Method for the calculation of the working fluid loss in an Organic Rankine cycle plant

Abstract

Method for the calculation of the working fluid loss in an organic Rankine cycle plant, comprising at least one evaporator (1), a preheater (5), a turbine (2), a condenser (3), a pump (4), a collecting well (7) and a process piping (8), wherein said working fluid, when the plant is stopped, is in part present in known volumes inside the plant and partly drained in at least a storage tank (6) comprising at least three rooms or volumes: a first volume (Vck) for storing the fluid to be measured, a second volume (Vc) having a restricted section for measuring the volume of fluid stored in said first volume (Vck), a third volume (Vckd) containing the portion of the fluid already measured, wherein, in said method, the working fluid loss of the plant is calculated as the difference between the fluid amount measured in two different instants of time.

Claims

1. A method for the calculation of the working fluid loss in an organic Rankine cycle plant, comprising at least one evaporator, a preheater, a turbine, a condenser, a pump, a collecting well and a process piping, wherein said working fluid, when the plant is stopped, is in part present in known volumes inside the plant and partly drained in at least a storage tank comprising at least three rooms or volumes: a first volume for storing the fluid to be measured, a second volume having a restricted section for measuring the volume of fluid stored in said first volume, a third volume containing the portion of the fluid already measured, said method being characterized by the fact that the working fluid loss of the plant is calculated as the difference between the fluid amount measured in two different instants of time.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said plant is realized by the following phases: a) activation of a bypass of the hot spring b) activation of a bypass of the turbine c) filling of the preheater and the evaporator up to a known level, stopping of the pump and closing a shut-off valve downstream of the pump d) opening of the exhaust manifolds of the drain valves of the air condensers for the drainage of the liquid in the volume of the tank storage.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein said step b) further comprises the ramp reduction of the pump load until the normal plant stop in a time not exceeding 30 min.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step c) is characterized by the simultaneous closing of the by-pass of the turbine and the inlet valves.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step c) further comprises the achievement of balance between the working fluid and the ambient temperature in a time not exceeding 30 min.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein said step c) of pump stopping and the closing of the shut-off valve downstream of the pump take place in a time not exceeding 60 min.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein a level sensor is positioned downstream of said evaporator in a calibrated section and it constitutes a first set point of the liquid level inside the plant.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein a level sensor is positioned in the collection sump and constitutes a second set point of the liquid level within the system.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein said working fluid, drained in said at least one storage tank, undergoes the following further steps: a) displacement of the fluid from the first volume to the second volume with a restricted section, b) displacement of the fluid from the second volume within the third volume c) repetition for a predetermined number of times of the phases a) and b).

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said working fluid inside the storage tank is moved by means of a drainage pump.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein a level sensor is positioned in the storage tank for measuring the liquid level in the second volume.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein said total amount of working fluid is equal to the sum of the working fluid contained in known volumes inside the plant and of the tested in the storage tank, the latter according to the formula:
nVc+Vc where: n=number of fills in the second volume Vc Vc=residual volume of fluid inside the second volume Vc.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said total amount of the working fluid present in the known volume is measured or calculated multiplying the volumes for the respective density, obtained as a function of the recorded temperature.

14. A plant in an organic Rankine cycle, comprising at least one evaporator, a turbine, a condenser, a pump, a preheater, a collecting well, a piping process and a storage tank configured for applying the method according to claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The different embodiments are now described, by way of examples, with reference to the attached drawings in which FIG. 1 represents an ORC plant with the indication of the position of the level sensors and the drainage system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(2) With reference to FIG. 1, a ORC plant scheme is represented, said plant comprising: an evaporator 1 where the pressurized fluid is heated and vaporized or brought to supercritical conditions by using the heat of an external source (i.e. a geothermal source); an expander (turbine) 2 where the expanding fluid (ideally in an isentropic way) yields outside the useful work of the cycle; a condenser 3, water or air refrigerated type, wherein the heat released is removed from the working fluid; a collecting well 7, where is collected the liquid condensed in the condenser; a pump 4, where the liquid is pressurized from the condenser pressure to the evaporator pressure and where the negative work of the cycle is exchanged (ideally in a isentropic way); a pre-heater 5 that, for example using the same geothermal energy source, provides heat to the working fluid, bringing it to a temperature close to the vaporization temperature; a storage tank 6, which may contain the organic working fluid.

(3) The method consists of the following chronological steps. The plant must be stopped to perform the first quantitative fluid measurement present in the plant through the following steps in sequence:

(4) a) activation of a by-pass of the geothermal source;

(5) b) ramp activation of the by-pass 12 of the turbine 2, being activated the fans of the air cooled condenser (ACC); reduction according to the loading ramp of the pump to the normal ORC stop (time 30);

(6) c) the achievement of the full by-pass 12 of the turbine 2; the working fluid reaches the balance at environment temperature (time 30) and its temperature is measured;

(7) d) by means of the pump, the preheater 5 and the evaporator 1 are completely filled with liquid up to a level corresponding to a known volume, when a dedicated level sensor (LT1), positioned on the evaporator and in a restricted and known section, stops the pump and closes the shut-off valve downstream of the pump (60); at the same time the by-pass 12 of the turbine and the inlet valves 11 are closed;
e) the drain valves 13 of the circuit and in particular the ACC air condensers are opened to drain the liquid present in the well 7 with a suitable exhaust pump. The pump drains the liquid until a predetermined set-point level (LT2) of the collecting well 7 (which is also positioned in a restricted and known section) has been reached;
f) making the measurement starting from a condition in which the working fluid is in the hot exchangers 1, 5 at a first level LT1 and occupy a known volume V1 and a working fluid is in the collecting well 7 at a second level LT2 occupy a known volume V2; when the system temperature is in equilibrium with the environment temperature, most of the 80% of the liquid is contained in known volumes V1 and V2 and the whole vapor fraction is also contained in a known volume; the liquid volume contained in the storage tank 6 is the only part to be measured.

(8) The storage tank 6 is composed of three rooms or connecting volumes, through the vapor phase. These rooms are: a volume of fluid Vck drained from the process and to be measured, a volume Vckd used to hold the measured fluid a control or measurement volume Vc, the latter having much smaller volume than the first two volumes to have a smaller uncertainty of the measurement.

(9) The loss measurement between an initial measurement and a subsequent measurement takes place starting from a configuration in which the process fluid is in the hot exchangers at LT1 level and in the collection well at LT2 level and in which all of the residual liquid phase is moved into the volume Vck (to be measured), including the liquid phase contained in the volume Vckd, according to the following phases:

(10) 1. Volume Vckd must be initially drained with the pumps 9 (the fluid in volume Vckd is moved in volume Vck)

(11) 2. fluid displacement from the volume Vck to the volume Vc; when the volume Vc is fully occupied, the fluid overflows and returns to the volume Vck; the level detected by the sensor LT4 in this case remains unchanged and thus there is the certainty that the entire Vc volume has been busy;
3. displacement of the liquid phase contained in the volume Vc to the volume Vckd by means of the drainage pump 9 until the state of low level LT3 of the pump is reached;
4. repeating the steps 2, 3 and 4 for a predetermined number of times (n) until the level in the Vck volume reaches zero and the state level LT3 of the drainage pump 9 indicates the absence of fluid in the drainage circuit 10; the volume nVc (known volume) will be moved in the volume Vckd and will have a residual fraction of fluid inside the volume Vc measured by the sensor LT4.

(12) The measurement made through the phases 2, 3 and 4 will be equal to the volume:
nVc+Vc
where
n=number of emptying cycles of volume Vc which are carried on
Vc=residual volume of fluid inside the volume Vc, measured with the sensor LT4 after a certain interval of time from the initial one.

(13) The inventory of total fluid (total mass=Mtot) is then obtained by the formulas:
M.sub.tot,initial[V.sub.mis*.sub.liq+(V.sub.totV.sub.mis).Math..sub.vap].sub.initial
Where: V.sub.mis=V1+V2+n*Vc+Vc V.sub.tot is the total volume of the plant, including the storage tank .sub.liq and .sub.vap are the working fluid densities in liquid or vapor form at the initial temperature.

(14) The measurement made at a later time (for example after few months), performed in the same manner and conditions, will result in the fluid inventory value:
M.sub.tot,final=[V.sub.mis*.sub.liq+(V.sub.totV.sub.mis).Math..sub.vap].sub.final

(15) The density values will be corrected on the basis of the new temperature recorded. The loss is thus represented by the difference between M.sub.tot, initial and M.sub.tot, final, and the percentage loss is obtained as:
100.Math.(M.sub.tot,initialM.sub.tot,final)/M.sub.tot,initial=100.Math.m/M.sub.tot,initial

(16) It should be noted that the portion of liquid that must be drained for the measurement is a small part of the total content (15%), since the majority of the liquid remains inside the ORC circuit in known volumes. The combination of all possible measurement errors (such as the accuracy of the temperature probes and of the level meter) is of the order of 0.1%. Even if at least an embodiment was described in the brief and detailed description, it is to be intended that there exist many other variants in the protection scope of the invention. Further, it is to be intended that said embodiment or embodiments described are only example and do not limit in any way the protection scope of the invention and its application or configurations. The brief and detailed description give instead the experts in the field a convenient guide to implement at least an embodiment, while it is to be intended that many variations of the function and elements assembly here described can be made without departing from the protection scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims and/or technical/legal equivalents thereof.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

(17) 1 evaporator 2 turbine 3 condenser 4 pump 5 preheater 6 storage tank 7 collection well 8 process piping 9 drainage pump 10 drainage circuit 11 inlet valves 12 valve by-pass of the turbine 13 drain valves of air-cooled condensers (ACC) ACC air condensers LT1 and LT2 LT3 LT4 dedicated level sensors m mass variation Mtot total mass Vck volume used to drain the process media from sampled Vckd volume used to contain the portion of the fluid championship Vc control volume or the sampling Vc volume of liquid remaining in the volume Vc n number of emptying cycles of Vc