TURBINE OUTPUT IMPROVEMENT BY LOWERING THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND ELIMINATION OF HUMIDITY

Abstract

Areas that experience high temperatures during hot seasons suffer significant losses in production
capacity and gas turbine efficiency. When the air temperature increases, the flow rate of the air mass
decreases, and thus this leads to a decrease in the energy produced by gas turbines. In this regard, atmospheric
air can be cooled using evaporative or absorption chillers. Emphasis was placed in this project on the effect
of air temperature on the performance of the North Benghazi power plant. The results showed that the higher
the air temperature, the lower the flow mass and the capacity of the turbine shaft. In addition, an increase in
the air temperature leads to a decrease in the thermal efficiency. It was also evident from our study that any
increase in the percentage of steam in the surrounding atmosphere at the expense of dry air for the same
volume of the mixture of dry air and water vapor together leads to a decrease in the weight of the total mass
of the volume of this mixture and accordingly reduces the capacity of the turbine shaft and vice versa.