The Refrigerated Gas and Vapor Turbine Cycle

Abstract

As electrical energy consumption has continued to rise in the United States, and producers of electricity search for power plants requiring less installation time, the gas turbine has emerged as a significant contributor to our nation's energy needs. Despite a thermal efficiency disadvantage as compared to a conventional steam power plant, it has nevertheless played an increasingly larger role in the production of electrical power. A scheme is here presented whereby the output of a given gas turbine can be increased by more than 60% and its efficiency increased by 30%, thus making it more competitive efficiency-wise with the conventional steam power plant.Gas turbine engineers have long known that a reduction in turbine air intake temperature results in an increase in net power output. This fact has initiated the investigation of various means to cool intake air without expending more power to do so than the projected gain itself.