By Mehaddi Rabah

Plan:
Definition.
History. Theory & Operations.

Mechanical components.
Centrifugal compressor. Axial compresseur.

Description of combined Combustion chamber.

cycle.
Description of co-

Turbines. Pros & cons.

generation.

Gas turbine:
A gas turbine, or a combustion turbine, is:

A rotary engine that extracts energy from a flow of combustion gas. It has an upstream compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber inbetween. Energy is added to the gas stream in the combustion chamber, where air is mixed with fuel and ignited. Combustion increases the temperature, velocity and volume of the gas flow. This is directed through a (nozzle) over the turbine's blades, spinning the turbine and powering the compressor.

 GE H series power generation gas turbine. This 480-megawatt unit has

a rated thermal efficiency of 60% in combined cycle configurations.

 Super Marine Gas Turbine (SMGT) KAWASAKI

 GAS TURBINE WITH RADIAL COMPRESSOR

 Gas turbine at Berlin plant The SGT-1000F is designed for high-efficiency power generation in

industrial applications and fossil-fueled power plants. The photo shows the SGT-1000F gas turbine at the Berlin plant in Germany. The turbine was delivered to San Pedro de Macoris power plant in the Dominican Republic.

History:
1500: The " Chimney Jack " was drawn by Leonardo da vinci

which was turning a roasting spit. Hot air from a fire rose through a series of fans which connect and turn the roasting spit. 1791: A patent was given to John Barber, an Englishman, for the first true gas turbine. His invention had most of the elements present in the modern day gas turbines. The turbine was designed to power a horseless carriage. 1872: The first true gas turbine engine was designed by Dr Franz Stolze but the engine never ran under its own power.

 1894: Sir Charles parsons patented the idea of

propelling a ship with a steam turbine, and built a demonstration vessel: the turbinia. This principle of propulsion is still of some use. 1903: A Norwegian, gidius Elling, was able to build the first gas turbine that was able to produce more power than needed to run its own components, which was considered an achievement in a time when knowledge about aerodynamics was limited. Using rotary compressors and turbines it produced 11 hp (massive for those days). His work was later used by Sir Frank Whittle. 1913: Nikola Tesla patents the Tesla turbine based on the Boundary layer effect.

 1918: One of the leading gas turbine

manufacturers of today, General Electric, started their gas turbine division. 1920: The practical theory of gas flow through passages was developed into the more formal (and applicable to turbines) theory of gas flow past airfoils by Dr A. A. Griffith. 1930: Sir Frank Whittle patented the design for a gas turbine for jet propulsion. His work on gas propulsion relied on the work from all those who had previously worked in the same field and he has himself stated that his invention would be hard to achieve without the works of gidius Elling. The first successful use of his engine was in April 1937.

 1934: Ral Pateras de Pescara patented the free-piston

engine as a gas generator for gas turbines.

1936: Hans von Ohain and Max Hahn in Germany

developed their own patented engine design at the same time that Sir Frank Whittle was developing his design in England.

In practice, friction, and turbulence cause:

Non-isentropic compression: for a given overall

pressure ratio, the compressor delivery temperature is higher than ideal. Non-isentropic expansion: although the turbine temperature drop necessary to drive the compressor is unaffected, the associated pressure ratio is greater, which decreases the expansion available to provide useful work. Pressure losses in the air intake, combustor and exhaust: reduces the expansion available to provide useful work.

 As with all cyclic heat engines, higher combustion

temperature means greater efficiency. The limiting factor is the ability of the steel, nickel, ceramic, or other materials that make up the engine to withstand heat and pressure. Considerable engineering goes into keeping the turbine parts cool. Most turbines also try to recover exhaust heat, which otherwise is wasted energy. Recuperators are heat exchangers that pass exhaust heat to the compressed air, prior to combustion. Combined cycle designs pass waste heat to steam turbine systems. And combined heat and power (co-generation) uses waste heat for hot water production.

Industrial gas turbines for electrical generation:

Industrial gas turbines differ from aero derivative in that the

frames, bearings, and blades is of heavier construction. Industrial gas turbines range in size from truck-mounted mobile plants to enormous, complex systems. They can be particularly efficientup to 60%when waste heat from the gas turbine is recovered by a heat recovery steam generator to power a conventional steam turbine in a combined cycle configuration. They can also be run in a cogeneration configuration: the exhaust is used for space or water heating, or drives an absorption chiller for cooling or refrigeration. A cogeneration configuration can be over 90% efficient. The power turbines in the largest industrial gas turbines operate at 3,000 or 3,600 rpm to match the AC power grid frequency and to avoid the need for a reduction gearbox. Such engines require a dedicated enclosure, both to protect the engine from the elements and the operators from the noise.

 Simple cycle gas turbines in the power industry require smaller capital

investment than either coal or nuclear power plants and can be scaled to generate small or large amounts of power. Also, the actual construction process can take as little as several weeks to a few months, compared to years for base load power plants. Their other main advantage is the ability to be turned on and off within minutes, supplying power during peak demand. Because they are less efficient than combined cycle plants, they are usually used as peaking power plants, which operate anywhere from several hours per day to a couple dozen hours per year, depending on the electricity demand and the generating capacity of the region. In areas with a shortage of base load and load following power plant capacity, a gas turbine power plant may regularly operate during most hours of the day and even into the evening. A typical large simple cycle gas turbine may produce 100 to 300 megawatts of power and have 3540% thermal efficiency. The most efficient turbines have reached 46% efficiency

Description of combined cycle

A combined cycle is characteristic of a power

producing engine or plant that employs more than one thermodynamic cycle. Heat engines are only able to use a portion of the energy their fuel generates (usually less than 50%). The remaining heat from combustion is generally wasted. Combining two or more "cycles" such as the Brayton cycle and Rankine cycle results in improved overall efficiency.

 In a combined cycle power plant (CCPP), or combined cycle gas

turbine (CCGT) plant, a gas turbine generator generates electricity and the waste heat is used to make steam to generate additional electricity via a steam turbine; this last step enhances the efficiency of electricity generation. Most new gas power plants in North America and Europe are of this type. In a thermal power plant, high-temperature heat as input to the power plant, usually from burning of fuel, is converted to electricity as one of the outputs and low-temperature heat as another output. As a rule, in order to achieve high efficiency, the temperature difference between the input and output heat levels should be as high as possible (see Carnot efficiency). This is achieved by combining the Rankine (steam) and Brayton (gas) thermodynamic cycles. Such an arrangement used for marine propulsion is called Combined Gas (turbine) And Steam (turbine) (COGAS).

Description of the cogeneration:

Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the

use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat. Conventional power plants emit the heat created as a byproduct of electricity generation into the environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means. CHP or a bottoming cycle captures the by-product heat for domestic or industrial heating purposes, either very close to the plant, especially in Scandinavia and eastern Europe as hot water for district heating with temperatures ranging from approximately 80 to 130 C. This is also called decentralized energy.

 In the United States, Con Edison distributes 30 billion pounds of

350 F/180 C steam each year through its seven cogeneration plants to 100,000 buildings in Manhattanthe biggest steam district in the world. The peak delivery is 10 million pounds per hour (corresponding to approx. 2.5 GW). This steam distribution system is the reason for the steaming manholes often seen in "gritty" New York based movies. By-product heat at moderate temperatures (212-356F/100-180C) can also be used in absorption chillers for cooling. A plant producing electricity, heat and cold is sometimes called trigeneration or more generally: polygeneration plant. Cogeneration is a thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. In separate production of electricity some energy must be rejected as waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is put to good use.

Mechanical components:
Compressor: In the gas turbine engine, compression

of the air before expansion through the turbine is effected by one of two basic types of compressor, one giving centrifugal flow and the other axial flow. Both types are driven by the engine turbine and are usually coupled direct to the turbine shaft. Centrifugal compressor The centrifugal flow compressor is a single or two stage unit employing an impeller to accelerate the air and a diffuser to produce the required pressure rise.

 A Typical centrifugal flow compressor

 impellers for centrifugal

compressor

Axial compresseur:
The axial flow compressor is a multi-stage unit

employing alternate .rows of rotating (rotor) blades and stationary (stator) vanes, to accelerate and diffuse the air until the required pressure rise is obtained. In some cases, particularly on small engines, an axial compressor is used to boost the inlet pressure to the Centrifugal.

 Axial flow compressor

 Typical blade for axial flow compressor showing

twisted contour

 With regard to the advantages and disadvantages of

the two types, the centrifugal compressor is usually more robust than the axial compressor and is also easier to develop and manufacture. The axial compressor however consumes far more air than a centrifugal compressor of the same frontal area and can be designed to attain much higher pressure ratios. Since the air flow is an important factor in determining the amount of power product, this means the axial compressor device will also give more power for the same frontal area. This, plus the ability to increase the pressure ratio by addition of extra stages, has led to the adoption of axial compressors in most gas turbine designs. However, the centrifugal compressor is still favored for smaller devices where its simplicity and ruggedness outweigh any other disadvantages.

 The trend to high pressure ratios which has favored

the adoption of axial compressors is because of the improved efficiency that results, which in turn leads to improved specific fuel consumption for a given gas turbine type.

Combustion chamber:
The combustion chamber has the difficult task of

burning large quantities of fuel, Supplied through the fuel spray nozzles, with extensive volumes of air, supplied by the compressor , and releasing the heat in such a manner that the air is expanded and accelerated to give a smooth stream of uniformly heated gas at all Conditions required by the turbine. This task must be accomplished with the minimum loss in pressure and with the maximum heat release for the limited space available.

 The amount of fuel added to the air will depend upon the

temperature rise required. However, the maximum temperature is limited to within the range of 850 to 1700 deg.C. by the materials from which the turbine blades and nozzles are made. The air has already been heated to between 200 and 550 deg. C by the work done during compression, giving a temperature rise requirement of 650 to 1150 deg. C. from the combustion process. Since the gas temperature required at the turbine varies with engine thrust, and in the case of the turbo-propeller engine upon the power required, the combustion chamber must also be capable of maintaining stable and efficient combustion over a wide range of engine operating conditions.

 Combustion chamber

 Stabilization of flame in the combustion chamber

 The chambers are disposed around the engine and

compressor delivery air is directed by ducts to pass into the individual chambers. Each chamber has an inner flame tube around which there is an air casing. The air passes through the flame tube snout and also between the tube and the outer casing .

 Disposition of the combustion chambers

Turbines:
The turbine has the task of providing the power to drive the compressor and accessories and, in our case this power is used to rotate the generator. It does this by extracting energy from the hot gases released from the combustion system and expanding them to a lower pressure and temperature. High stresses are involved in this process, and for efficient operation, the turbine blade tips may rotate at speeds over 1,500 feet per second, The continuous flow of gas

to which the turbine is exposed may have an entry temperature between 850 and 1,700 deg. C. and may reach a velocity of over 2,500 feet per second in parts of the turbine. To produce the driving torque, the turbine may consist of several stages each employing one row of stationary nozzle guide vanes and one row of moving blades. The number of stages depends upon the relationship between the powers required from the gas flow, the rotational speed at which it must be produced and the diameter of turbine permitted.

 A typical turbine arrangement

 Turbine power

Advantages of gas turbine engines

Very high power-to-weight ratio, compared to

reciprocating engines; Smaller than most reciprocating engines of the same power rating. Moves in one direction only, with far less vibration than a reciprocating engine. Fewer moving parts than reciprocating engines. Low operating pressures. High operation speeds. Low lubricating oil cost and consumption.

Disadvantages of gas turbine engines

Cost is much greater than for a similar-sized reciprocating

engine since the materials must be stronger and more heat resistant. Machining operations are also more complex; Usually less efficient than reciprocating engines, especially at idle. Delayed response to changes in power settings. These disadvantages explain why road vehicles, which are smaller, cheaper and follow a less regular pattern of use than tanks, helicopters, large boats and so on, do not use gas turbine engines, regardless of the size and power advantages imminently available.