الفهرس 
AbstractOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 125 |  |  |
| | | from | 125 | | |
Abstract
The output power and efficiency of gas turbines power plants are reduced significantly during the summer. This is due to that, the air becomes hotter and less dense, causing a lower mass flow enters the turbine, consequently producing less energy. Gas turbine inlet air cooling is considered a proven and effective method to increase the power output as well as thermal efficiency. There are different methods which are commercially available for turbine inlet air cooling. In the present work, three different configurations of gas turbine inlet air cooling are investigated. The cooling configurations include the earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE), fogging and hybrid cooling system. The application of EAHE as a novel inlet air cooling system on gas turbine performance has been theoretically investigated. Transient, one-dimensional model has been developed for predicting the thermal performance of EAHE cooling system. MATLAP program is developed for solving the simulation model. New Damietta power plant (NDPP) located at the coastal region (Latitude= 31.4 and Longitude= 31.7) is applied as a case study. Weather conditions and soil properties in Damietta region as well as the technical specifications of NDPP are considered in the model. The results indicated that the EAHE is a good alternative in hot humid climate. Experimental investigation has been conducted to evaluate the actual cooling capacity of the fogging system. The effect of relative humidity, air velocity and water injection rate on the performance of the system has been evaluated. The temperature variation through the non-insulated fogging duct was also investigated. Temperatures and humidity at different locations through the fogging duct are recorded with time. Experimental measurements indicate that increasing the water injection rate by 20 % keeps temperatures constant, though the non-insulated fogging duct. Using the hybrid turbine inlet air cooling system which consisted of EAHE followed by fogging cooling system is also investigated for NDPP. A comparison between effects of the three air cooling techniques on a gas turbine performance has been performed. Evaluation parameters of gas turbine performance include output power, efficiency, fuel consumption, and water consumption. It is observed that the hybrid system is superior over the unitary systems. It is capable of boosting the average annual energy by 9.8 % versus 8 and 6.6 % for fogging and EAHE system; respectively. In addition, the hybrid system reduces the water consumption by about 50 % compared with that of fogging system.