Turbogas plants
Another type of plant uses a gas turbine instead of a boiler. The gas turbine is a rotating thermal machine that converts the heat into work, by directly using combusted gases as working fluid, supplying mechanic power on a rotating shaft.
The air sucked by the compressor is compressed and sent to the combustion chamber where the fuel is burnt (gas oil, “benzinone”, or methane) and the high temperature air and gas mixture is directly sent into the turbine, where thermal energy is converted into mechanic energy. A part of the mechanic energy is converted by the alternator, together with the turbine, into electric energy. The other part is used to activate the compressor. In a few words, a turbogas plant is based on the same principle as reaction plane propellers, with the difference that in planes the turbine only produces that part of the energy required to activate the compressor, while the remaining part is exploited as pressure gas to provide the necessary propelling force to fly.
This type of system has several advantages: reduced costs, possibility to start also in absence of network energy, simplicity and rapidity of construction and finally it does not need cooling water (as a consequence it can be positioned anywhere, even without water supply).
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