The pressing need to lower emissions from fossil power plants has focused worldwide attention on renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants have emerged as strong contenders for alternate sources of energy. Rapid advances in mirror technology have slowly but steadily narrowed the gap in the capital investment between solar power plants and its peers, making solar power plants more economically viable for power generation.
In a parabolic mirror solar power plant (trough design), the heat transfer fluid (HTF) is heated to elevated temperatures using the energy from the sun. The thermal energy in the HTF is used to convert water to superheated steam in a series of heat exchangers namely the preheater, steam generator and the superheater. The thermal energy in the HTF is also used to heat the steam exiting the high-pressure steam turbine in a reheater. The preheater, steam generator, superheater and the reheater are commonly referred to as the solar power plant heat exchangers.
In a number of applications, molten salt heat exchangers are used to facilitate power generation at night (thermal storage). During daylight, molten salt is heated to elevated temperatures using the energy from the sun (or the HTF) and then stored in large vessels. At night, the thermal energy in the molten salt is transferred to the heat transfer fluid (HTF) in molten salt heat exchangers. The heat from the HTF is then used to heat water to superheated steam in the preheater, steam generator and the superheater and to heat the steam exiting the HP turbine in the reheater.
Some of the challenges encountered in the design of the solar power plant heat exchangers are cyclic operation, rapid startup and shutdowns, high pressure and high temperature applications, minimal shellside or tubeside pressure drop, and unconventional thermophysical properties of the heat transfer fluid. Each component of a Maarky heat exchanger is designed to offer optimal performance at all modes of operation. The thermal and hydraulic designs are configured from state of the art technology, proprietary concepts, and experience in design, fabrication, startup, and trouble shooting of heat exchangers in critical service. Each pressure and non-pressure part is carefully designed to withstand the specified normal and transient loads.
For solar power plants, Maarky also offers standard power cycle equipment such as steam surface condenser and feedwater heaters. Other components such as deaerators, condensate pump skids, and boiler feed pumps are offered through our suppliers.
