Undergraduate Projects Involving the Thermofluid Design of Power-Plants

Abstract

This article describes a type of final-year project offered to undergraduates over the past twenty years on the Combined Engineering Course at Coventry University. Each project is concerned with either confirming the thermofluid design of a particular power-plant, or with proposing a design for a novel and futuristic plant. The type of power-plant involved may be a power-station or an industrial or vehicular engine or turbine plant of specific rating and usage, e.g. the Space Shuttle, or a futuristic 3-GW(e) steam power-station linked to a fusion reactor. The work is concerned with the thermofluid cycle and plant design only, and does not include the mechanical design or other design aspects. It is assumed that these aspects can be achieved because the power-plants chosen are either already in existence or are thought to be practicable futuristic plants. To date, thirty-four projects have been completed, each constituting one-sixth of the students' final-year study programmes.

The general nature of these projects is described in the article, and an illustrative example is presented. This is followed by a discussion on what are appropriate projects in the 1990s, and the merits of offering the type described here.

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