Showing papers on "Electricity generation published in 1970"

Nuclear energy and the fossil fuels

Abstract: The energy phenomenon of the first half of this century has been the increase in the use of petroleum and natural gas as fuels. World demand for petroleum energy has been increasing at the rate of 11% per yr. This demand is unsustainable, for the supply, as with any exhaustible resource, is limited. The continental energy policy is essentially one of integrating the North American supply and demand picture for the fossil fuels, using oil and gas from the interior of the continent to supply demand from the interior and using overseas supplies, up the limit of national security, for energy users farthest removed from these sources. The economics of expensive pipeline transportation as against cheap supertankers dictates this policy. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the fuel of the future will be nuclear, and for this century almost entirely the energy of fission rather than of fusion. Recent estimates suggest that as much as 50% of the energy for the U.S. will be nuclear by the year 2,000, and for Canada the more modest National Energy Board estimate holds that in 1990, 35% of Canadian electric generation will be by nuclear power reactors concentrated in the fuel-starved province of Ontario. (17 refs.)

Composite Representation of a Multireservoir Hydroelectric Power System

Abstract: A composite model for multireservoir hydroelectric power systems is constructed for studying the monthly decision conceming total hydrogeneration. This is an important decision when the inflows are uncertain and when hydro, with zero marginal cost, can be used not only to satisfy firm load commitments but also to displace other firm resources or to serve secondary loads. In such a case, the tradeoff between savings at the present and expected benefits in the future is determined mainly by the total hydrogeneration. The construction of a composite representation for the multireservoir hydroelectric power system in the Pacific Northwest is described. The composite model is based on a single measure "potential energy" which is indicative of the system's generating capability. This results in a one-dam representation of the multireservoir system which, in effect, receives, stores, and releases potential energy, in a statistical model for the potential energy inflow and in a generation function which relates potential energy released to actual electric power generated. It has applications in the study of different operating policies, market structures, and investment programs through simulation or optimization. As an example, it is used to obtain the net operating revenues as a function of the excess thermal in the system.

Method of generating electricity and electrical generator

Abstract: An electric generator for deriving electrical energy from oscillatory motion such as that of buoys, vehicles and animals. The generator has a stator and an armature coupled together by spring means and effective to generate current when bodily movement of the generator causes, by inertia effects, relative movement of the armature and stator. Particular application is in powering oceanographic buoys.

Power supply box

Abstract: A containerized portable power supply for providing electrical service to a plurality of consistently sized and shaped cargo storage containers stowed in vertical tiers and horizontal rows within retaining structures on the ship deck and within the ship hold, the power supply including a housing conforming substantially to the shape and size of the cargo storage containers so that the power supply may be interchangeably positioned within the stowed containers, a motor-generator combination for generating electricity to serve the needs of the cargo storage containers stowed aboard ship, and a distribution system connecting the generating facilities with the cargo containers located at any number of locations remote from the power supply.

Physical and engineering aspects of thermal pollution

Abstract: The rate of growth of cooling water requirements with particular reference to central electricity generating stations, the possibilities of improved efficiencies in electricity production, the limited availability of cooling water and the mechanisms and means of heat dissipation are detailed. Also described are the effects of heated discharges upon the biota and the hydrodynamics of the receiving waters.

Method and means for generating electricity and vaporizing a liquid in a thermal power station

Abstract: A thermal power plant operates with a varying production of electric power. Simultaneously, the heat generated in the plant is used for evaporating a liquid in a multi-stage vaporizing process. When the plant operates at low electric power the excess heat capacity of the plant is accumulated in a heat-accumulator. When the plant operates at high electric power, said accumulated heat is used for evaporating the liquid in the vaporizing process. In this way the vaporizing process can be operated continuously and steadily, independent of the variations in the production of electric power.

Stator Winding Systems with Reduced Vibratory Forces for Large Turbine-Generators

Abstract: It is shown that electromagnetically induced vibratory forces on the stator windings of large turbine?generators can be substantially reduced by using winding arrangements that permit an increased number of stator slots. Three methods for doing this without increasing the generator voltage are described: delta-connected windings, a new three-phase winding system using variable-pitch coils, and a " multi-three-phase" system using a six-phase generator, six buses, and a six-phase-three-phase power conversion in the generator stepup transformers. Generator voltages may be equal to, or slightly lower than, present levels. In some cases bus and transformer costs may be slightly higher, but this will be more than offset if the generator availability (over the life of the equipment) is increased by even a few days because of the reduced duty. Additional benefits in the generator design, in operating characteristics, and in the ability to build larger kVA ratings are described.

Materials for direct-conversion thermoelectric generators

Abstract: In large-scale power generation, for example at a central power station, the standard process involves the use of a heat engine to drive an electrical conductor through a magnetic field. The last stage is the alternator, which is very highly developed and has an efficiency of 98%. The heat engine itself has been considerably improved over the last 50 years or so, but still has an efficiency of < 50%, usually 30–40%. It is based on the use of coal or oil (fossil fuel) or nuclear power (uranium fission). Any of these fuels can be used to raise steam and drive a steam turbine, and this is the usual procedure in the central power station. Fossil fuel can be used in the gas turbine or the internal combustion engine, and both are used in relatively small installations to drive an alternator. Water and wind power are, of course, also utilised. There has been increasing interest in recent years in the possibility of developing more direct processes of converting heat to electricity.

A load shifting model for air pollution control in the electric power industry.

Abstract: Load-shifting, a relatively inexpensive approach to air pollution control, involves transferring the generating load from one power plant to another according to meteorological conditions. In this paper, an atmospheric dispersion model is adapted to estimate the exposure of the urban population to sulfur dioxide from operating the power system in different ways. Then a mathematical model of the power system of a metropolitan area is constructed to determine the reduction in pollution exposure which could be achieved, and the costs involved. As a case study, the application of the model to St. Louis, Missouri, is simulated. Under favorable conditions, load shifting could reduce pollution exposure up to 95%, while increasing the costs of electric power generation by only 4%. The load-shifting model has use not only as an operational control strategy, but also as an analytical tool to evaluate alternative pollution control measures in the electric power industry.

Control system for starting up and synchronizing a plurality of generators and method of operation

Abstract: An electrical control system for starting up and synchronizing a plurality of alternating current generators, such as emergency power generators, and a method of operation thereof. The plurality of generators are simultaneously connected to a common busline, and motive power is simultaneously applied to each of the generators. As the generators begin to supply power, synchronizing circuits monitor the power developed by each generator and cause the generators to maintain substantially identical speeds as the generators are brought up to a normal operating speed. Accordingly, when the speed of the generators reaches the normal operating speed, the generators are in synchronization. The common busline may then be coupled to the main voltage supply line to thereby energize the main supply line.

Power, pollution, and the imperiled environment II. East, Midwest, and West Coast: pollution-control plans of some major utilities; role of government in environmental matters; other proposed systems for reducing stack emissions

Abstract: A number of the largest utility companies are embarking upon large-scale nuclear generating plant construction programs that may phase out up to 50 percent of their fossil-fuel stations by the end of the present decade. This move is being encouraged by the electrical suppliers, who, with the utilities and the AEC, are striving to convince a skeptical public that nuclear stations are completely safe and provide the best means for air-pollution abatement. Nevertheless, many fossil-fuel plants are still being planned and built, and more efficient methods of reducing stack gas emissions will have to be incorporated at these facilities if a general reduction in air-pollution levels is to be achieved while simultaneously meeting the accelerating demand for more electric energy. Government, too, has a role to play and a responsibility to fulfill in the public interest by enacting fair and practicable pollution-control legislation, and ensuring the enforcement of such statutes.

Electric power source

Abstract: An electric generator operated by means of flow of fluid against a diaphragm to which a piezo-electric material is secured. The fluid flows into a cavity through an orifice and the fluid exhausts from the cavity between the diaphragm and a closely spaced annular shoulder. Pressure variations within the cavity caused by flexure of the diaphragm creates a self-sustained diaphragm vibration for generation of electricity by the piezoelectric material.

UHF avalanche diode oscillator providing 400 watts peak power and 75 percent efficiency

Abstract: High-efficiency high-peak power at UHF frequencies has been generated using commercial rectifier diodes operating as avalanche oscillators in simple tuned circuits. Peak power outputs are as high as 400 watts with as much as 75 percent efficiency. Oscillators have been operated in both coaxial and microstrip circuits using single and multiple-paralleled diode arrangements, and are mechanically tunable over a 10 to 15 percent frequency bandwidth.

The SNAP-19 Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generator Experiment

Abstract: The Nimbus III/SNAP-19 launch on April 14, 1969, represented the first flight of a nuclear power supply on a NASA observatory and the culmination of six years of interagency effort between NASA and the AEC. The SNAP-19 consists of two generators, two dc-dc converters, and a telemetry signal conditioning unit. Power is produced by converting the radioactive heat of decay of the isotope Pu-238 in a static thermopile consisting of 90 PbTe 2n-3p couples per generator. SNAP-19 S/N 009 produced 49.02 watts of usable power at launch and has degraded to 44.03 watts after 7? months, which represents a significantly higher degradation rate than predicted prior to launch from endurance testing of the same technology in electrically heated generators. Leakage of generator fill gas has resulted in a pressure drop from 15.5 to 1.32 psia. Generator currents have decreased as generator internal resistances have increased with time. Hot-cold junction temperatures have risen about 5°F during this period. while fin root tenperatures have risen 2-3°F

A concept for generating commercial electrical power from sunlight

Abstract: Electrical power generation from sunlight without pollution, using solar cell elevated rug technology

Effect of operating parameters on net power output of a 2- to 10-kilowatt Brayton rotating unit

Abstract: Performance of turbine-compressor-alternator Brayton cycle unit for space electric power generation

V. I. Lenin Plyavin'sk hydroelectric station in the Latvian SSR and its operation

Abstract: 1. The possibility of constructing hydroelectric stations with heads up to 40 m on soft ground was proved by the construction of the Plyavin'sk station. 2. The block-type powerhouse is economical with respect to investments and provides normal operation of the main and auxiliary water-power equipment. 3. The Plyavin'sk station is justifying the power functions imposed on it: participation in coverage of the peaks of the load schedule, regulation of the load deviations, and emergency and frequency reserve of the Northwest grid system. 4. The Francis turbines regulate the active load of the station by the number of units turned on.

S-band CW power module for phased arrays

Abstract: A hybrid integrated power transistor module delivering 16-W CW at 3 GHz with 100 mW of drive power at 1.5 GHz will be described. The minimum efficiency over a 13% bandwidth is 12%.