Modelling of a Hybrid Solar Micro-Gas Turbine fuelled by biomass from agriculture product

Sustainable biomass exploitation for combined heat and power (CHP) generation is fundamental to address concerns about climate changes related to energy conversion systems. The aim of the work is to design a power plant able to satisfy energy demands exclusively through renewable resources. A layout of a hybrid micro-gas turbine–solarplant fed by biomass from agriculture products (olive pits) is modelled. It provides the coupling between a gasifier, dedicated to the biomass conversion and a micro gas turbine, optimized for the operation with syngas. In particular, the MGT plant is integrated with a solar tower field, able to provide a partial or complete fuel heating replacement depending on the amount of solar heat provided to the working fluid reaching the turbine inlet temperature. After the solar field design able to reduce fuel consumption during diurnal hours, a gasifier was integrated to obtain a syngas from biomass in place of the traditional natural gas. A parametric analysis aimed to define the gasifier parameters is reported and allowed to obtain a syngas able to satisfy the power demands of the MGT with good performances. The Thermoflex® commercial software is used to model the full plant. The results in terms of efficiency and environmental impact are reported and compared to those obtained with the traditional natural gas-fuelled MGT. Keywords: Biomass, Gasification, Micro gas turbine, Solar energy, Synga

Virtual Calibration Method for Diesel Engine by Software in The Loop Techniques

The calibration of the engine control unit is increased for the development of the whole automotive system. The aim is to calibrate the electronic engine control to match the decreasing emission requirements and increasing fuel economy demands. The reduction of the number of tests on vehicles represents one of the most important requirements for increasing efficiency of the engine calibration process. However, the definition of the design of experiment is not straightforward because the data is not known beforehand, so it is difficult to process and analyse this data to achieve a globally valid model. To reduce time effort and costs the virtual calibration can be a valid solution. This procedure is called software in the loop (SIL) calibration able to develop a process to systematically identify the optimal balance of engine performance, emissions and fuel economy. In this work, a virtual calibration methodology is presented by using a two-stage model to get minimum exhaust emissions of a diesel engine. The data used are from a GT-Power model of a 3L supercharged diesel engine. The model is able to calculate the engine emissions for different engine parameters (such as the start of injection, EGR fraction and rail pressure) and from optimisation process, new injection start maps that reduce pollutant emissions are created

numerical simulation of liquid bio fuel combustion in an egr equipped micro gas turbine

This paper focuses the attention to the possibility of a correct combustion close to the flameless regime, even in the presence of lower calorific value fuels like those that can be found with high concentrations in the bio-mass derived ones. In addition, the authors pay attention to the nitric oxide control by means of an optimal choice of the pilot injector location. The authors follow their previous experiences in the search of feasible modifications to an existing lean-premixed combustor for a definite pollutant abatement from a micro-gas turbine

Comparing Different Solutions for the Micro-Gas Turbine Combustor

ASME paper GT 2004--53286 This paper compares different types of combustion chambers for a micro-gas turbine which operates with both different fuels and variations in the inlet air conditions. The combustor types examined cover a wide variety of conditions for the primary combustion, whose fuel/air equivalence ratio ranges from typical lean-premixed levels up to dramatically rich values. The latter is attained in a combustion chamber of the RQL type, while the lean mixture burns in a tubular swirled combustor also equipped with a pilot igniter. The comparison is completed by including an annular combustor with a primary diffusive burner. The CFD based analysis highlights the main differences among the three types of combustors, in terms of temperature and pollutant distributions, and by focusing the attention on the self-ignition occurrence. ©2004 ASM