Integration of a Pressurized-Air Solar Receiver Array to a Gas Turbine Power Cycle for Solar Tower Applications

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Poživil ◽  
Aldo Steinfeld

The thermal performance of an array of pressurized-air solar receiver modules integrated to a gas turbine power cycle is analyzed for a simple Brayton cycle (BC), recuperated Brayton cycle (RC), and combined Brayton–Rankine cycle (CC). While the solar receiver's solar-to-heat efficiency decreases at higher operating temperatures and pressures, the opposite is true for the power cycle's heat-to-work efficiency. The optimal operating conditions are achieved with a preheat stage for a solar receiver outlet air temperature of 1300 °C and an air cycle pressure ratio of 9, yielding a peak solar-to-electricity efficiency—defined as the ratio of the net cycle work output divided by the solar radiative power input through the receiver's aperture—of 39.3% for the combined cycle configuration.


Author(s):  
Pereddy Nageswara Reddy ◽  
J. S. Rao

Abstract A three stage combined power cycle with a Brayton cycle as the topping cycle, a Rankine cycle as the middling cycle and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) as the bottoming cycle is proposed in the present investigation. A two-stage Gas Turbine Power Plant (GTPP) with inter-cooling, reheating and regeneration based on the Brayton cycle, a single-stage Steam Turbine Power Plant (STPP) based on the Rankine cycle, and a two-stage ORC power plant with reheating based on ORC with atmospheric air as the coolant is considered in the present study. This arrangement enables the proposed plant to utilize the waste heat to the maximum extent possible and convert it into electric power. As the plant can now operate at low sink temperatures depending on atmospheric air, the efficiency of the combined cycle power plant increases dramatically. Further, Steam Turbine Exhaust Pressure (STEP) is positive resulting in smaller size units and a lower installation cost. A simulation code is developed in MATLAB to investigate the performance of a three stage combined power cycle at different source and sink temperatures with varying pressure in heat recovery steam boiler and condenser-boiler. Performance results are plotted with Gas Turbine Inlet Temperature (GTIT) of 1200 to 1500 °C, Coolant Air Temperature (CAT) of −15 to +25 °C, and pressure ratio of GTPP as 6.25, 9.0 and 12.25 for different organic substances and NH3 as working fluids in the bottoming ORC. Simulation results show that the efficiency of the three stage combined power cycle will go up to 64 to 69% depending on the pressure ratio of GTPP, GTIT, and CAT. It is also observed that the variation in the efficiency of the three stage combined power cycle is small with respect to the type of working fluid used in the ORC. Among the organic working fluids R134a, R12, R22, and R123, R134a gives a higher combined cycle efficiency.



2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (03) ◽  
pp. S52-S53
Author(s):  
Lee S. Langston

This article presents three different gas turbine phenomena and design cases. The sketch in the article shows a schematic of a combined cycle powerplant consisting of a Brayton cycle (gas turbine) whose exhaust provides energy to a Rankine cycle (steam turbine). Frequently, one can use simple but exact one-dimensional (1D) heat conduction solutions to estimate the heat loss or gain of gas turbine components under transient conditions. These easy-to-use solutions are found in most undergraduate heat transfer texts. The article suggests that those three widely different gas turbine phenomena and design cases all have the simple, nonlinear superposition form.



Author(s):  
G. Barigozzi ◽  
G. Bonetti ◽  
G. Franchini ◽  
A. Perdichizzi ◽  
S. Ravelli

A modeling procedure was developed to simulate design and off-design operation of Hybrid Solar Gas Turbines in a combined cycle (CC) configuration. The system includes an heliostat field, a receiver and a commercial gas turbine interfaced with a conventional steam Rankine cycle. Solar power input is integrated in the GT combustor by natural gas. Advanced commercial software tools were combined together to get design and off-design performance prediction: TRNSYS® was used to model the solar field and the receiver while the gas turbine and steam cycle simulations were performed by means of Thermoflex®. Three GT models were considered, in the 35–45 MWe range: a single shaft engine (Siemens SGT800) and two two-shaft engines (the heavy-duty GT Siemens SGT750 and the aero derivative GE LM6000 PF). This in order to assess the influence of different GT spool arrangements and control strategies on GT solarization. The simulation method provided an accurate modeling of the daily solar hybrid CC behavior to be compared against the standard CC. The effects of solarization were estimated in terms of electric power and efficiency reduction, fossil fuel saving and solar energy to electricity conversion efficiency.



Author(s):  
B Law ◽  
B. V. Reddy

Combined cycle power plants with a gas turbine topping cycle and a steam turbine bottoming cycle are widely used due to their high efficiencies. Combined cycle cogeneration has the possibility to produce power and process heat more efficiently, leading to higher performance and reduced green house gas emissions. The objective of the present work is to analyze and simulate a natural gas fired combined cycle cogeneration unit with multiple process heaters and to investigate the effect of operating variables on the performance. The operating conditions investigated include, gas turbine pressure ratio, process heat loads and process steam extraction pressure. The gas turbine pressure ratio significantly influences the performance of the combined cycle cogeneration system. It is also identified that extracting process steam at lower pressures improves the power generation and cogeneration efficiencies. The process heat load influences combined cycle efficiency and combined cycle cogeneration efficiency in opposite ways. It is also observed that using multiple process heaters with different process steam pressures, rather than a single process heater, improves the combined cycle cogeneration plant efficiency.



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].



Author(s):  
James C. Corman

A revolutionary step has been taken in the development of the Next Advance in Power Generation Systems — “H” Technology Combined Cycle. This new gas turbine combined cycle system increases thermal performance to the 60% level by increasing gas turbine operating conditions to 2600°F (1430°C) at a pressure ratio of 23 to 1. This represents a significant increase in operating temperature for the gas turbine. However, the potential for single digit NOx levels (based upon 15% O2 in the exhaust) has been retained. The combined effect of performance increase and environmental control is achieved by an innovative closed loop steam cooling system which tightly integrated the gas turbine and steam turbine cycles. Although a significant advance has been taken in performance, the new power generation system has been configured with a substantial number of proven concepts and technology programs are ongoing to validate the new features. The technical activities which support the introduction of the new turbine system have reached a point in the development cycle where the results are integrated into the design methods. This has permitted the “H” Technology to achieve a design readiness status and the first unit will be under test in late 1997.



Author(s):  
Peter Rez

Nearly all electrical power is generated by rotating a coil in a magnetic field. In most cases, the coil is turned by a steam turbine operating according to the Rankine cycle. Water is boiled and heated to make high-pressure steam, which drives the turbine. The thermal efficiency is about 30–35%, and is limited by the highest steam temperature tolerated by the turbine blades. Alternatively, a gas turbine operating according to the Brayton cycle can be used. Much higher turbine inlet temperatures are possible, and the thermal efficiency is higher, typically 40%. Combined cycle generation, in which the hot exhaust from a gas turbine drives a Rankine cycle, can achieve thermal efficiencies of almost 60%. Substitution of coal-fired by combined cycle natural gas power plants can result in significant reductions in CO2 emissions.



Author(s):  
Ali S. Alsagri ◽  
Andrew Chiasson ◽  
Ahmad Aljabr

A thermodynamic analysis and optimization of a newly-conceived combined power cycle were conducted in this paper for the purpose of improving overall thermal efficiency of power cycles by attempting to minimize thermodynamic irreversibilities and waste heat as a consequence of the Second Law. The power cycle concept comprises a topping advanced recompression supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton cycle and a bottoming transcritical carbon dioxide (tCO2) Rankine cycle. The bottoming cycle configurations included a simple tCO2 Rankine cycle and a split tCO2 Rankine cycle. The topping sCO2 recompression Brayton cycle used a combustion chamber as a heat source, and waste heat from a topping cycle was recovered by the tCO2 Rankine cycle due to an added high efficiency recuperator for generating electricity. The combined cycle configurations were thermodynamically modeled and optimized using an Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. Simple bottoming tCO2 Rankine cycle cannot fully recover the waste heat due to the high exhaust temperature from the top cycle, and therefore an advance split tCO2 Rankine cycle was employed in order to recover most of the waste heat. Results show that the highest thermal efficiency was obtained with recompression sCO2 Brayton cycle – split flow tCO2 Rankine cycle. Also, the results show that the combined CO2 cycles is a promising technology compared to conventional cycles.



2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Carapellucci ◽  
Lorena Giordano

Efficiency improvement in the gas turbine sector has been mainly driven by increasing the turbine inlet temperature and compressor pressure ratio. For a fixed technology level, a further efficiency gain can be achieved through the utilization of waste thermal energy. Regeneration is an internal recovery technique that allows the reduction of heat input required at combustor, by preheating the air at compressor outlet. Under certain operating conditions, the temperature of exhaust gas leaving the regenerator is still enough high to allow the steam production via an heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). Regeneration in steam-gas power plants (CCGT) has the potential to enhance thermal efficiency, but reduces the margins for external recovery and then the bottoming steam cycle capacity. Moreover, the reduction of exhausts temperature at gas turbine outlet requires the reconsideration of HRSG operating parameters, in order to limit the increase of waste heat at the stack. The aim of this study is to explore the potential benefits that regeneration in the gas cycle gives on the whole steam-gas power plant. The extent of energy and economic performances improvement is evaluated, varying the gas turbine specifications and the layout and operating conditions of HRSG. Hence simple and regenerative configurations based on single and multi-pressure HRSG are compared, focusing on efficiency, specific CO2 emissions and unit cost of electricity (COE).



Author(s):  
B. Law ◽  
B. V. Reddy

Combined cycle cogeneration systems have the ability to produce power and process heat more efficiently, leading to higher performance and reduced green house gas emissions. In the present work the performance of a natural gas fired combined cycle cogeneration unit with multiple process heaters is investigated to study the effect of operating variables on the performance. The operating conditions investigated include, gas turbine pressure ratio, process heat loads and process steam extraction pressure. The gas turbine pressure ratio significantly influences the performance of the combined cycle cogeneration system. The process heat load influences combined cycle efficiency and combined cycle cogeneration efficiency in opposite ways. The exergy analysis is conducted to identify the exergy destruction and losses in different components of the combined cycle cogeneration unit.



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