PERFORMANCE STUDY OF GENERATOR AIR COOLERS FOR THE HYDRO-POWER PLANT AT ASWAN HIGH DAM | ||
| JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences | ||
| Article 15, Volume 41, No 3, May and June 2013, Pages 1054-1077 PDF (743.78 K) | ||
| Document Type: Research Paper | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jesaun.2013.114781 | ||
| Authors | ||
| A. Kahoul1; H. M. Shafey* 2; A. K. Abdel-Rahman2 | ||
| 1Hydro-Power Generation Company, Aswan, Egypt | ||
| 2Mechanical Eng. Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This paper presents a comparative experimental study on the performance characteristics of the circulating air coolers for the generators of the hydro-power plant of the High Dam in Aswan. The study considers two different air-water cooler designs of cross flow finned tubes heat exchangers working under varying operating conditions. The circulating air temperatures and the cooling water pressures for twelve coolers in each of the twelve units of the hydro-power plant were measured and analyzed to obtain useful results describing the cooler performance. The experimental results are based on measurements over total time duration of 1008 operating hours covering 42 summer days. The results are discussed to investigate the effects of time variation of the generated power, and the locations of the coolers and the power units on the performance of both cooler designs. The results of the actual fouling factor indicate that both coolers were designed with excess surface area to work well for long periods. The agreement of the experimental results with the commonly used effectiveness empirical relation indicates the proper performance of the working coolers. On the other hand, the discussion of the results showed the malfunction of some coolers due to the blockage of their damaged tubes. The overall performance of the air coolers in most power units of the plant maintains good flow behaviour of the hot air and uniformity of its temperature at levels sufficiently below the normal design temperature range for the generators of most power units. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Hydro-power generators; Air-water coolers; Cross flow heat exchangers; Performance characteristics; and Fouling factor | ||
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