The Installation & Testing of the Fog Inlet Air Cooling System for the Yazd Combined Cycle

Power Plant 45

The Installation & Testing of the Fog Inlet Air Cooling System for the
Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant
Mohammad Ameri*, Saeed Seif Mohammadi and Heidar Roohi
*Combined Heat & Power Specialized Unit, Energy Eng. Department, Power & Water University of Technology,
P.O. Box:16765-1719, Tehran, Iran
(E-mail: ameri_m@yahoo.com)

Abstract: Gas turbines are almost constant volume machines at a given constant shaft speed. On the other hand, the gas turbine output
power depends strongly on the inlet air mass flow rate. Therefore, the available output power considerably reduces when the air
density decreases at high ambient temperatures. The solution of this problem is very important because the peak demand season also
happens in the summer. In Iran, various inlet air cooling systems are used in power plants to overcome this problem. In this paper, the
different inlet air cooling systems are reviewed and the fog system is selected as the best alternative for the Yazd combined cycle
power plant. This system is installed and commissioned in Yazd power plant in the spring of 2006. The test results of this system at
38ć and 7% relative humidity have shown an average power increase of 10.6 MW (11.8%) for the gas turbine No.1 and 10.9 MW
(12.1%) for the gas turbine No.2. The economical study has shown that this system is very cheap in comparison with the installation
of new gas turbines.

Keywords: Fog, Inlet air cooling, Gas turbine, Power enhancement

Moreover, it causes a reduction in compression ratio, which

1 INTRODUCTION
In 2004, about 25% (9709 MW) of Iran electrical energy
produced by gas turbines. The total power production of gas
turbines and combined cycles is about 43.8% (16541 MW) of
energy demand in Iran. It is expected that by 2011 about
52.8% (30349 MW) of electrical energy consumption will be
produced by gas turbines and combined cycles [1].
Fig.1 Share of different power plants in Iran total power
generation in 2004 and prediction for 2011
As it can been seen there is a rise in the application of gas
turbines for power generation in Iran. The main reasons for
using gas turbines are low investment cost per kW, relatively
short engineering and construction time and high efficiency
when combined with steam cycles. Nowadays, improvements
in hot section materials, cooling technologies and
aerodynamics make it possible for simple cycle gas turbines
and combined cycles to reach an efficiency of 42% and 55%
respectively [2].
On the other hand, a major problem associated with gas
turbines is their dependency on ambient temperature. This
relation is shown in Fig.2. Combustion turbines are almost
constant volume machines at a given constant shaft speed and
their output strongly depends on the inlet air mass flow rate.
As the temperature rises, the air density and so the mass flow
rate falls. This reduction results in a loss in generated power.
leads to a lower efficiency [3].
Finding a solution for this problem is very important
because the peak demand season also happens in summer.
Power augmentation methods available for existing gas
turbines include [2]:
- Inlet air cooling systems consisting of thermal energy
storage, refrigerated cooling and evaporative coolers (fog and
media)
- Steam or water injection into the combustor: While they
are commonly applied for NOx control, it also boosts power
due to the increased mass flow and higher specific heat of the
products of combustion going through the turbine. The
increased specific heat of the products of combustion and
better heat transfer results in higher blade metal temperatures,
and control systems often compensate for this by backing off
on the firing temperature.
- Increasing the firing temperature: In this case, hot section
durability must be carefully considered.
Fig. 2 Gas turbines dependency on inlet air temperature[4]
In Iran, inlet air cooling method is used in different power
plants to compensate power shortage on hot summer days.
46 International Conference on Power Engineering-2007, October 23-27, 2007, Hangzhou, China

In the following parts inlet air cooling methods will be -They can achieve the desired temperatures independent of
discussed briefly and then the installed system in Yazd power weather or climate conditions.
plant will be explained in detail.

2 THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

These systems are usually used when cooling is just needed
for a few hours a day. In this method the excess energy in
off-peak hours is used to cool down the media. In peak hours,
this energy that is stored in the media, is utilized to chill the
inlet air. Ice, water, salty water or other heat transfer liquids
can be the medium for this energy storage.

3 REFRIGERATED COOLING SYSTEMS

Fig. 4 Chiller system components [4]
3.1 Mechanical chiller systems
The primary disadvantages of this system are:
Mechanical chiller systems can cool the inlet air to much
- They are capital cost intensive.
lower temperatures than those that are possible with
- They also have higher parasitic loads that lead to higher
evaporative cooling. They can maintain any desired inlet air
overall heat rates and hence lower efficiencies than those for
temperature as low as 5.5ć independent of the ambient
the evaporative cooling technologies.
wet-bulb temperature. The difference between cooling
processes in refrigerated and evaporative cooling is shown on
3.2 Absorption cooling systems
the psychometric chart in Fig. 3.
Absorption cooling systems are similar to the mechanical
refrigeration systems, except that instead of using mechanical
chillers, these systems use absorption chillers that require
thermal energy (steam or hot water) as the primary source of
energy. However, they require much less electric energy than
the mechanical chillers. Absorption cooling systems can be
used to cool the inlet air to about 10ć. These systems can be
employed with or without chilled water thermal energy
storage systems. The absorption chillers can be of single-effect
or double-effect types. The single-effect absorption chillers
use steam at 1 barg, while the double-effect chillers require
less steam, but need the steam at a higher pressure (e.g. 8
barg).
The advantage of this system is due to its’ much less
parasitic power requirement. However, it has the major
Fig.3 Cooling process on psychometric chart [5]
disadvantage of high capital cost which can be even as high as
The mechanical chillers that are used in these systems can
the mechanical refrigeration system capital cost. The primary
be driven by electric motors or steam turbines. Inlet air is
successful application of absorption chillers is in the thermal
drawn across cooling coils in which the chilled water or
power plants where there is excess thermal energy available
refrigerant cools it to the desired temperature. The chilled
and the conversion of this energy to high-value electricity is
water can be supplied directly from a chiller or from a
profitable for the user.
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank which stores ice or
chilled water. Chiller coils are typically made of copper and
4 WETTED MEDIA EVAPORATIVE COOLERS
caged with aluminum fins. When moist air is cooled below the
This was the first technology that was used for turbine inlet
wet bulb temperature, condensation forms. Condensate is
air cooling. Wetted media or media evaporative cooler is an
collected in stainless steel drip pans and directed out of the
evaporative cooling technology in which cooling is achieved
system. A final preventive measure, drift eliminator panels
by the evaporation of water added to the gas turbine inlet air.
prevent any remaining condensate droplets from going into the
In this technology, the inlet air is exposed to a film of water
ducting. Moisture removed by the drift eliminator panels is
over a wetted media. A honey-comb-like medium is often used.
drained into the sump at the bottom of the unit.
The water which is used for wetting the medium may require
In summary, the advantages of mechanical refrigeration
treatment, depending upon the quality of water and the
systems are:
medium manufacturer’s specifications. Wetted media can cool
-They can maintain the inlet air at much lower
the inlet to within 85-95 per cent of the difference between the
temperatures than those possible by other technologies.
 The Installation & Testing of the Fog Inlet Air Cooling System for the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant
ambient dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature. It is one of the
lowest capital and operating cost options.
Fig. 5 Wetted media system components [4]
Its’ main disadvantage is that the extent of cooling is
limited by the wet bulb temperature and it is therefore
dependent on the weather. Moreover, evaporative cooling also
requires careful control of the chemistry of the recirculation
water that absorbs contaminants. The monitoring of the
degradation of the media is important as well. It works very
efficiently during hot and dry weather. However, it is less
effective when ambient humidity is high. It also consumes
large amounts of water. In fact, this method is one of the most
widely used technologies.
5 FOG SYSTEM
Fogging is another form of evaporative cooling technology.
This adds water to the inlet air in the form of a spray of very
fine droplets. Fogging systems can produce droplets of
variable size depending on the desired evaporation time and
ambient conditions. The water droplets sizes are generally less
than 40 microns. In fact, they should be about 20 microns on
average for the compressor safety precautions. The water used
for fogging typically requires demineralization.
Fogging systems can cool the inlet air by 90-98 per cent of
the difference between ambient dry-bulb and wet-bulb
temperature. It is therefore slightly more effective than the
wetted media. The capital cost of fogging is similar to the
media evaporative cooler cost. However, the fog systems have
limitations and disadvantages similar to those for the wetted
media. Fogging is the second most frequently applied
technology for turbine air inlet cooling.
Some gas turbine manufacturers do not allow fogging
systems to be applied to their equipment due to compressor
degradation and failures associated with fogging.
5.1 Over spraying (Wet Compression)
This is another evaporative cooling technology in which
more fog is added to the inlet air than can be evaporated under
the conditions of the ambient air. The air stream carries the
excess fog into the compressor section of the gas turbine,
where it further evaporates, cools the compressed air and
creates extra mass for boosting the gas turbine output beyond
the amount which is possible with the evaporative cooling
47
technologies. Fig.7 illustrates the effect of over spraying on a
combined cycle [7].
Fig. 6 A typical Fog System [6]
However, the maintenance costs of this method are higher
due to the impingement characteristics and quality of the water
ingested.
Fig. 7 Effect of fogging on a combined cycle [7]
5.2 Droplet analysis
A key to the performance of any fogging system is the size
of the droplets created by the system. Only a droplet that
evaporates completely will provide the full potential cooling
effect and therefore the maximum increase in output. If the
droplets are too large, complete evaporation will not be
achieved and they may also impinge upon the compressor
blades which could lead to erosion
The evaporation rate is a function of the surface area. A
20-micron droplet has the same volume as eight droplets of 10
micron but only half the surface area. It has been demonstrated
that for droplets with 20-micron or smaller diameter, the
viscous forces will dominate and the droplets will follow the
air stream [7].
6 SYSTEM SELECTION PARAMETERS
Choosing the best cooling method strongly depends on the
economical calculations regarding the total project cost over
the life cycle. Dominating factors for doing such a study are as
the following [2]:
- Climatic profile
- Installed cost of the cooling system in terms of
$/incremental power increase
- Amount of power gained by means of inlet air cooling
- Fuel costs and costs of incremental power, i.e., what
benefit is attained by the power boost
48 International Conference on Power Engineering-2007, October 23-27, 2007, Hangzhou, China

- Projected O&M costs for the system Table 1 Performance test results
- Environmental impact Parameters Unit #1 Unit #2
- Potential impact on existing emission licenses Ambient Temp. (ć) 38 38
The above criteria have been studied and the Fog system Ambient RH (%) 7 7
has been chosen for the Yazd Power Plant. It should be noted Ambient Pressure (kPa) 87 87
that the fog installed cost for the Yazd power plant is around Comp. Inlet Air Temp. (ć) 25 24
52 US$ per augmented power. This cost is less than the Initial Comp. Outlet Pressure (bar) 8.7 8.8
current capital cost of gas turbine which is around 300
Comp. Outlet Pressure (bar) 9.3 9.4
US$/kW.
Initial Output Power (MW) 89.9 90
Final Output Power (MW) 100.5 100.9
7 YAZD POWER PLANT'S FOG SYSTEM
Power Augmentation (MW) 10.6 10.9
Percentage of Power Augmentation (%) 11.8 12.1
7.1 System specifications
Initial Efficiency (%) 29.4 29.6
The city of Yazd is located at an altitude of 1200 meters
Final Efficiency (%) 30.3 30.4
above sea level and experiences a hot and dry climate in
summers. In May 2005, a contract was signed with AxEnergy
Under the design conditions i.e. the ambient dry
to install two units of CT-FOG System on GE-F9 gas turbines
temperature of 38ć and relative humidity of 23%, the output
in Yazd combined cycle power plant. In July 2006, the
power of the two GE-F9 gas turbines must be increased by
performance test was conducted to measure the increased
10.9 MW (or 12%). Under the test condition, as is depicted in
output power.
Fig. 8, fog systems are expected to increase the output power
by 15.5%. This value is more than test results’ power
7.2 Performance test and data analysis
augmentation. However, the performance of fog systems is
Since the evaporative systems performance test is an
acceptable due to the fact that the flow rate of water is limited
important issue in the feasibility study, the complete
to a maximum level (design point). Therefore, the power
performance tests were done for all units. The main
increase more than 12% cannot be reached. Also, it should be
parameters in the tests were: the increase in output power, the
noted that application of the fog system in this power plant has
temperature and the humidity ratio at the compressor inlet. For
increased the steam turbine output by 6 MW as well.
these parameters, the measuring points were specified.
The correct functioning of sensors installed on PLC should
have been tested. Therefore, the temperature and the air
humidity were also measured by another instrument and then
the results were compared with the data of PLC.
The test procedure was as the following:
- Starting up gas turbines and turning their automatic
control on, letting each unit to reach its full load (at this time a
15min waiting period was considered to make sure that the
system had reached the steady-state operating conditions).
- Recording parameters which were needed for
performance test.
- Turning on the cooling system and waiting for 20 minutes
in order to approach steady-state operating conditions Fig. 8 Comparison of power enhancement prediction using fog
- Controlling and recording necessary parameters system performance (AXEnergy) & test results
Table 1 represents the performance test results for two gas
turbine units. As it can be seen the power enhancement for the 8 CONCLUSION
gas turbine units one and two are around 10.6 MW and 10.9 The performance test results have shown that application of
MW respectively which is equal to 11.8% and 12.1% of their this system has increased the average power output of the gas
output power. In addition, there is an increase of about 1% in turbine units by 12% of the generated power. This system has
thermal efficiency, which is the result of increase in increased the power capacity of the Yazd combined cycle
compressor outlet pressure. power plant by 27.5 MW. At the time when this test was done,
In order to compare these results with the guaranteed the extra capacity required in peak hours was about 45 MW.
power increase, Fig.8 which was provided by the fog system Therefore, the installation of this system compensated 60% of
manufacturer is used. This figure shows the power that power shortage. However, the efficiency improvement
enhancement prediction at different ambient conditions. The was less than 1 %. The economical study has shown that this
test point and the guaranteed design point are shown in the system is very cheap in comparison with the installation of the
figure. new gas turbines. In fact, the application of the inlet air
 The Installation & Testing of the Fog Inlet Air Cooling System for the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant 49

cooling systems can prevent the installation of the new gas
turbines at other power plants in the country.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of
TAVANIR (Iran Power Generation, Transmission &
Distribution Company) and Yazd Combined Cycle Power
Plant.
REFERENCES
[1] TAVANIR Co.,” Iran Power Industry's annual reports",
http://www.tavanir.org.in.
[2] M. Ameri, H. Nabati, A. Keshtgar, “Gas turbine power
augmentation using fog inlet air-cooling system”, 7th
Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems
Design and Analysis, 2004.
[3] M. Ameri, A. Keshtgar, S. Goli, “Gas turbine power
augmentation using fog inlet air-cooling system”, Proc.
of the International Conference on Modeling and
Simulation, Paper No. 54, 2006.
[4] Donaldson Co., “Cooling Inlet Air Improves Turbine
Output”,Donalsond®,http://donaldson.com/en/gasturbin
e/support/datalibrary/000586.pdf.
[5] GE Power Co., “Economic and Technical Considerations
for Combined-Cycle Performance- Enhancement
Options”, http://www.gepower.com/ prod_serv/
products/tech_docs/en/downloads/ger4200.pdf.
[6] Atomizing Systems Inc., http://www.coldfog.com/
basic-equipment.php.
[7] AXEnergy, CT-FOG, http://www.ctfog.com.

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