Is there a Supercharged Gas Turbine in your Future?
This article discusses various features of supercharged gas turbine and supercharged analysis. One 400 MW supercharged gas turbine power plant variant analysed by Wettstein yielded a predicted thermal efficiency of 60 percent, rivaling current combined cycle values. The supercharged gas turbine power plant proposed by Wettstein is a semi-closed (SC) cycle. The SC cycle is an amalgamation of closed and open cycles. It consists of a gas turbine having an internal combustor for energy input to the cycle. With a SC cycle, a designer now has some of the best features of both open and closed to move SC power plant operation in different directions. With internal combustion, the SC cycle is not constrained by the temperature limitations of the closed cycle. The supercharged gas turbine power plant looks very promising. In another ASME paper, Wettstein shows how gas turbine supercharging could benefit marine propulsion.