Development of an Advanced Microturbine System Using Humid Air Turbine Cycle

Abstract

A prototype machine for a next generation microturbine system applying a simple humid air turbine system (design target of electrical output: 150 kW, electrical efficiency: 35% LHV) was developed for its laboratory evaluation. A low NOx combustor which applied a lean-lean zone combustion concept and water lubricated bearings were developed for the prototype machine. Operation using two water lines for the humid air turbine (HAT) was proposed as an effective way to obtain rated electric output to ambient temperature of 40 deg C. Tests for the main components were done successfully. Motoring tests, full speed test with no load, 50% load and 70% load tests as preliminary tests for rated load tests were also carried out successfully. Low NOx emission of 7.6 ppm and high efficiency of 95.6% for the power conversion system were achieved in the partial load tests. At the first rated load test without HAT and Water atomizing inlet air cooling (WAC) that followed those partial load tests, 150.3 kW electric output with electrical efficiency of 32% was obtained.

T100 mGT converted into mHAT for domestic applications: Economic analysis based on hourly demand

“…Dodo et al built a 150 kW e mHAT coupled with a Water Atomizing inlet air Cooling (WAC) line. Experiments resulted in dry stable operation at 32% electrical efficiency and reduced NO x emissions in the exhaust [12]. Thereafter, Nakano et al showed through water injection experiments that the combination of WAC and HAT eventuated in a 3% absolute efficiency increase [13].…”

“…Several authors have investigated the beneficial effect of converting an mGT into an mHAT, both from a numerical and an experimental perspective [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Parente et al carried out a thermodynamic assessment of the mHAT cycle, concluding that an existing mGT can be operated as an mHAT without major re-design [9].…”

Hydrodynamic and heat and mass transfer performances of novel ceramic foam packing to humidification tower

“…Different cycle configurations are presented in open literature, such as cascade HAT [3], externally fired HAT [4], part flow HAT [5], Advanced HAT (AHAT) [6] and micro HAT (mHAT) [7]. More recent theoretical investigations are presented in Refs.…”

Experimental and theoretical studies on air humidification by a water spray at elevated pressure

“…Various advanced gas turbine cycles, such as combined cycle (CC), steam injection turbine (STIG) cycle and humid air turbine (HAT) cycle, have been proposed and studied. After initially patented by Rao [1] in 1989, HAT has been paid more attention due to its eminent performance of low grade heat recovery and many system configurations have been presented in open literatures [2][3][4][5].…”