Humidification tower for humid air gas turbine cycles: Experimental analysis

In the HAT (humid air turbine) cycle, the humidification of compressed air can be provided by a pressurised saturator (i.e. humidification tower or saturation tower), this solution being known to offer several attractive features. This work is focused on an experimental study of a pressurised humidification tower, with structured packing. After a description of the test rig employed to carry out the measuring campaign, the results relating to the thermodynamic process are presented and discussed. The experimental campaign was carried out over 162 working points, covering a relatively wide range of possible operating conditions. It is shown that the saturator behaviour, in terms of air outlet humidity and temperature, is primarily driven by, in decreasing order of relevance, the inlet water temperature, the inlet water over inlet dry air mass flow ratio and the inlet air temperature. The exit relative humidity is consistently over 100%, which may be explained partially by measurement accuracy and droplet entrainment, and partially by the non-ideal behaviour of air-steam mixtures close to saturation. Experimental results have been successfully correlated using a set of new non-dimensional groups: such a correlation is able to capture the air outlet temperature with a standard deviation sigma = 2.8 K. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.