Heat Transfer Effect on Micro Gas Turbine Performance for Solar Power Applications

Mahmoud A. Khader, Mohsen Ghavami, Jafar Al-Zaili and Abdulnaser I. Sayma
Additional contact information
Mahmoud A. Khader: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK
Mohsen Ghavami: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK
Jafar Al-Zaili: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK
Abdulnaser I. Sayma: Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-15

Abstract: This paper presents an experimentally validated computational study of heat transfer within a compact recuperated Brayton cycle microturbine. Compact microturbine designs are necessary for certain applications, such as solar dish concentrated power systems, to ensure a robust rotodynamic behaviour over the wide operating envelope. This study aims at studying the heat transfer within a 6 kWe micro gas turbine to provide a better understanding of the effect of heat transfer on its components’ performance. This paper also investigates the effect of thermal losses on the gas turbine performance as a part of a solar dish micro gas turbine system and its implications on increasing the size and the cost of such system. Steady-state conjugate heat transfer analyses were performed at different speeds and expansion ratios to include a wide range of operating conditions. The analyses were extended to examine the effects of insulating the microturbine on its thermodynamic cycle efficiency and rated power output. The results show that insulating the microturbine reduces the thermal losses from the turbine side by approximately 11% without affecting the compressor’s performance. Nonetheless, the heat losses still impose a significant impact on the microturbine performance, where these losses lead to an efficiency drop of 7.1% and a net output power drop of 6.6% at the design point conditions.

Keywords: micro gas turbine; heat transfer; solar dish; concentrated solar power; thermal losses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6745/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6745/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6745-:d:658085

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().