Gas Turbine

Unit 8

J.P. Subrahmanyam

The Brayton Cycle

The Brayton Cycle cycle

The ideal cycle consists of the following processes: 1. Compression from 1 to 2. This takes place in the compressor. The process is assumed to be isentropic. 2. Combustion or Heat Addition from 2 to 3. This takes place in the combustor or heater. The process is assumed to be at constant pressure. 3. Expansion from 3 to 4. This takes place in the turbine. The process is assumed to be isentropic. 4. Heat Rejection from 4 to 1. This takes place in the atmosphere in an open cycle and in a cooler in a closed cycle. The process is assumed to be at constant pressure.

Efficiency of the cycle is given by:

where

Tb = T2 and Ta = T1
and PR = P2 / P1

Factors which affect efficiency

For the theoretical cycle these are: 1. Pressure ratio 2. (gamma i.e. cp/ cv) For the actual cycle, in addition we have 1. Turbine inlet temperature (Tmax) 2. Component efficiencies

Simple open cycle gas turbine

Merits of the Gas Turbine

1. Gas turbines have higher mechanical efficiencies because there are lesser frictional losses. 2. Better balancing because there are no reciprocating masses. Being a steady flow machine, torsional vibrations are also very low. 3. Mass per unit power is much less than the diesel engine. 4. Units may be more compact than reciprocating machines. 5. They can operate on cheaper fuels like furnace oil, even powdered coal and low grade hydrocarbons.

Merits (continued)
6. Parts are easier to lubricate. 7. Maintenance is much easier because there are fewer components that need taking care of. 8. Gas turbines operate at lower pressures so the parts are not subjected to extreme pressures. 9. The noise levels are lower because of less vibrations and out-of-balance components. 10.Exhaust is less smoky. 11.Much higher operating speed so for a given power, the torque is less and variation with speed is less. 12.Large machines cost less when compared with similar power reciprocating engines.

Demerits
1. The overall efficiency of the turbine is lower than that of the reciprocating engine because up to 70% of the turbine power is used to drive the compressor. 2. The maximum temperature of a gas turbine cannot exceed 1500K for industrial units and about 1650K for aircraft units. This limits the power and efficiency. Piston engines are subjected to much higher temperatures, in excess of 2200K because these temperatures occur for very short times. 3. Cooling of gas turbines are more complicated thus limiting peak temperatures. 4. It is much more difficult to start a gas turbine than a reciprocating engine.

Improvements of the basic gas turbine cycle

This is possible by incorporating the following in the simple cycle: 1. Use of exhaust gas heat exchanger, 2. Use of multi-stage expansion with re-heating, 3. Use of multi-stage compression with intercooling, 4. Combination of the above.

Take the case of a simple GT with p2/p1 = 4, T3 = 1200K and T1 = 300K. Assume air as the working medium with constant specific heat and = 1.4 & cp = 1.005 kJ/kg.K.
By calculation we get T2 = 445.8K and Wc = 146.5 kJ/kg Heat added, Q2-3 = cp (T3 T2) = 758 kJ/kg T4 = 807.5K and Wt = 394.4 kJ/kg Theoretical net work = 394.4 146.5 = 247.9 kJ/kg

A simple example

Theoretical work ratio = net work/turbine work = 0.628, ideal efficiency = 0.327
Hot exhaust gas at 807.5K is available to increase the temperature of the air at the inlet to the heater. If we assume all this temperature is (ideally) transferred to the air, heat added in the heater will be less:

This will be equal to (in the ideal case) 394.4 kJ/kg and the ideal efficiency would be 0.63 but work ratio will be the same. Actual values will be lower because of component losses and variation in the specific heat of the working medium. Thus we see the importance of the heat exchanger in the cycle.

Series flow twin shaft

Best suited for aircraft engines

APPLICATIONS