Gas turbine energy storage and conversion system

A turbine power plant, comprising:

• a source of compressed fluid;
• a turbine;
• a mechanical linkage for extracting power from an output shaft of the turbine;
• and
• a sensible thermal storage and/or thermal transfer medium contained within a pressure boundary of the turbine power plant, wherein the sensible thermal storage and/or thermal transfer medium transfers, by convection, thermal energy to the compressed fluid.

A vehicle, comprising:

• a turbine power plant;
• a mechanical-to-electrical conversion device in mechanical communication with the turbine power plant to generate electrical energy from braking of the vehicle;
• a direct current (“DC”) bus in electrical communication with the mechanical-to-electrical conversion device to receive the electrical energy;
• and
• at least one of a sensible thermal storage and/or thermal transfer medium contained within a pressure boundary of the turbine power plant to receive the electrical energy and/or thermal energy generated from the electrical energy.

A vehicle, comprising:

• a mechanical-to-electrical conversion device in mechanical communication with an output shaft plant to generate electrical energy from braking of the vehicle;
• a thermal energy storage medium to convert at least a portion of the electrical energy into thermal energy and store the thermal energy for use by a vehicle operation;
• an electrical energy storage system for storing at least a portion of the electrical energy;
• and
• a controller to regulate, based on at least one of a state-of-charge of the electrical energy storage system and a temperature of the thermal energy storage and transfer medium, an amount of electrical energy sent to each of the thermal energy storage and transfer medium and electrical energy storage medium.

A vehicle, comprising:

• a conduit for transporting a gas-fuel mixture;
• at least one of a combustor and re-heater for receiving and combusting the gas-fuel mixture to form a heated gas;
• a turbine to receive the heated gas from the at least one of a combustor and re-heater;
• an electrical storage system to store electrical energy;
• at least one of a sensible thermal storage and/or thermal transfer medium contained within a pressure boundary of the turbine power plant to receive the electrical energy from the electrical energy storage system to heat at least one of the gas and gas-fuel mixture;
• and
• a controller operable to direct transfer of electrical energy from the electrical energy storage system to the at least one of a sensible thermal storage and/or thermal transfer medium.