Study the Effect of Water Injection Upstream of the ‎Compressor of a Gas Microturbine Engine on the Off-design Performance

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Aerospace Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

One of the disadvantages of microturbines, which are used as combined heat and power units, ‎is the constant ‎ratio of thermal power to electrical power at each operating point. A method that has ‎recently been employed to ‎address this issue and enable a variable thermal-to-electrical power ratio ‎at any rotational speed is water injection ‎into the microturbine. In this study, the Turbec T100 ‎microturbine has been investigated. Initially, the ‎performance of the Turbec T100 was simulated and ‎validated against experimental results. Subsequently, by ‎adding a heat recovery steam generator after ‎the compressor and converting the Turbec T100 into a wet ‎microturbine, the simulation code was ‎upgraded, and the off-design performance of the wet microturbine was ‎simulated. The results ‎indicate that, with water injection, the electrical power and efficiency increase at all ‎rotational speeds, ‎while the thermal power and efficiency decrease. The maximum steam injection rate into the ‎engine ‎at 67,940.67 rpm is 0.03769 kg/s, which leads to a 33% increase in electrical power and a 62% decrease ‎in ‎thermal power. Therefore, by injecting different amounts of steam at each speed, it is possible to ‎achieve a ‎variable electrical-to-thermal power ratio.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 57, Issue 1
2025
Pages 89-104

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