The effects of three types of cooling systems on the calculated operating performances of a hydrogen-fueled thermal power plant with a 1,700°C-class gas turbine were studied with the goal of attaining a thermal efficiency of greater than 60 percent. The combination of a closed-circuit water cooling system for the nozzle blades and a steam cooling system for the rotor blades was found to be the most efficient, since it eliminated the penalties of a conventional open-circuit cooling system which ejects coolant into the main hot gas stream. Based on the results, the water cooled, first-stage nozzle blade and the steam cooled first-stage rotor blade were designed. The former features array of circular cooling holes close to the surface and uses a copper alloy taking advantage of recent coating technologies such as thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and metal coatings to decrease the temperature and protect the blade core material. The later has cooling by serpentine cooling passages with V-shaped staggered turbulence promoter ribs which intensify the internal cooling.

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The advanced humid air turbine (AHAT) system improves the thermal efficiency of gas turbine power generation by using a humidifier, a water atomization cooling (WAC) system, and a heat recovery system, thus eliminating the need for an extremely high firing temperature and pressure ratio. The following elemental technologies have been developed to realize the AHAT system: (1) a broad working range and high-efficiency compressor that utilizes the WAC system to reduce compression work, (2) turbine blade cooling techniques that can withstand high heat flux due to high-humidity working gas, and (3) a combustor that achieves both low NOx emissions and a stable flame condition with high-humidity air. A gas turbine equipped with a two-stage radial compressor (with a pressure ratio of 8), two-stage axial turbine, and a reverse-flow type of single-can combustor has been developed based on the elemental technologies described above. A pilot plant that consists of a gas turbine generator, recuperator, humidification tower, water recovery system, WAC system, economizer, and other components is planned to be constructed, with testing slated to begin in October 2006 to validate the performance and reliability of the AHAT system. The expected performance is as follows: thermal efficiency of 43% (LHV), output of 3.6MW, and NOx emissions of less than 10ppm at 15% O2. This paper introduces the elemental technologies and the pilot plant to be built for the AHAT system.

The effects of three types of cooling systems on the calculated operating performances of a hydrogen-fueled thermal power plant with a 1,700°C-class gas turbine were studied with the goal of attaining a thermal efficiency of greater than 60%. The combination of a closed-circuit water cooling system for the nozzle blades and a steam cooling system for the rotor blades was found to be the most efficient, since it eliminated the penalties of a conventional open-circuit cooling system which ejects coolant into the main hot gas stream. Based on the results, the water cooled first-stage nozzle blade and the steam cooled first-stage rotor blade were designed. The former features array of circular cooling holes close to the surface and uses a copper alloy taking advantage of recent coating technologies such as thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) and metal coatings to decrease the temperature and protect the blade core material. The later has cooling by serpentine cooling passages with V-shaped staggered turbulence promoter ribs which intensify the internal cooling.