Solar Energy Utilization in Externally Fired Humidified Air Turbine System

In this paper we propose a new system of solar energy power generation with an external fired humidified air turbine (EFHAT). In the EFHAT, the latent heat from the exhausts gas of gas turbine can be utilized to increase ability of humidification of air due to no limitation of dew point temperature with clean humid air. Through absorbing the solar energy, the water from the collector is brought to the saturator to enhance air humidification ability with the latent heat being more utilized in the EFHAT system. Through integration with EFHAT and latent heat utilization based on integration of the fossil and the renewable energy utilization, the performance of the new proposed solar energy utilization system might be superior to traditional solar energy power generation systems. As a result, the thermal efficiency of the solar thermal power generation will be 16∼20%, superior to conventional solar power generation system (generally about 13%); while the latent heat utilization ratio gets about 25∼35%. This will be a new way of solar energy utilization.