AT&T; 9:58 AM @ 4 77% EOC 4193 Design_Project T... Design Project: Ocean Thermal

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AT&T; 9:58 AM @ 4 77% EOC 4193 Design_Project T... Design Project: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Ever since the 1973 Oil Crisis hit the United States, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversioe (OTEC technology has been proposed as a solution for clean, renewable ahemative energy. The US federal government has since poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this nascent technology with the hope of generating electricity with nothing but the thermal differences in ocean depths. In a nutshell, OTEC uses warmer ocean surface water to evaporate water, and cooler, deeper water to condense it. This heat differential is used to power a similar generator to various other coal or nuclear power plants. Many scientists regard OTEC as a viable alternative energy source. One of its strengths is that it is not reliant on any unpredictable sources. The Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Ocean Energy notes thaL "OTEC is one ofthe continuously available renewable resources that could contribute to base-load power supply. " This is because OTEC generates a stable and constant amount of power from the ocean temperature gradient, giving it a crucial advantage over other altemative energy sources, and freeing it from the classie argument against renewables. By contrast, many of the renewable energy sources in use today depend on unpredictable factors which are extremely intermitten Solar power, for example, can only generate electricity when there is ample sunlight, which changes both with time and season. This has been one of the major problems plaguing renewable energy sources, since intermittent generation does not provide for a workable electric utility. In this design project, each group needs to perform a comprehensive survey of the history and state-of-the-art OTEC technology available. With a thorough understanding, each group should propose new ideas to change/improve a current OTEC technology in terms of system efficiency and costs. Among others, please include the following contents in your report and presentation A. Survey current OTEC technologies and introdace a few example systems. Summarize their pros and cons. B. Intreduce your innovative ideas for improving current technology C. what kinds of heat-transfer mechanisms and working principles will youa use? D. How does system E. Estimate system's cooling capacity, cost, and size. F. What are pros/cons of your design as compared to other technologies? your system design look like? Draw a schematie diagram. 2 of 2 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox

Explanation / Answer

OTEC-OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION

In OTEC we use the temperature difference between the hot surface of the ocean and the cooler, deeper layers beneath to drive a heat engine in broadely a similaar way except that no fuel is burned.We dont need to create a difference in temperature by burning fuel because a temperature gradient exists in ocean naturally.since the temperature difference is all important we need the biggest vertical , temperature gradient that we could possibly find.In practice that means a place where the surface waters re as hot as we can find and the deep waters as cold as possible.I believe the ideal place for it lies in the tropic region between the latitude(20 deg N and 20 deg S)

ADVANTAGE

i herby attach some links below that could help you

http://www.asee.org/documents/zones/zone1/2014/Student/PDFs/202.pdf

http://www.curry.eas.gatech.edu/Courses/6140/ency/Chapter2/Ency_Oceans/OTEC.pdf

http://www.exergy.se/ftp/cng97ot.pdf

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