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US 12,473,860 B2Granted
Gas turbine engines and methods of controlling formation of condensates
AssigneeGE Infrastructure Technology LLC
InventorsJesus Daniel Castillo Campos, Jose Carlos Sanchez Herrera, Joe F. Schornick, Tuy C Huynh
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Abstract
A fuel conditioning system includes a heater for selectively adjusting an operating temperature of the fuel and a controller communicatively coupled to the heater. The controller configured to determine a dew point temperature of the fuel and maintain the operating temperature of the fuel at least at the determined dew point temperature of the fuel.
Claims17
A method of conditioning a fuel, the method comprising:
- detecting an operating temperature of the fuel;
- periodically, at a first rate, detecting a composition of the fuel;
- periodically, at a second rate, detecting an operating pressure of the fuel, wherein the second rate is more frequent than the first rate;
- periodically, determining a first dew point temperature of the fuel using the detected composition and the detected operating pressure of the fuel;
- comparing the first dew point temperature to the operating temperature;
- determining that the comparison of the first dew point temperature to the operating temperature satisfies a criterion;
- adjusting the operating pressure of the fuel in response to determining that the comparison of the first dew point temperature to the operating temperature satisfies the criterion;
- determining a second dew point temperature of the fuel at a second time after adjusting the operating pressure of the fuel;
- and
- maintaining the operating temperature of the fuel to be at a temperature that is at or above the determined second dew point temperature.
7 more elements
A method for conditioning a fuel for use with a turbine engine, said method comprising:
- controlling operation of a heater to dynamically adjust an operating temperature of the fuel;
- controlling operation of a pressure control device to dynamically adjust an operating pressure of the fuel;
- and
- controlling operation of a controller coupled to the heater and to the pressure control device to:
- determine a first dew point temperature of the fuel at a first time;
- selectively adjust the operating pressure of the fuel using the pressure control device to reduce the first dew point temperature to a second dew point temperature that is lower than the first dew point temperature;
- predict a temperature drop over a transient phase, wherein during the transient phase the turbine changes from an initial fuel flow rate to a target flow rate;
- determine, based on the predicted temperature drop, an amount of thermal energy needed to maintain the operating temperature of the fuel above the second dew point temperature over the transient phase;
- and
- adjust, selectively, an operating parameter of the heater prior to the transient phase, to maintain the operating temperature of the fuel at or above the second dew point temperature during the transient phase.
7 more elements
A controller for use with a fuel conditioning system used with a turbine engine, the controller configured to:
- couple to a heater used within the turbine engine;
- couple to a pressure control device coupled within the turbine engine;
- couple to a temperature sensor coupled within the gas turbine engine;
- determine a first dew point temperature of the fuel supplied to the turbine at a first time;
- selectively adjust an operating pressure of the fuel to reduce the first dew point temperature to a second dew point temperature that is lower than the first dew point temperature;
- predict a temperature drop over a transient phase, wherein during the transient phase the turbine engine changes from an initial fuel flow rate to a target flow rate;
- determine, based on the predicted temperature drop, an amount of thermal energy needed to maintain the temperature of the fuel above the second dew point temperature over the transient phase;
- and
- adjust an operating parameter of the heater prior to the transient phase to maintain the operating temperature of the fuel at or above the second dew point temperature during the transient phase.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.