A Coal-Fired Heat Exchanger for an Externally Fired Gas Turbine

1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Solomon ◽  
M. A. Serio ◽  
J. E. Cosgrove ◽  
D. S. Pines ◽  
Y. Zhao ◽  
...  

Significant improvements in efficiency for electricity generation from coal can be achieved by cycles that employ a high-temperature, highly recuperative gas turbine topping cycle. The principal difficulty of employing a gas turbine in a coal-fired power generation system is the possible erosion and corrosion of the high-temperature rotating gas turbine components caused by the coal’s inorganic and organically bound constituents (ash, sulfur, and alkali metals). One route to overcome this problem is the development of an externally fired gas turbine system employing a coal fired heat exchanger. The solution discussed in this paper is the design of a Radiatively Enhanced, Aerodynamically Cleaned Heat-Exchanger (REACH-Exchanger). The REACH-Exchanger is fired by radiative and convective heat transfer from a moderately clean fuel stream and radiative heat transfer from the flame of a much larger uncleaned fuel stream, which supplies most of the heat. The approach is to utilize the best ceramic technology available for high-temperature parts of the REACH-Exchanger and to shield the high-temperature surfaces from interaction with coal minerals by employing clean combustion gases that sweep the tube surface exposed to the coal flame. This paper presents a combined experimental/computational study to assess the viability of the REACH-Exchanger concept. Experimental results indicated that the REACH-Exchanger can be effectively fired using radiation from the coal flame. Both computation and experiments indicate that the ceramic heat exchanger can be aerodynamically protected by a tertiary stream with an acceptably low flow rate.

Author(s):  
Lamyaa A. El-Gabry

A computational study has been performed to predict the heat transfer distribution on the blade tip surface for a representative gas turbine first stage blade. CFD predictions of blade tip heat transfer are compared to test measurements taken in a linear cascade, when available. The blade geometry has an inlet Mach number of 0.3 and an exit Mach number of 0.75, pressure ratio of 1.5, exit Reynolds number based on axial chord of 2.57×106, and total turning of 110 deg. Three blade tip configurations were considered; they are flat tip, a full perimeter squealer, and an offset squealer where the rim is offset to the interior of the tip perimeter. These three tip geometries were modeled at three tip clearances of 1.25, 2.0, and 2.75% of blade span. The tip heat transfer results of the numerical models agree fairly well with the data and are comparable to other CFD predictions in the open literature.


Author(s):  
Xiangbo Kong ◽  
Yuan Fu ◽  
Jianyu Zhang ◽  
Huiju Lu ◽  
Naxiu Wang

A FLiNaK high temperature test loop, which was designed to support the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR) program, was constructed in 2012 and is the largest engineering-scale fluoride loop in the world. The loop is built of Hastelloy C276 and is capable of operating at the flow rate up to 25m3/h and at the temperature up to 650°C. It consists of an overhung impeller sump-type centrifugal pump, an electric heater, a heat exchanger, a freeze valve and a mechanical one, a storage tank, etc. Salt purification was conducted in batch mode before it was transferred to and then stored in the storage tank. The facility was upgraded in three ways last year, with aims of testing a 30kW electric heater and supporting the heat transfer experiment in heat exchanger. Firstly, an original 100kW electric heater was replaced with a 335kW one to compensate the overlarge heat loss in the radiator. A pressure transmitter was subsequently installed in the inlet pipe of this updated heater. Finally, a new 30kW electric heater was installed between the pump and radiator, the purpose of which was to verify the core’s convective heat transfer behavior of a simulator design of TMSR. Immediately after these above works, shakedown test of the loop was carried out step by step. At first the storage tank was gradually preheated to 500°C so as to melt the frozen salt. Afterwards, in order to make the operation of transferring salt from storage tank to loop achievable, the loop system was also preheated to a relatively higher temperature 530°C. Since the nickel-base alloy can be severely corroded by the FLiNaK salt once the moisture and oxygen concentration is high, vacuum pumping and argon purging of the entire system were alternatively performed throughout the preheating process, with the effect of controlling them to be lower than 100ppm. Once the salt was transferred into the loop, the pump was immediately put into service. At the very beginning of operation process, it was found that flow rate in the main piping could not be precisely measured by the ultrasonic flow meter. Ten days later, the pump’s dry running gas seal was out of order. As a result, the loop had to be closed down to resolve these issues.


Author(s):  
Jong-Shang Liu ◽  
Mark C. Morris ◽  
Malak F. Malak ◽  
Randall M. Mathison ◽  
Michael G. Dunn

In order to have higher power to weight ratio and higher efficiency gas turbine engines, turbine inlet temperatures continue to rise. State-of-the-art turbine inlet temperatures now exceed the turbine rotor material capability. Accordingly, one of the best methods to protect turbine airfoil surfaces is to use film cooling on the airfoil external surfaces. In general, sizable amounts of expensive cooling flow delivered from the core compressor are used to cool the high temperature surfaces. That sizable cooling flow, on the order of 20% of the compressor core flow, adversely impacts the overall engine performance and hence the engine power density. With better understanding of the cooling flow and accurate prediction of the heat transfer distribution on airfoil surfaces, heat transfer designers can have a more efficient design to reduce the cooling flow needed for high temperature components and improve turbine efficiency. This in turn lowers the overall specific fuel consumption (SFC) for the engine. Accurate prediction of rotor metal temperature is also critical for calculations of cyclic thermal stress, oxidation, and component life. The utilization of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D CFD) codes for turbomachinery aerodynamic design and analysis is now a routine practice in the gas turbine industry. The accurate heat-transfer and metal-temperature prediction capability of any CFD code, however, remains challenging. This difficulty is primarily due to the complex flow environment of the high-pressure turbine, which features high speed rotating flow, coupling of internal and external unsteady flows, and film-cooled, heat transfer enhancement schemes. In this study, conjugate heat transfer (CHT) simulations are performed on a high-pressure cooled turbine stage, and the heat flux results at mid span are compared to experimental data obtained at The Ohio State University Gas Turbine Laboratory (OSUGTL). Due to the large difference in time scales between fluid and solid, the fluid domain is simulated as steady state while the solid domain is simulated as transient in CHT simulation. This paper compares the unsteady and transient results of the heat flux on a high-pressure cooled turbine rotor with measurements obtained at OSUGTL.


Designs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
David Denkenberger ◽  
Joshua M. Pearce ◽  
Michael Brandemuehl ◽  
Mitchell Alverts ◽  
John Zhai

A finite difference model of a heat exchanger (HX) considered maldistribution, axial conduction, heat leak, and the edge effect, all of which are needed to model a high effectiveness HX. An HX prototype was developed, and channel height data were obtained using a computerized tomography (CT) scan from previous work along with experimental results. This study used the core geometry data to model results with the finite difference model, and compared the modeled and experimental results to help improve the expanded microchannel HX (EMHX) prototype design. The root mean square (RMS) error was 3.8%. Manifold geometries were not put into the model because the data were not available, so impacts of the manifold were investigated by varying the temperature conditions at the inlet and exit of the core. Previous studies have not considered the influence of heat transfer in the manifold on the HX effectiveness when maldistribution is present. With no flow maldistribution, manifold heat transfer increases overall effectiveness roughly as would be expected by the greater heat transfer area in the manifolds. Manifold heat transfer coupled with flow maldistribution for the prototype, however, causes a decrease in the effectiveness at high flow rate, and an increase in effectiveness at low flow rate.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
Zheshu Ma ◽  
Zhenhuan Zhu

Indirectly or externally-fired gas-turbines (IFGT or EFGT) are novel technology under development for small and medium scale combined power and heat supplies in combination with micro gas turbine technologies mainly for the utilization of the waste heat from the turbine in a recuperative process and the possibility of burning biomass or 'dirty' fuel by employing a high temperature heat exchanger to avoid the combustion gases passing through the turbine. In this paper, by assuming that all fluid friction losses in the compressor and turbine are quantified by a corresponding isentropic efficiency and all global irreversibilities in the high temperature heat exchanger are taken into account by an effective efficiency, a one dimensional model including power output and cycle efficiency formulation is derived for a class of real IFGT cycles. To illustrate and analyze the effect of operational parameters on IFGT efficiency, detailed numerical analysis and figures are produced. The results summarized by figures show that IFGT cycles are most efficient under low compression ratio ranges (3.0-6.0) and fit for low power output circumstances integrating with micro gas turbine technology. The model derived can be used to analyze and forecast performance of real IFGT configurations.


1978 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. F. McDonald

With soaring fuel costs and diminishing clean fuel availability, the efficiency of the industrial gas turbine must be improved by utilizing the exhaust waste heat by either incorporating a recuperator or by co-generation, or both. In the future, gas turbines for power generation should be capable of operation on fuels hitherto not exploited in this prime-mover, i.e., coal and nuclear fuel. The recuperative gas turbine can be used for open-cycle, indirect cycle, and closed-cycle applications, the latter now receiving renewed attention because of its adaptability to both fossil (coal) and nuclear (high temperature gas-cooled reactor) heat sources. All of these prime-movers require a viable high temperature heat exchanger for high plant efficiency. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the increasingly important role of the recuperator and the complete spectrum of recuperative gas turbine applications is surveyed, from lightweight propulsion engines, through vehicular and industrial prime-movers, to the large utility size nuclear closed-cycle gas turbine. For each application, the appropriate design criteria, types of recuperator construction (plate-fin or tubular etc.), and heat exchanger material (metal or ceramic) are briefly discussed.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Saidi ◽  
Daniel Eriksson ◽  
Bengt Sundén

Abstract This paper presents a discussion and comparison of some heat exchanger types readily applicable to use as intercoolers in gas turbine systems. The present study concerns a heat duty of the intercooler for a gas turbine of around 17 MW power output. Four different types of air-water heat exchangers are considered. This selection is motivated because of the practical aspects of the problem. Each configuration is discussed and explained, regarding advantages and disadvantages. The available literature on the pressure drop and heat transfer correlations is used to determine the thermal-hydraulic performance of the various heat exchangers. Then a comparison of the intercooler core volume, weight, pressure drop is presented.


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