Design Research of a Novel Aftercool-Humidifier Concept for Humid Air Turbine Cycle

  • ZHANG Junzheng ,
  • XU Zhen
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  • 1. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Ji’nan 250061, China
    2. Shandong Engineering Laboratory for High-efficiency Energy Conservation and Energy Storage Technology & Equipment, Shandong University, Ji’nan 250061, China

Online published: 2024-04-30

Supported by

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support by National Science and Technology Major Project (2017-I-0009-0010) to this research work.

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024

Abstract

Humid air turbine cycle (HAT) has potential of electrical efficiencies comparable to combined cycle, with lower investment cost and NOx emission. The typical heat exchanger network of HAT consists of intercooler (if there is), aftercooler, recuperator, economizer and humidifier, which brings higher efficiency but makes the system more complex. To simplify HAT layout, a novel humidifier concept is proposed by integrating the aftercooler into traditional counter-current humidifier. Based on this concept, a one-dimensional model including pressure drop and exergy calculation is established to distinguish the thermodynamic and hydrodynamic characteristics, and then the structural parameters, such as the number of rows and columns, tube diameter, pitch and type for a micro HAT are identified. The results show that the aftercool-humidifier plays the same role as original aftercooler and humidifier, and can match the in-tube air, out-tube air and water stream well with lower volume. In the case of micro HAT cycle, the volume of heat and mass transfer area can be reduced by 47% compared with traditional design. The major thermal resistance occurred in the convection heat transfer process inside the tube; however, using enhanced tube cannot effectively improve the compactness of device.

Cite this article

ZHANG Junzheng , XU Zhen . Design Research of a Novel Aftercool-Humidifier Concept for Humid Air Turbine Cycle[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2024 , 33(3) : 951 -969 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-024-1842-2

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