Design, Fabrication, and Testing of a Semi-Closed Cycle Gas Turbine Engine

Author(s):  
C. Rodgers

A small semi-closed gas turbine was designed, fabricated, and tested to demonstrate the cycle the cycle feasibility with exhaust gas recirculation. The demonstrator unit comprised a low pressure spool compressor and turbine supercharging a high pressure spool compressor and turbine, whose exhaust passed through a recuperator, and was subsequently split, one half being recirculated to the high pressure spool compressor inlet via an intercooler, and the remaining half expanded across the low pressure spool turbine. The design and fabrication phases proceeded on schedule but commencement of engine development testing encountered mechanical difficulties. These were eventually resolved and shakedown testing of the demonstrator accomplished prior to final contractual delivery. The demonstration program was funded under a NASA LeRc contract NAS3-27396.

Author(s):  
Peter L. Meitner ◽  
Anthony L. Laganelli ◽  
Paul F. Senick ◽  
William E. Lear

A semi-closed cycle, turboshaft gas turbine engine was assembled and tested under a cooperative program funded by the NASA Glenn Research Center with support from the U.S. Army. The engine, called HPRTE (High Pressure, Recuperated Turbine Engine), features two distinct cycles operating in parallel; an “inner,” high pressure, recuperated cycle, in which exhaust gas is recirculated, and an “open” through-flow cycle. Recuperation is performed in the “inner,” high pressure loop, which greatly reduces the size of the heat exchanger. An intercooler is used to cool both the recirculated exhaust gas and the fresh inlet air. Because a large portion of the exhaust gas is recirculated, significantly less inlet air is required to produce a desired horsepower level. This reduces the engine inlet and exhaust flows to less than half that required for conventional, open cycle, recuperated gas turbines of equal power. In addition, the reburning of the exhaust gas reduces exhaust pollutants. A two-shaft engine was assembled from existing components to demonstrate concept feasibility. The engine did not represent an optimized system, since most components were oversized, and the overall pressure ratio was much lower than optimum. New cycle analysis codes were developed that are capable of accounting for recirculating exhaust flow. Code predictions agreed with test results. Analyses for a fully developed engine predict almost constant specific fuel consumption over a broad power range. Test results showed significant emissions reductions. This document is the first in a series of papers that arc planned to be presented on semi-closed cycle characteristics, issues, and applications, addressing the impact of recirculating exhaust flow on combustion and engine components.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 973-990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeheun Kim ◽  
Choongsik Bae

An investigation was carried out to examine the feasibility of replacing the conventional high-pressure loop/low-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation with a combination of internal and low-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation. The main objective of this alternative exhaust gas recirculation path configuration is to extend the limits of the late intake valve closing strategy, without the concern of backpressure caused by the high-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation. The late intake valve closing strategy improved the conventional trade-off relation between nitrogen oxides and smoke emissions. The gross indicated mean effective pressure was maintained at a similar level, as long as the intake boosting pressure kept changing with respect to the intake valve closing timing. Applying the high-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation in the boosted conditions yielded concern of the exhaust backpressure increase. The presence of high-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation limited further intake valve closing retardation when the negative effect of increased pumping work cancelled out the positive effect of improving the emissions’ trade-off. Replacing high-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation with internal exhaust gas recirculation reduced the burden of such exhaust backpressure and the pumping loss. However, a simple feasibility analysis indicated that a high-efficiency turbocharger was required to make the pumping work close to zero. The internal exhaust gas recirculation strategy was able to control the nitrogen oxides emissions at a low level with much lower O2 concentration, even though the initial in-cylinder temperature was high due to hot residual gas. Retardation of intake valve closing timing and intake boosting contributed to increasing the charge density; therefore, the smoke emission reduced due to the higher air–fuel ratio value exceeding 25. The combination of internal and low pressure loop loop exhaust gas recirculation with late intake valve closing strategy exhibited an improvement on the trade-off relation between nitrogen oxides and smoke emissions, while maintaining the gross indicated mean effective pressure at a comparable level with that of the high-pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation configuration.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 168781401880960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianqing Shen ◽  
Kai Shen ◽  
Zhendong Zhang

The effects of high-pressure and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation on engine and turbocharger performance were investigated in a turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine. Some performances, such as engine combustion, fuel consumption, intake and exhaust, and turbocharger operating conditions, were compared at wide open throttle and partial load with the high-pressure and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation systems. The reasons for these changes are analyzed. The results showed EGR system of gasoline engine could optimize the cylinder combustion, reduce pumping mean effective pressure and lower fuel consumption. Low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation system has higher thermal efficiency than high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation, especially on partial load condition. The main reasons are as follows: more exhaust energy is used by the turbocharger with low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation system, and the lower exhaust gas temperature of engine would optimize the combustion in cylinder.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magín Lapuerta ◽  
Ángel Ramos ◽  
David Fernández-Rodríguez ◽  
Inmaculada González-García

Exhaust gas recirculation can be achieved by means of two different routes: the high-pressure route (high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation), where exhaust gas is conducted from upstream of the turbine to downstream of the compressor, and the low-pressure one (low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation), where exhaust gas is recirculated from downstream of the turbine and of the aftertreatment system to upstream of the compressor. In this study, the effectiveness of both exhaust gas recirculation systems on the improvement of the NOx-particulate matter emission trade-off has been compared on a Euro 6 turbocharged diesel engine equipped with a diesel oxidation catalyst, a lean-NOx trap, and a diesel particulate filter. Emissions were measured both upstream and downstream of the aftertreatment system, at different combinations of engine speed and torque (corresponding to different vehicle speeds), at transient and steady conditions, and at different coolant temperatures as switch points to change from high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation to low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation. It was shown that low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation was more efficient than high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation to reduce NOx emissions, mainly due to the higher recirculation potential and the lower temperature of the recirculated gas. However, such a differential benefit decreased as the coolant temperature decreased, which suggests the use of high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation during the engine warm-up. It was also shown that the lean-NOx trap storage efficiency decreased more rapidly at high engine load than at medium load and that such reduction in efficiency was much faster when high-pressure exhaust gas recirculation was used than when low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation was used.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benny George ◽  
Nagalingam Muthuveerappan

AbstractTemperature probes of different designs were widely used in aero gas turbine engines for measurement of air and gas temperatures at various locations starting from inlet of fan to exhaust gas from the nozzle. Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) downstream of low pressure turbine is one of the key parameters in performance evaluation and digital engine control. The paper presents a holistic approach towards life assessment of a high temperature probe housing thermocouple sensors designed to measure EGT in an aero gas turbine engine. Stress and vibration analysis were carried out from mechanical integrity point of view and the same was evaluated in rig and on the engine. Application of 500 g load concept to clear the probe design was evolved. The design showed strength margin of more than 20% in terms of stress and vibratory loads. Coffin Manson criteria, Larsen Miller Parameter (LMP) were used to assess the Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) and creep life while Goodman criteria was used to assess High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) margin. LCF and HCF are fatigue related damage from high frequency vibrations of engine components and from ground-air-ground engine cycles (zero-max-zero) respectively and both are of critical importance for ensuring structural integrity of engine components. The life estimation showed LCF life of more than 4000 mission reference cycles, infinite HCF life and well above 2000 h of creep life. This work had become an integral part of the health monitoring, performance evaluation as well as control system of the aero gas turbine engine.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benny George ◽  
Nagalingam Muthuveerappan

Abstract Temperature probes of different designs were widely used in aero gas turbine engines for measurement of air and gas temperatures at various locations starting from inlet of fan to exhaust gas from the nozzle. Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) downstream of low pressure turbine is one of the key parameters in performance evaluation and digital engine control. The paper presents a holistic approach towards life assessment of a high temperature probe housing thermocouple sensors designed to measure EGT in an aero gas turbine engine. Stress and vibration analysis were carried out from mechanical integrity point of view and the same was evaluated in rig and on the engine. Application of 500 g load concept to clear the probe design was evolved. The design showed strength margin of more than 20% in terms of stress and vibratory loads. Coffin Manson criteria, Larsen Miller Parameter (LMP) were used to assess the Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) and creep life while Goodman criteria was used to assess High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) margin. LCF and HCF are fatigue related damage from high frequency vibrations of engine components and from ground-air-ground engine cycles (zero-max-zero) respectively and both are of critical importance for ensuring structural integrity of engine components. The life estimation showed LCF life of more than 4000 mission reference cycles, infinite HCF life and well above 2000 h of creep life. This work had become an integral part of the health monitoring, performance evaluation as well as control system of the aero gas turbine engine.


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