Experimental analysis of parameter influences on the performances of direct air cooled power generating unit

• Experiments for the performances of air-cooled power generating unit.
• Influences of correlative factors were revealed and classed by grey relational analysis.
• Different fans in fan cluster of air-cooling system had different influences.
• The quantificational impact degrees of environmental conditions were obtained.

The direct air-cooled power generating units subjected to the environmental natural wind were influenced by the cluster effect of the axial flow fan cluster and the exhaust hot air recirculation simultaneously. The coupling effects would lead to complex variations of fan cooling capacity in different areas of the air-cooled condensers. The divisional regulation experiments were carried out on the axial flow fan cluster of the 2 × 330 MW direct air-cooled power generating units. Based on experimental data, the grey relational analysis approach was applied to obtain the influences of the operating parameters, axial flow fans, as well as environmental conditions on the performances of the objective air-cooled power generating unit quantitatively. The results indicated that the speed and current of axial flow fans in different portions of the fan cluster influenced the back pressure and the coal consumption rate for power supply differently, and the fan speed influenced the performances of the power generating unit more directly than the fan current. The results can be the evidence for taking the divisional regulation of fan cluster against the impact of natural wind on the operating performance of power generating unit.