Robert Dorr <[email protected]> wrote:
> I just don't see why it is so difficult determining the COP of such a > large system. As far as I can see you have to make a few measurements to > get a very good idea of a thermal plants performance. . . . > It is not difficult when you stick to the ASME codes for instruments and procedures. You have to a trained HVAC engineer to work with such large equipment because it can be very dangerous. There are high voltages, high temperature and so on. A rupture in a 1 MW steam pipe will kill people very quickly, or critically burn them. I have seen an 80 kW factory boiler in operation, with the steam vented. It is frightening! Steam pipe breaks in ship engine rooms and steam locomotives were horrible accidents. (My late father worked for 6 years in the engine room of a steamship launched circa 1910, and he said there were dozens of ways to be killed or maimed by the equipment. He was, in fact, maimed, which is why he left the merchant marine did not see combat during WWII.) The procedures are described by state laws in every state, but they are all based on ASME recommendations. The full set of boiler inspection procedures are difficult. They are complicated. They include things like checking combustion efficiency, chimney safety, emergency shutdown equipment, carbon monoxide levels and so on. Many of them are over my head, but the ones relating to boiler efficiency are fundamentally the same as laboratory-scale calorimetry, except on a much larger scale. They are accurate but not precise by the standards of the laboratory. I would say they are within 10%, judging by things such as the lookup table range of values here, for example: file:///home/chronos/u-1160197d37ec1500e70f021620dd3bae3f09f41c/Downloads/Boiler%20Efficiency%20Guide.pdf See also: http://www.nationalboiler.com/blog/uncategorized/ways-to-measure-industrial-boiler-efficiency/ https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/standards/performance-test-codes Measuring boiler efficiency is a critical part of the inspection. When a boiler operates below rated efficiency, something is seriously wrong with it. Such as incomplete combustion (smoke), or scale in the tank, or for various other reasons. So this is always part of the inspection routine. The state of Florida has their boiler inspection procedures online, but when I last checked the links did not work. Look up some other state and you will see what I mean. Or look at the Boiler Efficiency Guide I linked to above. Anyway, to make a long story short, any professional who glances at Rossi's configuration and data will say "there's no excess heat." Even I can do that. It is obvious. - Jed
