Helium gas turbines for nuclear power.
Abstract
In recent years great progress has been made In the gas turbine
field. The improvements made in high temperature materials, compressor
and turbine design, and compact heat exchangers have made the gas turbine
power plant a serious competitor of steam plants and diesel engines
for many applications. There are, however, many problems still existing
that tend to make conventional gas turbines unattractive. The use of residual fuels in the open cycle results in ash deposits
and corrosion in the turbines which seriously limits the operating life
of the units. Furthermore, open cycle plants are limited in power rating
since the components become too large for outputs greater than about
20,000 HP. The closed cycle gas turbine plant eliminates these problems
since only clean air circulates through the cycle and high pressures
permit components of a practical size for outputs much larger than
20,000 HP. For a ship propulsion unit where the power requirements
vary over a wide range, the closed cycle has the additional advantage of good part load efficiency. A major factor in the slow progress of
the closed cycle plant has been the inability to manufacture a reliable
air heater cheaply enough to permit the gas turbine plant to compete
with conventional steam plants. The future of the gas turbines may depend on how well they can be
adapted for use with nuclear power. At the present time the only ship
propulsion plant employing a nuclear reactor is essentially a steam
plant. The size of this plant is large since a two loop system is
required in order that energy may be conveyed from the reactor to the secondary working fluid.
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