Combustor Development and Engine Demonstration of Micro-Mix Hydrogen Combustion Applied to M1A-17 Gas Turbine

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, LTD. (KHI) has research and development projects for a future hydrogen society. These projects comprise the complete hydrogen cycle, including the production of hydrogen gas, the refinement and liquefaction for transportation and storage, and finally the utilization in a gas turbine for electricity and heat supply. Within the development of the hydrogen gas turbine, the key technology is stable and low NOx hydrogen combustion, namely the Dry Low NOx (DLN) hydrogen combustion. KHI, Aachen University of Applied Science, and B&B-AGEMA have investigated the possibility of low NOx micro-mix hydrogen combustion and its application to an industrial gas turbine combustor. From 2014 to 2018, KHI developed a DLN hydrogen combustor for a 2MW class industrial gas turbine with the micro-mix technology. Thereby, the ignition performance, the flame stability for equivalent rotational speed, and higher load conditions were investigated. NOx emission values were kept about half of the Air Pollution Control Law in Japan: 84ppm (O2-15%). Hereby, the elementary combustor development was completed. From May 2020, KHI started the engine demonstration operation by using an M1A-17 gas turbine with a co-generation system located in the hydrogen-fueled power generation plant in Kobe City, Japan. During the first engine demonstration tests, adjustments of engine starting and load control with fuel staging were investigated. On 21st May, the electrical power output reached 1,635 kW, which corresponds to 100% load (ambient temperature 20 °C), and thereby NOx emissions of 65 ppm (O2-15, 60 RH%) were verified. Here, for the first time, a DLN hydrogen-fueled gas turbine successfully generated power and heat.

Investigating anode off-gas under spark-ignition combustion for SOFC-ICE hybrid systems

Solid oxide fuel cell – internal combustion engine (SOFC-ICE) hybrid systems are an attractive solution for electricity generation. The system can achieve up to 70% theoretical electric power conversion efficiency through energy cascading enabled by utilizing the anode off-gas from the SOFC as the fuel source for the ICE. Experimental investigations were conducted with a single cylinder Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine by altering fuel-air equivalence ratio (ϕ), and compression ratio (CR) to study the engine load, combustion characteristics, and emissions levels of dry SOFC anode off-gas consisting of 33.9% H2, 15.6% CO, and 50.5% CO2. The combustion efficiency of the anode off-gas was directly evaluated by measuring the engine-out CO emissions. The highest net-indicated fuel conversion efficiency of 31.3% occurred at ϕ = 0.90 and CR = 13:1. These results demonstrate that the anode off-gas can be successfully oxidized using a spark ignition combustion mode. The fuel conversion efficiency of the anode tail gas is expected to further increase in a more modern engine architecture that can achieve increased burn rates in comparison to the CFR engine. NOx emissions from the combustion of anode off-gas were minimal as the cylinder peak temperatures never exceeded 1800 K. This experimental study ultimately demonstrates the viability of an ICE to operate using an anode off-gas, thus creating a complementary role for an ICE to be paired with a SOFC in a hybrid power generation plant.

Tele-operation of an industrial robot by an arm exoskeleton for peg-in-hole operation using immersive environments

The design and development of an upper limb exoskeleton are being discussed for the tele-operation in order to control the KUKA KR5 industrial robot. When sufficient resolution is not provided by the visual feedback, feedback of haptic provides a qualitative understanding of changes in the remote conditions. This also provides tactile feedback from the virtual and real environment. Peg in a hole operation using exoskeleton works as the master for tele-operation in order to control the robot using immersive environment as visual feedback for the operator. The application of this work can be implemented as a nuclear power generation plant.