Analysis of application of feed-water injector heaters to steam power plants

Steam-water injectors are devices in which exchange of mass, momentum and energy between two fluids being in direct contact, occurs. They can operate as pumps, mixers or direct contact heat exchangers. In the last aspect their use as feed-water heaters in Rankine thermal cycle of steam power plants both in land and sea applications (to merchant and naval ships) is very interesting. This paper presents selected results of heat-and-flow investigations of a supercritical steam-water injector, obtained in Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences (IMP PAN). On their basis value of average heat transfer coefficient for mixing chamber was determined; the obtained values were even a few dozens greater than those for classical shell-and-tube heaters. In the theoretical part of this work is presented an original injector model based on balances of mass, momentum and energy, written for control volumes containing separately particular elements of injector. On the basis of the model flow parameters in characteristic cross-sections of injector were determined. The calulations were performed for two different injectors tested in IMP PAN (Gdańsk) and SIET (Piacenza, Italy), and their good compliance with experimental data was achieved.