A theoretical and experimental investigation into the thermodynamic performance of a 50 MW power plant with a novel modular air-cooled condenser

Economic and environmental restrictions have resulted in an increase in the installation of air-cooled condensers (ACCs) in thermoelectric power plants located in arid regions. The traditional A-frame design is installed most frequently, despite an array of empirical evidence that shows it to suffer from significant inefficiencies. As a result, there is scope for improvement in condenser design and this paper presents one such approach – a novel modular air-cooled condenser (MACC). It is suggested that the unique ability of the MACC to continually vary fan speed could result in efficiency gains over a plant operating with existing state-of-the-art fixed speed ACCs. To determine the impact of installing the MACC on plant output, the steam-side characteristics were established through a series of experimental measurements taken on a full-scale prototype. The experimental arrangement and measurement technique ensured that conditions representative of an operational ACC were maintained throughout. The steam-side characteristics are quantified in terms of temperature, pressure and thermal resistance. Predicted values of these quantities are also presented, calculated from established theory. Both the measurements and predictions were used in a thermodynamic analysis to determine the performance of a 50 MW power plant. Results show that, for a given steam flow rate, increasing fan speed leads to a reduction in condenser pressure which ultimately, results in increased plant output. This occurs up until a certain point, at which further increases in output are offset by larger fan power consumption rates. Thus, an optimum operating point is shown to exist. The results from the thermodynamic analysis demonstrate discrepancies between the plant output evaluated from the measurements and that predicted from theory. In some cases, a difference as large as 1.5% was observed, equating to a 0.8 MW over-prediction by the theory. •A novel modular air-cooled condenser design and experimental set-up is presented.•Measurements which quantify the operational characteristics in terms of condenser temperature and pressure are presented.•Novel effectiveness-NTU model is presented to predict condenser conditions.•Steam-side thermal resistance values are quantified from measurements.•A thermodynamic plant analysis based on a 50 MW steam turbine is presented.