Gas Turbines consist essentially of a power turbine, a combustor and a compressor. The power turbine drives the compressor which is required to supply the large volume of pressurized air for the combustion and power producing process.
In modern gas turbines, more than 60% of the power produced by the power turbine is consumed by the compressor. Only 35 to 40% of the power turbines power production is available for driving a generator or other external load. The improvement of gas turbine performance as a result of the improvement of air compressor performance is therefore a logical, technological challenge for designers and operators alike.
The patented SwirlFlash® technology offers the simplest, most robust and most powerful solution available to this challenge.
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The idea of cooling air by adding hot water sounds strange. But the amount of heat extracted from the compressed air by means of evaporation is far greater than the amount of heat added by utilising the hot water spray. The result is a drop in compressed air temperature and a corresponding drop in compressor discharge temperature.
NOx emission
Today large numbers of gas turbines are originally equipped or retrofitted with steam or water injection in the combustors. This reduces the NOx emission significantly and increases power output only due to increased mass flow. Steam injection is expensive since steam is valuable. Water injection is cheaper, but this results in lower turbine efficiency and can cause expensive repairs due to cracking of the hot components. Employing SwirlFlash® allows for NOx reduction at much lower costs with substantial increased power output.
The flame stability is not affected by introducing humidified air in the combustor, not even for a dry low-NOx combustor. The NOx-reduction for a conventional diffusion burner can be more than 40%, for a dry low-NOx burner it is typically 20 to 25%.
The ambient conditions of temperature and humidity
SwirlFlash® technology performs very favourably in varying ambient conditions. Classical inlet air chillers require high investments and operate effectively at high ambient temperatures and low relative humidity. The cold water over-spray injection systems require ambient temperatures above 10°C in order to avoid ice formation in areas of compressor inlet ducting with high air velocities. The SwirlFlash® system, how-ever, is applicable over a much wider range of temperature conditions from 5°C upwards and at relative humidities up to 100%.
Flexibility
Flexibility is an increasingly important asset for power generators. The introduction of power exchanges and price volatility in a liberalised electricity market increase the need for flexibility of the power plants. The SwirlFlash® technology creates an extra degree of freedom in the operation of the facility. The power increase of about 10% is available instantaneously so providing the operator with new capabilities to meet the demands for power markets and from individual customers.