scholarly journals Particle Lift Challenges and Solutions for Solid Particle Receiver Systems

Author(s):  
Joshua M. Christian ◽  
Jeremy Sment ◽  
Clifford K. Ho ◽  
Lonnie Haden ◽  
Kevin Albrecht

Abstract Particle receiver systems require durable, reliable, and cost-effective particle transport equipment. These lifts are critical pieces of equipment to transport the particles from the heat exchanger back into the receiver. There are challenges that must be overcome with any particle lift device including high temperatures (800°C), particle load and friction, and erosion from particle contact. There are several options commercially available for particle systems including a screw-type vertical elevator, bucket lift vertical elevator, and skip-hoist-style bulk vertical lifts. Two of the elevator types (screw and bucket) have been tested at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, NM. The two elevators are currently in operation on the 1 MWth falling particle receiver at the Solar Tower. The screw-type elevator consists of a stationary internal screw with an outer casing that rotates about the screw. The frictional forces from the casing rotation drives the particles upward along the flights of the screw. The casing rotational velocity is variable which allows for mass flow rate control. Identified issues with the screw-type elevator include particle attrition, uneven loading at the inlet causes casing deflection, bearing deformation due to casing deformation, and motor stalling due to increased resistance on the casing. The SNL bucket elevator is rated for temperatures up to 600 °C and consists of steel buckets and a steel drive chain capable of lifting particles at a rate of 8 kg/s. Identified issues with the bucket type elevator include discrete (non-continuous) discharge of the particles and a non-adjustable flow rate. A skip hoist type elevator has been studied previously and seems like the most viable option on a large scale (50–100MWth power plant) with a non-continuous particle discharge. Different control scenarios were explored with the variable frequency drive of the screw-type elevator to use it as a particle-flow control device. The objective was to maintain the feed hopper inventory at a constant value for steady flow of particles through the receiver. The mass flow rate was controlled based on feedback from measurements of particle level (mass) inside the top hopper.

Author(s):  
Nathan Schroeder ◽  
Henk Laubscher ◽  
Brantley Mills ◽  
Clifford K. Ho

Abstract Falling particle receivers (FPRs) are being studied in concentrating solar power applications to enable high temperatures for supercritical CO2 (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The falling particles are introduced into the cavity receiver via a linear actuated slide gate and irradiated by concentrated sunlight. The thickness of the particle curtain associated with the slide-gate opening dimension dictates the mass flow rate of the particle curtain. A thicker, higher mass flow rate, particle curtain would typically be associated with a smaller temperature rise through the receiver, and a thinner, lower mass flow rate, particle curtain would result in a larger temperature rise. Using the receiver outlet temperature as the process variable and the linear actuated slide gate as the input parameter a proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) controller was implemented to control the temperature of the particles leaving the receiver. The PID parameters were tuned to respond in a quick and stable manner. The PID controlled slide gate was tested using the 1 MW receiver at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). The receiver outlet temperature was ramped from ambient to 800°C then maintained at the setpoint temperature. After reaching a steady-state, perturbations of 15%–20% of the initial power were applied by removing heliostats to simulate passing clouds. The PID controller reacted to the change in the input power by adjusting the mass flow rate through the receiver to maintain a constant receiver outlet temperature. A goal of ±2σ ≤ 10°C in the outlet temperature for the 5 minutes following the perturbation was achieved.


Author(s):  
K. V. L. Narayana Rao ◽  
N. Ravi Kumar ◽  
G. Ramesha ◽  
M. Devathathan

Can type combustors are robust, with ease of design, manufacturing and testing. They are extensively used in industrial gas turbines and aero engines. This paper is mainly based on the work carried out in designing and testing a can type combustion chamber which is operated using JET-A1 fuel. Based on the design requirements, the combustor is designed, fabricated and tested. The experimental results are analysed and compared with the design requirements. The basic dimensions of the combustor, like casing diameter, liner diameter, liner length and liner hole distribution are estimated through a proprietary developed code. An axial flow air swirler with 8 vanes and vane angle of 45 degree is designed to create a re-circulation zone for stabilizing the flame. The Monarch 4.0 GPH fuel nozzle with a cone angle of 80 degree is used. The igniter used is a high energy igniter with ignition energy of 2J and 60 sparks per minute. The combustor is modelled, meshed and analysed using the commercially available ansys-cfx code. The geometry of the combustor is modified iteratively based on the CFD results to meet the design requirements such as pressure loss and pattern factor. The combustor is fabricated using Ni-75 sheet of 1 mm thickness. A small combustor test facility is established. The combustor rig is tested for 50 Hours. The experimental results showed a blow-out phenomenon while the mass flow rate through the combustor is increased beyond a limit. Further through CFD analysis one of the cause for early blow out is identified to be a high mass flow rate through the swirler. The swirler area is partially blocked and many configurations are analysed. The optimum configuration is selected based on the flame position in the primary zone. The change in swirler area is implemented in the test model and further testing is carried out. The experimental results showed that the blow-out limit of the combustor is increased to a good extent. Hence the effect of swirler flow rate on recirculation zone length and flame blow out is also studied and presented. The experimental results showed that the pressure loss and pattern factor are in agreement with the design requirements.


Author(s):  
Nikhil M. Rao ◽  
Cengiz Camci

An experimental study of a turbine tip desensitization method based on tip coolant injection was conducted in a large-scale rotating turbine rig. One of twenty-nine rotor blades was modified and instrumented to have a tip trench with discrete injection holes directed towards the pressure side. Time accurate absolute total pressure was measured 0.3 chord lengths downstream of the rotor exit plane using a fast response dynamic pressure sensor in a phase-locked manner. The test cases presented include results for tip gap heights of 1.40% and 0.72% of the blade height, and coolant injection rates of 0.41%, 0.52%, 0.63%, and 0.72% core mass flow rate. At a gap height of 1.40% the leakage vortex is large, occupying about 15% blade span. A reduction in gap height causes the leakage vortex to reduce in size and move towards the blade suction side. The minimum total pressure measured, for the reduced gap, in the leakage vortex is about 4% greater. Coolant injection from the tip trench is successful in filling in the total pressure defect originally resulting from the leakage vortex without injection. At the higher tip injection rates the leakage vortex is also seen to have moved towards the blade tip. The high momentum associated with the tip jets affects the total pressure distributions in the neighboring passages.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Pekris ◽  
Gervas Franceschini ◽  
Andrew K. Owen ◽  
Terry V. Jones ◽  
David R. H. Gillespie

The secondary air system of a modern gas or steam turbine is configured to satisfy a number of requirements, such as to purge cavities and maintain a sufficient flow of cooling air to key engine components, for a minimum penalty on engine cycle efficiency and specific fuel consumption. Advanced sealing technologies, such as brush seals and leaf seals, are designed to maintain pressures in cavities adjacent to rotating shafts. They offer significant reductions in secondary air parasitic leakage flows over the legacy sealing technology, the labyrinth seal. The leaf seal comprises a series of stacked sheet elements which are inclined relative to the radial direction, offering increased axial rigidity, reduced radial stiffness, and good leakage performance. Investigations into leaf seal mechanical and flow performance have been conducted by previous researchers. However, limited understanding of the thermal behavior of contacting leaf seals under sustained shaft contact has led to the development of an analytical model in this study, which can be used to predict the power split between the leaf and rotor from predicted temperature rises during operation. This enables the effects of seal and rotor thermal growth and, therefore, implications on seal endurance and rotor mechanical integrity to be quantified. Consideration is given to the heat transfer coefficient in the leaf pack. A dimensional analysis of the leaf seal problem using the method of extended dimensions is presented, yielding the expected form of the relationship between seal frictional power generation, leakage mass flow rate, and rotor temperature rise. An analytical model is derived which is in agreement. Using the derived leaf temperature distribution formula, the theoretical leaf tip temperature rise and temperature distributions are computed over a range of mass flow rates and frictional heat values. Experimental data were collected in high-speed tests of a leaf seal prototype using the Engine Seal Test Facility at Oxford University. These data were used to populate the analytical model and collapsed well to confirm the expected linear relationship. In this form, the thermal characteristic can be used with predictions of mass flow rate and frictional power generated to estimate the leaf tip and rotor temperature rise in engine operation.


Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Shirzadi ◽  
Hossein Saeidi

In this article aerodynamic effects of tip clearance on a heavy duty axial turbine are studied. Three different tip clearances are considered for each rotor. For simplicity, a simple tip profile is assumed and cooling air is not modeled. Aerodynamic behavior of all stages is studied in terms of polytropic efficiency, leakage mass flow, secondary and total losses, penetration length, and total mass flow rate for different pressure ratios. Also three well established correlations of tip clearance loss are compared with CFD results to obtain the best model for performance calculation of such a large-scale turbine. The steady states, viscous and compressible flow governing equations representing the flow field with k-epsilon turbulence model are solved using commercial code ANSYS CFX.12. Useful data are presented to predict the variation of efficiency of each individual rotor, as well as entire turbine, as a function of relative tip gap (k/h). This information may be useable in design and troubleshooting. According to the results, even though pressure drop in rear stages across tip gap is lower than pressure drop in front stages, leakage mass flow rate is considerably high for this LP stages. Consequently, tip clearance losses of rear stages have significant effect on the entire turbine efficiency.


Author(s):  
Chihiro Myoren ◽  
Yasuo Takahashi ◽  
Manabu Yagi ◽  
Takanori Shibata ◽  
Tadaharu Kishibe

An axial compressor was developed for an industrial gas turbine equipped with a water atomization cooling (WAC) system, which is a kind of inlet fogging technique with overspray. The compressor performance was evaluated using a 40MW-class test facility for the advanced humid air turbine system. A prediction method to estimate the effect of WAC was developed for the design of the compressor. The method was based on a streamline curvature (SLC) method implementing a droplet evaporation model. Four test runs with WAC have been conducted since February 2012. The maximum water mass flow rate was 1.2% of the inlet mass flow rate at the 4th test run, while the design value was 2.0%. The results showed that the WAC decreased the inlet and outlet temperatures compared with the DRY (no fogging) case. These decreases changed the matching point of the gas turbine, and increased the mass flow rate and the pressure ratio by 1.8% and 1.1%, respectively. Since prediction results agreed with the results of the test run qualitatively, the compressor performance improvement by WAC was confirmed both experimentally and analytically. The test run with the design water mass flow rate is going to be conducted in the near future.


Solar air heater is a major component of solar dryer. A model of multi pass solar air heater (MPSAH) with reversed absorber and reflector was developed. Exhaustive Study over the performance of MPSAH with and without reversed absorber and cost analysis was done. The performance curves show the effect of solar intensity on MPSAH with and without reversed absorber at constant mass flow. It was observed that the thermal efficiency of MPSAH is depending on solar intensity and losses when mass flow rate remain constant. At constant mass flow rate 26.90 gm/sec, the collector efficiency increased by 9% at average solar intensity 457w/m². Theoretical and experimental analysis showed close agreement. In addition the cost-effectiveness model has been used to examine the performance MPSAH with and without reverse absorbers. The air heaters annual cost (AC) estimation and annual power acquirement (AG) was analyze. The result is evidence for that multi-pass solar air heater with reverse absorbers and reflector is more cost-effective than multi-pass solar collectors without reverse absorber.


Author(s):  
Steven W. Burd ◽  
Terrence W. Simon

Film cooling and secondary flows are major contributors to aerodynamic losses in turbine passages. This is particularly true in low aspect ratio nozzle guide vanes where secondary flows can occupy a large portion of the passage flow field. To reduce losses, advanced cooling concepts and secondary flow control techniques must be considered. To this end, combustor bleed cooling flows introduced through an inclined slot upstream of the airfoils in a nozzle passage were experimentally investigated. Testing was performed in a large-scale, high-pressure turbine nozzle cascade comprised of three airfoils between one contoured and one flat endwall. Flow was delivered to this cascade with high-level (∼9%), large-scale turbulence at a Reynolds number based on inlet velocity and true chord length of 350,000. Combustor bleed cooling flow was injected through the contoured endwall upstream of the contouring at bleed-to-core mass flow rate ratios ranging from 0 to 6%. Measurements with triple-sensor, hot-film anemometry characterize the flow field distributions within the cascade. Total and static pressure measurements document aerodynamic losses. The influences of bleed mass flow rate on flow field mean streamwise and cross-stream velocities, turbulence distributions, and aerodynamic losses are discussed. Secondary flow features are also described through these measurements. Notably, this study shows that combustor bleed cooling flow imposes no aerodynamic penalty. This is atypical of schemes where coolant is introduced within the passage for the purpose of endwall cooling. Also, instead of being adversely affected by secondary flows, this type of cooling is able to reduce secondary flow effects.


Author(s):  
Mohammad J. Izadi

In this investigation an attempt is made to find the best rotational velocity and the best angle of attack of a flat blade at a fixed hub to tip ratio for a maximum mass flow rate in an axial fan in a steady and turbulent conditions. In this study the blade angles are varied from 10 to 80 degrees and the rotational velocity is varied from 500 to 2500 RPM (50 to 200 rad/sec) for a number of blades from 2 to 6, at a fixed hub to tip ratio. The results show that, the maximum flow rate is achieved at the blade angle of attack of about 45 degrees when the number of blades is set equal to 4 at most rotational velocities. The numerical results show that as the rotational velocity increased, the mass flow rate increased, but at very high rotational velocities the mass flow rate remained constant.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Yanjie Ma ◽  
Futing Bao ◽  
Weihua Hui ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Yijie Gao

This paper describes a zero-dimensional model for evaluating the mass flow rate history of a solid rocket motor igniter. Based on the results of an igniter-firing experiment, in which the igniter is the only source of combustion gas and no propellant is ignited, the proposed model can be used to compute the mass flow rate of the igniter. Different species and temperature-dependent properties, such as the specific heat for each species, are considered. The coupling between the flow field variables in the combustion chamber and the heat transfer at the gas-solid interface is computed in a segment way. Calculations are performed for different species and properties, and the errors are discussed. Using the computed igniter mass flow rate as a boundary condition, a two-dimensional calculation is performed for validation purposes. The results are in good agreement with experimental data. The proposed model can be used to provide reasonable boundary conditions for solid rocket motor simulations and to evaluate the performance of igniters. Although derived on the basis of a small-scale solid rocket motor, the model has the potential to be used in large-scale systems.


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