Technology Advances
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TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES
Heat-Recovery Device Lowers Fuel Consumption for Gas-Turbine Engines A gas turbine recuperator that can operate at higher temperatures than conventional recuperators and is manufactured from standard commercial stainless-steel tube and sheet is under development by Proe Power Systems. Incorporating such a recuperator with a turbine engine cuts the fuel consumption rate almost in half. As shown in Figure 1, a recuperator allows some of the heat in the turbine exhaust to be recovered ahead of the combustor to reduce the amount of fuel needed to heat the compressed gas to the expander turbine inlet temperature. Current recuperators are typically based on a plate-fin heat-exchanger construction. These recuperators have high initial tooling costs; and, since recuperators operate at temperatures where creep strength is low, pressure and thermal stresses can cause the thin plates to distort or the highly stressed plate joints to leak. The Proe 90™ (U.S. Patent #6,390,185 issued May 21, 2002) recuperator concept has been developed with the objective of overcoming these disadvantages while still maintaining high heat recovery with minimal flow restriction. The Proe 90 recuperator, shown in Figure 2, overcomes the flat-plate material limitations by having all high-pressure surfaces either curved or braced so that they can maintain increased strength and creep resistance. Furthermore, thermal stresses
are negligible because the recuperator is able to expand and contract freely. These reduced pressures and thermal stresses allow it to operate at higher temperatures (815°C) and thus at greater efficiency than conventional recuperators. The higher operating temperature results in increased engine efficiency, reduced fuel consumption, and a corresponding reduction in emissions. Because it is constructed from commercially available stainless-steel tube and sheet stock, the Proe 90 recuperator is relatively simple to manufacture and thus requires very little specialized tooling; therefore, initial nonrecurring costs are low. Orbital welding techniques developed for shell and tube fabrication further assure low per-unit production costs, although it is not a shell and tube heat exchanger. Proe Power Systems is working with leading automatic orbital welding firms including Arc Machines Inc., Liburdi-Dimetrics, and Pro-Fusion to develop high-production rate welding with reasonable initial costs. Furnace brazing is also being evaluated to further lower per-unit production cost. Opportunities The company is seeking partners for joint development and licensing. Source: Richard Proeschel, owner, Proe Power Systems, 414 Pepperwood Ct., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 USA; tel. U.S. Toll Free 800-315-0084 ext. 600 or 805-241-1008 ext. 600; fax 805-2411008; e-mail [email protected]; and Web site www.proepowersystems.com.
Figure 2. A Proe 90™ gas-turbine engine recuperator.
Technology Advances provides upto-date reports of materials developments that show potential to bridge the gap between research innovation and ap
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