NDLI: Experimental Inlet Air Cooling of a 75 kW Gas Turbine

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Banta, Andrew
Copyright Year	2004
Abstract	An experimental study of gas turbine inlet air cooling was conducted in the Cogeneration Laboratory at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). The cooling was done using both water sprays and air cooled by an absorption chiller. The primary objectives were to determine the effectiveness of inlet air cooling on a very small gas turbine and compare using water sprays with absorption cooled air. Secondary objectives were to investigate the use of low cost water spray equipment which is typically used in green houses, and the cost effectiveness of absorption cooling with a small turbine. The very small quantities of water, less than 0.006 L/s (0.1 gpm), required to saturate the turbine air flow was difficult to meter. With the low cost spray equipment employed, the only way to accomplish full saturation was to over saturate the air. The gas turbine engine did not respond well to this situation. The lower density of the inlet air caused unstable operation of the compressor resulting in reduced compressor efficiency. With about 2/3 of the turbine work going to the compressor, this loss in efficiency caused the electricity generated to be limited to about half the rated 75 kW. Concerns about damage to the engine caused early termination of these tests. The experiments using air cooled by absorption chilling were more successful but encountered some of the same difficulties. Again, the high humidity and lower density of the inlet air appeared to cause some instability in the compressor. Control of the air temperature proved to be difficult; thus the compressor inlet air was at the chiller discharge temperature, approximately 13 C (55 F). With this arrangement it was possible to operate the engine at full rated capacity which is substantially higher than the 60% fo full load possible with ambient air at approximately 32 C (90 F). In the case of this particular engine, it was concluded that the use of water sprays was not practical and in fact may cause damage. The difficulties of metering very small water quantities would be encountered with any similar size engine. The use of absorption cooling did improve performance but this is a costly solution. The economics of inlet cooling of micro-turbines is very questionable.
Sponsorship	International Gas Turbine Institute
Starting Page	561
Ending Page	571
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISBN	0791841693
DOI	10.1115/GT2004-53481
e-ISBN	0791837394
Volume Number	Volume 4: Turbo Expo 2004
Conference Proceedings	ASME Turbo Expo 2004: Power for Land, Sea, and Air
Language	English
Publisher Date	2004-06-14
Publisher Place	Vienna, Austria
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Micro-turbine Inlet air cooling Turbines Cooling Gas turbines
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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