scholarly journals HYBRID ELECTRIC POWERTRAIN FOR LONG-HAUL TRUCKS AND BUSES: PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF A NEW CONCEPT BASED ON A COMBINED CYCLE POWER PLANT

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Sebastian Bahamonde Noriega ◽  
Carlo De Servi ◽  
Piero Colonna

The electric hybridization of heavy-duty road vehicles is a promising alternative to reduce the environmental impact of freight and passengers transportation. Employing a micro gas turbine as a prime mover offers several advantages: high power density, fuel flexibility, ultra-low emissions, low vibrations and noise, simplicity and lower maintenance cost. State-of-the-art micro gas turbines feature an efficiency of 30%, which can be increased to 40% by employing a mini organic Rankine cycle system as a bottoming power plant. Such a powertrain could achieve higher efficiency with next-gen micro gas turbines and mini ORC systems, especially with an R&D push of the automotive sector. This paper presents the analysis of a hybrid electric heavy-duty vehicle with a prime mover based on this concept. The best combined cycle system stemming from the design exercise features an estimated peak efficiency of 44%, and a nominal power output of about 150kW. This corresponds to the power demand at cruise condition of a long-haul truck. A series configuration with Lithium-Ion batteries was selected for the hybrid powertrain, for it decouples the prime mover dynamics from the power demand. The benchmark is a vehicle featuring a next generation diesel engine, with a peak efficiency equal to 50%. The results show that the fuel economy can be largely improved by increasing the size of the battery in the hybrid powertrain. Furthermore, employing natural gas in the prime mover of the hybrid vehicle leads to ultra low emissions that are well below the limits set by European and north American regulations. Additionally, the CO2 emissions of the hybrid powertrain are considerably lower than that of the benchmark. The work documented here thus demonstrates the potential of this hybrid powertrain concept, especially in terms of exhaust emissions, as a promising transition technology towards the full electrification of the powertrain.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. K4MD26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyfettin C. Gülen

AbstractThis article evaluates the improvement in gas turbine combined cycle power plant efficiency and output via pressure gain combustion (PGC). Ideal and real cycle calculations are provided for a rigorous assessment of PGC variants (e.g., detonation and deflagration) in a realistic power plant framework with advanced heavy-duty industrial gas turbines. It is shown that PGC is the single-most potent knob available to the designers for a quantum leap in combined cycle performance.


Author(s):  
Colin F. McDonald

With the capability of burning a variety of fossil fuels, giving high thermal efficiency, and operating with low emissions, the gas turbine is becoming a major prime-mover for a wide spectrum of applications. Almost three decades ago two experimental projects were undertaken in which gas turbines were actually operated with heat from nuclear reactors. In retrospect, these systems were ahead of their time in terms of technology readiness, and prospects of the practical coupling of a gas turbine with a nuclear heat source towards the realization of a high efficiency, pollutant free, dry-cooled power plant has remained a long-term goal, which has been periodically studied in the last twenty years. Technology advancements in both high temperature gas-cooled reactors, and gas turbines now make the concept of a nuclear gas turbine plant realizable. Two possible plant concepts are highlighted in this paper, (1) a direct cycle system involving the integration of a closed-cycle helium gas turbine with a modular high temperature gas cooled reactor (MHTGR), and (2) the utilization of a conventional and proven combined cycle gas turbine, again with the MHTGR, but now involving the use of secondary (helium) and tertiary (air) loops. The open cycle system is more equipment intensive and places demanding requirements on the very high temperature heat exchangers, but has the merit of being able to utilize a conventional combined cycle turbo-generator set. In this paper both power plant concepts are put into perspective in terms of categorizing the most suitable applications, highlighting their major features and characteristics, and identifying the technology requirements. The author would like to dedicate this paper to the late Professor Karl Bammert who actively supported deployment of the closed-cycle gas turbine for several decades with a variety of heat sources including fossil, solar, and nuclear systems.


Author(s):  
Don Bruce

This paper describes two large gas turbine powered peaking stations, their installation and operation, and solutions to significant problems encountered. The design concept of modular power plant construction and how it can facilitate onsite setup time in a compact, remote controlled installation that is independent of external water supplies is also demonstrated. Electric power demand in a densely populated urban civilization is characterized by peaks and valleys during a 24-hr daily cycle. Of particular concern are the peaks of demand.


2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (05) ◽  
pp. 37-41
Author(s):  
Lee S. Langston

This article explores the advantages of gas turbines in the marine industry. Marine gas turbines, which are designed specifically for use on ships, have long been one of the segments of the gas turbine market. One advantage that gas turbines have over conventional marine diesels is volume. Gas turbines are the prime movers for the modern combined cycle electric power plant. Both CFM International (a joint venture of General Electric and France’s Snecma) and Pratt & Whitney are working on new engines for this multibillion dollar single-aisle, narrow-body market. Pratt & Whitney’s new certified PW1500G geared turbofans will have a first flight powering the first Bombardier CSeries aircraft. On land, sea, and air, the surge in gas turbine production is remarkable. The experts suggest that what the steam engine was to the 19th century and the internal combustion engine was to the 20th, the gas turbine might be to the 21st century: the ubiquitous prime mover of choice.


Author(s):  
Alberto Benato ◽  
Leonardo Pierobon ◽  
Fredrik Haglind ◽  
Anna Stoppato

When the Norwegian government introduced the CO2 tax for hydrocarbon fuels, the challenge became to improve the performance of off-shore power systems. An oil and gas platform typically operates on an island (stand-alone system) and the power demand is covered by two or more gas turbines. In order to improve the plant performance, a bottoming cycle unit can be added to the gas turbine topping module, thus constituting a combined cycle plant. This paper aims at developing and testing the numerical model simulating the part-load and dynamic behavior of a novel power system, composed of two gas turbines and a combined gas turbine coupled with an air bottoming cycle plant. The case study is the Draugen off-shore oil and gas platform, located in the North Sea, Norway. The normal electricity demand is 19 MW, currently covered by two gas turbines generating each 50% of the power demand, while the third turbine is on stand-by. During oil export operations the power demand increases up to 25 MW. The model of the new power plant proposed in this work is developed in the Modelica language using basic components acquired from ThermoPower, a library for power plant modelling. The dynamic model of the gas turbine and the air bottoming cycle turbogenerator includes dynamic equations for the combustion chamber, the shell-and-tube recuperator and the turbine shafts. Turbines are modelled by the Stodola equation and by a correlation between the isentropic efficiency and the non-dimensional flow coefficient. Compressors are modelled using quasi steady-state conditions by scaling the maps of axial compressors employing a similar design point. The recuperator, which recovers the exhaust heat from the gas turbine, is modelled using correlations relating the heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop at part-load with the mass flow rate. Thermodynamic variables and dynamic metrics, such as the rise time and the frequency undershooting/ overshooting, are predicted. Considering a load ramp of 0.5 MW/s, an undershooting of 4.9% and an overshooting of 3.0% are estimated. The rise time is approximately 30 s. Moreover, findings suggest that decreasing the core weight of the recuperator leads to limiting the frequency fluctuations, thus minimizing the risk of failure of the power system.


Author(s):  
Peter J. Stuttaford ◽  
Khalid Oumejjoud

CO2 emissions generated by power plants make up a significant portion of global carbon emissions. Although there has been a great deal of focus on new power sources incorporating state of the art environmental protection systems, there has been little focus on addressing the issues of existing power plants. The purpose of this work is to address the options available to existing gas turbine based power plants to retrofit CO2 reduction measures cost effectively at the source of emissions, the combustor. Pre-combustion decarbonization is a highly efficient method of carbon removal, as only a small fraction of the gas turbine system flow needs to be addressed. This results in the requirement to burn a hydrogen based fuel, which presents challenges due to its highly reactive nature. The properties of hydrogen/syngas combustion are reviewed with emphasis on solutions for premixed combustion systems. Premixed combustion as opposed to diffusion combustion systems are key to retrofit solutions for existing gas turbines. Premixed systems provide the life cycle cost benefit, and heat rate benefit of not requiring the addition of diluent to the cycle to control emissions. Fuel flexibility is critical for retrofit systems, allowing operators to run on high hydrogen fuels as well as back-up standard natural gas to maximize power plant availability. Pre-combustion decarbonization may occur remote from the power plant at a centralized fuel processing facility, or it may be integrated into the combined cycle gas turbine power plant. Existing combined cycle power plants operating on natural gas could be modified to incorporate fuel decarbonization into the cycle, minimizing the parasitic loss of such a system while capturing carbon credits which are likely to become of increasing monetary value. An example cycle to address such integrated systems is presented. The focus of this work is to present a cycle to provide decarbonized fuel, cost effectively, from existing natural gas systems, as well as centralized coal/petcoke based fuel processing facilities. An additional focus is on the combustion system design requirements to burn such fuels, which are retrofitable to existing heavy duty gas turbine based power plants.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (05) ◽  
pp. 30-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee S. Langston

This article explores the increasing use of natural gas in different turbine industries and in turn creating an efficient electrical system. All indications are that the aviation market will be good for gas turbine production as airlines and the military replace old equipment and expanding economies such as China and India increase their air travel. Gas turbines now account for some 22% of the electricity produced in the United States and 46% of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom. In spite of this market share, electrical power gas turbines have kept a much lower profile than competing technologies, such as coal-fired thermal plants and nuclear power. Gas turbines are also the primary device behind the modern combined power plant, about the most fuel-efficient technology we have. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing a new J series gas turbine for the combined cycle power plant market that could achieve thermal efficiencies of 61%. The researchers believe that if wind turbines and gas turbines team up, they can create a cleaner, more efficient electrical power system.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Ravelli

Abstract This study takes inspiration from a previous work focused on the simulations of the Willem-Alexander Centrale (WAC) power plant located in Buggenum (the Netherlands), based on integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology, under both design and off-design conditions. These latter included co-gasification of coal and biomass, in proportions of 30:70, in three different fuel mixtures. Any drop in the energy content of the coal/biomass blend, with respect to 100% coal, translated into a reduction in gas turbine (GT) firing temperature and load, according to the guidelines of WAC testing. Since the model was found to be accurate in comparison with operational data, here attention is drawn to the GT behavior. Hence part load strategies, such as fuel-only turbine inlet temperature (TIT) control and inlet guide vane (IGV) control, were investigated with the aim of maximizing the net electric efficiency (ηel) of the whole plant. This was done for different GT models from leading manufactures on a comparable size, in the range between 190–200 MW. The influence of fuel quality on overall ηel was discussed for three binary blends, over a wide range of lower heating value (LHV), while ensuring a concentration of H2 in the syngas below the limit of 30 vol%. IGV control was found to deliver the highest IGCC ηel combined with the lowest CO2 emission intensity, when compared not only to TIT control but also to turbine exhaust temperature control, which matches the spec for the selected GT engine. Thermoflex® was used to compute mass and energy balances in a steady environment thus neglecting dynamic aspects.


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