REGULATION 2017 ACADEMIC YEAR 2019-2020

V.R.S. College of Engineering & Technology, Arasur-607107

(Reaccredited by NAAC and an ISO 9001:2008 Recertified Institution)

Subject Name : RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Subject code : ORO551
Regulation : 2017
Year/Sec : III/ A&B (MECH)
Semester : V

UNIT V
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Resources, types of wells, methods of harnessing the energy, potential in
India. OCEAN ENERGY: OTEC, Principles utilization, setting of OTEC plants, thermodynamic cycles.
Tidal and wave energy: Potential and conversion techniques, mini-hydel power plants, and their
economics. DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION: Need for DEC, Carnot cycle, limitations, and principles
of DEC.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Resources, types of wells, methods of harnessing the energy, potential in
India
1. What are the kinds of geothermal resources?
There are five kinds of geothermal resources. They are:
o Hydrothermal convective systems.
 Vapour dominated or dry steam fields.
 Liquid dominated system or wet steam fields and
 Hot water fields
o Geopressure resources
o Petro-thermal or hot dry rocks (HDR)
o Magma resources
o Valcanoes.
2. Define magma?
Magma is a molten rock at temperature ranging from 700oc to 1600oc. This hotviscous liquid comes out at
active volcanic vents and solidifies.
3. What are the types of geothermal power generation?
 Liquid dominated
o Flashed steam engine
o Binary cycle system
 Vapour dominated resource
4. Write the field of utilization of geothermal energy
 Power generation
 Space heating

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 Extraction and refining at borax and sulphur
 Green house heating
 Refrigeration
5. What are the advantages of geothermal energy?
 Versatile in its use
 It is cheaper as compared to the energies obtained from other sources bothzero fuels and fossil fuels
 It delivers greater amount of net energy from its system than otheralternative of conventional systems
 It has the highest annual load factor at 85% to 90% compared to which fossil fuel has 50% load factor.
 Pollution produced is least.
6. What are the disadvantages of geothermal energy?
 Overall efficiency is 15% compared to fossil fuel plants (35-40% )
 The withdrawal of large amount of steam or water from a hydrothermalreservoir may result in surface
subsidence
 Drilling operation is noisy
 Large areas are needed for exploitation of geothermal energy as much of it isdiffused.

7. What are the main parts of geothermal power plant?

o Production well
o Vaporizer
o Circulating pump
o Expansion turbine
o Generator
o Condenser 
o Transformer
8. What are the applications of geothermal energy?
o Generation of electric power 
o Space heating for building
o Industrial process heat
OCEAN ENERGY: OTEC, Principles utilization, setting of OTEC plants, thermodynamic cycles.
9. Mention the advantages and disadvantages of the OTEC power plant. (May 08)
Advantages
 Air conditioning
 Chilled soil agriculture
 Aquaculture
 Desalination
Disadvantages
 Degradation of heat exchanger performance as dissolved gases
 Degradation of heat exchanger performance by microbial fouling
 Parasitic power consumption by exhaust compressor 
 Improper sealing
10. List the classification of OTEC based on cycle.
 Open cycle
 Closed cycle
 Hybrid cycle

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TIDAL AND WAVE ENERGY: Potential and conversion techniques, mini-hydel power plants, and
their economics
11. What is meant by tidal current energy?
Tidal currents are the flow of water during changing tidal level. The tidal currents flow in horizontal
direction and have kinetic energy. This energy iscalled tidal current energy.
12. What is meant by tidal current?
The tidal rise and fall of water is accompanied by periodic horizontal to andfro motion of water called
tidal currents.
13. Define tidal range
The tidal range is the difference between consecutive high and low tide waterlevels. It is denoted by R.
The unit is meter.
R= (High tide level) – (low tide level) m
14. Define the following termsa) Spring tides b) Neap tides
a) Spring tides
The tidal range is maximum on full moon or new moon and suchtides are called spring tides.
b) Neap tides
The tidal range is minimum on first quarter and third quarter moonand such tides are called the neap tides.
15. List out the Limitations of tidal energy
The main limitations of tidal energy are
 Economic recovery of energy from tides is feasible only at those sites where energy is concentrated
in the form of tidal range ofabout 5m or more and the geography provides a favorable site
foreconomic construction of a tidal plant. Thus it is site specific.
 Due to mismatch of lunar driven period of 12 hours 25 min andhuman (solar) period of 24 hours,
the optimum tidal powergeneration is not in phase with demand.
 Changing tidal range in two-week periods produces changingpower.
 The turbines are required to operate at variable head.
 Requirement of large water volume flow at low head necessitatesparallel operation of many
turbines.
 Tidal plant disrupts marine life at the location and can causepotential harm to ecology.
16. List out the advantages of small hydro schemes.
 Small hydro plants can be tailored to the needs of the end usemarket within the limits of water
resources available.
 It serves to enhance economic development and livingstandards, especially in remote areas with
limited or noelectricity at all.
 It has a short gestation period.
 There is no need of long transmission lines because the output is consumed near the source.
 High performing electrical equipment can be easily found in themarket.
17. List out the disadvantages of small hydro schemes.
 Hydro systems, unlike solar components for example, dorequire some maintenance.
 The quality of output of small power stations is not as good asthat of bigger ones as these power
plants are generally designedon the basis of short term raw data. Thus, the ground conditions of
operation are much different from those considered for the design.
 Spilling of water over spillways can result in super saturation of water with gases from the air. The
gas bubbles absorbed into fish tissues, may cause damage and ultimately kill the fish.

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 In the absence of adequate hydrological and geological data,there are always uncertainties about
their potential as a resource.

18. Mention the Components of micro hydro scheme

The main components of micro hydro scheme are (i) diversion weir (ii)water conductor system with
regulating gates and spillways (iii) desiltingtank with spillway, (iv) headrace channel, (v) forebay tank with
desiltingbasin and spillway, (vi) penstock (vii) powerhouse and (viii) tailrace channel.

19. Define the following termsa) Forebay b) Penstock c) Tailrace

a) Forebay
A Forebay is a temporary storage of water (pondage), to be finallyutilized for energy generation. The storage
size ranges from 2 minutes to 6hours depending on the economic justifiability.
b) Penstock
A penstock is water conduit joining a forebay and a turbine. Penstockcan be made of steel pipes, hume pipes
and PVC pipes depending on thedesign pressure.
c) Tailrace
Tailrace is a simple water channel to transport discharge from theturbine back to the river with maximum
flow of 1 m/s.

20. What are the components of tidal power station?

 Barrage
 Turbines
 Sluices
 Embankments
21. List any four advantages of tidal power generation.
 Renewable and sustainable energy
 No liquid or solid pollution
 Little visual impact
 Reduces dependence upon fossil fuel
22. List the limitations of tidal energy.
 Orientation problem
 Requires storage devices
 Available at a lower rating and time
 High capital cost
23. What are the types of tidal power plants?
 Single basin single effect plant
 Single basin double effect plant
 Double basin with linked basin operation
 Double basin with paired basin operation
24. What are the important components of a tidal power plant?
 Barrage
 Sluice gates
 Power house with turbines each coupled to a generator along with auxiliaryequipment
25. What are the advantages of tidal plant?
 Tidal power is predictable

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 It is free from pollution
 It is inexhaustible and is a renewable source of energy
 Does not require valuable land as they are located on sea sources
 Tidal power with thermal plant can meet the load demand
 After the capital power is paid off the cost of power generated is verylow
 Tidal power is firm not changes seasonally
26. What are the disadvantages of tidal plant?
 Tidal power plant output varies with the variation in tidal range
 Tidal power supply is intermittent
 Capital cost of plant is not economical compared to conventional sources of energy
 Slitting of basins is a problem with tidal power plants
27. What are the advantages of wave energy generation?
 It is a free and renewable energy source
 Wave power devices use less land than solar and wind
 Devices are pollution free. Remove energy from the waves; leave the water in a placid state
 The degree of power concentration effected by waves is large
28. What are the disadvantages of wave energy generation?
 Wave energy equipment must be capable of withstanding very reverse peak stress and storms
 Wave energy equipments are complicated
 Capital investment, cost of maintenance repair and replacement growth of biological organisms are
other problems
 Energy is available on the ocean. The extraction equipment must be operated in a marine
environment
29. Define micro & mini hydro plant
Stations up to 1000KW output – micro hydroplant
Stations up to 5000KW output- mini hydro plant
30. What are the major components of small hydropower projects?
 Diversion weir and intake
 Desilting tank
 Water conductor system
 Forebay
 Penstock
 Spillway
 Power house
 Tail race

DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION: Need for DEC, Carnot cycle, limitations, principles of DEC.
31. State the need for DEC. or Which of the disadvantages of the current power generator system can
be overcome by DEC devices? (Nov/Dec 2019)
 No conversion of energy into mechanical and to electricity.
 Less loss in conversion process.
 More efficient process
 Cost also reduced
32. What are the limitations of carnot cycle?

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LIMITATION OF CARNOT CYCLE:The Carnot efficiency depends upon boiler temperature and
condenser temperature

 In practice condenser temperature T3cannot be reduced below about 300 K (27ºC), corresponding to a
condenser pressure of 0.035 bar. This is due to two factors:
o Condensation of steam requires a bulk supply of cooling water and such a continuous natural
supply below atmospheric temperature of about 15°C is unavailable.
o If condenser is to be of a reasonable size and cost, the temperature difference between the
condensing steam and the cooling water must be at least 10°C.
 The maximum cycle temperature T1 is also limited to about 900 K due to non availability of material of
construction of boiler tube and turbine blades to withstand high temperature
33. What is OTEC technology? Which Thermodynamic Cycle is used in OTEC? (Nov/Dec 2019)

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is the extraction and conversion of this thermal energy into
useful work for electricity generation. Carnot Cycle is used in OTEC system.
34. What are the DEC devices?(Nov/Dec 2019)
Thermoelectric generators
Fuel Cells
MHD

PART B
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Resources, types of wells, methods of harnessing the energy, potential in
India
1. Explain in detail about the various geothermal resources.

There are five kinds of geothermal resources. They are:

1. Hydrothermal convective systems.
• Vapour dominated or dry steam fields.
• Liquid dominated system or wet steam fields and
• Hot water fields
2. Geopressure resources
3. Petro-thermal or hot dry rocks (HDR)
4. Magma resources
5. Valcanoes
Major three geothermal sources are discussed here
1. Hydrothermal systems
Hydrothermal systems are those in which water is heated by contact with the hot rock which can be
either vapour-dominated or liquid-dominated.
Vapour-dominated systems

 In vapour-dominated systems the water is vaporized into steam that reaches the surface in a relatively
dry condition at about 250°C and rarely above 8 bars.
 This steam is suitable for use in power plants with the least cost.
 However, corrosive gases and erosive material are discouraging.

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Liquid-dominated systems
 In liquid-dominated systems the hot water trapped underground is at a temperature range of 174°C to
315°C.
 When trapped by wells drilled, the water flows either naturally to the surface or pumped up to it.
 The drop in pressure to about 8 bar or less causes it to flash to a two-phase mixture of low quality i.e.
liquid-dominated. It contains large concentrations of dissolved solids ranging from 3000 to 25,000
ppm.
 Power production is adversely affected because these solids precipitate and cause scaling in pipes and
heat transfer surfaces.
 Liquid-dominated systems, are however, much more plentiful, and the US Geological Survey
estimated 900 to 1400 quads Q (I Q = 10" Btu, about 1018 J) of energy available in these systems.
2. Geopressurised systems
 Geopressurised systems are sources of water or brine that has been heated in a manner similar to
hydrothermal water,
 This water is trapped in much deeper underground aquifers (2400 to 9100 m deep) at relatively low
temperature (- 160°C) and very high pressure (> 1000 bar) with high salinity (H-10%) and is often
referred to as brine.
 Also, it is saturated with natural gas, mostly methane, thought to be the result of decomposition of
organic matter.
 There is economic feasibility of generating electricity by a combined cycle, one that involves the
combustion of methane as well as heat from the thermal energy of hot water.
3. Petro thermal systems
 In Petro thermal systems, magma lying close to the earth's surface heats overlying rock and when no
underground water exists, there is simply hot dry rock (HDR).
 The temperatures of HDR vary between 150°C to 290°C.
 This energy, called Petro thermal energy, represents by for the largest resource of geothermal energy.
 Since, the HDR is largely impermeable, to make, it permeable, fracturing methods are considered
 It involves drilling wells into the rock and then fracturing by high-pressure water or nuclear
explosives.

2. Explain in detail about geo thermal power generation.

Or
What is the Geothermal Energy? What are the various methods of harnessing this energy?
What is the potential of Geothermal Energy in India?(Nov/Dec 2019)

The three basic types of geothermal electrical generation facilities are dry steam, flash steam and binary.

DRY STEAM PLANTS

 Dry Steam Plants use hydrothermal fluids that have to be dry steam.
 The dry steam will be directed to a turbine, which drives a generator that produces electricity.
 The steam eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels to run the turbine. (Also eliminating the need to
transport and store fuels!) This is the oldest type of geothermal power plant.
 It was first used at Lardarello in Italy in 1904, and is still very effective. 
 This approach of utilizing geothermal energy is limited because dry-steam hydrothermal resources
are extremely rare.

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Fig 5.1.Dry steam power plant

Flash Steam Power Plant (Liquid Domain System).
 Flash steam power plants are the most common. They use geothermal reservoirs of water with
temperatures greater than 182°C.
 This very hot water flows up through wells in the ground under its own pressure. As it flows upward,
the pressure decreases and some of the hot water boils into steam.
 The steam is then separated from the water and used to power a turbine/generator.
 Any leftover water and condensed steam are injected back into the reservoir, making this a sustainable
resource.

Fig 5.2.Flash steam power plant

Binary cycle geothermal power plant
 Binary cycle power plant operates on water at lower temperatures of about 107 degrees Celsiusto 182
degrees Celsius.
 These plants use the heat from the hot water to boil a fluid, usually an organiccompound with a low
boiling point.
 Binary cycle geothermal power generation plants differ from Dry Steam and Flash Steam systems

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 In theBinary cycle power plant, water or steam from the geothermal reservoir never comes in contact
with the turbine/generator units.
 In the Binary system, the water from the geothermal reservoir is used to heat another“working fluid”
which is vaporized and used to turn the turbine/generator units.
 The geothermal waterand the “working fluid” are each confined in separate circulating systems or
“closed loops” and nevercome in contact with each other.

Fig 5.3 Binary cycle Geothermal power plant

3. Explain the potential of geothermal resources in India.
 India has huge potential to become a leading contributor in generating eco-friendly and cost
effective geothermal power.
 Around 6.5 per cent of electricity generation in the world would be done with the help of
geothermal energy
 India would have to play a bigger role in the coming years in this direction.
 But, the power generation through geothermal resources is still in emerging stages in India.
 Geological Survey of India has identified about 340 geothermal hot springs in the country.
 Most of them are in the low surface temperature range from 37 o C to 90o C which is suitable for
direct heat applications.
 Some of the prominent geothermal resources include Puga Valley and Chhumathang in Jammu and
Kashmir, Manikaran in Himachal Pradesh, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Tapovan in Uttarakhand.
 A new location of geothermal power energy has also been found in Tattapani in Chhattisgarh.
 In addition, Gujarat is set to tap geothermal electricity through resources which are available in
Cambay between Narmada and Tapi river.

OCEAN ENERGY: OTEC, Principles utilization, setting of OTEC plants, thermodynamic cycles.

4. Explain in detail about the principles of OTEC

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is the extraction and conversion of this thermal energy into useful
work for electricity generation.
OTEC PRINCIPLES
 Fig. 5.4 outlines a system for OTEC; and with a heat engine operating a closed-cycle Rankine process
 The working fluid (e.g. ammonia) boils in the ‘evaporator’ at the ~25°C to ~30°C temperature of the
surface water, so driving a turbine and generator for electricity supply.
 On the output side of the turbine, the vapor condenses to a liquid at the ~5°C temperature of the
pumped deep water.

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 Alternative open-cycle systems have sea water as incoming working fluid, which evaporates at
reduced pressure before passing through a turbine.
 The condensate is ‘distilled water’, which may be used as both potable and irrigation water.
 The essential thermodynamic principles and limitations of the open cycle and closed cycle are the
same.
 In an idealized system with perfect heat exchangers, volume flow Q of warm water passes into the
system at temperature Th and leaves at Tc (the cold water temperature of lower depths).
 The power given up from the warm water in such an ideal system is: Po = ρcQ∆T

Fig. 5.4 Schematic diagram of an OTEC system

(The heat engine operates between the warm water from the ocean surface and the cold water
from the ocean depths from about 500 m to 1000 m below the surface.)
Where,
∆T = Th - Tc
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that the maximum outputpower P1 obtainable from
the power input P0 is:
P 1= ηCarnotPo
Where,
ηCarnot =∆T / This the efficiency of an ideal Carnot engine operating at an infinitely slowrate between
Th and Tc = Th – ∆T.

Although the Carnot theory neglectstime dependence and the practicalities of heat exchangers, it is
widelytaken as a criterion for judging efficiency.

For OTEC having ∆T only ~20°C (= 20K), even the ideal Carnot efficiency is verysmall: ~7%.
In practice, temperature drops of ~5°C occur across eachheat exchanger and part of the output power is used
for pumping, sothe net efficiency of a real system is substantially less at about 2 to 3%.

Nevertheless, the basic analysis illustrates both the promise and thelimitations of OTEC.

5. Explain in detail about open or Claude OTEC power plant

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The Open or Claude OTEC Cycle Power Plant.

The Claude plant used an open cycle in which seawater itself plays the multiple role of heat source, working
fluid, coolant, and heat sink

Fig. 5.5 Flow diagram and schematic of a Claude (open-cycle) OTEC power plant.

 In the cycle warm surface water at 27°C is admitted into an evaporator in which the pressure is
maintained at a value slightly below the saturation pressure corresponding to that water temperature.
 Water entering the evaporator, there four, finds itself “superheated” at the new pressure. This temporarily
superheated water undergoes volume boiling causing that water to partially flash to steam to an
equilibrium two phase condition at the new pressure and temperature.
 The low pressure in the evaporator is maintained by a vacuum pump that also removes the dissolved non
condensable gases from the evaporator.
 The evaporator now contains a mixture of water and steam of very low quality at 2. The steam is
separated from the water as saturated vapor at 3.
 The remaining water is saturated at 4 and is discharged as brine back to the ocean. The steam at 3 is, by
conventional power plant standards, a very low pressure, very high specific-volume working fluid
(0.0317 bar, 43.40 m3 /kg, compared to about 160 bar, 0.021 m3/kg for modern fossil power plants). It
expands in a specially designed turbine that can handle such conditions to 5. Since the turbine exhaust
system will be discharged back to the ocean in the open cycle, a direct-contact condenser is used, in
which the exhaust at 5 is mixed with cold water from the deep cold-water pipe at 6, which results in a
near-saturated water at 7. That water is now discharged to the ocean.
 The cooling water reaching the condenser at 13°C is obtained from deep water at 11°C (51.8°F).This rise
in temperature is caused by heat transfer between the progressively warmer outside water and the cooling
water inside the pipe as it ascends the cold water pipe. There are thus three temperature differences, all
about 2°C: one between warm surface water and working steam, one between exhaust steam and cooling
water, and one between cooling water reaching the condenser and deep water. It is obvious that because
of the very low temperature differences available to produce work, the external differences must be kept
to absolute minimum to realize as high efficiency as possible.

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6. Explain in detail about The Closed or Anderson cycle OTEC power plant
The Closed or Anderson Cycle OTEC Power Plant.
 Closed cycle utilizes the ocean’s warm surface and cool deep waters as heat source and sink,
respectively, but requires a separate working fluid that receives and rejects heat to the source and
sinks via heat.
 The working fluid may be ammonia, propane, or a Freon.
 The operating (saturation) pressures of such fluids at the boiler and condenser temperatures are much
higher than those of water, being roughly 10 bar at the boiler, and their specific volumes are much
lower, being comparable to those of steam in conventional power plants.
Fig. 5.6 Schematic of a closed-cycle OTEC power plant.

 The closed cycle also avoids the problems of the evaporator. It, however, requires the use of very large
heat exchangers (boiler and condenser) because, for an efficiency of about 2 percent, the amounts of
heat added and rejected are 50 times the output of the plant.
 In addition, the temperature differences in the boiler and condenser must be kept as low as possible to
allow for the maximum possible temperature difference across the turbine, which also contributes to
the large surfaces of these units.

7. State the advantages and disadvantage of OTEC power plant

ADVANTAGES OF OTEC
 It is clean form of energy conversion
 It does not occupy land areas
 It can be a steady source of energy since the temperatures are almost steady
DISADVANTAGES OF OTEC
 About 30 percent of power generated would be used to pump water.
 The system would have to withstand strong convective effect of sea water.
 Presence of fish cause additional hazard.
 Corrosive atmosphere
 Heavy Investment
TIDAL AND WAVE ENERGY: Potential and conversion techniques, mini-hydel power plants, and
their economics
8. Explain in detail about the tidal power plant and its classification. Or

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What is the basic principle of Tidal Energy? Explain the Principle of working of Simple Tidal
Energy Conversion Plant with the help of a neat sketch. What is the status of Tidal Power plants
in the world and in India? (Nov/Dec 2019)

TIDAL POWER PLANT:

 The periodic rise and fall of the water level of sea which are carried away by the gravitational
action of sun and moon is called tide.
 The energy generated by these tides is called tidal energy.
 To harness the tidal energy, the difference in water surface elevations at high tide and low tide is
utilized to operate a hydraulic turbine.
 A generator is attached to the turbine to generate electricity.
 The rising water or high tides are called floods and low tides are called ebbs.

HARNESSING TIDAL ENERGY:

The tidal energy can be utilized to convert it to electrical energy by using tidal power plant.

The major components of tidal power plant are:

 Power house- It has turbines, electric generators and other auxiliary equipments.
 The dam or barrage- The function is to form barrier between sea and basin or between two basins.
 Sluice ways- The function is to fill basin during high tides and empty basin during low tides.

CLASSIFICATION OF TIDAL POWER PLANT

 Single basin arrangement
 Double basin arrangement

SINGLE BASIN ARRANGEMENT

 Since only one basin interacts with the sea, power can be generated at regular intervals.
 A dam separates basin and sea. The power house is installed inside the dam.
 During High Tide, i.e., when the sea level rises, the turbine valves are opened and the sea water flows
into the basin through the turbine generating power.
 The power is generated till the level of sea water and basin is equal.
 The water is allowed to pass into the basin, till the level reaches its maximum position.
 During low tide, the level of basin is more than the level of sea water.
 After attaining sufficient head, the turbine valves are opened and water flows from basin to sea through
the turbine generating power.
 Tidal power plants normally use reversible water turbines, such that power is generated in both the
directions.

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Fig 5.7 The general arrangement of a single basin during high and low tide
A Single basin arrangement system can be classified as:
1) Single-ebb system: Water is stored during High tide in the basin and power is generated only during
low tide.
2) Single-Tide system: Power is generated only during High tide and it fills the basin. The water is drained
out during low tide.
3) Double cycle system: Power is generated during both high tide and low tide as explained above

DOUBLE BASIN ARRANGEMENT

Two Basin systems
 In the system, the two basins close to each other operate alternatively.
 One basin generates power when the tide is rising (basin getting filled up) and the other basin
generates power while the tide is falling (basin getting emptied).
 The two basins may have a common power house or may have separate power house for each basin.
 In both the cases, the power can be generated continuously

Fig5.8.schematic diagram of two-basin system.

. Cooperating double basin system

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Fig 5.9. schematic diagram of cooperating double basin system.

 This system consists of two basins, at different elevation connected through turbine.
 The high level basin sluices are called the inlet sluices and the low level as outlet sluices.
 During high tide, the inlet sluices are opened and the high level basin is filled with water.
 The water is allowed to flow to the lower basin through the turbine, generating power.
 Therefore, the level in the upper basin falls and that in the lower basin rises.
 During low tide, the outlet sluices are opened and water from the low level basin to the sea.
 This cycle is repeated ad power is generated.

ADVANTAGES OF TIDAL POWER PLANT

 It is independent of rain, and inexhaustible.
 Large area of valuable land is not required.
 When a tidal power plant works in combination with thermal or hydro-electric power plant, peak
power demand can be met effectively.
 Free from pollution.

DISADVANTAGES OF TIDAL POWER PLANT

 Power generation is not uniform.

 Life of turbines reduces due to corrosive sea water.
 Construction of dams in sea is difficult.
 The power transmission cost is high as it is located away from load centres.
 The plant efficiency is not uniform.
 Sedimentation and siltation of basins.

9. Explain in detail about the various method used in the conversion of wave energy to Electricity.
WAVES ENERGY:

 Wave energy is an irregular and oscillating low frequency energy source that can be converted to a 50
Hertz frequency and can then be added to the electric utility grid.
 Waves get their energy from the wind, which comes from solar energy.
 Waves gather, store, and transmit this energy thousands of kilometres with very little loss.

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 Though it varies in intensity, it is available twenty four hours a day all round the year.
 Wave power is renewable, pollution free and environment friendly.
 Its net potential is better than wind, solar, small hydro or biomass power.
 Wave energy technologies rely on the up-and-down motion of waves to generate electricity. There are
three basic methods for converting wave energy to electricity.
1. . Float or buoy systems
 Float or buoy systems that use the rise and fall of ocean swells to drive hydraulic pumps.
 The object can be mounted to a floating raft or to a device fixed on the ocean bed. A series of
anchored buoys rise and fall with the wave.
 The movement is used to run an electrical generator to produce electricity which is then
transmitted ashore by underwater power cables.

5.10 loat with air pump

2. Oscillating water column devices

 Oscillating water column devices in which the in-and-out motion of waves at the shore
enters a column and force air to turn a turbine.
 The column fills with water as the wave rises and empties as it descends.
 In the process, air inside the column is compressed and heats up, creating energy. This energy
is harnessed and sent to shore by electrical cable.

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Fig 5.11 Oscillating water column devices

3. Tapered channel
 Tapered channel rely on a shore mounted structure to channel and concentrate the waves
driving them into an elevated reservoir.
 Water flow out of this reservoir is used to generate electricity using standard hydropower
technologies

Fig 5.12 Tapered channel device

The advantages of wave energy are as follows:

 Because waves originate from storms far out to sea and can travel long distances without significant
energy loss, power produced from them is much steadier and more predictable day to day and season to
season.
 Wave energy contains about 1000 times the kinetic energy of wind.
 Unlike wind and solar energy, energy from ocean waves continues to be produced round the clock.
 Wave power production is much smoother and more consistent than wind or solar resulting in
higheroverall capacity factors.
 Wave energy varies as the square of wave height whereas wind power varies with the cube of air speed.
Water being 850 times as dense as air, this result in much higher power production fromwaves
averaged over time.
 Because wave energy needs only 1/200 the land area of wind and requires no access roads,
infrastructure costs are less.
DIFFICULTIES:
 Irregularity of wave patterns in amplitude, phase & direction,which makes it difficult to extract
power efficiently
 The power extraction system is exposed to occasional extremestormy conditions.
 Peak power of deep water waves is available in open sea, where isdifficult to construct, operate &
maintain a system &transmit power to the store,
 The slow & irregular motion of wave is required to be coupled to beelectrical generator requiring
high & constant speed motion.
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION: Need for DEC, Carnot cycle, limitations, and principles of DEC
10. Explain the Need for Direct energy Conversion.
Transformation of one type of energy (such as sunlight) to another(such as electricity) without passing
through an intermediate stage(such as steam to spin generator turbines).

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 The fuel cell, another electrochemical producer of electricity, wasdeveloped by William Robert
Grove.
 Thermoelectric generators are devices that convert heat directly intoelectricity.
 In a solar cell, radiant energy drives electrons across a potentialdifference at a semiconductor
junction in which the concentrations ofimpurities are different on the two sides of the junction.
NEED FOR DEC
 No conversion of energy into mechanical and to electricity.
 Less losses in conversion process.
 More efficient process
 Cost also reduced
11. Explain the process of CARNOT cycle and its Limitation.
CARNOT CYCLE
 The Carnot cycle has the greatest efficiency possible of an engine(although other cycles have
the same efficiency) based on theassumption of the absence of incidental wasteful processes
such asfriction, and the assumption of no conduction of heat betweendifferent parts of the
engine at different temperatures.
 In the early 19th century, steam engines came to play an increasinglyimportant role in industry
and transportation. However, a systematicset of theories of the conversion of thermal energy to
motive power bysteam engines had not yet been developed. Nicolas Léonard Sadi.
 Carnot (1796-1832), a French military engineer, published Reflectionson the Motive Power of
Fire in 1824.
 The book proposed a generalized theory of heat engines, as well as anidealized model of a
thermodynamic system for a heat engine that isnow known as the Carnot cycle.
PROCESSESS OF CARNOT CYCLE
 A reversible isothermal gas expansion process. In this process, theideal gas in the system
absorbs qinamount heat from a heat source at ahigh temperature Th, expands and does work on
surroundings.
 A reversible adiabatic gas expansion process. In this process, thesystem is thermally insulated.
The gas continues to expand and dowork on surroundings, which causes the system to cool to a
lowertemperature, Tl.
 A reversible isothermal gas compression process. In this process,surroundings do work to the
gas at Tl, and causes a loss of heat, qout.
 A reversible adiabatic gas compression process. In this process, thesystem is thermally
insulated. Surroundings continue to do work to thegas, which causes the temperature to rise
back to Th
P-V DIAGRM
In isothermal processes I and III, ΔU=0 because
ΔT=0. In adiabatic processes II and IV,
q=0. Work, heat, ΔU, and ΔH of each process

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Fig 5.13P-V DIAGRM

T-S DIAGRAM:
In isothermal processes I and III, ΔT=0. In adiabatic processes
II and IV, ΔS=0 because dq=0. ΔT and ΔS of each process

Fig 5.14 T-S DIAGRAM

LIMITATION OF CARNOT CYCLE:
The Carnot efficiency depends upon boiler temperature and condenser temperature
 T3:In practice condenser temperature T3cannot be reduced below about 300 K (27ºC), corresponding
to a condenser pressure of 0.035 bar. This is due to two factors:
 Condensation of steam requires a bulk supply of cooling water and such a
continuous natural supply below atmospheric temperature of about 15°C is
unavailable.
 If condenser is to be of a reasonable size and cost, the temperature difference
between the condensing steam and the cooling water must be at least 10°C.
 T1:The maximum cycle temperature T1 is also limited to about 900 K due to non availability of
material of construction of boiler tube and turbine blades to withstand high temperature.

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