Method and apparatus for cooling water system optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11136918-B2
Application number	US-202016741910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2020
Priority date	Dec 23, 2019
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

The present application provides a method of optimizing fan usage in a cooling water system having a number of fans with a heat exchanger to cool a cooling fluid for use with a number of gas turbine subsystems. The method may include the steps of running all of the fans at base load, calculating a heat transfer capability of each fan at base load, calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid, selecting a minimum target temperature of the cooling fluid, calculating a target thermal energy of the cooling fluid for the minimum target temperature, calculating a number of the fans to be turned on or off by dividing the target thermal energy with the heat transfer capability of each fan, and turn on or off the calculated number of fans in a predetermined manner with an objective of balancing the running hours of each fan.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of optimizing fan usage in a cooling water system having a number of fans with a heat exchanger to cool a cooling fluid for use with a number of gas turbine subsystems, comprising:
running all of the fans at base load;
calculating a heat transfer capability of each fan at base load;
calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid;
selecting a minimum target temperature of the cooling fluid;
calculating a target thermal energy of the cooling fluid for the minimum target temperature;
calculating a number of the fans to be turned on or off by dividing the target thermal energy with the heat transfer capability of each fan; and
turning on or off the calculated number of fans.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a lubricating oil cooler.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at an atomizing air cooler.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a flame detector cooler.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a turbine support cooler.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a generator cooler.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a generator gas dryer cooler.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises calculating a temperature difference at a load-commutated inverter cooler.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of turning on or off the calculated number of fans comprises turning on or off a calculated number of regulatory fans and leaving on a number of permanent fans.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid comprises determining a mass of the cooling fluid across the gas turbine subsystems based on a position of a temperature control valve.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining a maintenance priority for each fan based upon the calculated heat transfer capability.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising pumping the cooling fluid though the cooling water system with a number of pumps.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising turning on or off one or more of the number of pumps based upon the calculated number of fans.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of turning on all fans if emergency conditions are determined.

15. A cooling water system for cooling a number of gas turbine subsystems with a cooling fluid, comprising:
a heat exchanger;
a plurality of fans positioned about the heat exchanger;
a pump to pump the cooling fluid between the gas turbine subsystems and the heat exchanger; and
a fan optimization module to determine a number of the plurality of fans to be used;
the fan optimization module configured to:
calculate a heat transfer capability of each fan at base load;
calculate a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid;
select a minimum target temperature of the cooling fluid;
calculate a target thermal energy of the cooling fluid for the minimum target temperature;
calculate a number of the fans to be turned on or off by dividing the target thermal energy with the heat transfer capability of each fan; and
turn on or off the calculated number of fans.

16. The cooling water system of claim 15 , wherein the heat exchanger comprises an air to water heat exchanger.

17. The cooling water system of claim 15 , further comprising a temperature control valve positioned downstream of the pump to bypass the gas turbine subsystems.

18. The cooling water system of claim 15 , further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors.

19. The cooling water system of claim 18 , wherein a first one of the plurality of temperature sensors is positioned upstream of the heat exchanger and a second one of the plurality of temperature sensors is positioned downstream of the heat exchanger.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more processor-executable instructions wherein the one or more instructions, when executed by a controller, cause acts to be perform to optimizing fan usage in a cooling water system having a number of fans with a heat exchanger to cool a cooling fluid for use with a number of gas turbine subsystems, comprising:
running all of the fans at base load;
calculating a heat transfer capability of each fan at base load;
calculating a temperature difference between an actual temperature and a target temperature of the cooling fluid;
selecting a minimum target temperature of the cooling fluid;
calculating a target thermal energy of the cooling fluid for the minimum target temperature;
calculating a number of the fans to be turned on or off by dividing the target thermal energy with the heat transfer capability of each fan; and
turning on or off the calculated number of fans.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Muralidharan Vikram Srinivas
• Verma Rajeev Kumar
• Minto Karl D
• Yassar Mohamed

Classifications

• Y02B30/70

  Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating · CPC title

• F04D27/001

  Testing thereof; Determination or simulation of flow characteristics; Stall or surge detection, e.g. condition monitoring · CPC title

• F04D15/029

  for pumps operating in parallel · CPC title

• F02C7/16 Primary

  characterised by cooling medium · CPC title

• F01D25/12

  Cooling · CPC title