Solar power enhanced combustion turbine power plant and methods
AssigneeYork Research Corporation
InventorsAlphonse H. Bellac, Ronald Destefanis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Combustion turbine power plants and methods of operating the same are provided in which air is cooled using solar energy and supplied to an air inlet of the power plant to support combustion. Also, combustion turbine power plants and methods of operating the same are provided in which steam is produced using solar energy and injected into a turbine of the power plant.
Claims20
A combustion turbine power plant, comprising:
- a combustion turbine having a compressor, a combustor and a turbine, the compressor having an opening to receive inlet air;
- and means for cooling the inlet air using solar energy.
A combustion turbine power plant, comprising:
- a combustion turbine including a compressor having an air inlet and a fuel inlet to receive fuel for combustion with air compressed by the compressor to produce combustion gas, the combustion turbine further including a turbine in fluid communication to receive the combustion gas and having a port for injecting augmenting steam, the combustion turbine power plant further comprising means for producing the augmenting steam using solar energy.
A method of operating a combustion turbine power plant, comprising:
- supplying fuel to a combustion turbine power plant;
- cooling air using solar energy;
- supplying the cooled air to an air inlet of the power plant;
- mixing the air received at the air inlet with the fuel to produce an air/fuel mixture;
- burning the air/fuel mixture to form combustion gas;
- and supplying the combustion gas to a turbine of the power plant.
A method of supplying steam for operating a Rankine cycle turbine, comprising:
- producing steam using solar energy;
- preheating feed water using the solar energy produced steam;
- producing turbine inlet steam from the preheated feed water using an energy source other than solar energy;
- and
- supplying the turbine inlet steam to an inlet of the Rankine cycle turbine.
A system for supplying turbine inlet steam to a Rankine cycle turbine, comprising:
- a solar steam generator for producing steam from solar energy;
- a feed water preheater for preheating feed water using the solar energy produced steam;
- and
- a turbine inlet steam generator supplied with the preheated feed water for producing turbine inlet steam therefrom using an energy source other than solar energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.