Power Plant Feedwater Heaters with Maarky Thermal Systems

Maarky Thermal Systems
Image: maarky.com

 

New Jersey’s Maarky Thermal Systems develops and manufactures an array of heat transfer equipment for power plants all over the world. Under the guidance of president Dr. Ranga Nadig, Maarky Thermal Systems has excelled in the provision of various feedwater heating units.

The purpose of a feedwater heater is to provide a power plant with efficient, regenerative feedwater heating – a critical component when it comes to maximizing a plant’s power cycle. Feedwater heating systems can be broken down into three general categories – low pressure, intermediate, and high pressure heaters. Furthermore, plant managers can select from a variety of heater designs in order to best meet their plant’s needs, such as horizontal or vertical heaters or heaters with various channel closure options, including hemi head, pressure seal, and welded diaphragm bolted covers.

Low pressure feedwater heaters typically feature both a condensing zone and a subcooling zone. High pressure feedwater heaters typically feature a third desuperheating zone. All heaters are designed to minimize shellside pressure drop and eliminate incidence of tube vibration. To learn more about the various models of feedwater heaters, visit www.maarky.com.

6th International India Oil and Gas Pipeline Conference – April 2017

International India Oil and Gas Pipeline Conference
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Maarky Thermal Systems operates out of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Under the leadership of president Ranga Nadig, the company provides a variety of heat transfer equipment and services. Maarky Thermal Systems belongs to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which will host the 6th International India Oil and Gas Pipeline Conference (IOGPC) in April 2017.

A nonprofit event designed by engineers for engineers, the conference serves as a forum for the transfer of best practices and standards and fosters technical exchange among key corporate players in the onshore pipe industry. The two-day event will welcome industry leaders, engineering professionals, and policy makers from across the world to engage in an assortment of learning opportunities. It will also explore a myriad of industry issues while examining the necessary priorities to keep the industry moving forward.

The technical program at IOGPC will focus on sharing knowledge and inspiring new technologies in the India and international oil and gas transmissions industries. It will include four technical tracks and a panel discussion highlighting the challenges in the pipeline industry. Furthermore, the conference will feature an exhibition hall, speeches from keynote speakers, and presentations of select technical papers chosen from among professional submissions.

Members of ASME’s India chapter in cooperation with global members of the ASME Pipeline Systems Division established the IOGPC, which will take place in Mumbai, India, April 20 through April 22, 2017.

Maarky Thermal Systems’ Turbine Bypass Operation Solutions

Maarky Thermal Systems
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Maarky Thermal Systems designs quality-engineered heat transfer equipment that enables power plants to function optimally. The full range of Maarky Thermal Systems offerings includes feedwater heaters and exchangers, as well as steam surface condensers. The latter systems are critical in maximizing plant output through decreasing back-pressure.

For combined-cycle power plants, one focus is on ensuring that turbine bypass operations are seamless and allow consistent performance. With steam turbine out of service, high temperature and pressure steam from the heat recovery steam generator is directed into a pressure reducing desuperheating (PRD) valve that reduces pressure and temperature of the bypass steam to a desired value. The bypass steam at relatively low pressure and temperature is discharged into the condenser.

Optimally-engineered steam surface condenser systems offer reliable performance during normal and bypass operation. The bypass steam inlet arrangement is carefully designed so as to alleviate damage to tubes from steam impingement. The bypass steam flow patterns are carefully deciphered using the state of the art Computational Flow Dynamics (CFD) programs.

Designing Condenser Evacuation Systems for Power Plants

Condenser Evacuation Systems
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Offering leading edge heat-transfer equipment, Maarky Thermal Systems meets the needs of a global client base of power producers. In June 2016 Maarky Thermal Systems president Dr. Ranga Nadig presented at the ASME Power and Energy Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the topic “Evacuation Systems for Steam Surface Condensers: Vacuum Pumps or Steam Jet Air Ejectors?”

In steam power plants, steam released from the turbine undergoes condensation within a vacuum environment that is cooled by either air or water. One common problem involves air leaking into the condenser through faulty seals, valves, and flanged connections. As this has a negative impact on condensing functions, non-condensable air that becomes trapped in the system must be continuously evacuated.

A key question plants face is whether to use motor-driven vacuum pumps or steam-driven jet air ejectors. This decision involves weighing factors such as costs, motive steam availability, and end user preferences. Some plants bridge these differences through multi-stage hybrid systems that are effective in operations requiring low suction pressure.

Nitrogen as Storage Medium for Concentrated Solar Power Plants

Solar
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At an international industry conference in December 2015, Maarky Thermal Systems president Dr. Ranga Nadig delivered his paper entitled “Nitrogen Based Thermal Storage Medium for Concentrated Solar Power Plants”. The said paper is a patent pending concept of Maarky Thermal Systems.

The paper notes that in a Concentrated Solar Power Plant, thermal storage is used to negate the loss of electrical power generation at night. At daytime the thermal storage material is heated to higher temperatures and then stored in huge containers. In the evening, high pressure steam is generated using the energy from the heated material. This high pressure steam powers a turbine generator which produces electricity.

The preferred thermal storage material is molten salt. Using molten salt poses a number of difficulties. This includes having to obtain it in large amounts and transporting it to the solar plant which may be in a remote location. Inconsistencies in the salt composition can cause changes in thermal properties and melting temperature. The freezing point of molten salt is also at 550ºF needing expensive additives to lower the freezing point.

Using nitrogen has a number of advantages over molten salt. It can be simply be extracted from the air at the plant site and with 80 percent of the atmosphere composed of nitrogen the supply is abundant and free. It can be stored in huge containers and has stable thermodynamic properties. The freezing problem no longer exists as nitrogen stays in gaseous state over a wide temperature range.

Feedwater Heaters by Maarky Thermal Systems

Feedwater Heaters
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Led by company president Ranga Nadig, Maarky Thermal Systems serves power plants worldwide and designs advanced equipment for heat transfer systems from its headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Maarky Thermal Systems is also a supplier of feedwater heaters to the power industry.

Feedwater heaters designed by the company offer reliable and efficient performance. The absence of cross flow velocities in the desuperheating zone minimizes the pressure drop and the incidence of flow induced vibration. Optimized spacing of baffles in the subcooling zone maximizes the heat transfer coefficient while restricting the pressure drop to specified limits. The heaters internals include design features to offer improved performance and structure integrity.

Heaters are designed for steam turbine applications from 10MW – 1,000 MW and for a wide ranging configuration included but not limited to two tube pass, four tube pass, one zone, two zone, three zone, horizontal, vertical channel up, vertical channel down and duplex heaters.

For more information about Maarky Thermal System’s feedwater heaters and other products, visit the company’s website at maarky.com/products.

Engineering Positions at Maarky Thermal Systems

Led by Dr.Ranga Nadig, Maarky Thermal Systems offers a wide variety of power plant equipment and services. Maarky Thermal Systems serves an international client base, and specializes in heat exchange technologies including steam generators, superheaters, and molten salt heat exchangers.

Maarky employs a number of engineering professionals to facilitate its support of power plants around the world. The firm’s engineers lead the thermal, mechanical, structural, hydraulic design of transfer equipment. They leverage the concepts of prevaling industry codes such as ASME Code, FLUENT, and ANSYS to develop state of the art designs for steam surface condensers, feedwater heaters and heat exchangers. The firm’s application engineers collaborate with its sales team to prepare complete and competitive client proposals and secure contracts.

Maarky’s project engineers oversee the design, fabrication, installation and commissioning of its products. All components are benchmarked in the fabrication shop to ensure proper alignment and fitup at the jobsite. The project engineers are assited by a talented mechanical design team that prepares detailed 3-D and 2-D drawings to assist the client in product integration in the power plant and faciliate quality fabrication at the manufacturign facility.

Heat Exchange Institute: More than 80 Years of Industrial Standards

Ranga Nadig is president of Maarky Thermal Systems, which is based in New Jersey. The company provides steam surface condensers, feedwater heaters, and heat exchangers – as well as consulting services to power plants worldwide. Maarky Thermal Systems is recognized worldwide for its innovative and reliable equipment designs. The company was recently invited to join the condenser section of the Heat Exchange Institute, one of the frontrunners in developing industry standards.

Since 1933, the Heat Exchange Institute has been helping to organize and represent North American manufacturers who own manufacturing facilities or are responsible for the manufacturing of products that meet the organization’s requirements. As the Institute grew, it created a set of standards to guide manufacturers.

One of these standards applies to steam surface condensers. The performance of power plants employing wet cooling is strongly dependent on the performance of the steam surface condenser. HEI standards for steam surface condensers include guielines for thermal and mechanical design that ensures structural integrity and reliable performance.

An Overview of Solar Power Plant Operation

Maarky Thermal Systems, Inc., has set a new standard for reliable heat transfer equipment for power plants worldwide. Under the guidance of company president Dr. Ranga Nadig, Maarky Thermal Systems specializes in providing solar heat exchangers and other heat-exchange technologies to concentrated solar power plants.

Solar plants primarily use two different methods to convert solar energy to electricity. In the first method photovoltaic panels uses a series of solar cells that absorb energy from the sun and convert the solar energy to electricity.

In the second method large mirrows focus the sun’s energy to boil water to steam in boiler tubes located on top of a tall tower. Alternatively the sun’s energy can be used to heat molten salt or a working fluid such as Terminol to high temperatures. The heat from the molten salt or the working fluid is used to convert water to steam. The steam flows through a steam turbine generator producing electricity.