Performance of a Novel Combined Cooling and Power Gas Turbine With Water Harvesting

Abstract

A thermodynamic performance analysis is performed on a novel cooling and power cycle that combines a semi-closed cycle gas turbine called the High Pressure Regenerative Turbine Engine (HPRTE) with an absorption refrigeration unit. Waste heat from the recirculated combustion gas of the HPRTE is used to power the absorption refrigeration unit, which cools the high-pressure compressor inlet of the HPRTE to below ambient conditions and also produces excess refrigeration, in an amount which depends on ambient conditions. The cycle is modeled using traditional one-dimensional steady-state thermodynamics, with state-of-the-art polytropic efficiencies and pressure drops for the turbo-machinery and heat exchangers, and accurate y correlations for the properties of the LiBr-water mixture and the combustion products. Water produced as a product of combustion is intentionally condensed in the evaporator of the vapor absorption refrigeration system. The mixture properties of air account for the water removal rate. The vapor absorption refrigeration unit is designed to provide sufficient cooling for water extraction. The cycle is shown to operate with a thermal efficiency approaching 58% for a turbine inlet temperature of 1400 °C in addition to producing about 0.45 liters of water per liter of fuel consumed. Also at the above operating condition the ratio of the refrigeration effect to the net work output from the system is equal to 0.8. The ratio of mass of water extracted to the mass of fresh air inlet into the combined cycle is obtained for different values of cycle parameters, namely turbine inlet temperature, recuperator inlet temperature and the low pressure compressor ratio. The maximum value of this ratio is found to be around 0.11. It is found that it is a strong function of the recirculation ratio and it decreased by 22% as the recirculation ratio is decreased by 70%. The thermodynamic impacts of water extraction on the system performance are also discussed. Based on these results, and prior results, which showed that the HPRTE is very compact, it appears that this cycle would be ideally suited for distributed power and vehicle applications, especially ones with associated air conditioning loads.