Layout and Present Status of the Closed-Cycle Helium Turbine Plant Oberhausen

Abstract

The Oberhausen gas turbine plant now under construction is designed as a fossil-fired heating power station to produce a net electrical output at terminals of 50 MW. Helium as a working medium is employed for the first time in a closed-cycle industrial power plant system. A report is given on the layout of the circuit parameters, on the physical size of the turbomachines and heat exchangers as well as on the design of the gas-fired helium heater. Moreover, the arrangement of circuit components is discussed. The Oberhausen plant was projected under the aspect of a commercial thermal power station. Besides, the plant is of considerable importance concerning the German program for developing high-temperature reactors with helium turbines (HHT). Its significance is, on the one hand, based on the fact that the turbomachines and heat exchangers are constructed in many details to meet the requirements which occur in nuclear helium turbines of high output. Some of these components closely resemble dimensions and stresses as in a HHT-power plant. On the other hand the operational behavior of component parts will be tested under real conditions of a commercial power plant.