Part Load Conditions of Complex Cycle Power Plants With Intercooled Gas Turbine

Author(s):  
A. Peretto

The present paper evaluates the behavior, in design and part load working conditions, of a complex gas turbine cycle with multiple intercooled compression, and the optional preheating of the air at the high pressure compressor outlet by means of the gas turbine outlet hot gas. The results are then compared with those obtained by a Brayton cycle gas turbine, with or without preheating of the air at the high pressure compressor outlet. Subsequently, the performance of complex combined cycles, with intercooled gas turbine as topper and one, two or three pressure level steam cycle as bottomer, in design and part load working conditions is also evaluated. The performance of these complex combined plants is then compared with that obtained by a Brayton cycle gas turbine as topper and one, two or three pressure level steam cycle as bottomer. Part load working conditions are realized by varying either the inlet guide vane angle of the first compressor nozzles or the maximum temperature at the combustor outlet. The study shows that in part load working conditions obtained by varying IGV, the complex cycles, in the examined gas turbine or in the combined cycle power plants, give conversion efficiencies decidedly greater than those obtainable by varying combustor exit temperature. Furthermore it is found that these complex power plant efficiencies, in part load working conditions, are far greater than those obtained by the Brayton cycle gas turbine, or by combined cycle with Brayton cycle gas turbine as topper, if IGV adjustment is adopted. If power variation is obtained with combustor outlet temperature adjustment, the efficiencies of the combined power plants with complex or Brayton cycle gas turbines, are substantially the same, for the same relative power variation.

Author(s):  
Isaac Shnaid

The modem combined cycle power plants achieved thermal efficiency of 50–55% by applying bottoming multistage Rankine steam cycle. At the same time, the Brayton cycle is an attractive option for a bottoming cycle engine. In the author’s US Patent No. 5,442,904 is described a combined cycle system with a simple cycle gas turbine, the bottoming air turbine Brayton cycle, and the reverse Brayton cycle. In this system, air turbine Brayton cycle produces mechanic power using exergy of gas turbine exhaust gases, while the reverse Brayton cycle refrigerates gas turbine inlet air. Using this system, supercharging of gas turbine compressor becomes possible. In the paper, thermodynamic optimization of the system is done, and the system techno-economic characteristics are evaluated.


Author(s):  
Georg Kro¨ger ◽  
Christian Voß ◽  
Eberhard Nicke ◽  
Christian Cornelius

Engine operating range and efficiency are of increasing importance in modern compressor design for heavy duty gas turbines and aircraft engines. These highly challenging objectives can only be met if all components provide high aerodynamic performance and stability. The aerodynamic losses of highly loaded axial compressors are mainly influenced by the leakage flow through clearance gaps. Especially the leakage flow due to the radial clearances of rotor blades affects negatively both, the efficiency and the operating range of the engine. Recent publications showed that the clearance flow and the clearance vortex can be influenced by an additional static pressure gradient at the outer casing, which is created by an axisymmetric wavy casing shape. A notable performance increase of up to 0.4% stage efficiency at design point conditions was reported for high pressure stages with large tip clearance heights [1] as well as for a transonic stage with a relatively small radial clearance gap [2]. An analytic approach to predict the effects of axisymmetric casing contouring has been developed at DLR, Institute of Propulsion Technology, and is outlined in the first part of this work. The characteristic behavior of the clearance vortex in an adverse pressure gradient is discussed by means of an inviscid vortex model [3]. The critical vortex parameters are isolated and related to the static pressure increase due to the casing contour. The second part illustrates the application of an axisymmetric endwall contour. A three dimensional optimization of the outer casing and the corresponding blade tip airfoil section of a typical gas turbine high pressure compressor stage with a high number of free variables is presented. The optimization led to a significant increase in aerodynamic performance of about 0.8% stage efficiency and to a notable reduction of the endwall blockage at ADP conditions. Furthermore, an improved off-design performance was found and a simple design rule is given to transfer both, the casing contour and the blade tip section modification on similar high pressure compressor blades. Based on these design rules the results of the optimized stages were applied to the rear stages of a Siemens gas turbine compressor CFD model. An increase of 0.3% full compressor performance was reached at design point conditions.


Author(s):  
Dirk Therkorn ◽  
Martin Gassner ◽  
Vincent Lonneux ◽  
Mengbin Zhang ◽  
Stefano Bernero

Highly competitive and volatile energy markets are currently observed, as resulting from the increased use of intermittent renewable sources. Gas turbine combined cycle power plants (CCPP) owners therefore require reliable, flexible capacity with fast response time to the grid, while being compliant with environmental limitations. In response to these requirements, a new operation concept was developed to extend the operational flexibility by reducing the achievable Minimum Environmental Load (MEL), usually limited by increasing pollutant emissions. The developed concept exploits the unique feature of the GT24/26 sequential combustion architecture, where low part load operation is only limited by CO emissions produced by the reheat (SEV) burners. A significant reduction of CO below the legal limits in the Low Part Load (LPL) range is thereby achieved by individually switching the SEV burners with a new operation concept that allows to reduce load without needing to significantly reduce both local hot gas temperatures and CCPP efficiency. Comprehensive assessments of the impact on operation, emissions and lifetime were performed and accompanied by extensive testing with additional validation instrumentation. This has confirmed moderate temperature spreads in the downstream components, which is a benefit of sequential combustion technology due to the high inlet temperature into the SEV combustor. The following commercial implementation in the field has proven a reduction of MEL down to 26% plant load, corresponding to 18% gas turbine load. The extended operation range is emission compliant and provides frequency response capability at high plant efficiency. The experience accumulated over more than one year of successful commercial operation confirms the potential and reliability of the concept, which the customers are exploiting by regularly operating in the LPL range.


Author(s):  
A. Boschetti ◽  
E. Y. Kawachi ◽  
M. A. S. Oliveira

This work presents preliminary results of corrosion studies for three blades, one of the low pressure compressor and two of two different stages of the high pressure compressor of a gas turbine, which has been operating for 5,000 hours. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) in aqueous solution containing chloride, and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) were used to characterize the blades surfaces. The SEM and EDS results showed that the homogeneity and amount of contaminants, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride and sulphur are bigger in the high pressure compressor blade surfaces than in the low pressure compressor blade surface. The EIS results showed that the degradation process in turbine compressor blades increases with the temperature and pressure increase inside the compressors and depends of the blade composition. The low pressure compressor blade, which was made of a Ti base superalloy exhibited smaller corrosion resistance (smallest charge transfer resistance value (Rct)) than the two high pressure compressor blades, which were made of a Fe base superalloy. However, despite of its lower resistance to corrosion, after 5,000 hours of service, the low pressure compressor blade did not present pitting corrosion while the high pressure compressor blades did.


Author(s):  
S. Can Gu¨len

Increasing the thermal efficiency of fossil fuel fired power plants in general and the gas turbine power plant in particular is of extreme importance. In the face of diminishing natural resources and increasing carbon emissions that lead to a heightened greenhouse effect and greater concerns over global warming, thermal efficiency is more critical today than ever before. In the science of thermodynamics, the best yardstick for a power generation system’s performance is the Carnot efficiency — the ultimate efficiency limit, set by the second law, which can be achieved only by a perfect heat engine operating in a cycle. As a fact of nature this upper theoretical limit is out of reach, thus engineers usually set their eyes on more realistic goals. For the longest time, the key performance benchmark of a combined cycle (CC) power plant has been the 60% net electric efficiency. Land-based gas turbines based on the classic Brayton cycle with constant pressure heat addition represent the pinnacle of fossil fuel burning power generation engineering. Advances in the last few decades, mainly driven by the increase in cycle maximum temperatures, which in turn are made possible by technology breakthroughs in hot gas path materials, coating and cooling technologies, pushed the power plant efficiencies to nearly 40% in simple cycle and nearly 60% in combined cycle configurations. To surpass the limitations imposed by available materials and other design considerations and to facilitate a significant improvement in the thermal efficiency of advanced Brayton cycle gas turbine power plants necessitate a rethinking of the basic thermodynamic cycle. The current paper highlights the key thermodynamic considerations that make the constant volume heat addition a viable candidate in this respect. First using fundamental air-standard cycle formulas and then more realistic but simple models, potential efficiency improvement in simple and combined cycle configurations is investigated. Existing and past research activities are summarized to illustrate the technologies that can transform the basic thermodynamics into a reality via mechanically and economically feasible products.


Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2191
Author(s):  
Thanh Dam Mai ◽  
Jaiyoung Ryu

The flow and heat-transfer attributes of gas turbines significantly affect the output power and overall efficiency of combined-cycle power plants. However, the high-temperature and high-pressure environment can damage the turbine blade surface, potentially resulting in failure of the power plant. Because of the elevated cost of replacing turbine blades, damaged blades are usually repaired through modification of their profile around the damage location. This study compared the effects of modifying various damage locations along the leading edge of a rotor blade on the performance of the gas turbine. We simulated five rotor blades—an undamaged blade (reference) and blades damaged on the pressure and suction sides at the top and middle. The Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equation was used to investigate the compressible flow in a GE-E3 gas turbine. The results showed that the temperatures of the blade and vane surfaces with damages at the middle increased by about 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. This causes a sudden increase in the heat transfer and thermal stress on the blade and vane surfaces, especially around the damage location. Compared with the reference case, modifications to the top-damaged blades produced a slight increase in efficiency about 2.6%, while those to the middle-damaged blades reduced the efficiency by approximately 2.2%.


Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 627
Author(s):  
Thanh Dam Mai ◽  
Jaiyoung Ryu

Gas turbines are critical components of combined-cycle power plants because they influence the power output and overall efficiency. However, gas-turbine blades are susceptible to damage when operated under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. This reduces gas-turbine performance and increases the probability of power-plant failure. This study compares the effects of rotor-blade damage at different locations on their aerodynamic behavior and heat-transfer properties. To this end, we considered five cases: a reference case involving a normal rotor blade and one case each of damage occurring on the pressure and suction sides of the blades’ near-tip and midspan sections. We used the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation coupled with the k − ω SST γ turbulence model to solve the problem of high-speed, high-pressure compressible flow through the GE-E3 gas-turbine model. The results reveal that the rotor-blade damage increases the heat-transfer coefficients of the blade and vane surfaces by approximately 1% and 0.5%, respectively. This, in turn, increases their thermal stresses, especially near the rotor-blade tip and around damaged locations. The four damaged-blade cases reveal an increase in the aerodynamic force acting on the blade/vane surfaces. This increases the mechanical stress on and reduces the fatigue life of the blade/vane components.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  

The major growth in the electricity production industry in the last 30 years has centered on the expansion of natural gas power plants based on gas turbine cycles. The most popular extension of the simple Brayton gas turbine has been the combined cycle power plant with the Air-Brayton cycle serving as the topping cycle and the Steam-Rankine cycle serving as the bottoming cycle for new generation of nuclear power plants that are known as GEN-IV. The Air-Brayton cycle is an open-air cycle and the Steam-Rankine cycle is a closed cycle. The air-Brayton cycle for a natural gas driven power plant must be an open cycle, where the air is drawn in from the environment and exhausted with the products of combustion to the environment. This technique is suggested as an innovative approach to GEN-IV nuclear power plants in form and type of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The hot exhaust from the AirBrayton cycle passes through a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HSRG) prior to exhausting to the environment in a combined cycle. The HRSG serves the same purpose as a boiler for the conventional Steam-Rankine cycle [1].


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