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No description available.

This work describes a control system in which a cycloconverter is connected between the secondary windings of a three phase induction machine and the a. c. mains supply to give variable speed sub- and super –synchronously. In order to control the system smoothly in an asynchronous mode a secondary emf signal generator has been designed, which enables the cycloconverter to operate in synchronism with the emf induced in the secondary windings of the machine. A computer programme has been written which calculates the required firing angles for the cycloconverter to produce secondary current in phase with the secondary emf in the machine. An electronic system has been built which ensures that these firing angles are used by the cycloconverter during actual operation. A cycloconverter has been built, using an effective six phases of mains supply, and has been successfully operated over a range of 20% about synchronous speed in both generating and motoring modes. Results show the ability of the cycloconverter to drive the machine up from standstill as a motor to just below 20% subsynchronous speed. An on-line computer simulation of a wind turbine has been developed which enables an assessment of variable speed generation applied to wind turbines to be achieved. This simulation, in connection with a d. c. machine and thyristor controller, can be used to drive the shaft of the induction machine and assess operation of the cycloconverter control scheme under actual wind turbine operating conditions.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

De nos jours, seules les turbines à gaz sont à même de propulser les larges aéronefs (avions ou hélicoptères). Depuis les premiers prototypes construits dans les années 40, l’efficacité et la puissance de ces moteurs n’ont cessé de s’améliorer. Chaque composant atteint de tels niveaux de performance que seules une rupture technologique ou un investissement conséquent peuvent permettre de repousser les limites d’efficacité d’une turbine à gaz. Une solution alternative peut être trouvée en constatant qu’un moteur est un système intégré complexe dans lequel tous les composants interagissent entre eux, affectant les performances de chaque module en comparaison de leur fonctionnement isolé. Avec la compacité croissante des turbines à gaz, ces interactions entre modules du moteur sont clairement renforcées et leur étude constitue une potentielle source de gain en termes de performance globale du moteur. Dans ce contexte, l’interface du moteur la plus critique est aujourd’hui la connexion entre la chambre de combustion et la turbine, qui présente les niveaux de pression, température et contraintes les plus élevés du moteur. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’améliorer la caractérisation actuelle de l’interface chambre- turbine afin de juger les méthodes de développement de cette interface et de concourir à l’amélioration des performances de la turbine et sa durée de vie. Pour ainsi faire, un nouveau simulateur de chambre non réactif, représentatif des architectures de chambres pauvres récentes, est développé dans le contexte du projet européen FACTOR (FP7). L’écoulement dans le module est analysé d’une part via le recours massif aux Simulations aux Grandes Echelles (LES), et d’autre part par une caractérisation expérimentale sur une version trisecteur du module, installée à l’Université de Florence (Italie). En tirant profit des complémentarités entre approche numérique et expérimentale, une base de données exhaustive est construite pour qualifier les simulations avancées et caractériser les quantités physiques à l’interface entre la chambre et la turbine. Des diagnostics avancés et des procédures de validation s’appuyant sur les riches données temporelles sont proposés dans l’objectif d’améliorer les processus de design de l’interface chambre-turbine. Par exemple, il est montré qu’il est parfois possible et nécessaire d’aller au-delà d’une simple analyse des moyennes et variances pour qualifier les prédictions à cette interface. Pour approfondir l’étude de l’interaction chambre-turbine, des simulations LES comprenant à la fois le simulateur de chambre et une paire de stators de la turbine haute pression sont réalisées. Ces prédictions purement numériques mettent en évidence l’effet potentiel induit par la présence des stators ainsi que l’influence du calage angulaire par rapport aux injecteurs. Ce dernier ensemble de simulations souligne la difficulté de proprement appréhender l’interface chambre-turbine, mais confirme qu’il peut être simulé par une approche LES à l’avenir.. / Nowadays, engines powering modern and large commercial or military aircraft essentially rely on gas turbine technologies. Since the first prototypes built in the 40's, the efficiency and specific power of such engines have improved to the point where each individual module reaches efficiency levels so that any new substantial gain can only be the result of a significant effort, cost or a technological breakthrough. An alternative path for improvement arises if one acknowledges that the engine is in the end a fully integrated system where all components interact with each other, modifying each individual component effective operating condition and efficiency compared to their disassembled versions. With the increasing compactness of new engines such interactions are clearly enhanced and the study of the interactions between engine components (sparsely addressed in the past) becomes a substantial source of gains in overall engine performance. In this context, the engine interface that is today the most critical and that is not adequately covered in an isolated component analysis coincides with the region linking the combustion chamber to the turbine. This region of the engine is indeed the most critical and aggressive part of an engine in terms of pressure, temperature and stresses. The objective of this PhD dissertation is to improve the current characterization of the combustor-turbine interface to assess existing design processes at this interface and help increasing the turbine efficiency. To do so, a new non-reactive Combustor Simulator (CS) representative of modern Lean Burn combustion chambers is developed within the framework of the European project FACTOR (FP7). The flow in this module is then investigated by means of an extensive use of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and experimentally characterized based on a tri-sector version of the module installed at the University of Florence (Italy). Based on the complementary use of this experiment and LES, a comprehensive and exhaustive database is constructed to qualify advanced simulations and exit chamber quantities useful for the design and understanding of the combustor-turbine interface. Advanced diagnostics and validation procedures taking advantage of the rich time-resolved fields are furthermore proposed in an attempt to improve the existing design process whenever dealing with the interface of the combustor / turbine modules. For example, it is shown at this occasion that it is sometimes possible and necessary to go beyond the simple analysis of mean (and RMS) fields to qualify predictions at this interface. To finish and to go beyond the treatment of this interface, a fully integrated simulation of the CS fitted with a pair of high pressure vanes at its exit is produced to complement our understanding. These purely numerical predictions highlight the impact of the vane potential effect as well as the influence of the vane clocking relative to the fuel injection systems for the specific case of this Lean Burn architecture. This last set of LES highlights the difficulty of adequately apprehending the combustor / turbine interface and confirms that it could ultimately be simulated by use of LES if needed.

The loss of performance of a gas turbine engine at off-design is primarily due to the rapid drop of the major cycle performance parameters with decrease in power and this may be aggravated by poor component performance. More and more stringent requirements are being put on the performance demanded from gas turbines and if future engines are to exhibit performances superior to those of present day: engines, then a means must be found of controlling engine cycle such that the lapse rate of the major cycle parameters with power is reduced. In certain applications, it may be desirable to vary engine cycle with operating conditions in an attempt to re-optimize performance. Variable geometry in key engine components offers the advantage of either improving the internal performance of a component or re-matching engine cycle to alter the flow-temperature-pressure relationships. Either method has the potential to improve engine performance. Future gas turbines, more so those for aeronautical applications, will extensively use variable geometry components and therefore, a tool must exist which is capable of evaluating the off-design performance of such engines right from the conceptual stage. With this in mind, a computer program was developed which can simulate the steady state performance of arbitrary gas turbines with or without variable geometry in the gas path components. The program is a thermodynamic component-matching analysis program which uses component performance maps to evaluate the conditions of the gas at the various engine stations. The program was used to study the performance of a number of cycles incorporating variable geometry and it was concluded that variable geometry can significantly improve the off-design performance of gas turbines.

The design and development of gas turbine combustors is a crucial but uncertain part of an engine development process. Combustion within a gas turbine is a complex interaction of, among other things, fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer and chemical kinetics. At present, the design process relies upon a wealth of experimental data and correlations. The proper use of this information requires experienced combustion engineers and even for them the design process is very time consuming. Some major engine manufacturers have attempted to address the above problem by developing one dimensional computer programs based on the above test and empirical data to assist combustor designers. Such programs are usually proprietary. The present work, based on this approach has yielded DEPTH, a combustor design program. DEPTH ( Design and Evaluation of Pressure, Temperature and Heat transfer in combustors) is developed in Fortran-77 to assist in preliminary design and evaluation of conventional gas turbine combustion chambers. DEPTH can be used to carry out a preliminary design along with prediction of the cooling slots for a given metal temperature limit or to evaluate heat transfer and temperatures for an existing combustion chamber. Analysis of performance parameters such as efficiency, stability and NOx based on stirred reactor theories is also coupled. DEPTH is made sufficiently interactive/user-friendly such that no prior expertise is required as far as computer operation is concerned. The range of variables such as operating conditions, geometry, hardware, fuel type can all be effectively examined and their contribution towards the combustor performance studied. Such comprehensive study should provide ample opportunity for the designer to make the right decisions. It should also be an effective study aid. Returns in terms of higher thermal efficiencies is an incentive to go for combined cycles and cogeneration. In such cases, opting for higher cycle pressures together with a second or reheat combustor promise higher thermal efficiencies and exhaust temperatures and hence such designs are likely to be of interest. The concepts that are needed for understanding a double or reheat combustor are also addressed using the programme. A specific application of the programme is demonstrated through the design of a double combustor.

Resumo: Este trabalho desenvolve um sistema para gerar energia elétrica com caldeira e turbina, para ocupar um nicho de mercado em que os sistemas a vapor existentes não são economicamente viáveis. O sistema utiliza a turbina Tesla que é compatível para essa faixa e não possui pás, podendo operar com vapor saturado fornecido por uma pequena caldeira consumindo lenha. A micro-geração proposta pode levar energia a milhões de brasileiros no campo, onde se dispõe de algum tipo de biomassa. Apesar do baixo custo da turbina Tesla, por ser de simples construção e compacta, e de suas incontáveis possibilidades de aplicação, se desconhece, até então, aplicações comerciais massivas devido ao baixo torque obtido nos protótipos feitos desde 1910 e por essa razão foi modificada. Este trabalho inova ao desenvolver um protótipo da turbina Tesla modificado para fornecer maior torque e ao comparar à turbina Tesla original. Devido à inexistência de equações que descrevem a turbina Tesla, um modelo matemático que permite projetar a turbina Tesla foi desenvolvido e validado por resultados experimentais e de simulação. Testes comparativos com duas turbinas com as mesmas dimensões mostraram que a turbina Tesla modificada apresentou eficiência superior à turbina Tesla original. Desenvolveu-se, também, um protótipo do sistema para micro-geração utilizando a turbina Tesla modificada, caldeira e gerador elétrico. Os custos do sistema e da energia gerada foram comparados com os de outros meios de geração mostrando serem competitivos economicamente para essa faixa de operação. / Abstract: This work develops a system to generate electric power with boiler and turbine that aims to occupy the niche of the market for which steam systems are not economically viable. The system uses a Tesla turbine, which is compatible to the range of power. Also, it does not have blades, being able to operate with steam delivered by a small boiler fed with wood. The proposed micro-generation system can take energy to millions of Brazilians living in the country, where some type of biomass is available. In despite of the low cost of the Tesla turbine, because it is compact and simple to build, and despite of its uncountable possibilities of applications, massive commercial applications of the technology are not found due to the low torque of the prototypes built since 1910. For this reason, the Tesla turbine was modified. This work is original since it develops a modified Tesla turbine prototype to furnish a higher torque when compared to an original Tesla turbine. Due to the lack of equations that model a Tesla turbine, a mathematical model was developed to allow the design of the Tesla turbine; it was validated by means of experimental and simulating results. The comparative tests with two turbines, with same dimensions, showed that the modified Tesla turbine presents a higher efficiency than the original Tesla turbine. A micro-generation system, using the modified Tesla turbine, boiler and electric generator, was also developed. The costs of the system and of the generated energy were compared with other means of generation and showed to be commercially competitive for that range. / Orientador: João Andrade de Carvalho Junior / Coorientador: Heraldo da Silva Couto / Banca: Luiz Roberto Carrocci / Banca: Teófilo Miguel de Souza / Banca: Paulo César Razuk / Banca: Rogério José da Silva / Doutor

abstract: Gas turbines have become widely used in the generation of power for cities. They are used all over the world and must operate under a wide variety of ambient conditions. Every turbine has a temperature at which it operates at peak capacity. In order to attain this temperature in the hotter months various cooling methods are used such as refrigeration inlet cooling systems, evaporative methods, and thermal energy storage systems. One of the more widely used is the evaporative systems because it is one of the safest and easiest to utilize method. However, the behavior of water droplets within the inlet to the turbine has not been extensively studied or documented. It is important to understand how the droplets behave within the inlet so that water droplets above a critical diameter will not enter the compressor and cause damage to the compressor blades. In order to do this a FLUENT simulation was constructed in order to determine the behavior of the water droplets and if any droplets remain at the exit of the inlet, along with their size. In order to do this several engineering drawings were obtained from SRP and studies in order to obtain the correct dimensions. Then the simulation was set up using data obtained from SRP and Parker-Hannifin, the maker of the spray nozzles. Then several sets of simulations were run in order to see how the water droplets behaved under various conditions. These results were then analyzed and quantified so that they could be easily understood. The results showed that the possible damage to the compressor increased with increasing temperature at a constant relative humidity. This is due in part to the fact that in order to keep a constant relative humidity at varying temperatures the mass fraction of water vapor in the air must be changed. As temperature increases the water vapor mass fraction must increase in order to maintain a constant relative humidity. This in turn makes it slightly increases the evaporation time of the water droplets. This will then lead to more droplets exiting the inlet and at larger diameters. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Aerospace Engineering 2013