CCC-506: SCIENTIFIC

REASONOING AND
DISCOVERIES
Instructor: Richa
Priyadarshini; Ashutosh Singh
REPORT ON OUR FINAL PROJECT
Group name- Illuminati
Students name- Amritansh ranjan
Roll no.- 1310110050
Branch- mechanical engineering

Project name-Posotecada
Our final project was based on renewable energy .The project name is
based on the renewable energy resources which we have used for this
new hybrid energy production plant. It is combination of solar thermal
energy and ocean thermal energy conversion principles and working. We
thought of this project considering the problems faced by farmers of
villages where there is no electricity. Electricity is the basic need for any
development in any part of the world. Every machines from small bulb to

large machines require electricity to run. So if we are able to provide a low

maintenance power generating resource inside their own houses it could
not only help in there irrigation but also the electricity produced can be
utilised in their homes and whole village will have a clean energy
production cycle.
As we know that conventional methods of producing electricity use
resources of our earth like coal water and crude oil. Humans initially
thought that our mother nature has given these resources for them only
and they can utilise it as much as they can. This led to more and more
increase in creation of dams, digging oil wells in deep earth for crude oil
and coal.
But we never thought that everything has its ending. Now it is said that
crude oil and coal may last only for 50 to 100 years. Large dams are
causing flooding and have very detrimental impact on environment. These
resources produce high amount of energy but they also have polluted our
earth and have changed our environment leading to extinction of many
species and increase in diseases. Hence we all need to move towards
renewable resources to protect our earth and its environment.
Sun is a vast source of energy. From solar energy we can produce
electricity in two ways:

Photovoltaic energy: Solar photovoltaic produces energy directly

by converting solar energy into electrical energy using photovoltaic
cells made of semiconducting doped materials like silicon and
boron. The pvc(photovoltaic cells) have not very much high
efficiency(about 20%). This technology has more growth due to
direct conversion of sunlight to electricity occurs without any
moving parts or environmental emissions during operation.

 Solar thermal energy

Solar thermal energy is not very much developed form due to its second
grade energy level. First solar energy is used to heat any fluid and this
fluid is used to run the turbine for production of electricity which makes its
efficiency lower than photovoltaic (about 10%). The efficiency of solar
thermal power plant increases with the temperature of the heat source. To
achieve this solar radiation is concentrated by mirrors or lenses to obtain
higher temperatures a technique called Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).
The temperature of concentration solar power can reach beyond 1000 c
which cant be sustained by any turbines made of any material like iron or
alloys. Also this temperature is reaches only for some time during
afternoon and in morning and evening the temperature decreases rapidly
hence it becomes difficult to construct parts according to the varying
temperature. But scientist are trying to develop materials which can
transfer total heat energy absorbed from sun to low boiling fluid which
could increase its efficiency.
Second renewable energy concept which we used was ocean thermal
energy.

OTEC:

ocean thermal energy was invented in late 1880s. It is not developed

much due to its very low efficiency less than 7%. It uses the temperature
difference between cooler deep and warmer surface seawaters to run
a heat engine and produce useful work, usually in the form of electricity.
OTEC is a base load electricity generation system. However, since the
temperature differential is small, the thermal efficiency is low, making its
economic feasibility a challenge. Less efficient than conventional
methods, eg: hydro power plant, diesel generator. In this the low boiling
liquid used are mainly ammonia and R134a due to their low boiling but it
becomes difficult to construct material which should not react with
ammonia and also is rust free inside the sea water.

POSOTECADA
The working of our project model is heating by solar energy and cooling
by well water deep in ground. We have tried to use the potential head
provided to our flowing liquid during its flow through network of pipes. So
first we have to use a low boiling liquid like ammonia used in ocean
thermal power plants as the average heating temperature reached will be
approx. 100 c to 150 c. this liquefied low boiling fluid first will be at the
bottom of the well inside a pipe which will be submerged in water always.
In our presented posotecada model it is for one well but if we connect
many wells we can increase its efficiency.
So well water will act as condenser and it will always keep the conducting
fluid in liquid state. The pipe material is taken on basis of our conducting
liquid. Like ammonia it does not react with iron but reacts with copper and
aluminium. Pipes are also painted black so that they can absorb more
amount of heat. The conducting pipe is inserted in bore well pipe in such a
way that as the water is pumped up the LBP (LOW BOILING LIQUID)also
moves up in the pipe. There are two valves both one sided valve. When
the LBP reaches first valve it open and it moves further up and water is
moved toward the mouth of the hand pump. The low boiling liquid can
also be pumped by electrical pump but it will make the efficiency less.
When LBP reaches top part of conducting pipe which is present outside
the well and receiving most amount of solar radiation it will start to boil

and vaporise. Due to presence concentration solar plate the fluid will
reach to superheated state.
We have set up two turbine in our project.

High pressure Reaction turbine: high pressure reaction the fluid

glides along the blades of the turbine and exits axially along the
turbine, hence there is no impulsive force which acts perpendicular
to the blades. Total force is reaction force by the high temperature
vapour moving along the blades.

Impulse turbine: the blades in impulse turbine are semi spherical

shape hence the fluid has to impact perpendicularly impulsive force
so that maximum energy transfer can happen. The efficiency of
impulse turbine is less than the reaction turbine due to head losses
and the water gets accommodated in the blades.

So coming to our project,

First the superheated vapour passes the reaction losing its kinetic energy
and temperature. This turbine is connected to shaft to generate electricity.
After this energy utilisation we have to utilise the potential head of the
fluid at that much height so we add another turbine at deep inside the
well equivalent to water level. When vapour after moves down it
condenses more and now after flowing through convergent divergent
nozzle to increase its speed it flows through impulse turbine and this also
generates energy connected with the shaft.

After all this energy production the fluid is allowed to condense in the pipe
inside the well water. This way the cycle continues and the production
continues and there is no any requirement of regular fuel or water
consumption.
Also we thought of that in winters the ground water is hot so the
conducting fluid will get pre heat which also increase its efficiency as hot
vapours move up so pump work will decrease. regarding the efficiency of
our project some scientist had researched of setting panel in ocean
thermal power plant which would increase its efficiency by 1.5 times.
Hence regarding our posotecada efficiency will be about 15-20% approx.
Efficiency= output/input=15-20 %
Now regarding cost of its manufacturing,
Pipes will be made of iron having very high corrosion resistant. This whole
set up will require one time cost hence if we provide one time loans to
farmers they will be able to buy this power producing generator.
Refrigerants could be used different cheaper liquid but it should be always
seen that there is no leakage from pipes. Minimising every cost this could
cost approx. rs 30000.

Drawbacks of our project

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

High set up cost

Failure in case of absence of Sun
Corrosion of metallic elements
Leakage of volatile fluid
Requires high grade material, eg: air-tight compartments
Lack of personnel for implementation of this in rural area
Lack of education for Kisaan
No such implementation of this kind has been made before

Advantages of posotecada
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Renewable
A combination of two renewable sources
Greater combined efficiency
No residual wastes
Requires less area, space

6.
7.
8.
9.

Can be modified
OTE- One time expense
Less maintenance ( 5 yrs )
Economical in long run

Reference :
http://www.slideshare.net/vigneshfun/turbine-a-neat-differentiation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbine
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/turbines.html