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SUMMARY
The gas turbine performance is highly sensitive to the compressor inlet temperature. The output of gas
turbine falls to a value that is less than the rated output under high temperature conditions. In fact increase
in inlet air temperature by 18C will decrease the output power by 0.7% approximately. The solution of this
problem is very important because the peak demand season also happens in the summer. One of the
convenient methods of inlet air cooling is evaporating cooling which is appropriate for warm and dry
weather. As most of the gas turbines in Iran are installed in such ambient conditions regions, therefore this
method can be used to enhance the performance of the gas turbines.
In this paper, an overview of technical and economic comparison of media system and fog system is
given. The performance test results show that the mean output power of Frame-9 gas turbines is increased
by 11 MW (14.5%) by the application of media cooling system in Fars power plant and 8.1 MW (8.9%)
and 9.5 MW (11%) by the application of fog cooling system in Ghom and Shahid Rajaie power plants,
respectively. The total enhanced power generation in the summer of 2004 was 2970, 1701 and 1340 MWh
for the Fars, Ghom and Shahid Rajaie power plants, respectively.
The economical studies show that the payback periods are estimated to be around 2 and 3 years for fog
and media systems, respectively. This study has shown that both methods are suitable for the dry and hot
areas for gas turbine power augmentation. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS:
gas turbine; inlet air cooling; evaporating cooling; media; fog; power augmentation
1. INTRODUCTION
Gas turbines are used widely in power generation, gas transfer stations and petrochemical
industries (GE Energy, 2006). The site ambient conditions, especially the temperature, have
great inuence on gas turbines performance (Brook, 1998). Since the air density is decreased
during warm days, the mass ow rate through the turbine is decreased. Therefore, it causes a
*Correspondence to: Mohammad Ameri, Combined Heat & Power Specialized Unit (CHP), Energy Engineering
Department, Power & Water University of Technology, PO Box 16765-1719 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
y
E-mail: ameri m@yahoo.com
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drop in the output power. Moreover, the compressor work increases due to the divergence of
constant pressure lines in TS diagram (Figure 1). On the other hand, the compressor nal
pressure decreases. Given the fact that the turbine inlet temperature is constant, it will reduce
the turbine work. As a result the net output of gas turbine falls. Moreover, there is a peak
demand of electricity in summer. Therefore, the gas turbine inlet air cooling is one of the useful
methods which can be applied for the gas turbine power enhancement.
Kraneis et al. (2000) studied the eects of an evaporative cooler on the available power plant
capacity with a detailed outline of the climatic conditions prevailing on the various continents.
Nixdorf et al. (2002) investigated the economic benets of some dierent ambient air
conditioning methods for reducing the gas turbine intake air temperature in order to enhance
the gas turbine power. Johnson (1998) discussed the theory of evaporative cooling and explained
the evaporative cooler design, installation, operation, feed water quality, and the causes and
prevention of water carry over. Kakaras et al. presented a computer simulation of the
integration of an evaporative cooler and of the air-cooling system and discussed the eect of
ambient air temperature variation on the power output and eciency (Kakaras, 2004). Ameri
et al. (2004) have studied the installation of fog inlet air cooling system for six Frame-5 (25 MW)
gas turbines. The results of that study showed that the output power of each gas turbine was
increased by 3 MW. Also, they showed that the fog system was very cheap in comparison with
the installation of new gas turbines. McNeilly (1997) presented a new method for the test
correction error of evaporative coolers. Ameri et al. (2004) presented a good overview of an
intake air-cooling system that used a steam absorption chiller and an air cooler to increase the
power output of Frame-6 gas turbines.
The fog and media evaporative inlet cooling are the most economical alternatives for hot and
dry areas. In fact the other techniques such as the absorption and vapour compression chiller
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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methods are not suitable for that ambient condition as they are very expensive alternatives. The
purpose of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art application of gas turbine evaporative
inlet air cooling systems for three large gas turbine power plants (Shahid Rajaie, Ghom and
Fars) in Irans electrical grid and to compare the technical and economical aspects of fog and
media inlet air cooling systems. Although one may nd various papers in literature regarding the
topic, however, there is neither many reliable actual power plant test data available for the large
gas turbines nor there exist many unbiased comparisons between dierent evaporative inlet air
cooling systems. In fact, most of the similar results are given by commercial companies which
have not been justied by an independent research. Each company claims that its system either
fog or media is the best.
Following the discussion on the dierent inlet air cooling methods, the actual performance
test results are presented. Finally, the economic benets of the dierent cooling systems are
explained.
2. GAS TURBINE INLET AIR COOLING METHODS
There are several inlet air cooling methods available for gas turbine power augmentation
(Omidvar, 2001). They can be classied into three types:
(1) thermal energy storage systems;
(2) refrigerated cooling system (utilizing absorption or mechanical refrigeration);
(3) evaporative coolers (media and fog).
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Figure 4. Certain angles of media surface installation (AAF Power & Industrial, 2002).
saturation limit. The remaining water is used for continuous purging and discharging of
the other materials from the media surfaces. The amount of circulating water should be at least
23 times of evaporated water.
To prevent the removing of water droplets from media surfaces and damaging the compressor
blades due to the high velocity of air, the air velocity should be limited. The cooler air is passed
through a mist eliminator after the evaporating cooler and the water droplets are removed.
Figure 5 shows the reduction of saturation eciency of the evaporating cooler at high velocities
for Celdek media surfaces with various thicknesses (Munters Co., 2001). On the other hand as
the inlet air velocity increases the pressure drop in the system increases as well. Also Figure 5
shows the pressure drop in Celdek media surfaces with various thicknesses versus the inlet air
velocity. Based on these facts, it is obvious that if the inlet air velocity is high, the evaporating
cooler saturation eciency is reduced and the pressure drop is increased. Therefore, a diuser is
used at the inlet air duct of evaporative cooler to reduce the inlet air velocity. However, it should
be noted that the pressure drop is very small.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Figure 5. The media cooler saturation eciency and its pressure drop versus air velocity for dierent media
width (width of media surfaces are 75; 100; 150; 200 and 300 mm) (Munters Co., 2001).
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operating pressure, and provides alarms when these parameters are outside acceptable ranges.
Table I indicates the typical cooling control system stages.
3.2.2. Fog nozzles position in inlet duct. There are two main options for installing the inlet
fogging system, i.e. locating them either upstream or downstream of the lters.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Table I. Typical fog cooling control stages (four stages of 2.88C each).
Time
Dierence (8C)
Stage ON
Cooling (8C)
9:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
21.1
23.9
26.7
30
20
20.6
21.1
21.1
1.1
3.3
5.6
8.9
None
1
2
3
}
2.8
5.6
8.4
(a) Upstream of the inlet lters: One advantage of positioning the fog nozzle manifold
upstream of the air lters is that the installation can be accomplished without gas turbine outage.
In this case, a fog droplet mist eliminator lter must be added downstream of the fog nozzle
manifold to remove any unevaporated droplet. By denition, the droplet lter would not allow
any fog intercooling. Typically about half the water droplets by the fog nozzles is captured by the
droplet mist eliminator and drained away. This type of system while used on some early
installations is rarely applied to gas turbine installations today. It requires more fog nozzles
and more water and it is generally more expensive to operate and install. However the turbine
operators, who have experienced excessive loading of inlet air lters, might nd this option
a cost-eective one.
(b) Downstream of the inlet lters: The most common location for the high-pressure fog nozzle
manifold is downstream of the air lters and upstream of silencers and trash screens. Installation
of the fog system in this location requires an outage of 12 days and calls for only minor
modications to the turbine inlet structure. This type of installation allows fog intercooling.
While the fog nozzle manifolds can be also installed downstream of the silencers, it is generally
considered best to locate them upstream of the silencers, as this would allow more residence time
for the fog droplets to evaporate. Fog nozzle manifolds are usually installed upstream of the
trash screens to avoid any possibility of foreign object damage (FOD).
4. COMPARISON OF MEDIA AND FOG INLET AIR COOLING SYSTEMS
Comparisons of media and fog system for cooling air of gas turbine are shown in Table II
(Grance et al., 2001). Care should be taken for using these cooling systems as they may change
the performance curve of the gas turbine towards surge point. Moreover if the humidity of air is
high, the power increase is limited due to the low eciency of the evaporative system. Therefore,
the required cooling is not achieved.
5. THE EFFECT OF EVAPORATING COOLER ON THE COMPRESSOR INLET AIR
COOLING AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF GAS TURBINE OUTPUT POWER
The media and fog cooling systems enhance the output power by reducing the inlet air
temperature as follows:
(1) The density and the ow rate of air passing through the gas turbine are increased
by reducing the compressor inlet air temperature. Therefore, the output power is
enhanced.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Table II. Comparisons of media and fog system for cooling air of gas turbine (Grance et al., 2004).
Main parameter
Eciency of humidifying (%)
Capital cost (US$ kW1 installed)
Quality of consumption water
Pressure drop (Pa)
Droplet diameter (mm)
Time of unit exit for
installation (days)
Change of unit structure
Another advantage
Media
Fog
8590
4555
Raw water
200
Less than 100
57
90100
3545
Fully demineralized
Very low
Less than 20
12
(2) The consumption power of compressor is decreased as its inlet air temperature is reduced
(The consumption power of compressor is proportional to the inlet air temperature
directly). Therefore, the net power output of turbine increases.
(3) If the inlet air temperature is reduced, the exhaust ue gas temperature is reduced. This is
due to the fact that if all other parameters are kept constant, the energy balance causes
the ue gas temperature to reduce. Therefore, the error signal which is the dierence
between exhaust gas temperature and its set point temperature is reduced. The turbine
control system increases the fuel ow rate and therefore the output power of gas turbine
is enhanced. The ue gas temperature returns to its set point value.
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Table III. Characteristics of gas turbine units and installed cooling systems.
Power plant
Fars
Shahid Rajaie
Ghom
No. of
case study
units
2
2
2
14 ! 43
10 ! 40
12 ! 45
Type of installed
cooling system
Design condition
for installed
cooling system
Media
Fog
Fog
where m
air is the inlet mass ow rate of dry air into the gas turbine.
As an example, the maximum power recovery under Fars power plant condition is determined
as follows.
At T1db 358C and relative humidity of j1 20%; the specic humidity is o1 0:008464:
Assuming maximum saturation eciency (i.e. 100%, the best conditions for the evaporating
cooling system performance) the minimum achievable temperature is the wet bulb temperature.
Therefore, T2db T1wb 17:868C and the relative humidity and specic humidity are j1
100% and o2 0:015568; respectively. Since the altitude of this power plant is 1530 m from the
sea level, the above values should be corrected. According to the tables of altitude correction
(ASHRAE, 1992), one can estimate Do to be 0.007104. The mass ow rate of inlet air to the
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Ambient Pressure
Evap.
Ambient Temperature
Cooler
Relative Humidity
System
Gas Turbine
Power Output
Exhaust Gas Temp.
Figure 9. The schematic for the prediction of gas turbine power enhancement by evaporative cooling
system at dierent ambient conditions.
compressor is 406 kg s1 under design condition. Therefore, the required water mass ow rate is
m
water 2:88 kg s1 : According to the above values and the diagram of gas turbine output
power versus the inlet temperature for GE-F9 units of Fars power plant, the augmented power is
calculated (Shahbazian and Hoseinzadeh, 2004). The output power of gas turbine at the design
point is 79.13 MW and after the operation of media system it is estimated to be 90.18 MW.
Therefore, the maximum recovered power is 11.05 MW or 13.96%. For other power plants and
dierent ambient conditions the maximum power enhancement is determined by this method as
well (Nabizadeh and Keshtgar, 2004). It should be noted that the evaporative cooler eciency is
estimated from the test results. Figure 9 shows the schematic for the prediction of gas turbine
power enhancement using the evaporative cooling system. The equations of evaporative cooler
system box are based on thermodynamical properties and evaporative cooler saturation
eciency. The evaporative cooler eciency is calculated using the test point results. The
equations of gas turbine box are based on the characteristics curve of the specic gas turbine.
A simple computer code has been prepared to calculate the temperature reduction and power
enhancement for dierent cases (Shahbazian and Hoseinzadeh, 2004; Nabizadeh and Keshtgar,
2004).
7.2. Performance test results and discussion
Since the evaporative systems performance test is an important issue in the feasibility study, the
complete performance tests have been done on all units. The main parameters in those tests were
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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the increase in output power and also the temperature and the humidity ratio at the compressor
inlet. Regarding these parameters, measuring points were specied. Since this system is used at
dierent times both day and night (especially in the summer nights when the ambient
temperatures are high enough that it may make the use of evaporating cooling units necessary)
the performance tests at night were also carried out to evaluate the performance of the units at
dierent conditions.
The correct functioning of sensors installed on PLC should be tested. Therefore, the
temperature and the air humidity data were also measured by another instrument and then the
results were compared to the data of PLC. The test procedure is as follows:
*
*
*
Starting up gas turbines and turning their automatic control on, letting each unit to reach
its full load (base load) (at this time 15-min waiting period was regarded for assurance that
the system had reached the steady-state operating conditions).
Recording parameters which were needed for performance test.
Turning on the cooling system and waiting for 20 min until the operating conditions
approach steady-state conditions.
Controlling and recording necessary parameters.
Table IV presents the results of performance tests of media evaporative cooling system for
units 1 and 2 of Fars power plant in August 2004.
Also, Tables V and VI present the results of performance tests of fogging cooling system for
units 1 and 2 of Shahid Rajaie and Ghom power plants in July and June 2004, respectively. It
should be noted the maximum calibration error for the output power measurement is 0.1%.
Table IV. The performance test results of media for units 1, 2 of Fars power plant (August 2004)
(Shahbazian and Hosseinzadeh, 2004).
GE (Frame-9) gas turbine unit 1
Parameters
Ambient
temp. (8C)
Relative
humidity (%)
Ambient
pressure (kPa)
Comp. inlet
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air pressure
(bar)
Exhaust gas
temp. (8C)
Power
output (MW)
After
Before
After
Before
operation operation
operation operation
Percent
Percent of media of media
of media of media
system Variation variation
system Variation variation system
system
38.17
38.27
8.3
8.2
0.08
1
83.85
83.82
0.023
40.6
22.66
371
8.23
559.6
76.6
347
8.92
549
87.71
0.103
38.37
38.60
0.23
0.074
8.03
8.33
0.3
3.73
0.028
83.95
83.90
0.05
17.93
5.72
38
20
24
3.73
0.069
10.66
11.11
0.033
352
1.22
14.5
373.66
348.66
8.87
9.42
551
81.48
540
92.29
0.06
18
5.78
25
3.87
0.65
11
10.81
7.45
1.33
13.27
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Table V. The performance test results of fog for units 1 & 2 of Shahid Rajaie power plant (July 2004)
(Nabizadeh and Keshtgar, 2004).
GE (Frame-9) gas turbine unit 1
Parameters
Ambient
temp. (8C)
Relative
humidity (%)
Ambient
pressure (mbar)
Comp. inlet
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air pressure (bar)
Exhaust gas
temp. (8C)
Consumption
fuel rate
(m3 min1)
Power
output (MW)
After
Before
After
Before
operation operation
operation operation
of fog
Percent
of fog
of fog
Percent
of fog
system Variation variation
system Variation variation system
system
35
35.33
0.33
0.107
34.66
35
0.33
0.107
11
11
0.0
0.0
11
11
0.0
0.0
868.6
868.7
0.1
0.012
868.6
868.7
0.1
0.012
33
19
32.66
16
16.66
0.054
363.33
345
18.33
2.88
361.33
341.33
0.48
5.44
8.75
9.26
0.92
8.823
9.303
558.33
550.66
7.66
463.5
498.06
34
86.55
95.03
8.48
7.44
9.79
14
0.046
20
3.15
0.51
5.86
560
552
8
480.1
519.53
39.36
8.19
92.22
9.2
11.08
83.02
0.96
Figures 1014 show the gas turbine inlet air temperature reduction, power increase and
output power prediction for the dierent ambient conditions using the media evaporative cooler
or fog systems. The test point and the design points are also shown for reference. The maximum
error which is the dierence between the actual (i.e. test) measured power and the predicted
power value is estimated to be around 2%. According to Figure 10 for media evaporating
system in Fars power plant, the inlet temperature drop increases due to the air relative humidity
decrease and temperature increase. For example, if the ambient temperature is 388C and the
relative humidity is 8%, the inlet air temperature is decreased by at least 178C using media
cooling system. Also according to Figures 11 and 12 the output power is enhanced by
11.11 MW. On the other hand, according to Figure 13 for fog cooling system in Ghom power
plant (for the ambient temperature of 338C and the relative humidity 16%) the inlet air
temperature is decreased by at least 168C. The output power is enhanced by 8.1 MW (Figures 14
and 15).
It should be noted that the power augmentation are clearly the results at the time of testing. If
an entire summer season or an entire year is considered, the overall power production increase
may be estimated. Figure 16 presents the total power generation for those three power plants in
the summer of 2004. It shows that the maximum power enhancement for the Fars power plant is
2970 MWh which is much more than the other two power plants i.e. 1701 MWh for Ghom and
1340 MWh for Shahid Rajaie power plants. It is 74.1 and 121.6% larger than those two other
power plants. In fact although the media evaporative cooler eciency (85%) is generally a little
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1496
Table VI. The performance test results of fog for units 1 & 2 of Ghom power plant (June 2004)
(Nabizadeh and Keshtgar, 2004).
MW701D gas turbine unit 1
Parameters
Ambient
temp. (8C)
Relative
humidity (%)
Ambient
pressure (kPa)
Comp. inlet
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air temp. (8C)
Comp. output
air pressure
(kPa)
Exhaust gas
temp. (8C)
Fuel consumption
rate (kN m3 h1)
Power
output (MW)
After
Before
After
Before
operation operation
operation operation
of fog
Percent
of fog
of fog
Percent
of fog
system Variation variation
system Variation variation system
system
31.96
32.66
16.66
15.66
88.87
88.87
0.00
31.8
16.58
415.66
404.06
1080
0.7
32
33
0.33
16
16
0.0
0.00
0.00
88.87
88.87
0.0
0.00
15.22
4.99
31.83
15.76
11
1.6
413.66
40
3.7
1
1120
528.93
523.7
0.23
6
1068
16.06
5.27
13.26
1.93
1113.33
45.33
4.24
400.4
5.22
0.65
528.76
523.63
5.13
0.64
29.45
30.76
1.31
4.44
28.60
30.14
1.53
5.37
94.93
100.53
5.60
5.89
90.1
98.2
8.1
8.99
26
Test Point
23
=5%
20
=8.3%
Design Point
17
=15%
14
=20%
11
=25%
=30%
5
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Figure 10. Temperature decrease prediction using media system at various ambient conditions.
bit less than the fog system (90%), however, the climate in the Fars is more favourable for
installation of the evaporative cooling system. The high temperature, less humidity and more
hot hours per each day are the main reasons for higher power augmentation at the Fars site.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1497
Test Point
14
= 5%
12
= 8.3%
Design Point
10
= 15%
= 20%
= 25%
= 30%
4
15
20
25 30 35 40 45
Inlet Air Temperature (C)
50
55
Figure 11. Power increase prediction using media system at various ambient conditions.
100
=5%
Design Point
96
Power (MW)
=8.3%
Test Point
92
=15%
88
=20%
84
=25%
=30%
80
76
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Figure 12. Gas turbine output power prediction using media system at various ambient conditions.
Moreover in order to compare the media and fog system performances, Figure 17 presents the
temperature decrease and percent of power augmentation prediction due to installation of
media and fog system at three power plants (i.e. Fars, Rajaie and Ghom) for dierent ambient
conditions. It shows that the power augmentation for the media system (Fars) and the fog
system (Ghom and Rajaie) are almost the same at the same ambient conditions. In fact the
evaporative cooler eciencies for the media and fog system are almost the same. These results
are quite dierent from the MEE Industries (2002) report (i.e. one of the major fog system
manufacturer) for a Frame 7111EA gas turbine. In fact, MEE has assumed an eciency of
8085% for the media evaporative cooling system and up to 100% eciency for the fog system.
Therefore, MEE concluded that the percent of power boost attained by the use of fogger over
media type cooler power was up to 2.2% for dierent ambient temperatures and humidity
ratios. The reason for this dierence can be due to the fact that for the fog system, the design of
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1498
29
Design Point
= 5%
26
= 8%
Test Point
23
=10%
20
=16%
17
=20%
14
=25%
11
8
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Figure 13. Temperature decrease prediction using fog system at various ambient conditions.
18
Design Point
16
= 5%
14
Test Point
= 8%
12
=10%
10
=16%
=20%
=25%
4
15
20
25 30 35 40 45
Inlet Air Temperature (C)
50
55
Figure 14. Power increase prediction using fog system at various ambient conditions.
the nozzle manifold, type of nozzle and inlet duct length from the manifold to the compressor
inlet are the critical factors which aects the evaporative cooling system performance. In fact,
our fog systems have obtained the eciency of 90% compared with the excellent MEE fog
system with the eciency of up to 100%. Moreover, our media evaporative cooler system has
a very good design. Therefore, it has been able to achieve an eciency of approximately 90%
(i.e. the same as our fog system eciency).
7.3. Economic evaluation and discussion
The cost of an inlet cooling system is often evaluated in terms of US$ kW1. This can be
misleading because the output enhancement as a result of inlet air cooling varies with the
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
108
=5%
Test Point
105
Power (MW)
1499
Test Point
102
Design Point
=8%
=10%
=16%
99
=20%
96
=25%
93
90
15
20
25 30 35 40 45
Inlet Air Temperature (C)
50
55
Figure 15. Gas turbine output power prediction using fog system at various ambient conditions.
Figure 16. The comparison of gas turbine power augmentation (kWh) using the evaporative cooling
systems for the Fars, Ghom and Rajaie power plants during summer 2004.
ambient temperature. A better way of evaluating the economic feasibility of a cooling system is
through cost-benet analysis in which the additional revenues are calculated as a result of cost
of electricity (COE) and rate of return (ROR) for additional MWh (Jones and Jacobs, 2002;
Grance et al., 2001).
The economic evaluation criterion may vary from one power producer to another. For some
producers, it may be revenues from enhanced capacity. For others, it may be the bonus for
meeting or exceeding capacity or avoiding any penalties for not meeting capacity. All these
factors contribute to total revenues and should be properly accounted for in economic
evaluation.
Table VII shows the capital cost for media and fog inlet air cooling system. They include the
initial installation investment cost, annual O&M cost, consumption water cost and consumption
fuel cost.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1500
30
=10 %
T= 40C and
T= 45C and =5 %
25
20
T= 30C and
=10 %
15
10
5
0
Fars
Rajaei
Ghom
Fars
Rajaei
Ghom
Fars
Rajaei
14.45
16.92
16.79
19.05
23.68
23.54
20.97
26.94
25.87
10.63
11.81
9.98
16.93
18.46
16.39
18.59
20.44
17.93
Ghom
Figure 17. The comparison of temperature decrease and percent of gas turbine power
augmentation prediction for the media (Fars) and fog systems (Rajaie and Ghom)
installations at various ambient conditions.
Table VII. Final economical results for media evaporating system and fog system cases.
Case
Fars
Shahid Rajaie
11
10 912 000
10
9 920 000
2 102 400
Ghom
8
7 936 000
8 809 600
2281.6
9 920 000
2083.2
7 936 000
1517.7
10277.1
7285.2
9285.1
605 000
24 200
22 816
51 385
450 000
18 000
20 832
36 426
360 000
14 400
15 177
46 425
6.14
3.30
2.26
3.80
2.29
1.67
4.52
2.64
1.88
24.37
36.90
31.24
For the economic calculations, the following assumptions have been made:
*
The investment cost is assumed to be 55 US$ kW1 and 45 US$ kW1 for media and fog
systems, respectively.
*
*
*
*
1501
Since the cooling system is operated in summer and under peak demand condition, its daily
operation time is assumed to be 8 h a day (although its actual operation time was much less
than this value due to some technical problems). If it is assumed that this system is operating for
4 months per year (MaySeptember), the number of operation hours will be a 992 h year1.
Also the power decrease in gas turbines power due to the pressure drop (200 Pa) of media
system is considered in economical calculation.
Based on the economic analysis (Table VII), it is clear that both media evaporative and fog
systems are economical as their rates of return (24.3736%) are higher than the domestic and
foreign rates of return (RORs) (i.e. 17 and 7%, respectively). However, the fog systems are more
economical in comparison with media evaporating system. There are some reasons for this
conclusion:
*
The ROR for media and fog systems are more than domestic interest rate but the ROR for
fog system is absolutely more than the ROR for media system.
The capital cost for media system is more than the capital cost for fog system. Therefore,
fog systems are more attractive than the media system at the rst view.
The payback periods for fog system are shorter than media evaporating system for various
electricity costs.
Therefore, based on the economic evaluation, the best alternatives for the gas turbine power
augmentation can be both the fog and media inlet air cooling systems. However, one should
note that the media evaporating system is safer than the fog system due to the possibility of large
fog droplets entering the compressor if the fog nozzles types and their orientations are not
designed very well.
8. CONCLUSION
According to the feasibility study test results, using the media evaporating cooler in Fars
combined cycle power plant increased the gas turbine output power by 11 MW (or 14.5%).
Using the fogging system in Shahid Rajaie and Ghom combined cycle power plants enhanced
the gas turbine output power by 9.2 MW (or 11%) and 8.1 MW (8.9%). However, the actual
average power enhancement in the summer of 2004 was 11, 8.5 and 6.6 MW for Fars, Ghom and
Shahid Rajaie power plants, respectively. The results reveal that the media evaporative cooler
eciency is the same as the fog evaporative system eciency. However due to the fact that the
Fars climate conditions are more favourable, it has generated more enhanced power.
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1502
The results of technical and economic evaluation show that using the evaporative systems is
more cost eective than using new gas turbines for generating more power. Therefore, these
systems are very suitable for the dry central regions of Iran such as Fars, Ghom, Yazd, etc.
where the air temperature is high and the humidity ratio is low.
Also the capital costs are very cheap in comparison with the installation of the new gas
turbines (300 US$ kW1). The payback period for the application of the evaporative systems is
from 2 to 3 years.
NOMENCLATURE
m
air
m
water
Tdb
Twb
Zhumidifying
o
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