Results of the Two-Phase Turbine Tests at a Heating Boiler House

Abstract

Achieving more efficient use of low-grade heat in the industry and national economy is among pressing problems. For generating electricity from low-grade heat in a single-loop thermal cycle circuit, it is possible to apply a full-flow two-phase turbine (TPT). By applying this system, it is possible to generate electricity from the energy of water at a temperature of 110‒150°С. Such thermal cycle circuit can be implemented using the heating boiler house’s delivery water; in doing so, the heat of water spent in a TPT will be returned into the boiler house cycle. The article describes the TPT design. The TPT impeller equipped with four Laval nozzles is installed in an overhung manner on the rotor axis equipped with two bearing supports. Working water is fed through a sealing assembly to the impeller center and flows via radial channels to the Laval nozzles. The reaction force moving the rotor is produced as superheated working water flows out into the TPT casing vacuum cavity. The article presents the technical characteristics and test data of a 20 kW two-phase turbine unit under the operating conditions of a running heating boiler house. The experimental setup installed in an operating heating boiler house is described, and the results of testing the pilot commercial specimen of a TPT-20 two-phase turbine are given.