TRANSEO Code for the Dynamic Performance Simulation of Micro Gas Turbine Cycles

Abstract

In recent years microturbines and, more generally, small radial turbomachinery have been of great interest to the power industry due to their possible integration with advanced energy systems involving very high-tech components, such as high temperature fuel cells, high temperature ceramic heat exchangers and air saturators, which are still under development. Even if microturbine technology is already commercially available, when such an engine is inserted into a more complex plant there are at least two difficulties to be faced: firstly, guaranteeing the safe operation of the microturbine at all the operating points, including start-up and shut-down; and secondly, ensuring the proper feeding conditions to the main components of the cycle. In fact, additional components bring new variables to be monitored and require additional control devices and control systems. As a result, a flexible and modular simulation tool is extremely useful for the actual development of new cycles, where attention is mainly paid to the interaction of quasi-conventional turbomachinery with advanced components integrated in the same cycle. The TRANSEO code is a MATLAB-based modular tool for the transient performance simulation of conventional and advanced energy systems based on gas turbine and microturbine technology. This paper presents the theoretical background and the organization of the tool, showing the validation of results for a conventional recuperated microturbine.

Advanced control approach for hybrid systems based on solid oxide fuel cells

“…Although in this work the control system is completely new, the same models of [33] were considered for plant components to highlight the good performance achieved by this new control system compared to the previous one [33]. This model was developed using the TRANSEO tool [45,46], a visual, user-friendly modular program based on a library of components for off-design, transient and dynamic analyses [47] of energy systems.…”

Performance and Mass Modeling Subtleties in Closed-Brayton-Cycle Space Power Systems

“…Using a mass inventory control scheme, Traverso et al 10 showed stable behavior of a 24-kW solar-dynamic CBC converter with heat rejection radiators subjected to orbital sink temperature periodicity. In a description of a transient code validation case, Traverso 11 also showed the importance of thermal energy storage in the turbine wheel of a commercial microturbine. Ulfsnes 12 studied the transient behavior of a semi-closed O2/CO2 gas turbine.…”

Flexible Micro Gas Turbine Rig for Tests on Advanced Energy Systems

“…This model (developed with components validated in previous works (Ghigliazza et al, 2009a;Ghigliazza et al, 2009b) was based on the simplification of simulation components (cell stack, reformer, anodic loop, off-gas burner, expander) developed in the TRANSEO tool (Traverso, 2005) of the TPG research group. Through the Real-Time Windows Target tool and the UDP interface approach it is possible to study the entire hybrid system using the model for components not physically present in the test rig.…”