Part-load studies on subsonic and supersonic MHD/steam power plants

This paper presents results from an ongoing series of investigations to establish optimum methods of operation for commercial scale (approximately 500 MWe) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)/steam power plants. With this as the goal, part load performance estimates were made for two nearly identical 500 MWe MHD/steam power plants, one using a subsonic MHD channel and the other using a supersonic MHD channel. Analysis was concentrated for the load range from 100 to 75 percent of rated capacity.