Publication Date:
2015-08-11
Description:
The efficient use of energy is paramount in every kind of business today. Steam is a widely used energy source. In many situations steam is generated at high pressures and then reduced in pressure through control valves before reaching point of use. An opportunity was identified to convert some of the energy at the point of pressure reduction into electricity. This can be accomplished using steam turbines driving alternators on large scale systems. To take advantage of a market identified for small scale systems, a microturbine generator was designed based on a small high speed turbo machine. This gave rise to a number of challenges which are described with the solutions adopted. The challenges included aerodynamic design of high efficiency impellers, sealing of a high speed shaft, thrust control and material selection to avoid steam erosion. The machine was packaged with a sophisticated control system to allow connection to the electricity grid. Some of the challenges in packagi...
Print ISSN:
1757-8981
Electronic ISSN:
1757-899X
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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