Vol 63, No 1 (2016)

Cogeneration turbines operate in different operation modes that considerably differ as to the working process conditions. In summer time, when heat demand is minimal, almost all steam flow passes through all turbine stages and enters into the condenser (condensing mode of operation). When heat supply is needed, the steam bleed-offs are used. The several last stages of the turbine (low-pressure part—LPP) have a control diaphragm at the inlet. When the heat supply is large, the diaphragm is maximally closed, and the entire steam flow, with an exception for a minimal ventilation flow is delivered to the steam bleed-offs (cogeneration mode). LPP flow path is designed for the optimal operation in the condensing mode. While running in cogeneration mode, the LPP operating conditions are far from optimal. Depending on the ventilation steam flow rate and outlet pressure, the LPP power can drop to zero or even become negative (ventilation mode). It is proposed to control an outlet steam pressure by using the heat pump that operates with steam. The heat pump energy consumption can be compensated and even exceeded by optimizing the steam expansion process in LPP. In this respect, operating conditions of cogeneration turbine LPPs during the cold season are analyzed. A brief description of a heat pump operating with steam is made. The possibility of increasing cogeneration turbine efficiency by using a steam heat pump is shown.

The throat area is a geometric parameter of the blade ring necessary to profile its blades and compute the turbine capacity. As applied to the filament flow model, the area is defined by the involute of the throat solid figure onto the plane formed by the cascade throat located on one of the cylindrical sections of the blade ring and the radius. An equation is derived for computing the area of the involute, which considers the effect of the shape of the ring’s tailing outlines and the fillets at the transition from the outlines to the blade feather. Comparison of the area values for several turbines computed by the derived equation and by a more complex method based on a search for the minimum distances from the tailing edge of the blade to the suction surface of the neighboring blade in the channel revealed slight differences. The fluid-dynamic 2D analysis determined the radial boundaries of the filament bands, the parameters of the cascade that lie on a filament’s cylindrical surfaces, and the flow velocity normal to the throat section of the filament. The proposed approach to computation of the throat area is common for problems of both designing and analyzing the turbine operation and allows for excluding, in practice, methodological differences in determination of the flow rate and the flow angles at the outlet of the blade ring.

This article describes a high accuracy method enabling performance of the calculation of real values of the initial temperature of a gas turbine unit (GTU), i.e., the gas temperature at the outlet of the combustion chamber, in a situation where manufacturers do not disclose this information. The features of the definition of the initial temperature of the GTU according to ISO standards were analyzed. It is noted that the true temperatures for high-temperature GTUs is significantly higher than values determined according to ISO standards. A computational procedure for the determination of gas temperatures in the air-gas channel of the gas turbine and cooling air consumptions over blade rims is proposed. As starting equations, the heat balance equation and the flow mixing equation for the combustion chamber are assumed. Results of acceptance GTU tests according to ISO standards and statistical dependencies of required cooling air consumptions on the gas temperature and the blade metal are also used for calculations. An example of the calculation is given for one of the units. Using a developed computer program, the temperatures in the air-gas channel of certain GTUs are calculated, taking into account their design features. These calculations are performed on the previously published procedure for the detailed calculation of the cooled gas turbine subject to additional losses arising because of the presence of the cooling system. The accuracy of calculations by the computer program is confirmed by conducting verification calculations for the GTU of the Mitsubishi Comp. and comparing results with published data of the company. Calculation data for temperatures were compared with the experimental data and the characteristics of the GTU, and the error of the proposed method is estimated.

The specifics of operation (high temperatures in excess of 1000 K and large pressure drops of several megapascals between “hot” and “cold” coolant paths) of heat exchangers in the closed circuit of a gasturbine power converter operating in accordance with the Brayton cycle with internal heat recovery are analyzed in the context of construction of space propulsion systems. The design of a heat-exchange matrix made from doubly convex stamped plates with a specific surface relief is proposed. This design offers the opportunity to construct heat exchangers with the required parameters (strength, rigidity, weight, and dimensions) for the given operating conditions. The diagram of the working area of a test bench is presented, and the experimental techniques are outlined. The results of experimental studies of heat exchange and flow regimes in the models of heat exchangers with matrices containing 50 and 300 plates for two pairs of coolants (gas–gas and gas–liquid) are detailed. A criterion equation for the Nusselt number in the range of Reynolds numbers from 200 to 20 000 is proposed. The coefficients of hydraulic resistance for each coolant path are determined as functions of the Reynolds number. It is noted that the pressure in the water path in the “gas–liquid” series of experiments remained almost constant. This suggests that no well-developed processes of vaporization occurred within this heat-exchange matrix design even when the temperature drop between gas and water was as large as tens or hundreds of degrees. The obtained results allow one to design flight heat exchangers for various space power plants.

The results of a calculation and experimental research of the influence of nonuniformity of the submerged perforated sheet on steam demand leveling on the evaporation surface are published in the current article. A short description of the PGV test facility and a measuring system whose test section is a transverse “cut” of an actual PGV-1000 steam generator with the internals is presented. The methods of experimental starts are explained and instrumentations are described. A uniformly perforated sheet with the flow section of 5.7% and a nonuniformly perforated sheet with the flow section of 4.3% on the cold half and 8.1% on the hot half were used in the experiments. The system pressure was approximately 7 MPa, the inlet steam flow rate was varied between 4.23 and 7.94 t/h, i.e., the steam velocity on the evaporation surface was 0.15–0.29 m/s. The experimental results were analyzed with (1) the engineering method based on estimating the flow rates of steam on hot and cold half by the experimental values of the pressure drop on submerged list and (2) the STEG code, which was developed for three-dimensional mathematical modeling of the two-phase thermohydraulics in the heat exchanger volume and upgraded. It was established that changing the perforation from a uniform to a nonuniform one increases the residual nonuniformity coefficient, which characterizes the flow of steam from the hot side to the cold side under the sheet. However, the steam separation becomes worse because of a high local residual nonuniformity coefficients near the border of two plates with different perforation levels.

The technology for low-temperature deaeration of make-up water of heating supply systems is developed that makes it possible to substantially enhance the energy efficiency of heat power plants (HPPs). As a desorbing agent for deaeration of make-up water of heating supply systems, it is proposed to use not steam or superheated water but a gas supplied to boiler burners. Natural gas supplied to steam boilers of HPPs has very low or often negative temperature after reducing devices. At the same time, it is virtually corrosive gas-free (oxygen and carbon dioxide) and, therefore, can be successfully used as the desorbing agent for water deaeration. These factors make it possible to perform deaeration of make-up water of heating supply systems at relatively low temperatures (10–30°C). Mixing of the cold deaerated make-up water with the return delivery water results in a significant decrease in the temperature the return delivery water before a lower delivery heater of a dual-purpose turbine plant, increase in the power output with the heat consumption, and, consequently, enhancement in the operation efficiency of the HPP. The article presents the calculation of the consumption of gas theoretically required for deaeration and reveals the evaluation of the energy efficiency of the technology for a typical energy unit of thermal power station. The mass transfer efficiency of the deaeration of the make-up water of heating supply systems is estimated for the case of using natural gas as the desorbing agent for which the specific gas consumption required theoretically for deaeration is calculated. It is shown that the consumption of natural gas used as fuel in boilers of HPPs is sufficient for the deaeration of any volumes of the make-up water of heating supply systems. The energy efficiency of the developed technology is evaluated for a typical heat power-generating unit of the HPP with a T-100-12.8 turbine. The calculation showed that the application of the new technology makes it possible to increase the electric power of the turbine, which is developed on the heat consumption, by almost 1 MW by using steam extractions for heating flows of the make-up and delivery waters. It is shown that the maximum energy efficiency of the realization of the technology for low-temperature deaeration of water for make-up of heating supply systems is attained on HPPs with open heat supply systems characterized by large consumptions of the make-up water.

Results of investigation of furnace processes upon burning of pulverized fuel at a test bench with a power of 5 MW are presented. The test bench consists of two stages with tangential air and pulverized coal feed, and it is equipped by a vibrocentrifugal mill and a disintegrator. Such milling devices have an intensive mechanical impact on solid organic fuel, which, in a number of cases, increases the reactivity of ground material. The processes of ignition and stable combustion of a mixture of gas coal and sludge (wastes of concentration plant), as well as Ekibastus coal, ground in the disintegrator, were studied at the test bench. The results of experimental burning demonstrated that preliminary fuel grinding in the disintegrator provides autothermal combustion mode even for hardly inflammable organic fuels. Experimental combustion of biomass, wheat straw with different lignin content (18, 30, 60%) after grinding in the disintegrator, was performed at the test bench in order to determine the possibility of supporting stable autothermal burning. Stable biofuel combustion mode without lighting by highly reactive fuel was achieved in the experiments. The influence of the additive GTS-Powder (L.O.M. Leaders Co., Ltd., Republic of Korea) in the solid and liquid state on reducing sulfur oxide production upon burning Mugun coal was studied. The results of experimental combustion testify that, for an additive concentration from 1 to 15% of the total mass of the burned mixture, the maximum SO₂ concentration reduction in ejected gases was not more than 18% with respect to the amount for the case of burning pure coal.

A new technique for heat-hydraulic calculation to organize the normal operating modes of the heat supply systems intended to decide the tasks of planning and mode selecting, which ensures the required thermal loads at adherence of all restrictions on its parameters, is proposed. The main feature of the technique is in the determination of the parameters of throttling devices on the network and inlets into the buildings of consumers taking into account the differentiated corrections to the flow rates on the compensation of the heat losses in the network. The technique involves the decision of the multilevel adjustment calculation task, in which the deviations of the boundary mode parameters (pressure, flow rate, temperature) in place of the decomposition of the heat supply system model on the levels of main and distribution heating networks taking into account the intermediate control stages on the central heat points (CHP) are minimized. At each level, the task of single-level adjustment heat-hydraulic calculation is decided, which is mathematically defined as an optimization task where the internal air temperature deviation is minimized of the required value with the given accuracy a priori. The technique is realized as part of the ANGARA-TS data-computing system and allows developing the adjusting procedures to improve the heat supply quality and availability of heating consumers, determining the minimum necessary values of heads on the sources and pumping stations.