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Enhancement of Thermo-Flow Performances by Windbreakers for Two-Tower Indirect Dry Cooling System

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Abstract

The winds will greatly weaken the cooling performance of indirect dry cooling system with twin towers. The exterior windbreakers are recommended to restrain the wind adverse effects in this paper. The macro heat exchanger model was adopted to simulate the heat exchange between circulating water and ambient air. The performances of natural draft dry cooling system (NDDCS) with and without exterior windbreakers were numerically studied. The pressure, velocity and temperature distribution of cooling air in wind angles of 0°, 45° and 90° was obtained and presented. The results show that in all wind directions, the performances for lateral sector of towers with windbreakers are significantly improved, but the low-pressure zone appears unexpectedly for the rear sectors, which reduces the air flow rate. The cooling performances of the twin towers with or without windbreakers decrease at first but then recover with the wind velocity increasing. Besides, the optimal flow and heat transfer performances appear in the wind angle of 0°. The cooling performances can be significantly improved in all three wind directions due to windbreaker configuration.

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Abbreviations

A :

heat transfer surface area/m2

c p :

specific heat/J·kg−1·K−1

D :

diameter/m

e :

exponent of the wind speed in the power-law equation

H :

height/m

K :

overall heat transfer coefficient/W·m−2·K−1

k :

turbulent kinetic energy/m2·s−2

L :

length/m

m :

mass flow rate/kg·s−1

NTU :

number of transfer unit

p :

pressure/Pa

Q :

heat rejection/W

Re :

Reynolds number

r :

polynomial factor

S ϕ :

source term

t :

temperature/°C

u j :

component of velocity/m·s−1

u w :

wind speed/m·s−1

u z :

ascending velocity inside the tower/m·s−1

V :

volume/m3

x j :

Cartesian coordinate/m

z :

height above the ground/m

Γ :

diffusion coefficient/kg·m−1·s−1

ε :

effectiveness of heat exchanger

λ :

turbulence dissipation rate/m2·s−3

ρ :

density/kg·m−3

ϕ :

scalar variable

a:

air

b:

base

i:

inlet

o:

outlet

t:

tower

tt:

throat of tower

wa:

water

wd:

wind

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Acknowledgement

The financial supports for this research, from the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2015CB251503), and Central University Fundation of China (Grant No. JB2018130), are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Jingbo Yan, Weijia Wang, Lei Chen, Lijun Yang & Xiaoze Du

Authors
  1. Jingbo Yan
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  2. Weijia Wang
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  3. Lei Chen
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  4. Lijun Yang
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  5. Xiaoze Du
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Correspondence to Lijun Yang.

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Yan, J., Wang, W., Chen, L. et al. Enhancement of Thermo-Flow Performances by Windbreakers for Two-Tower Indirect Dry Cooling System. J. Therm. Sci. 29, 676–686 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-020-1294-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-020-1294-2

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