Gas Turbine Power Plants

The gas turbine obtains its power by utilizing the energy of burnt
gases and air, which is at high temperature and pressure by
expanding through the several ring of fixed and moving blades.

To get a high pressure (of the order of 4 to 10 bar) of working

fluid, which is essential for expansion, a compressor is required.

Thus, a simple gas turbine cycle consists of

• a compressor,
• a combustion chamber and
• a turbine.
Gas turbines have been constructed to work on the following: oil,
natural gas, coal gas, producer gas, blast furnace and pulverized
coal.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 1
6.2 Revision of Brayton Cycle
Brayton cycle is an ideal model for the power cycle consisting
of a gas turbine. It consists of two isentropic and two isobaric
processes.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 2

 Process 1-2 (Isentropic Compression)
Low pressure and low temperature
air at the low temperature heat
exchanger exit is supplied to the
compressor where it is compressed
and delivered to the high
temperature heat exchanger.

Process occurring in the compressor

is assumed to an isentropic process.

Hence, during isentropic

compression pressure of the working
substance increases and its specific
volume decreases; while entropy of
the system remains constant and its
temperature increases.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 3
Process 2-3 (Isobaric Heat Addition)
Heat is supplied to the high temperature heat exchanger from
an external source and the working substance is heated under
constant pressure.
Hence, during the constant pressure heating, specific volume,
temperature and entropy of the air increases.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 4

Process 3-4 (Isentropic Expansion)
High temperature and high
pressure air leaving the high
temperature heat exchanger is
supplied to the turbine. The turbine
produces work by consuming
energy carried by the air at the
turbine inlet.
The process occurring in the turbine
is assumed to be an isentropic
expansion. Hence, during an
isentropic expansion, pressure of
the air further decreases and its
specific volume further increases
whereas entropy of the system
remains constant and its
temperature decreases. POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 5
Process 4-1 (Isobaric Heat Rejection)
Exit air from the turbine is delivered to the low temperature
heat exchanger where it rejects heat to the low temperature
sink such that its initial state is restored.
Heat rejection process occurs at constant pressure during
which, specific volume, temperature and entropy of the air
decreases.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 6

Efficiency of Brayton Cycle
Work produced by the turbine per kg of air is given by

Work consumed by the compressor per kg of air is given by

During steady state operation of the cycle, some part of the

work produced by the turbine is utilized to run the compressor.
Hence, the work delivered to the surroundings is given by

Heat supplied to the air in the high temperature heat

exchanger is given by

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 7

Efficiency of the Brayton cycle is then given by

This equation requires temperatures of each state to

determine the efficiency of the cycle.
We can further simplify it to reduce the number of required
variables. For this, applying pressure – temperature
relationship for isentropic compression process and isentropic
expansion process,

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 8

Equating

Now using componendo and dividendo,

Efficiency can then be expressed as

We can express efficiency in terms of pressure ratio as

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 9

Although high pressure ratio is desirable for high efficiency but
in reality high pressure ratio causes high temperature and there
is a limitation to which a real turbine blade can withstand
maximum temperature or pressure. In real gas turbine cycle
pressure ratio is usually between to 10 to 16.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 10
6.2 Classification of Gas Turbine Power
Plant
The gas turbine power plants which are used in electric power
industry are classified into two groups as per the cycle of
operation.
• Open cycle gas turbine.
• Closed cycle gas turbine.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 11

 6.2.1 Open Cycle Gas Turbine
Advantages:
• Very less warm up time
• Low weight and size
• Any fuel can be used
• Occupy comparatively little
space
Disadvantages:
• Poor part load efficiency
• Sensitive to the component
efficiency
• Sensitive to changes in the
atmospheric air temperature,
pressure and humidity.
• Dust should be prevented from
entering into the compressor
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 12
 6.2.2 Closed Cycle Gas Turbine

Advantages
• Unit rating can be increased
about in proportion to the
backpressure. Therefore the
machine can be smaller and
cheaper than the machine used
to develop the same power
using open cycle plant.
• Avoids erosion of the turbine
blades and fouling of
compressor blades.
• The need for filtration of the
incoming air which is
completely eliminated.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 13
Advantages
• Load variation is usually obtained by varying the absolute pressure
and mass flow of the circulating medium, while the pressure ratio,
the temperatures and the air velocities remain almost constant. This
makes turbine independent of the load and full load thermal
efficiency maintained over the full range of operating loads.
• The density of the working medium can be maintained high by
increasing internal pressure range, therefore, the compressor and
turbine are smaller for their rated output. The high density of the
working fluid further increases the heat transfer properties in the
heat exchanger.
• As indirect heating is used in closed cycle plant, the inferior oil or
solid fuel can be used in the furnace.
• Finally the closed cycle opens the new field for the use of working
medium (other than air as argon, CO2, helium) having more
desirable properties.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 14

Advantages
• The maintenance cost is low and reliability is high due to longer
useful life.
• Starting is simplified by reducing the pressure to atmospheric or
even below atmosphere so that the power required for starting
purposes is reduced considerably.

Disadvantages
• Considerable quantity of cooling water is required in the pre-
cooler.
• Higher internal pressures involve complicated design.
• It requires very big heat-exchangers as the heating of workings
fluid is done indirectly.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 15

 6.3 Methods to Improve Thermal
Efficiency of Gas Turbine Plant
Some modifications improve the thermal efficiency of a simple gas
turbine cycle, they are:
• Regeneration
• Intercooling
• Reheat
6.3.1 Regeneration
One of the main reasons for the low efficiency of a simple gas turbine
plant is the large amount of heat which is rejected in the turbine
exhaust.
Due to limitations of maximum turbine inlet temperature and the
pressure ratio which may be used with it, the turbine exhaust
temperature is always greater than the temperature at the outlet of the
compressor.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 16
So, if this temperature difference is used to increase the
temperature of the compressed air before entering the combustion
chamber and, thereby, reducing the heat which must be supplied in
the combustion chamber for a given turbine inlet temperature, an
improvement in efficiency can be attained.

This utilization of heat in turbine exhaust can be affected in a heat

exchanger called re-generator.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 17

The percentage recovery of the heat exchanger is called its
effectiveness. Commonly effectiveness lines in the range of 70% to
80%. The thermal efficiency of gas turbines without heat
exchanger is usually in the range of 15% to 20%. With a heat
exchanger fitted, the thermal efficiency is pushed up to the range
20% to 30%.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 18

The effectiveness of the regeneration
is defined as:

The net turbine output will be as

before

However the energy required from

the fuel is that required to increase
the temperature from T5 to T3.

This is evidently less than that which would be required if no heat

exchanger was fitted in which case the temperature increase required
from the fuel would be from T’2. to T3.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 19
Thus with a heat exchanger the thermal efficiency of the plant is
increased.

6.3.2 Intercooling
A regenerator does not change the work output of a gas turbine
cycle. Two possible methods for increasing the work output are:
• by reducing the work of compression, and
• by increasing the work done by the turbine.
Intercooling is used for decreasing the work done on the
compressor.
One of the ways to achieve this is to cool the air after it has been
partially compressed, and this is accomplished by employing
multi-stage compression and intercooling between stages. Usually
2 to 3 stages of compression are used
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 20
 If intercooling is used the size of the turbine and compressor can be
reduced for the same output or alternatively greater work can be
obtained from the plant of the same size.

By employing multistage compression with

intercooling between stages, the
compression process in the compressor can
be made to approach isothermal
compression which requires less power than
the adiabatic compression.POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 21
 6.3.3 Reheating

Reheating improves the output from the

turbine due to multiple heating.

For the same expansion ratio if the exhaust

from one stage is reheated in a separate
combustion chamber and expanded, more
output will be obtained than that obtained by
expansion in a single stage.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 22
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 23
 6.4 Main Components of A Gas Turbine
Plant
The basic gas turbine components are:
(1) Compressor,
(2) Combustion chamber,
(3) Turbine and
(4) Heat exchangers.
6.4.1 Compressor
A gas turbine compressor should be able to handle a relatively
large volume of air or working media and delivering it at 4 to 6
atmospheric pressure with the highest possible efficiencies,
moreover, the compressor should be such as can be coupled to the
turbine shaft which runs at very high speed ranging from about 600
rpm to 40,000 rpm. On the above basic requirements, only a
centrifugal or axial compressors can be employed.
POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 24
The centrifugal compressor consists of a rotor called impeller
provided with vanes and moving in a casing or scroll.
Air is given a whirling motion at high velocity by the impeller and
is thrown out of it by centrifugal force.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 25

When high pressure ratios are needed, axial compressor is
advantageous and it always used for industrial gas turbine
installations. Although, the axial compressor is heavier than the
centrifugal compressor but it has higher efficiency than the
centrifugal compressor.
The axial flow compressor consist of a rotor and a stator. The rotor
(i.e. moving element) consists of rows of moving blades and the
stator (i.e. stationary component) consists of a rows of stationary
blades. Some part of the kinetic energy is converted into pressure
energy in the rotor due to diffusion action and the rest is converted
in the stator.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 26

6.4.2 Combustor
Generally the air fuel ratio in open gas turbine varies from 50 : 1 to
250 : 1, to keep the turbine inlet temperature down to permissible
limits. The combustion process taking place inside the combustion
chamber is quite important because it is in this process that energy,
which is later converted into work by the turbine is supplied.
Therefore, the combustion chamber should provide thorough
mixing of fuel and air as well as combustion products and air so
that complete combustion and uniform temperature distribution in
the combustion gases may be achieved.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 27

6.4.3 Gas Turbine
The burning gases expand rapidly and rush into the turbine, where
they cause the turbine wheels to rotate. Hot gases move through a
multistage gas turbine. Like in steam turbine, the gas turbine also
has fixed(stationary) and moving(rotor) blades. The stationary
blades guide the moving gases to the rotor blades and adjust its
velocity. The shaft of the turbine is coupled to a generator or
machinery to drive it.

6.4.4 Heat Exchangers.

Regenerator and the intercooler are the heat exchangers used in
gas turbine plants.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 28

Advantages of gas turbine power plant

 Storage of fuel requires less area and handling is easy.

 The cost of maintenance is less.

 It is simple in construction. There is no need for boiler,

condenser and other accessories as in the case of steam power
plants.

 Cheaper fuel such as kerosene , paraffin, benzene and powdered

coal can be used which are cheaper than petrol and diesel.

 Gas turbine plants can be used in water scarcity areas.

 Less pollution and less water is required.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 29
Disadvantages of gas turbine power plant

 66% of the power developed is used to drive the compressor.

Therefore the gas turbine unit has a low thermal efficiency.

 The running speed of gas turbine is in the range of (40,000 to

100,000 rpm) and the operating temperature is as high as 1100 –
12600C.

 For this reason special metals and alloys have to be used for
the various parts of the turbine.

 High frequency noise from the compressor is objectionable.

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 30

Applications of gas turbine:
 Gas turbines are used to drive pumps, compressors and high
speed cars.

 Used in aircraft and ships for their propulsion. They are not
suitable for automobiles because of their very high speeds.

 Power generation(used for peak load and as stand-by unit).

POWER PLANT EQUIPMENT 31