Gas turbine systems and methods employing a vaporizable liquid delivery device

The present invention claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of the filing of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/016,253, entitled, “Gas Turbine Systems and Methods,” filed Dec. 21, 2007, and is incorporated herein for all purposes. The U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/016,344, entitled “Piston Engine Systems and Methods,” filed Dec. 21, 2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed Dec. 19, 2008, and entitled, “Piston Engine Systems and Methods,” are also herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.

The disclosed embodiments relate generally to gas turbines, and more specifically to gas turbine systems and methods employing recuperation and a vaporizable liquid delivery device.

Gas turbines are used to generate energy. A typical gas turbine is an energy producing system based on the Brayton Cycle. A typical, open-cycle, gas turbine includes (i) a compressor, which aspires ambient air and increases the air\'s pressure and temperature; (ii) a combustion chamber where the temperature is increased by the combustion of fuel; and (iii) an expansion turbine where the hot pressurized gas is expanded and cooled producing work. Some of the work performed by the expansion turbine may be used to drive the compressor (back work) and the remaining work may be used to turn a generator, turn a reduction gear, compress a gas, provide propulsion, or accomplish some other useful work.

Gas turbines are advantageous means of producing energy because they respond relatively quickly to load changes and have a short run-up time. The efficiency of such existing gas turbines is, however, limited and suboptimal. For example, the actual efficiency for a gas turbine based on the Brayton Cycle, with a compression ratio of ten, and using air as working gas (treated as an ideal gas) is less than forty percent (40%). Increases in the demand for energy, the cost of fossil fuels, and more stringent emissions regulations make it desirable to increase the efficiency of gas turbines.

The systems and methods of the illustrative embodiments herein address shortcomings with previous gas turbines and energy production cycles. According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system for producing power and optionally heat includes: a compressor for receiving a working gas and compressing the working gas to produce a compressed working gas; a vaporizable liquid delivery device associated with the compressor for delivering a vaporizable liquid to the working gas; a heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and cooling the compressed working gas to produce a cooled, compressed working gas; a recuperator for receiving the cooled, compressed working gas from the heat exchanger and adding thermal energy to produce a heated, compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the heated, compressed working gas from the recuperator and combusting the heated, compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; an expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and expanding the exhaust gas to develop power and to produce an expanded exhaust gas; and wherein the recuperator is fluidly coupled to the expansion turbine for receiving the expanded exhaust gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system for producing power and optionally heat, the system includes: a compressor for receiving a working gas and compressing the working gas to produce a compressed working gas; a vaporizable liquid delivery device associated with the compressor for delivering a vaporizable liquid to the working gas; a heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and cooling the compressed working gas to produce a cooled, compressed working gas; a recuperator for receiving the cooled, compressed working gas from the heat exchanger and adding thermal energy to produce a heated, compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the heated, compressed working gas from the recuperator and combusting the heated, compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; an expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and expanding the exhaust gas to develop power and to produce an expanded exhaust gas; and wherein the recuperator is fluidly coupled to the expansion turbine for receiving the expanded exhaust gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, a method of producing power with an open-cycle gas turbine, the method includes the steps of: compressing a working gas to produce a compressed working gas; wherein the step of compressing a working gas comprises delivering a vaporizable liquid to the working gas; cooling the compressed working gas in a heat exchanger to produce a cooled, compressed working gas; adding thermal energy in a recuperator to the cooled, compressed working gas to produce a heated, compressed working gas; combusting the heated, compressed working gas in a combustion chamber to produce an exhaust gas; expanding the exhaust gas in an expansion turbine to develop power and to produce an expanded exhaust gas; and supplying thermal energy to the recuperator from the expanded exhaust gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a compressor for receiving a working gas and compressing the working gas to produce a compressed working gas; a vaporizable liquid delivery device associated with the compressor for delivering liquid droplets to the working gas; a recuperator fluidly coupled to the compressor for receiving the compressed working gas from the compressor and delivering thermal energy to the compressed working gas to produce a heated, compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the recuperator for combusting the heated, compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; an expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and removing energy from the heat exhaust gas to produce an expanded exhaust gas; a heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the expansion turbine for receiving the expanded exhaust gas and removing thermal energy from the expanded exhaust gas to produce a cooled, expanded exhaust gas; and a conduit associated with the heat exchanger for receiving the cooled, expanded exhaust gas and delivering the cooled, expanded exhaust to the recuperator.

Referring to FIG. 33, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a first compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device, the first compressor for receiving a working gas and compressing the working gas to form a compressed working gas; a recuperator fluidly coupled to the compressor, the recuperator for receiving the compressed working gas and providing thermal energy to the compressed working gas to produce a heated, compressed working gas; a first expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the heated, compressed working gas and operable to expand the heated, compressed working gas to produce energy and a once-expanded working gas; a conduit for delivering the once-expanded working gas from the first expansion turbine to the recuperator; and a second expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the once-expanded working gas and operable to expand the once-expanded working gas to produce energy and to produce a twice-expanded working gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device, and wherein the compressor is operable to receive a working gas and compress the working gas to produce a compressed working gas; a recuperator fluidly coupled to the compressor for receiving the working gas and adding thermal energy to produce a once-heated, compressed working gas; a second compressor fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the once-heated, compressed working gas and further compressing the once-heated, compressed working gas to produce a twice-compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the second compressor for receiving the twice-compressed working gas and combusting the twice-compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; a expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and expanding the exhaust gas to produce an expanded exhaust gas; and a conduit fluidly coupled between the recuperator and the expansion turbine for delivering the expanded working gas from the expansion turbine to the recuperator wherein the expanded working gas provides thermal energy.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a first compressor for receiving a working gas, the first compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device and operable to produce a compressed working gas; a cooler-condenser fluidly coupled to the first compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and cooling the compressed working gas to produce a condensed liquid and a cooled, compressed working gas; a conduit for delivering the condensed liquid from the cooler-condenser to the vaporizable liquid delivery device; a second compressor fluidly coupled to the cooler-condenser for receiving the cooled compressed working gas and operable to produce a twice-compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the second compressor for receiving the twice-compressed working gas and combusting the twice-compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; and an expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and operable to expand the exhaust gas to develop energy and produce an expanded exhaust gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a first compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device and operable to receive a working gas and to compress the working gas to produce a compressed working gas; a recuperator fluidly coupled to the first compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and operable to provide thermal energy to the working gas to produce heated, compressed working gas; a second compressor fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the heated, compressed working gas from the recuperator and compressing the heated, compressed working gas to produce a twice-compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the second compressor for receiving the twice-compressed working gas and combusting the twice-compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; a first expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and operable to produce a once-expanded exhaust gas; a conduit fluidly coupled to the recuperator and the first expansion turbine, the conduit for delivering the once-expanded exhaust gas from the first expansion turbine to the recuperator; wherein the recuperator is further operable to receive thermal energy from the once-expanded exhaust gas and to produce a cooled, once-expanded exhaust gas; and a second expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the cooled, once-expanded exhaust gas and expanding the cooled, once-expanded exhaust gas to produced a twice-expanded exhaust gas and energy.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system for cooling, the system includes: a compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device, the compressor operable to receive a working gas and produce a compressed working gas; a recuperator fluidly coupled to the compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and providing thermal energy to the compressed working gas to produce heated, compressed working gas; a combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the heated, compressed working gas and combusting the heated, compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; a first expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber for receiving the exhaust gas and expanding the exhaust gas to produce an expanded exhaust gas and energy; wherein the recuperator is fluidly coupled to the first expansion turbine for receiving the expanded exhaust gas from the first expansion turbine and removing thermal energy to produce a cooled, expanded exhaust gas; a cooler-condenser fluidly coupled to the recuperator for receiving the cooled, expanded exhaust gas and producing a dried working gas; a second expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the cooler-condenser for receiving the dried working gas and producing a cold working gas; and a low temperature heat exchanger fluidly coupled to the second expansion turbine for receiving the cold working gas and delivering thermal energy to the cold working gas.

According to one illustrative embodiment, an open-cycle gas turbine system, the system includes: a first compressor for receiving a working gas, the first compressor having a vaporizable liquid delivery device and operable to produce a compressed working gas; a cooler-condenser fluidly coupled to the first compressor for receiving the compressed working gas and cooling the compressed working gas to produce a condensed liquid and a cooled, compressed working gas; a conduit for delivering the condensed liquid from the cooler-condenser to the vaporizable liquid delivery device; a second compressor fluidly coupled to the cooler-condenser for receiving the cooled compressed working gas and operable to produce a twice-compressed working gas; a heating unit fluidly coupled to the second compressor for receiving the twice-compressed working gas and providing thermal energy to the twice-compressed working gas to produce an exhaust gas; and an expansion turbine fluidly coupled to the heating unit for receiving the exhaust gas and operable to expand the exhaust gas to develop energy and produce an expanded exhaust gas. Other illustrative embodiments are disclosed further below.

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