Development of the Sequential Combustion System for the ABB GT24/GT26 Gas Turbine Family

Abstract

The 60Hz, 165MW gas turbine GT24 and the 50Hz, 240MW gas turbine GT26 are the first two members of ABB’s Sequential Combustion System gas turbine family. These turbines are designed to offer increased output at up to 4% efficiency advantage over today’s engines. Whereas the first combustor is based on the proven EV-combustor technology, an extensive research and development program has been carried out in developing the lean premixed, self-igniting second combustor. This paper reports the basic research work concerning the lean premixing burners with self-ignition. The development of the burner and the combustor was based on wind tunnel and water channel experiments, CFD-calculations and combustion tests at atmospheric and high pressure. Moreover an innovative cooling technology was developed to fullfill all conditions of the self-igniting premix combustor requiring minimal cooling air consumption. Special attention was paid both to a low sensitivity of the cooling effectiveness to variations of the imposed boundary conditions and to a robust hardware construction. Tests of real engine parts at real engine conditions will be demonstrated in detail. Finally the paper demonstrates the potential of the sequential combustion system to reach single digit NOx levels by unveiling the results of the extensive testing program.