Quantification of variations in the compressor characteristics of power generation gas turbines at partial loads using actual operation data

초록

As the proportion of renewable energy is increasing steadily in the electricity market, gas turbines (GTs) need to operate under the partial load more frequently. Thus, it is necessary to diagnose the GT performance using partial load data. The variations in the characteristic parameters of the compressor should be identified according to the angle of inlet guide vane (IGV), which plays the key role in controlling GT power, to improve the accuracy of performance diagnosis at partial load. This paper proposes a method to identify the variations using actual operation data. The method consists of two steps. The first step evaluates the effect of compressor fouling using full load operating data. The second step quantifies the effect of changes in IGV angle using partial load operating data. The method was applied to the operation data of a 170 MW class gas turbine. The changes in flow capacity, pressure ratio, and compressor efficiency according to the IGV angle were identified, and formulas to describe the variations were derived. The significance of the proposed method is that it does not require detailed information of the compressor behavior change from the manufacturer but uses the actual operating data of the GT users.

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