Integration of Flame-Assisted Fuel Cells With a Gas Turbine Running Jet-A As Fuel

Author(s):  
Rhushikesh Ghotkar ◽  
Ryan J. Milcarek

Abstract In recent years, the aircraft industry is heading towards the concept of the More Electric Airplane (MEA). Previous research has investigated the possibility of integrating Dual Chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (DC-SOFC) with the auxiliary power unit (APU) of the aircraft. This paper evaluates the merits of integrating the recently proposed Flame-assisted Fuel Cells (FFCs) with the APU gas turbine system. The syngas composition for fuel-rich combustion is studied using chemical equilibrium analysis of Jet-A/air at 8 Bar and 1073 K. The results show the potential for reforming Jet-A fuel to 22% Carbon Monoxide and 18% Hydrogen in the exhaust at an equivalence ratio of 2.4. The paper also reports how the efficiency of power generation changes when FFCs are placed in the combustor of a turbine in the APU. The maximum theoretical electrical efficiency of the FFC/combustor and the area and weight of the fuel cell required to generate the design power is calculated. The FFC offers a viable substitute for the DC-SOFC to be integrated with the APU.

Fuel Cells ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 146-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Lamp ◽  
J. Tachtler ◽  
O. Finkenwirth ◽  
S. Mukerjee ◽  
S. Shaffer

2008 ◽  
Vol 55 (9) ◽  
pp. 790-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Grigor’yants ◽  
V. I. Zalkind ◽  
P. P. Ivanov ◽  
D. A. Lyalin ◽  
V. I. Miroshnichenko

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bronson ◽  
Rudy Dudebout ◽  
Nagaraja Rudrapatna

Abstract The aircraft Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) is required to provide power to start the main engines, conditioned air and power when there are no facilities available and, most importantly, emergency power during flight operation. Given the primary purpose of providing backup power, APUs have historically been designed to be extremely reliable while minimizing weight and fabrication cost. Since APUs are operated at airports especially during taxi operations, the emissions from the APUs contribute to local air quality. There is clearly significant regulatory and public interest in reducing emissions from all sources at airports, including from APUs. As such, there is a need to develop technologies that reduce criteria pollutants, namely oxides of nitrogen (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke (SN) from aircraft APUs. Honeywell has developed a Low-Emissions (Low-E) combustion system technology for the 131-9 and HGT750 family of APUs to provide significant reduction in pollutants for narrow-body aircraft application. This article focuses on the combustor technology and processes that have been successfully utilized in this endeavor, with an emphasis on abating NOx. This paper describes the 131-9/HGT750 APU, the requirements and challenges for small gas turbine engines, and the selected strategy of Rich-Quench-Lean (RQL) combustion. Analytical and experimental results are presented for the current generation of APU combustion systems as well as the Low-E system. The implementation of RQL aerodynamics is well understood within the aero-gas turbine engine industry, but the application of RQL technology in a configuration with tangential liquid fuel injection which is also required to meet altitude ignition at 41,000 ft is the novelty of this development. The Low-E combustion system has demonstrated more than 25% reduction in NOx (dependent on the cycle of operation) vs. the conventional 131-9 combustion system while meeting significant margins in other criteria pollutants. In addition, the Low-E combustion system achieved these successes as a “drop-in” configuration within the existing envelope, and without significantly impacting combustor/turbine durability, combustor pressure drop, or lean stability.


1989 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-185
Author(s):  
M. S. Beaton

FELTMETAL® fiber metal acoustic materials function as broad band acoustic absorbers. Their acoustic energy absorbance occurs through viscous flow losses as sound waves pass through the tortuous pore structure of the material. A new FELTMETAL® fiber metal acoustic material has been designed for use in gas turbine auxiliary power unit exhaust environments without supplemental cooling. The physical and acoustic properties of FM 827 are discussed. Exposure tests were conducted under conditions that simulated auxiliary power unit operation. Weight gain and tensile strength data as a function of time of exposure at 650°C (1202°F) are reported. Fabrication of components with fiber metal acoustic materials is easily accomplished using standard roll forming and gas tungsten arc welding practices.


2020 ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Grigory Popov ◽  
◽  
Vasily Zubanov ◽  
Valeriy Matveev ◽  
Oleg Baturin ◽  
...  

The presented work provides a detailed description of the method developed by the authors for coordinating the working process of the main elements of the starting system for a modern gas turbine engine for a civil aviation aircraft: an auxiliary power unit (APU) and an air turbine – starter. This technique was developed in the course of solving the practical problem of selecting the existing APU and air turbine for a newly created engine. The need to develop this method is due to the lack of recommendations on the coordination of the elements of the starting system in the available literature. The method is based on combining the characteristics of the APU and the turbine, reduced to a single coordinate system. The intersection of the characteristic’s lines corresponding to the same conditions indicates the possibility of joint operation of the specified elements. The lack of intersection indicates the impossibility of joint functioning. The calculation also takes into account losses in the air supply lines to the turbine. The use of the developed method makes it possible to assess the possibility of joint operation of the APU and the air turbine in any operating mode. In addition to checking the possibility of functioning, as a result of the calculation, specific parameters of the working process at the operating point are determined, which are then used as initial data in calculating the elements of the starting system, for example, determining the parameters of the turbine, which in turn allow providing initial information for calculating the starting time or the possibility of functioning of the starting system GTE according to strength and other criteria. The algorithm for calculating the start-up time of the gas turbine engine was also developed by the authors and implemented in the form of an original computer program. Keywords: gas turbine engine start-up, GTE starting system, air turbine, methodology, joint work, auxiliary power unit, power, start-up time, characteristics matching, coordination, operational characteristics, computer program.


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