Air cooling is limited on ambient temperatures and typically require a larger footprint than Water Cooling, but when water restrictions are great enough to prevent the use of water cooling air cooling is one potential option. Air cooling uses an air to liquid heat exchanger to flow ambient air over tubes that contain the steam or working fluid from the turbine. A large fan is typically used to increase the flow of air over the heat exchanger. An automotive radiator is an everyday example of air cooling. In locations where footprint is not a concern and the ambient conditions are relatively low, air cooling may actually be the most economical option with the least amount of energy input to the system. When designed properly air cooled condensers require only the power input for a fan, which is typically lower than the requirements for pumping water. In relatively dry cool climates that have access to some cooling water, but not enough to operate solely on water cooling, can take advantage of Hybrid Cooling technology.
Air Cooling
From Open Energy Information
Air Cooling:
Air cooling is commonly defined as rejecting heat from an object by flowing air over the surface of the object, through means of convection. Air cooling requires that the air must be cooler than the object or surface from which it is expected to remove heat. This is due to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that heat will only move spontaneously from a hot reservoir (the heat sink) to a cold reservoir (the air).
Air Cooling
Air Cooling
Geothermal Lab Call Projects for Air-Cooling
Name | Location | Awardees | Topic 1 | Location of Project | DOE Funding | Total Project Cost
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Air-Cooled Condensers in Next-Generation Conversion Systems | Idaho | Idaho National Laboratory | Laboratory Call for Submission of Applications for Research, Development and Analysis of Geothermal Technologies | Idaho Falls, ID | $810,000 | $810,000 |
Hybrid and Advanced Air Cooling | Colorado | National Renewable Energy Laboratory | Laboratory Call for Submission of Applications for Research, Development and Analysis of Geothermal Technologies | Golden, CO | $875,000 | $875,000 |
Geothermal ARRA Funded Projects for Air-Cooling
Name | Location | Awardees | Topic 1 | Location of Project | DOE Funding | Awardee Cost Share | Total Project Cost
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Optimization of hybrid-water/air-cooled condenser in an enhanced turbine geothermal ORC system | Connecticut | United Technologies Research Center | Recovery Act: Enhanced Geothermal Systems Component Research and Development/Analysis | East Hartford, CT | $1,199,928 | $299,982 | $1,499,910 |