Solution Winter-17

Subject: Energy Conversion - III

4(a) Classify the nuclear reactor in detail

Nuclear Reactors are classified by a number of methods; a brief outline of these classification schemes is provided.

A. Classification by type of Nuclear reaction:

 Nuclear fission: All commercial power reactors are based on nuclear fission. They generally use uranium
and its product plutonium as nuclear fuel. Fission reactors can be divided roughly into two classes,
depending on the energy of the neutrons that sustain the fission chain reaction:
o Thermal reactors: They use slow or thermal neutrons. Almost all current reactors are of this type. These
contain neutron moderator materials that slow neutrons until their neutron temperature is thermalized,
that is, until their kinetic energy approaches the average kinetic energy of the surrounding particles.
Neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into
thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235.
o Fast neutrons: They use fast neutrons to cause fission in their fuel. They do not have a neutron moderator,
and use less-moderating coolants.
o Breeder reactors: They are capable of producing more fissile material than they consume during the
fission chain reaction (by converting fertile U-238 to Pu-239, or Th-232 to U-233). Thus, a uranium
breeder reactor, once running can be re-fueled with natural or even depleted uranium, and a thorium
breeder reactor can be re-fueled with thorium; however, an initial stock of fissile material is required.
 Nuclear Fusion: Fusion power is power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic
nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus. They release a comparatively large amount of energy in this
process.

B. Classification by coolant:

Water cooled reactor. There are 104 operating reactors in the United States. Of these, 69 are pressurized
water reactors (PWR), and 35 are boiling water reactors (BWR).

 In the boiling water reactor (BWR), the water which passes over the reactor core to act as moderator and coolant
is also the steam source for the turbine. The disadvantage of this is that any fuel leak might make the water
radioactive and that radioactivity would reach the turbine and the rest of the loop. Neutrons from fission have
very high speeds and must be slowed greatly by water "moderation" to maintain the chain reaction.
 In the pressurized water reactor (PWR) the water which flows through the reactor core is isolated from the
turbine.

C. Classification by use:

 Nuclear power plant: Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and do useful work.
Nuclear Electric Plants, Nuclear Ships and Submarines use controlled nuclear energy to heat water and produce
steam.
  Nuclear propulsion: It includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that by using some form of nuclear reaction
as their primary power source.
 Spacecraft propulsion: It is any method used to accelerate spacecraft and artificial satellites.

D. Recent Technologies:

 Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR): These reactors use a pressure vessel to contain the nuclear fuel, control rods,
moderator, and coolant. They are cooled and moderated by high pressure liquid water. The hot radioactive water
that leaves the pressure vessel is looped through a steam generator, which in turn heats a secondary
(non-radioactive) loop of water to steam that can run turbines.
 Boiling Water Reactors (BWR): A BWR is like a PWR without the steam generator. A boiling water reactor is cooled
and moderated by water like a PWR, but at a lower pressure, which allows the water to boil inside the pressure
vessel producing the steam that runs the turbines. Unlike a PWR, there is no primary and secondary loop.
 Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR): A Canadian design (known as CANDU), these reactors are
heavy-water-cooled and -moderated Pressurized-Water reactors. Instead of using a single large pressure vessel as
in a PWR, the fuel is contained in hundreds of pressure tubes. These reactors are fueled with natural uranium and
are thermal neutron reactor designs.
 Gas Cooled Reactor (GCR) and Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR): These are generally graphite moderated and
CO2 cooled. They can have a high thermal efficiency compared with PWRs due to higher operating temperatures.
 Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR): This is a reactor design that is cooled by liquid metal, totally
unmoderated, and produces more fuel than it consumes. They are said to "breed" fuel, because they produce
fissionable fuel during operation because of neutron capture. These reactors can function much like a PWR in
terms of efficiency.
 Pebble Bed Reactors (PBR): These use fuel molded into ceramic balls, and then circulate gas through the balls. The
result is an efficient, low-maintenance, very safe reactor with inexpensive, standardized fuel. The prototype was
the AVR.
 Molten Salt Reactors: These dissolve the fuels in fluoride salts, or use fluoride salts for coolant. These have many
safety features, high efficiency and a high power density suitable for vehicles.
 Aqueous Homogeneous Reactor (AHR): These reactors use soluble nuclear salts dissolved in water and mixed
with a coolant and a neutron moderator

4(b)Explain in detail the site selection criteria for Nuclear power plant and name at least two nuclear power

stations in India.

Ans-General Consideration for Site Selection

 Siting of new NPPs should consist of site selection, which involves investigation of a large region to select
preferred sites, and followed by detailed evaluation of the preferred site.
 The information needed to evaluate potential sites at this initial stage of site selection is assumed to be limited to
information that is obtainable from published reports, public records, public and private agencies, and individuals
knowledgeable about the locality of a potential site. Although in some cases the applicants may have conducted
on the spot investigations, it is assumed here that these investigations would be limited to reconnaissance type
surveys at this stage in the site selection process.
 A significant commitment of time and resources may be required to select a suitable site for a NPP, including
safety and environmental considerations. Site selection involves consideration of public health and safety,
 engineering and design, economics, institutional requirements, environmental impacts, and other factors. The
potential impacts of the construction and operation of NPPs on the physical and biological environment and on
social, cultural, and economic features (including environmental justice) are usually similar to the potential
impacts of any major industrial facility, but NPPs are unique in the degree to which potential impacts of the
environment on their safety and this factor shall be considered. The safety requirements are primary determinants
of the suitability of a site for NPPs, but considerations of environmental impacts are also important and need to be
evaluated.
 In the site selection process, coordination between applicants and various Federal, State and local authorities will
be useful in identifying potential problem areas.

List of Nuclear Power Plants in India

S.No Name of the power station State Operator Total capacity

1. Tarapur Atomic Power Station Maharashtra NPCIL 1,400

2. Kakrapar Atomic Power Station Gujarat NPCIL 440

3. Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Tamil Nadu NPCIL 2,000

4. Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant Karnataka NPCIL 880

5. Madras Atomic Power Station Tamil Nadu NPCIL 440

6. Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Rajasthan NPCIL 1,180

7. Narora Atomic Power Station Uttar Pradesh NPCIL 440

5.a) Classify the solar collector in detail and draw the neat sketch of at least one collector from each classification.
A Flat Plate Collector

The flat-plate solar collectors are probably the most fundamental and most studied technology for solar-powered
domestic hot water systems. The overall idea behind this technology is pretty simple. The Sun heats a dark flat surface,
which collect as much energy as possible, and then the energy is transferred to water, air, or other fluid for further
use.These are the main components of a typical flat-plate solar collector:

 Black surface - absorbent of the incident solar energy

 Glazing cover - transparent layer that transmits radiation to the absorber, but prevents radiative and convective heat
loss from the surface

 Tubes containing heating fluid to transfer the heat from the collector

 Support structure to protect the components and hold them in place

 Insulation covering sides and bottom of the collector to reduce heat losses
 Schematic of a flat plate solar collector with liquid transport medium

The flat-plate systems normally operate and reach the maximum efficiency within the temperature range from 30 to 80 oC
(Kalogirou, 2009), however some new types of collectors that employ vacuum insulation can achieve higher temperatures
(up to 100 oC). Due to introduction of selective coatings, stagnant fluid temperature in flat-plate collectors has been
shown to reach 200 oC.

Some advantages of the flat-plate collectors is that they are:

 Easy to manufacture

 Low cost

 Collect both beam and diffuse radiation

 Permanently fixed (no sophisticated positioning or tracking equipment is required)

 Little maintenance

Flat-plate collectors are installed facing the equator (i.e. South oriented in the Northern hemisphere and North iriented in
the Southern hemisphere). The optimal tilt of the collector plate is close to the latitude of the location (+/- 15o). If the
application is solar cooling, the optimum installation angle is Latitude - 10o, so that the solar beam is perpendicular to the
collector during summertime. If the application is solar heating, the optimum installation angle is Latitude + 10o. It was
found however, that for year-round hot water application, the optimum angle is Latitude + 5o, which provides somewhat
better performance during winter, when the hot water is more needed

b) Explain the solar thermal electric conversion system in detail with neat sketch.

One of the most promising renewable energy sources of electricity for the future is solar thermal electric power plants.
Solar thermal electric power plants generally use concentrated sunlight obtained through various mirror configurations to
focus the sun’s energy to produce high-temperature heat. The heat energy is then transferred to a fluid or gas, which is
used in a typical power plant cycle to convert the heat energy to mechanical energy and then electricity. The two major
parts of a solar thermal electric power plant are the component that collects the solar energy and converts it to heat and
the component that then converts the heat energy into electricity. One of the major benefits of solar thermal energy is
that it involves a thermal intermediary, so it fossil fuels can easily be used integrated into the system as an alternative
source of fuel if the sun is not providing enough energy unlike photovoltaic solar panels. In some cases the heat produce
by the sun’s energy can go into thermal storage for periods of low to no sunlight, further reducing the average cost of the
electricity produced. The three most commonly used solar thermal electric power plant designs are the parabolic trough
design, the power tower design, and the parabolic dish/engine system.
6. a) Explain with neat sketch closed cycle seeded inert gas MHD plant with neat sketch.

CLOSED CYCLE MHD generator

Two general types of closed cycle MHD generators are being investigated. Electrical conductivity is maintained in the
working fluid by ionization of a seeded material, as in open cycle system. A liquid metal provides the conductivity. The
carrier is usually a chemical inert gas, all through a liquid carrier is been used with a liquid metal conductor. The working
fluid is circulated in a closed loop and is heated by the combustion gases using a heat exchanger. Hence the heat sources
and the working fluid are independent. The working fluid is helium or argon with cesium seeding.

SEEDED INERT GAS SYSTEM In a closed cycle system the carrier gas operates in the form of Brayton cycle. In a closed cycle
system the gas is compressed and heat is supplied by the source, at essentially constant pressure, the compressed gas then
expands in the MHD generator, and its pressure and temperature fall. After leaving this generator heat is removed from
the gas by a cooler, this is the heat rejection stage of the cycle. Finally the gas is recompressed and returned for
reheating.The complete system has three distinct but interlocking loops. On the left is the external heating loop. Coal is
gasified and the gas is burnt in the combustor to provide heat. In the primary heat exchanger, this heat is transferred to a
carrier gas argon or helium of the MHD cycle. The combustion products after passing through the air preheated and
purifier are discharged to atmosphere. Because the combustion system is separate from the working fluid, so also are the
ash and flue gases. Hence the problem of extracting the seed material from fly ash does not arise. The fuel gases are used
to preheat the incoming combustion air and then treated for fly ash and sulfur dioxide removal, if necessary prior to
discharge through a stack to the atmosphere.The loop in the center is the MHD loop. The hot argon gas is seeding with
cesium and resulting working fluid is passed through the MHD generator at high speed. The dc power out of MHD
generator is converted in ac by the inverter and is then fed to the grid.
b) Explain the concept of solar furnace with neat sketch stating advantages and limitations

Both.

Solar furnace is a device that uses an array of mirrors to redirect and concentrate the sun’s rays onto a small surface area
thus producing extremely high temperature. The temperature can go as high as 3500o C.By focusing sunlight over
flammable materials using lenses, combustion was generated

The operation principle of a solar furnace is quite simple. It entails the use of two mirrors, plane mirror and parabolic
mirror. The plane mirror is known as Heliostat and is angled such that it directs parallel beam of light to the parabolic
mirror. The parabolic mirror then brings the light beam to focus at the focal point. When the number of mirrors is
increased, then it is possible to achieve energy and heat levels where one can actually boil water, cook food or even melt
metals!. The amount of energy and efficiency of the solar furnace relay completely on how accurate the mirrors are
focused on one point.

Advantages

 heat produced is very clean Can be applied where pollution is to be avoided

 Research can take place in areas previously deemed too costly or polluting to be worthwhile.

 Low cost

 Reduces the Need to Burn Fossil Fuels

 Reduces the Need to Cut Down Forests For Firewood

Limitation of Solar furnace

 Solar furnace technology has existed for many years but has never been fully explored or used on a widespread
commercial basis.

 It is unclear if solar furnaces will ever be used on any type of scale because of the limitations in their placement and
use.

 Large solar concentrators are expensive.

 They occupy large amount of space

7 a) Enlist the various instruments used for energy Auditing. Explain any one in detail.

b) What is Sankey diagram? Explain it in detail with any practical exam