DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.7.1.77-84

Improving the Efficiency of a Nuclear Power Plant Using a Thermoelectric Cogeneration System

1Turkish Atomic Energy Authority, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey

2Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Gazi, Teknikokullar, Ankara, Turkey

Published: 18 Feb 2018.
Editor(s):

Citation Format:
Abstract

The efficiencies of nuclear power plants are rather poor having the ratio %30 by using the conventional energy/exergy tools. According to that information, large amount of energy is wasted during condensation and thrown out to the environment. Thermoelectric generator (TEG) system has a potential to be used as a heat exchanging technology to produce power with a relatively low efficiency (about 5%) and it can transform the temperature difference into electricity and generate clean electrical energy. In the present study, we offer a novel system to recover the waste heat from a VVER-1000 nuclear power plant. The heat transfer of the TEG is analyzed numerically with respect to the various temperature ranges and constant mass flow rate of the exhaust steam entering the system. In the analyses, different hot temperature ranges (35ºC, 45ºC and 55ºC) and a constant cold temperature (i.e. 18ºC) are used for a HZ-20 thermoelectric module and it has been proven that the designed TEG can produce the maximum output power of 76,956 MW for a temperature difference ∆T=37 and the conversion efficiency of 3.854% sits. The TEG is designed for the condenser of a 1000 MW nuclear power plant. It's shown that about 2.0% increasing in the power plant efficiency is expected by using the selected thermoelectric generator in the condensation cycle.

Article History: Received: July 15th 2017; Received:  October 17th 2017; Accepted: February 13rd 2018; Available online

How to Cite This Article: Terzi, R. and Kurt, E. (2018), Improving the efficiency of a nuclear power plant using a thermoelectric cogeneration system, Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 7(1), 77-84.

https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.7.1.77-84

Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: Thermoelectric; cogeneration; nuclear power plant; efficiency

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Original Research Article
Recent articles
Modeling and PSO optimization of Humidifier-Dehumidifier desalination Scale up sediment microbial fuel cell for powering Led lighting 2D Numerical Simulation and Sensitive Analysis of H-Darrieus Wind Turbine More recent articles
  1. Bianchini, A., Pellegrini, M. and Saccani, C. (2014). Thermoelectric Cells Cogeneration from Biomass Power Plant. Energy Procedia 45, 268 – 277
  2. Gabbar, H.A., Stoute, C.A.B., Steele, D., Simkin, C., Sleeman, T., Newell, D., Paterson, D., Boafo, E. (2017).Evaluation and optimization of thermoelectric generator network for waste heat utilization in nuclear power plants and non-nuclear energy applications. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 101, 454–464
  3. Gou, X., Xiau, H. and Yang, S. (2010). Modeling, Experimental Study and Optimization on Low temperature Waste Heat Thermoelectric Generator System. Applied Energy, 87(10), 3131-3136
  4. Hendricks, T. and Choate, W.,T. (2006). Engineering Scoping Study of Thermoelectric Generator Systems for Industrial Waste Heat Recovery, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, BCS, Incorporated, November 2006
  5. http://hi-z.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Data-Sheet-HZ-20.pdf
  6. http://www.thermoelectrics.caltech.edu/thermoelectrics/index.html
  7. Ismail, B.I. and Ahmed, W.H. (2009). Thermoelectric Power Generation using Waste-Heat Energy as an Alternative Green Technology. Recent Patents on Electrical Engineering, 2, 27– 39
  8. Khamis, I., Koshy, T. and Kavvadias, K.C. (2013). Opportunity for Cogeneration in Nuclear Power Plants” Advances in Nano, Biomechanics, Robotics and Energy Research (ANBRE13), Seoul, Korea, August 25-28, 2013
  9. Kyono, T., Suzuki, R.,O. and Ono, K. (2003). Conversion of Unused Heat Energy to Electricity by Means of Thermoelectric Generation in Condenser. IEEE Transactions On Energy Conversion, 18(2), 330-334
  10. Riffat, S.B. and Ma, X. (2003). Thermoelectrics: a Review of Present and Potential Applications. Applied Thermal Engineering, 23(8), 913–935
  11. Rowe D. M, Min, G. (1996). Evaluation of Thermoelectric Modules for Power Generation. J Power Sources, 73,193-8
  12. Rowe, D.M., (2006). Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery as a Renewable Energy Source. International Journal of Innovations in Energy Systems and Power, 1(1), 13-23
  13. Terzi, R., Tükenmez, I. and Kurt, E. (2016). Energy and Exergy Analyses of a VVER Nuclear Power Plant. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 41, 1-12, 2016
  14. Tsai, H.L. and Lin, J.M. (2009). Model Building and Simulation of Thermoelectric Module Using Matlab/Simulink”. Journal of Electronic Materials, 39(9), 2105–2111
  15. Xi, H., Luo, L. and Fraisse, G. (2007). Development and Applications of Solar-based Thermoelectric Technologies”. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 11(5), 923–936

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update:

No citation recorded.