System and method for operating industrial gas turbine apparatus and gas turbine electric power plants preferably with a digital computer control system
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsTheodore C. Giras, John F. Reuther
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas turbine power plant is provided with an industrial gas turbine which drives a rotating brushless exciter generator coupled to a power system through a breaker. One or more of the turbine-generator plants are operated by a hybrid digital computer control system during sequenced startup, synchronizing, load, and shutdown operations. The program system for the computer and external analog circuitry operate in a multiple gas turbine control loop arrangement. Logic macro instructions are employed in programming the computer for logic operations of the control system.
Claims92
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator having a field winding and being coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, means for exciting said generator field winding, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine and for controlling said exciting means, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and said exciting control means, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representation in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand,and means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal means for turbine and generator speed control.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a generator breaker for coupling said generator to a power system, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controlling and operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed and ther predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and to control the opening and closure of said generator breaker, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representation in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, and means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal generating means for turbine and generator speed control.
A method of operating an electric power plant including a gas turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to the turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the gas turbine combustion element, means for operating the fuel system to energize the turbine, a programmable digital computer and an input/output system therefor, the steps of said method comprising:
- (a) operating the computer to generate a fuel demand representation for desired turbine operation characterized in accordance with the nonlinear response characteristics of the turbine;
- (b) converting said computer determined fuel demand representation to an analog signal;
- (c) utilizing said analog signal as a feedforward speed/load fuel demand signal for the turbine and driven generator;
- (d) operating the computer to generate a plurality of generator and turbine parametric fuel demand limit representations;
- (e) utilizing said developed parametric representations to limit and calibrate, where necessary, said feedforward speed/load fuel demand signal over the entire range of expected plant operation;
- and
- (f) utilizing said limited feedforward speed/load fuel demand signal to control the means for operating the fuel system.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements and having speed and load modes of operation, a generator having a field winding and being coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, means for exciting said generator field winding, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine and for controlling said exciting means, means for generating a turbine speed signal and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and said exciting control means, said computer operating means generating a fuel demand for turbine speed and load control in response to a turbine speed demand and a turbine load demand or limit, means for generating at least one of said speed and load demand signals in response to a nonlinear turbine operating limit characterization, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to a computer means output signal corresponding to said fuel demand.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a generator breaker for coupling the generator to a power system, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controlling and operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and to control the opening and closure of said generator breaker, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representation in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combinining said representations to generate a fuel demand, and means external to said computer means for generating at least one of said speed and load demand signals in response to a nonlinear turbine operating limit characterization, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to a computer means output signal corresponding to said fuel demand.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a generator breaker for coupling the generator to a power system, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the gas turbine combustion element, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controling and operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and to control the opening and closure of said generator breaker, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representations in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal means for turbine and generator speed control, means for detecting generator load, said computer operating controlling said fuel system operating means in response to detected load to regulate the generator load substantially to a predetermined value, and means for limiting the rate at which said fuel demand changes during load operating level changes.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said gas turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, programmable digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to generate a feedforward speed demand representation for desired turbine operation, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representation in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, and circuit means external to said computer for controlling said fuel system operating means in accordance with said speed signal and a computer means output signal corresponding to said fuel demand.
A plurality of combustion turbine electric power plants comprising a separate combustion turbine for each plant having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator for each plant coupled to the associated combustion turbine for drive power, respective fuel systems for supplying fuel to the respective combustion elements, digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controlling and operating each of said turbine fuel systems, means for operating said computer means to make control action determination for implementation by the respective fuel system operating means, said fuel demand representation including a speed demand representation which is converted to an analog output speed reference signal from said computer means, and said fuel system controlling means including means for detecting actual turbine speed and means for generating a fuel demand signal in response to the difference between the actual speed and the speed reference.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, programmable digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said computer means to determine a fuel demand representation for desired generator load conditions, means for detecting generator load, circuit means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the difference between detected load and said fuel demand representation to regulate generator load substantially to a predetermined value, means for generating as a part of said fuel demand representation a feedforward speed demand representation, said fuel system controlling circuit means including means for converting said speed demand representation to an analog speed reference signal during speed control operations, means for detecting actual turbine speed, and means for generating a fuel demand signal in response to the difference between actual speed and said analog speed reference signal.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, programmable digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said computer means to determine a fuel demand representation for desired generator load conditions, means for detecting generator load, circuit means external to said computer for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the difference between detected load and said fuel demand representation to regulate generator load substantially to a predetermined value, and means for incrementally varying the predetermined value to which the load is regulated.
A combustion turbine power plant comprising a combustion turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a generator breaker for coupling the generator to a power system, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controlling and operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and to control the opening and closure of said generator breaker, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representations in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal means for turbine and generator speed control, means for detecting generator load, said computer operating means controlling said fuel system operating means in response to detected load to regulate the generator load substantially to a predetermined value, and means for incrementally varying the predetermined value to which the load is regulated.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said gas turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, programmable digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said computer means to determine a feedforward speed fuel demand representation and a variable load fuel demand representation for desired plant operating conditions, circuit means external to said computer for controlling said fuel system operating means in accordance with said speed fuel demand representation, means for controlling said fuel system operating means in accordance with said load fuel demand representation to control generator load, and means for limiting the rate at which said load fuel demand representation changes during load operating level changes.
A combustion turbine power plant comprising a gas turbine having a compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a generator breaker for coupling the generator to a power system, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, a control system including digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for controlling and operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to make control action determinations for implementation by said fuel system operating means and to control the opening and closure of said generator breaker, said computer operating means generating a feed forward speed reference representation as one of said control action determinations, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representations in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal means for turbine and generator speed control, and said computer operating means determining a load rate limit for limiting the rate at which said fuel system operating means can change the fuel flow rate during load level operating changes.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, an operator panel having predetermined generator and gas turbine switches and indicating devices, programmable digital computer means and signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said computer means in accordance with predetermined generator and turbine parameters to determine a fuel demand representation for desired turbine operation, means including said computer operating means for entering parameter changes from said panel, means for controlling said fuel system operating means in accordance with said fuel demand representation, and means including said computer operating means for selectively displaying any of predetermined generator and turbine variables on each of at least some of the panel indicating devices.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine speed signal and other predetermined turbine feedback signals, means for generating a feedforward speed reference representation as a function of a predetermined acceleration reference representation, means for a turbine load level determining representations in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, means for combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to said fuel demand representation for turbine and generator speed control.
A gas turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine exhaust temperature limit representation as a function of an actual exhaust temperature representation and a representation of a nonlinear temperature reference characterization, applicable during startup operation, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of said nonlinear temperature limit.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor, combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to said combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine exhaust temperature limit representation as a function of an actual exhaust temperature representation and a representation of a nonlinear temperature reference characterization, applicable during load operation, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of said nonlinear temperature limit.
A combustion turbine electric power plant comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a generator coupled to said combustion turbine for drive power, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for generating a turbine exhaust temperature limit representation as a function of an actual exhaust temperature representation and a representation of a nonlinear temperature reference characterization applicable during startup operation, means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of a nonlinear temperature limit, and means for detecting generator load, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to detected load to regulate the generator load substantially to a predetermined value.
Industrial combustion turbine apparatus comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, digital computer means and a signal input/output means therefor, means for operating said computer means to determine a fuel demand representation for desired turbine operation, means for controlling said fuel system operating means in accordance with the fuel demand representation, said fuel demand representation including a speed demand representation which is converted to an analog output speed reference signal from said computer means, and said fuel system controlling means includes means for detecting actual turbine speed and means for generating a fuel demand signal in response to the difference between the actual speed and the speed reference.
Industrial combustion turbine apparatus comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, digital computer control means for generating a fuel demand signal as a function of speed demand during speed control and as a function of speed demand and load setpoint or limit demand during load control, means for generating said speed and load demands, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine in response to said fuel demand, and means for operating said computer means to limit the rate at which said fuel demand representation changes during changes in the load on the turbine.
Industrial combustion turbine apparatus comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, digital computer control means for generating a fuel demand signal as a function of speed demand during speed control and as a function of speed demand and load setpoint or limit demand during load control, means for generating said speed and load demands, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for operating said computer means to generate a turbine exhaust temperature reference representation of a nonlinear temperature reference characterization to limit said speed demand during startup operation, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of the nonlinear temperature reference.
Industrial combustion turbine apparatus comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, digital computer control means for generating a fuel demand signal as a function of speed demand during speed control and as a function of speed demand and load setpoint or limit demand during load control, means for generating said speed and load demands, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for operating said computer means to generate a turbine exhaust temperature reference representation of a nonlinear temperature reference characterization to limit said load demand during turbine loading operation, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of the nonlinear temperature reference.
Industrial combustion turbine apparatus comprising a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements, a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion turbine combustion element, digital computer control means for generating a fuel demand signal as a function of speed demand during speed control and as a function of speed demand and load setpoint or limit demand during load control, means for generating said speed and load demands, means for operating said fuel system to energize said turbine, means for operating said computer means to generate a surge limit representation of a nonlinear surge limit characterization to limit said speed demand during turbine startup, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of the nonlinear surge limit representation.
A computer control system for operating industrial combustion turbine apparatus including a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements and a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion element, said control system comprising digital computer means, signal input/output means for said computer means, means for controlling the operation of the fuel system, means for generating a turbine speed and other predetermined feedback signals, means for operating said computer means to generate a feedforward speed reference representation, said computer operating means further generating a turbine load level determining representation in response to at least one of said other predetermined turbine signals, said computer operating means combining said representations to generate a fuel demand, and means external to said computer means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to the fuel demand and said speed signal means for turbine and generator speed control.
A control system for operating a combustion turbine-electric power plant including an electric generator and a generator breaker and a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements and a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion element, said control system comprising digital computer means, signal input/output means for said computer, means for controlling the operation of the generator breaker, means for controlling the operation of the fuel system, means for operating said computer means to generate control outputs for both of said controlling means, said computer operating means generating a fuel demand for turbine speed and load control in response to a turbine speed demand and a turbine load setpoint or limit demand, means for generating at least one of said speed and load demand signals in response to a nonlinear turbine operating limit characterization, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means in response to a computer means output signal corresponding to said fuel demand.
A computer control system for operating industrial combustion turbine apparatus, including a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements and a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion element, said control system comprising digital computer means, signal input/output means for said computer means, means for detecting actual turbine speed, means for operating said computer means to generate an output speed reference demand during speed and load modes of operation, means for operating said computer means to generate a load setpoint or limit demand signal during the load mode of operation, said computer operating means combining said speed and load demands to generate a speed fuel demand during startup and a load fuel demand during load operation, an analog speed control generating an output in response to the actual speed and the reference fuel demand signals during the startup and load mode, and means for controlling the operation of the fuel system as a function of the speed control output.
A computer control system for operating an industrial combustion turbine apparatus including a combustion turbine having compressor and combustion and turbine elements and a fuel system for supplying fuel to the combustion element, said control system comprising digital computer means, signal input/output means for said computer means, means for controlling the operation of the fuel system, means for operating said computer means to generate a turbine exhaust temperature limit representation as a function of a determined exhaust temperature representation and a representation of a non-linear temperature reference characterization applicable during startup and turbine loading operation, and means for controlling said fuel system operating means as a function of the non-linear temperature limit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.