Fossil-fuel Power Plants

Famous People

Thomas Newcomen (1663-1729)

Thomas newcomen was a blacksmith, plumber, and tinsmith by trade, and baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, England, near a part of the country noted for a number of tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, restricting the depth at which the mineral could be mined. Newcomen perfected a steam engine for pumping water. He developed the steam engine with his business partner Thomas Savery in 1712. A boiler was connected to a cylinder, in which a piston was lifted by the pressure of steam. At the top of the stroke, cold water was sprayed into the cylinder. This condensed the steam, causing a vacuum, and atmospheric pressure acting on the top of the open cylinder forced the piston down again, completing the cycle. This downward stroke was the power stroke, so the device became known as an atmospheric engine. Newcomen's engine had more than a few drawbacks, among which was its inefficiency. It was expensive to run because the cold-water spray, besides condensing the steam, also cooled the cylinder which was heated again at the next cycle. Constant heating and cooling meant the boiler required more fuel, but this was not a problem where the engine was designed to be used - in coalmines. The first Newcomen engine went into operation at a coal mine at Dudley Castle in Staffordshire in 1712.

Unit IV. Perfect Participle and Participle II (special cases)

Read the following sentences. State the voice and the tense forms of the predicates. Find perfect participle or participle II in each sentence and explain the use of them. Translate the sentences into Russian.

1. Having changed the voltage they could proceed with the experiment.

2. Having been heated to 1C ice began to melt.

3. Having explained the structure and mechanics of the Universe Newton laid down the law of Universal Gravitation.

4. Having evaluated the data we shall next turn to their interpretation.

5. Having been given due attention the problem was successfully solved.

6. Having explained the methods used in our analysis we must report about the results.

7. Having made the measurements we can process the data. Having been insulated with rubber, the line was tested under unfavourable conditions.

8. Given the volume and the specific gravity, it is easy to calculate the weight of a body.

9. Rutherford’s research work followed by many experiments of other scientists made a great contribution to physics.

10. Given the weight and the specific gravity of a body, you can calculate its volume.

11. Stated in a simple form the hypothesis runs as follows.

12. Recrystallization followed by extraction gave good results.

13. The complexity of the technique involved increased considerably.

14. Hydrogen is the lightest element known.

· Read the following text. Find the predicate in each sentence and state the voice and the tense form. Which of the sentences contain participles?Translate the text into Russian.

A fossil fuel power plant is an energy conversion center that combusts fossil fuels to produce electricity. In a fossil fuel power plant, the chemical energy stored in fossil fuels such as coal, fuel oil, or natural gas is convered successively into thermal energy, mechanical energy, and finally electrical energy which is distributed across a wide geographic area. Almost all large fossil fuel power plants are steam-electric power plants

Great masses of hot steam, having accomplished the mechanical work in the turbines of power plants, are condensed, i.e. are cooled down and turned back into distilled water, and returned to the boiler for production of steam to activate the turbine.

Condensation of steam takes place in condensers where the hot steam is cooled when it comes in contact with tubes through which cold water, supplied from a water reservoir (river or lake), is circulated. Having taken the heat from the steam the cooling water is returned to the water source carrying along with it waste heat. This water is called circulating water. The importance of the distilled water for feeding steam boilers is extremely great since chemically clean water decreases the formation of scale in the boiler tubes, and, thus, makes their service life longer.

Fossil-fuel plants of large generating capacity are built close to the sources of fuel, in order not to transport large quantities of fuel over considerable distances.

The electric power generated in such plants is transmitted over long distance through overhead power transmission lines or underground transmission lines to the substation near a populated area.

Heat and electric power plants, in addition to electric power generation, also supply heat to closely located consumers (within a radius of 50 km). All kinds of industrial enterprises that require heat for production purposes, and also municipal consumers such as baths, laundries and the heating systems of dwelling houses and other buildings belong to such heat consumers.

· Transcribe the following words, practice reading them, give Russian equivalents:

Fossil fuel, accomplish, turn, production, reservoir, circulate, source, extremely, chemical, decrease, service, region, purpose, thermal, enterprise

· Are the following sentences true or false? Correct the false sentences

1. Hot steam is released into the air, having accomplished the mechanical work in the turbine.

2. The service life of the boilers is longer due to the usage of the distilled water.

3. Fossil-fuel power plants can be located anywhere.

4. Fossil-fuel power plants are used to supply large populated areas with electric power.

5. The fuel for the plants is transported over long distances.

6. The electric energy is transmitted through transmission lines.

· Use the following paragraphs to answer the questions.

Paragraph 1

What energy transformations take place at a fossil-fuel power plant?

Paragraphs 2, 3

Where does the process of condensation take place?

Paragraph 3

What characteristics does circulating water possess?

Paragraph 4

Where are fossil-fuel built? Why?

Paragraph 5

How is electric power transmitted?

Дата добавления: 2017-02-01; Просмотров: 70; Нарушение авторских прав?; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!