A Micro Gas Turbine Based Test Rig for Educational Purposes

The Thermochemical Power Group (TPG) of the University of Genoa, Italy, has developed a new “Gas Turbine” laboratory to introduce undergraduate students to Gas Turbines and Innovative Cycles course, and Ph.D.s to advanced experimental activities in the same field. In the laboratory a general-purpose experimental rig, based on a modified commercial 100 kW recuperated micro gas turbine, was installed and fully instrumented. One of the main objectives of the laboratory is to provide both students and researchers with several experimental possibilities to obtain data related to the gas turbine steadystate, transient and dynamic performance including the effect of interaction between the turbomachines (especially the compressor) and more complex innovative gas turbine cycle configurations, such as recuperated, humid air, and hybrid (with high temperature fuel cells). The facility was partially funded by two Integrated Projects of the EU VI Framework Program (Felicitas and Large-SOFC) and the Italian Government (PRIN project) and it was designed with a high flexibility approach including: flow control management, co-generative and tri-generative applications, downstream compressor volume variation, grid-connected or stand-alone operations, recuperated or simple cycles, and room temperature control. The layout of the whole system, including connection pipes, valves, and instrumentation (in particular mass flow meter locations) was carefully designed, for educational purposes, by a group of Ph.D. students using CFD tools (Fluent), and it is presented in detail in this paper. The paper also shows, as an example of the possibilities offered by the rig, experimental data obtained by both Master and Ph.D. students. The tests presented here are essential for understanding commercial microturbine performance, control strategy development, and theoretical model validation.