A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept
Small amounts of useful power may be generated in polar or subpolar regions during the winter period by placing a heat engine between a large body of water (near 0 degrees C), acting as a heat source, and the atmosphere (near -25 degrees C), acting as a heat sink. The scheme consists of a fuelless m...
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The Arctic Institute of North America
1989
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Online Access: | https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718 |
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/64718 2023-05-15T14:19:13+02:00 A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept Lock, G.S.H. 1989-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718/48632 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718 ARCTIC; Vol. 42 No. 3 (1989): September: 189–298; 253-264 1923-1245 0004-0843 Electric power Energy resources Equipment and supplies Ocean thermal energy conversion Pumping Thermodynamics Arctic regions info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1989 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:21:53Z Small amounts of useful power may be generated in polar or subpolar regions during the winter period by placing a heat engine between a large body of water (near 0 degrees C), acting as a heat source, and the atmosphere (near -25 degrees C), acting as a heat sink. The scheme consists of a fuelless modular system operating on the Carnot cycle. Power is extracted by a reciprocating vapour engine drawing saturated vapour from a water-heated evaporator and exhausting to an air-cooled condenser from which nearly saturated liquid is returned to the evaporator using a reciprocating feed pump. The thermal performance model incorporates both the engine cycle power and the parasitic losses, the latter being incurred as a result of circulating the working fluid (ammonia), pumping water through the evaporator and blowing air through the condenser. Curves indicate power levels in excess of 1 kW, with thermal efficiencies around 5%. The power curves show a maximum with respect to speed. The principal difficulties with this scheme are in heat exchanger design in near-freezing water. The principal advantages are small power levels, flexibility through modular construction and reduction of the capital and operating costs associated with the supply of energy to northern regions.Key words: alternative energy, Carnot, OTEC, heat engine, power Mots clés: énergie alternative, Carnot, conversion de l’énergie thermique de l’océan, machine thermique, force motrice Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic University of Calgary Journal Hosting Arctic ARCTIC 42 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Electric power Energy resources Equipment and supplies Ocean thermal energy conversion Pumping Thermodynamics Arctic regions |
spellingShingle |
Electric power Energy resources Equipment and supplies Ocean thermal energy conversion Pumping Thermodynamics Arctic regions Lock, G.S.H. A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
topic_facet |
Electric power Energy resources Equipment and supplies Ocean thermal energy conversion Pumping Thermodynamics Arctic regions |
description |
Small amounts of useful power may be generated in polar or subpolar regions during the winter period by placing a heat engine between a large body of water (near 0 degrees C), acting as a heat source, and the atmosphere (near -25 degrees C), acting as a heat sink. The scheme consists of a fuelless modular system operating on the Carnot cycle. Power is extracted by a reciprocating vapour engine drawing saturated vapour from a water-heated evaporator and exhausting to an air-cooled condenser from which nearly saturated liquid is returned to the evaporator using a reciprocating feed pump. The thermal performance model incorporates both the engine cycle power and the parasitic losses, the latter being incurred as a result of circulating the working fluid (ammonia), pumping water through the evaporator and blowing air through the condenser. Curves indicate power levels in excess of 1 kW, with thermal efficiencies around 5%. The power curves show a maximum with respect to speed. The principal difficulties with this scheme are in heat exchanger design in near-freezing water. The principal advantages are small power levels, flexibility through modular construction and reduction of the capital and operating costs associated with the supply of energy to northern regions.Key words: alternative energy, Carnot, OTEC, heat engine, power Mots clés: énergie alternative, Carnot, conversion de l’énergie thermique de l’océan, machine thermique, force motrice |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lock, G.S.H. |
author_facet |
Lock, G.S.H. |
author_sort |
Lock, G.S.H. |
title |
A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
title_short |
A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
title_full |
A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
title_fullStr |
A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Benign, Small-Scale Power Unit for the Arctic: The Carnot Cycle Concept |
title_sort |
benign, small-scale power unit for the arctic: the carnot cycle concept |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1989 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 42 No. 3 (1989): September: 189–298; 253-264 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718/48632 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64718 |
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ARCTIC |
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