scholarly journals Design of a Wide-Range Centrifugal Compressor Stage for Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles

Author(s):  
Robert Pelton ◽  
Sewoong Jung ◽  
Tim Allison ◽  
Natalie Smith

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles require high compressor efficiency at both the design point and over a wide operating range. Increasing the compressor efficiency and range helps maximize the power output of the cycle and allows operation over a broader range of transient and part-load operating conditions. For sCO2 cycles operating with compressor inlets near the critical point, large variations in fluid properties are possible with small changes in temperature or pressure. This leads to particular challenges for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet temperature and associated fluid density are subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. Design and off-design operating requirements for a wide-range compressor impeller are presented where the impeller is implemented on an integrally geared compressor–expander concept for a high temperature sCO2 recompression cycle. In order to satisfy the range and efficiency requirements of the cycle, a novel compressor stage design incorporating a semi-open impeller concept with a passive recirculating casing treatment is presented that mitigates inducer stall and extends the low flow operating range. The stage design also incorporates splitter blades and a vaneless diffuser to maximize efficiency and operating range. These advanced impeller design features are enabled through the use of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) manufacturing. The resulting design increases the range from 45% to 73% relative to a conventional closed impeller design while maintaining high design point efficiency.

Author(s):  
Robert Pelton ◽  
Tim Allison ◽  
Sewoong Jung ◽  
Natalie Smith

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles require high compressor efficiency at both the design-point and over a wide operating range. Increasing the compressor efficiency and range helps maximize the power output of the cycle and allows operation over a broader range of transient and part-load operating conditions. For sCO2 cycles operating with compressor inlets near the critical point, large variations in fluid properties are possible with small changes in temperature or pressure. This leads to particular challenges for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet temperature and associated fluid density are subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. Design and off-design operating requirements for a wide-range compressor impeller are presented where the impeller is implemented on an integrally-geared compressor-expander (IGC) concept for a high temperature sCO2 recompression cycle. In order to satisfy the range and efficiency requirements of the cycle, a novel compressor stage design incorporating a semi-open impeller concept with a passive recirculating casing treatment is presented that mitigates inducer stall and extends the low flow operating range. The stage design also incorporates splitter blades and a vaneless diffuser to maximize efficiency and operating range. These advanced impeller design features are enabled through the use of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) manufacturing. The resulting design increases the range from 45% to 73% relative to a conventional closed impeller design while maintaining high design point efficiency.


Author(s):  
Timothy C. Allison ◽  
Natalie R. Smith ◽  
Robert Pelton ◽  
Jason C. Wilkes ◽  
Sewoong Jung

Successful implementation of sCO2 power cycles requires high compressor efficiency at both the design-point and over a wide operating range in order to maximize cycle power output and maintain stable operation over a wide range of transient and part-load operating conditions. This requirement is particularly true for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet density is a strong function of inlet temperature that is subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. In order to meet these requirements, a novel centrifugal compressor stage design was developed that incorporates multiple novel range extension features, including a passive recirculating casing treatment and semi-open impeller design. This design, presented and analyzed for CO2 operation in a previous paper, was fabricated via direct metal laser sintering and tested in an open-loop test rig in order to validate simulation results and the effectiveness of the casing treatment configuration. Predicted performance curves in air and CO2 conditions are compared, resulting in a reduced diffuser width requirement for the air test in order to match design velocities and demonstrate the casing treatment. Test results show that the casing treatment performance generally matched computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predictions, demonstrating an operating range of 69% and efficiency above air predictions across the entire map. The casing treatment configuration demonstrated improvements over the solid wall configuration in stage performance and flow characteristics at low flows, resulting in an effective 14% increase in operating range with a 0.5-point efficiency penalty. The test results are also compared to a traditional fully shrouded impeller with the same flow coefficient and similar head coefficient, showing a 42% range improvement over traditional designs.


Author(s):  
Timothy C. Allison ◽  
Natalie R. Smith ◽  
Robert Pelton ◽  
Sewoong Jung ◽  
Jason C. Wilkes

Successful implementation of sCO2 power cycles requires high compressor efficiency at both the design-point and over a wide operating range in order to maximize cycle power output and maintain stable operation over a wide range of transient and part-load operating conditions. This requirement is particularly true for air-cooled cycles where compressor inlet density is a strong function of inlet temperature that is subject to daily and seasonal variations as well as transient events. In order to meet these requirements, a novel centrifugal compressor stage design was developed that incorporates multiple novel range extension features, including a passive recirculating casing treatment and semi-open impeller design. This design, presented and analyzed for CO2 operation in a previous paper, was fabricated via direct metal laser sintering and tested in an open-loop test rig in order to validate simulation results and the effectiveness of the casing treatment configuration. Predicted performance curves in air and CO2 conditions are compared, resulting in a reduced diffuser width requirement for the air test in order to match design velocities and demonstrate the casing treatment. Test results show that the casing treatment performance generally matched CFD predictions, demonstrating an operating range of 69% and efficiency above air predictions across the entire map. The casing treatment configuration demonstrated improvements over the solid wall configuration in stage performance and flow characteristics at low flows, resulting in an effective 14% increase in operating range with a 0.5-point efficiency penalty. The test results are also compared to a traditional fully shrouded impeller with the same flow coefficient and similar head coefficient, showing a 42% range improvement over traditional designs.


Author(s):  
Kenneth L. Suder ◽  
Patricia S. Prahst ◽  
Scott A. Thorp

NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program is investigating turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion systems for access to space because it provides the potential for aircraft-like, space-launch operations that may significantly reduce launch costs and improve safety. To this end, NASA and GE teamed to design a Mach 4 variable cycle turbofan/ramjet engine for access to space. To enable the wide operating range of a Mach 4+ variable cycle turbofan ramjet required the development of a unique fan stage design capable of multipoint operation to accommodate variations in bypass ratio (10X), fan speed (7X), inlet mass flow (3.5X), inlet pressure (8X), and inlet temperature (3X). In this paper, NASA has set out to characterize a TBCC engine fan stage aerodynamic performance and stability limits over a wide operating range including power-on and hypersonic-unique windmill operation. Herein, we will present the fan stage design, and the experimental test results of the fan stage operating from 15% to 100% corrected design speed. Whereas, in the companion paper [1], we will provide an assessment of NASA’s APNASA code’s ability to predict the fan stage performance & operability over a wide range of speed and bypass ratio.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan D. Cich ◽  
J. Jeffrey Moore ◽  
Chris Kulhanek ◽  
Meera Day Towler ◽  
Jason Mortzheim

Abstract An enabling technology for a successful deployment of the sCO2 close-loop recompression Brayton cycle is the development of a compressor that can maintain high efficiency for a wide range of inlet conditions due to large variation in properties of CO2 operating near its dome. One solution is to develop an internal actuated variable Inlet Guide Vane (IGV) system that can maintain high efficiency in the main and re-compressor with varying inlet temperature. A compressor for this system has recently been manufactured and tested at various operating conditions to determine its compression efficiency. This compressor was developed with funding from the US DOE Apollo program and industry partners. This paper will focus on the design and testing of the main compressor operating near the CO2 dome. It will look at design challenges that went into some of the decisions for rotor and case construction and how that can affect the mechanical and aerodynamic performance of the compressor. This paper will also go into results from testing at the various operating conditions and how the change in density of CO2 affected rotordynamics and overall performance of the machine. Results will be compared to expected performance and how design changes were implanted to properly counter challenges during testing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 168781401988478
Author(s):  
M Gado ◽  
E Elgendy ◽  
Khairy Elsayed ◽  
M Fatouh

This article aims to improve the system cooling capacity of an adsorption chiller working with a silica gel/water pair by an allocation of the optimum cycle time at different operating conditions. A mathematical model was established and validated with the literature experimental data to predict the optimum cycle time for a wide range of hot (55°C–95°C), cooling (25°C–40°C), and chilled (10°C–22°C) water inlet temperatures. The optimum and conventional chiller performances are compared at different operating conditions. Enhancement ratio of the system cooling capacity was tripled as the cooling water inlet temperature increased from 25°C to 40°C at constant hot and chilled water inlet temperatures of 85°C and 14°C, respectively. Applying the concept of the optimum cycle time allocation, the system cooling capacity enhancement ratio can reach 15.6% at hot, cooling, and chilled water inlet temperatures of 95°C, 40°C, and 10°C, respectively.


Author(s):  
M. S. N. Murthy ◽  
Subhash Kumar ◽  
Sheshadri Sreedhara

Abstract A gas turbine engine (GT) is very complex to design and manufacture considering the power density it offers. Development of a GT is also iterative, expensive and involves a long lead time. The components of a GT, viz compressor, combustor and turbine are strongly dependent on each other for the overall performance characteristics of the GT. The range of compressor operation is dependent on the functional and safe limits of surging and choking. The turbine operating speeds are required to be matched with that of compressor for wide range of operating conditions. Due to this constrain, design for optimum possible performance is often sacrificed. Further, once catered for a design point, gas turbines offer low part load efficiencies at conditions away from design point. As a more efficient option, a GT is practically achievable in a split configuration, where the compressor and turbine rotate on different shafts independently. The compressor is driven by a variable speed electric motor. The power developed in the combustor using the compressed air from the compressor and fuel, drives the turbine. The turbine provides mechanical shaft power through a gear box if required. A drive taken from the shaft rotates an electricity generator, which provides power for the compressor’s variable speed electric motor through a power bank. Despite introducing, two additional power conversions compared to a conventional GT, this split configuration named as ‘Part Electric Gas Turbine’, has a potential for new applications and to achieve overall better efficiencies from a GT considering the poor part load characteristics of a conventional GT.


Author(s):  
Ziliang Li ◽  
Xingen Lu ◽  
Ge Han ◽  
Yanfeng Zhang ◽  
Shengfeng Zhao ◽  
...  

Centrifugal compressors often suffer relatively low efficiency and a terrible operating range particularly due to the complex flow structure and intense impeller/diffuser interaction. Numerous studies have focused on improving the centrifugal compressor performance using many innovative ideas, such as the tandem impeller, which has become increasingly attractive due to its ability to achieve the flow control with no additional air supply configurations and control costs in compressor. However, few studies that attempted to the investigation of tandem impeller have been published until now and the results are always contradictory. To explore the potential of the tandem impeller to enhance the compressor performance and the underlying mechanism of the flow phenomena in the tandem impellers, this paper numerically investigated a high-pressure-ratio centrifugal compressor with several tandem impellers at off-design operating speeds. The results encouragingly demonstrate that the tandem impeller can achieve a performance enhancement over a wide range of operating conditions. Approximately 1.8% maximum enhancement in isentropic efficiency and 5.0% maximum enhancement in operating range are achieved with the inducer/exducer circumferential displacement of [Formula: see text] = 25% and 50%, respectively. The observed stage performance gain of the tandem impellers decreases when the operating speed increases due to the increased inducer shock, increased wake losses, and deteriorated tandem impeller discharge flow uniformity. In addition, the tandem impeller can extend the impeller operating range particularly at low rotation speeds, which is found to be a result from the suppression of the low-momentum fluid radial movement. The results also indicate that the maximum flux capacity of the tandem impeller decreases due to the restriction of the inducer airfoil Kutta–Joukowsky condition.


Author(s):  
Juri Bellucci ◽  
Filippo Rubechini ◽  
Andrea Arnone ◽  
Lorenzo Arcangeli ◽  
Nicola Maceli ◽  
...  

In this paper a multi-objective, aerodynamic optimization of a high-pressure steam turbine stage is presented. The overall optimization strategy relies on a neural-network-based approach, aimed at maximizing the stage’s efficiency, while at the same time increasing the stage loading. The stage under investigation is composed of prismatic blades, usually employed in a repeating stage environment and in a wide range of operating conditions. For this reason, two different optimizations are carried out, at high and low flow coefficients. The optimized geometries are chosen taking into account aerodynamic constraints, such as limitation of the pressure recovery in the uncovered part of the suction side, as well as mechanical constraints, such as root tensile stress and dynamic behavior. As a result, an optimum airfoil is selected and its performance are characterized over the whole range of operating conditions. Parallel to the numerical activity, both optimized and original geometries are tested in a linear cascade, and experimental results are available for comparison purposes in terms of loading distributions and loss coefficients. Comparisons between measurements and calculations are presented and discussed for a number of incidence angles and expansion ratios.


Author(s):  
Paul A. Dellenback

An alternative configuration for a regenerative gas turbine engine cycle is presented that yields higher cycle efficiencies than either simple or conventional regenerative cycles operating under the same conditions. The essence of the scheme is to preheat compressor discharge air with high temperature combustion gases before the latter are fully expanded across the turbine. The efficiency is improved because air enters the combustor at a higher temperature, and hence heat addition in the combustor occurs at a higher average temperature. The heat exchanger operating conditions are more demanding than for a conventional regeneration configuration, but well within the capability of modern heat exchangers. Models of cycle performance exhibit several percentage points of improvement relative to either simple cycles or conventional regeneration schemes. The peak efficiencies of the alternative regeneration configuration occur at optimum pressure ratios that are significantly lower than those required for the simple cycle. For example, at a turbine inlet temperature of 1300°C (2370°F), the alternative regeneration scheme results in cycle efficiencies of 50% for overall pressure ratios of 22, whereas simple cycles operating at the same temperature would yield efficiencies of only 43.8% at optimum pressure ratios of 50, which are not feasible with current compressor designs. Model calculations for a wide range of parameters are presented, as are comparisons with simple and conventional regeneration cycles.


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