Patent EP0444913A1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0444913A1
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EP
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A gas turbine
Assignee: TURBINE DEVELOPMENTS AG
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Filing: 1991-02-27
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-02-27
Abstract
Abstract A gas turbine operating on a recuperative gas turbine cycle includes a compressor (12) having liquid feed means for feeding water (22) into air compressed during compression and intercooling means (24, 26) for cooling compressed air between compression stages. A heat exchanger (28) provides for heating of compressed air by hot exhaust gases from the power generating turbine (32) of the gas turbine, before the compressed air is fed into a combustion chamber (40) where it is mixed with fuel and the fuel is combusted for generating pressure/heat energy for driving the power generating turbine. The intercooling of air compressed in the compressor together with air cooling as a result of water vaporization and simultaneous vapour loading of the air, and the employment of hot exhaust gases for heating compressed air, result in a gas turbine cycle that can provide a gas turbine having a high thermal efficiency.
Inventors
- 👤 Michael John Basil Oliver
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 05:30
CPC Classifications
F; F02; F02C; F02C7/00; F02C7/08; F01; F01K; F01K21/00; F01K21/04; F01K21/047; F02C3/00; F02C3/34; F02C7/12; F02C7/14; F02C7/141; F02C7/143; F05; F05D; F05D2260/00; F05D2260/20; F05D2260/211; F05D2260/212
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 37
Claim 1
Independent Claim
149 words
A gas turbine operating on a regenerative gas turbine cycle, characterized in that it includes a gas compressor for polytropically compressing air in multiple stages, the gas compressor having primary liquid feed means for feeding water at a controlled rate into air during its compression passage through the compressor, and at least one intercooling means for cooling air compressed, which is disposed between two of the compression stages provided for by the compressor; at least one combustion chamber for combusting a fuel mixed with heated compressed air from the gas compressor for generating pressure/heat energy; a power generating turbine that can be driven by pressure/heat energy generated within the combustion chamber for generating power; and a primary heat exchanger means for heating compressed air from the gas compressor by hot exhaust gases emitted from the power generating turbine, before the passage of the compressed air into the combustion chamber.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
29 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in that the gas compressor is a multi-stage compressor comprising a series of individual compressors providing for compression in stages.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 2, characterized in that the primary liquid feed means is disposed to feed water into air being compressed immediately upstream of each individual compressor.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 2, characterized in that the primary liquid feed means is disposed to feed water into air being compressed within the individual compressors, during compression.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
49 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 4, characterized in that the primary liquid feed means is of a type that can feed water in fine droplet form into the individual compressors at various locations within the compressors along the path followed by air within the compressors during compression.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 5, characterized in that it includes intercooling means disposed between all the individual compressors.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
36 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 6, characterized in that the intercooling means comprise heat exchangers that can employ a liquid cooling medium for cooling air compressed by the gas compressor between individual compression stages.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of Claims 2 to 7, characterized in that the gas compressor is a multi-stage centrifugal compressor having liquid feed means and intercooling means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
64 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the primary heat exchanger defines a first passage for compressed air from the gas compressor to pass through and a second passage for exhaust gases from the power generating turbine to pass through, the said passages being disposed to permit heating of the compressed air by the exhaust gases.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
34 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 9, characterized in that the power generating turbine is a multi-stage turbine with exhaust gases from the operative final stage turbine passing to the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
91 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the power generating turbine has a first exhaust outlet and a second exhaust outlet, the second exhaust outlet being connected to the gas compressor via the primary heat exchanger so that a controlled volume of exhaust gases from the said second exhaust outlet can be cooled within the primary heat exchanger by compressed air passing therethrough and then be fed into the gas compressor under pressure, for complementing fresh air introduced into the gas compressor.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
41 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 11, characterized in that the exhaust gases from the second exhaust outlet can be fed into the gas compressor at a location down stream of the first compression stage provided for by the compressor.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 11 or Claim 12, characterized in that it includes a secondary heat exchanger disposed between the primary heat exchanger and the gas compressor, for cooling exhaust gases fed to the gas compressor by a liquid cooling medium.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
47 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of Claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the power generating turbine is a multi-stage turbine with the first exhaust outlet being provided by the operative final stage turbine and the second exhaust outlet by an operative prior turbine.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
34 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a secondary liquid feed means for feeding water into air compressed by the gas compressor after compression.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
30 words
A gas turbine as claimed in Claim 15, characterized in that the liquid feed means includes a water spray for feeding water in fine droplet form into the compressed air.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
43 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a heat exchanger for heating water to be fed into air compressed by the gas compressor by exhaust gases having passed through the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
58 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a heat exchanger for heating water to be fed into air compressed by the gas compressor by hot compressed air, the said heat exchanger being located in line with air passing from a compression stage of the compressor to an intercooler.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
29 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a fuel pump for feeding fuel under pressure to the combustion chamber.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes a heat exchanger for heating fuel by exhaust gases having passed through the heat exchanger before the fuel is fed into the combustion chamber.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
45 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the power generating turbine is a multi-stage turbine and which includes combustion chambers between turbine stages for combusting fuel mixed into gases passing from one turbine stage to the next.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
40 words
A gas turbine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it includes drainage means for draining water condensate formed as a result of cooling of compressed air at locations upstream of the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
116 words
A method of operating a regenerative gas turbine cycle, characterized in that it includes the steps of polytropically compressing air in multiple stages to a predetermined pressure, keeping overall temperature increases to a minimum by introducing determined quantities of water into the air compressed during its compression passage through a compressor and reducing the temperature of air compressed by feeding the air compressed through heat exchangers disposed between compression stages; heating the compressed air within a suitable primary heat exchanger by employing hot exhaust gases generated by the turbine; combusting fuel mixed with the heated compressed air for generating pressure/heat energy; and driving a power generating turbine by pressure/heat energy generated through combustion, for generating power.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method as claimed in Claim 23, characterized in that it includes introducing water in fine droplet form substantially continuously into air being compressed during the actual compression stages.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method as claimed in Claim 23 or Claim 24, characterized in that it includes employing cold water as a liquid cooling medium within the heat exchangers disposed between the compression stages of the compressor.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
50 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 25, characterized in that it includes controlling the introduction of water into the air being compressed by the compressor so that substantially all the water vaporises upon introduction and the vapour content within the compressed air approaches saturation continuously.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
46 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 26, characterized in that it includes introducing water in fine droplet form into compressed air from the compressor so that by the vaporisation of water so introduced, vapour saturation within the compressed air is approximated.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
37 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 27, characterized in that it includes heating water introduced into air compressed before its introduction by employing hot exhaust gases passing from the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 29
Independent Claim
42 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 28, characterized in that it includes heating water introduced into air compressed before its introduction by employing hot compressed air passing from a compression stage of the compressor to an intercooler.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
57 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 29, characterized in that it includes recirculating a portion of exhaust gases from the power generating turbine back to the compressor to be combined under pressure with fresh air being compressed in the compressor, the exhaust gases so recirculated being cooled within the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
79 words
A method as Claimed in Claim 30, characterized in that it includes introducing exhaust gases recirculated to the compressor into the compressor after the first stage of fresh air compression and controlling the mass of exhaust gases so introduced so that the mass of fresh air introduced and compressed in the first stage of compression is minimized, while not affecting substantially the total mass of the mixture compressed and the final pressure of the compressed medium leaving the compressor.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method as claimed in Claim 30 or Claim 31, characterized in that it includes cooling exhaust gases recirculated to the compressor further within a secondary heat exchanger utilising any suitable liquid cooling medium.
Claim 33
Independent Claim
22 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 33, characterized in that it includes compressing fuel before combustion thereof.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
33 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 34, characterized in that it includes heating fuel before combustion thereof by employing hot exhaust gases passing from the primary heat exchanger.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
41 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 34, characterized in that it includes generating power within a multi-stage power generating turbine and providing for combustion of fuel within gases passing between turbine stages, for maintaining gas temperatures.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
35 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 35, characterized in that it includes draining water condensate from compressed air at locations where cooling of compressed air occurs and condensation can occur.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
67 words
A method as claimed in any one of Claims 23 to 36, characterized in that it includes compressing air for introduction into the compressor by an auxiliary compressor that is driven by an auxiliary power generating turbine driven by exhaust gases from the power generating turbine and cooling the said compressed air in a heat exchanger, employing a liquid cooling medium, before its introduction into the compressor.
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