Design, construction and commissioning of a new vortex cooling tower prototype for nuclear application

Abstract

Cooling a nuclear power plant using cooling towers requires a substantial amount of water. To minimize water consumption in the cooling process, this work proposes the use of vortex generation technology in a nuclear application by combining a cooling tower with a vortex motor. It could be a promising future solution for mass production of clean and low cost energy. Therefore, the current research focuses on the construction and commissioning of a new laboratory-scale Vortex Tower Prototype to evaluate the feasibility of this technology for nuclear applications. The prototype is placed in an open area, free from obstacles, to allow air to flow through eight openings. It generates air circulation using natural convection (due to density differences), Coriolis and chimney effects. The vortex is artificially created by eight curved vanes installed in the prototype’ lower part, initiating a rotational movement of the air as it is drawn into the convergence chamber and directed toward the tower stack. The heat source consists of a cylindrical tank heated by electric resistors to mimic the residual heat of a nuclear plant. During five tests, temperatures, air velocity, humidity, and pressures are measured and recorded at various locations using multiple sensors. Generated power and thermal exchanged power are also presented. All sensor data is collected through a network-based system and a data acquisition card. Additionally, smoke is introduced at the prototype inlet to visualize the vortex behavior generated at the stack outlet. The results from the numerous tests conducted during the tower commissioning phase clearly demonstrate the tower model’s capability to generate swirling ascending air, with the curved vanes having a significant impact on vortex production and flow acceleration within the stack. The results analysis also reveals that the flow velocity field is significant at the convergence chamber outlet and the stack inlet, with maximum velocities recorded across different tests reaching 2.7 m/s, 7.8 m/s, 8 m/s, 2.62 m/s, and 4.65 m/s, respectively. This indicates that this location is optimal for installing a turbine. Moreover, this configuration generates electrical energy with the following maximum power output and average exchanged power : 4.4 W and 2167.50 W for the first test, 76.08 W and 2336.43 W for the second, 73.09 W and 1977.58 W for the third, 2.82 W and 2081.43 W for the fourth, and 15.67 W and 1835.88 W for final test. Furthermore, it is observed that both the heat source and climate significantly affect the system’s performance. The temperature differences between the ambient temperature and the stack inlet produced by the hot source were 5.02 °C, 9.76 °C, 5.88 °C, 5.59 °C, and 8.61 °C for the respective tests. Consequently, the vortex energy generator could be a promising technology for environmental and water conservation, as well as for power generation.