Adapting the Micro-Gas Turbine Operation to Variable Thermal and Electrical Requirements

This paper examines the possibilities for a micro-gas turbine operation under a wide range of thermal and mechanical load requirements. The authors focus the attention on a partially recuperated thermal cycle based on a by-pass option towards the heat recovery boiler, in order to adapt the gas turbine operation to increasing needs of thermal output. In addition, a variable speed operation is considered as a more reliable method for decreasing the mechanical output without producing an excess in efficiency decay. The actual possibilities of the above named regulation tools are examined by an integrated procedure which involves, besides an accurate thermodynamic preliminary analysis, the component matching study and the CFD based simulation of the combustion chamber.