Innovative Turbine Intake Air Cooling Systems and Their Rational Designing

The efficiency of cooling ambient air at the inlet of gas turbines in temperate climatic conditions was analyzed and reserves for its enhancing through deep cooling were revealed. A method of logical analysis of the actual operation efficiency of turbine intake air cooling systems in real varying environment, supplemented by the simplest numerical simulation was used to synthesize new solutions. As a result, a novel trend in engine intake air cooling to 7 or 10 °C in temperate climatic conditions by two-stage cooling in chillers of combined type, providing an annual fuel saving of practically 50%, surpasses its value gained due to traditional air cooling to about 15 °C in absorption lithium-bromide chiller of a simple cycle, and is proposed. On analyzing the actual efficiency of turbine intake air cooling system, the current changes in thermal loads on the system in response to varying ambient air parameters were taken into account and annual fuel reduction was considered to be a primary criterion, as an example. The improved methodology of the engine intake air cooling system designing based on the annual effect due to cooling was developed. It involves determining the optimal value of cooling capacity, providing the minimum system sizes at maximum rate of annual effect increment, and its rational value, providing a close to maximum annual effect without system oversizing at the second maximum rate of annual effect increment within the range beyond the first maximum rate. The rational value of design cooling capacity provides practically the maximum annual fuel saving but with the sizes of cooling systems reduced by 15 to 20% due to the correspondingly reduced design cooling capacity of the systems as compared with their values defined by traditional designing focused to cover current peaked short-term thermal loads. The optimal value of cooling capacity providing the minimum sizes of cooling system is very reasonable for applying the energy saving technologies, for instance, based on the thermal storage with accumulating excessive (not consumed) cooling capacities at lowered current thermal loads to cover the peak loads. The application of developed methodology enables revealing the thermal potential for enhancing the efficiency of any combustion engine (gas turbines and engines, internal combustion engines, etc.).