Project Description

The work contract from Natural Resources Canada will be continued for another year.  The focus is now on the design of an industrial gas turbine for power generation using supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid in an advanced Brayton cycle.  The entire project is organized to simulate an industrial setting. This year, the project team is divided into seven groups:

For each group there is a lead engineer. As well, there is a project manager for the overall project.  Weekly meetings are held where each group is able to update the entire team on their progress and to express any concerns regarding their work and the project as a whole.  

Test Rigs

The zero-emission micro turbine had areas of technology with sufficient interest to warrant the building of three test rigs to further research these branches of technology.  The Conrol system, gas bearing and combustion test rigs have all been retired. Continuing work is being done on the corrosion test rig this year.  More information on these rigs may be found by following the links below.

Corrosion Test Rig

History of the Project

2009/2010

This past year was the 3rd year of a 4 year contract with Natural Resources Canada's CanmetENERGY. As a result the focus of the project this year was on realism and practicality.

This year the Department of Electronics was integrated into the project to shed some light on the critical electrical component of power generation. Their work focused on the generator and in the end a pre-existing model of a three phase brushless synchronous generator with a permanent magnet pilot exciter was selected. Other major focuses of this year's project team were preliminary compressor design, gearbox design, leakage seals between shaft and casing as well as performance analysis of the current cycle for steady state modelling at design and off-design conditions. The heat exchangers team was focused on developing and optimizing new configurations of plate design for the PCHE for the main heat exchanger and the recuperator.

2008/2009

The work this year focused on evaluating the feasibility of implementing an external combustor using natural gas as a heat source for the supercritical carbon dioxide advanced Brayton cycle. A combined cycle arrangement using a Rankine cycle was evaluated as well as a parallel compressor cycle. The aerodynamics and heat transfer group continued work on the design of a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) and a wet/dry design for the precooler. The dynamics and controls group focus was on the evaluation of the system in a loss of load scenario and improving control of compressor inlet temperature. They also developed a model representing the transient performance of the plant. The turbomachinery group implemented several changes to the compressor, most notably the redesign of the axial rotor blades to account for the high bending stresses. The structures group made further progress on the structural aspects of the turbomachinery and casing, while the secondary flow and bearings group began developing aerostatic journal bearings using the supercritical carbon dioxide as the bearing fluid.

2007/2008

The scope of work changed last year from its original form of a Zero-Emissions Gas Turbine power plant.  The focus is now on externally fired industrial gas turbine for power generation.

Within the project there are five principle divisions of work.  Development of a 100 MWe supercritical carbon dioxide plant, and a 100 MWe nitrogen gas expansion turbine are both underway; as well as development of the control systems test rig and the gas bearing test rig. This year, work on the combustion test rig has stopped. This year, work was begun on the preliminary design of a corrosion test rig.

The work being done on the power plants this year has evolved from work done in previous years for Natural Resources Canada.  Though the project is no longer centered on the zero-emission micro-turbine of the past years, the original data gathered has not been discarded, but rather put on hold for the time being.  Two new designs for power plants were initiated last year.  These designs are being continued this year.  Natural Resources Canada has provided some basic specifications for the two plants, and the student led design is in progress for a supercritical carbon dioxide power plant and a nitrogen expansion turbine. 

2006/2007

The focus this year was to develop the design of an externally fired 100 MW supercritical CO₂ plant and a 100 MW N₂ plant. Testing continued on the combustion, control systems, and gas bearings test rigs.

2005/2006

The Control System Test Rig was revamped to use LabVIEW which reduced the noise in the signal. The Bearing Test Rig was subjected to a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, then completed and run with a successful test run. The project has been extended with a focus on the 100 MW plant for the coming year.

2004/2005

This past year the project focused on the structural analysis of the design. The team was larger than initially planned, providing ample resources for executing work. The website was taken off-campus to enable the creation of a dynamic website.

2003/2004

This past year the students faced the challenge of continuing the designs from the previous year. The ease of transition ranged from good to poor, depending on the documentation skills of the former student responsible for that specific area of the gas turbine. Thus, the team gained a real appreciation for the importance of clear and detailed documentation in the interest of a smooth, timely transition for next year’s team. Many challenges were faced with issues of designing for manufacturability as well as optimum performance.

2002/2003

The Raven Zero-Emission GT had a successful year in 2002-2003. Making solid developments in preliminary component and test rig design, this project year can be considered a solid achievement. Additionally, the Design Integration team has compiled this data effectively for future years, completing a critical component for future success.

2001/2002

The Micro GT-40 design evolved considerably from its status at the beginning of the project year. All components still remain in the design stage, though some are close to the manufacturing stage. Project information was organized in an effective manner this year and the project website and databases proved themselves to be important organizational tools.

2000/2001

The conceptual design phase for a micro gas turbine was completed this year. Along with the component arrangement work completed in this phase, the communication procedures for the project were laid out. The work completed in the preliminary design phase this year includes many Pro/E models including a master assembly of the engine.