available throughout the
year.

130
The above figure shows the high head power plant layout. In order to maintain
the safety of the dam surplus water is discharged through the spillway. Flow is
controlled by the head gates at the tunnel intake .Tunnel is constructed through
the mountain with surge chamber at near exit. . Butterfly valves are used to
regulate the water in the penstocks , and gate valves at the turbines. This type of
the plant can also constructed under ground. Pelton wheel is the common prime
mover used in the high head power plants.

b) Medium head power plants.

These plants operate under the heads varying from 30 m to 100 m. Forebay is
constructed at the beginning of the penstock serves as water reservoir. This type
of the plant commonly uses Francis turbine as the prime mover. In such plants
water is carried in open canals from main reservoir to the fore bay and then to the
power house through the penstocks. The forebay itself works as the surge tank in
this plant.

131
c) Low head power plant.
In low head power plants working head is less than 30 m. A dam is constructed
across a river and a sideway stream diverges from the river at the dam. Over this
stream power house is constructed. Later this channel joins the river further down
stream. This type of plant uses vertical shaft Francis turbine or Kaplan turbine.

2) According to nature of load

a) Base load plant: These plants supply constant power to the grid without any
interruption. They work throughout the day. Base load plants are often remote
controlled with which least staff required for such plants. Run –of-river plants
without pondage may sometimes work as base load plant but the capacity is less.
b) Peak load plats: They supply power only during the certain hours of the day
when the load is more than the average. Thermal power plants work with hydel
plants in tandem to meet the base load and peak load during various seasons.
Some of such plants supply the power during the average load but also supply
peak load as and when it is there. The run-off river plants may be made for peak
load by providing pondage.

Pump storage plants

Water after working in the turbine stored in the tail race pond. During low load
periods this water is pumped back in to the head reservoir using an extra power
available. This water can be again used for generating power during peak load
periods. Pumping of water may be done seasonally or daily depending upon the
conditions of the site and the nature of the load on the plant. Such plants are
usually interconnected with steam or diesel engine plants so that off peak capacity
of interconnecting stations is use in pumping water and the same is used during
the peak load periods.

132
Advantages:
1) There will be an increase in the plant capacity with low cost.
2) Operating efficiency of the plant is high.
3) There is an improvement in the load factor.
4) The hydroelectric plant becomes partly independent of stream flow conditions.
In this type of plants reversible turbine pump units are used. These units can be
used as turbine while generating power and as pump while pumping water to
storage. With the use of reversible turbine pump sets, additional capital
investment on pump and its motor can be saved .

Essential elements of the hydroelectric power plants

133
The following are the essential elements of the hydro electric power plants
1) Catchment area
2) Dam
3) Reservoir
4) Spill ways
5) Penstock
6) Surge tanks
7) Draft tubes
8) power house
9) Switch yard for power transmission.
Catachment area: The whole area behind the dam draining into a stream or river
across which the dam has been constructed is called the catchment area.
Dam:A dam performs the following two basic functions.
1) It develops reservoir of desired capacity to store water
2) It builds up a head for power generation.
Various types of the dams are used depending on the requirement and
geographical area.
1) Gravity dams: These dams are constructed in stone masonry or in concrete.

134
2) Earth dams: For small projects of up to 70 m height , dams constructed of earth
fill or embankment are used.
3) Rock fill dams: It is made up of all sizes and has a trapezoidal shape with a
wide base, having water tight section to reduce seepage.
Spill ways: When water level in the reservoir rises, the stability of the dam is
endangered. To relive the reservoir of this excess water, a structure is provided in
the body of a dam or close to it. This safe guarding structure is called spillway.
Variety of spill ways are used example Overall spillway , Chute or trough spillway,
Side channel spillway, saddle spillway, Shaft spillway and Siphon spillway.
Penstocks:
It is an closed conduit used for supplying water to the turbine from forebay under
pressure. Penstocks are used where slope is too great for canal . Surge tanks or
other measures are necessary to prevent damage in closed conduits due to
abnormal pressures. The regulating forebay has a small storage capacity to care
for minor flow fluctuations . It has an automatic spillway to discharge overflow
when turbine shut down suddenly. In different ways we can arrange to supply
water to the turbines.
i) One penstock for one turbine. In such a case water is supplied independently to
each turbine from a separate penstock
ii) Single penstock for the entire plant.: In this case penstock should have as many
branches as the number of hydraulic turbines.
iii) Multiple penstocks but each penstock should supply water to at least two
hydraulic turbines.

Penstock materials and their suitability.

i) Reinforced concrete: These penstocks are suitable up to 18 m head . Beyond
this pressure concrete can not with stand the pressure.
ii) Wood stave penstocks: In this type of penstocks treated wood is placed side by
side to form cylinder and held together by the steel hoops. These penstocks are
used for heads up to about 75 m.
iii) Steel penstocks: Penstocks made up of steel can be used for any head , with
the thickness varying with the pressure and diameter. The strength of the
penstocks can be expressed as horse power it can carry.
High pressure penstocks are fabricated in 6 to 8 meters lengths in order to
minimize transportation difficulties. Welded joints are used instead of riveted joints
because of the higher frictional losses in latter case. Penstocks are generally
supported by concrete piers cadles., although they may be laid on or in ground.

135
 .

Water hammer
Water hammer is defined as the change in pressure rapidly above or below
normal pressure caused by sudden changes in the rate of water flow through the
pipe according to the demand of prime mover. When the gates supplying the
water to the turbines are suddenly closed owing to the action of governor , when
the load on the generator is suddenly reduced, there is sudden rise in pressure in
the upstream of the pipe supplying the water to the turbine. This sudden change
of pressure and its fluctuations in the pipe line during reduction of load on the
turbine is known as water hammer. The turbine gates suddenly opens because
turbine needs more water due to increased demand on the generator and
therefore, during increased load conditions , water has to rush through the pipe
and there is tendency to cause a vacuum in the pipe supplying the water.
The pipe supplying the water must have the capacity with stand variations in the
water pressures. The water hammer can occurs at all points in the penstock
between the forebay or surge tank and the turbines.
Ex:

136
Pipelines that deliver water to turbines, called penstocks, collapsed after a major water hammer incident in
Oigawa, Japan.

Surge tank
Surge tank is open reservoir or tank in which the water level rises or falls to
reduce the pressure swings so that they are not transmitted in full to a closed
circuit. Important functions of the surge tank are
1) It reduces the distances between the free water surface and turbine thereby
reducing the water hammer effect of the penstock and also protect the up stream
tunnel from high pressure rises.
2) It serves as the supply tank to the turbine when the water in the pipe is
accelerating during increased load conditions as a storage tank when the water is
decelerating during the reduced load conditions.
3) It acts as relief valve when ever there is variations in water pressure in the
penstocks.
Surge tank should be located as near to the power house as is feasible to reduce
the length of the penstock thereby reducing water hammer effect. It is generally
located at the junction of tunnel and penstock in order reduce its height.

137
Types of surge tanks.
1) Simple surge tank.

The simple surge tank is cylindrical in shape and attached to the penstock as
shown in the figure. It is always desirable to place the surge tank over the ground
surface on the penstock pipe. If suitable site is not available the height of the tank
should be increased with the help of a support. This type of the surge tank is
uneconomical due to its large size and its action is also sluggish as compared
with other types of tanks. It is most expensive and seldom used in preference to
other types.

2) Inclined surge tank.

When a surge tank is inclined at an angle to the horizontal its effective water
surface area increases and therefore , lesser height surge tanks are required of
the same diameter if tit is inclined or lesser diameter tank is required for the
same height. It is more costlier than the ordinary type as construction is difficult
ant it is seldom used unless the topographical conditions are in favour.

3) Expansion chamber surge tank.

138
This type of surge tank has an expansion tank at top and expansion gallery at the
bottom, these expansions limit the extreme surges. The upper expansion
chamber must be above the maximum reservoir level and bottom gallery must
be below the lowest steady running level in the surge tank. In addition the
intermediate shaft should have minimum diameter.

4) Restricted orifice surge tank.

It is also called throttled surge tank. The orifice provided helps in creating
appreciable friction loss when the water is flowing to or from the tank. When the
load on the turbine is reduced , the surplus water passes through the throttle and
a retarding head equal to the loss due to throttle is built up in the conduit. The
size of the throttle can be designed for any designed retarding head. The effect of
throttle is very limited except at large change of lad because the additional
frictional loss is proportional to the square of the velocity in the port. The change
in the velocity will not be considerable unless the change of load is not large. It
is very rapid in action, but the pressure rises are also equally rapid , therefore, it is
less effective than simple surge tank in relieving the water hammer. The main
disadvantage of this type of the surge tank is that , considerable portion of water
hammer pressure is transmitted directly in to the low pressure conduit..

5) Differential surge tank.

A differential surge tank has riser with a small hole at its lower end through which
water enters in it. The function of the surge tank depends upon the area of hole.
With change of load , the water level in the riser rises or falls very rapidly thus
producing a rapid deceleration or acceleration of the conduit flow. Though rapid
in action, the differential surge tank gives reasonably low pressure rises and
surges low amplitude. This type of surge tank is having an advantage of
preventing increasing surges under all conditions.

139
Draft tubes: Draft tube allows the turbine to be set above the tailrace to facilitate
inspection and maintenance and diffuser action regains the major portion of the
kinetic energy or velocity head at runner outlet, which would otherwise go waste
as an exit loss. The draft tube can be straight conical tube , or an elbow type is
more common.

Power house: A power house should have a stable structure and its layout
should be such that adequate space is provided around the equipment for
convenient dismantling and repair. The power provides the space for following
equipments.
i) Hydraulic turbines ii) Electric generators iii) Governors iv) Gate valves v) Relief
valves vi) Water circulation pumps vii) Air duct viii) Switch board and instruments
ix) Storage batteries x) Cranes.

Advantages:
1) Operating cost of the plant including auxiliaries is extremely low.
2) As maintenance cost of the plant is less costly.
3) Less labour is required to operate the plant..
4) No nuisance of smoke , exhaust gases, soot etc exists in this case.
5) The cost of the land required is less.
6) The plant efficiency does not change with age.
7) Plant life is much longer than that of the thermal power plant.

140
8) Less number of skilled workers are required.
9) In addition to the power generation these plants are also used for flood control
and irrigation purposes.
10) No fuel charges.
Disadvantages:
1) Initial cost of the plant including the cost of dam is high.
2) Power production may be curtailed or even discontinued in time of drought.
Thus power plant is not reliable.
3) The suitable sites are always away from the load center and hence
transmission losses are more.
4) Vast area of fertile ,agriculture and forest land may be submerged.
5) The plant construction time is long.
Brief Description of some of the important hydel power stations in India.
Important hydro plants in India are
Sl State / Name of the power plant Installed capacity (MW)
No
Andhra Pradesh
1 Machkand (Stage I and II) 114
2 Upper silern 120
3 Lower Silern 600
4 Srisailam 770
5 Narjuna sagar pumped storage 100
Assam
1 Umian 54
Gujrat
1 Ukai 300
Himachal pradesh
1 Baira suil 200
Jammu Kashmir
1 Slal 200
Karnataka
1 Tungabhadra 72
2 Sharavathi 890
3 Kalinadi 396
Kerala
1 Parambikulam Aliyar 185
2 Sabarigiri 300
3 Iddiki 390
Maharastra
1 Koyana 860
Orissa
1 Hirakud 270

141
2 Balimela 480
Punjab
1 Bhakra nangal 1084
2 Beas sutlej link 780
Rajasthan
1 Chambal 287
Uttar pradesh
1 Rihand 300
2 Yamuna 424
Tamil nadu
1 Kundah 425
2 Kodiar 100

Problems:
1) At a particular site ( in millions of m3) of a river in 12 months from January to
December are 30,25,20,0,10,50,80,100,110,65,45 and 30 respectively. i) Draw
hydro graph the flow duration curve on the graph sheet and find the average
monthly flow. ii) Estimate the power developed in MW if the available head is 90
m and the overall efficiency of generation is 87.4% assume each month 30 days.
Soln: H = 90 m, o = 87.4%
Month Discharge in Month Discharge in
millions of cubic millions of cubic
meter / month meter / month
January 30 July 80
February 25 August 100
March 20 September 110
April 0 October 65
May 10 November 45
June 50 December 30

Hydro graph

142
 120
110
100
90
Discharge in millions of cubic meter

80
70 Average flow
60 47.083

50
40
30
20
10
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Average discharge for the flow
Qav = (30+25+20+0+10+50+80+100+110+65+45+30) / 12
= 47.0834 millions of cubic meter /month = 47.083 x 106 / ( 30 x 24 x 3600)
=18.165 m3 /s

ii) Flow duration curve

Discharge in millions of Total number of months Percentage time

cubic meter / month during which flow is
available
0 12 100
10 11 91.7
20 10 83.3
25 9 75
30 8 66.7
45 6 50
50 4 33.3

143
 80 3 25
100 2 16.7
110 1 8.3

110
100
Discharge in millions of cubic meter per month

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Time ( % )
Flow duration curve
Power developed in MW P = o g Qav H /106
= 0.874 x 1000 x 9.81x 18.165 x 90 / 106
= 14.02 MW
2) The mean monthly discharge for 12 months at a particular site of river is
tabulated below
Month Discharge in Month Discharge in
millions of cubic millions of cubic
meter / month meter / month
May 500 October 2000
June 200 November 1500
March 1500 December 1500
July 2500 January 1000
August 3000 February 800

144
 September 2400 March 600

i) Draw hydro graph and flow duration curve for the above and find
average monthly flow.
ii) Determine the power available at mean flow of water if available
head is 80 m at the site and overall efficiency of generation is 80%.
Take 30 days in a month.
Soln: H = 80 m, o = 80%
3000
2800
2600
2400
Discharge in millions of cubic meter / month

2200
2000
1800
1600
1400
Average flow
1200 1458.33 millions of cubic meter / month
1000
800
600
400
200
0
A M J J A S O N D J F M

Average monthly flow

Qav =
(500+200+1500+2500+3000+2400+2000+1500+1500+1000+800+60
0) /12
= 1458.33 x 106 m3 / month

145
 = 1458.33 x 106 m3 / (30x24x3600)
= 562.63 m3 /s
Flow duration curve
Discharge in millions of Total number of months Percentage time
cubic meter / month during which flow is
available
200 12 100
500 11 91.7
600 10 83.3
800 9 75
1000 8 66.7
1500 7 58.3
2000 4 33.3
2400 3 25
2500 2 16.7
3000 1 8.3

Flow duration curve

3000
2800
2600
2400
Discharge in millions of cubic meter / month

2200
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time ( % )

146
ii) Power developed in MW P = o g Qav H /106 = 0.80 x 1000 x 9.81x 562.63
x 80 / 106
= 353.24 MW
3) The data for twelve months flow at a particular site is given below.

Month Discharge in Month Discharge in

millions of cubic millions of cubic
meter / month meter / month
1 100 7 190
2 50 8 40
3 20 9 30
4 80 10 200
5 10 11 170
6 10 12 80

Find
a) The required reservoir capacity for the uniform flow of 50 millions cu-m per
month throughout the year
b) Spill way capacity.
c) Average flow capacity if whole water is used and required capacity of the
reservoir for this condition .

Month Discharge in millions of Cumulative volume in

cubic meter / month millions of cu-m
1 100 100
2 50 150
3 20 170
4 80 250
5 10 260
6 10 270
7 190 460
8 40 500
9 30 530
10 200 730
11 170 900
12 80 980

147
 230 millions cu-m
1000
b
900
800
Discharge in millions of cubic meter / month

d
700
34 millions cu-m/m
600
500
82 millions cu -m/m
400 Spill = 86 millions cu-m

300
200 z
100 x y
0
a 1 2 c 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

From the graph storage capacity = 82 x 106 m3

Spill way capacity required = 86 x 106 m3
Join the points a and b then the slope of the line ab represents the uniform
discharge throughout the year.
= 980 / 12 x 106 = 81.7 x 106 m3 / month
Draw the line cd parallel to ab which touches the mass curve to its lowest point .
The maximum departure of the line cd from the mass curve represents the
required storage capacity for the uniform supply of 81.7 x 106 m3 / month . In this
case , storage capacity required
= 230 millions of cu-m.

148
 OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION (OTEC)

Introduction:
The concept of Ocean Temperature Energy Conversion (OTEC) is based on the
utilization of the temperature difference in a heat engine to generate power.
In tropics, the ocean surface temperature often exceeds 25oc , while 1 km below
the temperature is usually no higher than 10oC.Water density decreases with
increase in temperature . Thus there will be no thermal convection currents
between warmer , lighter water at the top and deep cooler heavier water so warm
water stays at the top and the cool water stays at the bottom. The maximum
temperature difference on the earth is in the tropics and is about 15oC The
surface temperatures vary both with latitude and season, both being maximum in
tropical, subtropical, and equatorial waters i.e., between the two tropics, making
these waters the most suitable for OTEC systems. In OTEC systems the average
temperature difference may be 200C compared to 5000C for modern fossil power
plants. Taking the temperature difference of 200C and a surface temperature of
27oC, the Carnot cycle efficiency would be

c = (T1 – T2) / T1 = 20 / (27 + 273) = 6.67%

The extremely low efficiency of an OTEC system implies extremely large power
plant heat exchangers and components.
There are two basic designs of OTEC system: the open cycle , also known as
the claude cycle, and the closed cycle, also known as the Anderson cycle .

Open cycle or Claude cycle.

149
The Claude plant used an open cycle in which water itself plays the multiple role
of heat source, working fluid, coolant, and heat sink. Schematic flow and
corresponding T-S diagrams are shown in fig. In the cycle warm surface water
admitted into an evaporator in which pressure is maintained at a value slightly
below the saturation pressure corresponding to that water temperature. Water
entering the evaporator; therefore, finds itself superheated at the new pressure.
The warm water at 270c has saturation pressure of 0.0356 bar, point 1. The
evaporator pressure is 0.0317 bar. This temporarily superheated water undergoes
volume boiling causing that water to partially flash to steam to an equilibrium two
phase condition at new pressure and temperature 0.0317 bar and 25oC, point 2.
Process 1-2 is throttling hence constant enthalpy process. The low pressure in the
evaporator can be maintained by using vacuum pump. The steam is separated
from the water as the saturated vapor at the point 3. The remaining water is
saturated at 4 and is discharged as brine back to ocean. The quality of the steam
at 3 is low pressure high specific volume. It expands in a specially designed
turbine, condenser pressure and temperature at 5 are 0.017 bar and 150C . The
condenser used is direct contact type , in which the exhaust at 5 is mixed with
cold water from the deep cold water pipe at 6, which results in a near saturated
water at 7. That water is now discharged to ocean.
Disadvantages:
1) Volume flow rates of water required are high.
2) The special types of turbines are required.
3) The size of the turbines required is very large.
4) Use of degasifiers required to remove dissolved gases in the sea water.
5) The cost of the open cycle system is more compared to closed cycle
system.
6) The cost of the turbine is about half of the overall cost of power plant.

150
Closed or Anderson , OTEC cycle.
The closed cycle utilizes the ocean’s warm surface and cold deep waters as heat
source and sink, respectively, but requires a separate working fluid that receives
and rejects heat to the source and sink via heat exchangers. The working fluid
may be ammonia, propane or Freon. When high pressure liquid ammonia enters
the evaporator absorbs heat from the water which is circulating and converted in
to high pressure vapour. This vapour expanded in to low pressure vapour in the
turbine. Low pressure ammonia vapour is condensed in to low pressure liquid
ammonia in condenser. In order to remove the heat from vapour in the condenser
cold water from depth of sea is used. Low pressure liquid ammonia is converted
in to high pressure liquid ammonia using pump and supplied back in to the
evaporator for repeating the cycle. The operating pressure is much higher
compared open cycle thus smaller and hence less costly . But it requires very
large heat exchangers. Instead of usual heavier and more expensive shell and
tube heat exchangers, In Anderson cycle thin plate heat exchangers are used.

Problems associated with OTEC

1) OTEC plants sites are always located away from the load centers .
2) The availability of suitable temperature differences between surface water
and deep cold water is restricted to equatorial regions.
3) The power transmission cost from the OTEC plant to load center is very high.
4) The power generation system gives less efficiency.
5) Large heat exchangers are required and hence the cost of the power
generated increases.
6) The bio fouling is a major problem encountered in most power plants.

151
7) In the manufacture of heat exchangers costly , non corrosive materials must
be used this further increases the overall cost of the plant.
8) The initial investment required is high.
9) Construction of the plant in the rough sea is very difficult.

152
 NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

Introduction: There is a common trend throughout the world to use nuclear

energy as a source of power. This is because of the rapid depletion of
conventional energy sources. Transportation network and large storage facility are
not required which is one of the major hurdle in coal based thermal power plants.
How ever recently there is stiff opposition for the installation of nuclear power
plants due to a fear of radiation hazards.
Atomic structure:

All matter consists of unit particles called atoms. An atom consists of a relatively
heavy , positively charged, electrons orbiting around the nucleus. The nucleus
consists of protons and neutrons, which together are called nucleons. Protons are
positively charged , while the neutrons are electrically neutral. The number of
protons in the nucleus is called the atomic number, Z. The total number of
nucleons in the nucleus is called the mass number, A. The atomic mass unit , is a
unit of mass approximately equal to 1.66x10-27 kg. Mass of Neutron is
1.008665amu, Protons is 1.007277amu and Electron is 0.005486amu. ( The
mass of Protons=1837xmas of Electron, Neutrons = 1839 x Electron. ). An
element is distinguished by its atomic number . Some elements exist in more than
one form, with the same atomic number but with different mass numbers. These
are known as the isotopes of an element. For example Uranium exists in three
isotopic forms 92U233, 92U235, 92U238. (Atoms which are having different number of
neutrons than the number of protons are known as isotopes.)

Binding energy: It is the energy required to keep the protons together in the
nucleus of an atom or It is the energy required to overcome the binding forces of
nucleus is called as binding energy. The binding energy is very large compared
with chemical bond energy. When two nuclear particles are combined to form
nucleus . It is observed that there is a different mass of the resultant nucleus and
the sum of the masses of the two parent nuclear particles will be different. This

153
decrement of mass is called mass defect Einstein’s theory of relativity shows that
mass is convertible into energy and this energy is given by the formula .

E = mc2 ,
E – Energy(J),
m- mass defect(Kg),
c – Velocity of light. (3 x 108 m/s)
Energy can also be measured in electron volt ( 1. e.v = 1.6021 x 10-19 J).
The energy equivalent of 1g of mass is
E = 1x10-3 x (3 x 108 m/s) 2 = 9 x1013 J
Similarly the energy equivalent of 1 amu of mass is
E = 1.66x10-27 x (3 x 108 m/s) 2 = 9 x1013 J
= 14.94 x 10-11 J = 9.31 x 10 8 eV = 931 MeV
Therefore , if 1 amu of mass could be completely converted to energy , 931 MeV
would be yielded.
The amount of mass defect is directly proportional to the amount of energy
released. Binding energy per nucleons increases with increase in number of
nucleons. For example binding energy per nucleon for H2 is 1.109MeV and for
He4 it is 28.24 = 7.05 MeV.
A curve representing the variation of nuclear binding energy per nucleon with the
mass number is shown in figure. The curve indicates that peak value of about 8.8
MeV at nearly 60 mass number. As the mass number increases still further , the
binding energy curve falls gradually to 7.6 MeV for U238. An atom with even
number of protons of mass number is more stable because of pairing of protons
and neutrons. Example 92U238 atom having 92 protons and 146 neutrons is quite
stable and requires very high energy neutrons for fission, Where as 92U235 atom
having 92 protons and 143 neutrons can be fissioned even by low energy
neutrons.

Radioactive decay and half life:

154
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive
disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an
unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable
nuclei is considered radioactive
All isotopes of heavier elements less stable emits radiation till a more stable
nucleus is reached. Thus a spontaneous disintegration process, called radioactive
decay occurs. For various elements decay time is different, which follows certain
law . This law is known as radioactive decay law. The law states that the small
amount of disintegration of the isotope in a small period is directly proportional to
the total number of radioactive nuclei and proportionality constant.
N= Number of radioactive nuclei present at any time t,
No = Initial number of nuclei,
 = Proportionality constant.
Then according to the decay law
N = -Nt (1)
dN/dt = -N (2)
Negative sign indicates that during disintegration number of nuclei decreasing.
Integrating the equation 2
No dN/N = - o t dt
N
(3)
loge N – loge No = -t
loge N/No = -t
N/No = e-t
N=No e-t (4)
-t
dN/dt = -N = - No e (5)
Equation 5 shows that the decay scheme follows the exponential law.
If A = Activity at time t, A1 = Initial activity, k = detection coefficient then
A = k(-dN/dt) = kN = kNo e-t = A e-t (6)

Half life:
Half time represents the rate of decay of the radioactive isotopes. The half life is
the time required for half of the parent nuclei to decay or to disintegrate.
Using N =No/2 and t = t1/2 in equation 6 we get.
No/2 = No e-t1/2
 e-t1/2 = ½

155
  t1/2 = log e 2 = 0.693
t1/2 = 0.693 /  (7)

Nuclear fission

In this type of process heavy nucleus is divided in two equal number of

fragments. Fission can be caused by bombarding with high energy  particles,
Protons, X-rays as well as neutrons. How ever neutrons are most suitable for
fission, they require less kinetic energy to collide with nuclei. Two or three
neutrons are released for each neutron absorbed in fission, and can thus keep

156
reaction going . Isotopes like U233, U235 and Pu239 can be fissioned by neutrons of
all energies , where as isotopes U238, Th232 and Pu240 are fissionable by high
energy only.
When neutron enters nucleus of U235 the nucleus splits in to two fragments and
also releases 2 to 3 neutrons per fission. The difference in the binding energy
between the products of fission and the original nucleus is evolved during the
fission reaction. This is known as nuclear fission. The breaking of U235 can takes
place in different ways , forming a variety of different products. Each way of
splitting U 235 nucleus ejects different numbers of neutrons 1,2,3. As an average
of 2.5 neutrons released per neutron absorbed. Out of 2.5 neutrons , nearly 0.2 to
0.3 neutron is lost due to escape at the surface and out of remaining 2.2 neutrons
are allowed to continue chain reaction. The reaction rate will increase
exponentially and enormous amount of heat energy will be released. Such
reaction is known as uncontrolled chain reaction . When only one neutron after
every fission is allowed to continue to cause fission reaction , it is known as
controlled chain reaction. This is the type of nuclear fission reaction used for
power production and energy evolved remains at constant level. For sustaining of
the chain reaction at least there must be an one neutron available for absorption.
This condition can be conveniently expressed in the form of multiplication product
or reproduction factor of the system which may be defined as
K = No of neutrons in any particular fission/ No.of neutrons in the preceding
fission.
If K > 1 , chain reaction will continue and if K<1 , chain reaction can not be
maintained. When K<1 system is known as sub critical and when K>1 the
system is known as super critical and when K=1 , the system is known as critical
and this is the desirable requirement for power reactors.

Prompt gama rays

Fission fragments

U235 Prompt neutron

Incident
Neutron
Fission fragment

Prompt neuttron

157
 Chain reaction figure

Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process of combining or fusing two lighter nuclei in to a
stable and heavier nuclide. In this process also large quantity of energy released
because mass of the product nucleus is less than the masses of the two nuclei
which are fused. Several reactions between nuclei of low mass can be initiated
by accelerating one or the other nucleus in a suitable manner. These are often
fusion process accompanied by release of energy.

How ever the nuclear fusion reaction can not be regarded as much significance
for the utilisation of nuclear energy. To have a practical value fusion reaction
must be self sustaining ,i.e., more energy must be released than is consumed in
initiating the reaction. For initiating the nuclear fusion reaction very high stellar
temperature of 30 million 0K is needed.

158
Above figure shows the schematic diagram of futuristic deuterium-tritium fusion
reactor . The plasma is contained inside an evacuated tube of 4m. The
surrounding vacuum wall through which 14 MeV neutrons from the plasma pass,
is maintained at about 7500C . Out side this wall are two concentric regions, viz,
the lithium breeding moderator and magnetic shield. Tritium is manufactured in
the lithium blanket. Large cryogenic superconducting magnets of 7 to 8 m
diameter maintain the magnetic shield. The binary vapour power cycle consists of
a potassium topping cycle and a conventional steam cycle. It includes tritium
recovery system.
Advantages of fusion power plants:
1) The supply of deuterium is almost inexhaustible.
2) Radioactive wastes are not produced.
3) It is very safe to operate.
4) High energy conversion efficiency can be achived.
5) Low heat rejection to the environment takes place per KW of electricity
generated.

159
Comparison between nuclear fission and fusion

Fission Fusion
Heavy nucleus splits in to two nuclei of Lighter nuclei fuse together to form
equal mass and energy released. heavy nucleus with the release of
energy.
About one thousandth of the mass is It is possible to have four thousandth of
converted in to energy. mass converted in to energy.
Nuclear reaction residual problem is Residual problem is much less.
great
Amount of radioactive material in a Radioactive material produced is much
fission reactor is high. less than that of the fission reaction.
Health hazards are high in the event of Health hazards is much less.
accidents.
It is possible to construct self sustained It is extremely difficult to construct
chain reaction reactors. controlled fusion reactors.
Manageable temperatures are obtained Un manageable temperatures
Raw fissionable material is not available Reserves of deuterium, the fusion
in plenty element is available in large quantity.

Fuels used in the reactor:

The fuels which are commonly used are Natural Uranium containing 0.7% U235 or
Enriched Uranium containing 1.5 to 2.5 % U235. In addition to natural nuclear
fuels some of artificial or man-made fuels such as Pu239, Pu241,U 233 are also
used. Considering the necessary requirement of fission process and its availability
economically the fuels used in reactors are uranium, plutonium and thorium.
U235 is easily available nature with concentrations up to 0.7% and its content
increases up to 90% in enriched uranium. The nuclear fuels is available in three
states solid, liquid and gas. In reactors fuel is mostly used in solid state or in the
form of solution dissolved in water. The liquid metal reactors are in practical use.
The fuel used in the reactors is in the form of rods or plates. The fuel rods are
surrounded by the moderator. The fuel rods are clad with stainless steel or
zirconium to prevent oxidation. The minimum amount of fuel required to maintain
chain reaction is known as critical mass. The fuel core must contain at least the
critical mass and more often, slightly larger than the critical mass in order to
maintain the chain reaction.

160
Elements of the nuclear reactor:
The essential components of nuclear reactor are as follows:
1) Fuel rods
2) Control rods
3) Moderator
4) Reflector.
5) Coolants.
6) Shielding
7) Control mechanisms
8) Measuring systems.

1)Fuel rods
Fuels which are commonly used are natural uranium and enriched uranium cast in
the form of rods and plates. The fuel rods are clad with stainless steel to prevent
the oxidation. The fuel rods are surrounded by the moderator. The minimum
amount of the fuel must be maintained in the reactor in order to sustain the chain
reaction this is known as the critical mass. The fuel rods must contain at least the
critical mass and slightly larger than the critical mass in order to maintain the
chain reaction.

2) Control rods
The purpose of the control rod is to maintain the value of multiplication factor as
one this is the minimum condition required to maintain the nuclear fission. This
maintains the steady state heat generation in the reactor. The control rod helps to
vary the out put according to the load and shut – down the reactor under

161
emergency conditions. When the shutting down of the reactor is required the
control rods, absorb more number of neutrons than emitted and the fission
reaction dies out. The material which are commonly used for control rods are
cadmium, Boron etc. The control rods are automatically operated.

3) Moderator
The function of the moderator is to reduce the energy of the neutrons evolved
during fission from 2Mev to 0.25 Mev in order to maintain the chain reaction. By
the slowing down of high energy neutrons, possibility of escape of neutrons is
reduced and possibility of absorption of neutrons to cause further fission is
increased. This also reduces the quantity of the fuel required to maintain the chain
reaction. The common moderators used are ordinary water , heavy water ,
graphite and beryllium.

4) Reflector
The neutrons which may escape from the surface of the core without taking part in
fission can be reflected back in to the core to take part in the chain reaction . This
is done by a reflector. The required properties of a good reflector are low neutron
absorption , high capacity to reflect and resistance to oxidation and radiation.
The moderators which are commonly used also work as reflectors. A blanket of
reflector can reduce the critical mass required to maintain the chain reaction.

5) Coolants
The purpose of the coolants is to transfer the heat generated in the reactor core
and use it for steam generation. The coolant circulated in the reactor core keeps
the temperature of the fuel below safe level by continuous removal of energy from
the core. The coolant used must have very high specific heat to carry more heat
per kg of coolant used. It should not absorb neutrons, It must be non corrosive ,
non oxidizing and non toxic. Ordinary water , heavy water, sodium, potassium
and carbon dioxide are the common coolants used in power generating reactors.

6) Shielding
The reactor is source of intense radio activity and these radiations are very harm
full to the human life. Therefore it is necessary to prevent the escape of these
radiations to the atmosphere. The inner core is made of 50 to 60cm thick steel
plate and it is further thickened by few meters using concrete. The thermal shield
is cooled by circulation of water.

7) Control mechanisms
The control system is also necessary to prevent the chain reaction from
becoming violent and consequently damaging the reactor. It is an essential part of
a reactor and serves the following purposes i) Starting the reactor , ii)
Maintaining the reactor at that level ,iii) Shutting down of the reactor during

162
emergency conditions. The control system works on the principle of absorbing
the excess neutrons with the help of control rods either made up of boron steel or
cadmium strips.

8) Measuring systems
Main instruments required in nuclear reactor are thermocouples for measuring
temperatures instrument for determining the thermal neutron flux.

Types of Nuclear reactors:

1) Pressurised water reactor. (PWR)

In pressurized water reactor , heat generated in the nuclear core is removed by

water circulating at high pressure through the primary circuit. The heat is
transferred from primary to secondary circuit in a heat exchanger , or boiler,
there by generating the steam in the secondary circuit. As such the steam in the
turbine is not radioactive and need not be shielded. The pressure in the primary
circuit maintained high using pressuriser so that boiling of water will not takes
place. In order to vary the pressure in the primary circuit electric heating coils are
used in the pressuriser. PWR produces only saturated steam. By providing
separate furnace steam formed from the reactor could be super heated.
Advantages:

163
1) The coolant used is cheap and easily available.
2) The reactor is compact, small in size and power density is high.
3) Fission products remain in the reactor and are not circulated.
4) There is a complete freedom to inspect and maintain the turbine, feed water
heaters, and condensers during the operation.
5) Small number of control rods are required.
6) The fuel costs are less as the reactor extracts more energy per unit weight of
fuel
Disadvantages:
1) High primary circuit pressure requires strong pressure vessel and so high
capital costs.
2) Severe corrosion problems.
3) Reprocessing of fuel is very difficult.
4) The reactor must be shut down for recharging.
5) Fuel fabrication is very difficult.
6) Thermal efficiency of secondary loop is very poor.
7) Designing of the vessel against the thermal stresses is very difficult.

Boiling water reactor (BWR)

Apart from heat source the BWR generation cycle is similar to that found in the
thermal power plants. In this type of reactor , enriched uranium is used as fuel and

164
water is used as coolant, moderator and reflector like PWR except the steam is
generated in the reactor itself instead of separate steam boiler. The plant can be
safely operated using natural convection within the core or forced circulation as
shown .
Advantages:
1) The cost of the pressure vessel is less compared to vessel required for PWR.
2) This reactor does not requires separate steam generator therefore the cost is
further reduced.
3) The metal temperature remains low for given out put conditions.
4) The reactor is capable of meeting the small fluctuating load requirements.
5) Thermal efficiency is high compared to PWR.
6) BWR is more stable than the PWR.
Disadvantages:
1) Steam leaving the reactor is slightly radioactive therefore shielding of turbine
and piping is required.
2) Power density of the reactor is only 50% of PWR.
3) Part of the steam is wasted at low loads.
4) Enrichment of the fuel for the reactor is extremely costly process.
5) More biological protection is required.
6) Possibility of burn out of fuel is more in this reactor than PWR

3) CANDU ( Canadian-Deuterium-Uranium ) Reactor.

CANDU is pressurized heavy water reactor first developed in Canada. The

coolant heavy water is passed through the fuel pressure tubes and heat
exchanger. The heavy water is circulated in the primary circuit in the same way as

165
with a PWR and steam is raised in the secondary circuit transferring the heat in
the heat exchanger to the ordinary water. The reactor is controlled by the
moderator level hence control rods are not required. In CANDU reactor refueling
is carried out even as the reactor is in operation. The high temperature coolant
leaving the reactor passes out of the outlet header to a steam generator of
conventional inverted U tube and is then pumped back in to the reactor through
the inlet header .The steam is generated at temperature about 2650C. The reactor
vessel and the steam generator system are enclosed by a concrete containment
structure. A water spray in the containment would result from large break in the
coolant circuit.
Advantages:
1) The fuel need not be enriched one.
2) The cost of vessel is less.
3) No control rods are required.
4) Low moderator level increases the effectiveness in slowing down of neutrons.
5) Construction time required is less compared to BWR and PWR.
6) The cost of moderator used is less.
Disadvantages:
1) The power density is considerably low compared to BWR and PWR.
2) It requires high standard of design , manufacture and maintenance.
3) The leakage is a major problem.
4) The cost of heavy water is extremely high.
5) The size of the reactor is very large.

Sodium Graphite reactor.(Liquid metal cooled reactor)

166
Sodium graphite reactor is one of the typical liquid metal reactor. In this reactor
sodium works as a coolant and graphite works as moderator. It consists of three
circuits, primary circuit, secondary circuit and Steam circuit. In primary circuit
liquid sodium which circulates through the reactor core and gets heated. This
heated liquid sodium gets cooled in the intermediate heat exchanger and returns
to the reactor core . The secondary circuit has an alloy of sodium and potassium
in liquid form. This coolant absorbs heat from the sodium circulating in the primary
circuit in the intermediate heat exchanger. The heated coolant then passes
through the boiler and supplies heat required for generation of steam. The steam
generated in this boiler is super heated. The sodium potassium liquid in the
secondary circuit from the boiler is supplied back in to the intermediate heat
exchanger with the help of pump.
Advantages:
1) The thermal efficiency is high .
2) The cost of graphite moderator is low.
3) Excellent heat removal capability.
4) The size of the reactor is small.
5) High temperatures are available at low pressure.
6) Super heating of steam is possible.
7) High conversion ratio.
8) The coolant sodium need not be pressurized.

167
Disadvantages:
1) Sodium reacts violently with water in the air.
2) Heat exchanger must be leak proof.
3) The problem of thermal stresses can not be maintained.
4) Intermediate system is necessary to prevent the reaction of sodium with water.
5) The leak of sodium is very dangerous as compared with other coolants.
6) It is necessary to shield the primary and secondary circuits with concrete blocks
as sodium is highly radioactive.

FAST BREEDER REACTOR

The fast breeder reactor derives its name from its ability to breed , that is to
create more fissionable material than it consumes. When U235 is fissioned it
produces additional heat and neutrons. If some U238 is kept in the reactor , part of
additional neutrons available , after reaction with U235 convert U238 in to fissionable
plutonium.
The general arrangements of the sodium fast breeder reactor is as shown in the
figure. In fast breeder reactor, enriched uranium or plutonium is kept in reactor
core without moderator. The vessel is surrounded by thick blanket of depleted
fertile uranium. The ejected excess neutrons are absorbed by the fertile blanket
and converts it in to fissile material. The heat produced in the reactor core is
carried by liquid metal sodium.

168
Advantages:
1) High breeding gain is possible.
2) High power density.
3) It has high boiling point.
4) It has low vapour pressure at most temperatures.
5) Absorption of neutrons is low.
6) High burn – up of fuel is achievable.
7) Small core is sufficient.
8) The moderator is not required.

Disadvantages:
1) Requires highly enriched fuel .
2) Neutron flux is high at the centre of the core.
3) The specific power of the reactor is low.
4) Handling of hot radioactive sodium is major problem.
5) Safety must be provided against the melt down.

Homogeneous graphite reactor and gas cooled reactor.(HGGCR)

In gas cooled reactors most commonly inert gases such as helium and carbon
dioxide are used as coolants and graphite as moderator . The graphite tubes fitted
with fuel rods or fuel tubes fitted in tubes or rods made up of graphite and fuel
mixed together are used. The gas is passed through the tubes and carry the heat
. The fuel used is either enriched uranium or natural uranium. Two types of
reactors are used .

a) Indirect circuit gas cooled reactor.

169
The arrangement of this type of reactor is as shown in the fig. The gas is passed
through the reactor to carry the heat generated by fission and the hot gas is
further used for generating the super heated steam. The Hinkley power station in
England is working on this principle.
Advantages:
1) Fuel processing is simple.
2) There is no need for limiting the fuel element temperature.
3) Graphite remains stable even at high temperatures under high intensity
radiation.
4) There is chances of explosion in the reactor due to the use of carbon dioxide as
the coolant.
5) There is no corrosion problem.
6) It gives better neutron economy.
Disadvantages:
1) Power density is too low. Therefore reactor vessel is very large.
2) The leakage of gas is the main problem.
3) The loading of the fuel is more elaborate and costly.
4) The coolant circulation absorbs as large as 10 to 20% of plant capacity where
as only 5% is required in water cooled reactor.
5) The critical mass is high.
6) The control is more complicated.

b) Direct circuit gas cooled reactor.

Direct gas cooled reactor is as shown in the fig. The high pressure , high
temperature gas coming out of the reactor is directly fed in to the gas turbine for
power generation. This is similar to the closed Brayton
Cycle except that heat required to heat the fluid is generated in the reactor instead
of in the combustion chamber.
Advantages:
1) Thermal efficiency is high.

170
2) The capital cost is low.
3) The reactor can be made more compact as high density gas can be used.
4) The use of gas turbine offers greater flexibility for selection of site

Disadvantages:
1) The system design is more complicated.
2) The components must be designed to bear higher stresses as high pressure
gases are used. This increases the capital cost of the plant.

Advantages of Nuclear power plants

1) Nuclear power plants need less space compared to other types of power
plants.
2) Better performance at higher load factors.
3)There is saving in cost of the fuel transportation.
4) The operation is more reliable.
5) Nuclear power plants operation is independent of the weather conditions.
6) Advantage is more with large size power plants.
7) The expenditure on metal structures piping , storage mechanisms is much
lower for a nuclear power plant than a coal burning power plant.
8) The nuclear power plants, besides producing large amount of power , produce
valuable fissile material which is produced when the fuel is renewed.

Disadvantages:
1) The capital cost is high.
2) The danger of nuclear radiations always persists in the nuclear plants.
3) The maintenance cost is high.
4) The disposal of fission products is major problem..
5) Working conditions in the power plants always detrimental to heath of workers.

Selection of site for Nuclear power plants:

1) Proximity to load.
2) Population distribution.
3) Land use.
4) Geology.
5) Hydrology
6) Seismology.
7) Safety

Radiation hazards.
Human beings are continuously exposed to radiation from cosmic rays and
various radioactive materials in the earth and air. Small amounts of radiation can

171
be tolerated but exposure to radiations above certain level is dangerous to health
and life.
Living tissues are affected in three different ways when exposed to radiations they
are
i) Ionization: The formation of ion – pair in tissue requires 32.5 MeV of energy.
About 3100 ion – pairs are formed when single 1MeV beta particle is stopped by
tissue. This absorption results in complete damage of tissues in the body man, or
beast or bird.
ii) Displacement: If the energy of the impinging particle is sufficiently high, an
atom in the tissue is displaced from its normal lattice position with possible
adverse effects.
iii) Absorption: Absorption of neutron by a tissue nucleus results in forming a
radioactive nucleus and change the chemical nature of the nucleus. This severe
alteration of the tissue causes malfunctioning of the cell and cell damage may
have severe biological disorders including genetic modifications.
Ultimate effect of all these hazards on human being is to damage the living cells
of body by ionization. The result of such damage may be immediate , effects like
burns, even death, or delayed effects like lukaemia , a anemia or cancer or may
be genetic giving hereditary effects.

Shielding:
The common nuclear radiation emitting from nuclear reactors are in theform of -
rays,neutrons,X-rays,-Rays and -Rays. The  and  radiations are absorbed in
a smaller thickness of the shielding.  radiations require higher thickness shielding
because of their higher high level of energy and frequency they can penetrate
more . Neutrons have high power of penetration and do not follow any defined
path through the shield materials. The shield should be designed to absorb or
reduce  and neutron radiations. The nuclear radiation if it is not prevented , it will
have very bad effects on the human life and biological plants. The desirable
properties of the good shielding materials are.
1) It must have ability to absorb more  radiation with minimum thickness.
2) It must be fire resistant.
3) The strength of the material should remain constant under the influence of
radiations.
4) It must have high density and it must contain light materials.
5) Density of the material must remain constant.
The use of best neutron absorber shield is beneficial. The combination of light and
heavy elements in the shield is best , the use of laminated construction or the use
of iron concrete. The latter consists of iron mixed in barytes concrete, or
alternatively limonite is used partially to replace barytes in the mix.
Example for shielding materials include Water, Iron, cement and concrete,
Tantalum, Lead, Bismuth and Boron.

172
Nuclear waste disposal
Used fuel in a nuclear power plant is highly radioactive and can contaminate air
or water and if absorbed by a living organisms, it can cause biological damage.
Disposal of radioactive waste is therefore a problem which requires consideration
right from the planning stage.
The nuclear wastes from the reactor are classified as i) High level waste( above
1000 Curie) ii) Medium level waste (100 to 1000 Curie) iii) Low level waste (
below 100 Curie).
The spent fuel is withdrawn from the reactor and placed in a water pond where
heat is removed. The pond water is treated to remove radiations. The spent fuel is
then transferred to the processing plant where cladding that contains the fuel is
removed and the fuel is dissolved in the nitric acid. The U235 (20 to 90% ) and
Pu239 are then removed leaving the solution the solution known as highly active
liquid waste. The separated U235 and Pu239 are further purified and either stored
for future use or fabricated in to fresh fuel for reactor.
The waste from the cooling fond is the transferred to intermediate storage and
kept there for a period of about 30 to 100 years where most of radioactive nature
is reduced to a considerably low level. Then waste is permanently shifted to the
final storage . Various methods used for the disposal of radioactive waste are
given below.
a) Storage in tanks on site. Solid and liquid wastes are stored in concrete or
stainless steel tanks at site . During storage period the radioactivity decays and
then the waste is disposed of either in the sea or buried under the ground.
b) Dilution: Disposal of liquids after dilution to safe limits, in the rivers or sea is
also done. Gases are also left off in air after dilution. Before disposal in the
dilutent the radioactivity of the gas or liquid being discharged is reduced to
acceptable levels.
c) Sealed containers: Radioactive liquid and solid wastes are put in sealed
containers which prevent the radioactive contamination . These sealed containers
are then disposed of at sea where they are quickly and completely covered with
mud in the bottom.
d) Underground burial. Another alternative is the burial of wastes direct in the
ground . How ever burial ground must be isolated from the public and water must
not be able to seep through as it may cause radioactive contamination of drinking
water supplies.

173
Nuclear power plants in India:
1. Tarapur power plant: Located in Maharastra , has a capacity of 380 MW with
the steam pressure and temperature of 35 bar and 2400C.
2.Rana Pratap Sagar power plant: Located near Kota in Rajasthan, has a
capacity of 400 MW with steam pressure and temperature of 40 bar and 2500C.
3. Kalpakkam power plant: Located near Chennai in Tamilnadu, has a capacity
of 470 MW.
4. Narora power plant : located near narora in UP , with , a capacity of 470 MW
, steam pressure temperature of 40 bar and 2500C.
5. Kakrapar atomic power plant : Located near the Surat in Gujarat with a
capacity of 470 MW, steam pressure temperature of 40 bar and 2500C.
6. Kaiga atomic power plant: Kaiga situated near Karwar in Karnataka. With a
capacity of 440 MW , steam pressure temperature of 40 bar and 2500C.

174
 ADDITIONAL ENERGY SOURCES

Fuel cells:
A cell or combination of cells capable of generating an electric current by
converting the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electrical energy. It consists
od positive and negative electrodes with an electrolyte between them. Fuel in
suitable form is supplied to the negative electrode and oxygen, often from air, to
the positive electrode. When the cell operates , the fuel is oxidized and the
chemical reaction provides the energy that is converted in to electricity . The fuel
cells differ from conventional electric cells in the respect that the active material
are not contained within the cell but are supplied from outside. The most
commonly used fuel cell is Hydrogen oxygen fuel cell. The main types of the fuel
cells are 1) Hydrogen(H2) fuel cell.
2) Hydrazine (N2H4) fuel cell
3) Hydrocarbon fuel cell .
4) Alcohol ( Methanol) fuel cell.
Main uses of fuel cells are in powder production, automobile vehicles and in
special military use.

1) Hydrogen oxygen fuel cell

The main components of a fuel cell are i) A fuel electrode (Anode). ii) An oxidant
or air electrode (Cathode), and iii) an electrolyte. Hydrogen is supplied on to the
negative electrode whereas oxygen is supplied to the positive electrode. Solid
electrical conductors acts as current collector and provide terminal at each
electrode. Porous nickel and carbon electrodes are generally used in fuel cells. In
between positive and negative electrodes an aqueous solution of an alkali or acid

175
is used. The porous electrode has large number of sites, where the gas,
electrolyte and electrode are in contact. The reactions are very slow in order to
accelerate the reactions finely divided platinum or platinum like metal deposited
on or incorporated with porous electrode. The operating temperature of the fuel
cell is less than 2000C.Electric current is drawn from the cell in the usual manner
by connecting a load between the electrode terminals.
At the negative electrode , hydrogen gas is converted in to hydrogen ions and an
equivalent number of electrons thus
H2 2H+ + 2 e-
The catalyst on this electrode enables the hydrogen molecules to be absorbed ,
which reacts with the hydroxyl ions (OH-) in the electrolyte to form water. When
the cell is operating and producing current , the electrons flow through the
external load to the positive electrode. Here they react with the oxygen (O2) and
water (H2O) from the electrolyte to form negatively charged hydroxyl (OH-) ions;
thus
1/2O2 + H2O + 2e- 2 OH-
The hydrogen and hydroxyl ions then combine in the electrolyte to produce water.
H+ + OH H2O
The electrolyte most commonly used is 40% KOH solution because of its high
electrical conductivity and it is less corrosive than acids. This shows that hydroxyl
ions produced at one electrode are involved in the reaction at the other. Also
electrons are absorbed from oxygen electrode and released to the hydrogen
electrode . When the cell is operating the overall process is the chemical
combination of hydrogen and oxygen to form water that is
H2 + 1/2O2 H2O
The oxygen and hydrogen are converted to water, which is the waste product of
the cell.
If the electrodes are on open circuit, the hydrogen electrode accumulates a
surface layer of negative charges. These attract potassium ions, K + , of the
electrolyte, providing an electrical double layer. Similarly the loss of electrons from
oxygen electrode results in a layer of positive charges, which in turn attracts
hydroxyl ions, OH- , from the electrolyte.

If the circuit is closed, the electron can now leave the electrodes pass through the
connecting circuit to the oxygen electrodes, and take part in the reaction of

176
equation above. In this way useful electrical current is directly obtained from the
hydrogen to the oxygen electrode.

Hydrogen fuel cells are of two types

1) Low temperature cell: The electrolyte operating temperature is 900C, and it
is pressurized up to 4 atmospheres.
2) High pressure cell: The operating pressure is about 45 atmospheres and
temperature is upto 3000C
It is possible to create useful potential of 100 to 1000 volts and power levels of 1
KW to 100 MW nearly by connecting a number of cells.

Fossil fuel cells

The fossil fuel cells are near future of modified hydrogen – oxygen cell, in which a
gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon is the source of hydrogen . In this cell , coal serve
as the primary energy source. The cells based of fuels have three main
components.
1) The fuel processor which converts the fossil fuel into a hydrogen – rich gas.
2) The power section consisting of the actual fuel cell and
3) The inverter for changing the DC generated by fuel cell into AC .

177
 AIR

FOSSIL FUEL FUEL HYDROGEN DC AC

POWER SELECTION INVERTER
PROCESSOR

STEAM

MAIN COMPONENTS OF FUEL CELL SYSTEM

The most highly developed fossil fuel cells are phosphoric acid cells, molten
carbonate cells, solid electrolyte cell. The phosphoric acid cell utilizes
concentrated aqueous solution of phosphoric acid as the electrolyte. The primary
fuel is the light hydrocarbon, such as natural gas or Naptha. The operating
temperature is 150 to 2000C and discharge voltage is 0.7 to 0.8 Volts.

i) Molten carbonate cell – High temperature fuel cells.

These are high temperature fuel cells with a molten carbonate ( Na, K, Li
carbonates) as electrolytes. A special feature of these cells is that, during
operation, they can oxidize carbon monoxide in to carbon dioxide as well as
hydrogen to water. Hence gaseous mixture of hydrogen and CO, which are
relatively inexpensive to manufacture, can be used in the cell. The common
electrolyte in the high temperature fuel

cells under development in a molten mixture of alkali metals carbonate at

temperature of 600 – 700 o C. The mixture of H2 and CO is supplied is supplied
to the negative electrode and O2 to the positive electrode. The discharge emf of
cell is about 0.8 Volts. The electrolyte held in a sponge like ceramic matrix.
Metallic electrodes are placed in direct contact with solid electrolyte . Hydrocarbon
fuel such as methane or kerosene is used. The fuel is reacted inside the cell to

178
produce H2 and CO . At the fuel electrode , H2 and CO react with CO 3 ions in
electrolyte, releasing electrons to electrode and forming H2) and CO2 as shown in
the fig.
The reactions as follows
At the fuel electrodes
H2 + CO3 -- = H20 + CO2 + 2e
CO + CO3-- = 2CO2 + 2e
At the oxygen electrode
O2 + 2CO2 + 4e = 2CO3--
The overall cell reactions in the cell
H2 + CO + O2 = H2O + CO2
The discharged gases consists mainly steam and carbon dioxide products and
nitrogen from the air. The hot gases could be used to industrial heat , operate gas
turbines , to produce steam in waste heat boiler to drive the steam turbine.

ii)Solid oxide electrolyte cells:

Ceramic solid, ceramic oxides are able to conduct electricity at high temperatures
and can serve as electrolytes for fuel cells. These cells could utilize the dame
fossil fuels as the molten carbonate cells. The processing operation is same as
the carbonate cells. The possible electrolyte is zirconium dioxide containing small
amount of another oxide to stabilize the crystal structure. The electrode material
might be porous nickel and the operating temperature in the range of 600 –
1000oC .

iii) Aluminum oxygen (Air cell)

This is unusual in the respect that the metal aluminum is effectively the fuel which
is consumed during operation and replaced as required. Aluminum forms the
negative electrode of the cell and oxygen (from the air ) is the positive electrode;
the electrolyte is an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. The chemical reaction
is

Al (-) + ¾ O2 (air) (+) + ¾ 4H2O = Al ( OH)3

Aluminum, oxygen( from air) and water ( from electrolyte) combine to form
aluminum hydroxide ( Al (OH3)). The aluminum (Negative) electrode are made up
of the metal containing a small amount of gallium, and the air (Positive) electrode
are carbon coated with an chemical catalyst , possibly silver. Before entering
battery, the air is scrubbed to remove CO2. The operating temperature of the
battery is about 50 to 60oC .

179
Ion exchange membrane cell ( Low temp cell)

The basic design of the cell consists of a solid electrolyte non- exchange
membrane, electro catalysts and gas feed tubes as shown in the fig. In this cell,
the electrolyte is solid electrolyte in the form of ion exchange membrane . The
membrane is non permeable to the reactant gases, hydrogen, and oxygen, which
thus prevents them from coming into contact.
The two electrodes , which consists of the electro catalyst and a plastic material
in the form of wire metallic screens. They are bonded on either side of the
electrolyte layer . The hydrogen compartment of the cell is enclosed . The
hydrogen gas enters the compartment through a small inlet and circulates through
out the collectors and distributes itself evenly over the electrode. On opposite
side, oxygen or air enters the compartment , an oxygen side, the current
collectors hold wicks which absorb water. The ion exchange membrane
electrolyte is acidic in nature . The current carrier in solution is hydrogen ions.
The hydrogen ions produced by reaction at anode
2H2 = 4H+ + 4e-
These electrons are transferred to cathode through the electrolyte and reach the
cathode via the external circuit.
The oxygen ions at cathode
O2 + 4H+ + 4e- = 2H2O
Thus
Overall cell reactions
2H2 + O2 = 2H20
This cell operates about 40-60oC. The thermodynamic reversible potential for the
reaction is 1.23 volts at 25oC.

Regenerative fuel cells .

A regenerative fuel cell is one in which the fuel cell product is recovered in to its
reactants by one of several possible methods – thermal , chemical ,

180
photochemical , electrical or radio chemical. Since there are two stage in the
regenerative fuel cell.
1) Conversion of fuel cell reactants into products while producing electrical energy
and
2) Reconversion of fuel cell products into reactants , it is clear that the overall
efficiency of a regenerative fuel cell is the product of the efficiencies of these two
stages .
One best example for the regenerative cells is the photochemical regenerative
fuel cell.

In this method the products of the fuel cell reaction are transformed into its
reactants by light. The sequence of the reactions which are taken place in this fuel
cell can be represented as follows.
Electrochemical : A + B = AB + Electricity
Photochemical : AB + light = A + B
Overall : Light + electricity
The nitric =oxide chlorine fuel cell , in which the overall reaction is
2NO + Cl2 = 2NOCl
The product nitosyl chloride is decomposed photochemically to chlorine and
nitrous oxide. The system is schematically represented in fig. The cell has
reversible potential of 0.21 Volt the reactants may be regretted from NOCl , in the
liquid phase by light. In the gas phase regeneration is easier although there sis
some problem of separating the NO and Cl2.

Advantages of fuel cells:

1) Conversion efficiencies are very high.

181
 2) Require little attention and less maintenance.
3) Can be installed near the use point, thus reducing electrical transmission
requirements and accompanying losses.
4) \Fuel cells does not make any noise.
5) A little time is needed to go into operation.
6) Space requirement considerably less in comparison to conventional power
plants.
Disadvantages:
1) High initial COST.
2) Low service life.
Applications of fuel cells:
1) Domestic use.
2) Automotive vehicles.
3) Central power stations .
4) Special applications.

Magneto hydro dynamic power generation.

Introduction:
MHD power generation is a is a new system of electric power generation which
is said to be of high efficient and low pollution. Magneto – Hydro dynamic is
concerned with the flow of conducting fluid in the presence of magnetic and
electric field. The fluid may be gas at elevated temperature or liquid metal like
sodium and potassium. A MHD generator is device used for converting energy of
a fuel directly into electrical energy without a conventional electric generator. In
advanced counties MHD generators are widely used but in developing countries
like India it is still under construction. MHD construction work is in progress at
Trichi in Tamilnadu , BHEL, associated cement corporation .

Working principle:

The principle of working of MHD is based on the Faraday’s laws of electro

magnetic induction which states that “ a changing magnetic field induces an

182
electric field in any conductor located in it”. MHD generator arrangement is as
illustrated in fig provides d.c power directly.
As in the case of conventional generator conductor crosses the lines of the
magnetic field and a voltage is induced. Similarly , in a magneto hydrodynamic
field a voltage is induced. The ionized gas acts like an electrical conductor. The
gas used may have a temperature between 2000 to 3000 K. In MHD generator
gaseous conductor (ionized gas ) is used. If this gas is passed at high velocity
through a power full magnetic field, a current is generated and can be extracted
by placing electrodes in a suitable position in the stream. The direct conversion of
kinetic energy into electrical energy by the flow of an electrically conducting fluid,
through a stationary magnetic field. If the flow direction is at right angles to the
magnetic field direction, an electromotive force (or electric voltage) is induced in
the direction at right angles to both flow and field directions as depicted in the fig .
This is the basic principle of MHD conversion.

MHD generator:
A schematic of MHD generator is as shown in the fig.

The conducting flow fluid is forced between the plates with a kinetic energy and
pressure differential sufficient to overcome magnetic induction force Find. An
ionized gas is employed as the conducting fluid. Ionisation is produced either by
thermal means i.e. by an elevated temperature or by seeding with substance like
cesium or potassium vapours which ionize at relatively low temperatures. The
presence of the negatively charged electrons in the seeding material makes the
carrier gas an electrical conductor. The other way is to incorporate a liquid metal
in to a flowing carrier gas . Since the metal is a good electrical conductor , the
gas metal mixture can be used as the working fluid in an MHD generator. In the
overall power cycle , the MHD generator takes the place of a turbine in a
conventional vapour or gas turbine cycle. Still , a compressor must be used to

183
elevate the pressure, heat is added at high pressure and the flow is accelerated
before entering the converter. The MHD power cycle with T- S diagram is as
shown below.

Classification of MHD systems:

The MHD systems are broadly classified as
1) Open cycle systems.
2) Closed cycle systems.
i) Seeded inert gas system.
ii) Liquid metal systems.

1) Open cycle systems

The following fig shows an open cycle MHD system. Here the fuel (Such as oil ,
coal , natural gas) is burnt in the combustion chamber, air required for combustion
is supplied from air preheater. The hot gases produced by the combustion
chamber are then seeded with a small amount of an ionized alkali metal ( Cesium
or potassium) to increase the electrical conductivity of the gas.

The ionisati0on of potassium takes place due to the gases produced at

temperature of about 2300 – 2700 degree centigrade by combustion. The hot
pressurized working fluid so p[produced leaves the combustion chamber and
passes through a convergent divergent nozzle. The gases coming out of the
nozzle at high velocity then enter the MHD generator. The expansion of the hot
gases takes place in the generator surrounded by powerful magnets. The MHD
generator produces direct current. By using an inverter this direct current can be
converted into alternating current.

184
2) Closed cycle systems: (Liquid metal )

A liquid metal closed cycle system is shown in fig . A liquid metal ( Potassium) is
used as working fluid in this system The liquid potassium after being heated in the
breeder reactor is passed through the nozzle where its velocity increased. The
vapour formed due to nozzle action are separated in the separator and
condensed and then pumped back to the reactor as shown in fig. Then the liquid
metal with high velocity is passed through MHD generator to produce D.C power.
The liquid potassium coming out of MHD generator is passed through the heat
exchanger to use its remaining heat to run a turbine and then pumped back to the
reactor.

2) Closed cycle systems: (Seeded inert gas )

185
In closed cycle system carrier gas (argon / helium) operates in a form of Braytoin
cycle. The coal is gasified and the gas is burnt in the combustion chamber to
provide heat. In the primary heat exchanger this heat is transferred to the carrier
gas argon / helium (working fluid)of the MHD cycle. The combustion products
after passing through the air preheater and air purifier are discharged to
atmosphere. As the combustion system is separated from the working fluid there
is no problem of seed recovery. The hot argon gas is seeded with cesium and
resulting working fluid is passed through the MHD generator at high speeds. The
d.c. power out put of the generator is converted in to A.C by the inverter and is
then fed into the grid. The hot fluid from MHD enters secondary heat exchanger,
which serves as the waste heat boiler to generate steam. This steam is partly
utilized to drive a turbine generator and for driving a turbine which runs the
argon compressor . The out put is also fed to the main grid. The working fluid is
returned back to primary heat exchanger after passing through compressor and
intercooler. A closed cycle system operates at lower temperature compared to
open cycle system.

Advantages of MHD systems:

1) More reliable since there are no moving parts.
2) In MHD system the efficiency can be about 50% as compared to less than
40% fro most efficient steam turbine plants.
3) Power produced is free from pollution.
4) As soon as it is started it can reach the full power level.
5) The size of the plant is considerably smaller than conventional fossil fuel
plants.
6) Less overall operational cost.
7) The capital cost of MHD plants is comparable to those of conventional
system plants.
8) Better utilization of fuel.
9) Suitable for peak power generation and emergency service.
10) Large amount can be generated.
Disadvantages:
1) The MHD systems suffer from the reverse flow of electrons through the
conducting fluids around the ends of the magnetic field.
2) There will be a high friction losses and heat transfer losses.
3) The resistivity of the gas near the electrodes is very high.
4) MHD system needs very large magnets and this is a major expense.
5) Coal, when used as fuel , poses the problem of molten ash which may
short circuit the electrodes.

186
Thermoelectric power conversion
The basis for this method of power generation is seeback effect that a loop of two
dissimilar metals developed an e.m.f. when the two junctions are kept at different
temperatures. This effect has long been used in thermocouples to measure
temperatures. This phenomenon offers one method of producing electrical energy
directly from the heat of combustion, but its thermal efficiency is very low, of the
order 1 to 3 percent. Efficiency of thermoelectric generator depends upon the
temperatures of hot and cold junctions in any heat engine. Where fuels are very
cheap, the device based on thermoelectric power can generate power for stand
by or even base load plants.

Basic principle of thermoelectric power conversion:

Thermo electric generator is a device which converts heat energy into electrical
energy through semiconductor or conductor. The direct conversion of heat energy
into electrical energy is based on the Seeback Thermo electric effect. Consider
two dissimilar materials joined together in the form of a loop so that there are two
junctions. Such a system is shown in the figure. If a temperature difference is
maintained between these two junctions, an electric current will flow round the
loop.

The magnitude of the current will depend on both the materials used and the
temperature difference of the junction (T = T2 –T1). If the circuit is broken an
open circuit voltage V appers across the terminals of the break. The thermo emf ,
V produced by the device is given by

V = S1-2 T (1)
Where S1-2 is the Seeback coefficient. For larger temperature difference the
above equation can be written in more accurate form as

187
 T2
V = S1-2 dT (2)
T1

Seeback coefficient is the temperature coefficient of thermo emf or the rate of

change of thermo – emf with temperature.

S1-2 = Lt V / T = dV / dT (3)
T 0

Depending on the choice of the materials , the drop in the potential may be either
positive or negative in the direction of the drop of the temperature. The sign as
well as magnitude of the Seeback coefficient is significant. Seeback effect arise
because the concentration of the charge carriers in a conductor depends upon the
temperature. The presence of a temperature gradient in material causes a carrier
concentration gradient and an electric field is established, which causes the net
flow of charge carriers under open circuittions to be zero.The Seeback effect has
been used for great many years in the thermocouple, which is used in the
measurement of temperature.

Thermoelectric power generator:

The simple arrangement for utilizing the Seeback effect is shown in fig.

The thermocouple material A and B are joined at the hot end, but the other ends
are kept cold; an electric voltage is generated between the cold ends. A direct
current will flow in a circuit or load connected between these ends. For a given
thermocouple, the voltage and electric power output are increased by increasing
the temperature difference the hot and cold ends. In a practical thermoelectric
converter, several couples are connected in series to increase both voltage and
power.

188
If voltage is not sufficient to operate any device or equipment, it can be increased
with the help of inverter transformer combination.

Thermoelectric converter is a form of heat engine. Heat is taken up at an upper

temperature and part is converted into electrical energy; the remainder is
discharged at a lower temperature .The thermal efficiency of the thermoelectric
converter mainly depends on the temperature of hot junction. Thermoelectric
power generators have been built with power outputs ranging from a few watts to
kilowatts. The source of heat is immaterial and hence it can be used in areas
outside the regular electric power distribution system. An important application is
the use of radioactive decay heat to generate power in space and other remote
locations.

Thermoionic conversion

Another method of conversion of heat energy directly into electric energy is

thermoionic conversion. It utilizes the thermoionic emission effect i.e., the
emission of electrons from heated metal surfaces. The energy required to extract

189
electron from the metal is known as the work function of the metal. In principle ,
thermoionic consists of two metals with different work functions sealed into an
evacuated vessel. Electrode with large work function is maintained at a higher
temperature than one with the smaller
work function .

The vessel or container is filled with ionized cesium vapour. Heating one
electrode, electrons are emitted, that travel to the opposite, colder electrode. The
hotter electrode emits electrons and so acquires a positive charge, where as the
colder electrode collects the electrons and becomes negatively charged. A
voltage thus develops, between the two electrodes and a direct current will flow in
an external circuit connecting them. The size of the converter is limited and this is
suitable only for small scale power production.
A thermoionic converter is a form of heat engine, in principle, heat is taken in at
the upper temperature, part is converted into electrical energy, and the remainder
is discharged at the lower temperature. The thermoionic converter will continue to
generate electric power as long as heat is supplied to the emitter and a
temperature difference is maintained between it and the collector.
The efficiency of 10 percent can be achieved by maintaining hot electrode at
1000oC and cesium in the vessel. Higher efficiencies , possibly upto 40 percent
can be obtained by operating at still higher temperatures. Heat sources such as
fossil or nuclear or solar can be used in a thermoionic generator.

190