Study of the coolant type influence on the thermal and hydraulic characteristics of cooling channels for high-temperature turbine blades in an oxy-fuel energy system

Electricity consumption by people is increasing every year, followed by an increase in harmful emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during its generation. A promising solution to the problem of global pollution can be an oxy-fuel technology for energy production. It has been proven that the Allam cycle at an initial temperature of 1100 C is the most efficient oxy-fuel cycle. With a further increase in the initial temperature, the efficiency of this cycle decreases due to an increase in the relative coolant flow rate. This paper discusses the effect of the changeover from carbon dioxide to nitrogen coolant on thermal and hydraulic characteristics of cooling channels for the first-stage blade of a carbon dioxide turbine. We have found that, upon changeover from carbon dioxide to nitrogen cooling, the heat transfer coefficient decreases for a channel with pin intensifiers 1.3 to 1.65 times, for a channel with pin-and-dimple intensifiers, 1.65 to 1.77 times. We have also found that, upon changeover from pin intensifiers to pin-dimple ones, the heat transfer coefficient is increased for a cooling system using carbon dioxide coolant 2.2 to 2.5 times, whereas when using nitrogen coolant, the heat transfer coefficient remains unchanged. It has been also found that, to maintain a constant heat transfer coefficient upon changeover from carbon dioxide to nitrogen coolant, we should provide a 23.6% higher nitrogen flow rates compared to dioxide.