Turbine Inlet Cooling

At higher ambient temperatures a combustion turbine’s power output decreases substantially and becomes less fuel efficient. Hot air is less dense, which decreases the mass flow of air to the turbine; less mass flow results in less power output and a higher heat rate. Caldwell Energy Company (CEC) has developed and offers four ways to correct this condition:

  1. Conventional refrigeration and chilling technology, for baseload applications;
  2. Cooling the air from a cold reserve, thermal energy storage for peaking applications;
  3. Evaporative cooling utilizing fogging technology, which exploits the air/water properties of the ambient atmosphere;
  4. Patented wet compression technology, which intentionally injects water into the compressor of a combustion turbine and intercools the machine.

CEC has developed the PowerChill®, PowerStor®, PowerFog®, and CWCT™ systems using each of these methods. A system is optimally chosen for the load and profit profile of a given combustion turbine plant. CTIAC can add capacity more economically than installing additional gas turbines and can be implemented much more quickly. CTIAC can even leverage any combustion turbine upgrade as the percent increase in power is applied to the new higher base output rating.

CEC is dedicated to providing the highest quality and most cost efficient turnkey CTIAC systems possible. Each system is custom designed to individual requirements.