Part Load Control for a Shockless Explosion Combustion Cycle

Since a significant increase in the efficiency of conventional gas turbines is unlikely due to various reasons, new concepts are needed. One option is to redesign the thermodynamic process itself. Replacing the constant pressure combustion with constant volume combustion (CVC) offers such an increase in efficiency. A promising new process that approximates constant volume combustion is the so-called shockless explosion combustion (SEC). SEC utilizes a homogeneous auto-ignition inside a combustion tube to avoid gas expansion during combustion. An acoustic interaction within the tube is exploited to ensure a self-sustained cyclic operation. For this, chemical and acoustic time-scales have to match. As this is impossible under ambient pressure conditions, for which SEC has been tested experimentally, this study focuses on simulations that mimic the situation of elevated pressure to design a controller. Herein, a control system is introduced within the numerical simulation of SEC that is capable of driving the process to different operating points. It expands on an iterative learning control from recent publications, which adjusts ignition time over the length of the tube. The control system proposed here can be used to realize a part load operation within the observed simulation.