By Engr.

Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

Steam Turbine Output Specifications

Output Power =100W

Solutions
To calculate the heat energy required to produce a certain amount of electrical power in a steam
turbine, the formula below is employ:
Pelec Eqn 1
Qr =
ηturbine

Where
Qr is the heat energy input (in watts or joules per second)

Pelec is the electrical power output of the turbine (in watts) (100w)

ηturbine is the efficiency of the turbine (expressed as a decimal, not a percentage) (assume 0.8 i.e 80%)

Eqn 1 becomes
100
Qr = =125 watts
0.8

To determine how much heat energy the boiler must generate to produce the required heat energy for
the steam turbine, the efficiency of the boiler and the properties of the fuel being be into
consideration. To calculate the heat energy input required by the boiler, the formula below is used:

Qr Eqn 2
Qboiler =
ηboiler
Where
Qboiler is the heat energy input required by the boiler (in watts or joules per second)

ηboiler is the efficiency of the boiler (expressed as a decimal) (let’s say 0.85(85%))

125
Qboiler = =147.06 watts
0.85
So, the boiler must generate approximately 147.06 watts of heat energy to meet the demands of the
steam turbine.

Since the heat storage system will be the source of heat for the boiler, then the Eqn 2 becomes a bit
more involved because we need to account for the efficiency of the heat storage system as well.
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

The formula to calculate the heat energy input required by the boiler, taking into account the
efficiency of both the heat storage system and the boiler, is given by:
Qr Eqn 3
Qboiler =
ηboiler × ηStorage

Where
η Storage is the efficiency of the heat storage system (expressed as a decimal) (0.9 or 90%)

Qboiler Becomes:

125
Q boiler = =164.71 watts
164.71× 0.9

Determination of Heat Storage Capacity

To determine the capacity of the heat storage system required to provide enough heat to run the
boiler, we need to consider the duration for which the boiler needs to operate continuously and the
rate at which heat is transferred from the storage system to the boiler.
Let’s say the boiler needs to operate continuously for a period, t , and during this time, it requires a
constant heat input Qboiler .
The total heat energy required by the boiler over the duration t can be calculated as:
QTotal =Qboiler × t Eqn 4

Takingt to be 1 hour (3600 seconds)

Eqn 4 becomes:
QTotal =164.71 ×3600=592,956 Joules

So, the heat storage system must be able to provide approximately 592,956 joules (593kJ) of heat
energy over a period of 1 hour to run the boiler continuously
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

Heat Storage System Design

a. Using sensible heat method
Since Sensible heat storage method involves storing heat by raising the temperature of a material
without changing its state. The formula to calculate the heat stored using sensible heat can be use to
determine the mass of the material needed to supply this heat. Given that (Trautz et al., 2014):

Qsensible =mc ∆ T Eqn 5

Where
Qsensible is the Heat energy (in Joules)

m is Mass of the material (in kilograms)

c is Specific heat capacity of the material (in J/kg°C)

Using water as the storage material: Water is an excellent material due to its high availability, low
cost, stability, and relatively high specific heat capacity (Tawalbeh et al., 2023) . Then
c=4184 J /kg ° C .
Taking the total heat QTotalrequired to run the system in Eqn 4 as the sensible needed by the storage,
then Eqn 6 apply as:
Qsensible =QTotal =592,956 joules=593 kJ Eqn 6

Then from Eqn 5 we have:

Q sensible Eqn 7
m=
c∆T

Taking ∆ T =75 ℃ ,
(obtained from 100-25, i.e taking ambient temperature to be 25 ℃ . When water is heated at
atmospheric pressure, its temperature rises until it reaches 212°F (100°C), the highest temperature at
which water can exist at this pressure (Wanders et al., 2019)).

Eqn 7 gives:
592,956
m= =1.889 kg ≈ 2 kg
4184 ×75
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

To calculate the minimum storage volume need, we use:

m 2 2 Eqn 7
V str . sen= = =0.002 m
ρwater 1000

b. Using Latent Heat Storage Method

Since Latent Heat Storage method involves storing heat by changing the phase of a material (e.g.,
from solid to liquid or liquid to gas) without changing its temperature. The formula to calculate the
heat stored using latent heat is (Elarem et al., 2021):
Q Latent =mL Eqn 8

Where
Q Latent is latent Heat energy (in Joules

L is the Latent heat of fusion or vaporization (in J/kg) and

m is the Mass of the material (in kilograms)
Using paraffin as the storage material: this is due to it advantages of chemical stability over many
heating and freezing cycles, high heat of fusion, compatible with most all materials and non-reactive
to most materials of encapsulation (Belyakov, 2019; Sarbu & Dorca, 2019).
L=200 k J /kg (Average value)

Taking the total heat QTotalrequired to run the system in Eqn 4 as the latent needed by the storage, i.e:
Q Latent =QTotal =592,956 joules=593 kJ Eqn 9

The from Eqn 5, we have

Q Latent 592,956
m= = =2.96 kg ≈ 3 kg
L 200,000
To calculate the minimum storage volume needed, we use:

m 3 2 Eqn 10
V str .lat = = =0.003 m
ρ paraffin 900

c. Using Thermomechanical Method

Thermomechanical method involves storing heat by using a substance that undergoes a phase change
while exerting a mechanical force. It's a combination of both latent heat and mechanical energy
storage. The substance can expand or contract due to the phase change, thus storing or releasing
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

energy mechanically. The formula to calculate the heat stored using the thermomechanical method
would involve both the latent heat and the mechanical work done (Cáceres et al., 2017).
QThermomechanical =mL+W Eqn 11

Where
QThermomechanical is the Heat energy (in Joules) via thermomechanical means

m is the mass of the material in kg

L is the Latent heat of fusion or vaporization (in J/kg) and
W is the mechanical work done in Joules

Using Liquid-Molten Salt is our material: they offer excellent storage properties due to their high
boiling point, low vapor pressure, viscosity, and high specific heat capacity. Modifying their chemical
composition allows for tailored adjustments to these properties (Gautam et al., 2022).
L=65,500 J /kg(Gimenez−Gavarrell et al . , 2015)
From Eqn 11
QThermomechanical−W Eqn 12
m=
L

Taking the mechanical work W , to be 40% of the total energy of the method QThermomechanical . And
taking the total heat QTotalrequired to run the system in Eqn 4 as the thermomechanical heat capacity
of storage
40 Eqn 13
W= ×592,956=237,182.4 watts
100

Eqn 12 become
592,956−237,182.4
m= =5.43 kg
65,500

To calculate the minimum storage volume needed, we use:

m 5.43 2 Eqn 10
V str .thermo = = =0.004 m
ρmolten salt 1549
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

Comparison

Rating Scale Thermomechanical

(1=Very weak, 3=Very Sensible Latent
strong)
Scor
Weights Rating Score Rating e Rating Score
Decision Criteria
Cost 50% 3 1.5 2 1 1 0.5
Simplicity of System 20% 3 0.6 2 0.4 1 0.2
Size or space occupied 10% 3 0.3 2 0.2 1 0.1
Total Weighted Score 2.4 1.6 0.8
 By Engr. Orioma Charles Edafianuwoke

Reference
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