Pressure gain combustion advantage in land-based electric power generation

Seyfettin C Gülen

doi:10.22261/jgpps.k4md26

Abstract

AbstractThis article evaluates the improvement in gas turbine combined cycle power plant efficiency and output via pressure gain combustion (PGC). Ideal and real cycle calculations are provided for a rigorous assessment of PGC variants (e.g., detonation and deflagration) in a realistic power plant framework with advanced heavy-duty industrial gas turbines. It is shown that PGC is the single-most potent knob available to the designers for a quantum leap in combined cycle performance.

Highlights

Gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plant is the most efficient and least-polluting fossil fuel-based electric power generation technology
The Atkinson cycle can be considered as a proxy for Holzwarth’s “explosion turbine” (Stodola, 1927). This cycle, under the name “Humphrey,” has been used as an ideal proxy for PDC-based pulsed detonation engines (PDE) (Heiser and Pratt, 2002). It was shown in an earlier article (Gülen, 2010) that the “correct” ideal proxy for a perfect turbomachine like a gas turbine should have a SSSF constant volume heat addition (CVHA) process
The cycle was referred to by the author as Reynst-Gülen (R-G) cycle since so far no published reference has been found with its definition. It can be shown via rigorous thermodynamic analysis that for the same precompression pressure ratio (PR), P2/P1, and turbine inlet temperature (TIT), T3, the R-G cycle is more efficient than the Atkinson cycle because it has a higher mean-effective heat addition temperature (METH). (See Smith and Gülen (2012) for definition and calculation of mean-effective temperatures.) In comparison, the METH for the Atkinson cycle is the same as the Brayton cycle with the same cycle PR as Atkinson precompression PR and the same TIT

Summary

Introduction

Gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plant is the most efficient and least-polluting fossil fuel-based electric power generation technology. It was shown in an earlier article (Gülen, 2010) that the “correct” ideal proxy for a perfect turbomachine like a gas turbine should have a SSSF constant volume heat addition (CVHA) process (see Figure 3). It can be shown via rigorous thermodynamic analysis that for the same precompression pressure ratio (PR), P2/P1, and TIT, T3, the R-G cycle is more efficient than the Atkinson cycle because it has a higher mean-effective heat addition temperature (METH).

Results

Conclusion