Research into Deposits Accumulating on Heat Exchange Surfaces Due to the Thermal Degradation of Heat Exchange Apparatus in Steam Power Plants: A Study of Model Deposits

Abstract Deposits gathering on heat transfer surfaces can cause an increase in thermal resistance, which leads to thermal degradation. As a result, it causes a decrease in the efficiency of the entire thermal system, which translates into an increase in energy conversion costs, as well as an increase in environmental degradation. These deposits are characterised by the diverse geometric structure of the surface layer, which can be described using roughness parameters. The paper presents an original method for fabricating model deposits with diverse irregularities in their surface layers. The model deposits fabricated in this way can be dedicated as model research material for studies on the description of thermal degradation phenomena of heat exchangers within steam power plants, particularly condensers and regenerative heat exchangers. The physical characteristics of the model deposits and an original geometric model of their disposition onto the heat transfer area are presented in the paper, as well as the concept of a texture parameter defining the irregularity for the surface layer of these deposits.