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Energy
EnergyProcedia
Procedia138 (2017) 000–000
00 (2017) 558–563
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in Developing Countries and Emerging Economies
2017 AEDCEE, 25‐26 May 2017, Bangkok, Thailand

FeasibilityTheStudy of Turbine
15th International Inlet Air
Symposium Cooling
on District using
Heating Mechanical
and Cooling
Chillers in Malaysia Climate
Assessing the feasibility of using the heat demand-outdoor
temperature
Shahrul function
Nahar Omar Kamal1,forDidia Asmara
long-term district
Salim2* heat
, Mohd Sahril demand
Mohd Fouziforecast
3
, Danny
4
Tam Hong Khai , Mohd Kamarul Yusri Yusof
5
a,b,c a
I. Andrić *, A. Pina , P. Ferrãoadidi@puo.edu.my,
nshahrul@puo.edu.my,
1,2,3
b
., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
, J. Fourniermsahril@puo.edu.my
a
4,5
dannytam@shinryo.com.my, kamarul.yusri@shinryo.com.my
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Veolia Recherche & Innovation, 291 Avenue Dreyfous Daniel, 78520 Limay, France
c
Département Systèmes Énergétiques et Environnement - IMT Atlantique, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, 44300 Nantes, France
Abstract

The performance of a gas turbine is dependent on the ambient air temperature. The gas turbine’s power output is reduced and heat
Abstract
rate is increased as a result of higher air temperature. The warm and humid climate in Malaysia, with its high ambient air
temperature,
District heatinghas an adverse effect
networks on the performance
are commonly addressed of ingas
theturbine generators.
literature as one of Turbine Inleteffective
the most Air Cooling is a power
solutions augmentation
for decreasing the
technology
greenhousefor gasgas turbines,from
emissions whichthereduces
buildingthesector.
turbine inlet systems
These air temperature
require thereby improvingwhich
high investments the power output and
are returned heat the
through rateheat
of
the machine.
sales. Due toInthe thischanged
paper the effect of
climate Turbine Inlet
conditions Air Cooling
and building using electric
renovation chillers,
policies, heat on the performance
demand in the future of the LM6000PD
could decrease,
Gas Turbine Generator (43.5MW
prolonging the investment return period. ISO rating) is evaluated in the context of the Malaysian climate. GT Pro software is used to
evaluate
The main thescope
performance of theisgas
of this paper to turbine generator
assess the withofambient
feasibility using theairheat
temperature
demand cooled to 12°C.
– outdoor The ambient
temperature design
function points
for heat used
demand
for the sizing
forecast. Theofdistrict
the chillers are the 0.4%
of Alvalade, Evaporative
located in Lisbon (Design Point was
(Portugal), A) and theas
used 0.4% Cooling
a case (Design
study. Point B)
The district is design points
consisted of for
665
Sitiawan,
buildingsPerak as published
that vary by ASHRAE.period
in both construction It is observed that Design
and typology. Three Point
weather A results in a(low,
scenarios chiller capacityhigh)
medium, of 1950RT
and threewhich is
district
sufficient to satisfy the cooling demand of the Turbine Inlet Air Cooling system for approximately 98%
renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were of the operating hours in
acompared
year, while withDesign Point
results fromBayields
dynamic a smaller chiller model,
heat demand size of previously
1700RT which is capable
developed of meeting
and validated by the
the Turbine
authors. Inlet Air Cooling
requirement for approximately 72% of the annual operating hours. In terms of Gas
The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptableTurbine performance, thefor
netsome
power output is
applications
increased by 27.5% and 32.11% while the net heat rate is reduced by 2.8% and 3.74% for Design
(the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovationPoints A and B respectively.
The substantial
scenarios, improvement
the error in gas turbine
value increased net power
up to 59.5% output and
(depending heatweather
on the rate as predicted by thescenarios
and renovation GT Pro demonstrate
combinationthat Turbine
considered).
Inlet Air Cooling using electric chillers is effective as a power augmentation technology in Malaysia.
The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the
©decrease
2017 TheinAuthors.
the number of heating
Published hours of
by Elsevier 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and
Ltd.
©renovation
2017 The Authors.
scenarios Published by Elsevier
considered). On the Ltd. hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the
other
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in
Peer-review
­Dcoupled
eveloping under responsibility
scenarios).
CountriesThe
and values of the Organizing
suggested
Emerging Committee
could be
Economies. of 2017 the
used to modify AEDCEE.
function parameters for the scenarios considered, and
improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.
Keywords: Keywords; chiller systems; evaporative cooling; Turbine Inlet Air Cooling
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
*Corresponding Author: ddasmara@gmail.com
Cooling.

Keywords: Heat demand; Forecast; Climate change

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of 2017 AEDCEE.

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling.
1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2017 International Conference on Alternative Energy in
­Developing Countries and Emerging Economies.
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.10.159
 Shahrul Nahar Omar Kamal et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 558–563 559
2 D.A. Salim et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

Introduction

The gas turbine (GT) can be defined as an internal combustion engine which is consumed normal air and fuel to
form the combustion to produce mechanical power to generate the electrical power. The performance of the GT is
directly influenced by the turbine’s inlet temperature, ambient temperature, and relative humidity [1]. The GT has a
specific volume capacity according to manufacturer design. It depends on the air mass flow rate that enters the
compressor in order to obtain a greater power output which is known as volumetric efficiency. With compressor inlet
air cooling, the air density and mass flow rate as well as the GT net power output increase [2]. In order to achieve the
best volumetric efficiency and density, the inlet air should be at an appropriate low temperature. Therefore, a
technology called Turbine Inlet Air Cooling (TIAC) was introduced to decrease the inlet air temperature of the GT.
Normally, this phenomenon is experienced by regions with the hot climate such as the Middle East and South East
Asia. This natural characteristic has been overcome by several countries such as Iran (Middle East) and Thailand
(South East Asia) by implementing the TIAC.
Several studies have been done on the TIAC technology recently. Andrea De Pascale et al. [3] mentioned that
evaporative cooling proved to be a reliable option power augmentation in an integrated gasification combined cycle.
With the introduction of the TIAC, power augmentation for GT is quite significant to the annual power output of the
power plant [4]. Cheng Yang et al. [5] reported that GT combined cycle inlet fogging is superior in power efficiency
at ambient temperature between 15°C to 20°C though a smaller profit margin is achieved when compared to inlet
chilling. R Espanani et al. [6] found that by using the fogging method, the outlet power of the turbine is increased by
about 6 MW and construction cost per kW is reduced USD 4. G. Komodi et al. [7] indicated that an almost linear trend
can be obtained both in the electric power increase and in the electric efficiency increase as a function of the inlet air
temperature when the chiller operates under nominal working conditions.
The implementation of the TIAC results in decreasing the GT inlet air temperature to 15°C [7]. The several methods
applicable to decreasing the GT inlet air temperature are evaporative cooling; high-pressure fogging; absorption chiller
cooling; mechanical refrigeration cooling and thermal energy storage (ice and water storage) [8]. However, not all
stated methods were found to be suitable for implementation in regions with a hot climate such as the Middle East and
South East Asia due to differences of relative humidity. Due to high relative humidity, more power is needed to remove
the latent heat of the ambient air. Therefore the objective of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using the TIAC
in Malaysia since it has a hot and humid climate throughout the year.
The temperature entering the GT compressor inlet is very dependent on the ambient condition of the location.
Therefore the output performance of the GT can be improved by decreasing the inlet air temperature. There are several
methods used by power plant operators or energy providers in order to decrease the GT inlet air temperature.

Nomenclature

AFm Mass Flow Rate of Cooled Air (kg/s)

CCL Chiller Cooling Load (kW)
DB Dry Bulb
GT Gas Turbine
Ha Enthalpy of Ambient Air (kJ/s)
Hc Enthalpy of Cooled Air (kJ/kg)
LHV Low Heating Value
RH Relative Humidity
RT Refrigeration Tonne
TIAC Turbine Inlet Air Cooling
WB Wet Bulb
560 Shahrul Nahar Omar Kamal et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 558–563
D.A. Salim et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

Evaporative Cooling

Evaporative cooling is a method that applies the injection of water into the duct for the inlet air of the GT. This
method is cost-effective to recover the GT output capacity during high temperature and low or moderate humidity
periods. However this method is hindered by ambient temperatures ranging from 10°C to 15°C and above [9]. By
lowering the inlet air for the compressor in the GT, there is risk of ice formation on the compressor’s inlet guide vanes.

(a) (b) ࡽ࢕࢛࢚

Spray
Cooling
media Water
Condenser
Cooled air to gas
Cooling turbine inlet
Expansion
Compressor
ࢃ࢏࢔
Ambient air Valve
media

Pump Evaporator

Fan

Tank ࡽ࢏࢔
Fig 1. (a) Evaporative cooling system [10]; (b) Mechanical/Electric chiller system.

Figure 1 (a) above shows the typical evaporative cooling system used for various cooling applications. Due to its
inherent characteristics, evaporative cooling is thought as being only effective in geographical areas with high ambient
air dry bulb temperature and low relative humidity [11].

Mechanical/Electric Chiller

The mechanical compression or electric chiller is the best known method in the field of refrigeration. The four
basic components used to drive the system are the compressor, condenser, evaporator and metering device. To cool
the inlet air by a series of fan-tubes in the entrance filter, a mechanical chilling system is used [12].
Figure 1 (b) shows a diagram that describes the mechanical compression chiller system that uses an electrical motor
to drive the compressor. A chiller can cool the inlet air regardless of the ambient conditions [13]. Heat will be absorbed
by the low temperature refrigerant at the evaporator and rejected to the atmosphere at the condenser, using either air
or water as the cooling medium.

Methodology

This study uses the local data of dry bulb (DB) temperature, wet bulb (WB) temperature, and relative humidity
(RH) for the year 2015 from Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia as it is the nearest town to the several national power plants
such as Stesen Janakuasa Sultan Azlan Shah in Manjung, Perak and Universiti Teknologi Petronas Cogeneration plant
in Seri Iskandar, Perak. Based on these data, a scatter graph of RH versus DB was plotted to determine the suitable
chiller design point.
As referred to the ASHRAE 2009 handbook [14], it was also necessary to determine the ambient DB temperature
and RH as they would affect the cooling capacity of the chiller [8]. There are two types of ambient design point which
can be used which are the 0.4% evaporative design point (Design Point A) and 0.4 % cooling design point (Design
Point B). From these two design point, the impact on chiller capacity and the respective percentage of operating hours
that covered in a year can be assess as given by ASHRAE Handbook 2009 [14].

‫ ܮܥܥ‬ൌ ‫ܨܣ‬௠ ሺ‫ܪ‬௔ െ ‫ܪ‬௖ ሻ (1)

4 D.A. Salim et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
Shahrul Nahar Omar Kamal et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 558–563 561

The GT Pro simulation software is then used to evaluate the performance of the LM6000PD (43.5MW ISO rating)
GT generator with the design conditions of 12 °C. Figure 2 shows the example of the GT with TIAC schematic
diagram for 0.4% evaporation design point.

Fig 2. Evaporation TIAC Flow Diagram on 0.4% design point.

Result and Discussion

Figure 3 shows the ISO chiller capacity curve drawn on the scattered plot of DB temperature and RH data per hour
throughout the year of 2015 in Sitiawan, Perak. The two different design points were used in selecting the appropriate
GT for certain applications. Design Point A provides a higher cooling capacity than Design Point B due to the higher
RH which then caused the higher latent heat. By using Design Point B with the chilling capacity of 1700 RT, this will
enable it to meet the cooling requirement on hot and relatively dry days but will not be able to meet the cooling demand
for the operating hours in a year by 28%. Design Point B will typically be selected on the peaker plant applications to
meet the peak hour load demand.

Fig 3. Temperature data and relative humidity data per hour throughout the year in Sitiawan and example of selecting the chiller capacity of
the inlet air cooling system.

Design Point A is commonly selected for base load plant applications which produce a constant power output
throughout the year. On the other hand, Design Point A results in a larger capacity chilling system which is 1950 RT
and thus, will be able to meet the cooling requirement of the GT for approximately 98% of the operating hours in a
year.
 D.A. Salim et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 5
562 Shahrul Nahar Omar Kamal et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 558–563

Table 1. GT performance improvement data for Design Point A using GT Pro software with and without TIAC.
Performance Improvement
0.4% Evaporation Design Point (A) With TIAC W/O TIAC
Wet Bulb °C 27.6
Performance Percentage
Dry Bulb °C 31.7 Gain Change
Relative Humidity 73.30%
Inlet Air Temperature °C 12.0 31.7
Gross Power kW 44,337 33,725 10,612 31.47%
Nett Power kW 41,817 32,798 9,019 27.50%
Gross Heat Rate (LHV) kJ/kWh 8,672 9,200 -528 -5.74%
Nett Heat Rate (LHV) kJ/kWh 9,195 9,460 -265 -2.80%
Gross Electrical
Efficiency % 41.51 39.13 2.38 6.08%
Nett Electrical Efficiency % 39.15 38.05 1.10 2.89%

The simulation data for Design Point A is shown in Table 1. The implementation of the TIAC produces a net power
of 41,817 kW or 27.50 % improvement of the GT. The net heat rate (LHV) decreases from 9460 kJ/kWh to 9195
kJ/kWh, while the net electrical efficiency improves to 2.89% compared to without using the TIAC.

Table 2. GT performance improvement data for Design Point B using GT Pro software with and without TIAC.
Performance Improvement
0.4% Cooling Design Point (B) With TIAC W/O TIAC
Wet Bulb °C 26.4
Performance Percentage
Dry Bulb °C 33.5 Difference Change
Relative Humidity 57.60%
Inlet Air Temperature °C 12.0 33.5
Gross Power kW 44,354 32,678 11,676 35.73%
Nett Power kW 41,968 31,767 10,201 32.11%
Gross Heat Rate (LHV) kJ/kWh 8,671 9,254 -583 -6.30%
Nett Heat Rate (LHV) kJ/kWh 9,164 9,520 -356 -3.74%
Gross Electrical
Efficiency % 41.52 38.9 2.62 6.74%
Nett Electrical Efficiency % 39.28 37.82 1.46 3.86%

As shown in the Table 2, the simulation data for Design Point B are tabulated. The net gross power of the GT
increase by 35.73% to 44,354 kW while the LHV decrease by 3.74% to 9,520 kJ/kwh. The temperature of 12 ̊ C inlet
air temperature using the TIAC is sufficient for the compressor to boost the output power by at least 27%. The results
from GT Pro simulations show that TIAC technology has an encouraging impact on the performance of the GE
LM6000PD GT machine running in an open cycle mode.
From the analysis of the weather data, it is shown that the selection of the design point is critical for sizing the
chiller and for determining the performance of the chilling system. The performance of the GT with the TIAC shows
that for both conditions which are 0.4% evaporative and 0.4% cooling design point; there will be improvement in the
net power output, net heat rate and net electrical efficiencies when we compare the performance of a GT without the
TIAC.
 Shahrul Nahar Omar Kamal et al. / Energy Procedia 138 (2017) 558–563 563
6 D.A. Salim et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

The performance improvement of the systems which have been applied to study the capabilities of the TIAC has
been justified within the framework of a commercial code and by imposing the real temperature profiles for a whole
year. The analysis showed that the TIAC technology proved to be a reliable method for power augmentation for the
GT. Further developments of this study will be conducted by the implementing the economic aspect of the TIAC
technology.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully would like to express their appreciation to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia and
Shinryo (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

References

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