Model Based Diagnostics of AE-T100 Micro Gas Turbine

The growing environmental impacts and dwindling supply of conventional fuels have led to the development of more efficient and clean energy systems. Micro gas turbines (mGT) have emerged as energy conversion technology, which offer promising features like high fuel flexibility, low emissions level, and efficient cogeneration of heat and power (CHP). Numerical simulation is a vital tool to predict the off-design performance of mGT cycles, and it also helps in cycle optimization. Starting from a model available at Ansaldo Energia, for steady state simulation of mGT T100 cycles based on user requirements, within the cooperation between University of Genova (Unige) and Ansaldo Energia, a new more comprehensive simulation tool has been developed through the incorporation of additional components, features, and involving a more detailed mathematical approach. The most important upgrades involved a number of different air path flows and the power electronics, which takes into account the power consumption from auxiliary components as well as the generator and inverter efficiencies. Once the model has been verified against the existing tools, it was used in real operating conditions at the Ansaldo Energia test rig. The mGT performance has been assessed for different power levels, starting from 100 kW (nominal power) to 60 kW and then back to 100 kW, with 10 kW steps. The two tests at 100 kW operating conditions have been carried out with two different ambient temperatures: 20°C and 25°C, respectively. Data have been acquired under stable operating conditions, considering the recuperator cold outlet temperature as the stability indicator. Finally the new model AE-T100 has been used also for diagnosis of the whole mGT cycle. The model has been successfully applied to a special mGT equipped with an on-purpose damaged recuperator, identifying the causes of performance degradation.