Abstract
A novel load flexible combustor has been developed for hybrid solar Brayton applications with any solar share. In this combustor design, the fuel is split into a pilot and a main fuel. The pilot flame is designed for re-igniting the main fuel at any workload in the range of 0–100%. Bypass cooling airflows are innovatively introduced for protecting the fuel flows from unpredictable auto-ignition and undesirable flashback. To evaluate the performances, the combustor has been experimentally demonstrated at its 30% workload with the help of the KTH high flux solar simulator, the KTH dual-flow choked nozzle based gas turbine simulator and an impinging solar receiver. By suddenly turning off the solar simulator and increasing the fuel injection, its performances under hybrid operation have been studied in detail. The results show that the combustor outlet air temperature can be successfully maintained in the range of 914.5 ± 10 °C through the whole hybrid operation test without flashback by adjusting the main fuel injection manually after turning off the solar simulator. The temperature peak on the combustor liner of this test appears at the thermocouple TC3 with a value of 958.1 °C, which is significantly lower than the allowable working temperature of the material. The pressure drop across the combustor is within the range of 17.4 ± 2.5 mbar, which is equivalent to approximately 0.58% of its working pressure.
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