HSZG at the 48th Power Plant Technology Colloquium

The Technical Thermodynamics Department of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was represented by Prof. H.-J. Kretzschmar and Dr.-Ing. S. Herrmann at the 48th Power Plant Engineering Colloquium 2016 in Dresden. In a poster presentation titled “Simulation of Transient Power Plant Processes Based on the New IAPWS Guideline for the Spline-Based Table Look-up (SBTL) Method,” they presented a new, internationally binding guideline from the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS) for the accurate and, at the same time, very rapid calculation of the properties of water and water vapor.

The SBTL method was developed by Mr. M. Kunick as part of his collaborative doctoral project between Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and TU Dresden. It is already being used in a variety of applications, such as for numerical flow analysis with the CFD software TRACE from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), for simulating power plant processes using the thermal flow diagram calculation programs KRAWAL from SIEMENS PG and EBSILON Professional from STEAG Energy Services, as well as for safety analysis of nuclear reactors using RELAP-7 from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). As a result of the conference, further collaborations on the use of the SBTL method—for example, in the ANSYS CFD program—were initiated with interested parties at the poster session.

Dr.-Ing. Schneider, a research associate working with Prof. Kratzsch at the Institute for Process Engineering, Process Automation, and Measurement Technology, presented the results to date of his work on the topic “Investigations into the Flexibility Requirements of Conventional Power Plants to Compensate for Dynamic Residual Loads.”

The overall objective of the project is to develop an approach that is as universally applicable as possible for the integration of thermal storage systems into thermal power plants of various rated capacities. In particular, this enables thermal power plants to flexibly adapt their electricity production to the requirements of the European interconnected grid. The studies currently being conducted on the necessary flexibility measures are based on a smoothing of the feed-in curves of a reference plant derived from load profile analysis. The storage capacities required to ensure smooth operation of the thermal power plant while simultaneously meeting the necessary dynamic load requirements from the grid are determined from the differences between smoothed and unsmoothed load profiles. This project is being conducted as part of the “New Systems for Resource Conservation” graduate college at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and is funded by the European Social Fund.

The Power Plant Technology Colloquium is one of the most important scientific events focusing on modern energy and power plant technology. Once a year, representatives from industry, academia, and politics meet to discuss current issues in the field of energy and power plant engineering.

Authors: M. Kunick, Dr.-Ing. S. Herrmann, Prof. Dr.-Ing. A. Kratzsch