TIAC

TURBINE INLET AIR COOLING

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TIAC PRINCIPLES

Is a group of technologies and techniques consisting of cooling down the intake air of the gas turbine. The direct consequence of cooling the turbine inlet air is power output augmentation.

This technology is widely used in hot climates with high ambient temperatures that usually coincide with on-peak demand periods.

TIAC PRINCIPLES

Gas Turbine take in filtered, fresh ambient air and compress it in the compressor stage. The compressed air is mixed with fuel in the combustion chamber and ignited. This produces a high-temperature and high-pressure flow of exhaust gases that enter in a turbine and produce the shaft work output that is generally used to turn an electric generator as well as powering the compressor stage.[...]

As the gas turbine is a constant volume machine, the air volume introduced in the combustion chamber after the compression stage is fixed at certain shaft speed (rpm). The quantity of fuel introduced in the mixture depends on the oxygen that the air contains. The air mass in is directly related to the density of the air, and the introduced volume.

ρhumid Air=𝑃𝑑

𝑅𝑑𝑇+

𝑃𝑣

𝑅𝑣𝑇=

𝑃𝑑𝑀𝑑+𝑃

𝑣𝑀𝑣

𝑅𝑇

Power output and turbine compressor efficiency are proportional to the inlet air flow rate and the pressure ratio, which decrease with higher temperatures. The electricity consumption peak time coincides with warmer air temperature during the day.

With advances systems:

the negative effect are compensated

the turbine will have constant and chilled inlet air temperature

Increases the power output

Direct economic benefit in two ways:

Increasing the annual average output MW

Savings in comparison to additional turbine installation.

TIAC: Power Augmentation

After the evaluation of the weather data and the purpose of the TIAC plant, design conditions will be decided. Every case shall be evaluated separately as the needs differ from one Power Station to another. The main design parameters to be decided are:

Ambient dry bulb temperature

Coincident ambient relative humidity or wet bulb temperature

Inlet air dry bulb temperature downstream of the TIAC system

Air mass flow at the conditions downstream of the TIAC

*In most of the cases, a simulation of the performance of the Power Station during a complete year will be recommended to optimize the most suitable cooling capacity of the TIAC Plant.

Turbine Inlet Air Cooling Simulations

The criteria to select the best alternative should be studied independently:

Wetted Technologies

Evaporative Cooling

Vapor-Absorption Chiller

Vapor Compression Chiller

Combination with TES Tank

TIAC: Applied Technologies

A Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank is a naturally stratified thermal accumulator that allows the storage of chilled water produced during off-peak periods. Especially when the TIAC is needed only during some hours a day (peak demand) it is extremely beneficial to implement a Thermal Energy Storage Tank - TESTIAC configuration.

With a TESTANK the net increase in power output is maximized and the size of the cooling plant is reduced, therefore minimizing the project cost. The cooling energy is later used during on-peak periods to chill the turbine inlet air and increment its power output. To sum up, a TES tank reduces operational cost and cooling plant capacity

TIAC: Combinated with TES TANK

TIAC: Advantages

TIAC is also called by many other names, including combustion

turbine inlet air cooling (CTIAC), turbine inlet cooling (TIC),

combustion turbine air cooling (CTAC), and gas turbine inlet air

cooling (GTIAC)