The Part Electric Gas Turbine (PEGT) is an innovative propulsion system designed to enhance the part load efficiency with significantly lower design and development cost and time. By employing a variable-speed electric motor to drive the compressor, the PEGT allows independent operation of the compressor and turbine, addressing the challenge of iterative component matching and easing the design and development process. The open architecture configuration achieved by splitting the compressor and turbine shafts, provides flexibility, modularity, maintainability of gas turbine components while offering better off-design and part-load efficiency characteristics than conventional gas turbines. This configuration is expected to provide significant benefits in all propulsion and power generation applications in terms of improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions through better combustion techniques and simplifying control systems through simultaneous air and fuel control. The PEGT's flexibility in engine component architecture and ability to utilize compressors (including centrifugal types) further contributes to versatility in applications across multiple fields with superior overall performance and operational safety.
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The PEGT can significantly reduce design and development cost, improve fuel efficiency especially at off-design or part load conditions and reduce emissions through optimized combustion techniques in applications such as marine propulsion and power generation. By offering better part-load efficiency, it contributes to more sustainable and economical operation of gas turbines as well as their wider utility across multiple applications.
- Flexibility in Engine Component Architecture: Allows for the use of more efficient compressors with variable speeds, modularity, maintainability along with better component level efficiencies and safety.
- Independence of Components: The compressor and turbine can operate independently, leading to optimized performance and design flexibility.
- Improved Efficiency: Overcomes the poor part-load efficiency of conventional gas turbines by using a variable speed electric motor for the compressor.
- Simpler and Safer Control System: A simplified control system can be employed, with simultaneous air and fuel control, enhancing safety and operational efficiency.
- Smaller Intake Ducts: Especially beneficial for marine applications, reducing intake losses and improving overall efficiency.
- Combustion Optimisation: Allows better combustor designs offering advanced combustion techniques like lean combustion, resulting in better fuel economy, multi-fuel capability, reduced emissions, enhancing overall improvement in performance.
The uniqueness of PEGT lies in its innovative split configuration, where a variable-speed electric motor drives the compressor independently from the turbine. This design decouples the compressor and turbine mechanically, allowing each component to function at its optimal efficiency. This configuration enhances part-load performance, reduces fuel consumption, simplifies the control system and reduces design and development cost as well as time. Additionally, its flexible engine component architecture, allows use of multiple compressors including centrifugal type with more geometrical flexibility offering modularity, redundancy, maintainability and significant improvement to overall gas turbine performance.
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Feasibility study has been done using numerical methods. Now, some industries are interested in building the protype and a full scale model.
Marine propulsion, Automotive propulsion, Power generation, Aerospace applications
- Marine Propulsion: Offers significant advantages in efficiency (including off-design and part load efficiency) and space utilization, reducing the size of intake ducts and enhancing overall performance.
- Automotive Propulsion: Potentially leverages uniqueness of electric drive within the engine configuration for hybrid electric propulsion offering reduced weight, high endurance and improved engine performance and fuel efficiency.
- Power Generation: Provides a more efficient and flexible alternative to conventional gas turbines, especially under variable load conditions.
- Aerospace Applications: Makes a good fit for electric aerospace propulsion with compact electric motor designs offering better endurance.