Compressor Bleed Cooling Heat Exchanger for Gas Turbine
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Solution Overview
Problem
In gas turbine engines, compressor bleed air used for cooling turbine stages often has high temperatures due to increased pressure, leading to insufficient cooling and reduced lifespan of turbine components, as existing systems struggle to maintain the required pressure and temperature thresholds for effective cooling.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that incorporates a heat exchanger connected to the compressor bleed, controlled by a controller, to cool the air to an optimum temperature range while maintaining sufficient pressure, ensuring 100% of the cooled air is provided to the turbine stage, thereby preventing backflow and ensuring adequate cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If air is bled from a compressor stage at high pressure to meet the minimum pressure threshold for cooling, then the pressure requirement is satisfied, but the temperature becomes too high to provide effective cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling air supply system is segmented into multiple compressor stages, each equipped with its own bleed structure. This allows selection of air from different pressure and temperature levels to cool different turbine stages, resolving the contradiction by matching pressure-temperature requirements to specific cooling needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters of the cooling air by bleeding from different compressor stages. By selecting different bleed locations along the compressor pressure gradient, the system can adjust both pressure and temperature parameters to achieve optimal cooling conditions for various turbine stages.
2Reliability
If cooling air is provided to turbine stages, then thermal degradation is reduced, but the complexity of the cooling system increases due to multiple bleed structures and heat exchangers
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system uses a universal approach where multiple compressor stages can serve as bleed sources, and the same heat exchanger structure can cool multiple turbine stages. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity while maintaining high reliability through redundant cooling paths.
Solution Approach 2:
Heat exchangers serve as intermediary devices between the compressor bleed air and turbine stage cooling systems. These intermediaries condition the cooling air to optimal parameters, enabling flexible matching of supply and demand while simplifying the overall system architecture through standardized intermediate components.
3Device complexity
If compressor bleed air is used directly without cooling, then the system is simpler, but the high temperature air cannot provide sufficient cooling to the turbine stages
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary cooling of the compressor bleed air using heat exchangers before the air is supplied to turbine stages. This preliminary action ensures the cooling air reaches optimal temperature parameters in advance, maintaining cooling effectiveness while allowing for systematic and manageable system complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively cools the compressor bleed air to an optimal temperature range, enhancing the lifespan of turbine components by maintaining the required pressure and temperature thresholds, thus preventing thermal degradation and improving cooling efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
cooling the air with the heat exchanger
Data Source
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AI summary
A gas turbine engine includes a compressor section having a plurality of compressor stages, a combustor, a turbine section having at least one stage, a compressor bleed structure disposed in one of the compressor stages to remove air therefrom, a heat exchanger having an input connected to the compressor bleed, and an output connected to an active cooling system of at least one turbine stage. The compressor stage in which the compressor bleed structure is disposed includes airflow at a pressure above a minimum pressure threshold and at a temperature above a maximum temperature threshold.