Work recovery system for a gas turbine engine utilizing an overexpanded, recuperated supercritical CO2 bottoming cycle
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorsBrendan T. McAuliffe, Joseph B. Staubach, Nagendra Somanath
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas turbine engine includes a primary flowpath fluidly connecting a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section. A heat exchanger is disposed in the primary flowpath downstream of the turbine section. The heat exchanger includes a first inlet for receiving fluid from the primary flowpath and a first outlet for expelling fluid received at the first inlet. The heat exchanger further includes a second inlet fluidly connected to a supercharged CO2 (sCO2) bottoming cycle and a second outlet connected to the sCO2 bottoming cycle. The sCO2 bottoming cycle is an overexpanded, recuperated Brayton cycle.
Claims22
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a primary flowpath fluidly connecting a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section;
- a heat exchanger disposed in the primary flowpath downstream of the turbine section, the heat exchanger including a first inlet for receiving fluid from the primary flowpath and a first outlet for expelling fluid received at the first inlet, and wherein the heat exchanger is disposed within an exhaust casing;
- the heat exchanger further including a second inlet fluidly connected to a supercharged CO2 (sCO2) bottoming cycle and a second outlet connected to the sCO2 bottoming cycle;
- and
- wherein the sCO2 bottoming cycle is an overexpanded, recuperated Brayton cycle.
A method for recovering work from waste heat in a gas turbine engine comprising:
- heating a supercritical CO2 (sCO2) working fluid in a heat exchanger using a gas turbine engine exhaust wherein the heat exchanger is disposed within an exhaust casing of a gas turbine engine and is disposed in the primary flowpath of a gas turbine engine and is aft of a turbine section of the gas turbine engine;
- providing the heated sCO2 working fluid to a waste recovery turbine;
- expanding the heated sCO2 working fluid across the waste recovery turbine, thereby driving the waste recovery turbine to rotate;
- providing sCO2 working fluid from an outlet of the waste recovery turbine to an inlet of an overexpansion compressor and compressing the sCO2 working fluid;
- providing the sCO2 working fluid from an outlet of the overexpansion compressor to an inlet of a work recovery compressor through a first heat rejection heat exchanger;
- providing the compressed sCO2 working fluid to an inlet of the waste recovery turbine from the work recovery compressor;
- and
- maintaining the sCO2 working fluid above a supercritical point through an entirety of a working cycle.
A gas turbine engine comprising:
- a primary flowpath fluidly connecting a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section;
- a heat exchanger disposed on at least one internal surface of an exhaust casing and in the primary flowpath downstream of the turbine section, the heat exchanger including a first inlet for receiving fluid from the primary flowpath and a first outlet for expelling fluid received at the first inlet;
- the heat exchanger further including a second inlet fluidly connected to a supercharged CO2 (sCO2) bottoming cycle and a second outlet connected to the sCO2 bottoming cycle;
- wherein the sCO2 bottoming cycle is an overexpanded, recuperated Brayton cycle;
- and
- a means for transmitting rotational work from the overexpanded recuperated bottoming cycle to at least one other engine system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.