System for capturing heat transferred from compressed cooling air in a gas turbine
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsScott T. Cloyd, Robert A. Hindle, Stephen W. Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas turbine is provided in which heat is removed from compressed air bled from the compressor section, for purposes of cooling in the turbine section, using a first heat exchanger to transfer heat from the cooling air to an intermediate fluid. The heat so removed is then returned to the cycle by transferring it from the intermediate fluid to a fluid to be injected into the combustion section, such as gaseous fuel or water for NOx control, using a second heat exchanger. A third heat exchanger may be used in conjunction with the second heat exchanger to control the temperature of the intermediate fluid and, hence, the temperature of the cooling air.
Claims13
A combustion turbine system comprising a compressor system in which air is compressed to provide compressed air, a combustion section which is connected to said compressor section so as to receive compressed air therefrom and in which fuel is mixed with the compressed air and combusted to generate hot compressed gas and a turbine section in which the hot compressed gas is expanded to generate power, said system further including conduit means in communication with said compressor section and said turbine section for diverting a portion of said compressed air to said turbine section for cooling turbine components therein, heat transfer means connected so as to receive said diverted portion of said compressed air from said compressor section, and fluid supply means connected to said heat transfer means and said combustion section for injecting a first fluid into the compressed air in said combustion section, said heat transfer means containing a heat transfer fluid and having means for preventing contact between said first fluid and said heat transfer fluid and for allowing the transfer of heat from said diverted portion of said compressed air to said heat transfer fluid and from said heat transfer fluid to said first fluid before said first fluid enters said combustion section.
A combustion turbine system comprising a compressor section in which air is compressed to provide compressed air, a combustion section which is connected to said compressor section so as to receive compressed air therefrom and in which fuel is mixed with the compressed air and combusted to generate hot compressed gas and a turbine section in which the hot compressed gas is expanded to generate power, said system further including conduit means in communication with said compressor section and said turbine section for diverting a portion of said compressed air from said compressor section to said turbine section for cooling turbine components therein, and heat transfer means connected so as to receive said diverted portion of said compressed air from said compressor section and fluid supply means connected to said heat transfer means and said combustion section for injecting a first fluid into said compressed air in said combustion section, said first fluid being in heat exchange relation in said heat transfer means with said diverted portion of said compressed air so as to transfer heat from said diverted portion of said compressed air to said first fluid before said first fluid enters said combustion section, said heat transfer means comprising first and second heat exchangers, said first heat exchanger connected to receive said diverted portion of said compressed air from said compressor section and said second heat exchanger connected to said fluid supply means so as to receive said first fluid, said first and second heat exchangers being in communication by an intermediate heat transfer circuit including a heat transfer fluid receiving heat from said diverted portion of said compressed air in said first heat exchanger and transferring it to said first fluid in said second heat exchanger.
A combustion turbine system according to claim 23, further comprising means for maintaining said intermediate heat transfer circuit at a pressure lower than the pressure of either the compressed air diverted from the compressor section or said first fluid supplied to the combustion section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.