The ventilation and cooling of two steam turbines were assessed for a power generation plant in Cyprus. Given the hot summers in Cyprus, the cooling of the turbines presents a unique challenge for the HVAC system. The solar heat was estimated by the solar load model of Fluent, to find out the highest possible heat, according to the geographic location and orientation of the building. The highest possible temperatures were applied, to consider the worst-case scenario for cooling.
A heat transfer model was developed, to examine whether the HVAC system can handle the thermal loads. The room housing of the turbines was modelled including the piping and the ventilation ducts. The temperature field was studied for the whole building, to investigate the possible temperature hot spots. Furthermore, the locations with lower ventilation were highlighted with the mean age of air, to find out the areas of stagnant air. The resulting air velocity and pressure reassured that no noise hazards for the employees were caused. The study provided valuable data for the company engineers, to avoid the addition of more fans, which would increase the running and maintenance costs.
ANSYS tools: ANSYS FLUENT