Experimental Investigations of Pressure Losses on the Performance of a Micro Gas Turbine System

Author(s):  
Jan Zanger ◽  
Axel Widenhorn ◽  
Manfred Aigner

Pressure losses between compressor outlet and turbine inlet are a major issue of overall efficiency and system stability for a SOFC/MGT hybrid power plant system. The goal of this work is the detailed analysis of the effects of additional pressure losses on MGT performance in terms of steady-state and transient conditions. The experiments were performed at the micro gas turbine test rig at the German Aerospace Centre in Stuttgart using a butterfly control valve to apply additional pressure loss. The paper reports electric power and pressure characteristics at steady-state conditions, as well as, a new surge limit, which was found for the Turbec T100 micro gas turbine. Furthermore, the effects of additional pressure loss on compressor surge margin are quantified and a linear relation between relative surge margin and additional pressure loss is shown. For transient variation of pressure loss at constant turbine speed time delays are presented and a compensation issue of the commercial gas turbine controller is discussed. Finally, bleed-air blow-off and reduction of turbine outlet temperature are introduced as methods of increasing surge margin. It is quantified that both methods have a substantial effect on compressor surge margin. Furthermore, a comparison between both methods is given in terms of electric power output.

Author(s):  
Jan Zanger ◽  
Axel Widenhorn ◽  
Manfred Aigner

Pressure losses between the compressor outlet and the turbine inlet are a major issue of overall efficiency and system stability for a solid oxide fuel cell/micro gas turbine (MGT) hybrid power plant system. The goal of this work is the detailed analysis of the effects of additional pressure losses on MGT performance in terms of steady-state and transient conditions. The experiments were performed using the micro gas turbine test rig at the German Aerospace Centre in Stuttgart using a butterfly control valve to apply additional pressure loss. This paper reports electric power and pressure characteristics at steady-state conditions as well as a new surge limit for this Turbec T100 micro gas turbine test rig. Furthermore, the effects of additional pressure loss on the compressor surge margin are quantified and a linear relation between the relative surge margin and additional pressure loss is shown. For transient variation of pressure loss at constant turbine speed, time delays are presented and an instability issue of the commercial gas turbine controller is discussed. Finally, bleed-air blow-off and reduction of the turbine outlet temperature are introduced as methods of increasing the surge margin. It is quantified that both methods have a substantial effect on the compressor surge margin. Furthermore, a comparison between both methods is given in terms of electric power output.


Author(s):  
Wei Qu ◽  
Shan Gao

Primary surface recuperator is important for micro gas turbines, the flow distribution and pressure loss are sensitive to the induct structure design significantly. The air induct structure for one recuperator is modelled and simulated. Several flow fields and pressure losses are obtained for different designs of air induct structure. The air induct structure can affect the flow uniformity, further influence the pressure loss a lot. For several changes of air induct structure, the non-distribution of air flow can be decreased from 67% to 13%, and the pressure loss can be decreased to 50% of the original. Considering the recuperator design and the gas turbine, one optimized structure is recommended, which has less local pressure loss and better flow distribution.


Author(s):  
Feng-Shan Wang ◽  
Wen-Jun Kong ◽  
Bao-Rui Wang

A research program is in development in China as a demonstrator of combined cooling, heating and power system (CCHP). In this program, a micro gas turbine with net electrical output around 100kW is designed and developed. The combustor is designed for natural gas operation and oil fuel operation, respectively. In this paper, a prototype can combustor for the oil fuel was studied by the experiments. In this paper, the combustor was tested using the ambient pressure combustor test facility. The sensors were equipped to measure the combustion performance; the exhaust gas was sampled and analyzed by a gas analyzer device. From the tests and experiments, combustion efficiency, pattern factor at the exit, the surface temperature profile of the outer liner wall, the total pressure loss factor of the combustion chamber with and without burning, and the pollutants emission fraction at the combustor exit were obtained. It is also found that with increasing of the inlet temperature, the combustion efficiency and the total pressure loss factor increased, while the exit pattern factor coefficient reduced. The emissions of CO and unburned hydrogen carbon (UHC) significantly reduced, but the emission of NOx significantly increased.


Author(s):  
Keishaly Cabrera Cruz ◽  
Paolo Pezzini ◽  
Lawrence Shadle ◽  
Kenneth M. Bryden

Abstract Compressor dynamics were studied in a gas turbine – fuel cell hybrid power system having a larger compressor volume than traditionally found in gas turbine systems. This larger compressor volume adversely affects the surge margin of the gas turbine. Industrial acoustic sensors were placed near the compressor to identify when the equipment was getting close to the surge line. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) mathematical analysis was used to obtain spectra representing the probability density across the frequency range (0–5000 Hz). Comparison between FFT spectra for nominal and transient operations revealed that higher amplitude spikes were observed during incipient stall at three different frequencies, 900, 1020, and 1800 Hz. These frequencies were compared to the natural frequencies of the equipment and the frequency for the rotating turbomachinery to identify more general nature of the acoustic signal typical of the onset of compressor surge. The primary goal of this acoustic analysis was to establish an online methodology to monitor compressor stability that can be anticipated and avoided.


Author(s):  
Qisen Ren ◽  
Xiaoyong Yang ◽  
Zhiyong Huang ◽  
Jie Wang

The high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) coupled with direct gas turbine cycle is a promising concept in the future of nuclear power development. Both helium gas turbine and compressor are key components in the cycle. Under normal conditions, the mode of power adjustment is to control total helium mass in the primary loop using gas storage vessels. Meanwhile, thermal power of reactor core is regulated. This article analyzes off-design performances of helium gas turbine and compressors for high temperature gas-cooled reactor with gas turbine cycle (HTGR-GT) at steady state level of electric power adjustment. Moreover, performances of the cycle were simply discussed. Results show that the expansion ratio of turbine decreases as electric power reduces but the compression ratios of compressors increase, efficiencies of both turbine and compressors decrease to some extent. Thermal power does not vary consistently with electric power, the difference between these two powers increases as electric power reduces. As a result of much thermal energy dissipated in the temperature modulator set at core inlet, thermal efficiency of the cycle has a widely reduction under partial load conditions.


Author(s):  
Zongming Yu ◽  
Yong Huang ◽  
Fang Wang

Reverse flow combustors were widely used in small and micro gas turbine engines. The wall area of this type of combustors was quite large. And there were two flow turning points in their flow-path. Thus the wall cooling and main flow dilution were two intrinsic problems for them. Apart from that, their high pressure losses and heavy weight were also two problems which seriously deteriorate the performance of the engines. Moreover, their primary hole jets on opposite walls were non-symmetrical, which would affect the stability and intensity of the recirculation flows. In order to improve the combustion performance, a new conceptual Z-flowpath combustor was proposed. The new combustor consisted of two 45 degree yawing instead of returning in the main flow-path. The flowfield of the new combustor was predicted by the commercial code FLUENT, after a validation for the flowfield in a model reverse flow combustor with previous experimental results. The prediction showed that the flowfield of the primary zone in the Z-flowpath combustor was highly symmetrical, the size and the intensity of the recirculation zone were about 10 and 2 times greater than the normal reverse flow combustor, respectively, while the pressure loss and the total area of the flame tube wall of the Z-flowpath combustor were decreased dramatically to be 69.4% and 51% of that in the reverse flow combustor, respectively.


2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Vézina ◽  
Hugo Fortier-Topping ◽  
François Bolduc-Teasdale ◽  
David Rancourt ◽  
Mathieu Picard ◽  
...  

This paper presents the design and experimental results of a new micro gas turbine architecture exploiting counterflow within a single supersonic rotor. This new architecture, called the supersonic rim-rotor gas turbine (SRGT), uses a single rotating assembly incorporating a central hub, a supersonic turbine rotor, a supersonic compressor rotor, and a rim-rotor. This SRGT architecture can potentially increase engine power density while significantly reducing manufacturing costs. The paper presents the preliminary design of a 5 kW SRGT prototype having an external diameter of 72.5 mm and rotational speed of 125,000 rpm. The proposed aerodynamic design comprises a single stage supersonic axial compressor, with a normal shock in the stator, and a supersonic impulse turbine. A pressure ratio of 2.75 with a mass flow rate of 130 g/s is predicted using a 1D aerodynamic model in steady state. The proposed combustion chamber uses an annular reverse-flow configuration, using hydrogen as fuel. The analytical design of the combustion chamber is based on a 0D model with three zones (primary, secondary, and dilution), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to validate the analytical model. The proposed structural design incorporates a unidirectional carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer rim-rotor, and titanium alloy is used for the other rotating components. An analytical structural model and numerical validation predict structural integrity of the engine at steady-state operation up to 1000 K for the turbine blades. Experimentation has resulted in the overall engine performance evaluation. Experimentation also demonstrated a stable hydrogen flame in the combustion chamber and structural integrity of the engine for at least 30 s of steady-state operation at 1000 K.


Author(s):  
Alessandra Cuneo ◽  
Alberto Traverso ◽  
Aristide F. Massardo

The dynamic modeling of energy systems can be used for different purposes, obtaining important information both for the design phase and control system strategies, increasing the confidence during experimental phase. Such analysis in dynamic conditions is generally performed considering fixed values for both geometrical and operational parameters such as volumes, orifices, but also initial temperatures, pressure. However, such characteristics are often subject to uncertainty, either because they are not known accurately or because they may depend on the operating conditions at the beginning of the relevant transient. With focus on a gas turbine fuel cell hybrid system (HS), compressor surge may or may not occur during transients, depending on the aforementioned cycle characteristics; hence, compressor surge events are affected by uncertainty. In this paper, a stochastic analysis was performed taking into account an emergency shut-down (ESD) in a fuel cell gas turbine HS, modeled with TRANSEO, a deterministic tool for the dynamic simulations. The aim of the paper is to identify the main parameters that impact on compressor surge margin. The stochastic analysis was performed through the response sensitivity analysis (RSA) method, a sensitivity-based approximation approach that overcomes the computational burden of sampling methods. The results show that the minimum surge margin occurs in two different ranges of rotational speed: a high-speed range and a low-speed range. The temperature and geometrical characteristics of the pressure vessel, where the fuel cell is installed, are the two main parameters that affect the surge margin during an emergency shut down.


Author(s):  
Thomas Krummrein ◽  
Martin Henke ◽  
Peter Kutne

Steady state simulations are an important method to investigate thermodynamic processes. This is especially true for innovative micro gas turbine (MGT) based cycles as the complexity of such systems grows. Therefore, steady state simulation tools are required which ensure large flexibility and computation robustness. As the increased system complexity result often in more extensive parameter studies also a fast computation speed is required. While a number of steady state simulation tools for micro gas turbine based systems are described and applied in literature, the solving process of such tools is rarely explained. However, this solving process is crucial to achieve a robust and fast computation within a physically meaningful range. Therefore, a new solver routine for a steady state simulation tool developed at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology is presented in detail in this paper. The solver routine is based on Broyden’s method. It considers boundaries during the solving process to maintain a physically and technically meaningful solution process. Supplementary methods are implemented and described which improve the computation robustness and speed. Furthermore, some features of the resulting steady state simulation tool are presented. Exemplary applications of a hybrid power plant, an inverted Brayton cycle and an aircraft auxiliary power unit show the capabilities of the presented solver routine and the steady state simulation tool. It is shown that the new solver routine is superior to the standard Simulink algebraic solver in terms of system evaluation and robustness for the given applications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-95
Author(s):  
V. KIRUBAKARAN ◽  
David BHATT

The Lean Blowout Limit of the combustor is one of the important performance parameters for a gas turbine combustor design. This study aims to predict the total pressure loss and Lean Blowout (LBO) limits of an in-house designed swirl stabilized 3kW can-type micro gas turbine combustor. The experimental prediction of total pressure loss and LBO limits was performed on a designed combustor fuelled with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for the combustor inlet velocity ranging from 1.70 m/s to 11 m/s. The results show that the predicted total pressure drop increases with increasing combustor inlet velocity, whereas the LBO equivalence ratio decreases gradually with an increase in combustor inlet velocity. The combustor total pressure drop was found to be negligible; being in the range of 0.002 % to 0.065 % for the measured inlet velocity conditions. These LBO limits predictions will be used to fix the operating boundary conditions of the gas turbine combustor.


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