Learning
Start Here
A) Outline
B) Basics
C) Generator
D) Prime Mover
  1a) What's a Prime Mover?
  2a) What's an Engine?
  3a) What's a Turbine?
  4a) What's a Gas Turbine?
  b) GT - Uses
  c) GT _Pros & Cons
  d) GT Typical Installation
  e) GT Cogen Installation
  f) GT Combined Cycle
  g) Micro-turbines
  5a) What's a Steam Turbine?
  6a) What's a Boiler?
  7a) What's a Water Turbine?
  8a) What's a Wind Turbine?
  9) Recap: Prime
E) Fuel
F) Distribution
Finish Here

 
 
 
D4c) What's a Gas Turbine? Pros & Cons

Gas turbines are very complicated, high-speed pieces of equipment. They are subject to some extreme trade-offs, which make them better suited for certain applications and worse for others.

Pros
Gas turbines are so popular because of their HIGH Power-To-Weight ratio. Gas turbines pack a lot of punch for their size and weight. In other words, you get much more power from a gas turbine than a reciprocating engine of the same size or weight.

Cons
It should come as no surprise that something that is both small and powerful will also have some disadvantages:

  1. Expensive - Gas turbines are more expensive to purchase than reciprocating engines. They operate at high temperatures and speeds, requiring special engineering, materials and controls. Another reason that they are expesive to buy, is that they are produced in limited numbers, so they don’t enjoy the economies of scale that engines do.
  2. Expensive to Maintain - They are also more expensive to service because of the high degree of technical expertise necessary.
  3. Less Efficient at Partial Loads - Gas turbines use more fuel than engines when they are idling or at partial loads. For this reason, they are primarily used in applications that require steady power (cruising at 10,000 feet on an airplane wing, or sitting in a powerhouse, generating electricity).
  4. Produce Lots of Waste Heat - They also create a lot of waste heat. All prime movers have to be cooled, to prevent them from melting onto the floor. So the fact that gas turbines create a lot of waste heat could mean additional cooling costs. However, this apparent limitation actually makes gas turbines better suited for certain cogeneration applications – you may waste more energy generating the electricity, but you end up with much more heat to use in your manufacturing process.

Basically, if you have a small load, we'd start with an engine. However, if you had a large load, or needed lots of heat, we'd look at a gas turbine first.

Let’s take a look at how these gas turbines are typically installed in the powerhouse.
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