Development of the Transpiration Air-Cooled Turbine for High-Temperature Dirty Gas Streams

1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wolf ◽  
S. Moskowitz

Studies of combined cycle electic power plants have shown that increasing the firing temperature and pressure ratio of the gas turbine can substantially improve the specific power output of the gas turbine as well as the combined cycle plant efficiency. Clearly this is a direction in which we can proceed to conserve the world’s dwindling petroleum fuel supplies. Furthermore, tomorrow’s gas turbines must do more than operate at higher temperature; they will likely face an aggressive hot gas stream created by the combustion of heavier oils or coal-derived liquid or gaseous fuels. Extensive tests have been performed on two rotating turbine rigs, each with a transpiration air cooled turbine operating in the 2600 to 3000°F (1427 to 1649°C) temperature range at increasing levels of gas stream particulates and alkali metal salts to simulate operation on coal-derived fuel. Transpiration air cooling was shown to be effective in maintaining acceptable metal temperatures, and there was no evidence of corrosion, erosion, or deposition. The rate of transpiration skin cooling flow capacity exhibited a minor loss in the initial exposure to the particulate laden gas stream of less than 100 hours, but the flow reduction was commensurate with that produced by normal oxidation of the skin material at the operating temperatures of 1350°F (732°C). The data on skin permeability loss from both cascade and engine tests compared favorably with laboratory furnace oxidation skin specimens. To date, over 10,000 hr of furnace exposure has been conducted. Extrapolation of the data to 50,000 hr indicates the flow capacity loss would produce an acceptable 50°F (10°C) increase in skin operating temperature.

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 770-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Chiesa ◽  
Ennio Macchi

All major manufacturers of large size gas turbines are developing new techniques aimed at achieving net electric efficiency higher than 60% in combined cycle applications. An essential factor for this goal is the effective cooling of the hottest rows of the gas turbine. The present work investigates three different approaches to this problem: (i) the most conventional open-loop air cooling; (ii) the closed-loop steam cooling for vanes and rotor blades; (iii) the use of two independent closed-loop circuits: steam for stator vanes and air for rotor blades. Reference is made uniquely to large size, single shaft units and performance is estimated through an updated release of the thermodynamic code GS, developed at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Milano. A detailed presentation of the calculation method is given in the paper. Although many aspects (such as reliability, capital cost, environmental issues) which can affect gas turbine design were neglected, thermodynamic analysis showed that efficiency higher than 61% can be achieved in the frame of current, available technology.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Fukuizumi ◽  
J. Masada ◽  
V. Kallianpur ◽  
Y. Iwasaki

Mitsubishi completed design development and verification load testing of a steam-cooled M501H gas turbine at a combined cycle power plant at Takasago, Japan in 2001. Several advanced technologies were specifically developed in addition to the steam-cooled components consisting of the combustor, turbine blades, vanes, and the rotor. Some of the other key technologies consisted of an advanced compressor with a pressure ratio of 25:1, active clearance control, and advanced seal technology. Prior to the M501H, Mitsubishi introduced cooling-steam in “G series” gas turbines in 1997 to cool combustor liners. Recently, some of the advanced design technologies from the M501H gas turbine were applied to the G series gas turbine resulting in significant improvement in output and thermal efficiency. A noteworthy aspect of the technology transfer is that the upgraded G series M701G2 gas turbine has an almost equivalent output and thermal efficiency as H class gas turbines while continuing to rely on conventional air cooling of turbine blades and vanes, and time-proven materials from industrial gas turbine experience. In this paper we describe the key design features of the M701G2 gas turbine that make this possible such as the advanced 21:1 compressor with 14 stages, an advanced premix DLN combustor, etc., as well as shop load test results that were completed in 2002 at Mitsubishi’s in-house facility.


Author(s):  
Christoph Schneider ◽  
Vladimir Navrotsky ◽  
Prith Harasgama

ABB has approximately 200 GT11N and GT11D type gas turbines currently operating in simple cycle and combined cycle power plants. Most of these machines are fairly mature with many approaching the end of their economic life. In order that the power producer may continue to operate a fleet with improved performance, Advanced Air Cooling Technology and Advanced Turbine Aerodynamics have been utilized to uprate these engines with the implementation of a completely new turbine module. The objective of the uprating program was to implement the advanced aero/cooling technology into a complete new turbine module with: • Improved power output for the gas turbine • Increase the GT cycle efficiency • Maintain or improve the gas turbine RAM (Reliability, Availability & Maintainability) • Reduce the Cost of Electricity • Maintain or reduce the emissions of the gas turbine The GT11NM gas turbine has been developed based on the GT11N which has been in operation since 1987 and Midland Cogeneration Venture (MCV-Midland, Michigan) was chosen to demonstrate the uprated GT11NM. The upate/retrofit of the GT11N engine was conducted in May/June 1997 and the resulting gas turbine - GT11NM has met and exceeded the performance goals set at the onset of the development program. The next sections detail the main changes to the turbine and the resulting performance improvements as established with the demonstration at Midland, Michigan.


Author(s):  
Paolo Chiesa ◽  
Ennio Macchi

All major manufacturers of large size gas turbines are developing new techniques aimed at achieving net electric efficiency higher than 60% in combined cycle applications. An essential factor for this goal is the effective cooling of the hottest rows of the gas turbine. The present work investigates three different approaches to this problem: (i) the most conventional open-loop air cooling; (ii) the closed-loop steam cooling for vanes and rotor blades; (iii) the use of two independent closed-loop circuits: steam for stator vanes and air for rotor blades. Reference is made uniquely to large size, single shaft units and performance is estimated through an updated release of the thermodynamic code GS, developed at the Energy Dept. of Politecnico di Milano. A detailed presentation of the calculation method is given in the paper. Although many aspects (such as reliability, capital cost, environmental issues) which can affect gas turbine design were neglected, thermodynamic analysis showed that efficiency higher than 61% can be achieved in the frame of current, available technology.


Author(s):  
V. Kallianpur ◽  
D. Stacy ◽  
Y. Fukuizumi ◽  
H. Arimura ◽  
S. Uchida

Seven G gas turbines from Mitsubishi are in commercial operational at various combined cycle power plants since the first Mitsubishi G gas turbine was inroduced in 1997. The combined operating time on the fleet exceeds over 78,000 actual hours. Additional power plants using Mitsubishi G-series gas turbines are in advanced stages of commissioning in the U.S.A., and are expected to be in commercial operation in 2003. This paper describes operating experience of the Mitsubishi G-series gas turbines, which apply steam-cooling instead of air-cooling to cool the combustor liners. The paper discusses design enhancements that were made to the lead M501G gas turbine at Mitsubishi’s in-house combined cycle power plant facility. It also addresses the effectiveness of those enhancements from the standpoint of hot parts durability and reliability at other power plants that are in commercial operation using Mitsubishi G gas turbines.


Author(s):  
Ibrahim Sinan Akmandor ◽  
O¨zhan O¨ksu¨z ◽  
Sec¸kin Go¨kaltun ◽  
Melih Han Bilgin

A new methodology is developed to find the optimal steam injection levels in simple and combined cycle gas turbine power plants. When steam injection process is being applied to simple cycle gas turbines, it is shown to offer many benefits, including increased power output and efficiency as well as reduced exhaust emissions. For combined cycle power plants, steam injection in the gas turbine, significantly decreases the amount of flow and energy through the steam turbine and the overall power output of the combined cycle is decreased. This study focuses on finding the maximum power output and efficiency of steam injected simple and combined cycle gas turbines. For that purpose, the thermodynamic cycle analysis and a genetic algorithm are linked within an automated design loop. The multi-parameter objective function is either based on the power output or on the overall thermal efficiency. NOx levels have also been taken into account in a third objective function denoted as steam injection effectiveness. The calculations are done for a wide range of parameters such as compressor pressure ratio, turbine inlet temperature, air and steam mass flow rates. Firstly, 6 widely used simple and combined cycle power plants performance are used as test cases for thermodynamic cycle validation. Secondly, gas turbine main parameters are modified to yield the maximum generator power and thermal efficiency. Finally, the effects of uniform crossover, creep mutation, different random number seeds, population size and the number of children per pair of parents on the performance of the genetic algorithm are studied. Parametric analyses show that application of high turbine inlet temperature, high air mass flow rate and no steam injection lead to high power and high combined cycle thermal efficiency. On the contrary, when NOx reduction is desired, steam injection is necessary. For simple cycle, almost full amount of steam injection is required to increase power and efficiency as well as to reduce NOx. Moreover, it is found that the compressor pressure ratio for high power output is significantly lower than the compressor pressure ratio that drives the high thermal efficiency.


Author(s):  
Michael Welch

Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant offer operators both environmental and economic benefits. The high efficiency achievable across a wide load range reduces both fuel costs and CO2 emissions to atmosphere. However, the scale of the power generation plays a major role in determining both cost and efficiency: a modern large centralized CCGT of 600MW output or more will have a full load efficiency in excess of 60% and a very competitive installed cost on a US$/kW basis. The smaller gas turbines required for distributed power applications are not optimized for combined cycle operation, with potential full load efficiencies of a combined cycle scheme ranging from a little over 40% to the high 50s depending on the power output of the gas turbine, the exhaust gas conditions and the plant configuration, while the installed cost is around twice that of a large centralized CCGT on a US$/kW basis. The drawback of a conventional combined cycle plant design is the need for water, which is a scarce commodity in some regions. Air cooling of the CCGT plant can be used to reduce water consumption, but make-up water will still be required for the steam system to compensate for steam losses, blowdown etc. While the lower exhaust gas temperatures of the smaller gas turbines impact the combined cycle efficiencies achievable, they do allow Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology to be considered for an alternative combined cycle configuration. This paper compares both the capital and operating costs and performance of combined cycle power plants for distributed power applications in the 30MW to 250MW power range based on conventional steam and various different ORC configurations.


Author(s):  
E. Kakaras ◽  
A. Doukelis ◽  
A. Prelipceanu ◽  
S. Karellas

Power generation from gas turbines is penalised by a substantial power output loss with increased ambient temperature. By cooling down the gas turbine intake air, the power output penalty can be mitigated. The purpose of this paper is to review the state of the art in applications for reducing the gas turbine intake air temperature and examine the merits from integration of the different air-cooling methods in gas turbine based power plants. Three different intake air-cooling methods (evaporative cooling, refrigeration cooling and evaporative cooling of pre-compressed air) have been applied in two combined cycle power plants and two gas turbine plants. The calculations were performed on a yearly basis of operation, taking into account the time-varying climatic conditions. The economics from integration of the different cooling systems were calculated and compared.


Author(s):  
Christian Vandervort

The power generation industry is facing unprecedented challenges. High fuel costs combined with an increased penetration of renewable power has resulted in greater demand for high efficiency and operational flexibility. Imperative for a reduced carbon footprint places an even higher premium on efficiency. Power producers are seeking highly efficient, reliable, and operationally flexible solutions that provide long-term profitability in a volatile environment. New generation must also be cost-effective to ensure affordability for both domestic and industrial consumers. Gas turbine combined cycle power plants provide reliable, dispatch-able generation with low cost of electricity, reduced environmental impact, and improved flexibility. GE’s air-cooled, H-class gas turbines (7/9HA) are engineered to achieve greater than 63% net, combined cycle efficiency while delivering operational flexibility through deep, emission-compliant turndown and high ramp rates. The largest of these gas turbines, the 9HA.02, exceeds 64% combined cycle efficiency (net, ISO) in a 1 × 1, single-shaft configuration. In parallel, the power plant has been configured for rapid construction and commissioning enabling timely revenue generation for power plant developers and owners. The HA platform is enabled by 1) use of a simple air-cooling system for the turbine section that does not require external heat exchange and the associated cost and complexity, and 2) use of well-known materials and coatings with substantial operating experience at high firing temperatures. Key technology improvements for the HA’s include advanced cooling and sealing, utilization of unsteady aerodynamic methodologies, axially staged combustion and next generation thermal barrier coating (TBC). Validation of the architecture and technology insertion is performed in a dedicated test facility over the full operating range. As of February 2018, a total of 18 HA power plants have achieved COD (Commercial Operation). This paper will address three topics relating to the HA platform: 1) gas turbine product technology, 2) gas turbine validation and 3) integrated power plant commissioning and operating experience.


Author(s):  
Meherwan P. Boyce

The performance analysis of the new generation of Gas Turbines in combined cycle operation is complex and presents new problems, which have to be addressed. The new units operate at very high turbine firing temperatures. Thus variation in this firing temperature significantly affects the performance and life of the components in the hot section of the turbine. The compressor pressure ratio is high which leads to a very narrow operation margin, thus making the turbine very susceptible to compressor fouling. The turbines are also very sensitive to backpressure exerted on them by the heat recovery steam generators. The pressure drop through the air filter also results in major deterioration of the performance of the turbine. The performance of the combined cycle is also dependent on the steam turbine performance. The steam turbine is dependent on the pressure, temperature, and flow generated in the heat recovery steam generator, which in turn is dependent on the turbine firing temperature, and the air mass flow through the gas turbine. It is obvious that the entire system is very intertwined and that deterioration of one component will lead to off-design operation of other components, which in most cases leads to overall drop in cycle efficiency. Thus, determining component performance and efficiency is the key to determining overall cycle efficiency. Thermodynamic modeling of the plant with individual component analysis is not only extremely important in optimizing the overall performance of the plant but in also determining life cycle considerations.


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