Turbine Engines, Brayton Cycle And Thermodynamics

The way the wind turbine works is when the wind blows, the blades on the wind mill (or turbine) are spun to run the motor that is attached to the back of the turbine. The motor transfers its energy through wires to a substation where the energy is transferred into electricity that can be useful for residential and commercial areas. The energy is then delivered through wires across the country.

A turbine is placed in the path of the exhaust gases which are exiting the engine. These gases are caught in the turbine causing it to spin. This spins a shaft along with another pinwheel called the compressor, which is placed in the intake air’s path. This compresses the air on its way into the engine. Normal aspirated engines work to draw in their intake air. As the intake valve opens, the piston’s downward movement creates a vacuum which “sucks” in some air through the intake system. After the work performed by the expansion of the gas in a small space, where the high pressure creates a push against the piston, most of the heat or energy is dumped into the exhaust. This heated air is not in the cylinder long enough to convert all the heat into mechanical energy.

1- During period of high electricity demand, especially during the hot summer months, the power output from a gas turbine engine can drop dramatically…………..

A period of 5 years from 2008 to 2013 is considered for combustion instabilities performance evaluation before modifications measures are fully implemented. In the past major changes in the gas turbine exhaust gas temperature distribution as well as reduced margin to the combustion stability were observed in all 5 S1 gas turbines, leading to hot/cold spots events and trips, Acceleration Max 1,Max 2 unload events and Max 3 trips.

Turbochargers are bolted on the exhaust headers using exhaust gasses to spin and spool an impellor in the turbo. This is efficiently using energy that would have been wasted. When the one impellor is being spun by the exhaust the other is sucks air in the engine making boost. Since the turbo is powered by the exhaust a lot of heat is made. You do not want that to go through your engine because this could cause the engine to overheat. To prevent overheating problems an intercooler is installed. The air travels through the intercooler during the proses the air is cooled. One limitation of turbo is turbo lag, because the turbo is driven by the exhaust it takes some time for the impellor to spool, but once it is spooled you can get full boost quickly. The advancements in turbochargers have made turbo a lot better

Turbine: A machine that converts the energy from a moving fluid into rotary motion, and is used to produce continuous power.

In order to maintain synchronous speeds with the gas turbine while still reducing or increasing power output, the engine must be properly controlled [27]. “The control of the engine depends on where in the part-load curve the engine is operating” [27].

Combined-cycle technology: Oil is first combusted in a combustion turbine, using the heated exhaust gases to generate electricity. After the exhaust gases are recovered, they heat water in a boiler, creating steam to drive a second

Mr. Abou-Zeid has a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Energy (Gas steam turbine engines and combustion engines) from University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Natural gas is made into energy when CPS Energy operates 14 gas units to complement its energy generation efforts with coal, nuclear and renewable energy. The turbines suck in air, mix it with the fuel and ignite a fireball. The hot gases from the fireball impact the blades of the turbine to cause motion, creating mechanical energy. The generator converts the mechanical energy into electricity before it is transmitted for customer use. (CPS Energy, 2013)

6. The turbines turn the generators which produce electric power. (Please see to hydroelectric power on how the generators work. It 's basically the smae concept, but powered by moving water instead of moving steam.

An  increasing  global  demand  for  energy  is  an  immense  challenge  for  power  producers  around  the   world.   The   International   Energy   Agency   (IEA)   forecasts   that   the   world   economy   will   demand   at   least  40%  more  energy  by  2030.  As  a  result  of  the  fast-­‐‑growing  power  needs  in  emerging  markets   and   new,   cheaper   methods   of   extracting   natural   gas:   the   gas   turbine   market   is   expected   to   rise   substantially  to  accommodate  this.  Recent  studies  from  the  Federal  Energy  Regulatory  Commission   (FERC)   have   indicated   that   natural   gas-­‐‑fired   power   plants   utilizing   land-­‐‑based   gas   turbine   equipment  (known  as  combined  cycle  plants)  are  to  account  for  46%  of  the  new  power  generation   capacity  additions  through  2035  in  the  US  economy.

Turbine-governor model GAST is an obsolete model that should not be used in interconnection-wide dynamics cases. The GAST model is “really only applicable for GE Frame 5 machines” .

There are mechanical and fundamental differences between the two-stroke and four-stroke engines but the physics remain the same. They both rely upon the compressed air to ignite the pressurized fuel and the resulting expansion for their power. At first glance it may look like the explosion in the chamber does the work but upon further inspection you can see the physics involved. There are two questions I would like to address. The first question is what is the physics behind the compressed air raising the temperature upwards of 900 degrees. The second question is what is the physics behind the rapid expansion of the ignited air fuel mixture.

That covers the basic function of an engine fron intake to exhaust. Next we will explore the relationship of Horsepower vs Torque.